Across the globe, Young Life alumni and friends are part of God’s spirit of revival! Katie and Nick Guiliano, Young Life’s 2023 Young Professionals of the Year Award recipients, are impacting the world one beautiful Bible at a time!
Transformational. For Katie Lipps this perfectly describes her 2013 trip to Lake Champion, Young Life’s camp in New York. This was the week when she gave her life to Jesus, a decision which ignited Katie’s passion to understand and share the Word of God with others.
One year later, as a sophomore at the University of Cincinnati (UC), Katie began serving as a WyldLife [Young Life’s ministry to middle school and junior high kids] leader. Around the same time at UC, she met her now husband, Nick Guiliano, who was leading Young Life at a local high school
In 2015, Katie had the idea to re-bind her bilingual Bible with a fresh canvas cover, and paint it to be beautiful and personal, reflecting the way the words on the inside made her feel. Katie immediately saw the ministry this could become, and over the next few weeks experimented with different materials and processes. She gave her Bibles as gifts to WyldLife students, friends, and strangers, hoping people would share her excitement.
People were so overwhelmed by the beauty and quality that word quickly spread. Her idea grew into the business and ministry that she named “Hosanna Revival.”
In her next year of college, Katie found that demand for beautiful Bibles outpaced her ability to keep up with incoming orders. She found success in entrepreneurial competitions, a rapidly growing social media following, and consistent growth in online interest. Before she knew it, the undertaking grew so big her parents, professors, and friends encouraged her to step away from college and focus on developing her business. (Katie did, eventually, return to college and finish a degree in business in 2020.)
Katie was thrilled to focus all her energy on sharing the Word of God with so many people, and soon licensing contracts with major publishers, stores (including Young Life camp stores), and manufacturers began to spring up.
Meanwhile, Nick and Katie married in 2017. In fact, the day before their wedding, Nick quit his job as a front-end developer to help run the growing Hosanna Revival business.
Today, Hosanna Revival employs 12 people, including Katie’s father, and has expanded to publish Bible studies, and other beautiful faith-based products.
Over the years, as the Guilianos have grown and stewarded their business, Nick and Katie have continued to be huge advocates of the Young Life mission. For starters, they:
- Support Young Life financially
- Employ Young Life leaders
- Foster significant church support for Young Life in Eastern Cincinnati
- Allow the local area to use their office space for Campaigners (Young Life’s Bible studies)
- Donate Bibles to Young Life auctions around the country
When asked if their past involvement with Young Life has had an impact on their current business pursuits, Nick points out: “The way we build our culture was significantly impacted by Young Life. Like Young Life, we are not expecting our people to be perfectly self-qualified, but to be ‘qualified’ by Jesus.”
Katie says, “Young Life models that Jesus is attractive in so many ways and it is important to put this on display. God’s Word is beautiful, so we work to highlight that to remind people of the richness God’s Word has to offer.”
She adds, “Young Life taught us that a different method of outreach can draw in someone who might otherwise never have any interest in Jesus. So, we use beautiful design as a different method to draw people toward Christ.”
It’s easy to see why we honored the Guilianos with our 2023 Young Life Young Professional of the Year Award! Their partnership and faith serve as an example and inspiration to us all on how to embrace our God-given gifts and steward them for his glory. We celebrate Katie and Nick’s creativity and passion to share God’s Word in such a beautiful and personal way!
Are you, or do you know a Young Life Community Network member who has an inspiring story to share? We love celebrating alumni and friends of the mission, while honoring God and inspiring others! Please email your recommendations to us !
