Youth for Christ Ministry gains full-time director
FREMONT - If Doug Bryant persuades dozens of local kids to attend his Youth for Christ events and then he loses them to local churches, he is OK with that. After all, that’s kind of the point.
Bryant and his wife, Cassie, moved to Fremont so he could become the new Fremont area director of ministry for Youth for Christ, a decades-old organization that focuses on bringing the gospel to unchurched teens. Although YFC has been active in Fremont for more than 20 years, Bryant is the organization’s first paid staff person in town. For the last two decades, the Fremont YFC was run entirely by volunteers.
“They’ve been praying for a staff person for over 20 years,” Bryant said.
Bryant’s job is to organize and grow YFC in Fremont, as well as seek donations to help it expand. Currently, YFC volunteers host two local teen Bible studies a week — one in a private home and one at the YMCA — and visit the Sandusky County Juvenile Detention Center four days a week.
“The (Juvenile Detention Center) has three pods — a female, a felony and a misdemeanor pod. Four days a week, volunteers visit each pod,” Bryant said. “They bring them into quasi-small groups, and they’ll have a question-and-answer time, tell them about the Bible, let them tell their own story, and basically share the gospel with them.”
John and Barb Fehl host one of the weekly teen Bible studies in their Fremont home.
“The Fehls have been running YFC in Fremont for over 20 years,” Bryant said. “They’ll have 16 to 30 teens. Some will be solid Christians and some are living on the fringe. They are committed to taking care of whoever it is that God sends them.”
Bryant hopes to build off the base the Fehls have established and grow the Fremont YFC. The overall plan is to reach youth in Fremont who do not regularly attend church, share the gospel with them, and connect them with a local church that can help them grow in their faith.
“There are three things we need to do: Connect with teens deeply, connect them with God deeply, and connect them with a church deeply,” Bryant said. “If I get 50 kids to join YFC and then lose them to local churches and have to start all over again, I’m OK with that.”
That is the circle of ministry he is hoping for, and he knows there always will be more kids to reach. Some of them are living in difficult circumstances or dealing with the consequences of poor choices. He wants to give them a reason to hope.
“In Fremont, there are 1,500 kids not consistently hearing the Word of God,” he said. “We want to tell them how God can work in their (lives). The Bible says God is the Father to the fatherless and defender of the widow, and Scripture says he is near to the brokenhearted.”
Bryant plans to attract teens to the program with the help of church youth groups and volunteers. With their help, he is trying to organize three big events in the coming year. He is hoping to reach 50 to 100 teens through a winter lock-in, an overnight fun event. Toward the end of the school year, YFC will host Crud Wars, which Bryant described as a 5K with muddy obstacles and powdered chalk like a Color Run. At the end of next summer, an Awesome Fest will feature a day of Christian rock and rap music.
At each event, the teens will hear the gospel message and have the opportunity to connect with local churches.
“We hope, every year, the youth groups grow by 10 to 15 teens. That’s a crazy goal, but we’re praying toward that goal and working toward that goal,” Bryant said. “We need to give Satan a bloody nose, because he’s winning. If we want to do something, we need to do it big.”
Fremont Youth for Christ needs financial and volunteer help to achieve its goal of reaching the estimated 1,500 kids in the city who do not regularly attend church. To volunteer, make a financial donation, or offer discount services or products for events, contact Doug Bryant at 330-273-5794 or debryant@kent.edu or visit him at his office inside Pontifex.