A YEAR OF LEADING A YEAR OF LEADING 2025 ANNUAL REPORT
Outfitted With All The Leading Essentials
INTRODUCING adolescents TO JESUS CHRIST AND HELPING THEM grow
LETTER FROM THE president
Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
— Hebrews 13:7 (NIV)
Who is your favorite leader? I am not talking about presidents, or kings, or military heroes, distinguished leaders though they may be. I am referring to that man or woman who made a personal difference in your life. The person who took an interest in you, who invested in you, who pointed you to something better, higher, and greater.
Maybe it was a Young Life leader — a caring adult who befriended you and pointed you to the Greatest One of all, Jesus Christ. We believe serving on Young Life staff or as a volunteer is a high calling and privilege. To be the kind of leader God wants us to be is actually to assume the role of a servant. This is what I see consistently throughout our mission.
As I travel around the world, I am continually struck by the caliber and character of our leaders; dear people who sacrifice their time, their talents, their treasure to introduce adolescents to Jesus and help them grow in their faith. I am honored to meet as many of them as I can, knowing all they undertake to give kids a taste of the abundant life.
Simply put, they’re my heroes, and as you read the stories in this year’s Annual Report, I think you will see why. Here you will witness how they’re imitating Jesus: his life, the way he served, the way he built community, and the way he sacrificed. Yet, they’re doing this not out of their own strength or wisdom, but through the power of the
I am thankful for all God has done in and through Young Life this year, and I pray his richest blessings on you in what will be our 85th year of ministry, 2026. Thank you for your great support of this important work!
Newt Crenshaw
President/CEO
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Harold D. Melton — Chair Partner
Troutman Pepper Atlanta, GA
Mark Rodriguez — Vice Chair Owner, The Growers Company, Inc.
Owner, R&S Mexican Food Products Yuma, AZ
Nanette Ballbach
Retired Employment Counselor Philadelphia, PA
Andrew Code Chairman
Promus Holdings N aples, FL
Newt Crenshaw
President and CEO Young Life
Colorado Springs, CO
Doug Eaton Owner/Operator
NuVinAir West and Southwest Paradise Valley, AZ
L. Brooks Entwistle
Managing Director and GM Ripple
Singapore
Heriberto “Berto” Guerra Jr. Chair and CEO
Avanzar Interior Technologies San Antonio, TX
Promod Haque
Senior Managing Partner
Norwest Venture Partners Saratoga, CA
Raquel Harrison
Emergency and Lifestyle Medicine Physician New Canaan, CT
Bill Haslam
Former Governor State of Tennessee Knoxville, TN
Susan Hutchison Chair Emeritus Washington State Republican Party Seattle, WA
Reginald “Regg” L. Jones III
Founder and Managing Partner Greenbriar Equity Group LLC Riverside, CT
Clyde Lear
Retired Founder Learfield Communications, Inc. Jefferson City, MO
Kevin McVaney, MD
Retired EMS Medical Director Denver, CO
Mike Murray Principal Murray Bertron Tampa, FL
Susan Peterson Owner, Cabell’s Designs Owner, Relish Atlanta, GA
Chris Roberts
Executive Vice President and General Manager, Global Food and Beverage Ecolab, Inc. Minneapolis, MN
Michael Stain
SVP Regional Manager Citizens Business Bank Fresno, CA
Thomas L. Thomas
Retired CEO
CSI Division
Thomson Reuters Tax and Accounting Group
Ann Arbor, MI
David Tiley
Senior Operating Partner
Alig n Capital Partners
Hudson, OH
Joaquín Villena
Senior Pastor and Theologian Con fraternidad Bogotá, Colombia
Phyllis J. Washington
Chair
Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation Missoula, MT
Angeline Yee
Former Attorney Hong Kong
Kristin Young
Bible Teacher, Social Worker, and Author San Jose, CA
Mark Zoradi
Board Member and Retired CEO
Cinemark Theaters Burbank, CA
on the move
Celebrating what the Lord has brought about in and through the mission this year.
