West Point Post Chapel
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The two programs at West Point, Young Life and God's Gang have been developing since 1982. Here is the brief history on the program.

Back in 1982, two men felt a burden for our communities. They sensed that the youth were struggling and needed a program that would meet them where they are at. Max Stroppel, a retired state trooper, and Ken Grice, a West Point professor, began to dream of the possibilities. They formed God's Gang, a 6th-8th grade youth group and things took off. Young Life, a 9th-12th grade group, was formed shortly after.

The two programs did fairly well, except the volunteer staff at the time consisted of a hand-full of adults who were running themselves ragged trying to do everything. So, they began to recruit cadets to help with the programs. They began with 3 and it blossomed from there. Then they decided to have a team of adults for each program to help carry the load. Thus, the adult leadership teams were formed.

Then in 1997, the local adults realized that it was time to have a full-time staff family. Ken Grice started talking seriously with MCYM in Colorado Springs about bringing on a couple to oversee the program and add continuity over the years. Darren & Robin Shelburne arrived in September of 1997. This brought about significant changes in the program.

Today, the MCYM WP program is about to take another jump in status. The Community Support Group at WP has hired a couple MCYM couples for this community. Nathan and Michelle Cox resonded to the call and arrived 2001-02. The program currently consists of one Community Director, Darren Shelburne, one Associate Director, Nathan Cox, 15 adults on the adult leadership team, 35 cadets on the cadet leadership team, and roughly 150 kids involved on a weekly basis.

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Community Post Chapel ~ 799 Biddle Loop ~ West Point, NY 10996 ~ 845-938-2003