In Many Ways, We’re All Just Big Kids!

Similar to building relationships with adolescents and growing a Club or a Campaigner group, building a community of adults “on mission” together in a local area often requires engaging them where they are at, and building bridges of friendship through shared experiences. Over the past several years, this kind of effort has been taking place in several locations for both men and women. Among these is “Man Camp” at Frontier Ranch.

“What is Man Camp?” you might ask. 

According to one past attendee, “Man Camp is an opportunity to invite my friends and my family to come and experience the best weekend of their life once a year.” In the words of another guy, “Man Camp is rest, it’s fun, but it’s being real.” And in the words of Young Life friend, independent artist and Man Camp musician, Christopher Williams, “It’s hanging out with dudes and learning more about Jesus!” (Check out this video for more!) 

The goal of this Young Life weekend camp is to “help men grow in relationship with God, each other and the Young Life mission.” Among the many benefits that flow out of this experience are closer relationships, growth in faith, practical help with life’s challenges, greater understanding of the Young Life mission globally and locally, and a trickle-down of relationships and resources to the local ministry. For many disconnected Young Life alumni, the invitation to go back to Young Life camp is not only an opportunity they have been hoping for, but it is also an opportunity for them to invite those who don’t have history with the mission! Many men are just waiting for Young Life to take the first step by inviting them to a place and an experience that was transformative in their life!

The need for opportunities like this for men cannot be overstated. According to recent Pew Research Center studies, of those who self-report as being religiously unaffiliated (“nones”), 57% are men while 43% are women. In the same survey, when asked about attendance at religious services, 35% of men said that they attend “seldom to never,” compared to 26% of women. Interestingly, when asked about “feeling wonder about the universe,” more men felt this way on a weekly basis than women! What better place to experience the wonder of God’s creation than at a Young Life property! 

Like most Young Life camps, Man Camp features terrific speaking, incredible music, informative seminars, fun activities and plenty of time to rest, reflect and build relationships. (By the way, last year we chose to take Man Camp virtual! You can enjoy Greg Hook’s messages here and here.)

Obviously, Man Camp is just one of many Young Life weekend camps that impact both men and women across the U.S. It is but one example of how mission community can be built while engaging adults at a Young Life property. If you would be interested in learning more about how to establish a men’s or women’s camp in your region or division, reach out to Jonathan at JSchultz@sc.younglife.org. 

For more information on our 2022 Man Camp weekend, go here.

*Survey Quotes from https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/gender-composition/ 

“HELP! MY NIGHT JOB JUST BECAME A DAY JOB TOO”

Let’s face it, the demands of the Area Director job have changed. There is far more administrative work, training, meetings, and far more pressure to market what you’re doing in your area. 

I am seven  years removed from the AD role (and miss it every day because it truly is the best job in YL), and during these years I have been able to watch the changes happen slowly. All of the more stuff… is really good stuff. 

We have great things happening for us in the mission. 

• Our training for core and focus ministries improves daily, 

• our cultural intelligence as a mission is getting sharper by the minute, 

• Donor retention is improving due to our skilled communication and excellent care.

• We are Innovating.

•  We are experiencing the fruit of better supervision for staff. 

• We have identified some areas of growth regarding mission-wide belonging.   

…..I could go on and on about the benefits of more opportunities, trainings, initiatives and resources

However, there is no denying that more is simply more. Where do you find time for it all?  Wherever you area around this Global mission, our plates are full- Day & Night!.  How do you run a club on a Monday night, New Leader Training on a Tuesday night after you’ve already been at the JV game, Campaigners on Wednesday night, the varsity game on Thursday night, and Leadership on Friday night? 

You know you’ve all had weeks like that in your own unique context. That is the work we’re passionate about. Being on the campus, with people, meeting new kids, engaging leaders… that’s the work we love.

Is all of the more crowding our days so much that we no longer have energy for the night job … the actual job that we signed up for? Have we made our days so busy that we now have day jobs and night jobs? Or even worse… are you giving more effort to the day job and growing more and more frustrated with the sacrifices involved with having a night job?

In interviews, I now find myself looking for unicorns. People who have a deep love for Jesus, a passion for reaching lost kids, admirable character, high capacity, gifts of leadership, and incredible self discipline. You can be the total package but lack self discipline and this job will drown you. You’ll be tempted to work around the clock, becoming a terrible version of yourself. Your answer to everything will be yes and you’ll give your time to everything that feels urgent regardless of how important it is. 

