When you witness someone trading the security of a business career for the unpredictable tides of ministry, it stops you in your tracks. Chris Todia's extraordinary leap from the corporate ladder to the heart of Youth for Christ is precisely the tale that unfolds this week. His mother's legacy of selflessness and service sparked a flame that Chris now carries, lighting the way for the youth of Fort Wayne. Together, we travel through his personal evolution and the profound effects of a calling that reaches beyond oneself to ignite change in a community.
Fort Wayne's youth aren't just statistics; they're vibrant souls, each with a story yearning to be heard. Our conversation traverses the various terrains of youth ministry—from school campuses to city streets, and even detention centers—where Chris and his team strive to make every young person feel seen, understood, and valued. It's not just about sharing a message; it's about embodying it, creating a space where the truth of the gospel and the pulse of contemporary youth culture coalesce. Through Chris's eyes, witness the small, potent acts of kindness that build trust and the larger community initiatives that are reshaping young lives.
Leadership isn't a solo sprint; it's a relay race of vision and partnership. In this episode, we unwrap the fabric of collaboration that's redefining how we nurture our future generations. By leaning into the strengths of various organizations, Fort Wayne is witnessing a synergy that promises to envelop every young heart in the warmth of the gospel's embrace. Yet, the mission doesn't end at inspiration—it's a call to action. We conclude by discussing the indispensable support that powers youth ministry, from prayers to volunteer work to financial contributions. Immerse yourself in this heartfelt invitation to play a role in the transformative journey of our community's young people.
When you witness someone trading the security of a business career for the unpredictable tides of ministry, it stops you in your tracks. Chris Todia's extraordinary leap from the corporate ladder to the heart of Youth for Christ is precisely the tale that unfolds this week. His mother's legacy of selflessness and service sparked a flame that Chris now carries, lighting the way for the youth of Fort Wayne. Together, we travel through his personal evolution and the profound effects of a calling that reaches beyond oneself to ignite change in a community.
Fort Wayne's youth aren't just statistics; they're vibrant souls, each with a story yearning to be heard. Our conversation traverses the various terrains of youth ministry—from school campuses to city streets, and even detention centers—where Chris and his team strive to make every young person feel seen, understood, and valued. It's not just about sharing a message; it's about embodying it, creating a space where the truth of the gospel and the pulse of contemporary youth culture coalesce. Through Chris's eyes, witness the small, potent acts of kindness that build trust and the larger community initiatives that are reshaping young lives.
Leadership isn't a solo sprint; it's a relay race of vision and partnership. In this episode, we unwrap the fabric of collaboration that's redefining how we nurture our future generations. By leaning into the strengths of various organizations, Fort Wayne is witnessing a synergy that promises to envelop every young heart in the warmth of the gospel's embrace. Yet, the mission doesn't end at inspiration—it's a call to action. We conclude by discussing the indispensable support that powers youth ministry, from prayers to volunteer work to financial contributions. Immerse yourself in this heartfelt invitation to play a role in the transformative journey of our community's young people.
Welcome to season four of the Love Fort Wayne podcast. The Love Fort Wayne podcast amplifies the stories of everyday people who are loving and leading in northeast Indiana to spark imagination, root inspiration and ignite transformation in our community and beyond. At Love Fort Wayne, we believe the pillars of a flourishing community are its leaders, pastors, schools, families and prayer. And in season four, we're excited to learn from and be encouraged by people who not only lead but love our city in these areas each day Before we die, then, we want to say thank you to our partners at Remedy, Live, Dream On Studios, our financial brotherhood mutual and separate family auto group, for making the podcast possible. Well, welcome everybody. We are excited to have you for this April edition of the Love Fort Wayne podcast. This is Jeff King of Love Fort Wayne. I'm joined by my friend, Mitch Cruz. I'm glad to be with you, man. We're excited. You know why I'm always excited for our podcast, but we've got a really good friend of ours. Yes, we do, Chris Todia.
Speaker 2:The.
Speaker 3:Mercury is rising in more ways than one. That's all good. Good to see you guys. Thanks Jeff, thanks Mitch, yeah.
