Bluffton resident Don Leader, executive director of Youth for Christ of Northwest Ohio, will retire at the end of October after serving 19 years in the position, according to YFC board chair Mark Yoder, also of Bluffton.

Jared Diller of Pandora, ministry director of the local YFC and for five years director of Rally Point, a Lima-based ministry, will replace Leader. 

Yoder said, “We have been gifted with executive directors of our organization who have done amazing work and who have stayed. The strength of the movement of YFC in this area is a testament to their care and longevity.”  

In announcing Leader’s replacement, Yoder said, “Jared’s giftedness, humility and history will help him to steward the ministries in this area for years to come.”

Leader was only the second executive director of the Youth for Christ of Northwest Ohio, joining YFC in 2001 following the retirement of Paul Miserlian, who had served in that role since 1958.

In addition, Don's wife, Ann, has also worked in the YFC office.

Prior to joining YFC, Leader was a teacher and coach in the Bluffton school system. He is a Bluffton University graduate and holds a graduate degree in school counseling from the University of Dayton.

Among Leader’s accomplishments was adding the Lima ministry site, Rally Point, that serves urban youth on the north side of Lima, and the merging of three board of directors into one. He oversaw the recovery of the chapter’s property after Findlay’s flood in 2007.  

Diller grew up through YFC’s Campus Life programs offered at Pandora-Gilboa High School.

Diller was director of the non-profit, Rally Point, for five years, before the organization officially partnered with YFC, becoming a City Life site. He and his wife, Amy, are parents of  five children, Ayden, Truett, Ellis, Eliza and Miles.  

Youth for Christ of Northwest Ohio’s office is at 10111 W. State Route 224, Findlay. With a 12-member staff, it serves young people in Hancock, Putnam and Allen counties. 

YFC’s mission is “to reach young people everywhere, working together with the local church and other like-minded partners to raise up lifelong followers of Jesus who lead by their godliness in lifestyle, devotion to the Word of God and prayer, passion for sharing the love of Christ and commitment to social involvement.”