After months of preparation yesterday was finally day one. The living outpouring of the power of relationship. Changing all of our programming at Urban Youth Impact to reflect that it is touch that transforms lives. We call it the Leadership Academy.
We have researched curriculum. The Lord has sent us the best staff. We have scheduled many things in the course of a day. There is homework time, Bible study, life skills, play, academic boosts, devotionals, and leadership training in the course of a day. However, these are all simple catalysts.
The truth is that we have become secret service agents for Christ. All the structure in the course of a day is simply so that we might have time. As a good friend of mine often quotes, “Children spell love TIME.”
Standing back and looking at all we did as a ministry we had to ask. “How many lives of the families that we are with are not just moved, but truly transformed?” Those that were radically different were all because someone had taken the time to pour love out on them. These are those who by witnessing a stalwart love have gone on not to merely “accept” Christ but live radical lives for him. Some of these friends now serve along side me in this new endeavor.
If lives were different when relationships were deep then this needed to be the way we approached all that we did here. If we were going to build deeper relationships then this meant that we needed a renovation. So we did something totally radical. We made a choice.
Oh, we would still have outreaches and touch the community around us. There would still be evangelical efforts. However, what we chose to do is take 120 children and give our lives to them and their families, every day. That is exactly what we have done.
Why you might ask? There is nothing less than a community made whole again that is our focus. A community is made up of individuals. These individuals are the next great generation of leaders. They just have never taken this to heart.
It is not they have not been told. They have not been shown. The word can not merely be in their heads, they must believe it with their whole hearts. So then it is our job to show them. Even a diamond to the untrained eye looks just like a lump of coal.
For “Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? . “ Romans 10: 13&14
Yesterday, Christ’s hands and feet were everywhere. His love was radiating. One of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. Now these lumps of coal just need to believe that they are the most sought after gems on earth. By the end of the year, they will know.
