‘A beautiful setup’

MOSES LAKE — Youth Dynamics got a makeover recently, and it was unveiled Tuesday. 

“We redid the kitchen last year,” said YD Area Director Sean Sallis. “It was a full remodel … so we’re able to feed more kids. It’s a very beautiful setup in here.” 

The Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce gathered at YD’s building in downtown Moses Lake to cut the ribbon on the improvements and hold the chamber’s monthly Business After Hours. YD had held its own ribbon cutting earlier within the organization, Sallis said; Tuesday’s ceremony was for the community at large. 

Besides the kitchen, YD remodeled its loft, adding a huge TV connected to a Nintendo Switch to its array of chairs, tables and a few retro standalone video games. The video game setup is one of YD’s most popular additions, especially among teenage boys. 

“This is a huge hot spot for our Monday and Tuesday nights,” said Campus Coordinator Davey Sawyer. “We have 15-20 boys sitting around here waiting to take a turn on this. And what’s cool about this game is that you can add up to six or seven players, so a bunch of kids can play at the same time.” 

The loft holds several other video game consoles as well, Sawyer said: another Switch, an Xbox and a Super Nintendo 64.  

“We just have kids playing video games, and we feed them every time we get them together. So, it’s kids eating and having a good time and hanging out,” Sawyer said. 

Youth Dynamics, a non-denominational Christian youth ministry, has 18 locations in Washington, Oregon and Idaho and has identified several other areas as prospects for ministry, according to its website. The organization was founded in 1970 and came to Moses Lake in 1996. Besides the kitchen and the video game loft, the youth center has an indoor basketball court and computers with internet access where students can do their homework in a safe, calm environment that they don’t always get at home. Youth Dynamics also hosts outdoor adventures for teens like hiking and river rafting. 

For all the fun stuff, Youth Dynamics’ mission is a serious one focused on the kids, Sawyer said. 

“Our ministry is mostly relationship,” he said. “They get here around 6:30 and we hang out until about 7:30, 7:40, and then we take them down (to the stage area). A lot of times we have people come in and given their testimonies, which is very helpful … We try to keep it 20, 30 minutes long, and then let them go play and run crazy again.” 

Sallis was one of the students who found comfort and strength at Youth Dynamics when it first opened in Moses Lake, he wrote in his online testimony. From there he completed Bible college in Tennessee and returned to Moses Lake to spend 13 years as the student pastor at First Baptist Church. He took over the reins at YD a few years ago and has made it a mission to make the center a welcoming place for youth. One of his first projects was to oversee the remodel of the basketball court in 2021, he said. 

“A few times parents have said, ‘I just can't get my kid to go to church,’ and that same kid is here every single Tuesday, every Monday night,” Sawyer said. “Because we, you know, our goal is to … show them the love of God, and so the idea of them feeling safe to come here (is really cool).” 

Youth Dynamics is more self-sufficient than many other organizations, Sallis said. The ministry owns the building free and clear with no mortgage or rent, and staff members all raise their own support from outside donors. Even the internet access for the homework computers is donated by a local business, he said. This leaves the money raised at YD’s annual auction free to fund improvements to the center and help lower-income students afford the outdoor adventures. 

This year’s auction, held Oct. 19, raised enough money to fund the trip scholarships, and also to renovate the HVAC system at the center and add a washer and dryer, Sallis said. The laundry setup, coupled with the kitchen and a shower, helps meet some of the students’ corporal as well as spiritual needs, Sallis said. 

“So, they can have clean clothes for school if they’re not able to get that done in their home,” Sallis said in an October interview. “They’re not going to tell you that, but there are kids who are in need of those things.” 

“One time there was someone who had tears in his eyes and (asked Sallis) ‘Why are you guys doing this for us?’” Sawyer said. “And the obvious answer is just because we love you. God loves you. We want to take care of you, and we want to help you grow and have a good life.” 

    Crysie Kluth, right, plays a retro game of Frogger while Michaelle Boetger plays Pac-Man at Youth Dynamics’ recently remodeled loft Tuesday. Both said the games are more difficult than they remembered.
  

    The newly remodeled kitchen at Youth Dynamics is stocked with munchies for the assembled Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce’s Business After Hours Tuesday. Youth Dynamics does more than just meet kids’ spiritual needs, Director Sean Sallis said; it also feeds them and gives them a safe place to hang out and has plans to offer them a place to do laundry as well.
  

    The gaming area in the remodeled loft at Youth Dynamics boasts a big-screen TV where six or seven players can compete.
  

    A photo of the upstairs loft at Youth Dynamics before its recent remodel.