Saturday, March 18, 2023

Why I believe Ray Stanford was the greatest Youth director of all time.


In my opinion, “Ray Stanford was the greatest youth director of all time” - Yankee Arnold

Much of what is taught today in youth ministry came from the youth ministry of Ray Stanford. His style of music for the time, messages that included the clearness of the gospel in every meeting, motive of love with a sincere heart of compassion, and methods that did not compromise the message but enhanced it, have been copied for 75 years. He was a man that not only told you how to do a youth ministry but showed you by example. Young men who knew the Lord and grew to love the Lord greatly desired an outlet to making Christ known. Watching Dr. Stanford, they learned how to clearly present the gospel using the “Wallet Illustration”. They were eyewitnesses of teens trusting the Lord, virtually every time Ray gave the gospel. He was an expert in making the gospel clear to the lost. Results are motivating.

 Bear with me as we go back in time a little.

Directing a youth meetings (called Christian Youth Ranch) was something that every young man with a little specialized training could do. We saw someone do what we could and should do! Florida Bible College was started to prepare a young man to be a man of God, with a clear gospel, a heart of compassion, and using the right methods could be very successful. I would estimate that 90% of these youth leaders became pastors of churches. I was privileged to be the Youth Director of Grove Community Church and Co-Director with Mike Shaffer of the Miami Christian Youth Ranch back in the late 60’s.


These are only a portion of youth directors that were instrumental in bringing about 1,600 teens for our Christian Youth Ranch Summer Conference in Hollywood, Florida. They would meet on the beach in the morning before breakfast for “Quite Time”.


It was awesome to watch hundreds of teens spread out on the beach to study God’s Word and memorize scripture. They were taught the importance of spending personal time with the Lord.


Jim and Dolly Greer could take these young people from across America, and they would sing like professionals.


The seven girls at the microphones came from my ministry in Colorado. Proud, what do you think?

At the time of these events, I was not as aware of their importance as I am 45 years later. We were living a true revival of young people in pursuit of souls. Bill Butterworth accompanied me on “Child of the King”.


With Ray, he was to be all things to all people. When the crowd sang, “Do the ape, Ray Stanford, do the ape!” Well, he did.


When I held my own camp in Colorado, and the crowd hollered, “Do the ape, Yankee Arnold, do the ape” Well, what did you expect?

Kangaroo Court was the most exciting and feared of all the events at camp.


All these pictures are from my own collection.

 TWO GREAT SOURCES FOR TRAINING TODAY

Florida Bible College of Tampa is still teaching and training young men and women for the ministry and is located in Tampa, Florida.  

Florida Bible College of Tampa
4811 George Road, Tampa, FL 33634

Contact Dr. Robert Gilbert at:

Phone: (813)-884-8182
Alt Phone: (850)-227-5325

Email: Info@FloridaBibleCollege.us

Greg Stier with Dare2Share.org 

Greg is being used by the Lord to equip thousands of youth directors across the nation.

I do enjoy comments on my newsletters. What do you think? Just hit REPLY!

Yankee Arnold Ministries

Ralph 'Yankee' Arnold

7028 W. Waters Ave. Suite 316

Tampa, Florida 33634

www.YankeeArnold.com

Yankee@YankeeArnold.com

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