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: The words would be “blessed and stretched!” We’ve been blessed to have a front-row seat to what God is doing in and through Young Life around the world. We’ve been stretched to trust him in new and greater ways in our lives, our family’s lives and, in the mission, as part of the wonderful movement of the Holy Spirit in the lives of this mission community to point us all to Jesus.
It’s felt like “yesterday” more often as the decade’s flown by; however there have been those seasons where it’s felt like “a long time ago,” given the crises and hard things we’ve all walked through. In the midst of the “ups and downs” I try to keep Jesus’ words in John 16:33 in mind: “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
Susan: I would add “joy to the full” to describe the experiences we’ve had in so many places with God’s people over the last decade. We cannot imagine serving alongside a better group of staff, leaders, and partners all over the world who’ve been called to faithfully walk and share the gospel with kids through the mission. When I look back at pictures from 10 years ago, we sure look younger, but the time has flown by, and we’re so much better because of how we’ve been shaped and what we’ve learned from so many.
You both know the mission’s history well. What have you learned from those who’ve gone before, and how has this informed your own leadership?
Newt:
- We are a relational fellowship of called believers — “being with” is our collective love language, with kids and each other.
- We are a wide and diverse mission, so take each situation as it comes and understand the unique realities each of us may be facing.
- Laugh a lot, and be willing to be laughed at, especially in my role!
- Enjoy the ride — life with Jesus is an adventure!
- We are all — like the adolescents we walk alongside — in a developmental process. Let’s yield ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit who will conform us into the image of Jesus.
Susan: Jim Rayburn and those who came after him were devoted people of prayer, willing to do and go wherever they were called, and in many cases assigned at the last minute. We’ve seen again and again what God has accomplished through men and women who pray boldly and faithfully and go with courage, following Jesus and his call on their lives to know kids and make Jesus known to them. I’ve been inspired and strengthened in my own calling to pray, rely on Jesus and listen to him more than ever, and “be brave not safe.”
How would you describe each other’s leadership style?
Newt: Susan is diligent, conscientious, and sacrificial — full of God’s love and ready to say YES to meet the needs of those around her. She has the gifts of encouragement, discernment, and evangelism from the Holy Spirit, which she brings to each area of her leadership focus. She’s been an amazing and blessed partner for me in Young Life, in following Jesus together, and in our family’s life — God’s gift to me for nearly 40 years!
Susan: Newt has inspired me for 40 years, truly from the time I met him, with his courageous and visionary leadership, his ability to see and explain in simple terms the “big picture,” his compassionate commitment to coming alongside others to affirm, to serve as well as to mentor, and give honest and direct feedback. He’s unafraid and dependent on the Lord for wisdom and prayerful for God’s will to be done. Newt is the real deal — he lives out what he says and believes. There’s still no one who can move me quite like Newt when he’s ministering the Word of God and the hope our beautiful Jesus offers.
As those who have a 30,000-foot view of the work, how did you view the mission when you arrived and how do you see it today?
Newt: Big and now even bigger! Diverse and now even more diverse! True to its roots of Christ and kids and still deeply rooted. It feels like we’re more focused on our health and spiritual formation than before. We’re also working on “going together” around the world and across the various aspects of our mission. Our beautiful and distinctive characteristic of inviting “volunteers” to come with us on this adventure of bringing the gospel of Jesus to young people is picking up steam! Oh Lord, invite us to join you in inspiring a volunteer movement so we can go deep and wide with all kinds of kids around the world!
Susan: We’ve loved Young Life for decades and the local staff and volunteers we’ve lived life with and served alongside over the years. We’ve been immeasurably blessed to see the difference Young Life has made for our family and kids in our communities. But the JOY of having a front-row seat to what God is doing for young people and has done for 85 years through called, faithful, and joyous leaders all over the world is the greatest gift we never imagined. There are no adequate words to express the privilege it’s been to meet and get to know so many heroes in this mission: people we’ve known and admired only from a distance, the day-to-day leaders everywhere pouring out their lives for the sake of young people, and the generous partners who have made astounding differences in their local communities.
A lot has happened in the world over the last decade we could discuss, but let’s focus on 2020 and the pandemic years that followed. How did you see this impact the mission, and how might we be even better as a result of it?
