June 2023

Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary;

Pure and holy, tried and true.

With thanksgiving, I’ll be a living

Sanctuary for you.

This chorus is a staple at our camps and retreats, a song to invite kids to make a sanctuary in their hearts, a place to meet Jesus.

Our kids need sanctuary.  A place, a moment… a retreat from the pressures and stress of their daily existence.  It is just so crazy out here.  Kids report to me constantly of friends or loved ones, or close encounters themselves, with gangs or police, often with fatal results. I used to follow the urban ministry adage that “whoever spends the most time wins”. But it is impossible to compete that way with the myriad negative daily influences on our kids in the city, in the neighborhood, school and sometimes at home. It is the quality of Christ that will counter the quantity of dysfunction.

When I start engaging boys at nine or ten years old, they are just about having fun. They are excited to play on a basketball team, go to camp, do fun stuff together… they talk about kid stuff.  But at some point, they change.  All of a sudden, conversations in the van take on a weightier aspect. Life becomes more serious, and dangerous. Dialogue shifts towards girls, often objectifying them and celebrating promiscuous activity; or they talk about the gangs and crime and drug abuse which form the backdrop of their lives.  This is all they talk about; it informs every aspect of daily life. Whether they are active participants in such behavior or not, they are surrounded and influenced by it. Many are compelled to participate in it, so they can fit in. This is being a black boy in the inner city.  They are in desperate need of sanctuary, a place of refuge and safety… a place they can be who God created them to be.

Our boys endure a “full court press” of dysfunction which saturates their growing up. Many of them are brainwashed into glorifying a lifestyle which has devastated their own families. They have siblings or loved ones who have suffered through long term jail sentences, chronic drug abuse or even loss of life; yet they drift towards the same patterns of self-destruction. They themselves suffer the effects of unplanned pregnancy and teenage parenthood yet they tempt fate with promiscuous activity. This is their world… until they come with us.  With us, there is sanctuary. With us, they can be children. If you want to have fun, go places, do stuff, or play basketball you are welcome; but if you want to be in the street, leave it outside. As one of our young adult men who grew up in our ministry put it: “Yeah, you had to act tough and be street in the ‘hood, but when we came with you, we could experience our childhood.”

This is what they want. I know it’s what they need, but, they actually want structure, a moral compass, someone to guide them and tell them this is ok and that isn’t, and why. Some of the toughest kids in the neighborhood get in my van and soon the whole group will be reveling in street behavior; but when I turn my head and say “Hey! We don’t do that here!”, the whole group responds with downcast eyes or apologetic murmurs.  Some respond to my message about Christ and an uplifted life, others not so much; but they all hear the gospel, and they experience sanctuary. 

So, we provide an island of respite in a sea of dysfunction and despair. Some leave the island and are overcome by the waves of self-destruction and the attraction of chaos. But many leave having strapped on a life jacket of Hope, and ride the waves of inner-city turmoil, becoming an island unto themselves, to which others can cling and hope.  God makes this happen.

This summer we will be providing sanctuary for many kids in the community. We will go camping, play sports, go fishing, go on trips, have barbecues… all in the presence of Christ, providing Sanctuary for any who seek it. If you can support this work going beyond your usual giving with a contribution towards our summer activities, we’d appreciate it.  Thank you for participating in the work with us through your prayers and gifts.