The local chapter of Youth for Christ, an international organization with roots in Winona Lake, may be forced to close its doors.
Robert Beck, executive director for Indiana Lakes Area for YFC for 11 years, said he received the news Monday from his board members.
His board informed him that unless the chapter can send $10,000 to the national YFC office in Denver, Colo., by March, the national organization will have to close down the local chapter.
The local chapter serves Kosciusko, Marshal, and Fulton counties and is based out of an office in Beck’s home in Plymouth.
Youth for Christ was started in 1946 in Winona Lake and quickly spread internationally.
Today the organization serves teenagers in 105 countries.
The mission of the organization is to share Christ with teenagers who don’t attend church, and encourage them to attend church.
“In 1945 a group of men in Winona Lake prayed and fasted to see what God wanted from them and they realized they needed to help teens, and that was when Youth for Christ was born,” Beck said.
Rev. Billy Graham was hired as an evangelist for the organization at the Billy Sunday Tabernacle in Winona Lake.
Graham was an evangelist to thousands of teenagers who would come to YFC conferences in Winona Lake, Beck said.
Beck said today the local chapter serves Lakewood and Edgewood middle schools and Warsaw Community High School, Plymouth High School, Culver Military Academy, and Bremen High School.
“The ministry has flourished, but not so much the revenue,” Beck said.
“Dozens of teens have come to Christ and kids are currently studying to enter ministry and pick up where we have begun.”
Beck said the chapter’s debt has been growing.
“We sent in $1,500 last month and are attempting to send in more,” Beck said.
Beck said the chapter’s revenue has not been sufficient to pay the $520 per month to the national chapter as well as ongoing expenses.
The organization needs to have approximately $7,000 per month in revenue.
Beck said to pay ongoing bills and clean up debt the organization needs $125,000 this year.
He said people who want to help the local chapter can mail checks with Youth for Christ in the memo line to Youth for Christ, P.O. Box 1221, Warsaw, IN 46581.
For more information contact Beck at rkbeck@galaxyinternet.net or call 574-936-2325 or 574-780-1994.
