THE TRAGIC LOSS OF MIKE YACONELLI
Early this morning, Thursday, October 30, we lost a friend, a father, an inspiration. Co-founder and owner of Youth Specialties (YS), Mike Yaconelli, was in a fatal car accident in northern California late Wednesday evening.
The number of lives touched by Mike is beyond what we could even estimate. He is the father of modern youth ministry in many minds. Through his books, speaking engagements, and YS events, he has ministered to untold thousands all over the world.
Mike dedicated his life to what God had called him to do. He believed in youth ministry, and did all he could to equip youth workers to change the lives of students. He lived with a passion that was unmatched. He was the incarnation of his book titles, Dangerous Wonder and Messy Spirituality; he lived a life of wonder and amazement at God’s grace. He never claimed to be perfect; he just lived as he wasa man after God’s own heart.
In this time of grief and confusion, as we all deal with our loss, it is the hope of the YS family that you will reflect on how God used Mike to touch your life. Please keep Mike’s wife, Karla, his father, Ernie, his children and grandchildren, and the YS staff in your prayers, as we deal with this painful loss.
There is more information on the YS site.
As more information is available regarding services, we will update you on the site.
Youth Specialties staff
For a bit of Mike's writing go over to Re-Imagining Youth Ministry. It's called "What Would Jesus Say?" Here's part of it:
Jesus: "They think youth ministry is about making young people nice?"
Me: "Well, yeah. I mean, they think you're a nice guy and everything-and they want their kids to be like you."
Jesus: "Look, these parents think I'm a nice idea. They think I care about what they care about. They want me to be an enhancement to their lifestyles-and they don't want me making their kids uncomfortable with their lifestyles. Basically they think I died on a cross to help their kids get good SAT scores, be captains of football teams and cheerleading squads, and have nice lives. They think I want to help their children become good Americans. Yuck!"
Me: "I didn't think Jesus would say 'Yuck!'"
Jesus: "It's a Greek word."
Me: "Oh...but aren't Christians supposed to be nice?"
Jesus: "You think I died on a cross to make people nice? You think I want to be relegated to the status of motivational speaker? Listen, I don't even like football, and I definitely don't like nice people. Look at my
disciples! Talk about loud, obnoxious, rude, flaky-hey, these guys were anything but nice. Remember when 'Mr. Nice Guy' John wanted me to send fire down on a little Samaritan village because they wouldn't let us stay for the night?
"Start telling parents that their sons and daughters should take a year after high school and do missions in South Africa and see how long you last. Tell them it isn't a good decision to make their kids go to soccer camp
instead of church camp and see how supportive they'll be. Truth is, I came to ruin people's lives-just like I ruined yours. I came to turn people's lives upside down. Remember all that stuff I said about being a sword and turning parents against children? I wasn't kidding."
Recent Comments