If we want to do this job … really do this job… we have to be disciplined. Plan our time. Prioritize how we’ll spend our time and with who. Make sure we have plenty of margin to “waste” time with people. We have a job that requires a “ministry of presence,” as Henri Nowen calls it. Being with people is our work. Are we doing it? Please don’t let our day job crowd out the night job. 

Here is a PERSONAL EXERCISE to try:

1. Keep track of your week. Write down every appointment, Club, Contact Work,  Meetings, Office time etc. The only way you can assess your time accurately is if you are tracking it. 

2. Count up the hours and designate the day commitments and the night commitments. Take a hard look to see what tasks are truly ones YOU need to be doing and if there are others who can/should be involved. 

3. Now break down the time even further and see regain some margin to your day:

   • What can you cut out?  Make changes. 

   • What can you delegate?  Make changes. 

   • Are you taking on tasks that are another person’s responsibility? 

   • Is your week out of sync one way or another? Make adjustments.

   • Are there some tasks that can be done more efficiently or scheduled strategically (For example, combining fellowship dinners with committee AND leaders together from time to time to make one evening in a week, rather than two). 

4. Lastly, redesign your upcoming week with some specific changes designed to have a healthier tension between your  ‘day job’ and ‘night job’ and give it a try while making tweaks over the next several weeks to hopefully identify a healthier rhythm.  

Bonus: Find a mentor or member of your committee (maybe it’s your committee chair!) who can check in from time to time to see how you are doing with this balance. 

All the responsibilities we juggle over a 24 hour day are important but we can improve the way we carry them out.  It will require discipline and creativity. You will find yourself spending more time doing what you love: putting Christ and kids together!  

Written by: Ashley Flowers 

Why a Day of Prayer?

It all started (and continues) with prayer.

When telling the history of Young Life, it’s tempting to start with Jim Rayburn. As the founder he is the preeminent figure, yes, but chronologically he comes a little later in the story.

Prior to Jim’s arrival in Gainesville, Texas, a group of elderly women led by Clara Frasier faithfully prayed for six years for God to reach the teenagers at Gainesville High School. Jim arrived in 1939, and when he later learned of the praying ladies, he joined them!

“I was there a year before I heard about that prayer meeting. I used to go over there with those five or six old ladies and get down on my knees with them after that club started to roll. That was the thing the Lord used to start it.”

Let’S face it, in Young Life we’re often drawn to those we see up front: the charismatic leader, the commanding speaker, the hilarious program team and the gifted musician. No doubt each is important and has a critical role to play. 

However, only the Lord knows how much has been accomplished in the lives of kids (and adults) over the last 80 plus years through the humble prayers of women and men who may never garner a spotlight.

So why a missionwide day of prayer? 

There are many reasons we could list of course, but let’s focus on this one: it’s a beautiful reminder. Prayer acknowledges we are not in control of this precious work He has entrusted to us. 

Our mission statement declares we’re all about “Introducing adolescents to Jesus Christ and helping them grow in their faith.” We can introduce and we can help but we know only the Father can draw a person to faith in Jesus (John 6:44) and bring about growth in their lives (1 Corinthians 3:6). 

That allows us to simply be faithful, and one of the best ways is through prayer. God delights when we come to Him — in praise of who He is, with thanksgiving for all He’s done, in repentance of our sins and to intercede for others and their needs.

In Young Life this means pleading on behalf of kids. Jim Rayburn once said:

‘If we don't pray for these kids, who's praying for them? We may be the only person in that child's life that breathes their name in prayer.’" 

What a privilege, what a joy, what an opportunity to praise the Father and breathe the names of kids up in prayer alongside our brothers and sisters scattered around the globe! Yes, we pray throughout the year, but for two days every year we can raise up our voices in unison to the One who invites us to approach His throne of grace with confidence.

The theme for this spring’s Day of Prayer is “Restore.” On March 1, may you sense great restoration personally and corporately as part of this wonderful worldwide calling. 

Young Life Day of Prayer Resources

Written by: Jeff Chesemore

Can I Do “All Things?”

