Every story has a beginning, and most begin without a whole lot of hoopla or fanfare. Not ours. Ours began in 1960 with a zealous young man named Loren Cunningham who, with a vision, seriously rocked the boat of acceptable-missionary-models. He saw young people, teenagers, as waves pounding the shores of the continents, bringing with them the message of hope to a dying world. Now, if Loren had brothers he may have ended up like Joseph. Instead he managed to escape with little more than a bunch of people thinking he was, well, a dreamer. A little perseverance mixed with large amounts of grace soon led to the birth of Youth With A Mission.

Today Youth With A Mission (YWAM) is a global movement of Christians of all ages, races, and nationalities from just about every sort of background you can imagine. To date there are approximately 17,000 full-time missionaries working at over 1,100 locations. United in our common goal, we have set out to the ends of the earth to know God and make Him known.