Say More

Lauren Bocci: Today we’ll hear learn more about how Young Life’s vision to KNOW more kids and to make HIS name KNOWN will play out for our International field over the next 7 years. We’ll hear about the HOW and and the WHAT of the International Strategy that will ultimately lead us to three key outcomes across the mission. As we CARE for our teams of staff and volunteers, CALL them and other into deeper ministry, and ultimately create mission COMMUNITIES of belonging across our world in and through the mission of Young Life. ​

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All right. I am here with our two group senior vice presidents, Steve Larmey and Dan Jessup. I've been asking people. We've been talking a lot about KNOWN. No surprise, the podcast is focused around KNOWN, that we'd focus on that, but tell the crowd that you're here, so they know that it's your voice.

Steve Larmey:​ I'm Steve Larmey. I'm here.

Dan Jessup: Dan Jessup, present.

Lauren:​ Fantastic, fantastic. You guys are here. All right, so when we're thinking about KNOWN, I think we've seen different documents. Maybe we've seen videos. We've heard the storytelling behind it. But talk to us about ... You guys were there at the beginning, so to speak. Tell us how KNOWN and your guys' strategy, maybe more importantly, just the story behind your strategy. Who was involved? What was your process? What did you learn? Just take us back to that. When was that? Just tell us that story, a little bit.

Dan:​ Yeah, I'll jump in because I've been told by Steve Larmey to jump in, and I do what I'm told, Lauren. That's just how I roll. So-

Lauren: It's true.

Dan:​ Even before we called it KNOWN, Newt launched us into the YL 30 strategy conversation at an MLT, mission lead team level about two years ago, I believe. And we got together and read a book on the overall structure of it, and for the first ... I don't know how long it was. Steve, maybe you can remember. Three or four months, it was really an MLT conversation of what, at the highest level of the mission of Young Life, are we going to be asking the Lord, reveal what you want us, as a mission, to be thinking about and dreaming about and the things that the Spirit is putting before us as a mission lead team.

And so, we did that, and then Steve and I, with Newt’s help, assembled a team of people. We called it our strategic action team, and that was a grouping of people that would be Steve's and my thought partners. That was Steve and me and Brooke Johnston from Europe and then Steve Carmichael, the vice president of international finances, Kaylee, who's our logistics manager, globally. I think that was the primary grouping team of staff, and then to that, we had added John Brandon, former chairman of the Board of Young Life, continues on the board of trustees, and Susie Hutchinson as board of trustee voices.

And there was some other ones on there. Promod helped out some and some other folks, but that grouping of people really came before the Lord and asked the Lord to help us reveal what was on the heart of the Lord. And then we, as things began to unfold, Steve and I would take it from the SAP team back to our iFLT, and they had eyes on it. And then we went back to the SAP team, and then we pulled in a few others.

I can remember pulling in David Weekley and Robin Bruce as outside consultants. They're big funding partners to our work and getting their eyes on it, and so it was about a two-year process of going back and forth, of sausage-making, getting in the weeds, scratching and putting stuff on the whiteboard. But at the end of the day, I think Steve and I would say we're fairly confident the voice of the Lord has spoken, and we've heard, at least for the time being, what the Lord has made before. Steve, what would you add?

Steve: One thing I loved about this process, as Dan was talking about, is this, it just kept getting reiterated, iterated. We would bring it to friends and partners, the iFLT field. People would feed into it. Then it'd filter back up, and it's this filtering process. And over a number of months, the end result was just really a clear and a simple plan. And as you said, Dan, we do feel like the Holy Spirit has spoken, but not in a big list of a lot of prescription, but in some real clear, powerful, simple, directional things that I think will help us get to a whole lot of kids around the world.

Lauren: Yeah, I love that. I love how you use the word filter. I really do see dirty, messy, crazy water really going through a process where you're filtering it, and it's like, I get this. This is water. Okay, okay. I can drink this. And it really sounds like your process included a really wide spectrum of involvement too, so I can definitely see a lot of the voices and perspectives that you've had in building out your strategy. So, in terms of your strategy, tell us more about what it is, and where are you going, how will you get there. Talk a little bit about just the “guts” of your strategy. Steve, I'll look at you for this.

