Ministry and church share in outreach efforts

The new pastor of Metro Assembly of God has been director of a youth and family ministry for eight years.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR RELIGION EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN -- It's not uncommon for a growing church with a successful outreach ministry to need more space as it helps the community.
What's uncommon is how Metro Assembly of God came to be in those happy circumstances.
Metro Assembly, at 2530 South Ave. on the city's South Side, is in what had been called Evangel Assembly of God.
The Ohio District Council of the Assemblies of God Churches started Evangel in 1993. The congregation had been on Glenwood Avenue several years before that.
Lawsuit: Last August, the district council filed a lawsuit in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to remove Evangel's pastor, the Rev. Wayman Thomas, for not following church rules. The Rev. Mr. Thomas, who had renamed the church Destiny International, moved Destiny to Canfield. Most of the congregation followed him.
About 10 or 15 members of Evangel's congregation stayed on, said the Rev. Al Yanno Jr.
New pastor: The church on South Avenue then was renamed Metro Assembly of God and the Rev. Mr. Yanno was named its new pastor Sept. 16. His father, the Rev. Albert Yanno Sr. is pastor of Cornerstone Assembly of God in North Lima.
Metro's new pastor has been the executive director of Heart Reach Ministries at 787 Wick Ave. for eight years. He will continue in that position, and Heart Reach will remain on Wick Avenue.
Heart Reach has operated for 13 years, offering help to 600 inner-city children and their parents each week.
The Assemblies of God denomination helped to start Heart Reach, but it is nondenominational because other churches are involved. Mr. Yanno's wife, the Rev. Paris Yanno, is Heart Reach's administrator.
Calling: Mr. Yanno said he and his wife had been heartbroken after seeing youths living in poverty in Buenos Aires. They thought they would work with youths overseas.
But when he returned, "It was just like God speaking to me saying, 'Until you weep for America, I won't send you to another part of the world.' "
Mr. Yanno said his wife felt called to reach young people in urban areas.
"We just went at it," said Mr. Yanno, who lives on the South Side.
Programs: Heart Reach offers after-school programs in addition to the Super Kids Ministry on Saturdays, which teaches morals and life skills. But Heart Reach also offers food baskets and adult Bible studies that attract parents. Many adults have become involved in the Heart Reach ministry and turned their lives around, said Mr. Yanno.
Heart Reach was designed to reach families who weren't in church. Children and adults were urged to the church of their choice.
The decision to bring the ministry and church together makes sense spiritually, Mr. Yanno said.
"There's a segment of people who really got saved under our ministry, so they feel comfortable with our staff," said Mr. Yanno. "So for years we've been looking for an opportunity for us as a staff at Heart Reach to team up with a church. And that's basically what we did here. We came together with this church and started with its core group and our core group, and started ministering to families. We started targeting some of the Heart Reach families and brought them in."
The church and Heart Reach have separate calls: Metro is the church, and Heart Reach is the outreach ministry. Still, "both of them together can really minister to the whole man and build families," Yanno said. "You have to have something for the adults. If we can impact the adults, we can impact the whole family."
Response at the church so far has been good.
"We're averaging about 115 people a week," Mr. Yanno said. "It's good steady growth, since we want to make sure we're taking care of people."
Looking ahead: The vision for Metro Assembly is to be a cross-cultural church, from the leadership down. Mr. Yanno says the area around the church is a mixture of whites, blacks and Hispanics.
"Obviously, we're targeting the neighborhood. We want to be a breath of fresh air to this neighborhood. We don't want people to see just a church sign and wonder who we are," Mr. Yanno said. He's been out talking to families who live near the church, and plans outreach activities such as raking leaves and picking up trash.
And Metro Assembly is making other connections. It plans to join the Greater Youngstown Coalition of Christians, which is involved in education, home building and other social services in Youngstown. Heart Reach is already a member.
Metro Assembly offers Sunday school, youth and other programs. Adults from the church are getting involved in running programs at Heart Reach, such as support groups for mothers or people with addictions.
"We've got a game plan, and it's bigger than us." said Mr. Yanno. "Our philosophy at Heart Reach has always been to get people connected to God, get people connected to doing something positive with their lives, and we immediately try to get them involved in serving others. That helps people grow."
The church already needs more room for Sunday school classes.
"So we're looking at expanding territorially, too," said Mr. Yanno.
XMetro Assembly of God's schedule is: Sunday school, 9:30 a.m.; worship, 10:45 a.m. Sundays; prayer, 6:30 p.m. Sundays, and services at 7 p.m. Wednesdays.