Thanks to some generous and creative supporters, Young Life was featured as the primary sponsor of a NASCAR Xfinity Series car during the 2025 season. In addition to appearing on the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra, team uniforms, and track signage, Young Life had a significant presence at each race and online. Experiences included giveaways, group ticket opportunities, on-site fan experiences, local area and camp funding opportunities, special merchandise, social media, and other digital content.
This collaboration came about when a group of passionate Young Life supporters and NASCAR fans approached us with the idea that they would fund this special project separate from Young Life’s other initiatives.
Joe Gibbs Racing and Young Life have a deep history as co-founder JD Gibbs and now president of Joe Gibbs Racing Dave Alpern are both Young Life alumni. After passing from a neurological disease in 2019, JD was awarded Young Life’s Posthumous Alumni Achievement Award. Dave, also a Young Life Alumni Award recipient, said, “JD was a consistent, faithful friend, who loved Jesus first and foremost. He lived it out, he
didn’t just talk about it. JD was my picture of what it was to follow Jesus in high school, in business, as a dad, and as a man.”
We’re grateful for the ways God has worked in and through Young Life and Joe Gibbs Racing through this 2025 sponsorship!
The Gift of New Life and God’s Word
This summer in the U.S., over 12,600 new believers stood up at SaySo and nearly 17,000 Bibles were gifted at our Young Life camps. Just over 63,000 campers and leaders attended a week of outreach or discipleship camp at Young Life or non-Young Life-owned properties.
Also, Young Life Africa distributed over 76,000 Bibles and more than 100,000 kids said YES to Christ while at camp!
Speaking of Africa, God’s Spirit is on the move here, and we’re trying to keep pace with where and how he’s leading. The explosive growth of the ministry on this continent over the last several years cannot be overstated. Here’s just one example — by the end of May 2025, we knew 1.2 million kids by name in Africa South alone!
We are humbled to play a small part in what God has done in 2025 in the lives of kids all around the world.
GLOBAL ministry numbers
KIDS KNOWN BY NAME
KIDS AT CAMP
WHAT DO YOUNG LIFE leaders do?
still, even with the accompanying fear, leaders go and give not only of their time, energy, and finances, but also their lives as
To the unfamiliar, being a Young Life leader may look like a lot of fun (and it is!). The most visible parts — giving a club talk, playing the guitar, or dressing up in character for program — are certainly rewarding. To those new to the work, this may seem like the definition of being a Young Life leader.
But then you remember, “Oh, but they do take kids to camp, so I guess being a camp counselor is also part of the job.”
And maybe you dig a little deeper and learn they also lead a weekly Campaigners Bible study, and think, “OK, now I see. They’re also part teacher.”
All these observations are correct, but still incomplete. They’re but the tip of the iceberg when it truly comes to a Young Life leader’s time. In fact, the previous parts of the Young Life building all rest on this one foundation: contact work.
This is the bread and butter of the ministry. Contact work is what we call consistently going to kids. It’s building friendships, investing time so you can earn a hearing with them.
Contact work is not for the faint of heart. To go where disinterested adolescents are and try to gain an audience with them, can put fear into the heart of the bravest adult. Young Life legend Chuck Reinhold often told the story of what contact work was like for him as a young staff person.
“I remember driving to the high school, getting out of the car, taking a few steps toward the high school, then panicking, getting back into the car and driving around the block praying for courage and the Lord’s guidance and then trying again.
“I’d recently memorized one of my favorite verses, John 15:5, which says, ‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me, and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.’ Jesus Christ meant everything to me and having to get out of my car and walk toward that high school pressed me against the Lord. I don’t think I took one step without a prayer for his presence, guidance, and courage.”
Still, even with the accompanying fear, leaders go and give not only of their time, energy, and finances, but also their lives as well. They’ve been called to follow Jesus and share his love with adolescents. They’re missionaries to young people, and they continue to reach out to them with the love of Jesus. And regardless of a kid’s response, these women and men are all in.
This is what a Young Life leader does, and over the next several pages you’ll see these very leaders:
• dreaming dreams in Tanzania
• answering the call in Michigan
• going to kids in Mexico
• leaving the 99 to pursue the one in San Diego
• modeling Jesus in Ohio
• protecting kids in Burkina Faso
• and continuing to reach their peers in Maryland (after their time on staff has ended)
LEADERS dream
In 2001, 17 people climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro to pray for the largest population in Africa: teenagers.
“We carried 52 stones on our backs,” Deodatus Peter Kiara said, “each stone representing a country in Africa. At the summit, we presented the stones to God, praying over each African country and asking God to send faithful men and women with a heart for teenagers. We also prayed for peace across the continent and for young people to embrace the gospel within the suffering they’re experiencing.”
There Deodatus and the group saw a vision from the Lord: “A large map of Africa with young people popping through the map. These young people were smiling and laughing, and then the vision expanded, and we could see the map of the entire continent, stars began popping up all over the continent — a few at first, and then they covered the map.”
After returning from the mountain, Deodatus had another vision of the stars turning into fires, lighting up all around the continent: The Lord was going to spread the gospel to teenagers across Africa. This vision motivated him to start befriending young people in his area, who gave him the nickname “Papa Deo” because they saw him as a father figure in their life.
No matter their location, background, gender, or age, Young Life staff and volunteers are daily laying down their lives so kids might meet the One who laid down his life for us all.
Three years later, after spending weeks in an intensive training period with Young Life leaders, Deo realized the Lord would use Young Life to fulfill the vision. He returned home and started the first Young Life club in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. “What started as one club
meeting under a coconut tree, with just a handful of leaders, has exploded into a huge movement for the Lord.”
Papa Deo became one of the first five indigenous leaders pioneering Young Life in new countries in Africa. His leadership helped translate Young Life methodology into an African context.
Irene Mwasanga, fondly known as Mama Irene, was serving as a youth pastor when she met Papa Deo. They prayed together for the movement of Young Life in Tanzania. Irene accompanied Papa Deo to that first leadership training in Ethiopia.
“When we started,” she recalled, “I never imagined it could go to this extent. One of the challenges we had was that our culture could not accept an elder befriending a teenager; it is not common for adults outside of family
However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
members to be interested in the lives of young people around them. Though a challenge, we made it, through Jesus.”
Since then, God has been fulfilling the vision they had on Kilimanjaro: Young Life in Africa now reaches more than 2.8 million teenagers in 30 African countries, fueled by more than 33,000 volunteer leaders and almost 600 staff serving faithfully.
Over the course of his 20-plus-year prayer, Papa Deo has seen the Lord answer immeasurably more than he could have ever imagined. He listened to God, and God included him in one of the biggest movements of the Holy Spirit in the history of Africa, and probably the world. Because he chose to be faithful, Papa Deo has been a witness to men and women across the continent rising up to repent, to follow, and to lead others to a love of Jesus.
— 1 Corinthians 2:9-10a (NIV 1984)
Papa Deo speaking at an event
LEADERS answer the call
Chris Jackson, a leader in Kentwood, Michigan, is not your average Young Life volunteer.
You see, Chris is 68 years old, and didn’t even start leading until he was 60!
“In 2016, a group of people in the community, including the mayor of Kentwood, wanted to take a leap of faith and see if Young Life could get started again here at the high school,” Chris said. “My wife, Pam, knows lots of people and she jumped in, eventually becoming the area committee chair.
“One day I said to her, ‘Well, what the heck, I’ll go ahead and join the committee, too.’ And she said, ‘No you’re not! You need to be a Young Life leader!’
“So, I do both. I go to most all the committee meetings and lead in between.”
In June of 2021 Chris retired from a 40-year career working as a retail store manager to devote even more time to reaching kids.
No one is more impressed at Chris’s dedication than his area director, Jake Bajema. “At 68, Chris could easily spend his time golfing or biking, but instead, he’s dedicated his life to helping kids experience Jesus. Chris is in the East Kentwood High School and Pinewood Middle School lunchrooms every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Between the two schools, he visits 12 lunchrooms every week.”
