Tic Long back at Youth Specialties.

Let me first say how stoked I am that this is happening.   Tic Long is returning to Youth Specialties as the Executive Director of Youth Specialties effective immediately.

A funny story that Tic won’t remember but in my mind my first experience with him was not good.  I was a young 24 year old game guy at a camp and half way through a week he came up to be with his church.  His staff had told him that I was being unfair with his kids so he approached me and told me that.  I of course wasn’t super mature and was bugged that this bald headed guy who hadn’t even been here all week was telling me how to do my job.

The unfortunate truth is I held a grudge for a couple years about this and I remember going to Youth Specialties events and even telling people what he had done.  But then I got to know people who knew Tic, I got to see how he interacted with youth workers and I began to see his heart. 

God did something with me one day in an elevator at a National Youth Workers Convention in Anaheim.  Tic walked in and it was just he and I in the elevator.  I felt the urge to confess to Tic my hard feelings and so I did and I asked him for forgiveness.   From that point forward I felt that my whole attitude towards Youth Specialties had changed and I began to feel like I was a part of the “tribe” of youth ministry.  I saw Tic in a whole new light and felt like he and the other Youth Specialties elders actually cared about me as a young youth pastor.

I have a long history with people at Youth Specialties.  Marko was the first person ever to hire me to do Youth Ministry full-time.  I have both a huge respect and friendship with him.  I’ve been involved in Youth Ministry for a quite a while and this last fall had the opportunity to be at all three of the National Youth Workers conventions.  Truth be told I was originally only scheduled to be at the first one working as a consultant with them but after all the changes started happening I felt like I should be at the others.  So I bought my own ticket and paid my own hotel room in Cincinnati just because I wanted to serve and be with the YS team.  Then in Atlanta they were gracious enough to give me a hotel room and some money so I could eat and I continued being a part of this thing. 

In LA this year I was a part of a conversation with several great Youth Workers up in Marko’s suite one night.  Marko went to bed right after we got there but we ended up staying up until 3:00am talking about the history and future of YS and who would be a part of it.   The group that I was with is people I very much admire.  Tash McGill, Adam Mcclane, Mark Riddle, Ryan Smith, Mark Matlock, Aaron Geisler and Mike King.  That was one of the magical nights for me because we had a 4 hour conversation that covered so much ground.  Little did we know how much change was going to happen in the next few months.

When Youthworks bought Youth Specialties most of us had no clue what the future would look like. September and October were just not fun months. I had the luck of meeting several of the Youthworks folk though and I found them to be great people. One of their guys even ended up sleeping on my couch for a night.  I think that they have made a great decision here to bring Tic back.  

I don’t believe that bringing Tic back is an attempt to relive the glory days of Youth Specialties.  Tic is coming back a different person.  I’m sure he never thought that he’d ever get a chance to be back working for Youth Specialties.  Having something you’ve done your whole life be taken away must have been so tough.  He has to be coming back with a new perspective.  

YS is now living in a new reality.  It’s both an old tribe and a new tribe. I think Tic is the right person to bridge that gap.  I’m praying for him as he leads the team and reaches out to new generations of Youth Ministry leaders. 

Tic as a fellow Seattle Pacific University graduate and a youth pastor I say welcome back.  And, God is good, all the time.