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11-5-06 -- Help for At-Risk Kids
Building Bridges in Florida
Each week, First Christian Church of Fort Myers, Florida, builds bridges to local teenagers—through church youth groups, of course, but also through The Bridge Youth Center.
"Actually, we deal with things many churches don’t know how to: authority issues, suicide, addictions, cutting," says Jeffrey Shicks, director at the center. "One of our challenges is helping these kids transition into local church groups."
First Christian opened the 3,000-square-foot facility in 2004; since then, thousands of inner-city and "at-risk" students have visited. The church provides most of the financial support for operating costs, although Shicks and his team have raised an additional $270,000 in grants.
The Bridge offers a variety of services throughout the week including free one-on-one tutoring, support groups, resume and job placement assistance, sports activities, and community cleanup projects. (In fact, the local court system often refers teens to The Bridge when assigning community service hours.)
The students especially enjoy Friday Nite Live, a hip-hop "nightclub" playing only Christian music. Many kids also participate in quarterly life skills classes, which offer opportunities to practice using the library, making a budget and shopping for groceries, cooking, and more.
"We cosigned on a savings account for each student who completed a three-week banking course," Shicks says. "If they wanted to remove money from their account, they had to ask us to sign the withdrawal slip. And each month they didn’t touch the money, we added $5 to the balance."
In the midst of all the programs and the hundreds of kids passing through the center each week, the Bridge team focuses on loving each teenager and building personal relationships one at a time. "Many of the kids call the leaders Mom or Dad. They love our 78-year-old volunteer and call her Grandma!" says Shicks. "Ultimately our center exists to pursue these kids who might otherwise fall through the cracks."
www.fccfm.org
www.urbanteens.org
Encouraging Preachers
In 1982, CHRISTIAN STANDARD featured the article "Praying for Preachers" by Ron DeLong, who then served as minister with New Hope Christian Church (Whitestown, Indiana). The article discussed the stress and heavy workload causing many preachers to leave the ministry. "Since we may not be able to help these men as we want once their decision has been made," DeLong
wrote, "the only alternative seems to be . . . doing all we can to encourage and support our ministers before they reach the point of total discouragement."
DeLong has passed away, but New Hope’s ministry of encouraging church leaders continues. Every week the church selects a minister and includes his name in the weekend bulletin and midweek newsletter. Beginning with prayer time in the Sunday morning service, church members pray each day for that week’s leader and his congregation.
The church also sends a letter to the minister, letting him know of the special prayers being offered on his behalf. David Bourne, New Hope’s current senior minister, says the letters often seem to arrive at just the right time. "We have been surprised, again and again, how that very week seemed to be when they really needed those prayers," says Bourne. "I think it has been more of a blessing and inspiration to us than it has to others."
Even early on, the prayer ministry was resulting in spiritual growth among church members; in his 1982 article DeLong wrote, "They have come to realize that a few men cannot carry all of the load or do all of the work that is involved in the ministry of God’s kingdom. As a result, they have become more active in their own areas of ministry for Christ and his church. Their appreciation for the ministry has risen dramatically."
www.newhopecc.net
Connecting "Across the Keyboard" in Idaho
Troy Hooper, senior minister with Caldwell (Idaho) Christian Church, recently wrote, "In the wake of the 2006 NACC, Caldwell Church of Christ and Caldwell Christian Church met together to discuss a number of things. Namely, since we worship less than a quarter mile from each other, why don’t we work together for the cause of Christ?"
The evening included an interview with Hooper, who grew up in the churches of Christ, and a time to discuss questions. Hooper writes, "The atmosphere was exciting. The glory went to God. Both churches are now asking the question ‘What’s next?’ as they seek to continue to build up each other and spread the good news to Caldwell."
We’d love to share how your church is partnering with or learning from noninstrumental congregations. Write buzz@standardpub.com to tell your story!
www.caldwellchristian.org
Jennifer Taylor, one of CHRISTIAN STANDARD's contributing editors, lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
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