The Portal

South Street

We were greeted by the hum of plastic wheels spinning on glazed wood accompanied by flashing multi-colored lights. We found ourselves serving the poor by roller skating, but we were having so much fun it didn’t feel like “service” at all!

Contact Kalie Brooks or Mark Michalek and attend the volunteer meeting this Tuesday September 16 at 5:30 PM.One of the high points of the after school program last year was “Fabulous Fridays,” a fun reward for kids who earned it. For the “Pizza and Skating” Friday, we met up with the kids and held an impromptu dance party where everyone strutted their stuff to beats like “Can’t Touch This” and “Hollywood Swingers.” Then we had a blast skating.

While Fabulous Fridays were a great time, there was also the daily contentment from building relationships with the kids. One day a kid who had trouble fitting in broke down in tears when he was teased. A volunteer seized the opportunity to encourage him to be more loving instead of a “know-it-all” and talk about his future with Christ.

It was awesome to see the volunteers winning the respect of the children through love. As this happened, the kids began to share more about themselves and ask real spiritual questions. Some of the kids even started showing interest in our lives and asking questions like “How YOU doing?” or “Are you guys really married!!??” (to Neil and Kalie Brooks).

At the same time, the after school program can be hard work. Volunteers strove to be in control by disciplining kids and planning the logistics a program like this entails. Sacrificial love is needed at South Street.

But it’s exciting to think about the long term impact this program can have on the kids. The Brooks and Michaleks got a glimpse of this while visiting Urban Concern during the Xenos Summer Institute. There they met several guys who grew up through Urban Concern’s after school program and are now in their twenties. They were extremely encouraging as they related their fond memories of Bible study, campouts, and PlayStations at the program. It was exciting to imagine having similar impact on some of the kids from South Street, seeing them grown up, in college, and ministering for the Lord!

This Year

It was a great answer to prayer in that Lisa Crabbs is going to coordinate the after school program at South Street this year. Lisa started the South Street after school program and offers plenty of experience and insight.

Another exciting development is that Jim Swearingen, the founder of the Urban Concern ministry at Columbus Xenos, is considering moving to Akron to do inner-city ministry. That’s certainly something to pray about.

Want to Get Involved?

They only asked us to remember the poor– the very thing I also was eager to do. Galatians 2:10

We’ll be partnering with South Street again this year to do the after school program. But we need volunteers!

Contact Kalie Brooks or Mark Michalek and attend the volunteer meeting this Tuesday September 16 at 5:30 PM. The meeting will be at 130 W South St. (Attending doesn’t mean you’re committed!) I suspect we’ve got a lot of Xenos people interested in volunteering, but not many have come out of the woodwork yet. So let us know!

Praise God that He’s given us a partnership and open door to serving the poor in a very relational and evangelistic context! Hopefully the after school program will just be the start of our partnership with South Street and of Neo Xenos taking the gospel to the poor!