YFC’s Parent Life programs are uniquely positioned to help teen dads standing at the crossroads of fatherhood and adolescence. Parent Life seeks to connect with expectant and parenting teens and their children through intentional relationships with caring adults and community partnerships.
According to Ryan Anderson, YFC’s Senior National Ministries Specialist, “We believe God has uniquely positioned us for such a time as this. We are not a normal youth ministry. Compelled by the love of Christ, we want to meet young people wherever they are in life and build authentic, Christ-sharing relationships.”
YFC’s Parent Life National Specialist, Alexandra Straughter says that the lack of male mentorship or having a positive father figure is one of the main challenges of teen dads who come to YFC. These young men are in need of building trusted connections and relationships to help them learn how to be the best fathers for their babies.
“The teen Dads we see that are able and involved in their children’s lives are amazing fathers that want to break generational cycles, provide for their children and love their children well,” said Straughter.
Parent Life leader Felicia Sada is seeing the remarkable impact of Parent Life’s holistic approach. Felicia recalls one young father in particular who experienced true life change after encountering this program.
She recalled, “At first, Greg’s girlfriend was attending Parent Life, but he had no interest in going. Eventually, he decided to start attending. Greg then attended a camp and was so impacted that, on the last day, he walked to the front of the service and knelt down at the altar, holding his baby in his arms. He gave his life to Christ that day. Today, he is a Young Leader in YFC’s Leader in Training (LIT) program where we empower young people to volunteer back into the same community and ministries where they were first impacted. He and his girlfriend both volunteered as leaders at that same camp for two years.”
Greg’s dramatic life change even extended to his career.
Felicia remarked, “When we met Greg, he was working at McDonald’s, doing his best to provide for his son. Through a friend, we eventually got him a job at an upscale restaurant. And even though he was just washing dishes, it opened his eyes to a world he hadn’t even known existed. Fast forward to today, he’s now a chef at one of the owner’s other restaurants, one of the best in town.”
And it all started with caring adults who simply accepted and loved Greg, right where he was.
Felicia said, “When he shared his story with us, he said, ‘I didn’t feel judged here.’ And that’s the grace of God. We’re just being who God wants us to be and loving them.”
Once people experience and share the love of their Heavenly Father, they see the critical need for loving fathers everywhere.
Anderson said, “At YFC, our job is not to change people. It’s to model what Christ did for us and share the love of our Heavenly Father. Regardless of age, if each dad knew that one of his most important roles on earth is to be a loving father, lots of lives would be changed.”