My name is Tanner. I took a gap year to do a YWAM Discipleship Training School and Bible Core Course before I went to college, and I’m so glad I did for two major reasons: first, I engaged with God in a much deeper way than ever before. Second, I learned how to be more flexible and have fun, rejoicing in God-given community. 

Regarding my faith journey, I grew up in a Christian home with parents who love Jesus. I accepted Christ and was baptized when I was seven, but in high school, I didn’t have many Christian friends. I didn’t really think about God very much in my day-to-day, and my faith became something theoretical and abstract—I argued with my friends about the existence of God and morality, but I didn’t see God as a personal or active force in my life. Under the guidance of my DTS leaders and teachers, I realized how present God is in my every day, and how much he utterly loves me. God’s abounding grace and love change everything about how I live my life, and my experience with YWAM helped me continue down that transformative path. 

Another one of the most impactful lessons I learned on my gap year is that “it is not good for man to be alone.” I had thought that if I prayed enough and read my bible enough and got close to God, then everything would be good. But no—God gave us the church as life-giving community. If we are each members of the Body of Christ, then being disconnected from Christian community is like cutting off the circulation to a limb. When I first jumped into the vibrant community of my YWAM base, I felt some of the “tingling and numbness” of the blood rushing back into a limb that’s fallen asleep. It was overwhelming at first, but I had never experienced loving community and friendship like I experienced in my DTS. I learned what it means to have friends who stick closer than blood relatives. I learned the power of leaning on brothers in Christ and encouraging each other on to good works. It’s been seven years since my gap year, and I still talk with dear friends I made in my time at YWAM. 

I have no doubt in my mind that my experiences with YWAM over my gap year set me up for success in college. When I struggled in college, it was Christian community that I turned to for support, and by the grace of God, I have been transformed. When I graduated high school, my faith was a bit of a lukewarm afterthought. My time in YWAM got me fired up for Jesus and for Christian community, and helped me launch into college with the confidence to stand firm in the love of Christ in a materialistic and nihilistic college culture. 

Tanner Riley