5 things to share so far in 2025

#1 – YLI Training in Nicaragua – Ash and Ryn headed down to Nicaragua in January with our partner church, Southern Hills. We were part of a team doing love evangelism with children during the day and YLI training for local pastors and church leaders in the evening. For the first time, the YLI training was translated into Spanish.  It was a blast!

#2 – Ash also made his first 2025 Ghana trip in January.  He led a prayer and planning retreat with the Coaches, joined YLI Interns David Abdulai, Silas, and Evans at a follow up training with disciples in Tolon (photo below) and spent time looking at sites for the next YLI home base. 

#3 – 3 water projects completed in January and 5 more started – our water team, Oswin and David Babatiffu installed clean water in villages where YLI Coach, Jonah is ministering: Kunkuzoli, Nankurb, and also one for a community of Fulani Muslims living close to Kunkuzoli. The next five will be in communities where Coaches Job, Constant and Oswin are engaged as missionary disciples. With the dry season upon us, water is becoming more scarce. This woman expressed her joy and gratitude for the love shown to them through clean water in Nankurb.

#4 – YLI Trainings – So far in 2025 we’ve hosted two follow up discipleship gatherings for young leaders in Tolon, Ghana and at the College of Education in Dambai, Ghana. Our next Basic Training of 2025 is coming up on February 14-16 in New Karu, Nigeria. Photo is of Coach Constant (green shirt) and Intern Joel T (red shirt) surrounded by the disciples at Dambai College of Education.

#5 – YLI’s Nigerian Coach,Peter Iliya is going to be a periodic guest writer for us this year.  Here is an excerpt from an article that will be in our upcoming newsletter. 

“It was Frantz Fanon who wrote that, ‘Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it’. As young Christians here in Nigeria, God, in His mercy has helped us to discover His mission and has given us the privilege of joining Him to reconcile men to Him, raise disciples for the kingdom and remind the Church of His divine mandate in the world….We trust the Holy Spirit to enable us to go at His pace. Our confidence lies in the fact that God will lead us to the right people and right places, and also at the right time as the days go by….”

Thank you for joining us on this mission to make disciples!

2T22!

You can join us in 2025

Here’s how!

Young Leaders International’s model is simple relational discipleship. That means that even though we’ve experienced exponential growth in the number of young leaders impacted, our baseline budget has  only increased minimally year over year.

In 2025 we will be increasing our investment in the Nigerian interns while we continue to build up the next generation of Ghana Coaches. We are also increasing our Coach retreats to a total of six between Ghana and Nigeria. We ask that you prayerfully consider a 2025 year-end gift and that you remember us all in prayer. Most of all, we hope you all know how much we value your friendship, encouragement, and support. God has surrounded YLI with an incredible community of people that keeps us built up and moving forward. Thank you!

Empowering young leaders to reach their world through discipleship.

Da Onyame Ase!

A word from our Executive Director, Ash Zook

Friends,

Da Onyame Ase (thanks be to God) is a line in a Ghanaian children’s song, Da N’Ase. Da N’Ase is like the American song, “Jesus Loves Me”. It’s often the first song a child learns in Sunday School. Similarly, it is spiritually deep despite its lyrical simplicity. “We thank God!” not “Wow, that’s awesome!” is the reply when good news is shared in Ghana. Somehow  divine gratitude seems to come more easily for people who possess little, than for those who are buried in excess!  

Mike Moye addressing the children in Kpenchila

I remember in 2009 visiting the most impoverished village I had seen to that point. YLI board member, Mike Moye was with me. Surrounded by sick children I couldn’t help but imagine my own young children sitting among them on the dusty ground. It was incredibly unsettling. I said a few words about God’s love which felt useless as they left my mouth. Then, I asked Mike if he would share a word with the children. Instead of talking, he responded by singing Jesus Loves Me. It felt Holy. The wrestling match in my heart happened as we drove out of the village that day. I had no doubt that Jesus loved those children as much as my own, and I knew that discipleship demanded something more from me personally and from YLI as a ministry. Continuing to just teach about discipleship from the comfort of  churches was not an option when beloved children of God suffered for lack of water. That village Kpenchila, became the site of the first YLI water project. Da Onyame Ase!

The first YLI water project

YLI’s ministry and training is centered in Love.

