The idea of YWAM began with a 20-year-old American college student who was spending some time in prayer. As he leaned back in his bed and looked up, he saw what he called a "mental movie." He saw waves on a map. The waves turned into young people, going to every continent, sharing the good news about Jesus.

This radical idea, that young people could be missionaries, stayed with this young man, Loren Cunningham. Four years later, in 1960, he started an organization with that idea expressed even in its name: Youth With A Mission. The organization grew quickly, and is now one of the world's largest Christian mission organizations, with a staff of nearly 16,000 people working in over 1,000 locations across more than 149 countries. We represent numerous denominations and speak hundreds of languages, with half of our staff from "non-western" countries, such as Brazil, Korea, Indonesia, India and Nepal. Together we train and send out more than 25,000 short term missionaries every year.

Read the Full History at YWAM.org

Read the History of YWAM Honolulu