“Even more impressive,” said Jake, “is Chris’s devotion to knowing each kid by name. He keeps a book filled with the names of students, which he prays over daily. Kids know Chris, and Chris knows kids. If you were to walk with him through the halls of the high
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
school or middle school, you’d move slowly because kids are constantly drawn to him, captivated by his infectious smile and warm spirit. And if you attend a water polo match, volleyball game, or football game, you’ll likely spot Chris there too.”
Of course, Chris also loves to walk alongside kids in their spiritual journeys. “Some have committed themselves to God, some haven’t, some are still curious, and I’m OK with that. I tell people, ‘God only asks one thing of us: to love him unconditionally, and he’ll take care of the rest.’ If he needs my help, he’ll tell me, but I’m just going to love him.”
“Your age doesn’t matter. God works through people in his own way and he’s provided a variety of ways he wants to use me. God has a plan. He’s going to implement it. And the plan he had for me was to work, retire, and get involved in Young Life. I don’t know if I would’ve thought about my life this way 20 years ago, but it’s the plan he had for me.”
Chris Jackson (left) Jake Bajema (right)
leaders go
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Brandon is a volunteer in Jalisco, Mexico, where a new club is underway. His heart is full of hope because of how the Lord is speaking to him and his young friend, Derek. These two are making great strides in their community, as you can hear in Brandon’s excitement:
“Derek is one of the youngest kids in the club I lead, and the first who went to camp. The experience he had with God there was something incredible. This young guy, full of questions and doubts about life, now sees a future ahead going hand-in-hand with God, who spoke to his heart in spectacular fashion.
“The truth is, camp was a great blessing for both of us. Because it was here God also reaffirmed to me that I’m in the right place, doing what he wants me to be doing. We’re both super-excited to share with more young people the experience we had at camp, so they can recognize Christ as Lord and Savior. We want to encourage them to join us, so they might have this connection and relationship with God, since every step we take with him is better!”
Ashley Butler, on staff in Mexico, shares the motivation she sees daily in leaders like Brandon and Derek …
“A point of joy for me in 2025 is knowing that once again, this year, there have been Young Life leaders taking time — their personal time ... their free time — to go to the basketball court, the park, the local school when classes get out, the coffee shop, and every place where young people gather, with the intention of playing and living together and making friends, to demonstrate and share the love of God with them. What they do is nothing revolutionary. They play sports, they play board games, they talk, they walk, they greet. Many times what they do is not captured in a photo.
“Maybe no one else understands why they spend time with 12- to 23-yearolds each week in their ‘free’ time. But Young Life leaders know why. Because every game, every talk, and every friendship is aimed to help their new friends know our Savior. These leaders know this personally because their lives — our lives — have been transformed by this same Jesus and we cannot remain silent. We have to move, we have to share this good news because our world completely changed when God became man, flesh and blood like us, and came to live among us. Because our hearts were transformed from stone to flesh when Christ made us new creations.”
Brandon (left) and Derek (right)
“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?”
— Matthew
18:12
(NIV)
LEADERS pursue the one
If you had three buses of kids ready to go to camp, would you leave them for one camper who wasn’t there? Well, that’s what a San Diego Metro leader did for Maribel, who was nervous about going to camp.
“Maribel’s story is devastating: abandoned by a drugaddicted mother, Maribel’s childhood was filled with homelessness and abuse. Eventually, a family friend took her in.
“When I arrived at the house, Maribel opened the door. Her eyes told of 16 years of anguish and pain. Beside her there stood a teenage boy, Jason. So I did what I normally do and asked him if he wanted to go to camp (last minute) too. He grabbed a backpack, stuffed it with some clothes and a towel, and was ready to go (with permission from his mom, Maribel’s guardian). Maribel gave me a little smile of relief that her friend could also come to camp with her. I took a picture of Maribel and Jason leaving their home that morning. I didn’t realize Maribel’s shirt said ‘99.’
