JOIN NOW
2018 Young Life Love Stories
mar. 21, 2018
“Thanks to Young Life, I met my husband, Howard, at the bottom of our basement steps. It was 1955; Howard was a junior and I was a senior at Wheaton College, but we never met on campus. My sister had been on staff in Colorado, and I attended camps at Silver Cliff and Star Ranch. Howie was active in Young Life in high school, spent summers on the work crew and ended up as chief cook for two years at Star Ranch for the Young Life institute. That fall, Young Life was scheduling a weekend staff conference, and they asked my parents if they could hold the meetings in our basement. So, I walked down to the basement to welcome the cook and there at the bottom of the stairs stood Howie! Two years later we were married, and we have just celebrated our 60th anniversary.” — Valerie H.
“My husband and I met through Young Life. We went to school at Ohio University and led on different Young Life teams. Three years later we are married, as of January 7! It was incredible being able to do ministry alongside one another. It was always encouraging to see how well he loved his high-schoolers.” — Cydney A.
“In 1974, Kevin and I met in a Diablo Valley Young Life leaders’ meeting. I was working at a Christian bookstore when he came in to find a book he needed. “Hey, nice to see you, Kevin. What are you looking for?” Evidently it was me! We attended Trinity Western College together and were engaged by Thanksgiving! We were married June 12, 1976, and will celebrate our 42nd anniversary this June. Young Life was a key component in our relationship. Through the years we have been leaders, counselors, committee members and all-around support for our area. Now our son, Shea Morgan, is the area director for Marin, California Young Life!” — Lynnie M.
“My husband and I met through Young Life when I was a leader in college. For him, it was ‘love at first sight.’ After spending more time with him as we led in the same area, we grew to be close friends. Our leadership was a very tight group of friends, and we all hung out every week. I moved into my area director’s house after college so I could keep leading in the area. About a month later we started dating accidentally; a group of us were going to see TransSiberian Orchestra but everyone backed out except us. We took the week before the concert to pray about whether we wanted it to be a date and we both felt that we did. That was almost a decade ago, and we have now been married for five years and have two beautiful boys! We led Young Life together up until our second son was recently born, and we are more in love now than we ever have been. I’m so thankful that Young Life gave me a safe place to see his heart for the Lord and for high-schoolers."— Sarah R.
“I got involved with Young Life through Quest my first year of college, and my husband, Bartley, was also in that Quest group. One of my first memories of my husband is him kicking himself in the head (which he can still do 20 years later — it’s a great icebreaker). Quest was my first experience of true Christian community. Bartley and I led Young Life in the same area and eventually went on our first date during February of my junior year of college. (He asked me for my phone number at Dairy Queen after Young Life club on a Monday night surrounded by high-schoolers). I’m grateful to Young Life for leading me to my best friend, but I’m most grateful to Young Life for investing in the lives of broken-hearted teenagers! Bartley and I have three boys, and I’m so excited that they will get to be a part of this ministry!” — Natasha M.
“My husband and I met at Clemson when I was placed on his Young Life team. He is a year ahead of me. We were best friends and teammates for two years before we started dating (after getting permission from our area director). We broke up when he graduated and went on Young Life staff in Greenville, and I was still at Clemson, but eight months later we were back together. After a year we were engaged, and we will be celebrating five years of marriage in June! We've led together for nine years and have been on staff for seven. We are now going through the adoption process and waiting for our little babe!” — Rebecca J.
“We met on a leaders’ retreat in college and are getting hitched on April 26!” — Lily B.
“My wife, Catie, and I got married last October. She is from Memphis, Tennessee, and I am from Manhattan Beach, California. We met while serving as part of summer staff for Malibu Young Life camp and had the best month of our lives. Catie was a boat driver, and I was an outer dock manager. One week into camp, Catie ran over the banana boat rope and it got stuck in the propeller. I came out on a dingy boat, held my breath, dove under the boat, and cut the line. We shared a moment together then, and the rest of camp we got to know each other very well. On the last day before we headed home, Catie asked me the words that I’ll never forget: “Do you wanna talk to me tonight?” Two years later, after long-distance dating, we were married and decided to move to Colorado.” — Connor D.