Speaker 1:Chris, tell the folks a little bit about what you do and where you serve, and about your crew, your family and all that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so Chris Todia, my wife Amy and I are from Fort Wayne. I grew up in Snyder grads, of course, Snyder High School. We have two kids, a seven-year-old and a 10-year-old, and we were part of the Northeast Church. Then I get to lead Youth for Christ in this region, so we have a team of 30, 40 staff and hundreds of volunteers who get to love on kids all across this region.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, we're so excited again to have you with us and you this episode, mitch. We're talking about loving our schools. We always like to talk with folks that are teachers are educators, of course, but also folks that are touching the lives of the students and the families that are part of those schools. And, knowing you will, that's one of you guys' heart is to touch the lives of those students, but not just in the day-to-day but for eternity. That's right. I'm super excited to have this dialogue with you all. So can you share with folks a little bit about before we dive into the YFC story and all that you guys are doing and touching the lives of students and sharing the love and the truth of Jesus with them? Just about your journey and your story of how God led you to this sea and even as you shake your head for those folks that might be seeing the video those folks that are listening.
Speaker 1:My brother is kind of shaking his head because I know the story of God putting you in this place to lead at YFC. Can you share that?
Speaker 3:For sure. Yeah, so I grew up. It really starts when I was a kid, where I grew up in a home where I had a mom who modeled sacrificial ministry for me. She really raised me in a way where I believed that there's no limit to what God was able and willing to do, and so I experienced God in a really profound way as a young kid. But then I also saw her and participated with her in ministry in the inner city, ministry to refugees. We did therapeutic foster care as a family, and so as a kid I got to experience that firsthand of that love requires sacrifice In order to love people. We've got a sacrifice, but it's beautiful and it's really the most beautiful way to live.
Speaker 3:So I got discipled and then that as a kid, by my mom and as I've looked back on my journey, that process of her teaching me those things, hands-on teaching me those things, experiencing the messiness and brokenness of people's stories, but how much Jesus can redeem those stories was foundational for me. So I know that's way back but that really is a foundation of everything. Oh, it's huge.
Speaker 2:Mother Teresa grew up in a similar environment, and that's why her life looked the way it did. Absolutely Well, thank you for waiting me to mother. I love that. That is the best thing I've ever heard.
Speaker 3:But it really is, and so I studied business in college. I got my MBA. I worked in the corporate world doing buying and product line strategy, traveling to China and Germany and India sourcing products.
Speaker 1:Oh man.
Speaker 3:And then called us back to Fort Wayne. We'd lived in Denver for a while and got called us back to Fort Wayne, and part of it was this burden to be a part of unifying the body of Christ in this city. And we didn't even know what that meant. We didn't know I wasn't in ministry at the time, I was in business at the time but we felt the prompting to move back. We had a one and a half year old and we have a ton of family members back here, and so that journey of moving back was a faith journey. So I quit my job.
Speaker 2:You quit your job and come back with no idea of what's other than this prompting Sold our house made some money on selling the house, which is a blessing, and provided a little bit of flexibility.
Speaker 3:But my wife kept her ministry job and moved back here and worked her moat and I spent a year really just journeying with Jesus. So I started a consulting practice and I call it a practice. It was really to help fund life but it gave me space to build relationships in the city, love, the city walk with leaders who are going through really hard stuff. In that season and in that process God just created these connections and called me to a space of this role. I stepped into the COO role with Youth for Christ under Larry Lance, who's just faithfully served in this community for so long.
Speaker 2:That's right yeah.
Speaker 3:And that was again that's a faith journey right when I did not accept. I didn't want a job, I didn't want it and I definitely didn't want to be in ministry. I wanted to be. But that was over seven years ago now, where what I sensed that God was calling me to was to my willingness. Are you willing, chris, are you passionate about this? But are you willing to take these steps towards me? And at that time it really made sense. So what God put in me as a young kid, right, this is what my mom modeled for me. And then this passion to see teams thrive and there's a lot of business gifting that applies in the context of leading a team and an organization as well and so it's been this incredible opportunity to combine those worlds of a passion to see a young people reached, passion to see Jesus known, and then to apply these principles of excellence and organizational leadership, excellence in culture, in order to achieve these big dreams.
Speaker 2:Do you think your experience in the marketplace has helped you with a pattern or a practice to evangelize? Do you think all that interaction with people who maybe believe or don't believe has helped to evangelize young people?
Speaker 3:It's good, I mean, I think absolutely right, I think that we have to be close to people in order to you know, we believe in relational ministry. So, youth for Christ, the foundation of what we do is a relational approach.
