Derrick Watkins has experienced God’s presence in his life since he was a teenager, seeing doors open at precisely the right moments. Today, in Flint, Michigan, that faithfulness is reflected in restored homes, transformed young lives, renewed career opportunities and even the transformation of a building that once carried a very different reputation.
Watkins, a pastor, electrician and founder of Active Boys in Christ, or better known as ABC Youth, says his journey has been marked by moments when God opened doors he never expected to walk through.
Although Watkins grew up around Christianity, he struggled with feeling rebellious as a teenager and became involved with alcohol and drugs.
He said, "Doing a lot of things I knew I shouldn't have been doing."
Then, over the course of three Saturdays, he felt increasingly called by God to go to church. After two weeks of sleeping in, he finally went on the third Sunday.
“I was late, but I got up and went anyway.”
As his cousin preached from the story of Elijah praying for God to open his servant’s eyes, Watkins said God opened his own heart. That day, he gave his life to Christ and Watkins says the transformation was immediate. He believes God delivered him from alcohol and drugs by taking the taste for it out of his mouth in that moment, and led him into a deeper relationship with Christ.
That transformed life eventually became a mission.
As a teenager, Watkins knew college was not the path for him. He wanted to work with his hands, inspired by an uncle who was a handyman. He eventually left high school school without a diploma, but years later, an unexpected opportunity changed the course of his career.
In 1999, Watkins applied for an electrical apprenticeship but was turned away because he lacked a high school diploma. He returned to school, earned his GED and began looking for another opportunity. Then, remarkably, the union contacted him the following year—even though he had not reapplied. He felt it was God holding the door open for him, after being accepted into the apprenticeship and, despite feeling like the least-qualified person in the room, Watkins graduated at the top of his class.
For Watkins, it was evidence that God had been directing his steps all along.
Several years before starting ABC Youth, Watkins felt the name “Active Boys in Christ” laid on his heart. Although a ministry by that name at his church did not unfold as he had envisioned, Watkins believes God had other plans.
In 2017, Watkins launched a church and remembered the name Active Boys in Christ, still feeling called to work with young people. Drawing on his own experience of not wanting to attend college, he wanted to help young people explore alternative pathways to careers outside of a traditional college education.
Now better known as ABC Youth, Watkins’ organization focuses on Christ-centered development, helping young people grow as a whole through biblical teaching and skilled-trades opportunities.
Students ages 7 to 17 learn electrical work, plumbing, carpentry, culinary arts and STEM while also receiving biblical lessons focused on character traits such as honesty, respect and self-control.
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The ministry has also helped renovate seven homes and demolish two properties in their Flint community. One former student became so passionate about skilled trades that she returned as a volunteer. Another participant was hired by a local company after completing a job-shadowing opportunity.
Now, Watkins says God is opening another door.
A local foundation provided $150,000 toward a new facility, giving ABC seven acres, a barn, three pavilions and a softball field.
Watkins and his team transformed the property from a neglected site that once served as a Fraternal Order of Police meeting hall, then a makeshift greenhouse, into a place where young people can learn, grow and encounter Christ.
For Watkins, the transformation is more than construction. It is a picture of what he believes God has done in his own life.
“I was a broken man when I came to Christ,” he says, explaining why he is passionate about reaching children before they carry the same burdens he once carried.
Watkins believes God is just getting started. His next goal is an after-school skilled-trades program centered on Christ.
Through every unexpected opportunity, Watkins says he has learned an important lesson: "We have some outstanding youth within our community and communities across this nation. We as a church and a body of Christ need to connect with them and point them in the right pathways and we're going to see some tremendous things happen for us. If we just invest our time and share the love of Christ with them, we're going to see a tremendous impact within our nation."
And in Flint, he is building something—one project, one summer, one child and one family at a time.