Windrider & Young Life

Young Life staff have participated in the Windrider Institute's programs for many years now. They hold programs for organizations like ours to engage with the intersection of faith and culture.


The Best Chef in the World

The French Laundry, run by legendary chef Thomas Keller, has often been recognized as the best restaurant in the world, but few know the story of its original founder, Sally Schmitt. In an emotional final interview before her passing in March 2022, Sally tells her own story as a pioneering chef of California cuisine and sets the table for another way to look at life: where balance, rather than recognition, is the ultimate prize.

View the film on Windrider’s site and check out their Exploration Guide and discuss the film with those in your own community:


This film from our friends at Knights of Columbus left a powerful impression on us. Mother Teresa carried out many of the values near to the heart of our generation as she sacrificially cared for "the least of these" in tangible ways — the fact that her work continues now worldwide is both encouraging and inspiring.

Mother Teresa embodied the hands and feet of the gospel through her radical love, and we as the next generation are called to love this way today. In our families, workplaces, church homes, and wherever we find ourselves, we can all be a part of loving and serving our communities.

We hope that you are inspired by this film as much as we were.

Be sure to check out a short personal reflection from our Director of Programming, Ryann Heim, on Windrider Studios.


As society's belief systems are seemingly changing, or even reverting in time, one Ohio artist is challenging his community by saying, "bring me your mistakes". Inspired by recent events, Billy Joe White and his Red Rose Tattoo Studio are promoting one simple concept…ERASE THE HATE. Beneath the Ink is a timely look at hate and racism in the western foothills of this Appalachian region that reveals heartfelt stories of change and redemption.


Kintsugi is a 16th century process of mending broken shards of pottery. Visual artist Mako Fujimura and Kintsugi Master Kunio Nakamura, invite us to imagine how this ancient artform might help us find healing in the midst of trauma and come to a deeper understanding of the redemptive character of the Gospel.

Watch & Discuss:

  1. Why can it be hard to see the beauty from broken things?

  2. Where have you seen an example of beauty from brokenness in your life or the lives around you?

  3. How do you think culture and the church would look different if we didn’t immediately discard things and people that are broken, but were willing to “behold the fragments?”


Five friends recount what life was like in Brooklyn in the nineteen-seventies—from the games they played in the street to the criminal elements they tried to avoid—in this short film by Cristina Costantini and Alfie Koetter.

Watch & Discuss:

1. Describe the neighborhood you grew up in. What did you love? What did you miss? What do you find yourself taking with you wherever you are now?

2. How have things changed in the neighborhood that you live in now for better/worse?

3. How do you come to know the people in the neighborhood you live in now? What did you do?

4. If you could, what would you change about ‘communities’ today?