“At camp, Maribel heard about the Good Shepherd who left the 99 sheep to go after the lost one. She learned this Shepherd saw and loved her even when her mom didn’t. And that’s when Maribel decided to follow Jesus. She learned the Good Shepherd saw her even when her mom didn’t see her, and he loved her
even when her dad didn’t. She discovered the Good Shepherd had plans for her life and could turn her ashes into beauty.
“I wonder how many people have told Maribel they’re waiting for her? That she’s worth waiting for. That there is a God, named Jesus, the Good Shepherd who leaves the 99 for the one. And that she is that one. The Good Shepherd knows his sheep and offers them eternal life.
“Just like the Good Shepherd, Young Life leaders leave the three buses and we go knocking on the door of the one, who actually becomes two. And that’s how Jesus works in this ministry. He leaves us in awe and wonder of his plans.”
model jesus
“...hewas willingto givewhathehad.”
We loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. — 1 Thessalonians 2:8 (NIV 1984)
“Mike shows me what Jesus is like.” — JT, WyldLife kid in Great Miami Valley, Ohio
Isn’t that what being a WyldLife leader is all about? For 12 years, Mike Allen* has been showing JT and other middle school kids who Jesus is. Mike and his wife, Janie, are the parents of five boys, and Mike works full time as a physical therapist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
Mike and Janie served as leaders while attending Ohio State. When they graduated, got married, and started jobs, they got involved in the local area in other ways.
It wasn’t until their oldest son entered Plains Junior High School that Mike stepped back into leadership. WyldLife had started the year before, and Mike’s initial plans were to bring his son and a carload of kids to club. Soon, he was stopping in to say “hello” to the college leaders, then he was hanging out in case they needed an extra set of hands. After a semester, Area Director Shelia Chambers asked if Mike wanted to be a WyldLife leader.
Mike said “yes” and jumped in with both feet. He compares his experience as a parent leader to the disciples telling Jesus, “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish” to feed 5,000 people. He didn’t feel he had much to offer, but was willing to give what he had. He soon became the team leader, building relationships with the kids, their parents, and college leaders.
“Mike invites kids into his life and home. When he speaks of Jesus, you can’t help but want to hear more. It’s who he is,” says Shelia. “He has mentored and discipled his college co-leaders in life-changing ways, as well. His impact is immeasurable.”
Mike is currently leading even though he doesn’t have a child at the school. His youngest son will start there next year. Mike continues to lead because he sees
kids at this age who are trying to figure out how to grow up.
“Why would I not do it?” asks Mike. “That’s the age when I started exploring faith on my own. I love getting to be a safe place while kids discover who God is.”
Mike has seen kids with no faith background respond to the gospel, continue following Jesus in high school, and go on to become leaders in the area. Mike says his own faith has remained “fresh and vibrant” because he serves as a WyldLife leader. He imagines God telling him, “I’m not done with you yet. Whatever you give me, watch and see what I do with it.” Mike encourages parents and others who may think they’re too old to be WyldLife leaders to take a risk and see what God has in store for them. They may experience moments with God they never imagined.
Mike says his oldest son, Ben, “caught the bug” and has been leading alongside him for the last four years. The two of them were at camp with a cabin full of boys, including one of Ben’s younger brothers. Mike described the experience watching him lead cabin time.
“Who am I that I get to watch my son explain the gospel to his little brother and his friends?” asked Mike. “This is a gift I never would have thought to ask for.”
*Mike was named The 2025 Outstanding WyldLife Leader of the Year
Mike with some WyldLife kids
LEADERS protect
“I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the LORD.
— Jeremiah 23:4 (NIV)
In Burkina Faso, there is great attachment to traditional beliefs — primarily animism, a belief that there’s a spiritual essence in objects, places, and animals.
Young Life began in Bandéo in late 2020. The first club launched with six leaders and 38 teenagers in attendance. Fourteen accepted Christ that day.
Among the teens whose lives have been transformed is Bertin. His father disliked Young Life because it was a Christian organization. He would send Bertin far away on an errand if he noticed club was happening, thinking it would be over before Bertin returned. Despite his dad’s efforts, Bertin did all he could to be there, even for just the ending, and his love for Jesus grew.
