Author Archives: Ash Zook

YLI’s ministry in Nigeria, on the surface, resembles YLI in Ghana: young Christian adults making disciples and lovingly pouring their lives into younger leaders. Nigeria, as a country, however, is enduring incredible violence, especially toward Christians. In recent years, more Christians have died as a result of religious violence in Nigeria than in any otherContinue reading “News from YLI IN Nigeria”

“…so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.” – 1 Thessalonians 2:8 At YLI trainings it is important that our message is taught with excellence, but our training  is more than instruction. The YLIContinue reading “2025 Discipleship Training”

“The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” – John 14:4b In Ghana, 3.9 million people do not have access to clean water. That’s one in five people, created and loved by God, just as we are. YLI leaders primarily serve in impoverished villagesContinue reading “News: Clean water | living water”

This is a brief report from my third trip to Ghana in 2025. In short, I attended a discipleship follow-up training in one part of northern Ghana, took a three day road trip to inspect 12 new water projects, and then drove to Ghana’s far upper east corner to join some YLI leaders who, due to an ongoing tribal conflict, had notContinue reading “A marathon trip (at a sprint)!”

1. Through mother tongue translation discipleship becomes the story of a people. Although most people who attend our trainings are conversant in english, it’s not easy to connect to the human heart in a secondary language. YLI is all about the work that God does in our hearts, so we set off on a multi-year projectContinue reading “5 things we’ve learned (so far) in 2025”

Ash Zook YLI’s message all has to do with the heart. Intimacy with God, Love Evangelism, Spiritual Reproduction are not just learned conceptually but known experientially in the depth of our hearts, where God resides. Over the years, YLI’s ministry has gone out from more developed towns into the most remote of villages where weContinue reading “Language is the heart of a people”

“For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in”. (Matt 25:35) The fundamental reason that we started building clean water projects is that so many of the people we encounter in our ministry sufferContinue reading “Why is water important to discipleship?”

We made an urgent request in the April mailed newsletter… and YLI donors showed up for Kassapoe in time for Easter! Here’s how it happened. At the end of March, YLI Coach Oswin, traveled several hours to visit a remote village called Kassapoe, which is home for more than 1000 people.  What Oswin witnessed made his stomachContinue reading

Just last week, Coach Oswin, who is also my onsite water project manager, brought a very urgent need to my attention. He had traveled several hours to assess a village called Kassapoe, which he was surprised to see has a population of over 1000 people.  What Oswin saw made his stomach turn. The kids wereContinue reading “An urgent water need!”