About Us
Mission
Vision
Developing outdoor leaders who are committed to local relational youthwork, who are humble in the heart, and who will excel in the skills of safely and effectively introducing young people to Jesus Christ through outdoor adventure.
Wilderness and Transformation
Throughout history, God has used the wilderness as a special place for transformation. The Biblical text indicates that God’s strategy for developing mission-focused leaders has often involved transforming wilderness experiences. This is an integral part of God’s design for apprenticeship. Yet today in our increasingly urbanized world young people are less able to experience the wilderness. In developing strategies today for recruiting, training, sending and sustaining young leaders as cross cultural or local youth workers who can effectively introduce the young to Jesus Christ, we must re-emphasize this ancient apprenticing method which produced leaders such as Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Ruth, Jacob, David, Peter, James, John, and Paul. Each of them were profoundly called and shaped by the God in the wilderness.
Wilderness and the Missionary Spirit
Throughout biblical history, there has always been an essential connection between wilderness experiences and the missionary spirit. It is clear that Jesus modeled for His disciples a rhythm of engaging people in missions then retreating for rest and reflection in the wilderness. This model is especially crucial as the peoples of the world continue to migrate to the city. Young people today are unsure how to engage a world of poverty, religions, violence, and clashing civilizations.
Wilderness and Raising Up Leaders
As we look afresh at the experiential nature of Jesus Christ’s teaching and training methods, there are many contemporary implications for recruiting, training, sending, and sustaining leaders in urban mission movements today. Whether from developed or undeveloped nations, there is a need for raising up more young mission leaders who have the character, confidence, and competence to engage their local mission field. Outdoor adventure is a proven training ground for developing these kinds of leaders.
Meet the WMI Team
Joel V.
Director
Currently serving as the Director of WMI, Joel has been actively involved in outdoor leadership and wilderness ministry for over 25 years. With a passion for seeing people’s lives transformed by Christ, He brings his experience of thousands of field days in more than 50 countries to the training courses he leads. He has been working with Nexus and WMI since 2010.
Efraín A.
Latin American Coordinator
Efraín has worked with youth and adventure camp ministries in Central America for the last 10 years. He has a huge passion to invest his life in his local community and see leaders developed across Latin America.
Forrest C.
Special Projects
Forrest has served for many years as the Director of True North Navigators, an outdoor ministry in Southern Oregon. He has been actively serving in outdoor ministry for over 30 years and is passionate about using adventure and creation intentionally for spiritual formation, especially among young people.
Andrew U.
Field Staff
Andrew joined the WMI staff in 2018 with over 15 years of domestic and international experiential education, outdoor leadership and camp management experience and has been involved in youth ministry for over a decade. He has passion for developing disciple-makers and growing leaders around the world.
Ellis H.
Media Specialist
Ellis brings extensive media production experience to the team and a passion to creatively tell the stories of what God is doing through our ministry partners around the world. Along with experience in media, he also brings experience leading in both youth and outdoor ministries in a variety of different contexts.
Andrei S.
Central Asia WMI Coordinator / Nexus Ambassador
Ashley D.
Founder
Ashley is the founder and visionary behind the Wilderness Ministry Institute. He holds a Doctoral degree in Missions and Cross Cultural Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, a Master’s in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the author of Christian Outdoor Leadership: Theology, Theory, and Practice and is currently involved in church planting where he and his family currently live.
Jon H.
Field Staff
For over 20 years Jon has been actively involved in outdoor leadership and wilderness ministry. He has been working with Nexus and WMI for over 12 years and has been working in youth ministry for 25 years in over 30 countries.
Hans W.
Field Staff
Hans has been involved in outdoor ministry for over 10 years and has been the leader of the Scripture Union in Austria for over 20 years. Through many outdoor camps in the Alps, he shared the love of Christ in Gods classroom and had has a great desire to see that multiply.
Juan Carlos C.
Field Staff
Juan Carlos has a passion to see youth leadership developed and discipled to reach the next generation with the Gospel. He has a wealth of experience in youth ministry, church and outdoor leadership; including over a decade of developing youth leaders throughout Latin America.
Ministry Distinctives
- Developing indigenous leaders
- Starting and sustaining a culture of disciple-making in the local church
- Relational training
- Lifting up the young and the poor of our world’s cities
- Providing young people the highest quality wilderness experiences at the lowest possible cost
- Developing technical outdoor leadership skills equivalent to international standards
- A team approach to leadership
- International partnership and collaboration among outdoor leaders and youth workers.
The trail helped me understand that my relationship with God will be more about the journey then the end result. What God is doing is more important then finishing!
Greg Fuchs Youth Pastor/Mile High Ministries, DenverBeing on the trail created raw space for God to work in me and the girls that I guided like nothing else has. I was face to face with myself and face to face with the wildness and adventure of Jesus. The climb doesn’t just teach you, it changes you and makes you into more; it forces you to move. I was honored to watch transformation not only in myself, but also within the lives of dozens of teenagers.
Rickelle Hicks Young Life Staff & RMR Backcountry GuideOne of my favorite things about the trail is the community it brings. Defenses come down. Barriers are breached. Authentic relationship is possible. Once you get a taste of that, reality changes. Your expectations are higher. Desire comes alive. In this post-modern culture, often marked by isolation and loneliness, the community formed on a backpacking trip meets the core hunger of both teens and adults today.
Cara Maiolo RMR Backcountry GuideJoel V.
Director
Currently serving as the Director of WMI, Joel has been actively involved in outdoor leadership and wilderness ministry for over 25 years. With a passion for seeing people’s lives transformed by Christ, He brings his experience of thousands of field days in more than 50 countries to the training courses he leads. He has been working with Nexus and WMI since 2010.