Speaker 1:It's up close right, it's not upfront.
Speaker 3:primarily, and so we have to be proximate and get close, right. So I think you mentioned like the system of it. Yeah, like the system of it or the process of it is one thing, and I think that's important. Part of our job as leaders is to provide enough clarity of the actions that need to be taken in order to achieve the desired outcome, and so that's yes, that process is helpful, but it's also just the messiness of it. It's the reality that we have to get proximate to people to see their needs and meet their needs, and so, for young people, that's very true, right, we've got to get close to them, and I think a lot of people in the community, a lot of us, are scared of that, if we're really honest right.
Speaker 3:Especially middle school and high school, like we do not know what to do when the cultures are different or the kids are liking things that we don't want them to like or talking about things with slang or language that we don't understand. But as we get close, we just find out they doesn't need us close to them, right? They need us to see them, love them and believe in them and share the love of Jesus with them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know Chris Keller writes about in one of his great books.
Speaker 1:You know this scary word that people are gonna hear me say don't freak out contextualization, right. And because what ends up happening is sometimes we swing too far either way in regards to contextualizing the gospel. But at the end of the day, if we look at the savior and what he did in the context of the people, when he met them where they were, at their table, in their homes, at the base of a tree, he did not sway from the truth of who he was to meet them in the context where they are. And I think about what you're just sharing regards to. Sometimes, as we reach the lives of young people, we can't be scared to enter into the context of where they are. But we're not called to waver in the truth of what the gospel is, but we are called to be who we've been called to be for that person in the context that we're in. And I think if we don't practice truth of the gospel with the context that meets our youth where they are, we could easily lose them instead of winning them for Jesus.
Speaker 2:But yeah, there's a fear.
Speaker 1:It's like I don't know about the context that they're living in. I'm like, look man, they're living in it, so you might as well enter into that context with the truth.
Speaker 3:It's the same journey right For every generation. There's this question. I mean I remember hearing stories of there being issues with youth ministers going into rock and roll concerts in the past right.
Speaker 3:Like do we really wanna go into those spaces where those are, where the kids are? And what we found in youth ministry is that the answer is yes. The answer is yes, we have to get close and, again, our presence is not necessarily a vote of confidence, it's just presence. That's right, that's good man. And as we get present, then we earn the trust. Oh, you earn the trust to be heard.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's good.
Speaker 3:And our burden every day. Yfc, we wake up every day with this burden to give young people everywhere the opportunity to know Jesus. Give young people everywhere the opportunity to know Jesus. And so in order to do that, we gotta go where they are.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's good. So you talk a little bit about that in some examples of what YFC Northern Indiana looks like in our towns and our communities and where you guys are going every single day to love them at their schools primarily, but in some other spaces as well.
Speaker 3:For sure, yeah, so we have campus life ministry. So we get to serve in 25 sites across this area, so a diverse, really diverse team that's serving in diverse contexts. So schools is one place, so middle schools and high schools we get to partner with the school in providing mentors in the lives of these kids with also the opportunity to share Jesus with them through the context of relationship, and so the campus life ministry focuses in that direction and we have, again, dozens of sites that get to do that. We have a city life program, which is an after school program in the urban context. Again, our philosophy is going where kids are.
Speaker 3:So within suburban contexts, that's oftentimes the school setting. Within the urban context, oftentimes that's the neighborhood setting. And so for the last couple of decades actually 25 plus years we've had a community center right across from Southside High School where we get to serve that community and provide financial literacy courses, provide food for them, provide educational success, tutoring, connections to universities, connections to jobs and again with a hope of sharing the love of Jesus with them. And then also we get to go into the detention center, right. So ACJC and I've been over a decade Joe Wright and his team have been going in and mentoring these kids right, these kids that are at their lowest spot, who need somebody to see them. I just heard a story this morning from Joe of a kid who he was sitting down with and who just said hey, I wanna start falling in Jesus right now.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 3:Joe said, hey, maybe you need to think about this in some ways, like, maybe you need to process this. He's like no, I need this right now. This was last week, I need this right now. And a kid at his lowest spot, in a cell block with the world falling apart around him, saying, no, I'm gonna choose Jesus and that's what it's about. We get to serve thousands of kids across this region and then, additionally, we get to mobilize the community towards the young people in their life. So a few years ago, we launched we Believe in Youth, which is really an effort to get to the community, to activate the community, to see the young people in their lives in a different way right.
