07/31/2025
To all the youth leaders, past, present and future. You make a difference and we are all grateful for the role you fill.
Dear youth leaders,
You change the world.
Most of what you do goes unseen and uncelebrated.
You may not always be taken seriously.
But I want to remind you of something you already know: what you do matters.
I wouldn’t be who I am today without Leah.
She was my youth leader in middle and high school and an answer to my parents prayers.
One day, Leah prayed, “Here I am, Lord, send me.”
And God sent her to Florida to be around a wild teenager named Tanner.
God is fun like that.
I wasn’t a bad kid, just a kid.
I had questions, energy, emotions… and puberty.
But Leah was there.
We hung out on Wednesdays and Sundays.
She asked me how I was doing and gave me a proper side hug.
She took me to a youth gathering in Orlando—where I got food poisoning because I thought it would be hilarious to eat a plate of fried chicken, cover it in soft-serve chocolate ice cream, and wash it down with a gallon of fruit punch.
Pretty hilarious, right?
The summer before my junior year, she took me (and 50 other students) to West Virginia on a mission trip. This trip changed and saved my life.
As a senior in high school, I got to job shadow her. She invited me to give devotions to middle school students and walked alongside me as I decided what to do with my life.
One day, she handed me a copy of Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller and said, “I think you might like this.” That book lit a spark in me—a spark that grew into a dream of writing one of my own.
She kept showing up.
When I made dumb decision, she loved me.
When I was being a ridiculous high school boy, she called me out.
When I left for college, she still checked in.
When I started writing poetry, she cheered me on.
Just the other week, before I stepped on stage to perform a poem in front of 20,000 people, she prayed over me. I was on the edge of a panic attack—my head loud, my body tired, and negativity closing in.
But she was there.
She spoke light into the darkness, pointing me to Jesus.
Because that’s what youth leaders do.
Youth leaders, what you do matters.
The prayers you pray.
The little conversations you have.
The games you play.
The words you speak.
The space you create.
The trips you lead.
The devotions you share.
The unnoticed, everyday acts of love? They matter.
It all matters.
Thank you for what you do.
//
Thanks Leah Abel for being you to me (and so many others).
Love you always, mom :)
