Modest & Mighty Pt. 3: Dominick Sanchez Makes Discipleship Accessible in Fresno

By: Ashley Ver Beek, Contributor

It resonates with Dominick Sanchez (Fresno 2023): being the product of a community where conditions offer no hope or clear direction for what the future holds. As an adult, he looked critically at neighborhoods in his hometown of Fresno, California. He saw systemically under-resourced communities, illegal activities, rampant violence, and the lack of supervision in the home, all contributing to youth gang involvement and a “crime culture.”

“As a kid, I was on probation and was involved in a lot of violence in my teen years,” said Dominick. “I gave my life to Christ when I was 15. Ever since, I’ve been using my experiences and the gifts God gave me to fulfill the Great Commission in urban neighborhoods or neighborhoods experiencing violence.”

Among the many dire statistics facing Fresno is the reality that 80 percent of students in the Fresno Unified School District are at or below the poverty line. Such defining conditions drive the work of Urban Story, a violence intervention program that Dominick launched with strategic goals toward discipleship.

Urban Story is a nonprofit that exists to change the narratives related to crime, dysfunction, and violence in the community. The organization offers four main programs: a 36-week Discipleship Academy, Neighborhood Outreach, Fire Starters Urban Ministry Training, and the Church Access Program. These elements are all Christ-centered and focus on ministry training, leadership development, outreach, and family support.

 

Making Discipleship Accessible

Unlike a neighborhood-based community center, Urban Story employs a model that expands beyond a single hub. The organization dispatches leaders to wherever kids and families reside and delivers training and programming to them directly.

“[Our] mantra is making discipleship accessible,” Dominick stated. “Because of the constant moving that comes with housing insecurity, community connection and school attendance are disrupted. We need an organization that’s able to follow families wherever they go and be a church that [does the same].”

Dominick describes Urban Story’s process. “We pick a neighborhood to do outreach in. We usually know a family there, and they will host the program.” From here, Dominick and four mentors from inside and outside the neighborhood make connections with youth. “It’s open-ended—playing games, basketball, or whatever the kids gravitate toward,” he said. The mentors begin identifying youth ages 10 to 14 for the 36-week Discipleship Academy. This level of investment and ongoing mentorship has proven to make a difference in the youth they serve.

“When kids see themselves as leaders and have a mentor who is consistently speaking that into them, they begin to act like leaders,” Dominick observes. “You can change the narrative by changing their identity.”

In the Discipleship Academy, Urban Story reports that 90 percent of kids’ behaviors and 100 percent of their grades improve. After completing the Discipleship Academy, the Church Access Program connects youth and their families to local churches. This includes a transportation network, so no matter where they live or move, there’s a ride to church.

 

Church Partnerships and Urban Ministry Exchange

The Church Access Program is the infrastructure for sustained connection between churches and families. This involves intercultural and cross-class relationship building, urban ministry training, and equipping the neighborhood to engage. Several partner churches are well-resourced and can support many kids and families, but it takes intentional work from both sides to bridge the cultural and socioeconomic divides.

“The goal is to establish a widespread network of churches and individuals who will stand in the gap for the real people living in our city engaged in discipleship with Urban Story,” said Dominick.

Urban Story comes in as bridge builders: relationships with pastors and leaders, relationships with families and neighborhoods, and bringing the church to the neighborhood.

People’s Church is one of four churches partnering with Urban Story through the Church Access Program, where people receive training in urban ministry in order to serve the wider Fresno community and help bring local youth to church. Dominick explains that they are always working on how to partner well with churches. He ponders questions around effective partnerships, “How do we improve behavior and break down cultural barriers, on both sides?”

Urban Story provides quarterly, monthly, and sometimes weekly training for pastors, church leaders, and members, drawing on many of the skills and resources Dominick gained from his DVULI training.

Dominick said it has taken years to solidify this approach and format of the ministry. While Urban Story has had to navigate its share of challenges, what keeps Dominick encouraged are the stories from students who participate in the Discipleship Academy.

“Hearing the kids’ testimonies—not only about what they’ve gone through in life but also about what God has done—feels like the completion of our vision for the program’s outcome,” Dominick remarks, who is fully aware that the work in his beloved hometown is far from finished.

 

Dominick’s story is the third in a six-part series highlighting alumni whose modest-sized ministries are making a mighty impact on youth.