1. We pursue an intimate love relationship with God.

2. We build loving friendships with lost people.

3. We disciple other people out of love.

Love sounds happy and free, but in practice, love is often uncomfortable and costly. Jesus’ love for us came at an incredible cost. His obedience to God’s love required that he leave the comforts of heaven, endure immense suffering and die. This is the love He invites us into. 

Because of their participation in Jesus’ divine Love, YLI Coaches radiate joy in the midst of levels of physical hardship, financial poverty, and threat of persecution that are unknown to us in the United States. I can testify that, like the poor widow from Luke chapter 21, YLI leaders give all they have because Jesus gave all of Himself. We are thankful for what He endured out of love to save us. We are thankful to you for supporting YLI leaders, who don’t just talk about love, but leave their comfort zones and live love. 

Da Onyame Ase!

Ash Zook, Executive Director

YLI Coaches singing “Da N’Ase” just for you

Intimacy with God

Is what we are made for

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

-John 15:4

 

Why Coach Retreats are so important

It may appear on the surface that YLI’s primary work is the much loved Basic Training – the discipleship conferences where we get to engage with 400 new young people every year. In actuality, YLI revolves around the smaller Coach retreats where the team focuses on deepening relationships with each other and in  intimacy with God. The more “visible” ministry activities like the Basic Training, water projects, and disciple-making are all an outgrowth of intimacy with God. That is why the Coach retreats are so important. Unless we have a deep love for Jesus, we will never truly love His mission. In order for us to be fruitful we need to be in union with Him. 

YLI Coach Retreat at the Home Base in Tamale, June 2024

Every person is made for intimacy with God. As our relationship with Him deepens, we find that we can trust Him enough to step out of our comfort-zone. And when we step out of our comfort zone, He always goes with us. When we see God showing up in our lives, our love for him deepens and we surrender more to Him.  This way of life is what our late friend Henry Blackaby wrote about in his classic book Experiencing God. We’ve spent a lot of time studying Experiencing God together this year. 

One of the highlights of my 17 years with YLI was the Intimacy with God retreat with our Nigerian team in September. For three years I have been trying to get into Nigeria, but rejected visas, and logistical challenges kept delaying the trip . Looking back, I see that God allowed those roadblocks to occur so it would happen when He wanted it to happen. YLI’s ministry in Nigeria has been growing for seven years without me.  Although I knew their names and faces thanks to Zoom meetings, it was wonderful to be with them in person. Nigeria is the fifth highest persecuted country in the world and the Interns live with the inherent dangers of being a Christian. Throughout the retreat, I sensed an unusual attentiveness to my teaching, and seriousness regarding the importance of listening to God. It felt like they were hanging on every word as if I was giving instructions to perform emergency surgery! Afterward they shared how much they needed this time to focus on listening to God. One person shared that understanding discipleship from YLI has given purpose to their life. They mentioned how much they appreciate that YLI is so practical, and that our focus is on building relationships, not an organization. Now, with a five year visa, I’m definitely planning to be back in Nigeria a few times next year. YLI has an incredible opportunity to partner with these young people and with the vital ministry they are doing in a very dangerous part of the world.  

Incarnational Evangelism

Means Leaving your Comfort Zone

What’s new with YLI Coach, Constant Adzomani

For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation… 

  -2 Corinthians 1:5-6a

 When thinking about world missions what often comes to mind is Americans leaving the comforts of air conditioned homes, beloved churches, grandparents and Chick-fil-a  milkshakes to live cross culturally in a country like Ghana.  While I do experience physical discomfort, annoying illnesses and missing my family when I travel, it pales in comparison to what some African YLI leaders endure cross culturally for the gospel. Ghana and Nigeria are  made up of many different cultures, languages, and standards of living. Working cross culturally requires great sacrifice for them as well. 

Constant greeting the chief of a village where he and his wife serve as missionaries.

Constant Adzomani comes from a middle class Christian home in southern Ghana but lives in simple accommodations with his new bride in a remote northern Muslim village that also has a foreign language. Before they could get married Lillian had to discern her own call to missions, go away for two years of missionary training in Nigeria, and learn a new language. Life is difficult for them and they work tirelessly.  

