What If? Youth Impacted their World Pt. 2
Youth Ministry Saves Lives
Jesse Lobato, took one year of Bible college after high school and developed a deep tug towards serving the inner city. During that time, he read how Chicago was having a horrific amount of casualties. That year, several young people were killed as well as others who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Around him, his peers were passionate about the church and ministry, but God was placing a different demographic on Jesse’s heart. He was being led to serve the voiceless and go where no one else wanted to be.
Unable to afford the next three years of school and rejected from all the financial aid opportunities, Jesse still believed God called him to serve and knew it could not be the end of his training. Seeking alternative opportunities, the pastor at the church he would soon serve spoke at his school’s Chapel. He shared that the danger point for a lot of ministers is finances, using the example of ministers being blocked from going to urban spaces due to a lack of funds. For Jesse, this was confirmation that he was to step out and do what was best for him by saying yes to God!
Jesse had begun an internship at church and was able to sit in on a pastoral meeting. At that particular meeting, they spoke about the daughter churches, the attendance, and recent events. They spoke of one church, East Coast International Church located in Lynn, MA. The church hosted an event with a pig roast for Father’s Day and reached 500 community members. In hearing this, he knew that the church did things differently. They were able to adjust their approach of outreach by listening and observing the demographics of the community they served. He knew then that after his internship at the Dream Center in Los Angeles, CA, he would serve at East Coast International Church and their youth program, All City Youth. In his initial meeting with the pastor, he spoke of everything Jesse wanted to be a part of, and he knew he landed at the right place.
It was there that Jesse would meet his wife, the previous youth pastor. As she needed to step down from the role to pursue other things, Jesse was invited to take over as the youth pastor, a role he humbly and joyfully said yes to. It was not an easy journey, however, as the pandemic hit in Jesse’s earliest years in the position.
It was January 2022 when Jesse was struck with Covid and experienced difficult mental and emotional effects from it. One day, he woke up with visible anxiety that would not go away for months. Not only was he enduring this personal battle, but he was figuring out youth ministry in a post covid world. Things they were doing needed to change because the world was different. He kept encountering issues along the way and due to the anxiety, he was self internalizing all that would go wrong. Overall, it was a bad year, even leading him to pray for a different long-term place as he lost his joy in youth ministry. In reality, his anxiety was leading his emotions, his thoughts, and even his dreams. Therapy was key in finding healing and wholeness in moving forward.
In Fall of 2022, after his pastor encountered UYWI at a Christian Community Development Association conference, he encouraged Jesse to look into UYWI. From there, Jesse joined the UYWI Certification Program. He went into the program with the mindset that if he ended the year the same way he felt going into it, he needed to be done in youth ministry.
"Being in a community that understood the context and issues of urban ministry"
It was through his UYWI experience that he shared, “Being in a community that understood the context and issues of urban ministry helped me through my uncertainties as it is difficult to find that type of support elsewhere.” For so long he felt he was alone in the challenges of urban youth ministry, but he realized UYWI and its network had been doing it for much longer than him. He no longer felt alone. It was through the classes that he realized how much of his story played a part of his passion for and ability to serve in urban youth ministry.
Youth group was what changed the direction of where he was going in life. Jesse navigated most of his life without any healthy male figures, but through youth group Jesse had two male role models that were healthy and committed to seeing him thrive. In fact, they were a catalyst in him being able to move to Lynn by renting him an affordable room. He had a safe community with healthy and consistent role models who saw greater things in him. It was highly influential as to why he did not fall into the temptations that surrounded him.
Throughout his UYWI Certification Program cohort, he realized, “there are a lot of Jesse’s here with single moms, bad relationships with fathers, and just trying to navigate through the crazy world they lived in–full of gangs, drugs, violence, and other temptations.” In this season, he looked at his life and the lives of his peers, realizing there were two consistent factors of transformation that surrounded him and many leaders like him. He had a safe place to go to with safe people, and Christ was centered all around him.
Youth ministry saved his life. It is where he began to understand his unhealthy relationships with his parents. It is where he found lifelong friends, found his purpose, found health, and found healing. It is because someone said yes to God and gave him a safe place growing up that Jesse has said yes to the kids in Lynn, now providing them with a Christ-centered safe place and leadership. Today, Jesse’s heart for youth ministry is not only restored to enjoying it, but loving youth ministry again.
WHAT IF? …Jesse never had healthy leaders to support him in his journey with Christ?
WHAT IF? ...Jesse had left ministry instead of working through the challenges he faced, being encouraged by his cohort at UYWI, and receiving the training that helped him navigate the nuances of urban ministry.
WHAT IF? …urban leaders were fully equipped to reach and disciple more youth?
As we launch our year-end campaign, our aim is to raise $550,000 by December 31st. This will ensure we continue equipping the next generation of urban leaders with the tools, knowledge, coaching, and networks to reach more youth with the Gospel. We invite you to join us in this life-changing work.
Would you prayerfully consider making a special year-end contribution to support our mission of developing youth leaders who disciple young people with the Gospel? You may do so here on our website at uywi.org/donate.
Thank you for your continued partnership and support to continue to reach youth with the Gospel.
With gratitude and hope,
TOMMY NIXON, CEO
Urban Youth Workers Institute
As we continue in our year-end campaign, our aim is to raise $550,000 by December 31st. This will ensure we continue equipping the next generation of urban leaders with the tools, knowledge, coaching, and networks to reach more youth with the Gospel. We invite you to join us in this life-changing work. Would you prayerfully consider making a special year-end contribution?
WHAT IF? …more leaders were equipped to reach the next generation with the Gospel?
WHAT IF? …YOU made the difference?