The history of Asian Young Life dates from the mid-1990s, when our current area director, Brian Hall, was a graduate student involved in a research study of Chinese Christian Fellowship, an Asian American student group at Rutgers University. As Brian developed relationships with Asian students in the group, he took some of his new friends to Young Life-sponsored adult and leadership camps held at various Young Life properties so that they could get a taste of what Brian had experienced when he was a teenager involved in a Young Life group in Gloucester County, NJ. Over time, he and some of his Asian friends — impressed with what they saw — caught a vision for using Young Life as an outreach tool to minister to Asian American teenagers.

Talk turned to action in the summer of 2003 when two Sunday school teachers — Tony Lin and Esther Tsai — took a group of eight Asian American kids from Morris County to Young Life's Saranac Village for a week of Young Life camp. Needless to say, the kids loved it, their lives were changed, and, thus, Asian Young Life was born.

In August 2003, Asian Young Life was established as an official Young Life "area," with Brian, Tony, Esther, and four other young adults pioneering the first Asian Young Life leadership team. In its first full year, the ministry raised over $29,000 in financial support, and the leaders took 50 people to Young Life camp in summer 2004.

In April 2005, we made history by holding the first-ever Asian Young Life club, held in Cresskill in Bergen County at the home of one of our teenage participants. More than 65 kids and 11 leaders were in attendance. In August 2005, we took 64 kids and 20 leaders to Young Life camp, giving Asian Young Life the unique distinction of being the largest group at the camp that week. Momentum from camp carried over to club during the 2005-06 school year as kids who had attended camp eagerly invited their friends to each club meeting. Our Bergen County club, on average, now draws more than than 100 people at each meeting.

In November 2006, Asian Young Life made history again by starting a second club, this time in Morris County. To everyone's astonishment, about 135 kids and leaders showed up at the first-ever Morris County club, held in East Hanover at the home of one of the teenage participants. Over the course of the 2006-07 school year, Asian Young Life continued to attract many teenagers to its subsequent Morris County club meetings.

The chart below gives a quick snapshot of the rapid growth of summer camping in Asian Young Life since 1998, when Brian Hall first took a small group of Asian friends to a college and adult camp at a Young Life property. Since then, the number of participants from Asian Young Life at the College and Adult Camp, the Saranac Senior High Camp, and the Campaigners/Capernaum Camp has grown considerably.

The following story appeared in the spring 2004 issue of the Young Life-published "Saranac Times" newsletter and is based on an interview of our area director Brian Hall and volunteer leader Tony Lin.

When Brian Hall began his doctoral thesis, little did he know that God had a much bigger assignment in mind. It seems as if God used Brian's interest in religion to spark a series of events that not only led to numerous people hearing the good news of Jesus Christ but also the formation of Asian Young Life in New Jersey where a unique population of teenagers is hearing the gospel.

It began as basic doctoral research. After earning a master's degree in sociology at Rutgers University, Brian's longstanding interest in the sociology of religion led him to study a Chinese Christian group at Rutgers as the subject of his doctoral dissertation. In 1998, while he was conducting research interviews, he met Tony Lin, an undergraduate student at the university who had at that time just become interested in Christianity.

Tony and his family had immigrated from Taiwan to the United States when he was a teenager, and he remembered well his frustrations and anxieties of adjusting to a new culture. Although he adapted quickly to American life, he connected with friends who shared his culture and language; however, religion was never a significant part of his family's life.

As he got older, like most college-aged students, Tony began to ponder the bigger questions of life. He had begun exploring Christianity through discussion groups and campus fellowships. So, it was no surprise when he met with Brian for an interview that their research-based discussion would gradually turn into discipleship. "Brian was interviewing me, but I was the one with so many questions," Tony said. "That was really the beginning of many more discussions and the start of a long friendship." It was also the beginning of an unexpected ministry.

As Tony and Brian's friendship grew, Brian invited Tony to a Young Life-sponsored "College and Adult Camp" at Saranac in 1999. Tony remembers the weekend as a fun retreat and a steppingstone in his own faith journey. But it was his second trip to Saranac the following year that remains etched in his memory as the impetus of great things to come. That year, Tony invited a handful of his Asian friends, some he had known since high school, none of them Christians. "It would have been a little awkward to invite them to church right away, but it was great being able to invite them to a Young Life event first," he said, "Young Life is wise to those who are without."

Upon returning home, Tony got more involved in his church, and with its support, began incorporating Young Life-style activities into its Sunday school program. Through his work at his family's watch business, through church, and through basketball, he also expanded his network of Asian American friends. By the next Saranac College and Adult Camp, he brought many more of his friends, in addition to his cousin and their friends as well. Then, in fall 2003, Tony, Brian, and others brought 63 college and adult guests to Saranac, most of whom were Asian Americans.

Perhaps the most exciting development occurred in summer 2003 when Tony introduced Young Life to some of the kids from his church. He and another volunteer Sunday school teacher took 8 kids — almost all of whom were from Taiwan or China — to a week of outreach camp at Saranac.

Launched by the excitement generated at Saranac, back home in northern New Jersey a group of volunteers are pioneering Asian Young Life, an all-volunteer area reaching out to Asian teenagers. "I can really relate to these [immigrant] kids, because I was one of them," Tony said recalling memories of when he first arrived in the U.S. "With the language barrier, the cultural differences, and their parents busy working, these kids are really needy. So while they are being introduced to American culture, we can also introduce them to Christianity and the person of Jesus," he said.

The volunteers have reserved 35 spots at Saranac to bring even more Asian kids to camp in summer 2004, and the new ministry is generating enthusiasm and support from caring adults. Brian and Tony, who still meet regularly, anticipate there will be an equally large group at the summer's end Saranac College and Adult Camp as well. "This is a great example of how the Young Life mission works through camping to affect the lives of so many people ... kids, adults, entire communities, and ethnic groups," Saranac property manager Ryan Silvius said.

As for Brian Hall, he successfully earned his Ph.D. in 2002 and now teaches social studies at a northern New Jersey high school where, not coincidentally, he is also the advisor of the school's Asian Club. He's also serving as the area director of Asian Young Life and looks for any opportunity to share the gospel with the Asian people he loves so much — an assignment he welcomes any day.

-By Toni Morse

Asian Young Life is a ministry of Young Life, an international youth organization founded in 1941 by a Texas youth pastor named Jim Rayburn. To learn more about the history of our parent organization, please visit the Young Life History page.

If you would like to know more about Asian Young Life, please explore some of the other pages in our website. Be sure to check out our About Asian Young Life page and our Parents and Community page. You might also be interested in visiting our Making An Impact and Our Leaders pages. For a good overview of what we do, be sure to read our newsletter or our Relationships article. If you desire any additional information, please contact us. We'd love to hear from you.