Tic Long Returns to YS!
January 7, 2010
Karla Yaconelli
Six years, 2 months, and 8 days ago, the world of youth ministry and the faith community at large suffered a devastating loss with the death of my husband, Mike Yaconelli. At the same time, Youth Specialties, the company he co-founded and had shepherded for the previous 30+ years , lost both its compass and its captain. Within a few years, there were signs of the strain the company was under … and not many years after that, its struggle to stay afloat became painfully apparent. Then in 2009, the organization lost its long-time first mate and rudder with the shocking and inexplicable layoff of Tic Long, along with most of the staff who’d been with the company for any length of time. To say that it was a very dark and sad day would be a huge understatement. Frankly, at that point, I didn’t expect the organization to survive very long into 2010 … and with the many changes that followed, I’d have bet the farm on that expectation by the final quarter of 2009, even as I held out the hope in my heart (and on my blog) that God was somehow doing a new thing. Secretly, however, I think a large part of me simply wanted the bleeding to stop and wished that YS would just get it over with and die already. Selfishly, it had just become too painful for me to watch any longer.
When I learned that YouthWorks (an organization Mike and I both loved for many years) was going to acquire Youth Specialties, I was very skeptical. From a purely business perspective, I thought they might be certifiably crazy, because I truly thought it was “game over” for YS … but in my heart, the flame of hope burned a little brighter. Then I was told that Tic was being offered the opportunity to step back in as YS’s Executive Director. I knew that he had several other offers on the table … did I dare to hope that he would accept this one instead? What I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt was that there was no one on the planet better equipped for the job. He knew Youth Specialties inside and out, he’d been an irreplaceable leader in the company for 30 years and was largely responsible for its previous halcyon days, and he was unequivocally part and parcel of YS’s heart. But more importantly, apart from my husband, I couldn’t think of another person who genuinely, truly, passionately, and unabashedly loved youthworkers more than they loved YS or any measure of achievement either personally or organizationally. And THAT, I knew, had always been the “secret” of Youth Specialties’ “success.”
When Tic told me that he had accepted the “job” … I cried … and hope became “the thing with feathers.”
To say that the past two-thousand-two-hundred-and-fifty-nine days have been unbelievably tumultuous and scary for Youth Specialties would be a huge understatement. By the same token, to say that today is an incredibly hopeful and happy day for youthworkers around the globe would also be a huge understatement … but limited as I am by the confines of the English language, it will have to do.
Today IS an incredibly hopeful and happy day for youthworkers around the globe … and, since I’m all about understatements right now, to say that I am THRILLED is, perhaps, the biggest understatement of all.
Thank you and congratulations, YouthWorks, for your sage understanding and perception in soliciting this incredible leader and youthworker … and thank you, Tic, for once again rising to the call. Yac is giving you a HUGE “Woo-hooooo!” shout-out from heaven. May all the glory go to God.
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune–without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
–Emily Dickinson
Entry Filed under: Youth Specialties
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1.
Carl Fuglein |
January 7, 2010 at 8:56 pm
I couldn’t understate it better.
2.
Marv Penner |
January 7, 2010 at 11:59 pm
Karla my friend – there are few who are able to express the thoughts of many as articulately as you do. Thank-you for putting words to the song in my heart today. Mike must be laughing his face off right now!
M
3.
Tic’s Return –&hellip |
January 8, 2010 at 3:46 pm
[...] Karlayaconelli.wordpress.com. [...]
4.
Dave P |
January 10, 2010 at 5:37 am
Karla, well said hope all is well with you.
5.
Brooklyn |
January 11, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Thank you Karla…
6.
Debbie Cali |
January 12, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Just want you to know that I am proud of the job you have done…. being thrust in the lime light and trying to fill the shoes of the one you were missing the most must have been so difficult. you handled it with such grace. Thank you for your awesome job and leading many new youth leaders to empower witnesses to the world… you may never know the impact you had… thank you for all of your blood sweat and tears…. As a woman you were strong and a beakon of hope in the sea of still murky waters.
7.
Jackie Girdner |
January 12, 2010 at 6:51 pm
Karla, I shared so many of those same feelings with you… and as a youth worker, I dreaded the thought of no Y.S. I am thrilled about Tic. We spoke with him at length at DCLA, and were quite amazed that he had been let go…
But God IS faithful and HE knew what HE was doing. Thankyou for your words… it is nice to hear you.. I miss our chats. Blessings, Jackie