Speaker 3:How many of us have young people around us, but we just haven't paused to see them in a while, and so it's been amazing. So this year, four to 5,000 handwritten notes to the kids of this region, entire schools who have adopted this, multiple schools where every single kid got a handwritten note from teachers and administration. These are public schools, right, we had a story this year where there was a girl who had they sat down in their homeroom. Every single kid had a card in front of them.
Speaker 3:This kid happened to be from Italy, a foreign exchange student, and she had a handwritten note in Italian from the teacher in that class saying this is what I see in you, and so this is an incredible opportunity both for us to do this work through those programs of campus life, city life and juvenile justice ministry, but then, additionally, to activate the entire region, to activate this community, to see the young people in a different way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, mitch, I wear my we believe in youth bracelet. I have it on.
Speaker 3:There you go good job, Jeff and I, yeah, for the kids that I get a chance to encounter when I'm at.
Speaker 1:I have a daughter that goes to Southside when I'm at those games and I know some of those kids. But really for me it was that reminder that I have two teenagers in my own house. So I wear two bracelets one with some gems on there to represent all three of my kids, but this we believe in youth bracelet to remind me I've got youth in my own house.
Speaker 1:Yes, that I'm called to see in my home when I send them into school. When one goes over to city life, I'm called to believe in my own youth. Go for it, or, yeah, I have my daughter's names, all four girls' names, right here.
Speaker 2:My youngest daughter did that for me. I love it.
Speaker 1:It was really special. I love it.
Speaker 2:I assume every Opportunity you have to be on a school campus begins with a conversation with an administrator, a public school administrator. How, being Christ centered, do you bridge that divide Totally?
Speaker 3:We're honest about it. So I think that part of what we have to do is be honest. That we are youth for Christ. Right, that is a real thing, but we honor the guidelines that are put in place every single time. So it is a trusted relationship, a partnership that we desire to have with the schools, and so we're not sharing the gospel during the day, we're building relationships during the day right. And does that make sense?
Speaker 1:So that's a big difference.
Speaker 3:So if the parameters that are put in place, we are gonna honor those because we are invited into their space and we want to be a solution to their problems. Right? The schools are hungry right now for mentors. I remember even at this last GLS we heard a story of an administrator who said the question was what's the number one thing you need right now? And the answer was the mentors in the lives of these kids.
Speaker 3:We need people who see them, and teachers and administrators are doing an incredible job of stepping into their lives and seeing them. But there's something that's different when it's not an employee of the school. When it's not, there's additional resources that are needed, and we know that kids are struggling right now. Right Like we intuitively know it. We see the culture around us. We hear a lot of stories of the hurt that they're experiencing, and the administrators know that too. So they are hungry for people, for people who are healthy, that are screened well, that are equipped well to mentor these kids, and so we get to be a resource for them.
Speaker 2:I think back to my youth for Christ leader with sports. I couldn't attend many things but I was going to an early morning Bible study but I had an AV lab where I had a break and I could talk to people and he would be there after lunch and he would come in and we'd process life. And it was about a decade into the marketplace, after things getting kind of hectic in my life, I realized and I thought back to those times that I wasn't talking to anybody anymore.
Speaker 2:I wasn't having those conversations and I desperately needed it, and I think that is so true for every young person today and every human being walking there.
Speaker 3:I love hearing that story, and one of the most joyful things for me in this role is that I'm standing on the shoulders of people who have been doing this for a long time, so over 60 years of impact in this region, right? So your story of campus life like there's tons of them tons of people that are listening have stories of a campus life, a city life used to be called prime time a leader who stepped in and saw them, and so we don't take that lightly the trust that the community has gifted us for such a long time, and even the funding that's gone into that, the volunteers that have gone into it.
Speaker 3:it's been a really humbling journey for me to kind of step in and try and breathe new energy into the future of where we're going.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that that's a really cool story to mention. And, chris, because I don't know about you guys, I can close my eyes and see men and women from our community that are in a different time in their life, career-wise, but at one point connected to YFC or working for YFC or serving in a campus ministry. I know him. I mean I think about Quincy McGee, like that we've had on the podcast. He was on our December episode. Like I met him when I went to Harding go Hawks Rest in.
