Mike Yaconelli
July 24, 1942 - October 30, 2003

Mike Yaconelli

Mike Yaconelli was the founder of Youth Specialties. He spent 43 years of his life in ministry to youth, and 20 years as a pastor of a small church in Yreka, California (in recent years, Mike called it "the slowest growing church in America"). Mike and his wife, Karla, split their time between Yreka and San Diego. Mike speaks on the Heart of Youth Ministry training video, wrote The Disciple Experiment: A Faith-In-Action Student Journal and dozens of other youth ministry books. Mike was also the author of Dangerous Wonder: The Adventure of Childlike Faith,, and Messy Spirituality: God's Annoying Love for Imperfect People, which are both available in book stores or online from Youth Specialties.

Before Mike passed away in October of 2003, he wrote two more books for Youth Specialties: The CORE Realities of Youth Ministry and Devotion. His fingerprints are all over Youth Specialties and this website—you can't miss his presence here!

Here are the Yaconelli's five kids: Mark (married to Jill, heading up a program of spirituality for teenagers at San Francisco Theological Seminary, proud father of Noah, 8; Joseph, 6; and baby Grace, born in September 2003); Trent (married to Ondrejka, program director at St. Helena Boys and Girls Club, leader/guitar player of a rock band called 5 a.m. in the Bay Area, proud father of Wilder, born in March 2003; Lisa (married to David, husband/wife restaurant owners of "Clocked" in Athens, GA, and on the way to being proud parents in January 2004); Jill (living in San Francisco, working as a loan consultant for Santa-Rosa-based corporation Financial Logistics, Inc. ), and Jessica (pursuing her PR career in Kailua, Oahu, HI, and proud mom of Meow-Meow the cat).

Yaconelli Memorial

Connect with Karla Yaconelli

YS staff listing