OUR STORY

​Through prayer, conversations, and planning, a group of teenage leaders began developing a simple idea: an evangelistic outreach planned and led almost entirely by students, where young people could share the hope of Jesus with their own friends.

 

They believed young people didn’t have to wait until adulthood to take meaningful responsibility for the Great Commission.  Their generation could reach their generation.

 

On March 14, 2015, more than 700 students gathered for the first HowToLife event.  Students representing dozens of churches and schools came together.  Young people led from the stage, shared their stories, worshiped together, and clearly presented the Gospel to their peers.

 

More than 75 young people responded to the invitation to begin a new life with Christ.

 

One student, Canyon, later said:  “I saw God touch so many people.  One of my best friends was there, and when we prayed, he put his trust in God.”

 

Something had begun.

 

A Movement Is Born

 

Students from other schools and communities began hearing about what had happened.

 

And they started asking:

 

“How can we do this in our community?”

 

HowToLife began spreading.

 

New teams of young leaders formed.  Students from different churches came together.  They prayed, planned, shared the Gospel, invited their friends, and learned firsthand what it meant to trust Jesus with something bigger than themselves.

 

What began as one student-led event became a movement of young people reaching young people.

 

Over the following years, HowToLife campaigns spread across the United States – from major cities to small communities, from coast to coast.  And something else was happening along the way.

 

The students doing the reaching were being discipled themselves.

 

They were learning courage.  Perseverance.  Prayer.  Leadership.  Dependence upon God.  How to share the Gospel.  How to work across church traditions.  How to step out in Christ’s mission.

 

Evangelism was producing discipleship.

 

HowToLife Goes Global

 

In 2018, HowToLife crossed an ocean.  The first international HowToLife events took place in England and Hamburg, Germany.

 

Soon, young leaders in other nations began carrying the same vision.

 

HowToLife expanded into Canada, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and beyond – not simply by exporting an American event model, but increasingly by identifying, discipling, and empowering local young leaders to reach their own generation in their own context.  Different countries looked different.  Different cities looked different.

 

But the heartbeat remained: Young people reaching young people.

 

Something Deeper Was Forming

 

As HowToLife grew, we began noticing something important.  The most significant fruit wasn’t always happening on the stage.  Sometimes it was happening around a table.  On a retreat.  During prayer.  In conversations after an event.  In friendships between leaders from different cities and nations.  In young people walking with one another through surrender, obedience, mission, and everyday life with Jesus.  Teams originally formed to plan an evangelistic event were becoming genuine Christian communities.  Regional and national communities began developing organically.  Leaders kept walking together long after an event ended.  Retreats became increasingly focused on deep discipleship.  Young leaders began discipling other young leaders.  We began to understand more clearly something that had been present in HowToLife from the beginning: We are a disciple-making movement before we are anything else.

 

From Events to Discipleship Communities

 

Evangelistic events remain a core part of HowToLife.  We love seeing young Christians boldly share Jesus with their friends.  But an event was never meant to be the finish line.  Jesus calls us to make disciples.

 

Today, HowToLife is intentionally developing ongoing discipleship communities where young people can grow together as followers of Jesus, deepen their roots in Scripture and prayer, learn obedience and surrender, and live on mission together.

 

Sometimes an evangelistic event forms a community.  Sometimes a community forms first and eventually pioneers an evangelistic event.

 

Both are part of the same mission: reaching, discipling, and mobilizing the next generation for Christ.

 

The Movement Today

 

What began with a group of teenagers in 2015 has grown into a global movement spanning cities, nations, languages, and cultures.

 

Today, HowToLife’s mission is expressed through:

 

EVENTS

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Young people reaching young people with the Gospel.

 

DISCIPLESHIP COMMUNITIES

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Young people growing as disciples and living on mission together.

 

RETREATS and INTENSIVES

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Creating space for deeper discipleship, training, and community.

 

TRAINING

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Equipping young people to become faithful disciples and disciple-makers.

 

These aren’t separate missions.  They are different expressions of the same calling.

 

What’s Next?

 

We believe the story is still beginning.

 

Our vision isn’t simply to host more events or build a larger organization.  We want to see young people become faithful followers of Jesus who make disciples and live on mission wherever He sends them.

 

We want to see communities grow and multiply, young leaders raised up, missionaries sent, new places pioneered, and the Gospel carried to another generation.

 

What started with a group of teenagers asking how they could make their remaining years of high school count for Jesus has become something far bigger than they imagined.

 

And we’re excited to see where Jesus leads next.