February 19th, 2025
by Brent Corbin
by Brent Corbin
Why do I love our Youth Leader Training conference so much? I have been thinking about this since I recently returned home from my 4th time at YLT, and I can honestly say that my joy and appreciation for what we have the opportunity to do during that week is increasing year by year.
Okay, we get it, but why? When I began my ‘career’ (it always feels weird to call it that, not sure why) in ministry after a short stint in commercial banking, I remember heading to Georgia to gather with fellow RUF interns from around the country for 2 weeks (!) of staff training. I remember how formative those weeks were for me as a new-to-ministry person as we spent time learning, sharing our hopes and dreams, and, in time, celebrating and lamenting the highs and lows of ministry. After seminary, I would again attend these RUF training events as a campus minister, which by that time had switched to 1 week, twice per year. And once more, I remembered why I loved these times…I needed them!
So, I do think there is an aspect of my love for RYM’s youth leader training that is borne from my nostalgic sense of knowing that ministry people need and benefit from getting together, exhaling from the day-to-day pressures of ministry life, and letting others pour into them.
But there’s more to it than that for me. Over the Christmas holiday, while driving from Louisiana to Oklahoma to visit some family and friends, I listened to a wonderful book entitled Unreasonable Hospitality. I enjoyed it so much that I listened to it again as soon as I finished.
Hospitality is one of RYM’s core values. Given that we will welcome 6,000+ people to our events and conferences this year, we would do well to pay attention to these things! I could share so many quotes from the book, but I’ll spare you that exercise and leave you with just one: “People will never forget how you made them feel.”
When we gather hundreds of ministry leaders from across the country together at YLT, we (the RYM Staff) get to look at them in so many ways throughout that week and tell them: YOU are worth celebrating. The work that you do with young people, leading them to and discipling them unto Jesus, matters SO, SO MUCH. The Lord loves you and delights in you, and we think you’re really, really great. For all those reasons and more, we want to give you a wonderful week and make you feel just how special you are.
So it is, for 5 days a year, we pull out all the stops and bless them. So that they, in turn, might be a blessing to others.
All for Jesus,
Brent Corbin
Executive Director
Okay, we get it, but why? When I began my ‘career’ (it always feels weird to call it that, not sure why) in ministry after a short stint in commercial banking, I remember heading to Georgia to gather with fellow RUF interns from around the country for 2 weeks (!) of staff training. I remember how formative those weeks were for me as a new-to-ministry person as we spent time learning, sharing our hopes and dreams, and, in time, celebrating and lamenting the highs and lows of ministry. After seminary, I would again attend these RUF training events as a campus minister, which by that time had switched to 1 week, twice per year. And once more, I remembered why I loved these times…I needed them!
So, I do think there is an aspect of my love for RYM’s youth leader training that is borne from my nostalgic sense of knowing that ministry people need and benefit from getting together, exhaling from the day-to-day pressures of ministry life, and letting others pour into them.
But there’s more to it than that for me. Over the Christmas holiday, while driving from Louisiana to Oklahoma to visit some family and friends, I listened to a wonderful book entitled Unreasonable Hospitality. I enjoyed it so much that I listened to it again as soon as I finished.
Hospitality is one of RYM’s core values. Given that we will welcome 6,000+ people to our events and conferences this year, we would do well to pay attention to these things! I could share so many quotes from the book, but I’ll spare you that exercise and leave you with just one: “People will never forget how you made them feel.”
When we gather hundreds of ministry leaders from across the country together at YLT, we (the RYM Staff) get to look at them in so many ways throughout that week and tell them: YOU are worth celebrating. The work that you do with young people, leading them to and discipling them unto Jesus, matters SO, SO MUCH. The Lord loves you and delights in you, and we think you’re really, really great. For all those reasons and more, we want to give you a wonderful week and make you feel just how special you are.
So it is, for 5 days a year, we pull out all the stops and bless them. So that they, in turn, might be a blessing to others.
All for Jesus,
Brent Corbin
Executive Director
Recent
Archive
2025
No Comments