It’s easy to default to an expectation that somehow God should allow us a certain level of comfort in life.  Didn’t the apostle Paul write in second Corinthians that God is the “God of all comfort?” That sounds wonderful, but Paul’s life was anything but comfortable. Following Jesus around the world led him into all kinds of trouble including  an actual shipwreck, personal betrayals, violent beatings and martyrdom. God didn’t allow Paul a comfortable life, but God was his comfort in affliction. Paul did not hesitate to take on all of that suffering in exchange for God’s comfort. Paul proclaimed that it is a privilege to join in the suffering of Jesus! Trouble is to be expected by Jesus’ followers, but Jesus is right there with us amid the trials. 

Just like with American Christians, young Africans can easily live in a “Christian bubble” insulated not only from trials, but from the very people God intends for them to reach with the gospel. YLI’s teaching on Incarnational Evangelism strongly challenges young people to leave their “comfort zone” and go rub shoulders with people who make them uncomfortable in places they would not otherwise go.  It may be the only way they ever learn how much God loves them. Leaving one’s comfort zone isn’t our natural inclination. We all need to be willing, like Constant and our other YLI leaders, to step out of our cozy environments anytime God urges us to do so.  When we do, God promises to be right there with us.

Spiritual Reproduction

Grows from intimacy with God and love evangelism

…and what you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

– 2 Timothy 2:2-3

On nearly every trip to West Africa, current YLI Coaches introduce me to new young men and women who have adopted YLI’s way of discipleship. Some are university students who are being discipled by our most recent generation of Coaches.  

Working alongside five generations of Coaches over the last 17 years has allowed me to witness the miraculous power and exponential growth of disciple making. There was a time I was able to name all of the leaders involved with YLI. Those days are long gone. 

In the same way that Jesus gave the Great Commission to his disciples right before He physically departed the earth, Paul wrote the letter of second Timothy as final instructions before his martyrdom. In 2T22, Paul commissions Timothy not only to remain faithful to God and fruitful in ministry, but to multiply their faithfulness  and fruitfulness into the lives of others (who will also do the same). Spiritual multiplication doesn’t just happen. It requires intentionality. Spiritual multiplication will not occur in the absence of intimacy with God and incarnational evangelism.

The spread of the gospel through spiritual multiplication is always the end goal of YLI. It is our ultimate objective. It is how we gauge our effectiveness. We strive to be a part of God’s mission in the world the way that Jesus, the twelve apostles, Paul, Timothy, and the cloud of witnesses who came before us have done over the last 20 centuries. 

2024 Water Projects

This year we were able to complete ten clean water projects before the rainy season began in June. That’s a pretty good pace for us. Water projects have grown into a key part of our incarnational evangelism efforts in Ghana over the last 15 years, but drilling can only be reliably done during the dry season from January through June. Only then can the contractor know that water found is truly ground water, not surface water that will dry up when the rains end. 

During the planning phase for this year’s projects, my friend Pastor Abukari introduced me to a brilliant geophysicist and water expert  named David Babatifu. David is out of our league. He is rather high-profile, meaning, he constructs large water projects for international governmental aid organizations. He’s even done water projects for Ghana’s former president (and current presidential candidate) John Mahama.  As David got to know YLI he fell in love with our mission. He took on every project we had. You would think that David would be more expensive than smaller contractors but the opposite has been true. 

The YLI “water team” is now made up of David and our Coach Oswin, who is extraordinarily conscientious and detail oriented. Oswin  donates his time to travel with David to be my “eyes and ears” on every water project. We have even been able to return to communities where we previously were not successful in finding water because David has a knack (as well as the geological survey equipment) to find groundwater where no one else has been able to in the past. Communities that have been suffering for generations now have access to safe and clean water. David has also helped us determine which communities need more than one project so we can go back and drill a second borehole where it’s needed. 

Thanks to the work and expertise of David and Oswin we believe that  we will be able to complete 13 water projects in 2025. Thank you, to all of you who have donated to YLI water projects. We are only able to set such lofty goals because of your generosity. Each YLI water project is constructed in a community where a YLI leader is engaged in evangelism and discipleship. We continue to see that clean water and Living Water are intrinsically linked.

YLI through the eyes of friend Rhonda Ristow

 “It is always a blessing to be a part of the expansion of God’s Word and Christ’s commission. If you get an opportunity to be a part of YLI in sponsorship or joining a mission trip to Ghana, I cannot recommend it more!”- Rhonda Ristow, Southern Hills Christian Church

Whether along the sprawling streets of sidewalk vendors, high-rise businesses, malls and traffic in Accra or Tamale, or in the bush communities like Bimbilla, Chaamba, and Talon, the people of Ghana are at the heart of its beauty and vibrancy. You will find a mix of old and new, modern and ancient, influences of Islam, indigenous beliefs, and Christianity. Clean, potable water is a precious commodity. Late Fall dries up every reservoir and small creek so that people must purchase water or travel miles and miles to wells.

