The Young Life Blog
Culture is changing. The next generation is searching for friends, hope, truth — and much more. We live at this intersection, offering insight, encouragement, and practical ways to show up in the lives of students.
James Cottrell had made up his mind. The high school graduate was going to Grand Canyon University in the fall! It was close to his home in the Phoenix metropolitan area, and GCU provided a familiar, and comfortable, community. The decision was made. Or, was it? James’ parents opted to take him on one final…
Young Life has been a “leader-centered” ministry since 1941. It’s one of the marks of the mission and one of the elements that sets us apart from other organizations. Today, we’re in a culture where identifying faithful volunteer leadership is increasingly more difficult. That’s why we desire to elevate the role so we’re able to…
“It’s a sin to bore a kid with the gospel.” — Jim Rayburn, Young Life’s founder Of all his proclamations, this may be Jim Rayburn’s most famous. And when this becomes your rallying cry, you’ll do everything you can to ensure kids never experience a “lame” version of the good news. Why? Because Jesus was…
QUESTION: “What do you get when you mix several international flights, 60 mph headwinds, crowded vans, dirt roads, language barriers, and a dozen strangers?” ANSWER: “An epic adventure to the Patagonia region of Argentina with several (soon to be) best friends!” Recently, I returned from my first trip to the Patagonia region of Argentina —…
Did you know there are hundreds of discipleship resources created specifically with Young Life volunteers in mind — and they’re free and available for anyone to use?! If your answer is a surprised, “Wait, really?” — you’re in luck! The Young Life Discipleship team has been working intentionally to create a library of resources to…
An exciting new approach to starting Young Life areas. Fresno, California, is home to more than half a million people, and one of the fastest growing, most diverse communities in the state. But by fall 2018, Young Life had vanished from the city in the desert. Fast forward a mere eight years, and the work here…
From our friends at Axis We’ve heard it from Young Life leaders and parents: what do I actually say to this young person? There are few things more fulfilling than spending time with adolescents — the way they bring energy and life, the way they can illuminate the world, the questions they ask. It’s incredible…
We saw a lot of negative headlines during spring break this year. Riots, arrests, violence, public drunkenness, traffic disruptions: college kids were busy. So were the police. It’s tempting to read those news stories and jump to conclusions. But these young people don’t deserve our condemnation, as Christians. To be sure, we can and should…
Young Life ONE is racing against statistics one relationship at a time. It all started in Wyoming when Annie, a Young Life ONE leader, approached the juvenile center with a seemingly simple hope: bringing camp to incarcerated kids. Even with an established pattern of club, bible study, and lunches, she felt there was more to…
Doomscrolling. You’ve probably fallen down the rabbit hole, beginning with a quick glance at a video. What could be more innocent, right? But your quick glance at what to do — say in your state this summer — turned into why you should be worrying about drinking water. That’s just an example. I don’t know…
This month Newt Crenshaw celebrates a decade serving as Young Life’s sixth president. Here he and his wife, Susan, share what they’ve learned over that time. (Interview by Jeff Chesemore). Is there a word you’d use to describe the last decade? Does 2016 seem like “just yesterday” or maybe more like 20 years ago?!? Newt:…
A week at Young Life camp is one of the best weeks of a kid’s life — not just because of the zip lines, theme nights, or exciting games, but because camp is intentionally designed for connection. Kids feel seen. They laugh hard. They unplug. They slow down enough to build real relationships with leaders…
How Young Life staff are taking The Good Way and you can, too. “We’ve grown old, but our Father is younger than we. He has the eternal appetite of infancy,” wrote GK Chesterton, English apologist from the early 1900s in his book Orthodoxy. “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter…