Good Neighbor Podcast: Auburn and Opelika
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Good Neighbor Podcast: Auburn and Opelika
Ep.#154: Tabitha Vasilas and Jay, Youth For Christ East Alabama
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We sit down with Tabitha Vasilis and Jay from East Alabama Youth for Christ and hear how steady, relationship-based ministry inside juvenile detention helps a young man move from gang life and depression toward faith, accountability, and purpose. Jay shares the moments that changed him, and we explain how showing up consistently and staying connected after release can rewrite a teen’s future.
• meeting Jay and hearing his background, family life, and desire to follow God’s leading
• what Youth for Christ does through Bible studies, prayer, and presence
• Campus Life outreach in middle schools and high schools
• Jay’s life before mentorship, including violence, gangs, school dropout, drugs, and depression
• why being heard, understood, and wanted becomes the turning point
• what changed after Jay follows Jesus, including church community, accountability, baptism, and stability
• how we keep supporting youth beyond the facility through court support and church connection
• why financial support provides Bibles, resources, and ongoing mentoring relationships
For more text Tabitha to 80816
www.eastalabamayfc.org
Opening And Welcome
SPEAKER_00This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, welcome.
SPEAKER_01And
Meet Jay And Tabitha
SPEAKER_01with me is Jay with Youth for Christ and also Tabitha Vasilis with uh uh Youth for Christ. She's the executive director. Welcome. Thank you for having us. Well, let's dive right in, Jay. You are a special guest today. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
SPEAKER_03Hello, everyone. My name is Jacarian. I'm 19 years old. I'm engaged. I have two beautiful daughters. I work at Taco Mama, this uh Mexican restaurant. And right now I'm just trying to follow the road that God is leading me down.
How Jay Met Youth For Christ
SPEAKER_01Well, tell me a little bit about how you uh got involved with Youth for Christ. Um, how did you get introduced to this uh company, this uh organization?
SPEAKER_03Uh I met Miss Tabitha around like 2023, I think. 2022, 2033. I was in um Lee County Youth Attention Center and Miss Tabla used to come. Well, she still do go. She comes every Tuesday and Friday. And yeah, that's how I met her. Or yeah, got yeah.
Taking Hope Into Detention
SPEAKER_01Well, Tabitha, tell me a little bit about the juvenile justice ministry that he was just referring to.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so juvenile justice ministry is geared towards going where youth are uh when they're incarcerated or in group homes, um, just the the higher at-risk youth where we go and bring them hope with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so we've been serving the Lee County Youth Attention Center for over 30 years. I've personally been doing that for 10. And like he said, we're actually out there three days a week to meet with the youth that are in the facility. And again, we just are there to bring hope through Bible studies, through prayer, through relationships, as you will hear Jay mention uh in this podcast today. Um, really just want to love on them like Jesus so that we can point them to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01And this is a part, just a part of what you do there at Youth for Christ. What are some of the other things that you guys do?
SPEAKER_02We also have a campus life ministry where we go to the middle schools and high schools with with the same mission, you know, uh to bring a generation, the hope of Christ. And uh our mission is to raise up lifelong followers of Jesus, and so that's what we're there to do.
SPEAKER_01And obviously, Jay has benefited from um your efforts here. Jay,
Jay’s Life Before Faith
SPEAKER_01tell me what your life was like uh before you met uh Youth for Christ.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Uh so I'm from a small city in Georgia. Uh, it's a lot of violence, gang violence. So at a young age, I was introduced to a lot of things I think I shouldn't have been. I joined a gang at like 12 years old, 13. Yeah, I from there like went like downhill. I stopped going to school. Uh I started battling with with drugs, I started battling with depression. So it was it was very crazy before before like I met Miss Taperson and met Jesus.
SPEAKER_01And so what did um what did the juvenile justice ministry give you at that time when you met them, that point in your life?
Feeling Heard And Truly Seen
SPEAKER_01What did they uh give you that you needed?
SPEAKER_03They gave me the feeling of being heard, like the feeling of being understanding, like the feeling of being wanted and understanding. Miss Tapita gave me her time faithfully every Tuesday and Friday. Ms. Tapper, Ms. Tapster still gave me her time. Anytime I call Miss Tapper, she's there. Um she even gave us her time even when even how I sat and laughed and played in her face when when we got we first met. But Miss Tapper still stood by my side and she taught us a lot and she stayed humble every step of the way. Because I don't think if I don't think if somebody can sit and play in my face, I don't think I can sit and be as humble as Miss Tapita.
SPEAKER_01Amazing.
Life After Following Jesus
SPEAKER_01Well, today, what has following Jesus uh looked like for you today?
SPEAKER_03I've been free for going on three years, I think, about two or three years. God has put me in a church, a great church, which has allowed me to get in a community group. And within that community group, I have people that can that have that that hold me accountable for my choices. Yeah I also got baptized back in April. So God has God has been a true blessing. He blessed me with a good job. He has blessed me with many more things after I gave my life to him and after I took that walk with the Lord. It's like my life really changed.
SPEAKER_01Well,
Relationship-Based Support Beyond Release
SPEAKER_01uh Tabitha, you're you're in the leadership at Youth for Christ. And tell me a little bit about how you uh minister to uh you know people in the juvenile justice ministry like Jay, um, how you um reach out to them and how you like maintain that connection even after the initial um leading them to Christ.
SPEAKER_02Well, so the ministry is very relationship driven, and you know, I mean that's Jesus' model is the discipleship. And so we approach that just by entering into space with them and letting them know we're not there to condemn, we're not there to judge. You know, we never ask why they're locked up, or you know, what they did to get in a facility, we just show up and meet with them, uh, again to provide them the hope that they need. And um, Jay communicated the actual real mission of you for Christ doesn't just stop, start and stop in the facility, because we want to connect you with the local church. And so through just Jay's openness and his willingness to be helped and to be discipled, we were able to connect him with the local church where he's getting poured into on a weekly basis. Um, but how we really continue those relationships beyond the facility is through court representation. So um we show up when they have court dates if we're we know about it and we'll show up just to be a support so that they know that somebody's there that loves them and cares about them. And in Jay's particular situation, when we uh went to court, uh his mom was actually there. And so I began a conversation with her and began a relationship with her. And through that, when Jay found himself in trouble later down the road, his mom called me directly. And I don't want to steal Jay's the rest of Jay's story. So he maybe he can pick up from there with just what that looked like from that point. Um, but it was through just being present, being available, uh being faithful to show up, like he said, every week, Tuesday and Friday. That that's what builds trust with you is that consistency, that consistent presence. Um, and so I think he would say, and Jay, fill in anytime you want to, but you know, just that he said uh we talked earlier and he mentioned that he didn't really care about what we had to say at first. You know, so Jay, pick up from there.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So yeah, so like when she first came, like when I first met Miss Habitat, I was still like in my stepping way. So like I I was still stuck into like, yeah, I'm I'm gonna get back out of here and I'm gonna go be doing the same thing. But but she she kept she like she kept coming and kept pointing to us. So like I know I had no really no no choice but to change.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. Well Jay? I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_02He started with you know, Jay, describe what it's like being in the facility and what really was the catalyst that led you up to that decision.
Turning Point In Isolation
SPEAKER_03So um, okay. So you're in a cell by yourself, uh 23 hours. 23 hours. It's 23 and one, so you get an hour out of your cell, unless when you go to school, we do have school, but like other than school, like it's nothing. So you're in a cell 23 hours, it's a five by eight cell. Like I said, you're by yourself. So just imagine like being in there. So like it make you go insane, literally. Like insane. So uh probably like my fifth, sixth month, uh I started battling with like depression, like really bad depression. I lost, I lost a close friend of a I lost a close friend of mine. And I feel like me being in there was like, like, I feel like I could have stopped it if I was if I was out. So at that point, I realized like if I keep going down the road and I'm going, it's gonna lead to destruction. It's on the wrong way out of it, so I might as well take that role with God.
SPEAKER_01Right. Right. It sounds like it really uh the the circumstances really kind of lead you to wanting a different way of living, right?
SPEAKER_02And Jay with the follow-up, he he found himself in um in the hospital, and that's when his mom called me, because you know, like I said, we connected in the courtroom, and she reached out to me and let me know that he was there, and so I was able to show up for him in that moment, in that critical moment. And um, Jay, I know you've mentioned before that that was really the catalyst that that gave you hope, right? If you want to talk about that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so like meeting someone that's in like in a facility, like I met Miss Taptor like in a facility. I would never think that like when I got out. Miss Talta would be standing like by my side like anything. Miss Halster really literally brought me a Bible to the hospital. I was on land in a bed fighting with depression. She bought me a Bible to the hospital, came in on the hospital and we listened to Bible music the whole time.
SPEAKER_01Well, Jay, what would you want people to understand about why Youth for Christ and the juvenile justice ministry there is important and why it matters.
SPEAKER_03It matters because it's kids in the world uh who never heard of God, but they heard of some guns and robbing and stealing, and etc. It's kids in the juvenile detention center right now, juvenile prisons. It's even juvenile sending state prisons as we talk county jails that have never even picked up a Bible, let alone know who the Lord is. So it's important for people like you for Christ and Ms. Tabitha that come into their society to come into these facilities to speak the word of God to these to save these misled children that's like me.
SPEAKER_01Now, Tabitha, what would you say to someone who may be thinking about financially supporting Youth for Christ? Um,
Funding Hope For More Teens
SPEAKER_01but you know, they don't get to meet some of the the uh people that you help on a personal basis. But what would you say to someone about how their giving really does reach youth in our area?
SPEAKER_02Well, I don't know how you can listen to Jay. I know in your heartstrings not be tugged. When I hear Jay share just even portions of his story, it brings tears to my eyes. And they matter. Jay matters to God. And like he said, there's there's hundreds, there's thousands um of juveniles across our state, across this country that are just never heard. And it's it's mind-boggling to imagine, especially being in Alabama in the Bible Belt, that there are kids that haven't heard about Jesus and don't know what a Bible is. But I'm glad he said it and not me, because it's absolutely true. It is very alarming. And just to hear uh a life change, you know, to hear Jay testify and boldly, uh willingly share his story about the impact of the ministry and the mission, um, it it says it all. I really don't have to say much to follow up with that. Just please um consider investing into this mission. I was reading in Exodus 36 um yesterday, and they were building the tabernacle. And it, if you recall that passage, it Moses had to tell the people to stop giving because they had more than enough to accomplish the mission. And I just uh was sitting there trying to imagine the day that I would have to tell donors, stop bringing your money, right? Because the need has been met. But the reality is the need isn't being met. Um, we need financial resources to provide Bibles to do the things that we do. I mean, it it takes money. Um, we do do uh enter into relationship beyond the facility and those mentoring relationships, and there's just all sorts of things. Money makes the world go round. And so I hate that I even have to, you know, ask people to consider that, but at the same time, what a phenomenal opportunity to join God in the work of rescuing more Jays, you know, and and I'm just so incredibly humbled and grateful that God uh saw fit to place us in the same place at the same time so that he had the opportunity to encounter Jesus. Um, and Jesus is the reason Jay is on solid ground now and growing and trying to become the man of God that God desires for him to be. And I'm so proud of you, Jay. I just love you to pieces. I think you know the Lord's hand is all over your life. And I've seen it from start to finish um since you moved to Alabama and been in the facility, and to see who you're becoming today is what a joy. And you know, it it's sad to me that people don't get to experience God in these ways because they won't get involved, you know, they won't um be the hands and feet of Jesus, but there's opportunity to do that all throughout East Alabama, and there's some hurting kids, and and Jay, you know, where would you be? Where would you be if you didn't have the opportunity if that facility did not give access to you for Christ to come in there and to bring you hope? You know, can can you imagine the outcome, the different outcome and how your life would look right now if you would even be here?
SPEAKER_03Probably, yeah. I was often saying, probably back in jail, prison, or dead.
SPEAKER_02Or dead, yeah. And that's the reality of most. And so what I hope people hear through this, Susanna, and thank you for giving us this opportunity. What I hope what I hope people hear is that the need is so great, and these kids are floundering, they're drowning, they need hope, they need support. Uh, and we know that the best way to give them those two things is by taking Jesus to them. Um, Jesus is the answer, and and he's the way out of all of the darkness and all of the mess, and he's he's the one who gives uh new life and second chances.
SPEAKER_01So absolutely.
Text Tabitha To Get Involved
SPEAKER_01Well, Tabitha, how would someone get in contact with you if they wanted to donate or volunteer? What is the best way to find you?
SPEAKER_02So you can text Tabitha to 80816, or you can visit our website, eastalabamayfc.org. Um, and all our contact information is on there. You can follow us on social media. We're on Facebook and Instagram, uh, and it's just East Alabama Youth for Christ. Um, yeah, so and like I said, our phone number, our email address is on our website, but you the easiest thing to do is text 80816, uh Tabitha to 80816, and we can follow up with you from there.
SPEAKER_01Well, thank you so much for joining me. I have so enjoyed learning more about you, Jay, and also the Youth for Christ. Thank you for being with me today.
SPEAKER_02Yes, well. Thanks for having us.
Closing And Nominate A Business
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