“Lord, help me.” 16-year-old J.J. Ferrell uttered these three words while looking at his reflection in a bathroom mirror. Four years of Skinhead affiliation and fear of a bleak, danger-filled future brought the teenager to this moment of quiet brokenness. J.J. didn’t know it yet, but his cry for help was the turning point that would bring him out of darkness and danger and into Jesus’ love and protection.

When J.J. was 11, his dad passed away. This marked the beginning of a difficult period for his family. His now single mother struggled to keep things together while other family members began using drugs. Though J.J. never fell prey to addictions after seeing his father struggle with alcoholism, things went down a different sinister path for him. At 12, J.J. started hanging out with a skinhead gang.

Skinhead life was initially appealing, but it quickly became dangerous. J.J.’s house became a party house, with 20-30 people routinely there on the weekends — many of whom brought weapons. People close to J.J. fell deeper into drug use, and others in his circle were getting hurt or going to jail. J.J. fell behind academically. Authorities sent him to continuation school, where he could either finish his education or end up in juvenile hall.

J.J. began to feel that life was spiraling. He says, “I felt like there was really nothing to live for. I don’t think I was having suicidal thoughts necessarily, but I remember waking up and sometimes just thinking, Man, another day. Kids are not supposed to be thinking those kinds of thoughts.”

One evening, J.J. came home feeling shame and fear. He remembers, “I was never really able to express how afraid I was, and probably lots of people in my shoes were just as afraid.” He went to the bathroom, the only place he could be alone, and faced his reflection while the water ran. He said to himself, J.J., you’re gonna die from all this stuff. It was then that he looked up and said, “Lord, help me.” Just a few days later, someone invited him to youth group.

Though he didn’t fully understand what youth group was, he accepted the invitation and went to a service at Canyon Hills Church in Bakersfield, California.

Standing at the back of the room watching the unfamiliar worship, J.J. was hesitant to join in. However, he remembered his bathroom prayer and felt that this service was God throwing him a lifeline.

He committed, walked forward, and gave his life to the Lord, saying, “God, take this life and do whatever you want to do with me. Just please make life worth living.”

J.J. says, “It was all go at that point, and I was ready to get involved and do whatever it meant to follow God.” His life in youth ministry began almost immediately, and his friends were his first mission field.

When youth leaders challenged J.J. to bring his friends to church, he obeyed. He says, “When we first started showing up, we didn’t show up one or two at a time, it was all in. I just started inviting everybody to come to church.” They often showed up in groups of 20. Many of them gave their hearts to the Lord and are still serving Him today.

J.J.’s entire family eventually came to know the Lord as well, and one of his sisters is now an Assemblies of God global worker in Austria.

During this time, J.J. realized that without local youth ministry, he and his friends would not have come to know Jesus. He asked himself, If there are churches that don’t have a youth ministry, then how are teenagers ever going to find the Lord? That question set the stage for his future — working with youth and developing youth ministry across Europe. His faithful, lifelong dedication to God’s call has left a positive impact on countless people and ministries globally.

Though J.J.’s past was difficult, he believes God has used everything for good. “He’s definitely used all of my past and upbringing and everything, dark corners and all, to get me to what I am, and who I am. I know there are kids out there just like me. They would say ‘yes’ to the Lord, but someone has to bring the gospel to them.”

As J.J.’s life came together and he graduated high school, he planned to go on a two-week mission trip to Romania, do an internship in Springfield, Illinois, and then attend Central Bible College (CBC) in Springfield, Missouri. However, God had other plans.

In Romania, J.J. saw something he didn’t expect. “Little kids coming in and out of sewer holes. … Thousands of street kids running all over the place.” One day, J.J. decided to speak to them. He was even more surprised by what happened when he approached them. He says, “As I started getting closer to them, I remember I kind of stopped. … I realized these kids are not sweet, cute little kids I was thinking they were going to be. Three or four of them were smoking cigarettes. There was a little boy who was probably seven years old, and he was drunk, holding a little bottle of rum.”

These street children, just like J.J. when he was a child, needed Jesus and access to ministry. As J.J. walked away, he told God, “I can’t live like I didn’t see that.”

Ministry leaders invited J.J. back for a year-long stay in Romania, which he extended to another year. This eventually led to a 25-year ministry. He served with a team that created a rescue center for street children where they spent time with them, served them in a soup kitchen, and presented the gospel to them.

J.J. received his ministerial license through International Correspondence Institute (now Global University) in 2005 and was later ordained.

J.J. has worked in many areas of youth ministry. He and his wife, Nelia, currently serve as youth pastors at International Church of Barcelona in Spain which has a congregation of more than 1,200. He also serves in the youth department of the Pentecostal European Fellowship (PEF), is a youth evangelist, preaches at youth camps and conferences, and leads youth ministry training seminars. Additionally, he was recently chosen to lead the coordinating committee of the Pentecostal Youth of Europe (PYE Network), which opens incredible doors for connections with youth leaders across Europe.

As someone whose life was changed by youth ministry, his passion lies in helping churches establish youth ministries, getting kids access to Jesus and healthy community. He provides teens with the same thing that saved him.

He says, “My calling to missions is really an expression of my calling into youth ministry. … Training of leaders — old, young, whatever they are. … Just helping people understand what youth culture is and how you hand the gospel to this culture of teenagers in a way that they’ll understand it.”

Without the ministry of J.J.’s local church in California, he would not be where he is today, changing the culture of youth ministry globally.

He says, “If you would take me anywhere in the world, I know exactly what I’d do. I would do exactly what I’m doing here, which is exactly what I was doing in Romania. … Helping establish youth ministry in places where youth ministry doesn’t happen.”

By Joy Myers