Darryl Smith: The lack of manpower. The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. We have many opportunities to minister [in schools, but] a lot of times we have to say—with broken hearts—that right now we just don’t have the people…

[It’s a] challenge mobilizing college students and young adults. We’re living in a culture [where young people are] pursuing the American dream rather than the heavenly dream.

YWJ: What unique gifts does your organization brings to the table to address these opportunities and challenges?

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Terry Swenson: Fortunately, we continue to find that the core values and competencies of Young Life “translate” well in an ever-changing youth culture and into a wide variety of international cultural settings. Crossing into the world of adolescents, building relationships, earning the right to talk about matters of faith, communicating the gospel in terms kids can understand—those are timeless and crosscultural ways to reach kids with the gospel.

Regarding the resource challenge, these simple core strategies enable volunteers to easily catch and “do” Young Life. This is so important because so much Young Life is done by volunteers.

Rahn: YFC has been a pretty flexible group over the years. We reinvent our own forms as much as we have to so we can help connect kids we want to know Jesus with those of us who already love Jesus. We’re embedded in local communities and pursue collaborative strategies with lots of churches in those locales, believing that the unity of the body of Christ will contribute to a fertile evangelistic environment. I think we’re in pretty good position to make real contributions to contemporary youth ministry and the Church.

Nuss: NNYM desires to connect youth workers and people who care about kids, and resources—on the local level and as well as nationally. NNYM wants to establish a healthy network within the reach of every youth worker in America. We don’t want anyone to work in isolation.

Nationally, we gather like-minded leaders to work together on initiatives. For instance, the Campus Alliance is an effort to establish some kind of ministry presence on every one of the 63,000 high school and middle school campuses in America. The alliance brings together around 40 organizations to dialogue and share strategy for that goal.

We’re concerned for the individual youth worker as well. We are working to mentor and empower young leaders. We have statistical data that proves that youth workers who network stay in ministry longer.

Smith: I’m not comfortable saying we are unique. I feel that God has called us to be part of the Body. He has called all of us to the Great Commission. I don’t like to set Student Venture apart.… Because the call is so big, it would be crazy for Student Venture to think that we have some sort of inside track to fulfilling the Great Commission…