Today I came across a post from Mark Matlock titled Remembering Mike Yaconelli . As I read the post and watched the video (You can check it out HERE) I realized just how much this man who I only met once impacted my life.
It was the fall of 2003. I was attending the Youth Specialties conference just a few months after accepting the youth pastor job at Yreka Church of the Nazarene. Yreka was the small town where Mike pastored Grace Community Church. When I ran into Mike in the hallway of YS I had to say “hi” and introduce myself. We shook hands and exchanged numbers so we could set up lunch meeting when we both got back to town.
Weeks passed and time got the best of us and tragedy struck. Mike was killed driving over the pass from Medford to Yreka the end of October 2003. We never got to sit down for lunch and talk Jesus. But even without that meeting, God used Mike in my life in ways he will never know.
Mike was a pioneer of organized youth ministry. He paved the way for so many of us youth pastors. He produced materials to assist us and organized conferences to encourage us. He wrote books about ministry and about grace. He loved Jesus and loved students. He broke the mold of ministry to teens and brought fun... and grace... into the midst of it.
I will never forget early November of 2003 when I walked into the gymnasium of Yreka High School, where Mike had served on the school board, for Mike’s funeral. As I walked in Mike simple pine casket was at the center of the room... with stack of sharpies for people to write their memories of Mike right on his casket. I sat in the bleachers off to the side and watched people walk in. I remember seeing Brennan Manning whose books I had read and who I had heard speak on several occasions. I saw Doug Fields whose ministry at Saddleback Church was admired by so many. Then there was Tony Campolo and Tic Long and ... and ... and ... so many heroes of faith and ministry.
The service started and I remember eulogies from family and from Tony Campolo, but then my heart was touched as Sadie... a young lady from Mike’s church with downs syndrome stood to speak... Through her tears she shared of how Mike had touched her life... Then there was a man who shared about the impact Mike had on his life using a mix of grace language and 4 letter words. What a contrast from the youth ministry “hall of fame” that was present in the room! It hit me that these people from Mike’s “private life” had little knowledge of Mike’s “public fame” in the youth ministry world. They just knew him as a humble man and pastor who had shared the love and grace of Jesus with them. My heart was challenged and changed that day... to see people through Jesus’ eyes... to love them through their sin... to see past the messiness of their lives (of my own life) and be a vessel of God’s grace... HIS HUGE GRACE.
Mike, in his life and even more in his death, helped me understand Jesus. Jesus abandoned all He was in heaven and became human so that we could understand grace... Do you get it? He created us... We messed things up yet He didn’t abandon us and start over... Out of His love for us He became one of us so that we could reestablish that relationship with Him. What love! What grace! What humility! What sacrifice! And those are the characteristics that Mike lived out every day!
And another thing... today I turn 40. Just a couple years shy of 20 years in full time youth ministry. As I reflect on where I’ve been I see God’s blessing in the lives of former students who are following after Jesus. As I look ahead I see years more of ministry, leading more to follow Jesus. I really believe the best years of ministry are to come because as I get older, I get to know Jesus better... and some day I want to look back at the good times and the tough times, see the hand of God through it all and be able to say with Mike... “WHAT A RIDE!”
Thank Mike for being that living example of dreaming big, remaining humble, and blazing trails for God into the unknown can look like! We are better off because of the legacy you left. I’m giving thanks for YOU today.
