Minot, North Dakota - Youth For Christ Minot's Executive Director, David Pellenwessel is passionate about reaching young people for Christ, especially in this era of the ongoing pandemic, when many are experiencing mental health issues.
"One big issue that's been hitting our community right now is the mental health epidemic for youth--suicide, depression, and drug use are at an all-time high. This was a problem before Covid but the pandemic only magnified it. We have been ministering directly to students after suicides and in the mental health unit to combat this issue. Hopefully we can get some of the students who are recovering from some of their hurt and their pain and whatever else that led them to a drug problem and get them plugged in with some YFC volunteers," David Pellenwessel said.
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Youth for Christ's mission is to come alongside the local church to raise up lifelong followers of Jesus who lead by their lifestyle, devotion to God and prayer, sharing the love of Christ, and a commitment to social involvement.
David says that while the pandemic has caused hospitals to fill up with COVID patients, "what people don't realize is that our mental health unit was also full with students."
How is Youth for Christ Minot reaching young people in the community? David says, "Due to having clergy on staff, we've been allowed to have some of our staff members go into our mental health unit and just meet with some of those kids one-on-one and just say "hey, what happened?" (We can) just work through it with them and they'll open up in a way that they might not open up to a parent."
David loves to see the lights come on in young people's eyes. "We just try and be a resource for the students. Like if they're having one of those down days, where they feel like there's no reason to live, we just try to point them towards Christ."
