Oct 8, 2026 · 56 min · 10 segments
John and Shelby examine discipleship, spiritual authority, and the concept of spiritual covering within Youth With A Mission. Shelby draws from her 18 years in YWAM to describe DTS culture…
Shelby HofferHost
John CollinsHost
And what I've been able to tell, and piecing all of this together, and this is research that's really in its early phases, so I don't want to go too far without saying something out of line, but from what I can tell, the problem really existed with the networking aspect of what became the New Apostolic Reformation.
As one of the leaders of the shepherding movement, there was a period of time that he was easily accepted when he would go to other apostolic networks.
And from what I can piece together, I think it's around 1970 or 19—I think it's 1970.
He's with Reverend Dean Sherman, the director of Youth with a Mission, apparently in Canada.
But what happened is he's being networked and he's being networked as an expert in shepherding because that's what he was selling.
And the weight is being carried with people who are in director-level positions, not just rank and file.
So that alters what I would perceive would be the discipleship program within Youth with a Mission.
If this is the person who they're bringing in as the expert— Then the question becomes, were the leaders simply giving advice, or were they being trained that their advice carried spiritual weight? That is the significant difference between what the shepherding movement brought and what you would see if you sent your youth to, say, a mainstream denominational camp.
They may give you advice that might be healthy advice, training for... all sorts of things that they might experience in their life and it would be normal training if you do these good things you will have good fruit if you do these bad things you have bad fruit that kind of advice but in the shepherding movement it was different the advice carried spiritual weight and it was all surrounded by the concept of angels and demons in the back of your mind so whenever that aspect comes in the one who is presenting usually is seen as a supernatural authority no matter what their age
You know, what's interesting first about the networking aspect, as you mentioned, is you do find a lot of overlap in these movements, the Word of Faith and the Latter Rain and, you know, obviously now the Shepherding Movement, Keith Green's Last Days Ministries, like all of these people were connected to each other.
So it wasn't just sort of this amorphous influence that eventually sort of reached each other.
And what I've been able to tell, and piecing all of this together, and this is research that's really in its early phases, so I don't want to go too far without saying something out of line, but from what I can tell, the problem really existed with the networking aspect of what became the New Apostolic Reformation.
As one of the leaders of the shepherding movement, there was a period of time that he was easily accepted when he would go to other apostolic networks.
And from what I can piece together, I think it's around 1970 or 19—I think it's 1970.
He's with Reverend Dean Sherman, the director of Youth with a Mission, apparently in Canada.
But what happened is he's being networked and he's being networked as an expert in shepherding because that's what he was selling.
And the weight is being carried with people who are in director-level positions, not just rank and file.
So that alters what I would perceive would be the discipleship program within Youth with a Mission.
If this is the person who they're bringing in as the expert— Then the question becomes, were the leaders simply giving advice, or were they being trained that their advice carried spiritual weight? That is the significant difference between what the shepherding movement brought and what you would see if you sent your youth to, say, a mainstream denominational camp.
They may give you advice that might be healthy advice, training for... all sorts of things that they might experience in their life and it would be normal training if you do these good things you will have good fruit if you do these bad things you have bad fruit that kind of advice but in the shepherding movement it was different the advice carried spiritual weight and it was all surrounded by the concept of angels and demons in the back of your mind so whenever that aspect comes in the one who is presenting usually is seen as a supernatural authority no matter what their age
You know, what's interesting first about the networking aspect, as you mentioned, is you do find a lot of overlap in these movements, the Word of Faith and the Latter Rain and, you know, obviously now the Shepherding Movement, Keith Green's Last Days Ministries, like all of these people were connected to each other.
So it wasn't just sort of this amorphous influence that eventually sort of reached each other.
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