Bertin’s brothers found out he was going and told their father. Bertin asked his father to let him choose who he wanted to worship, and his father decided to allow it. Unhappy with this decision, his brothers planned to beat him. Bertin told Bruno, his Young Life leader, who went to Bertin’s home and warned the brothers that he would involve the police if they touched Bertin, and they left Bertin alone to worship as he chooses.
Many other teens in Bandéo want to attend Young Life and follow Jesus, but their parents and superstitious beliefs hold them back. Although there is still more to be done, leaders relentlessly pursue teenagers with the good news as they courageously go into dark places to give hope to the next generation.
Bertin
LEADERS Continue
In 1973, Joe Belinko, a brand-new high school graduate, met Christ at Silver Cliff Ranch and came home thinking about all his fellow graduates he’d love to introduce to Jesus. Now with high school over, that seemed hopeless.
Joe later came on Young Life student staff in 1976, and began full-time staff in 1979, ministering in Maryland’s Baltimore and Carroll counties. His faithful career was one of the longest in the mission’s history, lasting 45 years. Joe retired in 2022 and the next year marked his 50-year high school reunion.
The FHS Class of ’73 reunion planning team needed a place to host the event, and Joe now saw the opportunity to do something that had been on his heart for 50 years — care for his classmates and talk about Christ with them. “Basically I started right up doing Young Life-type ministry with my classmates. I felt called to love, serve, and invest in them so I began building and rebuilding relationships.”
Joe’s wife, Karen, was also fully invested from the start, and over the next year, the couple hosted several events: lunches, the FHS reunion, a hoedown, and a weekend in Ocean City, Maryland. These special times helped build momentum for the next logical step — a week at camp! Joe and Karen served as adult guest hosts to 11 classmates at Saranac Village, Young Life’s camp in Upstate New York.
“That was a miracle. It speaks volumes about my classmates that they’d embark on such an adventure together, and trusted me enough to go. This of course deepened relationships and opened the door to talk even more about life and Christ.
“They heard the gospel at club and this opened up spiritual conversations. Keep in mind this was the first Young Life activity they’d ever been to! They never went to club or camp while in high school. Everything was new. The assignment team, work crew, and summer staff were all praying and had meaningful interactions with them. Everyone knew how unique this was.
“This isn’t about me, but what God is doing through Christ in me. I’m just thrilled God is using me. My main goal is to love and serve my class of ’73. To have the aroma of Christ in everything we do and pray for opportunities to talk about Jesus and help my friends to grow in their faith.
“In retirement I’m reminded I’m not a follower of Young Life, but of Christ. We were made for this! It’s who we are. For 50 years God used my calling to reach kids, but the gifts he gave me and what I learned in ministry all those years have prepared me for this. Nothing really changed. Young Life is a biblical, Christ-centered ministry, totally in line with how Jesus loved, served, and reached people. I pray Young Life never changes its purpose.
“This is both a God story and a Young Life story. All the missional truths are in play. Winning the right to be heard. Meeting people where they are. Building trusting relationships. Listening. Using humor and fun events to break down barriers. God uses these principles to accomplish his purpose. We offer ourselves to God to use us for his glory.”
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
— Proverbs 13:12 (NIV)
Joe Belinko (lower left) with high school friends at Saranac Village
financials
The four P’s listed here have shaped our movement from the very beginning.
They’re foundational truths, which most often appear away from the spotlight. Even so, every Young Life leader has experienced them, and knows them to be essential to our work with adolescents. More importantly, we see Jesus is in each of them and know him better through their presence!
In the following pages we’ll see how our work was born out of these principles, and how they’re still relevant today.
Prayer. Provision.Pioneering.Praise.
Prayer
I don't know what I can do, but I pray that someone will rescue these kids. They don't know where they're going. They're just wandering back and forth, and going where, nobody knows.
