Mal’s Mentors:

•Samuel Yates McSwain. When it comes to mentors for Mal, we have to start with his dad, Yates McSwain. Yate’s grocery store

anchored Shelby’s downtown business district, across the street from the Cleveland County courthouse. As Shelby

Councilman for years, Yates was known for his wisdom, honesty, and generosity. Yates gave Mal his financial conviction of

being debt free, a sense for saving, and a love for giving. 

•Harlan Harris joined the staff as an Associate Minister at Shelby First Baptist Church after spending time under the influence

of Jim Rayburn at Wheaton College. Photos appear to indicate that Harris took Shelby kids to Star Ranch as early as 1947, but

at least by 1948 Harris had started “Young Life” in Shelby, making it (along with perhaps Knoxville, TN), the first Young Life town

east of the Mississippi River. Harris was a natural leader with a warm personality and an energy for gathering people together

to hear about Jesus.  

•Jim Rayburn, the founder of Young Life, took a special liking to Mal as a teenager (as the below letter indicates), and Mal

watched his every move, following Jim as Jim followed Christ. Jim was in the habit of giving Mal books, most notably The Diary

of Private Prayer and Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret, both still in Mal’s possession. Mal absorbed Jim’s love for adventure and

the mountains. He marveled at how the scriptures came alive as Jim narrated Jesus’ encounters in the gospels. As told in 

Friends for Life, of all Jim’s godly attributes, it was perhaps Jim’s prayer life that made the most indelible mark on Mal.

•Andrew “Goldbrick” Delaney. Coming from the deeply segregated South, Mal had never been under the authority of a Black

man, and he had never met any man with such a combination of Christ-commanding power, love, and playfulness. Goldbrick

taught Mal about the sanctity of work, the importance of team unity at work and at play (the Frontier volleyball court), the

demand for excellence, and selflessness, insisting the campers be served before any work crew person had a bite to eat. In

the kitchen Andrew and his wife Jerry modeled a marriage partnership that anyone who worked beside them sought to

emulate. 

•Tom Raley. Tom was Mal’s work crew boss after his junior year (at Star Ranch) and senior year (at Frontier Ranch). A Navy

veteran, Tom was a man of discipline and a master of time-management. The tough love he displayed to those under his

charge was most impactful because it was so obviously drawn from the deep well of his relationship with Christ. Tom taught

his crew and other mentees to foster this most important of all relationships through the discipline of daily quiet times. 

•Marge Stone Peterson was an early staff person who ran the Summer Staff at Frontier Ranch and, during the school year,

spearheaded the Wheaton College women’s discipleship group which generated so many Young Life staff women (like

Wanda Jean Farley). As a Summer Staff boss, Marge supervised Mal for six consecutive summers at Frontier, and was

affectionately known as Marge ”Manners” Stone. Mal recognized how she allowed plenty of latitude on the playful side, but

Marge also knew how to “draw the line” in a way that everyone respected.

•Digger Langford. During those formative years of the late 50’s-early 60’s, Digger was often the Frontier Camp Director and

one of the speakers (in those days there were two clubs each day). Mal spent every college summer at Frontier, and one year

Digger invited Mal to rise forty-five minutes early every morning to meet with him to study the pastoral epistles, a rich process

which spanned over two summers. Digger’s love for Scripture inspired Mal. Mal’s and Bob Reeverts’ desire to attend Fuller

Theological Seminary was largely based on Digger being the Southern California Regional Director. 

•George Sheffer was another example of discipline and tough love in Mal’s life. And George’s tender side was profound. Mal

saw in George a fierce compassion for marginalized people that Mal had not before witnessed. George essentially sparked

Young Life’s “urban” outreach movement, pushing Rayburn to adjust efforts into more diverse regions. People were surprised

when George made the decision to move his family away from the relatively wealthy suburbs of Dallas into the south side of

Chicago. George asked Mal to join him in starting the urban camp initiative at Star Ranch in the early sixties, where Mal was

the program director for the first five years (1962-1967). George constantly sought to give over leadership to people of color,

and the Star Ranch times produced future YL staff members like Bo Nixon and Clark Jones. 

•Mal had many Young Life Committee members as mentors over the years. In Charlotte George Harris (with Duke Power) and

his wife Bertha gave Mal and Wanda loads of family support, community credibility (especially with churches skeptical of

‘para-church” ministry), and connection. The Harris’ daughter was in Mal’s first Myers Park club in 1956-57 when he was a

Davidson senior. Sixty years later, and unbeknownst to Mal and Wanda, the same former Marie Harris was living at Croasdaile

Retirement Village in Durham. What a pleasant surprise waiting for the McSwains when they arrived at Croasdaile in 2017!

•Another critical Committee mentor was Hal Gatewood, a highly-respected Atlanta businessman who met regularly with Mal

and taught him the ropes in Mal’s new town. Not only did Hal exhibit deep faith in the Lord and deep confidence in his younger

protege, Hal was the one who first recognized the uniqueness of Mal’s “alumni network” and encouraged Mal to recalibrate his

approach. Instead of reporting to the regular local Young Life Committee, Hal helped Mal to transition to a separate support

team from Mal’s vast relational web, and into a position called Young Life “Minister at Large.” Many in this “Core Group” were

former club kids of Mal’s, and while anchored in Atlanta, the Core included friends from throughout the Southeast. Hal’s tragic,

sudden, death in 1982 was a huge blow to the 46 year-old Mal.

Staff Friends:

Mal and Wanda: