 | Do Small Town areas look like their suburban counterparts?
Yes and no. We redefined a Small Town area — draw a circle with a radius as far as you can drive in 45 minutes. Often, this is a county or parish. This area usually will include several small towns. When recruiting committee members, we explain that the vision is to reach students in all the small towns in the area, not just in the originating town. We realize that many small towns will be run by volunteer area directors and some by part-time area directors. But it is the area director who develops leaders and drives the ministry — working hand-in-hand with the red-hot vision carrier who pulls the community support together.
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| What is the definition of a "small town"?
A small town is any town of fewer than 25,000 people that is not a suburb. A rural sector is any area that is fewer than 2,500 in population.
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| Who is the national director for the Small Towns ministry?
John Franklin is the national director, working alongside the Small Town 12 and Don Stuber who is the field director of Small Towns.
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| What is the traditional way of starting a new Small Town area?
Traditionally, the regional director takes a day away to drive to the new area. He or she spends a day in the town, meeting with people who are interested in helping teenagers. The following month, the regional director visits the town again, following up with those contacts who were positive from last month’s meetings, and then networking with others who have a passion for Christ and adolescents. This process usually takes 12 to 24 months before we are ready to place an area director.
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| What’s a Pioneer?
A Pioneer is a Small Town area director who has been trained to be an expert in starting Young Life in the next town over.
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| What is the plan to start new Small Town areas?
In partnership with the regional directors, the Small Town 12 are recruiting and training Small Town area directors to be Pioneers. These Pioneers would be trained with a series of conference calls, and then with an “intensive” called a Pioneer Jumpstart. We hope to have a Pioneer in half of the 50 states by the end of 2006 and in all the states by 2008. Young Life will literally “leapfrog” from one small town to the next small town.
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| What Scriptures are foundational for the Small Towns Initiative?
Mark 1:38 - "Jesus replied, 'Let us go somewhere else — to the nearby villages — so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.'" After having quite a successful stint in one small town, Jesus resists the pressure from the disciples to stay, but instead models a pioneer spirit to move on to the next town over.
Luke 14:23 - "Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.'” This is the conclusion of the parable of the Great Banquet. The last place that the servants go is to the country lanes so that the house will be full.
Luke 4:16a - "He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up ..." Of course, Jesus was from a small town.
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| What is the Small Town 12?
On the day that Denny Rydberg, president of Young Life, initiated the Small Town Initiative, he asked Don Stuber to lead this charge. Don found 11 others who shared the vision to reach small town teens for Christ. They meet every month via a conference call and twice a year face-to-face to pray and determine the direction for the initiative for the coming year.
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| How have Small Town areas started in the past?
There is always a red-hot vision carrier in the town who prays, "pesters" and positions themselves to have Young Life. We say that a small town’s development is always an inside job.
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