“Investing in Young Adults Is Investing in the Future of the Church”: How Brevard’s Young Adults Are Uniting in Faith
Dozens of young adults from churches across Brevard County gathered earlier this month for the inaugural Brevard Young Adults Worship Night at Calvary Chapel Eau Gallie—a countywide evening of worship, prayer, and connection designed to strengthen unity among Space Coast ministries.
At the heart of the effort is Sam Henry of Church at Viera Young Adults, whose journey from spiritual searching to community leadership has helped spark a movement bringing together believers from multiple churches and ministries under one vision of unity in Christ.
I spoke with Sam about how his faith has shaped that vision, the early conversations that led to Brevard Young Adults, and his hopes for what God is building among the next generation of Christians on the Space Coast.
Connor Mahoney: Okay Sam, so... why?
Sam Henry: Because Jesus—Jesus got a hold of my heart. And He had to keep doing it until I was like, “All right, let’s do this.”
But yeah, it goes a lot deeper than that. I grew up in a Christian household; my parents love the Lord. I went to a Christian school. I was just immersed. I accepted Jesus into my heart young—around fiveish—and then just kind of spent a long time coasting.
Then I got to high school and had some questions. I went to Jesus camp, and there was this one sermon about Christian community—like the Pauline relationships. You need a mentor, you need friends, and you need people to pour into. I was fifteen or sixteen thinking, Where is that? Where are the mentors? Where are the friends? I was going to church and in a Christian community, but I didn’t feel the fullness of what I saw in Scripture. That stretched my faith.
I had questions. I went through high school searching for that but never really found it. I kind of resigned myself to say, All right, God, You didn’t provide this all the way through, so I’m going to figure this out. Instead of being faithful and pressing in deeper, I kind of decided, I’ll just do it on my own.
I went away to college, and it was still the same questions. I was very discouraged not seeing unity in the campus ministries. You had—and not to shame them because they're all doing tremendous work—but you had Crew, InterVarsity, RUF, the local churches, and they all seemed to be doing their own thing and weren’t talking to each other.
So I was in a group for a while, then eventually joined a fraternity. And I kind of felt like that was my community. And I was like, All right, God, I’m figuring it out. And He was like, Okay, all right, you want to go figure it out? Go ahead.
I was still trusting in Jesus. Like, I knew He was still God, still Savior, still the answer—but at that point in my faith journey, I just wasn’t equipped. I was being tested and failing miserably. I guess there’s some win in holding on to believing that Jesus is Lord, but in my actions there was no fruit.
Eventually it reached a point where I was like, God, I’m done. Take me back, please. And He was like, All right, you want to come back? And then it literally felt like He picked me up and placed me back on what felt like solid rock. I called my parents and said, “Hey, Mom, Dad, I’m not doing well.” They said, “Okay, come back home. Three things: go back to school, get a job, and go to therapy.” And I was like, “Done, done, done.”
That was December 2019, where I kind of hit that rock bottom. By early 2020 I was getting my footing again. Back in church, serving in tech ministry, seeing God restore what the locust had eaten. I got a job, transferred schools, and started growing in faith. I had community, mentors—everything I’d been praying for. Even through COVID, in spite of everything going on in the world, I just really felt the hand of God on my life. And it’s been a wrap ever since.
CM: Tell me about how Brevard Young Adults got started. I’m particularly interested in those early conversations. Who you were talking to, and what were those conversations like?
SH: Yeah. So I was in New York from 2020 until 2022, when my parents decided to move down here. They were looking at housing and retirement. I had my own struggles with that because I thought they needed me up there for tech at the church. I wanted to stay in New York, but after some prayer and fasting, I knew if I moved, it would be the Lord.
When we did the initial moves to meet with some of the housing developments, we got plugged into Church at Viera. And—funny story—my dad had already visited while I was in college and joined a men’s group online for two years before we even moved. So he already had his community when we got here.
So my dad had his men’s group, his church. And I said, Okay, I need my community.
I was pointed to two young adult groups at Church at Viera. One was more college-age, one was more young professionals. In both, you could tell there was something wider happening than just this church’s young adult group. There were people there connected to other churches, other groups.
When we officially moved down, I just followed that trail. Dan Selch was leading the college-age group at the time, and he was connected with Coastline and Calvary Chapel and would guest speak at different places.
And since I had just moved, I didn’t have a job or any big responsibilities, so I was able to go to young adult groups across Brevard basically every night—Sunday night, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Fridays once a month.
It just became this deep dive of, Okay, here are my roots. Let’s do this, God. And I started seeing God opening doors and opportunities. I was like, Wait—there’s something here. There’s something very special here.
