For college-aged students, Summer Staff is the experience of a lifetime. Encouraging them to sign up, however, often takes consistent and intentional effort on the part of YLC staff and leaders. On this episode, John Byard (Southwest Division), Billy Jack Blankenship (San Diego State), and Ryan Buskirk (Grand Canyon University) share their most valuable tips and tricks from their Summer Staff recruitment strategy for Young Life College. 

From staying connected to current students to meeting incoming freshmen, summer plays an important role in the annual rhythm of Young Life College ministry. Balancing fall planning, support raising, and assignments within these can prove challenging, not to mention taking time off after the school year! YLC Staff Hannah Maddock (Mizzou) and Caleb Hodder (Houston) join us for this episode to share best practices for summer orientations, adventures, and how to innovate summer strategies to...

In this episode, Young Life College staff Holli Hennigan (Nashville) and Ben Boelter (Fresno State) return to the podcast to share their best practices on Leadership Training and recruitment. Whether we send college students to lead their peers through YLC leadership, or we send them out to surrounding high schools and middle schools, students who come through leadership training should experience deeper community, excitement for the adventure of leading, and be propelled to live a life of...

In this episode, Kevin and Maggie Tietz from the University of Kansas join Jason Rinne for a deep dive conversation into the topic of spring ministry. Through shared adventures like Spring Break trips and the day-to-day faithfulness of contact work and developing student leaders, our hope in the spring is to create spaces for students to have threshold moments to plant seeds, cast vision, and consider their next steps in following Jesus. These moments allow us the opportunity to invite...

Pressure, anxiety, technology, pandemic: these factors and more contribute messy layers to the mental health of our college-aged friends. We invited Ann Shackelton, Vice President of Human Resources Mission Care and Enrichment, to join us for a special episode of the podcast to address the current state of mental health among students and remind us of our role as their Young Life Leaders. Through knowing our boundaries and resources, we can feel equipped to invite college students carrying...

John Byard and Anne Pinkerton walk Young Life College staff and leaders in a breakout session at the Summit through the foundations of effective gospel proclamation in a Young Life College Club and share how and why clubs at the college level should look different than a traditional Young Life Club.

In Young Life College, our hope is that students know they belong before they consider believing. Emily Kiaha, area director supervising ministry at The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, shares a “TED Talk” at the YLC&U Summit that challenges whether or not we are keeping lost and disinterested students as the focus of our ministry, from contact work and weekly events to how we celebrate students. Jesus modeled the kind of ministry Young Life strives to have: a ministry for the unreached.

Pete Hardesty, Eastern/Northeastern Divisional Coordinator, challenges staff and volunteers with the question “Who is your one or two that you are pouring your life into?" and shares how Jesus modeled effective discipleship through multiplication.

Effective multi-ethnic ministry goes deeper than strategy and best practices. In this “TED Talk,” Shanay Scott, YLC Director in the Bronx, urges us to see that college students of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds are waiting to be seen in the darkness. Our relationship with Jesus qualifies us to step beyond our clubs and share the light of Christ with every kind of student. As we consider cultural competency, Shanay reminds us to move from knowledge to empathy, and from conviction to...

Chris Cockerham and Kelly Coleman present a seminar on Engaging Generation Z. Young Life College staff and leaders are encouraged to learn about the unique differences that set Gen Z apart and how to think about ways to shift our leadership strategies so we can share Jesus to the next generation of students with more relevance and significance.

“Prof Rah” outlines how we will communicate the gospel effectively to the next generation by engaging in a truth-pursued approach to evangelism. Presentation slides here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1PjO-HOfw6Nt7kepSEiTD0rLUEx7qnCRXISlvIZDjUtw/edit?usp=sharing

A guided meditation and invitation to time with Jesus. Created for the 2021 Young Life College & University National Summit at LoneHollow Ranch.

As adolescent culture changes, we must become experts on that culture. As we look to the next decade of college ministry, Generation Z will demand us to flex our ministry methods to reach more students on our campus. In this episode, Chris Cockerham and Kelly Coleman preview content for their upcoming Gen Z seminar at the YLC&U Summit. This information will give us context as we shift our leadership strategies and share Jesus to the next generation of students with more relevance and...

