Who? We have been happily married since July 26, 1997. Dennis has a B.S. degree in youth ministry from Liberty University and is currently working on his M.A. in theology from Columbia Biblical Seminary. Janell has a dental assisting degree from Pasco-Hernando Community College. We lived in Florida before moving to Mexico. Dennis was a youth pastor and Janell worked for Nielsen Media Research. Nathan was born on April 25, 2005, in Florida.
What? Our ministry in Mexico City with Youth Ministry International is to train nationals for local church youth ministry. We do that through a formal training program called The Center for Youth Ministry at the Mexican Baptist Theological Seminary. We also train informally with workshops, seminars, and conferences. We are currently developing a model youth ministry at a local church in Mexico City. We direct YMI’s Latin America ministry and are looking to help in other Latin American countries as well as Mexico.
Why? Ninety-seven percent of the world’s trained youth workers live and work in the United States, ministering to less than 3% of the world’s youth population. That means there is one youth worker for every 600 young people in the United States. In the rest of the world, there is one youth worker for every 600,000 young people. Ninety percent of those who accept Christ do so before their 21st birthday.
The world is in desparate need for trained youth workers who can minister and help young people in the local church. The youth of Latin America are abandoning the church in record numbers. We must reach the next generation. We believe that we can help train people to do that.
If you have high speed internet and want to see a summary of what we do, check out this video from our first year and a half in Mexico.
Can I help? There are many ways you can help this ministry. You can subscribe to our email updates that come every other week. This will help you be able to pray for us. If you want to be a part of the snail mail newsletter, you can email us. You can also contribute financially through YMI’s website or by sending a check to YMI to the address listed on the sidebar of the website. Please let us know if you choose to do that.