Speaker 3:Peace Harding. Rest in Peace Harding High School.
Speaker 1:But like he was a campus life guy, like, and now you know pastoring and serving at associated churches. He's not the only one, there's so many and I'm so grateful for them and your story, mitch and Chris you talking about those folks that we get to stand on their shoulders and you all get to continue to stand on their shoulders as you meet kids where they are in the school or in the neighborhood, or even at some of our Laka facilities.
Speaker 3:Billy Graham was a yeah, the first full-time staff member, billy Graham, isn't that?
Speaker 1:amazing, Isn't that crazy Cool man, that's super cool. You know, Chris, you were talking about this need for mentor and going into the schools and just being honest with administrative staff, and I think you and I and Mitch, we know that in this season it takes more than like one entity- 100%.
Speaker 1:Or one person to really make these impacts that our schools and our youth and our kids need? Where are you seeing that spirit of unity and collaboration and convening happening among the youth organizations in our region? What's your heart for that Cause? I know it's big.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, let me show my heart for that, then I'll show where it's happening, where I see it happening within our context you know, One of the things I'm really encouraged by right now in the city, one of the things I've been thinking about a lot, is that there's a generational transition happening within leadership in the city, and this is happening kind of under our noses right now, right where a lot of the corporations, a lot of the churches, a lot of the nonprofits, within kind of this five-year period, are transitioning from the person who, the leader who grew it to where it is, to a new generation of leaders. So this is a really important time for the city.
Speaker 3:And I think it's important that we recognize that, and one of the things I'm encouraged by by this next generation of leaders is that collaboration is part of what I call kind of the native language. So I sense that every generation has kind of a native language to it, based on the leaders that are speaking into that generation. So a couple of things from the previous generation of leaders that were really incredible as part of the native language was strengthened leadership and a value for wisdom right so within the last generation of leaders, there's a strong, strengthened leadership and a value of wisdom which we, as young leaders need to hear that and listen to that.
Speaker 3:And then, over time, that generation learned a new language of. Maybe there needs to be more collaboration. Does that make sense when this new generation is coming in, with that collaboration being part of the native language?
Speaker 1:What happens.
Speaker 3:When something's a native language, it's more natural.
Speaker 1:It's not as clunky right.
Speaker 3:It's actually, it's valued in a priority. It's not a kind of a second thought, it's on the forefront of our mind and so I've been really encouraged by that. Where the leaders that are coming up right now. We desire to see this region reached with the gospel, we desire to see thriving happening. And does that sometimes spark pride in us and territorialism? Of course it does, but for the most part, what I'm seeing is this desire to see healthy leaders thriving, to love one another, to be friends with one another and to do the work together. So practically what that's looking like is that, right now, young life and city life and campus life, and FCA and the schools and the churches.
Speaker 3:We're working together to reach a generation. And that's happening in Southwest you know Allen County, that's happening. You know young lives they do incredible work with teenage moms and they are meeting. They're, you know, integrated within the city life program in ways it's been it's been really cool to see you got to work through that and so. But it starts with this posture of mission first, of humility and of a deep love for one another.
Speaker 1:Right, we've gotten to be a part of this, Jeff, where we all just need friends, y'all like we we need to be friends with one another because Life is heavy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's right on Friday, we're gonna meet with a new group of of leaders in the city who Are fresh in their role. The last couple years have stepped into this role and we're just gonna get together and share life together. And this is happening in different contexts actually happening Tomorrow night as well. So tomorrow night's happening. I'm part of that. Friday. That's happening different, totally different group and there's no program to it. Yeah, there's nothing.
Speaker 3:It's just us loving on one another, getting to know one another and saying, hey, let's, let's reach the city together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, programming almost makes the relationship feel mechanical and not authentic right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, sometimes that's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, how does collaboration happen with you and an FCA and the other organizations you mentioned? What's that actually look like?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean again, it starts with knowing what each other are trying to do. So I think that's a. That's a big deal. So one of the things that's looked like and this is something we've gotten wrong a lot right collaboration is Is hard and there's different styles of collaboration. There's collaboration. It's kind of like a marriage.
Speaker 2:There's collaboration.
