History

The year was 1996 when Dr. Jim Burns of Homeward, formerly the leader of Youth Builders, was leading a training seminary for youth workers in San Clemente, CA. One of the sessions, led by Dr. Burns, challenged the group of 25 youth workers to consider where they saw God taking them in the future. Half way around the semi-circle was a man of 25 named Dave Coryell. Dave had been a youth worker for four years and was seeking to further his abilities as a youth pastor. In that moment, Dave felt God speak to him about launching a youth ministry initiative that would provide a drastic change concerning the way that churches approached youth ministry.

Dave did not sense any further insights from God at this time so he continued to serve as a youth pastor until the student ministry grew to a point that his leadership skills were stretched. Upon talking to the leadership of the church, he realized that he either needed to grow as a leader or find a new situation in which to serve. Through prayer, Dave and his wife, Jen, decided to stay in their situation and ask that God provide a way for Dave to grow his leadership skills. Within a month, information about the Arrow Leadership Program was sent to Dave by a mentor. Dave applied and was accepted into the Arrow US Class of 2001. During this program, Dave sat in a room of 25 young leaders and was challenged concerning what God was going to do through his life. Dave received a leading concerning the development of a Christian Youth Leadership Center. Upon researching what was happening in this area, it became clear that most programs were designed according to the experiences of the leader who started them. The reasons for why the programs were designed a certain way was not clearly defined. Dave decided to use the Arrow Leadership Track toward a Doctoral degree through Gordon-Conwell Theloogical Seminary so that he could commit focused study upon the subject of youth leadership development. During this time of study and involvement in church-based youth ministry, Dave realized the dire need for leadership development among Christians. He was also exposed to teaching that helped him to see how quickly attitudes that were not Christian were spreading across North America.

The thesis project that Dave wrote uncovered that several excellent ideas are being applied in leadership development efforts including: various types and formats of training, mentoring, assessments, theoretical models and experiential learning. There did not seem to be one approach that combined some of the influential methods into one manner of development. The Imagine the Impact concept combines top notch training; social support in the form of mentoring, peer group connections, and parent/guardian recommendations; assessments testing; and a personal project carried out in the student’s home setting. There is also an intimate connection with the local church as churches are asked for prayer and financial support while the student goes through the class. The student participates in a leadership role in worship services at least once a month throughout the year under the supervision of the pastor.

In July 2006, Dave received a phone call from Jim Todd, the District Superintendent in Dave’s denomination (United Methodist). The two met in order to share thoughts and ideas. Jim had a goal of seeing youth leadership happen across the district. Dave had a vision of seeing youth leadership happen across the world and starting in our county. The two decided to work together in order to get something started. Upon further encouragement from several mentors, it was determined that a team would be pulled together on November 17, 2006 to discuss the start of a pilot program. It was determined that the first youth leadership institute would be held in July of 2007. The name Imagine the Impact was later chosen. The start of Imagine the Impact had to be delayed until June 2008 to provide enough time to recruit the studnet class. This effort is starting in Lancaster County Pennsylvania and has the hope of spreading to other geographic regions within the next few years.