Get your student leader team together to listen to this special episode! Is your team recruiting students to join a club or inviting them into a community of adventure and significance? YLC staff Alyssa Beaubien (Florida State) and Brad Akin (Ole Miss) join us along with Grace McKissick, a YLC student leader, to talk Welcome Week from the student leadership perspective. Student leaders invite peers to take their next steps in following Jesus--all while together having the ultimate “college...

This episode features a Welcome Week presentation by John Byard (Divisional Coordinator) and Billy Jack Blankenship (San Diego State) to the Southwest Division. As they dive into best practices, John and Billy Jack remind listeners how crucial the first two weeks of the semester are for incoming freshmen and cover everything from events to tabling to engaging all students in your community. Welcome Week is the foundation for a year of inviting students to experience community, adventure, and...

Rachael Plyler (Arizona State) and Marc Vinzon (Chapman University) join us in this episode to continue a race conversation from the AAPI perspective. Rachael and Marc offer their own experiences and challenge listeners to have the courage to be curious and call out stereotypes our culture has towards Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. As we build relationships with college students, it’s this same curiosity that earns us the right to be heard and helps students take their next steps in...

What role can you offer Alumni in reaching the next student on their campus? In this episode, Anthony Adamson (Houston) and Robyn Stutts (Arkansas) share the importance of having organized systems in place that continue to foster relationships among Alumni, inviting them to give back and take ownership of the ministry that impacted them. Whether Alumni decide to lead, serve, give, or pray, our invitation is that even after graduation, they continue to experience community, adventure, and...

As we show up on campus and walk alongside our student leaders every day, how are we investing in those that may be feeling called to Young Life staff? Anthony Adamson (Houston) and Heath Sizick (West Virginia) join us in this episode to share about their respective Student Staff programs, offering transferable principles for developing leaders. Ultimately, our role in students’ lives who have the potential for staff is the same: help them take their next steps in following Jesus.

After conducting a nationwide survey of YLC student leadership teams, Billy Jack Blankenship of San Diego State and Sara Cummings of James Madison share their findings. The top theme across 160 surveys was student leaders' uncertainty of contact work on a college campus. Billy Jack and Sara dive into how we can cast vision to student leaders to build relationships with disinterested peers on their campus, clarify contact work, and ultimately invite more students to take their next steps in...

What training have you had when it comes to developing a College Committee? Is your Committee ready for another year of ministry? In this episode, Chris Cockerham (Southeast Divisional Coordinator) and Karmen Johnson (YLC staff in Las Vegas) share about the importance of developing Committee now and laying roots for sustainable ministry through the YLC Committee Cohort. A healthy College Committee enables staff to spend the best of their time inviting students to take their next steps in...

Jen Banagas and Chaská Moore return for a follow up episode to talk more about reaching indigenous students on your campus, who face pressure to preserve their traditions after much loss during COVID-19 plus continued anxiety around generational trauma from a dark American past. As we show up in the lives of students from all cultures, we must educate ourselves, listen, learn, and raise awareness to the truths of those we walk alongside, ultimately taking our next steps in following Jesus...

Jen Banagas and Chaská Moore join us for this episode on the first of a two-part series sharing about their experiences as indigenous persons growing up in America on and off the reservation as well as serving on Young Life Staff. In this conversation, Jen and Chaská remind us that beyond all stereotypes, discrimination and differences, we share one thing in common: our humanness. From this place, we begin to invite students of all cultures and nations to take their next steps in following...

John Byard and Sarah Foster host Derek Walne of Ohio State and Anne Pinkerton of Missouri State to dive into the final “S” of Successful Spring Ministry: Squad. Whether your leadership team is all students or a mix of adults and students, you will be encouraged by what these veteran staff share about student leadership. As we build trust and cast vision to our student leaders, we help equip them to invite their peers from every area of campus to experience community, adventure, and significance.

Do your small groups fill a night of the week and lack consistency, or are they a community of students that live life closely and seek their next steps with Jesus together? Sam Moore and Lauren Bratcher of the University of Texas join us in this episode to share a small group system and approach for building a sustainable small group ministry that develops and builds a disinterested college student to a discipled graduate that thrives spiritually and seeks to serve the kingdom in every area...