Youth Resources
Dan White, Director of Youth Resources
Dan White Jr. leads the youth resources department for Family Life, overseeing both divisions: Thrive and Youth Action.
Prior to joining the Family Life Team, Dan was a youth pastor for 13 years in Long Island and the Binghamton area. As a traveling speaker and pastor, Dan loves communicating relevant, accessible, Jesus-centered messages to teenagers and young adults. He has served in small and large church settings to help hundreds of teenagers walk firmly in their faith and be cultural influencers.
God’s commission for social justice also compelled Dan to help raise funds for world hunger on behalf of World Vision. He has traveled abroad to South America, Mexico and Africa, and recently spent time investigating the food crisis and child soldiers in Kenya. He also served as Ministry Director in summer camp settings for underprivileged children in New York City.
Dan loves coaching youth leaders and helping them get the best tools and resources they need for the persistent demands of ministering to teenagers. He’s also passionate about finding ways to connect youth pastors, helping them collaborate and expend energy on loving their communities. It’s a lofty vision but a God-sized vision.
Dan is currently working overtime on completing his Master’s from Bethel Seminary in Transformation Leadership. Dan has always enjoyed writing and performing original music. Right now he’s doing both with a side project band, The Proxy, and his first impending book, entitled “Do or Die: Surviving Faith and Culture.”
Dan is originally from the Syracuse area and has been married for 10 years to his high school sweet heart and partner in Kingdom work. He has two adrenaline-filled kids, Daniel and Bella, and is losing more hair than he’d like to admit, which probably results from the adrenaline-filled kids, unlucky genetics, or both. Dan’s life passage is Philippians 2:1-11.
Katie Bernier, Youth Program Coordinator
Katie works primarily with Youth Action at Family Life, coordinating events, creating marketing materials, and networking with youth leaders across the region.
Katie’s favorite part of the job is working one-on-one with young adults, whether it’s counseling them or just hanging out. Katie also works part-time for Family Life’s radio ministry as a radio traffic programmer, managing the sponsorship announcements for FLN.
Katie came to Family Life in 2007 from the Binghamton, NY area. Before that she had her own business cleaning houses. Sle also worked for Joann Fabric’s for several years. From a young age Katie knew she wanted to serve Jesus, but had no idea how or where. After volunteering as a counselor for Family Life, Katie felt God was calling there. At first rejecting the Call, Katie told God she'd serve anywhere but in youth ministry. But after submitting to God's Will, Katie fell in love with her job and wouldn’t trade it for the world!
Raised in a large Christian Family, Katie came to Christ at a young age. Around the time she was 16, Katie realized that she couldn’t just rely on her family’s faith anymore, but had to start her own personal walk with God. Katie loves sharing her testimony with young adults.
Katie is a fun loving, personable woman with a passion for Christ. She’s the oldest of 12 children and has lived a real life "Cheaper by the Dozen" experience. Katie loves reading, sewing /designing, volleyball, and hanging out with friends and family.
George Sweatt, Youth Program Coordinator
God has gifted and blessed George with multiple talents and he uses them all at Family Life! George works in our radio and youth departments. His favorite part of both jobs is hearing about the change God causes in people lives - a big reward of ministry work.
George joins Hannah, Carter, and Miss Quick on Family Hour each week day to bring creative children’s programming to FLN’s listenership. In addition to hosting and producing Family Hour, George also is involved in Saturday morning's Kids Korner – cutting, mixing, and adding sound effects to the audio he records with the gang each week.
His love for kids and passion for Christ caused George to pursue a degree in youth ministry at Criswell College in Dallas, TX. After serving as youth pastor for eight years and working for a non-profit radio station for two years, George began praying for his next step in ministry.
It wasn’t long before God opened the door for an interview with Family Life. After visiting the ministry and spending several sleepless nights in prayer, George made the trek from Texas to join the Family Life team in June of 2008.
About a year into his work with FLN, George expressed interest in working for Family Life's youth department. Who were we to argue? So along with his radio responsibilities, George joins Katie Bernier in YA to help plan and coordinate events for teens and young adults.
While George may seem mild-mannered on the air, you’ll be surprised to know he's tested the limits of extreme sports. Bull-riding, skydiving, base-jumping, and bungee jumping are a few of his much loved, and otherwise crazy, things to do. Being raised in Texas, where snow is a rare commodity, George is looking forward to some good NY skiing when the flakes begin to fall.