Newt: Well, the pandemic was perfectly designed for our enemy to disrupt a relational organization like Young Life. It was hard on all aspects of our mission from Field to Camping to Mission Services. We learned to be creative in how we do contact work. We connected with kids online and outdoors. Zoom meetings blew through the roof, giving rise to a new malady called “Zoom butt!” We relied on the Lord in new ways as we suffered from loneliness, feeling down and anxious, watching loved ones suffer, and wondering how we could do our jobs with such terrible restrictions.
“Through it all we learned to trust in Jesus!” Our donors stuck with us, kids were flexible and couldn’t wait to gather again, and our ministry has subsequently grown in significant ways. And, we began praying for what the Lord had next and he birthed the KNOWN vision and strategy within us. Like much of suffering, when we submit our entire lives to the Lord, we come out on the other side wiser, humbler, and more courageous and resilient.
Susan: In the years since the pandemic, we’ve developed unique and innovative strategies to invite and grow ministry so we can know more kids by name. The pandemic highlighted new ways to connect and the lengths our leaders and staff are willing to go to minister to kids. This same “whatever it takes” commitment to get all kinds of kids to the feet of Jesus continues to be reflected in our global mission. In some ways, we may be even better equipped now to persevere to get to the new and the next because of what we’ve learned and how we endured and grew in resilience during the pandemic. Jesus learned obedience through suffering. I believe the Lord used the suffering we endured during those months to clarify our calling and inspire greater obedience to follow Jesus in what he has invited us into to know and share him with kids.
What excites you about where Young Life is currently, and where we might be in 10 years’ time? What are you praying for and what will it take for us to get there?
Newt: We’re practicing new ways of following Jesus, listening to the Holy Spirit, and glorifying our Heavenly Father; we’re praying and focusing on inspiring a volunteer movement; we’ve been pouring into and developing our Kingdom leaders; building leadership pipelines of diverse and talented folks around the world; we’re in nearly 120 countries and growing; and we’re financially healthy with good prospects for the future.
We’re also incredibly blessed to have a board of trustees and tens of thousands of other partners, supporters, and stewards of this mission! Susan and I have experienced the love and support of so many who have helped us stay focused on serving the Lord Jesus and people in the power of the Holy Spirit and for the Father’s glory. What a gift!
Susan: I love what we’re learning from our research-based RELATE study about the next generations, how it’s equipping us as a mission to listen and walk alongside kids and serve their families better. I also love hearing and seeing so many stories and signs of hunger for God and spiritual awakening among young people around the world.
We’re wonderfully equipped to address the needs and growing hunger of this generation to know God, and offer meaningful engagement about big life questions. Personal relationships where we can invite kids to wrestle with these questions and navigate them together through a biblical lens are more important than ever, as AI increasingly threatens these real-life connections. This is a big opportunity for Young Life in the next 10 years. Let’s all pray how we can be part of this in our own communities and around our own dinner tables!
What have you learned (or relearned) about the Lord since 2016? Is there a passage(s) of Scripture that’s been meaningful over this time?
Newt: The marks of Jesus’ followers are “our love for one another” (John 13:35) and “that we may become perfectly one” (John 17:23). We trust in Jesus’ beautiful and perfect life, his atoning death, resurrection and ascension for our salvation. We yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit to accomplish God’s purpose for us “to be conformed to his Son that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Romans 8:29). May it be according to the plan of our loving Heavenly Father throughout Young Life and his in-breaking Kingdom.
Susan: In 1949, a profound spiritual awakening began on Scotland’s Isle of Lewis in response to the relentless and urgent prayers of two elderly sisters for the spiritual apathy of young people. They prayed God’s biblical promise of spiritual renewal in Isaiah 44:3 — “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.” This is the prayer I’ve been praying for this generation of young people for several years. May our mission be central to what God’s doing in stirring spiritual awakening around the world.
What encouragement would you give our leaders, from the newest arrivals to those who’ve served for decades?
Newt: As Marty Caldwell encourages so many of us: “Keep going! You’re doing great!” Continue to pay attention to your calling; spend time with our triune God in his Word, in prayer, and in silence and solitude; in the Spirit’s power receive and live in the overflow of God’s transforming love for you in Christ; and keep living out 1 Thessalonians 2:8 with all kinds of adolescents — “We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too.”
Susan: Couldn’t agree more with the above … ditto! I’d add: Know how much we love, deeply appreciate, and admire you. We’re so grateful for your calling to kids and this mission … we’re praying for and cheering you on!
