Edwin Barry Young

Edwin Barry "Ed" Young (born March 16, 1961), known professionally as Ed Young, Jr., is the founding and senior pastor of Fellowship Church.

Early life Born in Canton, North Carolina, Young is the oldest son of Homer Edwin Young, senior pastor of Second Baptist Church Houston in Houston, Texas. He attended and played basketball at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, where he received a basketball scholarship. After his sophomore year, he transferred to Houston Baptist University where he received his bachelor's degree followed by a Masters of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

Early Ministry Work After his studies, he returned to Houston, Texas to work at Second Baptist Church Houston as an associate pastor.

Fellowship Church In February 1989, Young began Fellowship Church out of a rented office complex before moving to an arts center. In 1996, Fellowship Church moved into Irving's MacArthur High School to accommodate five weekend services and a weekly attendance of 5,000. Fellowship Church opened its first permanent facility on a 141-acre (0.57 sq km) property in Grapevine, Texas in 1998.

In 2003, Fellowship Church opened its first two satellite locations in Plano and Fort Worth, TX. A third satellite campus launched two years later in Dallas, TX. Between the four locations, weekly attendance was over 20,000. In May 2006, Fellowship Church opened a satellite campus in South Miami, FL; North Port Florida in 2017.

Outreach When the country of Haiti was struck by an earthquake in 2010, Fellowship Church and C3 Global began providing relief and to date has provided almost 11 million meals. In partnership with C3 Global, FC hosts an annual retreat for Gold Star families with America's Mighty Warriors, with past guests Rick Perry, Glenn Beck, and Mike Huckabee. In 2016, Fellowship Church opened its first prison campus; God Behind Bars. It has since opened 2 more prison campuses. In 2017, Fellowship Church participated in relief recovery for those impacted by Hurricane Harvey.

Television and Media Ed Young Television program was the first religious program of its kind to air on the E! Channel in 2010. Ed Young TV has also been seen on EdYoung.com, Roku, and Netflix.

Young has been the subject of significant national and regional media coverage throughout his ministry. In 2006, Young and Fellowship Church's CreativePastors.com were featured in a front-page article in The Wall Street Journal, which examined the growing online distribution and use of sermon resources and highlighted the widespread influence of Young's sermons among pastors nationwide.

In 2008, The New York Times featured Young and his wife, Lisa, for Fellowship Church's "Sexperiment" marriage series, which received national attention for its unconventional approach to encouraging marital intimacy.

Christianity Today profiled Young's ministry and leadership philosophy, highlighting Fellowship Church's innovative approach to church growth and communication.

Young has been recognized as one of North Texas' leading faith leaders through inclusion in D CEOs annual Dallas 500, which recognizes influential business, civic, and nonprofit leaders throughout the region.

In 2021, D Magazine featured Young alongside former Major League Baseball pitcher Nolan Ryan and other prominent Dallas-area fathers in its Father's Day feature, Fatherly Advice from a Few of Dallas' Most Notable Dads.

D Magazine also profiled Young and Fellowship Church in its 2014 feature The Megachurch Boom, examining the church's growth and influence in North Texas.

Young and his wife, Lisa, have been married since 1982 and have four children. Together they have frequently taught and written on marriage, parenting, family life, and Christian relationships.

Young's lifestyle has also attracted media scrutiny. In 2010, WFAA-TV reported on Fellowship Church's lease of a Falcon 50 aircraft, Young's compensation, and other financial benefits. The report was criticized by the journalism-analysis website GetReligion, which questioned WFAA's reliance on anonymous sources, the extent of their contribution to the reporting, and the lack of corroborating reporting by other news organizations. The Christian Post also reported Fellowship Church's response to the allegations, including statements from board members defending Young's integrity and the church's financial oversight, while not independently evaluating the accuracy of WFAA's claims.

Following the report, Fellowship Church's board of directors disputed WFAA's allegations, stating that the church's lease and use of the aircraft, as well as its related financial practices, were conducted in compliance with applicable FAA and IRS requirements.