South Pointe Youth for Christ
Give Life to Your Story
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Youth for Christ is seeking to address the 11-19 year old population's need for peace, hope, and love. The lack of these qualities in young people manifests itself in the problems of depression, suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, sexual promiscuity, low self-esteem, etc. Described by Kathie Lee Gifford as “a malignancy of the soul", we believe the root of many of these problems lies in the spiritual realm. Thus, while YFC provides programs addressing the physical, mental, and social needs of young people, the ultimate focus is in the spiritual arena where we encourage students to consider faith in Jesus Christ as not only a “cure" for the afore-mentioned ills but as a way of life that offers the answer to where to find hope, peace, and love.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Campus Life
Campus Life ministry combines healthy relationships with creative programs to help young people make good choices, establish a solid foundation for life, and positively impact their schools. Like every ministry of YFC, Campus Life seeks to engage these young people wherever they are found as lifelong followers of Jesus Christ.
City Life
City Life is an effective ministry model to transform the lives of urban youth, their families, and the communities they live in. The City Life model provides a strategic way to pursue every young person in urban communities all across Chicagoland.
Juvenile Justice Ministry
JJM seeks to engage young people as they are met in a variety of youth-serving institutions (detention centers, probation, correctional facilities, group homes, residential treatment centers, and emergency shelters). These valued relationships are sustained through ongoing involvement as they reenter their communities.
Campus Life M
Campus Life M ministry combines healthy relationships with creative programs to help middle school students make good choices, establish a solid foundation for life, and positively impact their schools. Like every ministry of YFC, Campus Life seeks to engage these young people wherever they are found as lifelong followers of Jesus Christ.
Where we work
External reviews
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
YFC's mission is to reach young people everywhere (the 1.1 million plus throughout greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana in our case), working with like-minded partners and affiliates to raise up lifelong followers of Jesus who are transformational leaders in their commitment to Christ, devotion to the study and application of the Word of God, dependence on His work through prayer, an unwavering passion for sharing the love of Christ with all in their sphere of influence, and commitment to the betterment of society through social involvement.
This will be accomplished as we engage an army of adult leaders (volunteer and paid) who will each build into the lives of students in authentic, Christ-sharing relationships through local ministry sites in juvenile detention facilities, urban, rural, and suburban communities, middle schools, and high schools within an 11 county area.
Each ministry site will be developed to be fruitful and sustainable by pursuing these five essentials:
1. Widespread Prayer
We deliberately engage lots of Christians to intercede on behalf of the ministry site.
2. Loving Relationships
We consistently pursue lost kids & engage them in life-long relationships with Jesus.
3. Faithful Bible Teaching
We accurately handle Biblical truth, regularly coaching kids to apply it in their lives
4. Collaborative Community Strategy
We intentionally work together with local churches, agencies and other partners to provide sustainable youth and family ministry.
5. Adults Who Empower
We strategically develop leaders to reach young people from every people group.
Our current goal is to double the number of ministry sites, leaders, and kids involved over the next 5 years.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Youth for Christ utilizes three primary ministry models:
Campus Life ministry combines healthy relationships with creative programs to help young people make good choices, establish a solid foundation for life, and positively impact their schools. Like every ministry of YFC, Campus Life seeks to engage these young people wherever they are found as lifelong followers of Jesus Christ.
City Life is an effective ministry model to transform the lives of urban youth, their families, and the communities they live in. The City Life model provides a strategic way to pursue every young person in urban communities all across Chicagoland.
Juvenile Justice Ministry (JJM) seeks to engage young people as they are met in a variety of youth-serving institutions (detention centers, probation, correctional facilities, group homes, residential treatment centers and emergency shelters). These valued relationships are sustained through ongoing mentorship as they reenter their communities.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
With a nearly 75-year history and a national and international presence with over 40,000 volunteer and paid leaders, YFC is well positioned to impact young people in greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana. Our local senior leadership team has established a structure in which each of 5 current areas are directed by a veteran leader responsible for the growth, with addition of transformational leaders and ministry sites under their purview.
The local board of directors and CEO oversee funding and development teams – encouraging growth whenever and wherever possible within the current fiscal means. We have a veteran board of 11 members, 37 full and part-time leaders, and well over 200 volunteer leaders engaged in meeting with students on a weekly basis across 36 ministry sites. We have identified 7 college and university campuses within our footprint where we are actively recruiting new leaders on a regular basis, providing much of the human resourcing necessary to continue expanding and reach our goal of doubling our ministry to 11-19 year olds within the geographic footprint.
Most of the school communities with existing Campus Life and City Life sites offer great access to students and are extremely supportive of our efforts. There is a growing appreciation and respect for the JJM work as well – as evidenced by the growth from 3 sites to 7 in the past several years, and increasing access within those sites.
Finally, owned or leased facilities in Barrington, IL, Kankakee, IL, and Valparaiso, IN, provide “super-sites" where leaders can meet with students on an almost daily basis, and new leaders can be trained before launching or leading at other sites.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Chicago is the birthplace of YFC, where Billy Graham got his start with YFC in 1944, and where the national offices were headquartered until the late 1980's when they were relocated to Denver. In the fall of 2010 an Alliance Agreement was signed by the Metro Chicago Board of Trustees and the South Pointe* Board of Trustees, creating a formal collaborative partnership to maximize the leadership structure and lay a foundation for expansion in the coming years. In October of 2016, following the dissolution of Metro Chicago YFC, South Pointe established YFC Chicago as a DBA to oversee the work in the city of Chicago and surrounding suburbs. This vital work continues as one chapter, with one mission, in multiple locations.
*South Pointe YFC became a reality when 3 existing YFC ministry centers merged on July 1, 2006. Those three centers were Northwest Indiana YFC (est. 1960), Kankakee Area YFC (est. 1982), and Iroquois Valley (est. 1992). The intent of the merger was to enable leadership staff to work in their areas of strength and limit duplication of effort, thereby streamlining the infrastructure and creating greater capacity to support ministry staff.
We have maintained ministry to some 4-5,000 unique students each year, led by an average of 35 full and part-time leaders and over 200 volunteer ministry leaders through these significant transitions of leadership and ministry structure. We have streamlined costs by moving toward fewer paid full-time and more part-time leaders without reducing the number of ministry sites, accomplishing “more with less".
This past ministry year we had over 1,000 students on trips, over 1,450 students involved per week, and over 5,000 unique students. 120 of those students served on CORE leadership teams, 374 made professions of faith, and over 1,400 were in ongoing mentoring relationships with one of over 275 volunteer leaders. All this was accomplished with just under a 2 million dollar budget.
We are currently launching a brand new “Super-Center" in Barrington, IL. and are considering a similar bold endeavor in Valparaiso, IN. The JJM work is expanding exponentially, and we envision launching 5-10 new middle school Campus Life sites in the communities where high school Campus Life already has been established.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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South Pointe Youth for Christ
Board of directorsas of 08/27/2018
Mr. Barry Huebner
Barry Huebner
Midwest Transit Equipment, Inc.
Matt Courtney
Summit Homebuilders
Jim Markham
Luse-Stevenson
Jack Vroegh
Image First Health Care
Tim Beechick
Hamilton Partners
Ken Bluder
Facility Solutions Group
Dan Chapman
Redd Remedies
Albert Diepeveen
Retired
Bill Johnson
CIBC, Inc.
Kevin Mansfield
Midwest Transit Equipment, Inc.