The Center for Youth Evangelism in the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University celebrated its 25th anniversary with an open house on Mar. 8. Former center directors were invited to come and share stories from their tenures.

The Youth Resource Center started in 1979 with Des Cummings as director. In a video message he recorded for the open house, he said, “We must not teach the youth to be afraid of spiritual war, but to equip them to fight in it.” When he moved on, Steve Case, currently the president of Piece of the Pie Ministries, was hired by the seminary to teach youth ministry and became the center director. There was a gap of several months between Cummings’ departure and Case’s arrival, and Case remembers the center being a box with files in Roger Dudley’s office. "He gave me the box and said, ‘Here, Steve, this is what you’ll need to run the Youth Resource Center.’”

When Case left in 1989, the center was without a director for two years until Randy Wisbey took over. Niels-Erik Andreasen said he remembers that soon after his appointment as president of Andrews University, Wisbey approached him about changing the center name. “The Youth Resource Center wasn’t a very descriptive name. Plus, it was really hard to say,” Wisbey joked. He met with Andreasen and the center’s executive committee and changed the Youth Resource Center to the Center for Youth Evangelism. In 1998, when Wisbey answered a call to be president of Canadian University College, Ron Whitehead was hired and is the current director of the Center for Youth Evangelism. Don Schneider, North American Division president, dedicated the center and its efforts to prepare each generation for service to God.

The Center for Youth Evangelism offers an environment that fosters a vision for creative youth ministry. Its mission is to provide the research methods, resources, and leadership necessary to train young people in various forms of effective youth evangelism. YouthNet Extreme, Impact Toronto 2000, and Mission Possible are the past ministries that the center has sponsored. Current ministries include the Faith on Fire camporee, 411 E-Mail Newsletter, We Care Domestic Mission Trips, AY Internet Radio, Giraffe University, Giraffe News, and the Andrews University Passion Play.

For more information on the Center for Youth Evangelism, visit www.adventistyouth.org or call 800-YOUTH2U.

Katie Shaw, news writer