Young Leaders Network
Equipping Young Pastors for Healthy, Sustainable, and Lifelong Ministry.
What is the Young Leaders Network?
Recent research and conversations with pastors have revealed a consistent reality: many pastors are longing for leadership development, experienced coaching, healthy rhythms for family life, and meaningful friendships with other pastors. Young Leader’s Network exists to meet these needs by walking alongside pastors in community, helping them grow as leaders, strengthen their families, and sustain faithful ministry over the long haul.
Vision
Pastors are called to shepherd God’s people, but too often they carry the weight alone. Young Leader’s Network exists to build a trusted circle of encouragement, accountability, and shared wisdom—so pastors can thrive, not merely survive. Healthy pastors strengthen healthy churches, and faithful ministry becomes sustainable over a lifetime.
Healthy pastors produce healthy churches.
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity … Do not neglect your gift …Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. - 1 Timothy 4:12-16
Community. Development. Thriving.
How Does it work?
Young Leader’s Network is built around a three-year cohort model. Each year, a new cohort of twenty to thirty pastors begins a shared journey of formation, relationship, and growth. These young pastors will journey together for all three years participating in Workshops, Conferences, and Retreats.
Formation takes time. Faithful ministry is a long journey.
This long-term design allows trust to deepen, friendships to form, and meaningful transformation to take root. Pastors are not rushed through a program—they are walked with over time.
The Primary Benefit is a long-standing community of other ministry-minded leaders of similar ages, positions, and stages of life
Workshops Led By Experts
Each cohort participates in monthly workshops led by experienced pastors, spiritual leaders, and subject-matter experts. These workshops address the real needs pastors face in leadership, ministry, and family life.
Workshops are designed to be practical, reflective, and deeply rooted in servant leadership—creating space for learning, dialogue, and growth alongside peers.
Workshop focus areas include:
• Leadership development and decision-making
• Pastoral health and emotional resilience
• Marriage and family life in ministry
• Spiritual formation and discipleship
• Navigating conflict, transition, and burnout
Conferences
Young Leader’s Network conferences serve as intentional moments of focused growth throughout the three-year journey. These gatherings create space for pastors and their spouses to step away from weekly ministry demands, gain clarity, and engage deeply with leadership formation, spiritual health, and long-term sustainability.
Unlike large public conferences, YLN conferences are designed to be relational, reflective, and cohort-centered—combining trusted teaching with guided conversation, prayer, and shared learning.
Year One - Foundations In Orlando, FL
The first conference focuses on laying strong foundations for ministry and family life. Pastors and spouses gather to reflect on calling, leadership identity, and the rhythms needed for sustainable ministry. This conference serves as an early anchor point—helping the cohort align around shared values, servant leadership, and the journey ahead.
Year Two - Depth In Vail, CO
Set in a reflective mountain environment, the second-year conference invites pastors and spouses to slow down and engage more deeply with the realities of leadership, emotional health, and long-term perseverance. Teaching and conversations focus on navigating complexity, sustaining spiritual health, and leading with wisdom through pressure and change.
Year Three - Growth at Exponential
The first conference focuses on laying strong foundations for ministry and family life. Pastors and spouses gather to reflect on calling, leadership identity, and the rhythms needed for sustainable ministry. This conference serves as an early anchor point—helping the cohort align around shared values, servant leadership, and the journey ahead.
One Conference AND One Retreat Per Year.
Retreats
Retreats and shared experiences within Young Leader’s Network are intentionally designed around rest and renewal. These gatherings provide margin for pastors and their spouses to slow down, reconnect with God, strengthen relationships, and experience the kind of renewal that makes long-term ministry possible.
Rather than packed schedules or performance-driven agendas, YLN retreats emphasize unhurried time, spiritual rest, and meaningful connection.
Year One - Rest and Renewal In Florida
The first-year retreat focuses on connection and belonging. Pastors and spouses build relationships within the cohort while creating space for rest and reflection. This shared experience helps establish trust, deepen friendships, and set a relational tone for the journey ahead.
Year Two - Dominican Republic
The second-year retreat invites the cohort into a broader perspective through a shared experience with the Harvest Foundation. This retreat blends renewal with exposure to global Kingdom work, encouraging reflection on leadership, service, and faith beyond familiar contexts. Shared experiences deepen bonds and expand vision.
Year Three - Capstone Pilgrimage
The final retreat serves as a capstone experience for the three-year journey. Options include a pilgrimage to Israel, tracing Paul’s missionary journeys, or exploring the Reformation in Europe. This retreat is designed to deepen faith, mark the journey’s culmination, and prepare pastors and spouses to carry forward what they’ve received into the next decades of ministry.
YLN actively helps identify, resource, and platform pastors who demonstrate gifting, faithfulness, and leadership potential. Members gain access to tools, training, and opportunities to share their voice—whether through teaching, writing, speaking, or leadership within broader ministry contexts. This support is offered with discernment and care, helping pastors steward influence in healthy, Christ-centered ways.
Additional Benefits
Young Leader’s Network provides access to a private jobs and opportunities board exclusively for members. This platform connects pastors with ministry opportunities, church roles, and leadership positions aligned with their experience, calling, and values. By creating a trusted, relational space for vocational discernment, YLN helps pastors navigate transitions with wisdom, support, and integrity.
Select participants in Young Leader’s Network will have the opportunity to pursue specialized certifications in areas such as Coaching and Spiritual Directing. These certifications are designed to deepen personal formation while equipping pastors with skills that can serve their churches, communities, and future ministry pathways. Certification opportunities are integrated thoughtfully into the YLN journey, ensuring they complement—not compete with—pastoral calling and family life.
Interested in joining a Cohort?
Applications for the Young Leaders Network for future years coming soon