The return of Thriveanooga

Chattanooga again hosts national conference for youth-ministry leaders

By Bee Goodman

Think about a conference. Some you remember may have been inspirational, but others may have been, well, boring.

Now think about summer camp. Pretty great, right?

What if you could attend summer camp as an adult but still get all the important resources from a conference? Now we’re talking. Finally, pack a bag for four days of a fun “conference” at Thriveanooga.

Hosted at Hotel Clemons in downtown Chattanooga Sept. 22-25, ProjectYM invited Catholic youth-ministry leaders from across more than 60 U.S. dioceses to a fun-packed and educational event for those leading ministry for children of middle- and high-school age.

Thriveanooga strives to create a fun environment but still allows the youth ministers attending to bring back things they learn to integrate into their home parishes.

To begin the event, Bishop Mark Beckman celebrated Mass with the colorfully “tribed” group. The bishop thanked the group for its great work, sharing that while serving in the Diocese of Nashville, he worked with youth ministry there and attended several youth conferences, making multiple trips with groups of teens.

Bishop Beckman began his homily with a sentiment of regrowth: “Only those who lived through the experience of the house being torn down and going into exile can appreciate the beauty of the rebuilding of the house of God, and the joy and hard work that it took to do that.”

The Diocese of Knoxville’s shepherd then noted how we are living in strange times, explaining, “There is a lot in our culture that is not of the Gospel today: the tolerance of violence, the way people treat one another through social media. But we are all influenced by those painful and destructive winds.”

“They create alienation, separation among human beings, and don’t help us to build community. And yet, in the midst of all of that, the Holy Spirit is at work. The Holy Spirit of God desires us to build once more a house worthy of the Lord, in our own culture, in our own time, and in our own place. And that begins in the human heart,” the bishop said.

He reminded the youth ministers that the role they’ve taken has many challenges, including sleepless and anxiety-filled nights, but it is an important role in the house of the Lord.

“And yet those of you have discovered that even if it’s just for a small window of their life, you will make a lasting impact on young people who so desperately need a living stone to remind them who God is. Let the Holy Spirit build in your own heart the emphasis of this love.”

“It is a day-by-day work in progress to rebuild. It is your weakness that can be used by God to fulfill His blessings. So, let us go rejoicing in the house of the Lord.”

24 + 1 = 6

The goal of ProjectYM is to invest in the adults who invest in the youth. Youth ministry has a high burnout because its leaders often feel stranded and unsupported in a world of chaos. ProjectYM wants to help these leaders find balance and discover ways to improve their parishes’ youth programs, with only the “good kind of chaos” as these are people who choose to spend time with teenagers.

This year, Thriveanooga hosted more than 70 youth leaders from more than 30 dioceses. About half of the attendees had attended before, the other half being new. Regardless of how many times a leader has attended, Thriveanooga keeps the experience fresh.

Mandi Whittaker is ProjectYM’s master of details.

“Even if some of the topics and ‘pain points’ do not change year to year, the expertise and experience in the room does,” she said. “You can learn a lot and try out a lot of different techniques and things over the course of a year. This way, returning people come back with different ideas and questions to work with.”

Springtide Research found that 24 percent of youth feel they lack a trusted adult mentor outside of home or felt their life had no purpose. Suicide is a leading cause of death for teens. Rates for people ages 10 to 24 increased by 62 percent between 2007 and 2021 and continue to climb today. Springtide also found that when youth have just one adult who cares for them outside of home, that 24 percent drops to 6 percent.

This led ProjectYM to the idea that 24 plus one equals six. While the math isn’t correct in a technical sense, it’s a step in the right direction for youth ministers. They can be the ones to change, and save, a person’s life.

While it seems that youth ministry offers fun games and retreats for kids, it has a large influence on how kids communicate with each other, their family, and ministry leaders. It helps to build an important foundation of faith that they will later need to rely on. It introduces God as a person they can always trust and someone who cares for them. It’s a lot of serious stuff for a youth leader to carry. Even if a parish is large and has a well-established youth ministry, having many kids can make it harder to reach a single child on a more personal and individual level. Or the opposite: if a parish has a small youth group, it probably struggles to find resources. This is where Thriveanooga invites youth leaders to play the games just like the kids and see how they can make a difference for each kid they encounter in their parish. Thriveanooga also helps leaders plan to make improvements.

Mrs. Whittaker shared, “We talk about pretty much everything in the youth-ministry field: how to recruit, train, and support volunteers, serving the whole family and getting parents involved in the ministry.”

She also remarked how leaders want to help their ministries work with other activities for young people so “they don’t feel that they have to choose.”

Whether a person is involved with sports, community groups, or anything else, the youth leaders want the person to feel the youth can do both, and both leaders and youth can use it as an opportunity to serve. This is also a lesson transferable with the young person’s family, so the families don’t have to sacrifice time because of calendar issues. Thriveanooga also focuses on topics like serving special needs of the leaders’ community, how to start a program, creating and adjusting processes and procedures, how to start small groups, and “whatever anyone else feels passionate about,” Mrs. Whittaker said.

President and ProjectYM co-founder Michael Marchand reflected on the goal of Thriveanooga.

“Thriveanooga is ProjectYM’s mission in action. We don’t just hand youth ministers tools— we surround them with a team. By keeping it intentionally small and deeply collaborative, we give leaders space to connect, co-create, and breathe again. When youth ministers leave Thriveanooga healthier and more equipped, the ripple effect reaches dozens of teens and families back home.”

ProjectYM created a four-day experience for its attendees to have fun while addressing the weak spot in their parish’s program or themselves. While Thriveanooga may seem cramped into downtown Chattanooga, it chooses to have a limited space and attendance so each person can get the full benefits of the event. But the moderate size spares no lack of chaos.

Commentator Beth Drew of the Diocese of Indianapolis relates how Thriveanooga is “infused with energy, love, and positivity.” Many attendees have shared their joy online about Thriveanooga and how it helped their parish program grow tremendously. Some leaders have come fresh to the youth-ministry scene and are left with wisdom given by leaders who have been in youth ministry for 20 or more years. And those with experience said that they’ve been able to pack lots of new and fresh strategies in their suitcases, so they take new tools to keep their programs growing in size and strength.

Youth leaders from several different dioceses are split into color-coded “tribes” at Thriveanooga. Because it can be hard to get to know a large group, all attendees are split so they can coordinate in a smaller and more personal team. Teams go all out in the spirit of the “survivor” theme. So, it’s normal to see an adult sporting a Teletubby onesie, ghillie suits, tutus, or some crazy color-coordinated combo. In the spirit of the event, Bishop Beckman was given a shirt that caused exciting yells from the blue team, as the bishop was officially marked with his new blue tee.

ProjectYM isn’t a possibility without the people that water its roots every day. Back in 2013, Mr. Marchand saw a dire need for youth-ministry growth. Having worked in youth ministry himself, he saw exactly what kinds of challenges are faced and he felt the weight that comes with having a leading role in young people’s lives. He sought to offer something to youth ministry that isn’t for the youth but for those who lead them.

Eleven years later, he still puts his heart into youth ministry by leading ProjectYM and attending Thriveanooga.

Thriveanooga looks at the needs of youth ministry and the current trends happening within. Mrs. Whittaker said that “the field is shifting to small group-based programming and events and activities that are geared toward reaching young people and journeying and accompanying them. The model we teach is the ‘reach, feed, send model.’”

“Our youth ministries need to have entry-point programs that can reach everyone—the churched and the unchurched. Then we use small-group programming to feed our young people, introduce them to Jesus, and ‘do life together.’ Then after they have a relationship with Jesus, we send them out to disciple others and evangelize,” Mrs. Whittaker continued.

ProjectYM now has 12 years of service focused on youth ministry. The staff seeks to lead the leaders and have growth within growth. But it’s not a cheap task. ProjectYM is a nonprofit. “As far as funding goes, ProjectYM is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization,” Mrs. Whittaker said.

“We are able to do what we do thanks to the support of donors and sponsoring organizations. Some of the sponsoring organizations this year are TENx10, Catholic Heart Workcamp, and the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry. Participants also pay a registration fee.”

While Thriveanooga is a big event for ministry leaders, ProjectYM provides support 24/7—not just during the four-day conference. Mrs. Whittaker said, “ProjectYM is at its core all about community and about supporting youth ministers. We know the No. 1 reason that youth ministers leave ministries is because they feel alone and isolated, and so it is the goal of ProjectYM to make sure that’s not their reality. We run the largest community for Catholic youth-ministry leaders, called Thrive.”

In the Thrive community, leaders can access other Catholic ministries on both national and international levels, bridging large gaps in communication. Leaders also gain access to the Thrive resource library, including “member-created resources like youth nights, activities, games, and forms, over 25 hours of video-training content, and multiple live-streamed events where people can join to learn, chat, or even showcase their own expertise and passions.” In addition, the ProjectYM site has additional resources to help leaders plan fundraisers. A trivia fundraiser has been incredibly successful, allowing one group to raise $20,000 in just one night.

ProjectYM also hosted numerous in-person trainings in Chattanooga at its ProjectYM Mission Base. It also offers Thrive Pro Groups, which meet weekly for 12 weeks to dwell on specific topics or problems and work together to form a plan “geared toward implementation, quick wins, and long-term success, an example of how we live out our core values of community and collaboration,” Mrs. Whittaker said.

While ProjectYM is a dedicated resource to youth ministries and its leaders, there are ways other Catholics can be of help as well.

Mrs. Whittaker said people can express gratitude for the work these ministries do, volunteer to help, be encouraging, help them connect to resources like ProjectYM, and more.

She specifically said that anyone wanting to help can “celebrate their wins and advocate for their ministries, for budgets, and for salaries.” She added that a great way to be involved can be paying subscriptions for a parish’s youth ministers or helping them pay to attend a training event so they can continue to grow and connect. All of these can be specific to one parish.

ProjectYM has a host of solutions to help parish youth ministries survive and thrive. Catholics can invest in their cause by donating or helping ProjectYM connect to granting organizations, ministry leaders, and people involved with their donor base, perhaps by hosting a meal, coffee, or just a space for them to build connections and network.

Thriveanooga is a one-of-a-kind conference that allows youth leaders to think and act like a kid while gaining the wisdom of experienced leaders and thinkers. Thriveanooga will return to Chattanooga in September 2026.

For more information on ProjectYM and its many programs, go to projectym.com.