Steve: We feel like in the process, the Lord did lead us and gave us affirmation and confirmation and some creative clarity. And the affirmation in the process was we felt like the Lord really affirmed the things that we have been learning, reaching a world of kids and through Forward, the map, tree, and list is really a powerful, powerful tool and can be our core operating mechanism that we can really build upon in the future.

And we've really just begun to scratch the surface of what that can do, so we feel affirmed in that, affirmed in conviction we have, also, that the Lord's calling us to the corners of the world, we're called, and that the Lord is also calling men and women in every place and country, from every tribe and language, where we're going to lead where we go. So, national, local leadership called, building communities that we care for, and we feel like that's affirmed as well.

We got confirmation, also, in that map, tree, list is something to build upon. The creative clarity, as we look ahead, is the simple four pillars: 1) kingdom leaders, 2) communities of belonging, 3) evangelistic discipleship, 4) disciples making disciples, multiplication, all of that -- fueled by this volunteer movement, an army of women and men from every tribe, tongue, and nation, reflecting revelation as we go out, not only in the US, every corner of the US, but across the world. And so, that clarity and simplicity I think will help us move forward. Dan, what would you add to that?

Dan: Yeah, no. I like that a lot, Steve. I do think one of the things we did, early on, we ended up calling it the five-box analysis, but not all ministries are created equal. They all matter to the Lord infinitely, obviously. But some of them are very well-developed, and some of them are developing. Some of them, we're dreaming about, and we've tried to scratch and break into and haven't had that much success in some places. And some just need some help. They need some direction and need some clarity.

So, we did this five-box analysis, which is a pretty robust conversation to look at the leadership and the stage of ministry in different countries around the world, and that helped begin to focus our clarity. That, we went back to all of the SVPs on and the African VPs, and so this isn't what Steve and I felt like. This is the geographical leaders would say, "Yeah, this is where we're at, in our country." Did it by country, by country.

And that really helped craft up, as Steve talked about, the four basic pillars, some pretty unique ways of how then will we go about getting to the next kid? So it began to move from this aspirational ideas or categories and dreams, if you will, into some pretty clear ... Steve used the phrase simplicity and clarity. That couldn't be more important to us. When we think about our global work, it's got to be simplified, and we've got to be clear, because that's how you begin to move towards alignment, because we want everyone from the 13-year-old girl in Matagalpa, that met Christ a couple weeks ago at camp. She's the critical player in the global movement of the gospel, and if she doesn't see herself as going, "No, I am Young Life. I am the minister of the Gospel in my community."

This is not staff people doing something to and or for people. This is bubbling up from the barrios and the streets and the Hong Kongs and the skyscrapers of South Korea, but that kind of ownership. But it doesn't just come through simplicity and clarity and alignment. I think that two other words that I'd throw in there, that are really culture-shaping words, because I think Steve and I would both say that preserving the actual vibrancy of the culture of Young Life might be our greatest challenge.

It's not just do you have something with a logo and call it Young Life. The question is, is it Young Life? Is that really what we do? And that has a spirit of joy and courage in it that go with the alignment and the simplicity and the clarity. That's the water we swim in, and I think, for Steve and I, we look around the world. It is our staff that's taught us courage and joy, not something that we teach them.

This is the spirit you pick up with Young Life in Ukraine or Young Life in Kazakhstan or Russia, right now. It is Young Life in Asia Pacific and so many ... It is young life in Africa, as the tip of the spear of this movement of the Spirit of God. And so, we think not only are these pillars critical, but keeping this culture and feeding and growing this culture that you can smell anywhere in the world. You get around Young Life, whether it's Nashville or whether it's Salt Lake City or whether it's Buenos Aires, Argentina. You don't even have to know the language. It's like, okay, that smells like Young Life. I want to be part of that movement. So, that's a culture-shaping conversation, Lauren. I think that has been super critical to Steve and me and in our entire mission-wide team.

