Dear Sponsors (Friends &
Family),
First and foremost, THANK YOU!
Because of your generosity, seven kids were able to escape inner city DC for a
week, travel to a remote summer camp in the woods of southwestern Pennsylvania,
and not just hear the gospel of salvation and life to the full, but experience
it daily through the love and care of their counselors, intense competitions, activities
most had never done before, Bible studies, and evening programs. It costs
Citikidz over $600 to bring a single camper to camp, but through the generous
donations that individuals and organizations make to Citikidz, they are able to
offer a one week camp experience for just $120 per camper. But even this
significantly reduced price was too much for the families of the kids I wanted
to bring to camp. So, trusting in your character and generosity, I was able to
ask my campers’ parents to only pay $40, and hoped that I would be able to
raise enough money to pay for the remaining tuition cost ($80
per camper), two rental vans, and gas (and borrow some sleeping bags). Through
you, the Lord provided! So, thank you – not only for your donations, but
especially your prayers!
It was so cool to be able to bring kids
with whom I already have a relationship – four are former students of mine, one
is a boy Blythe and I mentor, and two others are friends of the other boys.
Each one of these boys comes from a broken home, and perhaps one of the hardest
things about camp is bringing them home afterward. Only one of these boys has a
consistent father figure, a few have immediate family members in prison, and one
boy’s mother got out of a short stint in prison just two days before we left
for camp. One boy has spent time in a homeless shelter, at least two live with
a grandmother or other relative rather than a parent most of the time, at least
two have a parent who is an addict, all of them are at least a year below grade
level in reading or math, and all of them live below or very close to the
poverty line. But God reminded me of something at Citikidz: if he is big enough
to split an ocean in half – if he is big enough to make the lame walk and the
blind see and the dead live, he ABSOLUTELY can overcome the tragedies,
hardships, and mountains of opposition this fallen world has heaped up against
these boys.
Luke 15:4-6 says “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the
ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he
finds it? And when he has
found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And
when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to
them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’” I am able to
say with great joy in my heart that not only did they hear the gospel at least
twice a day, I watched almost all of my boys willingly stand up and talk (and
cry) to a counselor about salvation and make the commitment to follow Christ at
one of the evening programs. I sobbed as I felt so overwhelmed by both God’s
willingness to use me in their lives, and God’s gift of knowing that the seed
of the Gospel was firmly planted in their hearts. I now ask you to join me in
praying that this seed finds good ground now that they are home.
What
these boys need now is the Church. Big C. They do need a church – a community
of believers digging into Scripture, holding each other accountable, doing good
works, and making disciples. But unfortunately, most of these boys do not have
a church to which they belong, and do not have parents who are willing to
commit to a church every Sunday. And many of the churches they would typically
attend are not biblically sound. So, they need the Church. And not just my
seven boys, but youth in general – especially inner-city youth. They need
Christians who are willing to step outside their comfort zones and build
relationships with people who are very different from them. They need
Christians who are willing to give up their time, energy, and comfort to do what Jesus COMMANDS us to do for “the
least of these” in his very sobering parable of the sheep and goats in Matthew
25. They need Christians who will not make excuses of why they can’t help, but
rather find any way possible to help and be involved in their lives.
Mentorships, afterschool programs, volunteering in classrooms, coaching,
leading youth groups, joining YoungLife or other Christian youth organizations,
and bringing a group of inner-city youth to Citikidz are all great ways to live
out the Gospel in the lives of kids. While giving financially is certainly
needed and an important part of living out the Gospel, we need to be giving
ourselves – our time, our comfort, our energy, and even our homes.
So thank you
again for all you’ve already done for my boys, and I pray that this email and
the testimony of what God has done in my boys’ lives – the way He has so
clearly moved mountains and so clearly wants to continue to do so – will
motivate you as it has me to continue to get outside our comfort zones and give
of ourselves for the children God loves so dearly.
“In that same hour, [Jesus]
rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I thank you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and
understanding and revealed them to little
children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious
will.’” Luke 10:21
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