Celebrating the 35th Anniversary with Pam Harmon

Young Life Capernaum is 35!  In celebration of this anniversary, we will be highlighting important voices in Capernaum and the mission of YL to share the impact of the ministry in the past, present, and future. 

Today, we hear from the VP of Young Life Capernaum, Pam Harmon!

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How have you seen Capernaum impact the mission of Young Life over the past 35 years?

Nick Palermo began Capernaum in 1986 in San Jose, CA when the Holy Spirit opened his eyes to see students with disabilities who were being left out and isolated from most of the fun social experiences of high school. He began a journey of listening and learning from his new friends in order to create Young Life environments that could include his new friends with disabilities alongside his other high school friends. Nick and a small group of adults in San Jose began to pray that someday there would be Capernaum around the world.

When I began working for Young Life in 2000, there were zero Young Life ministries tailored for students with disabilities on the east side of the U.S. In fact, there were only five Capernaum ministries in the whole country. Suzanne Williams was hired in Baltimore and I was hired in the Washington, DC region that year with the hope to begin to create that change. Another significant milestone in Capernaum’s history at that time is that David Wagner, John Wagner’s third child, was a baby in 2000. Baby David was born with Down syndrome. John, the Regional Director in DC at the time, was envisioning that by the time David was a teenager there would be an opportunity for David to attend YL Camp with all of his friends.

In those early years, Nick was creating the first Capernaum training manual. We had our first annual gathering for the whole country - it was glorious to be with like-minded people. Everyone leading Capernaum went to camp with their local areas. Capernaum camps, Day Camps, and Adventure camping with students with disabilities were still to be imagined. People within YL were wondering what Capernaum was and many staff didn’t know yet that YL had a ministry with teens with disabilities. If we had a question or concern, the ONLY answer was, “Call Nick.” 

Slowly and then quickly Capernaum began to grow, and we began to build teams and more training opportunities! In 2005 we had grown to 50 ministries, in 2015 to 273 ministries, and today Capernaum is in close to 400 areas globally! We still celebrate the first picture of a student with a disability in the YL calendar, the first pictures of our friends hanging in YL offices, whenever ramps and wide sidewalks are paved and zero-entry pools are built at YL camp properties, every time one of our friends is included in YL videos, all of our friends who serve on work crew and summer staff, and our alumni who serve on committees, as volunteer leaders, and as interns.

As Capernaum has grown and become a part of the culture of YL, many YL staff and volunteers have become more comfortable, flexible, and joyful alongside our friends. Capernaum has had and is having the impact of nudging the mission toward creating spaces of belonging for people who have been left out and marginalized. We are grateful to be in the midst of that conversation.

What do you most celebrate about Capernaum right now?

There are so many things that I celebrate about Capernaum, but I will mention two. First, I celebrate the amazingly gifted staff and volunteers that the Lord has brought to serve with Capernaum. We learn so much from one another and care so well for each other. It is an honor to serve with this community of people.

The second thing I celebrate is that we are continually moving in Young Life from a ministry “to” people who have been marginalized toward “for and with” or “alongside” marginalized people. YL’s desire is to create spaces of listening and belonging for and with marginalized people. Young Life has sought feedback as a mission and will be making changes in order to better represent our staff and volunteers with disabilities. That is good news for Capernaum.

How do you hope Capernaum will continue to impact the mission moving forward?

It has been said that if any one of us lives long enough, we will be affected by disability. My hope is that YL will continue to realize as a mission that disability intersects with every race, ethnicity, socio-economic group, gender, age, and life stage. Capernaum is enjoying conversations with YL College, WyldLife, International, and YoungLives about serving one another.  We are also realizing anew that there are foster kids, teen moms, and kids experiencing homelessness that are affected by disability who would be served well by leaders with supplemental training that Capernaum could offer. 

In John 15 Jesus tells us the greatest love is to lay down one’s life for our friends. In I Corinthians 12 we also learn about people being like different parts of the body who are all working together as a picture of the body of Christ being whole. In YL we can live these truths as different parts of YL serve each other in spaces where each of our gifts are recognized and needed. I am hopeful that Capernaum will continue to impact the mission of YL as we lay down our lives to give each of us, representing their part of the body, the opportunity to use our gifts to reach more young people with the love of God.