There is a sneaky, devious, and—I dare say—evil distortion that tells us that our human limitations are “bad” or wrong. We all like to think we can do it all, but we don’t always have a healthy, or right, approach. 

I don’t presume to know the motives behind those who promote these messages. Yet these messages are dangerous, unhealthy, and untrue. Most of the time they are a call to walk in faith and meant to encourage risk-taking. They grow from promises that we can do all things, that nothing is impossible, and that if we trust God, we will be able to do what we never could otherwise. 

While these promises are true, this type of thinking is a deceptive lie that encourages us to think our created limitations are wrong. It confuses our sinful lack of faith in God with our God-given, created limitations. The most easily identifiable of these Christian messages comes from an isolated and out-of- context Bible verse: Philippians 4:13. It’s usually shortened to something like, “I can do all things.” 

This all-too- common tendency is ultimately rooted in a wrong understanding of Jesus and of ourselves. As I show in the book, all of us—including many Christians—look at the life of Jesus Christ, and we assume we are meant to be his equal in every way. Jesus Christ is human and we are human, so we should strive to be like Jesus, right? But this (false) Christian logic neglects an important difference. While Jesus was fully human, he was also uniquely God. And even though we should seek to be like Jesus, that does not mean we become like God in every way. In some ways we become like God, but in many other ways we remain subject to God’s created limitations. The faulty logic works like this: 

God has no limits.
Jesus is God.
Jesus has no limits.
Jesus is human.
I am human.
I have no limits (through Christ). 

This line of thinking tempts us not to think twice when we read, “I can do all things through Christ,” and to assume this statement means that as Christians our human limits have been expanded or redefined. But this assumption ignores a key difference between Jesus, who has two natures, and you and me. 

We don’t become God. We remain human, with all our created limitations, and learn to follow Jesus by faith, walking in the power of God’s Holy Spirit. Grasping this difference is one of the keys to embracing our God-given limits as good limits.

In The Good News of Our Limits: Find Greater Peace, Joy, and Effectiveness through God’s Gift of Inadequacy, I urge us to embrace the blessedness of our limitations and adopt a few key biblical and practical skills to better balance our lives.

Written by: Sean McGever, PhD smcgever@gmail.com

THERE IS ALWAYS MORE THAN ONE WAY!

We have all had to become inventive over the past few years. Our routine has been hijacked, our discomfort level pushed, and our plans disrupted so just like that, we became INNOVATORS. Now, entering another calendar year of the new normal, words like disruption, epidemic, pivot, ‘super-spreader,’ and herd immunity roll off the tongue…sort of.  

In Young Life, I have had the privilege of working with a group that has been tasked with thinking about Innovation and how Young Life not only survives, but thrives during this season. We see hope and are convinced that if we are aware of the innovative opportunities in front of us we could ultimately be more relevant in engaging adolescents as a mission over the next several decades then ever.  Recently, it has been encouraging to witness how staff around the mission are ‘finding a way’ to reach more kids, the next kid and especially the furthest out kid. 

Innovation is foundational to our faith and rooted in our mission’s history. The Incarnation and the Cross are both innovations that changed the world.  Jesus is an innovator:   the  39 Parables and 37 Miracles found in the New Testament Gospels are in some sense, his way of using creative means to reach humankind.  

What is unique about God’s methods is his desire to include us in the process. Jesus’s plan for reaching the world is men and women. An example of the role we all play in sharing the good news can be seen in Acts 10 through the interaction between a roman soldier, a disciple and an angel.  The Roman Centurion, Cornelius, was living in Caesarea. He’s described as a good man, disciplined, responsible and courageous. He had a heart that sought God and had questions. Through an encounter with an angel, he was instructed to send for Simon Peter as a person who would  be able to answer his questions. Interestingly, the angel arranged the meeting but the disciple shared his message. Perhaps God knew that a man would be able to relate, connect or empathize. Whatever the reason, God seems to like to reach people through people.

Whatever current definition you embrace around the culture of Innovation, FINDING A WAY seems to say it all.  It is exactly what Jim Rayburn was ‘charged’ to do in Gainesville, Texas 80 years ago and what we passionately continue to do today. 

The  team I serve with have had success in discovering new ways  to reach every kid.  Below you will see three short videos on how WyldLife, Young Life College, and The YL Leader Blog are serving the Field by partnering in innovation.  Watch the videos and feel free to contact the staff through the link provided if you are interested in learning more. 

A God who can transform water into wine, would also like to transform communities and hearts. Finding a way may mean that the traditional ways are  blocked. It also implies that a new opportunity is there, just not seen  yet! It is our privilege to see them and share them. That is hope! 

WyldLife  (Julie Clapp)

Young Life College (Kenny Nollan) 

YL Leader Blog (Drew Hill)  

Written by: Ken Tankersley

THE 3 MINUTE VIDEO YOUR AREA WILL USE FOR THE NEXT 3 YEARS!

What would be the perfect video for your Young Life Ministry? 

Seriously. Think about it. 

If there was one video that had the qualities you needed all year long what would that look like? If you’re anything like the Young Life staff we have made videos for here is what we know. 

- You would love a tool that can share what your Young Life ministry does, moves the heart of the viewer but doesn’t confuse them. 

- You would want it to not only ask for donations but also be used to recruit leaders or committees. 

- You don’t like the one size fits all approach because your Young Life ministry is unique in who it reaches and where it does ministry.  

That is why we made this guide to The 3 Minute Young Life Overview Video.

Direct download here: missionaryfilms.org/ylov

After helping hundreds of Young Life Ministries over the past 15 years I found that this flow works best in creating your video to meet most of the needs of a Young Life ministry throughout the year. 

With this guide of an overview video you can partner with your local videographer, film it all on your phone or DSLR, give it to your intern, or hire me to do it. The video will work great for fundraising events as the audience is geared toward people who don’t know about Young Life or are just too busy to notice. This step by step guide will give you a clear vision for what the video needs to look like. 

Having a video like this will help you share your ministry at:

• Banquets

• Online fundraising events

• As a link in your email signature

• On the landing page of your website

• Sent as primer for a meeting with a donor

• Sent to a leader for recruitment or a candidate for committee. 

• Or used in a church to share what your ministry is doing. 

After you make it, then you will have a unique ministry overview video that doesn’t confuse the viewer but shares your mission with your visuals and your people speaking the parts.

Once you have this video you will be able to use it for at least the next 2-3 years. And even after that you can update it as needed to make it last longer. 

Here are some examples of the flow in use:

Desert Cities Young Life: http://younglife.missionaryfilms.org/video/529148403

Gallatin Valley, Montana: http://younglife.missionaryfilms.org/video/490255726

Tricities, Washington http://younglife.missionaryfilms.org/video/451373406

Liberia, Africa: http://younglife.missionaryfilms.org/video/343575121

Phillippines: http://younglife.missionaryfilms.org/video/296225052

If you need help with this, a custom video, or are confused by part of this, reach out to Young Life creative services, or to me directly.

Ashley Maddox (wam@missionaryfilms.org)

Onboarding with Intention: Growing Your Committee

Your prospective committee members probably know enough about Young Life to be interested and they have probably a foggy idea of what a nonprofit board is all about. But, what’s next? How do you onboard them in an efficient (we’re mostly volunteers here, right?), yet effective way. 

Many times, we bring people onto our committees and they have no clue what our purpose is, what we’re working toward, and what their role is in the group. While we have good intentions to make our committees organized and moving together to support the Area, it can feel clumsy at best. 

Our committee has been at a point where we need to grow our committee. We’d been laying the groundwork for a couple years after hiring a new Area Director in our area and in our committee. So, we thought we’d share a few elements of our current process to onboard new members to our committee. 

1. Confirm committee structure. We worked with our NEW Area Director to ensure what structure and roles work for the staff, Area goals, and needs. We spent time to ensure we had buy-in on all key players on the direction we’re going.

2. Date our Committee: Get to know Us. Invite committee members to “date” our committee for six months. During this time, the goal is to get to know each other and see what roles the prospective member might best fit in.

This document is intended to share with prospective committee members. It includes the following sections:

1. Activities to do to get to know the Area in the first six months

2. Young Life’s Statement of Faith

3. Our Area’s Top Areas of Focus

4. Purpose of Young Life Committees

5. Our Staff - Overview

6. Our Current Committee Members - Overview

7. Our Committee’s Biggest Needs Currently and our Current Subcommittees

*We also created separate documents that lay out more specifics around some of the main subcommittees. Examples are RCE Crew, and Leader Care Crew. 

