Insights

Your vocational discernment program alumni are some of your best assets. How are you utilizing them? Whether your program is thriving or needs improvement, partnering with alumni can be a terrific resource for expansion. They've been there. They've done that. And they had a great time! Why not use their excitement and expertise to help inspire others?

Peace. Love. Joy. Hope. The core purpose of Advent is to prepare for the coming of Christ. It manifests both inwardly, in our hearts, and outwardly, in our traditions and celebrations. As you prepare your hearts for this season of anticipation, here are a few resources for your reflection and meditation.

Our 2022 theme was "Awaken What's Possible," which has been built on hope for a better future. By investing in students who truly desire to impact the world around them and live out their purpose, passion and calling, we believe that possible will become inevitable.  We even asked our program leaders what "Awaken What's Possible" means to them, and this is what a few of them had to say.

As someone who works day in and day out to connect high school students or young adults to their purpose, passion and calling, you know how much your work matters. But knowing isn’t enough.  You need funding for the health and longevity of your program, and that requires bringing more people into your mission as well as continuing to engage current supporters along the way. It’s part art, part science and part timing. You’ll also be more successful when you have a guide.

If you are a church or faith leader who mentors high school students and young adults, watch this engaging conversation and live Q&A on youth leadership with Dr. Patrick B. Reyes, senior director of learning design at the Forum for Theological Exploration.

Do you believe young people are a force for leading movements to change policy and culture, yet also believe churches are notably absent in supporting and mentoring them? If so, you will enjoy the replay of this timely and thought-provoking discussion with Dr. Beth Corrie. 

Here are five books from YTN partners sharing their years of experience working with discerning high school students.

From personal grants that help you grow as a leader to grants that advance the field of youth ministry to grants that expand your own vocational discernment program, the grants below are terrific opportunities to secure additional support for your mission and work. And while we're calling out a few options below, you can find more on our Resources page. Simply scroll down and select "grants" in the left-hand column.

Each summer, the MAST (Maryville Adventures in Studying Theology) Program at Maryville College in East Tennessee welcomes high school students to our Expanding Horizons Institute. Scholars spend a week on campus, diving into Christian theology while exploring the Smoky Mountains and listening for God’s voice through stories of faith reflected in the arts, science, and nature. Students come from different denominational backgrounds or with very little religious formation at all. They bring curiosity and a desire to connect big questions of faith to concerns about the world. They bring energy, intelligence, imagination and so much love. As they talk together, they make a joyful noise to the Lord.

I have known Jesus saves for as long as I can remember, born into the Southern Baptist tradition in rural Missouri. I have identified with evangelical Christianity for just as long. But as I watched the events unfold on January 6th, I did not recognize the voices claiming the faith I know and love. I was embarrassed. I was angry. I was afraid. Here was the culmination of a movement that loves not God and neighbor but nation and self. Its voice is so loud, it reverberates as seemingly the only “Christian” voice in the public square.

“Do you think the Bible is true?” My college professor looked me straight in the eye and coyly requested a response. We had just read the two passages in Genesis that depict the story of Noah’s ark. In chapter 6, God asked Noah to bring two of all living creatures, male and female. In chapter 7, God told Noah to bring seven pairs of all clean animals and one pair of all unclean. My professor wanted to know: If the Bible contradicts itself, can it be true? I was 18 years old.