HISTORY
Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators, got his start in ministry with junior high school boys, teaching them discipleship principles he found useful in his own life. In the early 50’s, when The Navigators bought Glen Eyrie in Colorado Springs for their headquarters, a 330 acre tract of undeveloped mountain land was included in the purchase with the stipulation that it be used for youth ministry. Just four years later, Eagle Lake Camp was born with a simple one week camping trip for 13 boys. Eagle Lake has grown into one of the premier Christian camps in the country. While Eagle Lake was growing in Colorado, a small high school ministry was born near Baltimore, Maryland. In 1975, veteran Navigator staff Harvey Oslund challenged a young high school teacher, Richard Stum, to start to meet one-on-one with a few high school students. Over thirty years later, graduates are pastors, missionaries, and church lay leaders across the country and around the world. In 1995, the director of Eagle Lake proposed the development of a year round ministry to middle and high school students, and NavYouth was officially born. It is the desire of NavYouth that teenagers encounter a real relationship with God in Christ, relevant to their teen lives, being transformed to have an impact on their generation for a lifetime.
WHERE IS NAVYOUTH GOING IN THE FUTURE?
NavYouth would love to expand this ministry across the county. Our vision is to see vibrant discipling and mentoring ministries impacting high school students in many more places. Initially we are looking to plant NavYouth ministries along side of existing Navigator collegiate ministries. That way college students with a heart for the Lord, and who are growing in a vision for impacting others with the Gospel through relationships, can have a lasting influence on their younger peers.
But that’s not all. Many of those high school students will likely enroll in that very same university, ensuring the opportunity to continue their growth in vibrant discipleship, ministry skills, and life vision with our Navigator collegiate ministries. We think this is a win-win scenario, and we are already speaking with university ministries to see this become a reality.
ABOUT DICK STUM
Drawn to Christ in high school through the personal involvement of a caring Sunday School teacher, Dick entered college with a desire to grow spiritually. He met The Navigators and was personally mentored in discipleship and motivated to mentor others while training to be a high school math teacher. Dick’s first teaching job opened his eyes to the potential for influencing each new generation with the Gospel and discipleship. After a few more years of collegiate ministry training with The Navigators at the University of Delaware, Dick moved to Maryland and, while teaching full time in the public schools, took the ministry lessons he had learned with college students in one-to-one relationships and adapted them for adolescence.
After nearly 20 years teaching math and mentoring teens Dick joined The Navigators full time to help develop a Navigator ministry to high school students, later to be called NavYouth. He has been the director of NavYouth since 2004, now focusing his time recruiting and mentoring new staff. Dick has a BA degree in Mathematics from Franklin & Marshall College and a Masters in Guidance and Counseling from Johns Hopkins University. Interested in supporting Dick and Marti? Click below to donate:
