Loren Cunningham

Loren Duane Cunningham (b. 1935) is the founder of the international Christian movement Youth with a Mission (YSAM)and the University of the nations. Loren founded YWAM in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1960 with his wife, Darlene, at the age of 24. They reside in on Kona, Hawaii and are members of the YWAM Biblical Leadership team.

Loren’s ‘Early life’ shows he came from a family of pastors- he is the third generation. He received his own missionary call at the age of 13, He attended high school in West Los Angeles at University Highland and graduated in December 1952

While travelling in the Bahamas in 1956 Loren claims he had a vision. he describes waves on the shore lines of the continents on a world map, eventually growing bigger and bigger, covering the land mass. He then says the waves changed into young people covering the continents. This would inspire the beginnings of YSAM 4 years later.

It was founded in 1960. The group’s original focus was to get youth involved in missions .Today, 60 years later, it has expanded its membership to those of older ages as well.

Loren married Darlene Scratch in 1963.

The history of YWAM is clearly set out on the YWAM sheet from 1960 up to 2011.

In 1978 Loren co-founded the University of the Nations in Kaiua-Kona, hawaii with Howard Maimstadt. Loren was president until 2010

By the year 2000 they had 11,000 staff from over 130 countries and had become almost 50% non-Western.

YWAM train upward of 25,000 short term mission ‘volunteers’ annually

The Cunninghams continue to have influence on the leadership of YSAM International, holding the title of Founders of the Mission.