Speaker 3:That's kind of like a friendship. There's, there's, so we've gone into different in different communities, like in Whitley County, we've had almost a marriage relationship of a collaboration. Before that. You know, it was a good learning process for us and Right now what's happening is that we have a newer leader in Southwest Allen County and our starting point is having conversations with FCA and Young Life.
Speaker 1:Wow, right, so that's the starting point, that's not so practically it starts there.
Speaker 3:Let's build relationships, let's ask questions, let's honor what's currently happening, let's fill in the gaps, and Part of the burden we have right now is let's develop a vision for gospel saturation in the next generation. That's right, let's develop a vision for An entire community being reached, and that happens through every kid being prayed for and every kid being pursued. What if that happened? But if we don't launch another program with that reaches another 50 to 75 young people.
Speaker 3:What if we coordinate our efforts? Like see what's happening with gospel, you know city gospel movements across the area. What if we coordinate our efforts to reach a generation? And if we coordinate our efforts, it's actually more achievable than we think it is.
Speaker 1:That's right so in in communities.
Speaker 3:Oftentimes, you know, if it's a small city, there might be, you know, a thousand to fifteen hundred Middle and high school students. In a larger area, there might be four thousand kids. That's a lot of kids, but with coordination and effort we can reach them all. Yeah, so let's build a vision for that together.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know guys, I, as I'm listening to you, chris, I think about three C's that you've taught you spoke to it's Connection, collaboration and coalition. And I think, in my, with my lexicon, I'm here and you talk about the power of connection, and I think sometimes we get impatient with connection, which is just being together, listening to one another, without the agenda of okay, we got to do something. And you know, missionos, I say, even with our advisory teams, those collaborative teams, if we can, if we can Celebrate that we are being together, both first Do, yeah, we're there to do together because we got a heart to do some things for a leader, for pastors, for schools and in the prayer ministry, so so on and so forth it. But to to be together is the first win. And so I always think about connection, like connection is the very first thing.
Speaker 1:If we can be slow in the connection phase, to listen, as you guys have said, you all are doing we just what are we doing? What? Where's God leading us, what? Let's just connect, let's break bread. I think then that sets the parameter for these collaborative efforts that then will come. But that were coalition, that's the, that's the. That's a beautiful, shiny thing, and I think we should celebrate, like look at where we have coalesced together, like look where this coalition of Ministry organizations or youth-based organizations have come together and we are moving in this direction and that's great. We should celebrate it. But it starts with the other two things. It starts with we will agree to connect and be, and then We'll ask the Lord to say, okay, where can we collaborate? And then the Lord will say, all, right, now, this is where I want the coalition to move forward in power.
Speaker 3:I I totally did not believe that yeah, yeah that's my honest like. I totally, I believed wow a few years ago that we got to be really productive. Yeah so part of what God's done in me the last couple years. We have a mutual friend, eric Wood, who Came into a foundation Gathering there's a gathering of leaders of nonprofits and he walked in and in Eric Wood fashion and. And he just kind of paused and said you know what Collaboration just starts with friendship. Yeah, and I man I thought he was I.
Speaker 2:Don't.
Speaker 3:He was crazy, you know like I was, like no collaboration starts with us talking about our mission, getting focused in the right direction. Let's figure out what we're doing and then we'll we'll become friends, mm-hmm. And what happened with that is that we started walking every Friday together, mm-hmm, we took a walk, I took a walk, and then we started spending time together and building relationship together, and over time, god has opened doors that would never have been open, because there's trust and there's an understanding of our heart's desires and our burden to see young people reach or community served or neighbors served, and how do these things work together?
Speaker 3:And so I've been convinced of this over the last couple of years that, yes, connection is a starting point and it recurring connection. A lot of people don't take time for friends. A lot of people are so hurried and, as leaders in this community, we have to be friends to one another. We have to be in order to create healthy and thriving opportunities moving forward.
Speaker 2:Jesus modeled it and Paul taught on it, on how connection is everything. And I remember hearing Henry now and give a talk and he said we have a tendency to go out and do ministry and it doesn't work as well as we thought it should. We kind of huddle up and we start talking about it and debrief and deconstruct. And he said and then we say okay, we need to pray about this.
Speaker 1:He said Jesus's model was the opposite.
Speaker 3:Wow, Mitch.
Speaker 2:He had solitude and then he had community, and if you have those two things, you have ministry.