Lauren:​ I love that. When you think about KNOWN, moving from your strategy, which at one point, we've talked about broadly as being called YL30, bringing it into this next era. What happens after Forward? How do we all rally around the same vision? And that is KNOWN. What makes you guys excited? And you guys have been here for a little bit, and you've held different-

Dan: She's calling us old, Steve.

Lauren:​ No, no, no.

Dan: She's calling us-

Lauren: Just a little bit. It was just a little bit.

Dan:​ No, she called us old. I heard it. She said it.

Lauren:​ Never. But what makes you excited about where the Lord has Young Life? I loved how you touched on culture and preserving that culture, but specific to now, specific to KNOWN, what are you excited about for both international and the mission at large?

Steve:​ I am excited, Dan was telling the story of the leader in Matagalpa, that that story of the leader in Deli, the leader in Hong Kong, the leader in Mali, that that story is going to be multiplied by tens of thousands. This idea of the volunteer movement, if we could get anywhere near that really happening, that's going to be so powerful, so impactful. It's going to be beyond anything we've ever experienced or hoped for or imagined, and I'm thinking around the world, if we scratch the surface of this by 2030, we could have a million-and-a-half, up to two million plus kids, from outside the US, attending a Young Life club or ministry every week.

We did the whole, our walk, 75 years of Young Life to get to one million kids impacted, and by 2030, outside the US, we could have over two million come to club. How many known by name, around the world, millions, as well as what's happening in the US. I just think that the Lord is doing amazing things in the world, and he's positioned us in Young Life to be a key player in this. We have an opportunity just to ride this wave that's beginning to happen and to position. So, I'm excited to see Young Life on that wave as the kingdom of God advances across the globe.

Dan: I'm excited for Young Life in the United States of America to feel like the Lord is leading this mission, this invigorating, whatever fire exists to double it and triple, that the Lord would just fan those flames for our brothers and sisters in the US and get them going. I think for us, globally, our global mission is pretty young, and we've had some Young Life around the world for up to 65 years or so. But the bulk of it's pretty fresh and pretty new. And maybe one of the things that has a bunch of us super excited is the senior, top-level leadership development, so that that day is coming sooner than later, that someone that sits at Steve or my job or Newt's job or any of our [inaudible 00:16:27] won't be from the United States, but will be from outside the country. So, we're accelerating tremendous amount of resources and energy towards our senior global staff.

We call it the i100 or the international 100. That's meant to accelerate our global staff. So, we punted, a number of years ago, from being a mission sending organization, where we're sending Americans around the world. That's just not what we're doing. We're raising up national leadership at every level around the world, and that ownership and that pride factor and that beauty factor, that's even back-filling back into the US in some beautiful ways. But there will come a day, sooner than later, that the senior level of leadership that meets together is going to be from, as Steve said, every tongue, tribe, and nation around the world. And that brings joy to my soul, because that's the kingdom of God, the picture of Revelation kingdom that is spoken about in our scriptures. It's like that's coming true before our very eyes, so we really are in the book of Acts. It hasn't ended. It's just continuing, and the Lord uses us to be able to continue the movement of the Spirit and the Kingdom.

Lauren: Yeah.

Steve: Lauren, to follow up on that, one more thing I'm really excited about in our mission, and I think it's going to really come to pass in KNOWN. But obviously, the Holy Spirit has always been leading us in Young Life, but me personally, this might be ... I sense a move of the Holy Spirit in our mission in new ways. The way I hear staff, people, friends in the US, around the world talking about the Holy Spirit, this muscle of really listening well to the written Word, but also just hearing the Word of God and how I see that impacting the stories that I'm hearing, I feel like we're on the edge of a new way as a mission, interacting with the Holy Spirit and joining with the Holy Spirit and what the Holy Spirit's doing around the world. That, maybe more than anything, is what I'm most excited about in what I see around the mission and the world. And I do think a lot of our sisters and brothers around the world are helping us to lean into that in a way we never have before.

