Edwin Barry “Ed” Young Jr. (born March 16, 1961) is an American pastor, author, and founding senior pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas.
Known for his high-energy, prop-driven sermons and his string of New York Times bestselling books on marriage and faith, Ed Young Jr. built one of the largest churches in the country from a rented office space.
He is also the son of Homer Edwin Young, the longtime pastor of Second Baptist Church Houston, making the Young name one of the most recognized in American evangelicalism.
Ed Young Jr. at a Glance
| Personal | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Edwin Barry Young Jr. |
| Born | March 16, 1961, Canton, North Carolina, USA |
| Age | 65 (as of 2026) |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | Lisa Young (married since the early 1980s) |
| Children | EJ Young, Landra Young Hughes, Laurie Young Kelly, and LeeBeth Young (deceased, 2021) |
| Parents | Homer Edwin Young (father); Jo Beth Young (mother, d. 2017) |
| Siblings | Ben Young, Cliff Young |
| Education | |
| Undergraduate | Florida State University (basketball scholarship, did not finish); Houston Baptist University (bachelor’s degree) |
| Graduate | Master of Divinity, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth |
| Ministry | |
| Title | Founding and Senior Pastor |
| Church | Fellowship Church, Grapevine, Texas |
| Denomination | Non-denominational, rooted in the Southern Baptist tradition |
| Founded church | February 1989 |
| Website | fellowshipchurch.com |
| Career | |
| Books | Multiple titles, several New York Times bestsellers |
| Net worth | Estimated $10 million to $11 million (unverified public figure) |
Early Life and Family Background
Ed Young Jr. was born on March 16, 1961, in Canton, North Carolina. He is the oldest of three sons born to Homer Edwin Young and Jo Beth Young.
His father, often called Dr. Ed Young, would go on to lead Second Baptist Church in Houston for more than four decades and serve two terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Growing up in a pastor’s home meant church was never a Sunday-only affair. His father pastored churches in North and South Carolina before the family moved to Houston in 1978, where Second Baptist would grow into one of the largest Baptist congregations in America.
Both of Ed Young Jr.’s younger brothers also went into ministry. Ben Young now leads Second Baptist Church Houston, and Cliff Young became a founding member of the Christian folk group Caedmon’s Call and later worked in media ministry at Second Baptist.
You could say the Young household ran on three things: basketball, the Bible, and a healthy competitive streak.
Ed Young Jr. would carry the first of those into college on an athletic scholarship, long before anyone called him “pastor.”
Education
Young attended Florida State University in Tallahassee on a basketball scholarship. After his sophomore year, he transferred to Houston Baptist University, closer to home, and finished his bachelor’s degree there.
From Houston, he went on to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, where he earned a Master of Divinity.
After seminary, Young returned to Houston to work under his father as an associate pastor at Second Baptist Church. That role gave him a front-row seat to running a megachurch, years before he would build his own.
Founding Fellowship Church
In February 1989, Ed Young Jr. left his father’s church and started Fellowship Church out of a rented office complex in the Dallas area. It was a small, uncertain beginning.
The church later moved into an arts center, and by 1996 it had grown enough to need five weekend services inside Irving’s MacArthur High School, drawing about 5,000 people a week.
Fellowship Church opened its first permanent home in 1998, a 141-acre campus in Grapevine, Texas.
From there, the church expanded into a true multi-site megachurch, adding campuses across the Dallas-Fort Worth area and an online congregation that reaches people well beyond Texas.
Ministry Growth and Outreach
Fellowship Church’s footprint stretched past its own campuses over the years. Here’s a quick look at some of the ministry’s major initiatives:
- C3 Global, the church’s relief and missions arm, partnered with the church to deliver nearly 11 million meals to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake
- Fellowship Church opened its first prison campus, God Behind Bars, in 2016, later adding two more
- The church took part in Hurricane Harvey relief efforts across the Houston area in 2017
- Ed Young Television became the first religious program to air on the E! Channel in 2010, later expanding to Roku and Netflix
- C3 Global hosts an annual retreat for Gold Star families in partnership with America’s Mighty Warriors
Young also built out a network for training other pastors. Through CreativePastors.com and the Creative Church Conference, he has spent years coaching church leaders on communication, creativity, and church growth strategy.
Rise to Prominence
Ed Young Jr. did not become one of the country’s most talked-about pastors by playing it safe. His sermons often lean on bold, physical illustrations rather than a pulpit and notes.
In 2011, he drove a Ferrari onto the church stage during a series on relationships, telling the congregation, in essence, that they were each a “Ferrari” made in the image of God. Weeks earlier, he had used a Rolls-Royce the same way.