Speaker 3:I will never forget the talk that's such a good wisdom, mitch, that's good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hurry up and do something, or hurry up and pray and be with one another and let God direct us in the thing that we should do. I love that. So this is good. We can stay on that track and we're gonna stay on this track a little bit. I wanna talk about some stories, some testimony of the connection that you all have been able to make in our schools with our students. I know, dude, I know there's lots of stories and but can you cause? I know, when I got a chance to spend a week with this guy, they invited me last year to come down and share with their students when they take all their kids down to Florida from our different regions.
Speaker 1:And just that he wouldn't want me to say this, but seeing his heart that one night crying over these kids make me cry now, like crying over these kids as they made a decision for Jesus or just to reorient their lives back toward him. There's tons of stories like that, but you draw some stories of just the work that you guys have been able to do or the Lord has allowed for you to do in our school. Some success stories, some transformative stories from YFC.
Speaker 3:I'm thinking about a student that's in Huntington right now and this student just needed somebody in her life, right, and she actually got to share recently, at an event that we had kind of share, her testimony and she was referring to the fact that she needed, because of her family situation and because of just the difficulties of being a kid, she needed a mentor to step into her life, and over a period of time that's what happened, so for actually a multi-year period. So again, it's not about that flash of the pan.
Speaker 3:It's not a one-time event. It's the relationship over time. She had a mentor who stepped into her life and over three to four years she decided to start following Jesus. And then not only did she start following Jesus, but then she desired to be a leader to middle school students. So now she's passing it down right To the next generation.
Speaker 3:I got to see her at a club recently for middle school students. So she's now investing as a mentor into them. She's inviting her cousin actually saying, hey, you need to be involved in this process. So she's making generational impact within a short period of time, simply because she has a follower of Jesus who's willing to get close and share the love of Jesus with her and call her forth.
Speaker 3:right, we? I'm thinking about carapal. Carapal has this philosophy that there's three questions that every teenager is asking, based on research who am I, where do I sit and what's my purpose?
Speaker 1:Who am I?
Speaker 3:Where do I fit? What's my purpose? And so the more we can proactively answer those questions for kids we can say hey, you are a child of the living God. I fit within the body of Christ. I fit within the church and my purpose is to love and restore the world around me. And, like what happens, if we can proactively answer, we have the answers to these questions that are built into these kids' hearts. And so I think about that story I just told of this young person and she got those questions answered.
Speaker 2:Who am I? Where do I fit?
Speaker 1:Where do I belong?
Speaker 3:And what's my purpose? She gets purpose of investing into the next generation as well.
Speaker 2:The thing I love about that is. It makes your sports, your extracurricular activities, your school itself, your eventual career, your family. It makes it all a playground for that to happen.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, young people today are more willing to be challenged than we are willing to challenge them.
Speaker 1:That's right, yeah, and studies show it, studies show this. The kids are saying yeah.
Speaker 3:They want to be called to something greater.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, they want it. And so I think it's an important space for us as a community to call the young people towards something. Let's not be scared of them. Let's see the gifts they have to offer to the world and call them forth and see what God does through that.
Speaker 2:Jeff, you've trained professional athletes. Can you imagine like if you would have said now be careful with that bench press? Maybe you better not try that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:But to build the greatest athletic frames that our country has seen, you have to have those challenges.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's really interesting that in a setting like that, we'll do it when we talk about these kids' emotional needs and their spiritual needs and the opportunities that we have to pour into mentor Because, chris, I love that you haven't said these trigger words of pastor or disciple them or evangelize them. You have said evangelize them. I said that you've said mentor them and meet them where they are and walk side by side with them, and we're scared of that a little bit, but you just alluded to that. They want that. They want us to enter in, to challenge them, to have those conversations with them. But again, to connect with them and be with them over a long period of time is where it starts and building those relationships.
Speaker 1:You know your staff are made up of men and women of many different backgrounds who are doing this work. They're in the campus life ministry, they're building relationships in the schools or in the other sites where you guys are doing the work with Juvenile and that Juvenile justice system and also city life. What are their greatest needs? And, for those that are listening, that believe in the power of prayer, how can they be praying for them specifically? And I've got a second question for that pertaining to the season we're in, but how can they be supporting them and praying for these folks?