Lauren:​ Yeah, I feel that too. And I think about how the Lord went before us so clearly in even just our core metrics, which I think sometimes the word metrics can feel so cold, but our core metric of “kids known by name,” and what that really means and that, a few years later, we'd be talking about moving into the next chapter of Young Life being called KNOWN and really focusing on these areas of caring for our staff, of calling people into ministry, and growing these communities. There's no doubt in my mind that that was not of human work. I think people are listening more than they have been in maybe the past, and maybe that's a blessing of the pandemic that maybe we have some better ears, some better radar for that. So, thanks for saying that.

I talked a little bit about where I, and Dan, you mentioned it too, just being excited for what's happening in the US, and obviously, you guys and Chad and Wiley, as group senior vice presidents for the field, you hold your base in international, but you also partner across the world, just because of your position. And I'd be curious to hear a little bit about how your strategy and where the US is, this opportunity that we're at, to really get on the same page about where we're going, just to hear a little bit about what makes you excited in that, where are you seeing the Lord lead us in terms of really moving forward as one global Young Life, not a US Young Life, and then we have some other entities outside of the US, that gone are those days. But just curious how you guys are feeling about that, moving forward in this next chapter of Young Life.

Dan:​ I think one of the ways we might say it, Lauren, is the KNOWN campaign is about a vision that the mission of Young Life has always been about. How do you get after the next kid and live life with them, walk into their neighborhood, be Jesus with skin on, the incarnation, and watch them either choose or reject or mull around this idea of a lifelong relationship with a savior named Jesus? And then, when they choose Jesus, help them grow in their faith. That is what I signed up for 200 years ago when I came on the Young Life staff, and I believe that's what every volunteer around the world signs up for. It's like, "Yeah, I want to do that." That is a unifying, so if you think of Young Life without borders, there will come a day where we don't have Young Life in the US and Young Life around the world, that we really are just Young Life.

That is the unifying factor, and whether you call it “Our Walk” or KNOWN or something, there are going to be another campaign after the campaign after the campaign. And thanks be to God, hopefully we're just getting going within the mission of Young Life, even though we've been around for a number of decades. But I think to keep lifting up the idea of an adult walking into a neighborhood and loving the kid. It's like, oh my gosh. So, is it US and international? It is not. That's the mission of Young Life that the Lord has handed to our mission, to be able to say, "Be about that and be about that in every corner of the globe and in every part of your city and every part of your lunchroom and every part of the campus and every part with all kinds of kids, every kid." That, you go, "Okay, I want to be part of that movement. I will lay down my life for that movement and unabashedly so." So, that is super captivating in me.

Steve: I'm excited for, rather than being an accomplice with the enemy and chains and borders, that I'm excited for Young Life to be border-busting, chain-breaking ministry. We talk about belonging, that our talk about belonging would really be real, and that, texting with Chad Edwards, the other day, he came back from the border and Lowder and his team are working. And I grew up 50 miles from the border, and what they're talking about ... And then, on the other side, I'm talking with Pratt Butler today, in Mexico, and that border doesn't exist for the Lord.

And when we get to the point where we're operating as a mission like the Lord operates, and borders are busted, and we're crossing over, and we're making an impact, that is exciting. And we're breaking the chains of, really, a ministry that breaks chains of the pain of colonialism and slavery and Jim Crow and every iteration of that across the globe. That's exciting, and I think the Lord has given us an invitation, an opportunity to really be a part of that. But we got to be courageous. This is a time for courage. We're not running downhill. This is an uphill climb, and we're taking hills. We're not running away. We're not running downhills.

Lauren:​ So good. So good. Guys, this brings us to the end of our time. Thank you so much for just sharing both what's on paper, but more importantly what's on your heart and what the Lord has given you. So, thank you. Good day.

Steve: Thank you, Lauren. Good day to you too.

Dan: Thanks, Lauren. ​