The very taste of Ghana is unique. Huge cast iron pots of ground nut and sorghum porridge bubble atop fires in the morning. Fried fish, chicken, beef, or goat meat and jollof rice is served for lunches and dinners. The sweet and spicy fried plantain bites offer a treat as appetizers or desserts. The Indian influence is evident in the spices.

Colors explode on the dresses and head wraps of the Ghanaian women, men, and children. The patterns, either woven or printed, are usually bright and vibrant. The funeral colors are red and black. Entire communities will come out in their finest to honor a leader who has died, lining the roads and gathering together. Driving past this gathering was a sight to behold. So many people in the community were obviously gathering together for the ceremonies.

Young adults carry the hope of the country’s future. Educated men and women, when surrendered to Christ and His calling, are being trained to reach their communities through relational discipleship. These young people bear the torch for their faith. YLI provides the tools to equip, but it is Ghanaians who work the fields white for harvest. Through the generosity of sponsorship, the interns are trained for three years while also training the next set of potential young leaders. 

The beautiful model that Jesus Himself gave is being lived out through the YLI training program and it’s interns and graduates. By better understanding how to grow other disciples, one a year, who then disciple another the next year and so on, we see how the world can exponentially be reached, evangelized, and discipled in a very  short time.

While in Ghana for a week, I experienced humidity, torrential thunderstorms, power outages, and more humidity. But in visiting the outlying communities, I visited hut-filled communities with no visible means of electricity, wells with clean water that still required several miles of walking to access, and homeless children begging for food in the city. My discomfort suddenly paled by comparison. The expansive distances between communities is beautiful. Men drive cattle through the bush. I loved shouting “cows!” When I saw the herds of cattle or even a couple grazing near a home.The boarding school in Chaamba was a remarkable ministry, and I will cherish the generosity of the pastor, his wife, and the teachers.

Ash and I were gifted a rooster which did not like staying in his box in the vehicle while we ate lunch! His life was spared at least as long as I was in Ghana. I did offer to make soup of him and we named him Stew. 

Basic Training in Talon was a great opportunity for me to see the interns take ownership of their ministry. The Leadership Conference for the YLI leaders was precious in worship, prayer, fellowship, and learning. I loved hearing the simple songs the young men sang and joining in with them. Prayer was precious as we lifted parts of the prayer together aloud, each praying, but in unity of spirit. Just mingling and socializing with the interns and leaders was fun, as well.  I expect upon my return to Ghana I will have several Connect 4 rematches with some very dejected Ghanaian young men who lost to Mother Rhonda over and over again!

Intimacy with God Retreat Jos, Nigeria

Ministry in a persecuted country felt different. It was joyful, but serious. As I taught on intimacy with God, it felt as though our leaders were paying attention to my words like I was giving them instructions to perform emergency surgery. 

First, I want to say thank you to all who prayed my first visit to Nigeria! We had a wonderful retreat and time partnering in ministry together. 

But almost didn’t happen, again.

You may remember that I’d been trying to get to Nigeria for three years, but kept running into roadblocks with my visa application. Finally, in July, the Nigerian consulate issued me a five year, multiple entry visa! My first thought was, “I’m going to squeeze every bit of value out of this over the next five years.”  That’s still the plan, but there will still challenges to come.

On the day of departure I was in Ghana feeling some stress because my Nigeria flight was cancelled and rescheduled three times. It got to be so confusing that I ended up at the airport 15 minutes before the flight’s departure! But, I made the flight. 

It was of course confusing Peter Iliya Agwom who was waiting at the Abuja airport to meet me when I arrived. I was so hurried at the airport that I didn’t have time to call him. I just sent him a photo from the plane to let him know I was on the way.

When I got to Abuja close to midnight, Peter and a couple of his friends were there to drive me to a guest house for the night. The next morning we drove six hours to the city of Jos, in Plateau State.
Yes, my travel was a little rough, but some of the Nigerian disciples also traveled uncomfortablely over long distances so we could be together for the first time. One Intern, Mercy, traveled all day and night by bus. Over the past few years we’ve had some Google Meets together, but there’s nothing like being in person. It was wonderful. 

