Feature

Equipped, Encouraged and Eager

LCMS Youth Ministry’s YouthLead program helps teens develop leadership skills and then sends them out to serve in their congregations and communities.

Story by Megan K. Mertz | Photography by Erik M. Lunsford and Roy S. Askins | Summer 2025

Dane Wolfgram says he is a director of Christian education (DCE) today thanks, in part, to YouthLead. As a high school student in the LCMS North Dakota District, Wolfgram was invited to attend YouthLead (then called Lutheran Youth Fellowship), a leadership training program of LCMS Youth Ministry that prepares teenagers to serve in their congregations and communities. A short time later, he was elected to serve on the YouthLead executive team. Now, as a full-time DCE, he enjoys bringing his own youth to the annual training event.

“One of the biggest themes [of YouthLead] is that teenagers … are not the church of tomorrow. They’re the church right now, and they have gifts that God has given them to use,” he said. “And hearing that … really affirmed for me that this is a gift that I can use in my vocation. I think that’s when I discovered my calling to go into youth ministry.”

And Wolfgram thinks he’s not the only one who was encouraged in this way. He knows several others who participated in YouthLead and then went on to become pastors, deaconesses, directors of church ministries, and more.

Growing in Leadership

“There are lots of things that make YouthLead so special,” said Julianna Shults, program manager for LCMS Youth Ministry. “But as young people [who attend] are empowered and in God’s Word, something happens … and it’s amazing to see.”

The YouthLead program has been known by several different names during its 40-plus years. But its goal has remained the same: to help teens grow in their faith while they develop leadership skills. The program takes place over the course of a long weekend, and the days are filled with presentations, small-group discussions, games and other activities.

The training is conducted by the six members of the YouthLead executive team — teens who have been elected by their peers to serve a three-year term — and by LCMS Youth Ministry staff. The most recent training event, which was held March 8–11, 2025, at the Pallottine Retreat Center in Florissant, Mo., was at max capacity, with 93 teens and adults in attendance.

During this training, executive team member Annaka Zaiser expertly led her small group through the material, engaging each person with thought-provoking questions and modeling how to lead a group to the participants who would later return home to teach the curriculum to others.

Zaiser has had the opportunity to participate in YouthLead for the last seven years — longer than most. She first learned about the program from Vicki Ribar, director of Family Life at Trinity Lutheran Church, Fenton, Mich., and attended during her freshman year of high school. She came back year after year, and in 2022 she was elected to serve on the executive team.

Annaka Zaiser leads a group discussion at YouthLead training in March. At the top of this page, adult leader Amy Barrington talks with Maggie Kuhl, both from Madison, Wis., about ways to share what they have learned with others in their home congregation.

Reflecting on her experience, Zaiser said, “I never expected to see so much growth in myself. I would always have described myself as outgoing, but I ended up feeling confident in leading Bible studies, devotions, etc.”

Youth Ministry staff “helped us stick to our strengths,” Zaiser continued. “We were never forced too far out of our comfort zone. There were opportunities, but it was not forced. And we had Pastor Mark [Kiessling, director of LCMS Youth Ministry,] around to make sure we had a good understanding of the material.”

As Zaiser wrapped up her time on the executive team, she looked forward to graduating with a degree in rehabilitation science from Concordia University Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Mich., and pursuing a doctorate at Concordia University Wisconsin, Mequon, Wis., while also finishing a Director of Church Ministries certification.

Whether she ultimately finds her place working inside or outside of the church, she knows that she will continue to be involved at her congregation. “Even as a volunteer, I still want to have that understanding to communicate the Gospel to others,” she said.

Taking It Home

The YouthLead curriculum is different each year. This year’s curriculum, titled “Caring Connections: Supporting Peers Through Christ” and written by DCE and counselor Angie Kollbaum, focuses on helping teens care for those around them. Through the sessions, participants learn about why Christians show mercy to others; how to care, with an emphasis on using the LOAP model (listen, observe, ask, pray); and caring effectively for both Christian and non-Christian friends.

Several participants at this year’s training commented on how useful they found the LOAP model. Maggie Kuhl, a teen from Mount Olive Lutheran Church, Madison, Wis., said that she liked having a format for “how to talk to people … when dealing with difficult conversations and situations. [LOAP] provides an outline.”

In addition to simply learning the material and seeking to apply it in their own lives, YouthLead participants are expected to take the curriculum back home and teach it to their peers — thus amplifying the program’s reach to many more teens all around the country.

Many participants take the curriculum back to their home congregations and teach it during youth group events. Some have been inspired to start Bible studies or small-group devotions at their high schools or to organize other outreach activities. For instance, during this year’s YouthLead, participants from Risen Savior Lutheran Church, Chandler, Ariz., were discussing ideas for hosting fishing events or craft nights to reach out to the teens in their community.

In several districts, such as the LCMS Missouri District, youth teach the curriculum to their peers during districtwide youth events.

DCE Dane Wolfgram listens to Kirby Rassbach during the LCMS Missouri District Youth Gathering, held April 4–6 at CrossPointe Retreat Center in Rocky Mount, Mo.

One such gathering was held April 4–6 at CrossPointe Retreat Center in Rocky Mount, Mo. During this event, five youth who had attended YouthLead the month before taught the “Caring Connections” curriculum to 100 senior high youth who had come from around Missouri.

One of these teen leaders was Kirby Rassbach, who attends Christ Memorial Lutheran Church in St. Louis. He decided to attend YouthLead this past March because he’s interested in becoming a director of Christian education. He was worried the training might be boring, but he said he was pleasantly surprised at how useful the experience was.

“[YouthLead] didn’t just teach the curriculum that we’re teaching here,” he said of the Missouri District Youth Gathering. “It told you [this is] how to write a devotion, … these are the points that you should cover. And then: How do you lead your youth group? How do you interact? How do you make sure everybody feels seen? … All these different things … [are] creating this foundation that I can build upon as I go into my studies.”

Learn More

Learn more about YouthLead

Consider sending youth to the next training event, set for March 19–22, 2026, in St. Louis

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Megan K. Mertz

Managing editor of Lutherans Engage the World and chief copy editor for LCMS Communications.