CM: That’s awesome. Tell me about how this vision for unity with Brevard Young Adults is taking shape. I know you just had your first worship night at Calvary Eau Gallie earlier this month. What else is growing out of this?
SH: I’d say the seed was planted a long time ago. Ephesians 4 has been one of my personal favorite chapters—talking about unity in the Church and what that looks like.
Some of the other efforts didn’t start with me. Beach Nights were started by Trinity Wellsprings, Coastline, and Northside Presbyterian around 2022 or 2023. They met every other week over the summer at Pelican Beach. It started as college-age and then grew into young adults, 18 to 30.
That’s been what I’d call the bread and butter of the last few years. The first worship night was kind of a way to celebrate that and to hopefully launch what will become more regular events for local young adult groups to come together.
CM: Let’s talk about that worship night. I counted at least six different groups with tables. I’m sure there were many more attending from other churches. What were your feelings coming out of it? Was it everything you had hoped for?
SH: I’ll be honest—I wasn’t part of the planning as much as I wanted to be. I went into it in a bit of a funk. There had been a lot happening that month, personally and in the world, and I was just looking for the Lord.
That night, I was filled myself. Seeing friends and people I’d met over the last three years joining in worship and unity—I was overwhelmed and grateful. I went in not expecting much, but expecting God to be there. And that’s a lot.
Editor
CM: Is there a core team behind Brevard Young Adults?
SH: Yeah—believe it or not, it’s a very recently formed core team. We had a Young Adult Leader Roundtable about a month before the worship night.
That’s where a few of the local young adult leaders got together to talk. It was the day after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, so from that, a bigger conversation started—one that’s still developing.
It’s a very organic thing that's happening. There’s no one person leading it. My work with the website helped get the ball rolling, but there’s been effort long before me. It’s really just picking up the mantle from those who’ve gone before and saying, Hey, what can we do here?
CM: Who were some of the groups at that Roundtable?
SH: Sam Adams with Calvary Eau Gallie—he’s been my partner in crime for Beach Nights this year. Pastor Chris there has also been key in starting that young adult ministry. Then there’s The House Church in Palm Bay with Pastor Abe and Crystal. Seth—he’s not necessarily a young adult leader but has been instrumental with TPUSA Faith. He’s doing a tremendous job. The Tapestry Network was there too, kind of as observers but also offering wisdom. They’ve been doing this kind of church-unity work on a broader level. Northside Presbyterian was represented, and Trinity Wellsprings—Christian and Ian there have been longtime partners in Beach Nights. And Dwight from Wings of Grace. Those were a lot of the core people at the Roundtable, but forgive me if I forget some.
CM: Let’s talk about the future. What’s your vision for how this could develop? Any gatherings or projects ahead?
SH: Man, there’s so much. I started with a few questions, and those led to more questions and more ideas, and it’s just been snowballing. I'm really allowing the Lord to lead me to the people I need to have conversations with to clarify things.
In addition to the website, which has a group finder, calendar, and local resources, we’ve talked about doing interviews with young adults, a blog, maybe a newsletter. Definitely more worship nights, gatherings, networking, fun events, evangelism, and volunteer opportunities.
Young adults are the leaders. They’re the future. Investing in young adults now is investing in the future of the Church. Nothing’s set in stone, but yeah—stay tuned.
CM: Anything tentative? Give us a little sneak peek.
SH: Okay, a little sneak peek. There’s a Friendsgiving coming up on November 21—we just got approval last night—and we’re working on a flyer for that. And then, probably a Christmas party, details still to come, but probably with Grace Church Young Adults off Murrell. Both will be open to everybody.
CM: Last question. If someone’s hearing about Brevard Young Adults for the first time, what would you want them to know, and how can they be part of it?
SH: I’d say check out our website. We have a list of all the young adult groups in the county. If you’re not connected—or if you know someone who needs to be more connected—you can send them there to find community.
I finished Mere Christianity earlier this year, and one of the early passages describes Christianity as a hallway with many doors. Sometimes you’ve got to try out some of the doors. Some are open, and sometimes you walk in and you’re not sure if it’s the right one, so you try another. I feel like this website is a form of that for young adults in Brevard. It’s been a largely neglected group in the Church, but in the last five to ten years there’s been such a revival. Hopefully this website is part of that.
Brevard County Young Adults is a community of Christian young adult groups located around the Space Coast area that aims to grow together in Christ and works to see revival locally and beyond. More information can be found at brevardya.net.
— Christians of Brevard is a multi-church initiative that seeks to amplify the voices of local churches and ministries for the purpose of encouraging the local body of Christ and advancing the Kingdom of God. Join our Facebook community @ChristiansOfBrevard
