As we look back after 15 years on the 1000+ graduates that Young Life’s Developing Global Leaders (DGL) Program has produced, we have to pause for a moment to think about the lessons we’ve learned over that time so that we can charge forward on the next 15 years. We are a part of something that is so much bigger than we could have imagined back in 2009. But it indeed started by imagining….
Imagine for a moment that the Young Life club that you lead has an energetic group of kids in it. Not hard, right? Now imagine that none of those kids, headed into adulthood, have the opportunity to attend a university - not because they wouldn’t want to, but because it’s not even a thought in their minds. As the saying goes: “There’s not a shortage of talent, only a shortage of opportunity.” Generally, only the rich and or connected end up going to a university in developing countries.
Now imagine that you, as a Young Life leader, or area or regional director, were able to hand pick the most gifted, most talented kid from your club and offer them a full ride scholarship to a university within the country, a part-time job working with teenagers through Young Life and entrance into a leadership & mentoring program, all while investing their time in the country they know and love. In essence, that is DGL in a capsule, but it doesn’t stop there.
As a senior staff person, you would be able to choose from the top 30% of those in the program to be a staff person within your region or division. It’s one thing to have some goals around a program, but in the beginning, it was a guess that stemmed from imagination, prayer, and hope to change the fabric of a country for Christ.
DGL is the perhaps the perfect pipeline for future staff. In essence, the DGL program has become the perfect pipeline for our international staff in 80% of the countries that Young Life is operating within. The list of senior staff, Regional & Area Directors, staff associates, and functional staff who have been raised up is long and powerful. They stood out in club, they stood out as a DGL student and they were recruited on to staff. Names like Nkosi Sampindi, VP of International Operations, Class of 2014, or Sharon Intauno, Regional VP- Africa South, Class of 2019, have risen to top leadership, been on stage at 1YL and are making decisions that impact the mission of Young Life.
Modeled after a program in the Dominican Republic called Milagros (‘miracles’ in Spanish), the DGL program has indeed been miraculous in expected and unexpected ways. When a university education opportunity is offered and then seen through by the student, it changes the trajectory of their life as well as their family’s life for generations after them. Breaking the cycle of poverty and infusing Biblically-based leadership into a culture has immeasurable results for decades and beyond.
A Volunteer Movement doesn’t happen on accident, nor does it happen through wishful thinking. It happens because from the top YL staffer all the way down to a volunteer in a YL club in Argentina values it. It happens because those who are the front lines with kids are reaching out to their friends and saying, “You know, you’d make a good Young Life leader, come with me to check it out.” When we look back in 30 years, this may indeed be the most fruitful part of the DGL program.
Each DGL is challenged to recruit at least five volunteer leaders per year. It is a lofty goal, and not everyone is able to attain it - partly because it is a high bar, and partly because of cultural obstacles. It’s harder to recruit volunteer leaders in certain cultures vs. others. What we didn’t expect was the cumulative effect of having and reinforcing this goal for all students across the globe. To date there have been more than 17,000 Young Life Volunteers who have said yes to going through training and working with teenagers or college students as a volunteer. You don’t go from a reach of 14,000 kids in the year 2000 (outside the US) to 2 Million known by name by the end of 2023 and then to a projected 8 million by 2030 by accident.
The power of MAP, TREE, and LIST can’t be understated. All staff, every DGL, and most volunteers in an international context are able to pull out the map of their school, town, city, and or country and talk about a plan to get to the next kid. Each leader has a Leadership Tree that is based on 2 Timothy 2:2; invest in others who will invest in others. They can show you not only those they are discipling, but the ones who are being discipled by those they are investing in most.
We need DGL Students as much as they need us. We, as donors/program supporters need DGL students just as badly as they need support from us to get through school. It’s been said more than once that this (DGL) is the most strategic and effective program that Young Life has ever initiated. But it gets deeper and more personal when you hear from a donor that reading a student’s blog about the hardship happening within a country, or reading a prayer request from a Haitian whose top prayer request is that God would increase their capacity to endure. When a donor calls and says that they’ve learned more about God’s will for his life than decades of sitting in church, that’s powerful.
As we look toward the next 15 years, we have no delusions of grandeur that the program is perfect. After all, we are teenagers; we as a DGL program are just 15 years old, still growing up, with adulthood in sight. There is a long list of program improvements, including a more efficient process in bringing DGL alumni on staff through our DGL Next initiative, making it easier for divisions to hire DGL Alumni. We are looking at not just the 30% who come on Young Life staff, but also creating possible pathways to employment for the other 70% through internships, professional collaboration with corporations / NGO’s / Non-profits in the places where steady employment is hardest to find.
As good as DGL has been, it is just getting started and the best is yet to come. We are not resting, we are not satisfied, but we are motivated to make sure that as many kids can be known by name as possible, all for the purpose that they would know the Name about all names.
To learn more about Young Life’s Developing Global Leaders Program, go to DGL.YoungLife.org, or to get in touch with Kevin Edelbrock, email him at KEdelbrock@intl.younglife.org
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“Going through the DGL program played a pivotal role in shaping my life holistically. Through the leadership training and mentorship sessions, I not only acquired a university degree but also became a pillar of hope to youths in my community. I now have the privilege of giving back by supporting new students on their journeys as I continue to spread the light of Christ to high school teenagers in my community. My every day prayer is to continue to foster opportunities for others and ensure that they have the same transformative experience as I did.” - Jamila Wangui | Sr. DGL Administrator | Nairobi, Kenya
“In my hopelessness and helplessness, DGL program came to my rescue. Picked me up, dusted me and processed me like smithing gold through leadership training and mentoring, soft and hard skills training. I'm humbled to pick up and dust as many hopeless and helpless young teens in high school and college, refining them like gold to be ambassadors of the Gospel.” – Cathy Okunia | DGL Administrator- Africa East | Arua, Uganda
“The DGL program became a great blessing for me in one of the most difficult periods of my life. Looking back, I understand that I didn't even realize how much it would affect my life. I was able to focus on the most important things, I had the opportunity to study, to actively serve, but most of all to be shaped by the Lord's design. We do the best and most valuable work in the world, and thanks to DGL, I know how to do it and can do it despite all the circumstances.” – Alisa Magas | DGL Administrator- Middle Euro-Asia | Chernivtsi, Ukraine
By Kevin Edelbrock- DGL Director