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Bringing Youth to Christ
Couple finds mission in working with youth organization
By JILL FICK News-Messenger correspondent
John and Barbara Fehl have a cozy home in Ballville Township, challenging careers and a slightly spoiled cat named Chipper.
But their relationship with Christ is what fills their lives with joy and has sent them on a lifelong mission to "church the
unchurched" youth in the area. After nearly 20 years of volunteering for the Youth for Christ organization, they are spearheading
an effort to take the local YFC to another level.
It was Barbara, at age 12, who first found her way.
"I was raised United Methodist in Upper Sandusky," she said. "I came to God at age 12 when I saw a Billy Graham movie. I will
never forget it." She joined YFC and its Campus Life club. "It changed my life, gave me direction, and it disciplined me
in my faith," Barb said. Her commitment continued when she attended Bowling Green State University. She took a leadership
role in the Inter-Varsity Christian organization there. Accepting a fourth-grade teaching job at Lutz Elementary School, she
moved to Fremont and found a church to attend. But YFC still called her. "I thought that I wanted to give back because it
had meant so much to me, but there was no YFC here," she said.
Then she met John, who had taken a slightly different track. Growing up in Bellevue, he said his "mother planted a seed of
faith," but it wasn't until he went off to college that God came into his heart. He saw the movie, "If I Should Die," which
was sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ.
One of the sponsors asked him two questions, neither of which he could answer with any certainty:
#1 If you die tonight, where would you spend eternity?
#2 If you die tonight and God asked you why He should allow you into his kingdom, what
would you say?
John said that because of this event and the thoughts it provoked, he developed a relationship with Christ. "It was my time
in college that I discovered what it meant to be a Christian," he said.
After he graduated from the University of Toledo and returned to Bellevue, he was bothered by the fact that it had taken going
away to college for him to be able to understand. So, he was determined to make an impact on his alma mater, Bellevue High
School. Shortly after he began praying for a way, a student, Ted Lamb, and several teachers started a Christian club. John
was there to help.
He also looked for a new place to worship. "I prayed that I could find a church like the one in Toledo," he said. "Two weeks
to the day from when I started praying, I got a letter in the mail telling that the Norwalk Alliance Church would be opening
a church in Bellevue. God opened a door."
Barb and John met in 1988, married in 1993 and have volunteered with YFC ever since. They now are active members of the Fremont
Alliance Church.
"It was kind of a series of answered prayers that led us to this ministry," Barb said.
The goal of YFC is to introduce young people to Jesus Christ and to get them involved in a local church, according to John
Roush, treasurer of the local YFC. He is especially pleased to have the Fehls on board. "Barb's a great teacher," Roush said.
"So many kids and their parents sing her praises for her ability to bring kids along. Everything she does, she really puts
her heart in it.
"And John is really committed. Ever since he started with YFC, he's always coming up with different things to do to promote
YFC and to reach the youth. He has all sorts of energy for that. Sometimes, I have to step back and just watch him go." Roush
said both have a marvelous love for the Lord and for kids.
YFC is a non-denominational organization that operates during the school year. Activities include neighborhood study groups,
such as that provided by the Fehls, student-led prayer groups, Sandusky County Juvenile Detention Center visits and annual
events such as lock-ins, "See You at the Pole" and a large youth event in Rochester, N.Y.
The Fehls are the first to say that the local YFC is a team effort.
"This is not the Barb and John show," Barb said. "We have about 20 volunteers in the Sandusky Valley area."
The area YFC group, which included teens from Bellevue, Clyde, Fremont and Gibsonburg, is actually a satellite of the Toledo
YFC because all of those involved are volunteers. The Fehls and others are hoping to change that by hosting a fund-raising
banquet on Oct. 6.
The national president of YFC/USA, Daniel Wolgemuth, will be the keynote speaker for the event, titled "On the Right Track."
"I think we were able to get the national president because he was so amazed that we had been doing this for so long with
just volunteers," Barb said.
Roush said that adding a paid executive director and a part-time secretary would allow the group to grow its mission. While
all of the volunteers have their own niches, there remains a gap.
"The executive director would work with development, expansion, training and recruitment," Roush said. The group would like
to have the new paid staff hired by next spring so it can be ready by the 2006-2007 school year.
The Fehls said those who may feel unqualified to work directly with the youth can still help in a variety of ways, such as
providing transportation, baking cookies or, most importantly, praying.
Twenty years later, John and Barb Fehl are still excited about being a part of YFC.
The best thing about it is developing relationships with the kids," Barb said. "They keep in touch, and that really means
a lot to us."
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| Barb and John Fehl |
Barbara Fehl
Occupation: Fourth-grade teacher at Lutz Elementary School for 21 years; currently on a leave of absence
Family: Husband, John; parents, Harold and Donna Shuman; brother, David; sister-in-law, Karen; niece, Elizabeth; and nephew,
Lynn; cat, Chipper
Hobbies: Reading, traveling, learning about Ohio history
John Fehl
Residence: Ballville Township
Occupation: Electrical Engineer, Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station
Family: Wife, Barbara; father, Bert; cat, Chipper
Hobbies: Reading, exercise
Originally published in the Fremont News-Messenger "Our Neighbor" Feature on September 26, 2005
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