Judah Williams and his wife Lydia, who serve our boys alongside each other at Youth-Reach
By Judah Williams, Development Director
There are many valuable principles that we learn throughout life, but few that we truly take to heart until we experience their value for ourselves. Children are told not to touch a hot stove, and drivers are taught to follow the speed limit, but it’s often only after the first burn or the first speeding ticket that the why becomes clear.
When a boy enters Youth-Reach, he is faced with many challenges and responsibilities. These begin with principles such as how to make one’s bed properly, how to treat others with respect, and how to engage in classroom studies. Over time, these challenges become much deeper and push the boys further towards their potential. This is when the young men here begin to work through things like leadership, commitment, identity and the painful process of healing from past trauma and hurt. These processes are some of the many reasons Youth-Reach operates as a long-term home.
While it would be efficient in the short term to simply teach the boys how to do these things, what matters even more is teaching them why it is important to do so. This is the key difference between a boy learning how to do things to get rewarded (or stay out of trouble) and learning to improve himself because he truly sees the value in what is being taught. This is also what equips our boys to walk with the wisdom they have gained long after they leave Youth-Reach.
Our goal is not to make the boys in our care good at mastering a system, but to equip and disciple them to be the future husbands, fathers and leaders that the Lord created them to be. It is not enough to teach them how to be this kind of man, but to help them understand the true value of a life lived this way—the way their wives, future children and themselves will be blessed by a life rooted in God’s design. We have seen many young men truly grasp these things and have been blessed to watch as the Lord uses them in ways they previously thought impossible. We are eternally grateful for those who have supported us for so many years by investing in these boys and the strong men we believe they can become.
