17 Going on 80! – David Losey and the Grand Canyon
“People have to start with the Bible and they need to see that their faith is right.” That’s where the Grand Canyon comes into the picture—it’s the place to see the Bible come to life. David Losey’s earnestness permeates his speech and shows itself in his actions. In the past nine years he has brought fifteen young people into the canyon with him for 4-day and 7-day rafting trips. This year Nick, Cole, and Zeke received his gift of a 4-day trip in August.
At 78 David recently had hip replacement surgery. “Last year I was in pain hiking in the canyon. This year I can’t believe what a difference the surgery has made. I’m ready to keep this up well into my eighties, if God gives me the strength.” The young people who have been in the canyon with David say that he is “seventeen years old going on eighteen,” a young person at heart. Micah rafted with him on a 4-day trip and a 7-day trip as well as accompanying him to Israel and several mission trips to Mexico. “David has been such a mentor, almost like a father figure for me.” As an associate pastor in a nearby church now, Micah remembers the impact of David’s life on him and the impact of placing his hand on creation rock in the Grand Canyon—seeing for himself the reality of Noah’s flood in the layers of rock on top of creation rock.
As an owner/operator with Bekins Van Lines, David traveled a lot. During one of his trips in 1976 he found himself in a hotel room in Socorro, NM. He was reading some of the devotionals that his wife Karyl had sent along with him. At that time David realized he needed Jesus Christ in his life and began to pray. Immediately he knew that his life would never be the same—he was different—and thankful for a believing wife. David had married Karyl Wagenbach in 1971 and they enjoyed twenty-three years together before she died in 2005 of breast cancer. He retired from driving bus for the Spokane Transit Authority in 2001. He and Karyl never had any children of their own and neither one had any siblings, thus no nephews or nieces. However, David’s love for young people has multiplied their spiritual children through the years.
For the past nine years David has been working with the youth of Turning Point Open Bible Church in Spokane, WA where he has been since 1976. When the church offered a class addressing the negative influences on youth, David enrolled and came to the awareness that he could help young people face those challenges. God had already prepared him for such a ministry, since David had worked with the YMCA as a program director for ten years.
In a church of around 400 people, Turning Point has as many as 40–60 in their Wednesday night youth program. David’s ministry has had an impact on several hundred lives. Besides the Grand Canyon, he has taken youth on mission trips to Mexico, as well as trips to the Creation Museum, the Ark Encounter, and Israel. Except for Mexico, he bears most of the expense himself because he’s committed to the spiritual enrichment of youth. On a 7-day trip he baptized Nathan, a high school student, in the pool below the waterfall in Elves Chasm. Nathan is now working with youth in another church.
“When young people know you’ve got their back, they open up and allow you to mentor them,” says David. For 2018 he has already reserved four seats on Canyon Ministries’ 4-day rafting trip in August. He’s praying about another 7-day trip in 2019. David desires to keep on bringing young people into the canyon on these trips as long as he can physically do it. He wants to encourage families and build up youth through the Word of God and experiencing the canyon. Isaiah 43:1, a favorite Bible verse, drives his desire to serve his Creator who called him by name and said, “You are Mine!” Therefore, David believes that what is his belongs to God.
Canyon Ministries’ scholarship fund originated as a means of helping those who could not afford to do so on their own take a rafting trip into the canyon in order to see for themselves that the Bible is true and trustworthy. The same fund could help people like David bring more young people into the Grand Canyon. To support the Scholarship Fund, click on the support button below. If you want to increase David’s influence on young people, specify your donation as “Losey’s Kids” in the special instructions field of the donation.
Your Creator can use what He has graciously given you to expand the type of impact David has had over these past nine years and to keep it going for years to come through Canyon Ministries’ Scholarship Fund.
