BECOMING A HEALTHY LEADER STARTS HERE!
Three levels. A cohort of peers who get it — so you don't just grow as a leader, you grow into everything God's calling you to be.
4 Months
Online
Starts Fall 2026
$1,200
BUILT FOR LEADERS LIKE YOU
You're showing up every day for young people who the world has counted out. You're doing it with limited resources, limited support, and more on your plate than anyone outside your community could understand.
And you're still here, because the calling won't let you quit.
BY URBAN LEADERS, FOR URBAN LEADERS
This isn't a generic leadership program.
The Certification Pathway was built by urban leaders, for urban leaders — and it takes you from knowing yourself, to leading your team, to building a ministry with a future, one level at a time.
415+
LEADERS GRADUATED
31
COHORTS LED
Year-Round
ONLINE
THE PATH TO CERTIFICATION
One pathway. Three levels.
One healthier leader.
Personal Leadership is Level 1 — the foundation everything else is built on.
You can't skip ahead, and you won't want to.
ONE PATHWAY · THREE LEVELS · TWELVE SESSIONS
LEVEL 1 - PERSONAL LEADERSHIP
Become a Healthy Leader
Know who you are and whose you are before you lead anyone else.
LEVEL 2 · TEAM LEADERSHIP
Develop People. Multiply Capacity.
Learn to lead a team without burning them out.
LEVEL 3 - STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
Strengthen Your Story. Scale Your Impact.
Build a real vision and strategy for the next 5 years.
Each level is a four-month journey. Complete on its own — and building into something bigger.
THE PERSONAL LEADERSHIP COHORT
Before you can lead anyone else,
you have to lead yourself.
LEVEL 1 START HERE
$1,200 per cohort
Personal Leadership
BECOME A HEALTHY LEADER
Before you can lead anyone else well, you have to know who you are — and whose you are. A four-month journey into your God-given design, the values driving your decisions, and the spiritual rhythms that make sustained leadership possible.
4 Months
Online
Starts Fall 2026
Cohort of Peers
All of the training our Youth Ministry Directors have received has been and will continue to be so instrumental in shaping the future, not just of the children in our congregation, but also of the children in the community we serve.
INSIDE THE COHORT
Four sessions. Four real shifts
in how you lead.
This isn't isolated online content — it's facilitator-guided development.
Here's what you walk away with from each session.
SESSION ONE
Foundations of Leadership
You'll Leave With
A working definition of leadership that fits your actual life, and one honest assessment of where you're leading well — and where you're not.
SESSION TWO
Leading as Designed
You'll Leave With
A completed Leadership Profile integrating your strengths, gifts, and Enneagram type — plus one concrete shift in how you lead.
SESSION THREE
Value-Based Leadership
You'll Leave With
Your top 5 core values, a completed Leadership Creed, and clarity on where your espoused and enacted values don't yet match.
SESSION FOUR
Healthy Spiritual Rhythms
You'll Leave With
Personal spiritual rhythms with practices across all six formation dimensions, and honest clarity on where you need the most attention right now.
Fall Class Dates
A Four-Month Cohort That Meets for 3.5 Hours
Sep. 3, 2026
Oct. 1, 2026
Nov. 5, 2026
Dec. 3, 2026
WHAT LEADERS SAY
Peers who know your zip code,
your context, your culture.
"While attending UYWI, we finally felt seen and understood. It's rare to find people who truly get our unique challenges."
Annika John
San Jose, CA
"I have been deeply blessed by the connections formed through my cohort and continue to draw on their wisdom and support."
Taylor Sims
Los Angeles, CA
"UYWI helped us create a model that goes beyond events and numbers to focus on genuine discipleship."
John Miranda
Los Angeles, CA
YOUR NEXT STEP
Your Leadership Journey Starts Here.
Become the healthy leader the young people in your community need.
Applications for the Fall 2026 Personal Leadership cohort are open now.
4 months · Online · $1,200 (value is over $3,000)
If something is holding you back, cost, timing, or not sure it's the right fit — let's talk.
Book a 15-minute call with us, and we'll help you explore if this is the right fit for you.
Four Sessions
What We'll Walk Through Together
Foundations of Leadership
What does it really mean to lead, and am I already doing it?
We start where every leader must, with a clear look at what leadership actually is and what it demands of us. Grounded in Mark 9, this session names the most common myths about power and position and replaces them with something truer: leadership is influence, not a title. Every person in the room is already leading. The question is whether they are doing it with intention. We introduce UYWI’s value-based leadership framework and explore what it means to lead as a servant in the urban context.
Leading as
Designed
How did God wire me to lead, and am I leading from that design or against it?
No two leaders are the same, and yet most of us spend years trying to lead like someone else. This session helps you understand how God specifically designed you: your behavioral instincts, your spiritual gifts, and the core motivations driving your decisions. Using three pre-work assessments, you will build an integrated Leadership Profile that you will carry throughout the program and beyond. The goal is not self-awareness for its own sake. It is stewarding who God made you to be in service of the people you lead.
Value-Based
Leadership
What values are actually driving my decisions, and are they the ones I claim?
Every leader has values they say they hold. Far fewer can identify the values that are actually operating in their decisions, their time use, and how they respond under pressure. This session helps you close that gap. You will name your non-negotiables, stress-test them against real leadership situations, and learn how UYWI’s three core theologies (work, suffering, and presence) give you the spiritual foundation to lead from values even when it costs you. You will also write a brief Leadership Creed: a personal declaration of who you are committed to being.
Healthy Spiritual
Rhythms
How do I pay attention to my whole self so I can lead sustainably for the long haul?
Burnout is not a badge of honor, and leaders who run on empty cannot give what they do not have. This session takes a whole-person approach to sustainable leadership, examining six dimensions of formation: spiritual, emotional, relational, mental, physical, and missional. You will map your own formation story, identify which areas are most depleted, and build a personal Rule of Life with specific practices across daily, weekly, and monthly rhythms. The goal is not spiritual performance. It is integrated transformation that makes you someone worth following for decades.
Got questions? Not sure if this is your moment? Fill out the interest form, and we'll reach out to help you figure it out.
