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Scott Rosene

scott.rosene@yfci.org

OCTOBER 2026

This month I want to share another student testimony. About a year ago, when I first invited former students to share their stories, Danielle wasn't ready.

I had the privilege of getting together with her on my recent visit to Kansas. After a few days, she worked up the courage to send me her story. At first, she didn't want me to share it. But then she wrote me back and said, "Do it. I'm tired of running and hiding and being scared."

Nearly 30 years ago, when I was leading Campus Life in Topeka, Kansas, a middle school girl named Danielle showed up at one of our meetings.

She doesn't remember exactly how she got there. Maybe someone invited her. Maybe she saw a flyer. But she remembers what happened because she showed up.

Recently she told me, "I am thankful that I was invited to that first Campus Life meeting... It changed my life forever."

What I didn't know then was just how much this young girl was carrying.

Danielle wasn't regularly attending church. Her home life was difficult, and she had experienced things no child should have to experience. She became very good at keeping much of that hidden. Behind the student I knew at Campus Life was a girl wrestling with depression, loneliness and questions about whether her life really mattered.

And then, in the middle of all that, she began learning about a God who loved her.

Campus Life became one of the places where she heard about Jesus, experienced Christian community and eventually came to know Him personally. She recently told me that another Youth for Christ leader and I played a significant role in her coming to know and accept Christ.

Her life didn't suddenly become easy.

In fact, one of the things I appreciate most about Danielle's story is that it isn't wrapped up in a neat little bow. There were years when she drifted from God. After high school, work schedules and some difficult church experiences gradually pulled her away from Christian community. She told me, "I never forgot God, but there were times I was less present with Him."

Years passed. She married and become a mom.

And then God began drawing her back.

Danielle eventually found a church and started attending again. Her relationship with Jesus grew, and she began looking differently at some of the painful things she had experienced. She sought counseling and began the difficult work of healing. Today she is determined that her daughter will grow up knowing that struggles don't have to be hidden and that asking for help isn't something to be ashamed of.

But there is another part of this story that I especially love.

Her daughter is now 14 years old - and actively involved in her church youth group.

And Danielle?

She's volunteering as an adult leader with the youth group.

There is something wonderfully full-circle about that for me.

Almost three decades ago, I was one of the adults showing up each week for a middle school girl who wasn't regularly going to church and who needed to know that Jesus loved her.

Today, that middle school girl is a mom, following Jesus and showing up for teenagers herself.

When we recently talked about our shared experiences and what God can do with even the most painful parts of our stories, Danielle said something I haven't forgotten:

"For the first time, I believe that maybe God can really take this bad thing that happened and bring something good from it."

That's one of the reasons I still believe so deeply in Youth for Christ.

When we reach a young person, we rarely know where the story will lead. We don't know what God might do with that sixth grader sitting quietly at Campus Life. We don't know who they'll become, whose lives they'll touch or what their faith might mean to the next generation.

Sometimes, if we're fortunate, God lets us find out 30 years later.

Thank you for the support you have given over the years to be part of stories like Danielle's.

Scott Rosene