The United Methodists in North Alabama are turning to the Rev. Andy Yarnell for a new outreach effort in two-year colleges.

Yarnell, who has been the youth pastor at Pell City First United Methodist Church, has been tapped to lead the outreach starting July 1. United Methodist clergy who are moving to new appointments in North Alabama will move effective July 1, with sermons in their new churches on July 6.

Yarnell will begin leading outreach efforts to students at Gadsden State, Snead State and Wallace State community colleges this fall.

“It’s a little different from the formal Wesley Foundations we have on 4-year campuses,” Yarnell said. “Our doors are open to every single student.”

Yarnell will also hold the title of senior pastor of Mosaic Church in Gadsden, a ministry that emphasizes acceptance and service to the LGBTQ community.

“Mosaic Gadsden is a group for anybody that’s ever felt hurt or excluded by the church, which is actually so many people,” Yarnell said. “When we first started, it was mainly for LGBTQ-plus community, but we’ve realized that branches out to so many more people.”

Mosaic doesn’t have a regular meeting place; it meets in parks and other locations.

“It’s just all about being ourselves and being loving and welcoming,” Yarnell said. “It’s just simply welcoming, loving people as they are no matter where they are on their faith journey, just making sure they know they are affirmed and loved. Make sure that their voice is heard and that they matter.”

At the recent North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church meeting in Birmingham, Yarnell received the 2025 Denman Evangelism Award for clergy. Yarnell has spent the past 15 years as a youth director, mainly at Pell City First and Gadsden First United Methodist churches, emphasizing outreach to those who’ve previously had bad experiences in churches.

“Doing some of these outside the box things reminds me that God moves in unexpected places,” Yarnell said.

“One of the places where I feel like I encountered God the most was actually at a Pride event,” Yarnell said. “I had a sign that said, ‘Free Pastor Hugs.’ I talked to more people about my faith and hugged more people and prayed with people more than I do on a regular Sunday at any church I’ve served.”

He explained what he prays for: “Pray that people will hear about us, and when they come, they will feel loved and affirmed,” he said. “That they will Know that God still loves them. If they’ve heard things in the past that God hates them, or God’s going to punish them, that they will really encounter God and know how loving God is.”

Under the old model of college student ministry, the North Alabama Conference operated Wesley Foundation houses on campuses such as UAB and Birmingham-Southern College.

Both those Wesley Foundation houses have closed. The North Alabama Conference voted in 2024 to close the Wesley Foundation student ministry house at UAB near Dreamland Barbecue in Southside and sell it. The Wesley Foundation at Birmingham-Southern College closed last year when the college closed.

Under the new plan, the outreach to two-year colleges will be done without a permanent base. “We’ll be using local churches to host and local coffee shops,” Yarnell said.

“The United Methodist churches in those areas are going to be helping us,” he said. “There’s no Wesley Foundation house. We don’t have our own building.”

Mosaic Church also has no permanent home.

“We might move locations,” Yarnell said. “We might meet at Sweet Home, Gadsden First or Southside. We might rotate where we’re having a meal and fellowship. Not always the same space.”

Yarnell will be preaching on July 6, 10 a.m., at Abundant Grace United Methodist Church in Boaz.