— Clara Frasher, Intercessor
Prayer is the first mark of this mission. Before there were staff and volunteers going to meet kids, before there were clubs and camps and Campaigners, even before there was the name “Young Life,” there was prayer. In the early 1930s, Clara Frasher and other fellow senior citizens interceded regularly for the kids in Gainesville, Texas. The Lord heard their cries, smiled upon these requests, and graciously continues to answer them to this day.
Like Clara, we too pray for leaders. We continue to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers. We know the harvest of middle school, high school, and college students is plentiful. But the workers are few. So we pray for caring men and women to go.
We also pray for kids. And just as in Clara’s day, we know them to be lonely, confused, questioning, and hurting. We know they’re longing to discover what true life is all about. So we intercede on their behalf to their loving Father. We talk to God about kids before we talk to kids about God.
The act of praying reminds us we’re in a real, vital, honest relationship with the King of the universe. Prayer is not a clever technique to get what we want. Rather, it’s an honest conversation, both speaking and listening to our compassionate Father, who delights in being with us. We’re not informing him of anything(!) — he’s always well aware of the need.
After all, it’s his harvest field, and he cares more about lost kids than even we do.
Likewise, he cares more about the workers than their productivity, because he brings the results! In his kindness, he invites us to participate in this great endeavor.
So, in prayer, we’re ultimately coming alongside the Father and seeing the situation as he sees it. Young Life was born out of prayer, and our first priority must always be this important work. Because it’s in these sweet times of holy conversation with the One who loves us that we join most fully with the heart of God.
ProvIsion
As I travel across the country, I feel continually humbled that the Lord would bless me so and bless the work so much. We are utterly unworthy of all of this. It has gone beyond our fondest expectations and now this great growth is pointing us to things that we could not have dreamed of a few years ago.
— Jim Rayburn, Young Life’s founder
In Young Life’s history, God’s first provision was a person. For years, Clara Frasher and her friends prayed for someone to come and help kids. God answered in his perfect timing — six years later — by providing a seminarian he’d been preparing for this very moment.
Jim Rayburn quietly and faithfully began the work with the Gainesville, Texas, teens. God, in turn, continued to provide through: a great response to the message of the good news, an ever-increasing mission field in the Lone Star State and beyond, and like-minded men and women who joyfully responded to the Lord’s calling to go and reach more kids. God met the mission’s needs in the mission’s nascent days.
Over the last eight-plus decades, he’s continued to meet every one of our needs. Out of his abundant generosity, our everlasting Father has:
• Raised up thousands of staff and volunteer leaders all around the globe, who are passionate about introducing kids to the Savior.
• Given the mission dozens of camps where kids can come and be kids, in a place made just for them, with the message of abundant life played out in every moment.
• Supplied the financial resources needed to fund an international organization ministering in more than 100 countries, with plans for more work in more places.
• Brought millions of kids to himself. They’ve gone on to serve in all walks of life — teaching, healthcare, government, mission work, pastoral care, and so many other fields. And along the way they’ve also helped lead countless others to the feet of Jesus.
Jeff Rudder, executive director of The Young Life Foundation, says, “There are countless stories of God prompting our donors/ partners to give in specific ways for specific purposes, and at just the right time, such as helping an area finish the year in the black or to help accomplish a larger financial goal like completing a camp capital campaign.
“God’s generosity is never in doubt. Just when we begin to question whether or not he will come through for us yet again, he does! He gives because it is his nature to provide generously for his children!”
As we continue to be a mission that steps out in faith, with complete reliance upon the Holy Spirit’s leading, we’re confident our Lord will continue to meet our needs. As we’ve seen over the years, his provision may look different than what we’ve envisioned, but it will be perfect because our Father knows precisely what we need before we ask him.
And so we’ll continue to turn to the Giver of all good gifts for our needs — leaders, resources, opportunities, and of course, relationships with kids, so that they might experience the greatest provision of all: eternal life in the Son.
