Mark and Stephanie Dodrill

Mark and Stephanie Dodrill met at Wheaton College in Illinois, USA, in a Spanish class. They married on November 26, 1977. In June of 1982, they both graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary with M.Div. degrees and were ordained that same weekend at Altadena Baptist Church in California into the Baptist General Conference denomination. In October 1982, they joined the YFC team in Barcelona.  They work alongside the local churches to provide training support for youth leaders and consultation for pastors who want to start a youth ministry in their churches. They run a youth center in downtown Barcelona called Espai Obert (Open Space in Catalan), where they operate an English academy and have outreach activities on Fridays for pre-adolescents and adolescents and on Sunday evenings for young adults.  Since 2004, they have been officially registered to provide government-approved certificates for monitors and directors, do this training all over Spain and have over 2000 graduates. YFC also has a 3-year Bible training course called DIDAKTIKOS.

From 2006 to 2021, YFC Spain was managing an all-year-round campground called BEREA (about an hour outside of Barcelona), where many children, youth, and young adults have made decisions for Christ and grown in their faith, and where many short-term groups have served as volunteers from other countries. They continue to do fall and spring retreats and summer camps at Berea.  From 2008 until 2020 (due to COVID), YFC Spain had been making two short-term mission trips a year to Bulgaria and pioneering the YFC ministry there with a Spaniard named Ruben Lafuente, whom Mark met at our former church in 2007. This ministry has mobilized hundreds of young people to plant more than 50 churches They also have a seminary and street ministry with children, as well as camps and teams who come from all over Europe to help with the building and remodeling of church structures.

Mark and Stephanie have three adult children and four grandchildren:

• Cristina (1989) and her children Elisa (2009) & Riley (2016)
• Alex (1990) married Mireia on June 11th, 2016, and they have lived and worked with GAIN (Global Aid International Network) in Valencia since 2022 and have one son, Liel (2020).
• Jennifer (1993) married Isaac Stough on May 15,2015 and they both joined our YFC Spain staff in March 2017. They have one son, Marc Loyal (March 2022)

Pray for continued fruit in this ministry, not only in quantity but also in quality, for the glory of God and for His gospel to spread throughout Spain.