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, I mean, I love these people, right? I can't believe I get to work on this team, Because I love that I get to work with people who are investing day in and day out in the lives of these kids. Like I'm reminded that I get to work with some heroes in this community.
Speaker 3:It's an incredible blessing, but they do need the prayer of this community. It's a heavy weight Some of the stories are really messy so they need people to be praying for them, uplifting them. They need people to come alongside of them. We are not a ministry that a staff member does this alone. They are building teams of people in their area, and so it's likely that if you're listening to this, that you have a campus life, city life or juvenile justice ministry site right around you and you can be a mentor in the lives of these kids, and our team members are trying to build teams over and over again to get as many followers of Jesus as possible in the lives of these kids, to share the love of Jesus with them.
Speaker 2:One of the biggest roles of your paid staff is that they multiply through volunteers. They recruit and train volunteers. That's exactly yeah that is.
Speaker 3:That's a key component of the role is to build teams and communities who engage kids in these three story relationships. Or God's story, my story and the kid's story overlaps. That's what we're trying to do over and over again, and so we get to. If that prompts something, I want people to be encouraged, join us.
Speaker 3:Join us in this mission and invest into the young people through these programs, and then, obviously, financially. So we are a ministry who has been around for again over 60 years and we've had lots of people who have been prompted to say, hey, we want to see a generation reached with the gospel, and then we want to see the next generation reached with the gospel. Let me see the next generation reached with the gospel. So we're donor funded. We have over $3 million a year that we raise to do this ministry and that's $30 million over the next 10 years. It's a humbling thing that we have the community that keeps on saying yes, keep showing up in the lives of these kids.
Speaker 3:And so we definitely are needed that as well.
Speaker 1:So I love these areas Cause they're tangible things.
Speaker 1:Man like to pray, so to give of your time and prayer, to give of your time and just being present and I could just say by witness, like going and being a part of real talk for boys at Wayne High School and knowing those guys and spending a little bit of time that I had in a season just to be there.
Speaker 1:It matters and it fills you up and it contributes back to the kingdom and to the community. And then also giving of your treasure, like if you, some of us, might not have the specific time but your heartstrings by the spirit, has been tugged to give. It goes a long way. So the second part of that is, as you know we talk, there's a group of kids that are going to be going down for spring break trip and I alluded to that tons of fun, you know down in the greater Panama city area for kids from different regions of our region to come together, to be together but also to learn about Jesus, maybe for the very first time. And these kids are, they're making their way down there right now. Like how can folks right now be praying for those students and those leaders?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we have hundreds of kids this week that are going to be heading down to Florida, and this is a trip.
Speaker 3:again, speaking of generational stories, I got to hear stories from decades ago where this trip had a significant impact on the journey of leaders in this community who are leading organizations right now in this community who were impacted by our leaders and by Jesus on this trip, and so I just invite you to be praying that God would work in a powerful way in the lives of these kids. You know, trips are great because they get kids out of their context right.
Speaker 3:And sometimes it's helpful to get out of our context, but they also provide a deep space for true relationships to take place right. It's almost like an accelerator of those relationships to have those shared experiences. So I definitely invite you and the community to be praying that God would move powerfully in the lives of these kids.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Chris man, it was a joy, dude.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's so fun, I mean it would be tons and tons of fun.
Speaker 1:And again, folks as you listen, if your heart was moved to in the dialogue that we had today, whether it be about your personal story and the journey of just being connected with a neighbor or a friend man, we encourage you to do that. But also, as we talk about loving our schools, well, just remember there's ministries like a YFC and Chris mentioned others that are pouring into the lives of students and families that attend these schools, and so if your heartstrings are moved to be a part of YFC, then I encourage you to do that. They can learn more at where Chris YFCNINorg.
Speaker 3:So that's everything you need there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, check it out. And this is a beautiful way for you to love our schools just by simply pouring into the lives of the youth that attend those schools, by showing the love of Jesus every single day. So thanks for tuning in. We look forward to having you at our next Love Fort Wayne podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for joining us this month. We drop a new episode the first Monday of every month. Love Fort Wayne has some amazing episodes coming up. You don't wanna miss a single one, so subscribe today, wherever you are listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please like, share and leave a review. We wanna share your thoughts and comments with listeners on future episodes. Thanks again for joining us today. Join us next time, as we hear from leaders that don't just lead, but love our city.