Pioneering
To
to
pioneer in Young
Life
is
embrace the unknown. It means entering a village where no one has heard of Young Life and choosing to stay, to serve, and to love without condition. It means learning local languages, honoring cultural rhythms, and earning trust one handshake at a time. It’s not glamorous work - it’s gritty, slow, and often invisible. But it is holy.
— Alexis Kwamy, senior vice president, Africa South
Jim Rayburn was a man passionate for kids to meet Jesus. He came to the small town of Gainesville, Texas, and began a club there so he could tell the students about the Savior. He not only started the work there, but alongside other seminarians, Jim shared the good news of God’s love in Dallas and Houston as well. From there he spread the word about Young Life in other cities across the country, all the while raising the funds necessary to support the staff and the work.
Jim was but the first in a long line of trailblazers.
Over our eight-plus decades countless men and women have, by faith, stepped out into the mysterious. Some have started the ministry in a new country. Others have begun work in a new city, area, or village. Many have expanded the ministry into new schools.
But, when you get right down to it, every Young Life leader is a pioneer, because it takes true trailblazers to do the most foundational work within Young Life: contact work. As leaders engage in the quiet, slow, steady business of building friendships with adolescents, they’re stepping into the unknown of a new relationship. They are, in essence, introducing the work of salvation within a new heart.
And within the P of Pioneering, we must include another P: perseverance. All new ventures must embrace this quality, because of the unforeseen challenges, roadblocks, detours, and setbacks. Our leaders persevere out of their love for Jesus, who persevered on our behalf.
Our staff and volunteers have been called to venture into the
unknown by a Sender who is anything but. He wants to be known; in fact Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, is the ultimate Pioneer. Leaving the comforts of heaven to bring salvation to a hurting world, he’s the role model for every Young Life leader, who steps outside their own door to enter the world of kids.
We simply follow his example, knowing that each brave new step is a giant leap toward a kid meeting the Savior.
And what happens when God calls a staff person or volunteer leader out of Young Life? Well, the larger Kingdom gains a woman or man who has learned leadership and pioneering through the invaluable experience of relational ministry. The skills they’ve developed and the wisdom they’ve acquired will serve them the rest of their lives, as they care for those the Lord places in their path.
And so the Kingdom work continues to expand in his mysterious, and yet
It is the hand of God that has stirred and swelled the Young Life movement for more than 80 years. Young Life staff and volunteers, donors, parents, newcomers to the mission, school and community people, and you and I simply must celebrate. We can’t help but rejoice over the faithfulness of the God of the Bible and a ministry that loves young people, loves Jesus, and treasures his gospel.
— Joni Eareckson
Tada, founder of Joni and Friends; Young Life Capernaum advisor
Praise
In the earliest days of the mission, the days of the unknown, before Young Life was an established entity, before there were great numbers of kids, before we had any idea where finances might be provided, or before we had beautiful camps where we could take our young friends, there was still the overwhelming comfort of knowing the Lord was in this endeavor we call Young Life.
He was in Clara’s house, listening to her prayers. He was in the high school across the street, preparing the hearts of the kids. He was in the car with Jim as he drove from Dallas to Gainesville. And of course he was in the next town, state, and country, where he would expand the work.
This was his mission. No man or woman could have invented this idea, nor could they have orchestrated the organic birth and growth that has led to the mission we enjoy today.
It’s critical to point out that the Lord’s presence has always been far more important than any results we might see. Young Life is not a program; it’s a Person. Our founder, Jim Rayburn, famously said, “… that’s not just what Young Life’s all about, that’s all Young Life’s all about — Jesus Christ.”
And so, as we have done from the beginning, we joyfully give all glory and honor to our Lord. And we do not praise him simply because of what he has done and continues to do for us, although it’s been immeasurable. We praise him because he is praiseworthy. We praise him for who he is. We praise him because he is the answer to every question, the hope of all mankind, the life which every soul seeks and longs to have.
He is the King. And we rejoice in being lovingly brought into his Kingdom, and invited to join him in whatever way he desires. More than anything, we daily give him our lives, in praise for him voluntarily giving his life for us.
All hail, King Jesus.
younglife.org
