YouthWorks History
YouthWorks, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit corporation, was created in 1994 by Paul Bertelson. At that time Paul was serving as a youth pastor at a church in a suburb of Minneapolis, MN. After leading week long mission trips with his own youth group, Paul realized that his students grew more in these one week experiences than they did the entire rest of the year. His hope and prayer in starting YouthWorks was that every teenager would have the opportunity to go on a mission trip and have their life changed by God.
Continuing The Mission
YouthWorks has seen incredible growth over the last 30 years. The first summer, 35 churches brought approximately 400 participants to two communities. Since then, we’ve had more than 750,000 students participate in trips in 100 communities across North America.
Beyond participating in summer trips, what we’ve seen is how serving alongside trusted adults and community partners fuels spiritual growth and helps create a lasting faith in young people. Many of those young people have gone on to live lives oriented around serving others. You can find them in classrooms teaching, in non-profits serving the vulnerable, in churches leading with love, and in businesses