I love that these interns are ministering in their unique vocations. Most are passionately involved in youth ministry. A couple work with orphanages and in child welfare. One is in law school with an eye toward politics. There is a welder, a pastor, and an entrepreneur. A couple work in mission, and couple have business jobs. One young woman disciples teenage girls with a focus on chastity. Every single one is serious about being a disciple who makes disciples.

During my teaching sessions this group was dialed-in in a way I’ve never experienced before. Usually there is some level of distraction and I have to enforce a ‘no phones’ rule. Not with this group. They paid attention to every word as if I was giving them instructions to perform emergency surgery or deliver a baby along the roadside!

Although Peter has relationships with all of the Interns, some live several hours from each other and before our retreat had never met in person. Some encountered YLI when the group traveled to do trainings in places like Miango, Keffe, Dong or Jos, and later joined YLI as volunteers to help with our vision to plant discipleship communities in more places. 

Some  feedback I received after the retreat: 

“It was good to learn more about YLI”

“I needed that emphasis on the importance of listening to God’s voice.”

“I’m realizing the need for more disciple-makers.”

“YLI has in a way shown me God’s purpose for my life.”

“It was relaxing.”

“I enjoyed seeing everyone!”

“I really value the practical aspect of YLI”

“I appreciate that YLI’s focus is more on relationships than building another organization.”

“This was a nice change of perspective from the normal things we hear in church.”

One of the most important things I heard was that they feel a gap in spiritual reproduction. Most of them had never been discipled before encountering YLI. They are hungry for spiritual investment because it’s hard to give what you’ve never received. I’m planning to travel to Nigeria three or four times in 2025, and looking forward to spending more time with this amazing team. 

Thanks again for all your prayers,

Discipling persecuted Christian students who love their Muslim peers.

Faces and room details are blurred intentionally to protect the Christian students.

An opportunity arose in northern Nigeria this year that at first seemed (to my sometimes-stubborn commitment to vision statements) to be outside of YLI’s scope. Our vision is to disciple young adults but earlier this year we received an invitation from a high school student group at a rural boarding school. I saw some photos of the students and they looked very young. My initial response was skeptical: How serious will high school students really be about being discipled? This could be a waste of time and resources on kids who won’t appreciate it. It’s alarming how off-base my initial reactions can be at times! Thanks be to Jesus for His providence. He’s the only qualified leader of YLI and His agenda won.

I wish I could show you the faces of these joyful, beautiful, vibrant young people, and the bare and aging school buildings where they live, and learn; but considering the intense persecution level in this part of Nigeria, I can’t stomach the thought of putting them at risk in any way by posting recognizable photos online. For their entire lives, violence toward Christians has been their known reality.

According to Open Door’s 2024 World Watch list of the 50 countries most experiencing Christian persecution, Nigeria is #6. https://www.opendoors.org/en-US/persecution/countries/

Carrie and I are blessed parents of a college student, a high schooler, and a middle schooler. I acknowledge that they encounter real challenges as Christians, which are not to be minimized; but the thought that they might lose their parents or be kidnapped, or killed simply because they are Christians does not enter their grid. Those tragedies do occur in northern Nigeria, and across Africa. 

Thanks to a a government quota, Christians make up 10% of the student population at this boys boarding school. Their rights are not equal to the Muslim students though, and they are not treated with the same privilege and human dignity as Muslim students. For example, only a Muslim is allowed to fill the position of head boy at the school. That honor and respect would not be bestowed upon a Christian. 

The boys engaged YLI’s training and relational investment from the team with a serious enthusiasm.

A couple weeks ago when our lead Nigerian Coach and I were both in Ghana, he described that, although the students experience a steep personal cost for following Jesus, their mindset is not to protect themselves by hiding or blending in; but to serve and evangelize their Muslim peers. He told me that YLI has been very useful to them at this point of need by giving them some practical guidance in relationship evangelism, joining Jesus in the work He is already doing in the lives of their Muslim friends, and effectively making disciples. 

It is sobering to think that YLI may not have had the opportunity to join God in this beautiful work, if (instead of trusting our Nigerian leaders) I had stayed stuck in my initial reaction. It’s just the grace of God! And we trust in God’s grace to protect the lives of these young disciples, whose faithfulness requires carrying a cross that most of us will never know. 

Please join us in praying for their lives! 

Ash Zook
Executive Director