1. Six Month Checkpoint: Prospective Committee Members will follow up and meet with Area Director and Committee Chair to discuss if they want to dive in as an official committee member and what core role on the committee might be right for them. 

2. Committee Immersion: We set up this document to organize information about who we are as a committee. It includes the following sections:

   1. Activities we expect committee members to participate in outside of our monthly committee meetings. These are ways to get to know Young Life, our leaders, local ministry, and more! 

   2. Committee Expectations

   3. Committee Core Values

We want to provide committee members with some foundational information, yet not overwhelm them! We are still very much IN-PROCESS with these documents, procedures, and content here, but we hope it’s helped give ideas for your own framework or process. If you have any tips of what’s worked for your own committee onboard, please send them my way!

Written by: Valerie Morris (valerie.l.morris@gmail.com, Committee Chair, Douglas County, CO

Fundraising with Millennials in Mind

This Barna study on Millennials is a great resource, and we can learn a lot from it - especially in terms of fundraising. I was asked to give a ‘Young Life Development & Fundraising’ response to this study. A lot of interesting things came up from our discussion around how to engage Millennials. 

First, we need to make sure we reframe how we think of the term “millennial” because they’re no longer the “kids” just getting out into the world. The largest segment of American society, the Millennials (born 1980-2001) are coming of age, and are actually now a huge base of the adults around our Young Life communities (from leaders, to committee members to donors, and even staff). 

They will receive the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in American history (estimated 58.1 trillion dollars).  Nonetheless, compared to previous generations, they are more likely to be religiously unaffiliated and less likely to believe in God.  Thus, the impact of this on how Millennials give and to whom is a growing issue for Young Life staff & committee’s seeking to raise funds from this generation.  

Here are several characteristics of Millennials that affect their philanthropy:

• They give impulsively

• They want their contribution to achieve results for a cause.

• They prefer events and peer-based giving.  

Peers are a significant influence for Millennials:

• They prefer to learn about opportunities from peers.

• They are willing to help raise funds for causes they care about, usually by calling on friends and family.

• The influence of an individual on his friends is substantial.

So, how do we approach Millennials in our own fundraising efforts? 

• Get moving: As Young Life Staff and Committees, consider teaching and mentoring Millennials on biblical generosity, but do this in the context of action. (Challenge – have your committee do a Journey of Generosity ‘JOG’ and then spin out and do smaller ones with groups of Millennials) https://generousgiving.org/events/jog/ We have facilitators in YL who can do this. Having Millennials on your committee engaging their friends will be a critical strategy with this generation.  

• Diversify your donor base: Anticipate (and strive for) smaller dollar amounts from a larger number of Millennial donors. The high-net worth individual giver model will likely not be effective with this population segment.

• Focus on impact: Consider engaging Millennials around a strategy or vision of IMPACT and not a financial need.

• Incorporate participation, not just a donation: Consider a spectrum of ways for Millennials to participate in ministry, starting with small, even virtual, but not insignificant ways, leading to larger, more co-creative ways.

• Transparency: Make sure our ministries are open and transparent in all financial activities.

• Encourage them to share: Since Millennials are influenced by peers and family in significant ways, encourage sharing and provide clear and accurate ways for donors to bring friends and family along in the process. Activities like our family camps, women’s retreats, and men’s retreats can be a great way to engage this population. 

• Relationships still matter: Do not focus overly on technology as if it alone defines this group. They use technology, almost seamlessly, but mostly as a means to relationship.

• Build trust through relationships: They value and desire authentic, trusted relationships. (Relationship Centered Engagement).  This is Young Life!!

“Millennial giving to efforts of evangelism and discipleship will involve building trust by helping Millennials see the true impact of their gifts, as well as opportunities to give beyond the financial. If a Millennial donor sees their giving as accessible, engaging, and meaningful, more than likely they will let their peer networks know. When this happens, giving becomes timeless, transcendent of generations—when a friend invites us to come along, we follow.”  This is RCE!  

When it comes down to it, the Millennial adults in our communities are not that different from any other adult we’ve encountered. Honestly, they’re not that different from any other kid too! We all want relationship and human interaction. Sitting face to face with a donor and inviting them to partner will always be the most effective way to fundraise - with ANY generation.  

Written by: Jamie Hanson, jhanson@sc.younglife.org

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