Young Life, a worldwide Christian youth ministry founded in 1941, has been impacting the teen community in San Antonio for almost 20 years. Th rough weekly meetings, small groups, summer camps, weekend excursions and one on one time, Young Life leaders build lifelong relationships with teenagers.
Since 1988, thousands of kids have been involved with Young Life in San Antonio. A growing group of local high school and middle school students is actively participating in San Antonio Young Life and WyldLife – the middle school version of Young Life. Each week, around 400 San Antonio teens fill the living rooms of local homes for Young Life Club, where there is live music, messy games and silly skits. Th is Club provides a place where kids can come to laugh, sing, play games and hang out with their friends. The group interaction at Club generates energy, excitement and an atmosphere of acceptance. This combination of friendship and fun provides Young Life leaders an opportunity to share with teenagers the good news that God loves them.
For more than 60 years, Young Life leaders around the world have been building unconditional friendships with young people and modeling God's love. Young Life and WyldLife stay true to the time–tested practices that Young Life has been using since it was founded: going where teens are, providing fun, safe and comfortable gatherings, earning the right to be heard and communicating God's love in terms they can understand. With four full–time staff and more than 40 adult and college volunteers, Young Life leaders in San Antonio continue to have a positive and lasting impact on teenagers across the city.
Currently reaching out to kids at Clark High, O'Connor High, Smithson Valley High, Reagan High, Churchill High, MacArthur High, McCollum High, Alamo Heights High, Stevens High and Spring Branch Middle, local Young Life staff and volunteers have future plans for giving every teenager in the community a chance to participate in Young Life. This past summer, 166 San Antonio teens attended Young Life camp.
A week at Young Life camp is filled with adventure, excitement and fun. More than 75,000 teens across America spend a week at one of 21 Young Life properties. With beautiful scenery, zip lines, climbing walls, tubing, go–carts, pools, game rooms, basketball and volleyball courts and much more, kids have the opportunity to just be kids at Young Life camp. Their leaders have a chance to spend a week sharing this experience with their high school friends, free from the noise and distractions of everyday life. Throughout the week, Young Life campers hear from a speaker who elaborates on the person of Jesus Christ and God's love for them. Many students walk away from this experience with a new perspective on life and deeper relationships with their leaders and friends.
"Our son was at a crossroads last year, dealing with not having made the varsity basketball team, and was very bitter and withdrawn. We appreciated Young Life's persuasion and insistence on him going on the Crooked Creek Young Life camp trip. You have no idea the dramatic and positive impact it had on him personally. His whole attitude and outlook on life seemed to mean something again. He still gets excited when telling stories or showing pictures of that experience. I know he and all of his friends enjoy the time Young Life leaders spend with them playing Frisbee too! I overhear them talking sometimes when they are hanging out at the house." – A mom's letter to a Young Life leader
Active in all 50 states and more than 50 countries, Young Life reaches almost 1 million teenagers each school year, including suburban, urban and multicultural kids, kids with disabilities and teenage mothers. Young Life accommodates more than 75,000 kids for a weekend during the school year or a week in the summer at one of its 21 camping properties in North America.
For more information about Young Life in San Antonio or to find out where the weekly club meetings for students are held, contact the San Antonio Young Life office at (210) 349–9602.
