The Gospel TLC started as a vision that God gave to Yauo Yang. He was born in a refugee camp in Thailand and his family came to the United States as refugees in 1987, when he was seven years old. He grew up in Wausau, WI and attended school and church like children his age did. In 2000, he graduated from Wausau West High School and got married that summer to his wife, Mayla. They went to attend UW-Stevens Point that fall. One year later, the tragedies of 9/11 happened and Yauo felt moved to protect his country, even though he was not a US citizen. In 2002, he enlisted in the Army. He was deployed to Iraq from 2004-2005, where he had a life changing experience happen, when he lost a fellow comrade. Seeing death right in front of his eyes, he realized that he too had a great possibility of also dying in Iraq. Not wanting to die in war, he made a desperate deal with God by saying, “God, if you can get me out of Iraq alive, when I come back Wausau, I’ll do anything that you want me to.”

At the end of 2005, he came back to WI, having lost two comrades. In 2008, he graduated college and became an educator. His family started to grow after that and today they have six children. In 2015, he felt convicted that he was supposed to do something, but he hadn’t. That was when God reminded him of his promise 10 years earlier to do something for God, but he still had not done anything for Him.

Being convicted to do something, Yauo asked God in prayer what it was that He wanted for him to do. That was when God called Yauo to start up a church called, The Cross (multi-ethnic & non-denominational). Wanting to get more involved in the community as a pastor, Yauo started to go under the bridges, feed and pray for the homeless, visit homeless shelters and doing Bible studies at the Marathon County Jail. It was during his time at these places, that he felt his true calling to do ministry to the down and out in Wausau. Because of this, these were the people that started to come to his church. He did his best to get these people back on their feet and to know Jesus. Unfortunately, he soon came to the realization that these individuals that were going through difficulties would often relapse or be broken again. He wanted to truly transform these individuals’ lives for the better, but there were no resources available that could provide the Christ-centered, long-term, free, residential care that they needed. It was for this reason, that in 2018, Yauo gathered a dozen community members that also had a heart and passion to give people the true transformation that they needed to overcome their addictions and brokenness. Together, they started the ministry called, “The Gospel TLC” to transform the lives of the addicted and broken to find hope in their life through Jesus Christ.