He has never shied away from talking about sex from the pulpit, either. In 2008, he launched a seven-day sex challenge for married couples in his congregation, encouraging spouses to prioritize intimacy for a full week.
A year later, he publicly debated the founder of a website built for people seeking affairs. In 2012, to promote his book Sexperiment, Young and his wife spent 24 hours on a bed set up on the church roof, teaching about marriage the entire time.
The approach made national headlines and landed Young on shows hosted by Stephen Colbert and Dr. Drew Pinsky, along with mentions in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and USA Today. Some pastors call it gimmicky. Others call it exactly what a distracted culture needs to actually listen to a sermon.
Books and Publications
Young has written or co-written a long list of books, many with his wife Lisa. His work tends to focus on marriage, sexuality within marriage, and practical faith. Notable titles include:
- Sexperiment, a candid look at intimacy in marriage
- The Marriage Mirror, exploring how marriage reflects a person’s character
- Outrageous, Contagious Joy
- The Table
- Who Are They?
- A Path Through Pain: How Faith Deepens and Joy Grows through What You Would Never Choose, co-written with Lisa after the death of their daughter LeeBeth
Several of his titles have landed on the New York Times bestseller list, and Fellowship Church’s publishing arm, CreativePastors.com, continues to sell his books, sermon notes, and teaching resources to pastors around the world.
Personal Life
Marriage to Lisa Young
Ed Young Jr. married Lisa Young in the early 1980s, and the two have led Fellowship Church together for decades. Lisa co-pastors alongside Ed, co-authors many of his books, and speaks regularly on marriage and family alongside him.
Unlike some of the “remarried pastor” search results that get mixed up with his father, Ed Young Jr.’s marriage to Lisa has remained intact for over four decades.
Children and the Loss of LeeBeth
Ed and Lisa Young raised four children: LeeBeth, Landra, Laurie, and EJ. LeeBeth, their eldest, worked on staff at Fellowship Church and was remembered by her parents as a devoted, creative, and deeply loved daughter.
LeeBeth struggled privately with anxiety and depression, which she began self-medicating with alcohol and Adderall in her late twenties.
On January 19, 2021, she died at age 34 after a seizure related to alcohol withdrawal, with her family by her side.
Ed and Lisa have spoken openly about that night since, describing it as an “out of order death” that no parent expects to walk through.
Rather than keep the story quiet, the Youngs chose to talk about it from the pulpit and in their book A Path Through Pain.
They have said publicly that addiction is an illness, not a moral failure, and that LeeBeth’s faith in Christ never wavered even in her hardest seasons.
In 2024, Ed Young found out that a great white shark tagged by researchers and named after LeeBeth had traveled the farthest west into the Gulf of Mexico that any tracked great white ever had, a small and strange comfort he has spoken about since.
Personal Interests
Fishing has long been one of Young’s favorite ways to unwind, and it shows up often in his sermon illustrations and in the story of how he learned about LeeBeth’s shark.
He is also known for his interest in sports, unsurprising for a former college basketball player, and for a personal style that trades the traditional suit and tie for a much more modern, casual look on stage.
Theology and Ministry Philosophy
Fellowship Church describes itself as non-denominational, though Young’s own roots run straight through the Southern Baptist tradition by way of his father’s ministry.
His preaching style favors plain language, pop-culture references, and physical props over theological jargon.
He has said his goal is to take complicated biblical truth and make it usable in everyday life, not to write academic sermons for scholars.
That approach has occasionally put him at odds with more traditional or Reformed-leaning pastors, some of whom have criticized his methods as showmanship over substance.
Young has pushed back on those critiques directly, arguing that churches focused only on theological precision often struggle to reach people who are not already convinced.
Influence and Legacy
Fellowship Church has been ranked among the most attended and most influential churches in North America, and The Church Report named it one of the country’s most influential congregations in a 2007 survey.
Young’s multi-site model, now common across American megachurches, was still a fairly new idea when Fellowship Church started expanding campuses in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
His creative-communication approach has shaped a younger generation of pastors who grew up watching Fellowship Church’s services, much the same way Joel Osteen has influenced pastors focused on encouragement-driven preaching at Lakewood Church.
Through CreativePastors.com and the Creative Church Conference, Young has directly trained thousands of church leaders on how to build creative, high-production ministry environments.
Criticism and Controversies
Young’s lifestyle has drawn sustained scrutiny. A 2010 investigation from Dallas-Fort Worth’s WFAA News 8 found that Young was paid roughly $1 million a year in salary, plus a $240,000 annual housing allowance, and traveled on a private jet the church helped fund.
The report also raised questions about a cluster of for-profit companies Young and his attorney had created to sell his sermons, books, and Bible teaching notes, separate from the nonprofit church itself.
