It’s 6:05 AM and my iPhone alarm is going off.
Why are we awake this early?
We stumble out of bed and downstairs still
trying to wipe the sleep out of our eyes as all the Urbanites arrive on the
scene down in the parking lot of The Summit. The city is still asleep –
darkness blankets these streets that God has chosen us to impact. We run around
a block and shuffle and squat and stretch as part of our first SOUL (Strength
of Urban Life) workout together. We encourage each other. As we follow behind
David, our leader who plays so well his role of leading while living among us,
I’m struck by this illustration of our dynamic as a group. We are family, we
work hard together, we lift each other up, we follow after David who sets the
bar high for us yet he is one of us, we challenge each other, we are vulnerable
with each other, we laugh together, we are not ashamed – we are stronger
together.
We’re meeting our outreach partners today. A
whirlwind tour around the community to visit the strategic organizations we
will be pouring into this year. Our first stop is Beds for Kids – I don’t know
what to expect walking into a warehouse with a small sign in front. We are
immediately welcomed by Bryan, Jess and Alan - three men that are walking in
crazy obedience to the Lord and trusting wholly in His provision.
They just keep being blessed. Over and over and over, because they trust that
it will happen, they know they can't do it on their own so they are
just letting God do His work through them. It’s an amazing environment.
They are amazing men of God. I love it! I would be so comfortable here.
Our
next outreach partner that we visit is Right Moves for Youth. We walk into an
all white office and meet some amazing people who have a passion for seeing
inner city kids succeed and graduate high school with a plan
for their futures. We are blessed with cinch sacks and water bottles
and stickers and handbooks of curriculum that they have prepared for us.
Shannon Hames the Development Director at Right Moves gives us a run down of a
day in the life of these students. They are desperate for mentors. She shares
stories of some of the kids’ situations and she is passionate about giving them
opportunity "It’s a privilege to get to do this work,” she says. These
kids need role models in their lives. They need consistency. They need a face
that’s going to know their name and care about their day – we have the
opportunity to be a driving force in motivating these middle-schoolers to
graduate.
Next
we stop by 2xSalt, a ministry focusing on getting busy showing the love of
Christ through mentoring, music and sports ministry. The ministry campus and facilities are beautiful and the
vision is on point. There are stages and recording studios where kids can
perform or learn how to produce. There are dance classes, soccer games, and
basketball games here all helping to cultivate talents in children and provide
a place for these kids to go after school to be in a safe and Christ-centered
environment. Ria and Alan and Bart take us on a tour through the entire
facility and there is so much here for the kids in our city to be involved in,
we can see how this place is going to lift up lives and get the next generation
on the right track.
We’re
tired. We’ve been on tours and meeting with outreach partners all day. Our
minds are almost to full capacity with information for one day and my legs are
tired from standing all day and touring these amazing places that we get to
come to this year to reach our community and our city – we pull up to Crisis
Assistance Ministries and we need to be refreshed. We are introduced to Susan Neal who is bops through the
halls of Crisis Assistance with a true passion for what she does. She laughs
and giggles and delights in sharing with us her heart’s work here in this
place. She gives us loads of information and cracks jokes and hammers home the
analogy of CAM being an emergency room with triage patients being served first.
She
is doing what she can with what she has – Susan is living and serving every
single day. We pray for her and lay hands on her and I’m thankful to have met
her – the Lord knew that she was exactly the right person to end our day
visiting these amazing partners that we are blessed to serve.
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