Bringing Young Life To Tampa
Tampa Boasts 50 Years While The Ministry Celebrates 70 Years Nationally
By KK Cooper
In February, 1972, Frank and I began to invite Tampa adults to monthly parties held in
our apartment living room for the purpose of hearing about a “new group in town,” Young
Life.
Young Life had been a major part of my life since growing up as a teenager in Knoxville,
Tennessee, and I could not imagine living in a city where Young Life was not a
presence. My brother, Charlie Scott, who lived in Orlando and was Director of Florida
Young Life, drove over once a month to meet with our living room group. Charlie would
show the Young Life video, explain the ministry and then answer questions. It was a
slow but necessary process.
I was brand new to Tampa and only knew a few people but Frank had business and
family connections and those folks came to our living room meetings. After about six
months we were able to develop a Young Life Adult Committee of twenty people! I will
be forever grateful to these folks for their belief in and commitment to Young Life.
By the fall of 1972 we had our first Tampa Area Director, John Smith, and we had our
first Young Life club meeting for Plant High School kids at the home of Laura Cooper
Brown. It was an exciting time and we even had kids who went to the winter Windy Gap
ski trip in North Carolina. Parents began to support the organization as they saw how
God was touching the lives of their children.
We still had our struggles: how were we going to raise our $10,000 budget for that year?
After Christmas, we hosted our first fundraising event at The University of Tampa and
we met our financial goal!
As the organization grew, some very generous groups offered us office space and for
the past 20 years Young Life has been located at Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church, right
across from Plant High. Thank you PCPC!
God has touched the lives of hundreds of kids and adults through the Young Life
ministry. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Windy Gap 2011
“Behind the debris of these self-styled, sullen supermen and imperial
diplomatists, there stands the gigantic figure of one person, because of whom, by
whom, in whom, and through whom alone mankind might still have hope. The
person of Jesus Christ.”
-Malcolm Muggeridge
On the evening of December 18th, sixty teenagers from South Tampa arrived at
Windy Gap Young Life Camp in Asheville, NC. They spent the next five days
experiencing the excitement and adventure of riding horses, climbing walls, a
ropes course, zip lines and jaw dropping swings. They also spent a day
skiing/snow boarding at Beach Mountain.
The unique activities are designed to encourage teenagers to experience life to
the full, smile from ear to ear, laugh, overcome challenges, and create memories
for a lifetime.
Each night, campers got to take a look at the claims of the most famous,
controversial, extraordinary person to ever walk the earth—Jesus of Nazareth.
The discussions during cabin times opened up a ton of questions: Does God
even exist? What is unique about Jesus compared to other religions? Where is
God when it hurts?
Teenagers began to understand that if Jesus’ claims are true, then what He had
to say and who He is has everything to do with who we are, our lives, and how
utterly overwhelming His love for us actually is.
The responses were all over the board. Some campers gave their lives to Him,
some still had questions, and others walked away. For the teenagers who gave
their lives to Jesus, the true life changing adventure now begins…