Watchdog groups, including the Trinity Foundation, argued that the arrangement blurred the line between church resources and personal profit.
Fellowship Church has maintained that all financial arrangements between Young and the church go through an independent compensation committee and full board disclosure.
His sermon stunts, the Ferrari, the Rolls-Royce, the rooftop bed, have drawn a mix of viral attention and pointed criticism from pastors who see them as more spectacle than substance.
A 2012 sermon in which Young criticized Reformed theology also sparked backlash from Calvinist pastors and bloggers, some of whom called his remarks unfair and out of order.
Net Worth
Public estimates of Ed Young Jr.’s net worth generally land between $10 million and $11 million, based largely on book royalties, speaking fees, and his pastoral compensation.
Some entertainment-focused sites have floated figures as high as $50 million, but those numbers are not independently verified and should be treated with caution.
Young has declined to discuss his personal compensation publicly, and Fellowship Church has stated that his pay is set by an independent committee rather than by Young himself.
Interesting Facts About Ed Young Jr.
- He played college basketball at Florida State University before transferring to Houston Baptist University to finish his degree
- He is the oldest of three brothers, all of whom became pastors or ministry leaders
- Ed Young Television was the first religious program to air on the E! Channel
- A great white shark was named after his late daughter LeeBeth and has been tracked swimming near places significant to the Young family
- He drove a Ferrari and, separately, a Rolls-Royce onto the church stage as sermon illustrations
Timeline of Key Events
- March 16, 1961: Born in Canton, North Carolina
- 1978: Family relocates to Houston as his father becomes pastor of Second Baptist Church
- Early 1980s: Marries Lisa Young
- 1980s: Earns a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and serves as associate pastor at Second Baptist Church
- February 1989: Founds Fellowship Church out of a rented office complex
- 1996: Fellowship Church moves into MacArthur High School to accommodate 5,000 weekly attendees
- 1998: Fellowship Church opens its first permanent campus on 141 acres in Grapevine, Texas
- 2008: Launches the Seven Day Sex Challenge for married couples
- 2010: Ed Young Television debuts on the E! Channel; WFAA investigates his compensation and lifestyle
- 2011: Drives a Ferrari onto the church stage during a sermon series on relationships
- 2016: Fellowship Church opens its first prison campus, God Behind Bars
- January 19, 2021: Daughter LeeBeth Young dies at age 34
- 2023: Publishes A Path Through Pain with Lisa Young
Frequently Asked Questions
What denomination is Ed Young?
Fellowship Church is non-denominational, though Ed Young Jr. was raised in and ordained through the Southern Baptist tradition by way of his father’s ministry at Second Baptist Church Houston.
How old is Ed Young Jr.?
Ed Young Jr. was born on March 16, 1961, making him 65 years old as of 2026.
Is Ed Young remarried?
Ed Young Jr. has not remarried. He and his wife Lisa have been married for over four decades. The “remarried” search results usually refer to his father, Homer Edwin Young (Ed Young Sr.), who remarried Lisa Milne in 2020 after his first wife, Jo Beth, died in 2017.
Who is Ed Young Sr.?
Ed Young Sr., born Homer Edwin Young, is Ed Young Jr.’s father and the longtime senior pastor of Second Baptist Church Houston. He served two terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention and stepped down from the pulpit in 2024, handing leadership to Ed Young Jr.’s brother, Ben Young.
What happened with the Ed Young Jr. Ferrari sermon?
In 2011, Young drove a Ferrari onto the Fellowship Church stage during a sermon series called RPM: Relationships, Passion, Marriage, using the car as an illustration that people are made valuable, like a Ferrari, in the image of God.
What books has Ed Young Jr. written?
His books include Sexperiment, The Marriage Mirror, Outrageous, Contagious Joy, The Table, Who Are They?, and A Path Through Pain, co-written with his wife Lisa after the death of their daughter LeeBeth.
What happened to Ed Young Jr.’s daughter?
His eldest daughter, LeeBeth Young, died on January 19, 2021, at age 34, following a seizure connected to alcohol withdrawal after a private struggle with anxiety, depression, and addiction.
“We didn’t want to sugarcoat it,” Lisa Young has said about sharing LeeBeth’s story publicly, choosing honesty over a tidier version of their family’s grief.
Final Word
Ed Young Jr. built Fellowship Church from a rented office into one of the most attended churches in the country, using a communication style that draws as much criticism as it does crowds.
He has weathered scrutiny over his lifestyle and his methods, and he has walked through the kind of loss no parent plans for.
What comes through in nearly four decades of ministry is a pastor who would rather be talked about for being too bold than too boring.
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