Despite the torrential downpour, our Summer Open House moved forward. As it is with any of our events, our prayer in that those who attend will walk away inspired and feel like they have a better grasp on the ministry work of Sunshine.
Pictures of the event have been posted!Check them out at Flickr. Click Here. Who knows? There may be a picture of you!
As winter frosts subsided and the sun began making a greater appearance causing folks to come out of doors, Chicago experienced a spree of violence that left nearly 35 people injured or killed by violence. There is one group of people, however, that don't receive much media attention when these violent incidents are broadcast. These people are the witnesses. Estimates state that 25% of students witness a shooting and 30% a stabbing!
The latest edition of Streetlight - our snail mail newsletter - featured an article by Deborah Shelton at the Chicago Tribune. In her article, Shelton chose to highlight these witnesses who suffer "invisible wounds" because of the violence they've seen.
Click Here to read her article.
Invisible wounds are a significant reality of our work. As we grow in our awareness of its significance, we are also increasingly aware that we are living witnesses of a God powerful and eager to comfort and heal deep, unspoken grief.
This was my first year at the UYWI conference (the promo video is posted below) and I have to admit I went into it with my “bucket” empty, but ready and prepared for it to be filled with the tools that would challenge me in my walk and the ministry I know God has called me to.
The workshop that most challenged was called “When Consequences Are Not Enough: Helping Kids Make Right Choices”. In this workshop the speaker, Jeffrey DeLeon, discussed the issue of how kids (both urban and suburban) don’t think about the consequences or care about the consequences of the choices they make. DeLeon suggested that this issue, which is prevalent among too many American youth, comes from four things: 1) They live in an anti-consequences culture. In society today few people allow youth to experience consequences. 2) Short term vs. long-term effect. Kids too often focus only on the immediate consequences. They aren’t thinking of how the choice they make today can affect them for the rest of their lives. 3) Lack of experience. Kids tend to trust their limited experience more than facts. They aren’t aware, intentionally or unintentionally, of what happens when a bad choice is made. 4) Overprotective parents. I know it can be easy to blame parents for a lot of things that are really are to be blamed on the kids themselves; nevertheless, instead of allowing their kids to face consequences parents too often defend their kids for the actions they have made.
How do we get kids who don’t care about consequences to become bold in Christ as opposed to being bold in sin? One way we do this at Sunshine is through small group discipleship. One group that I’m excited about is a group of 11-12 year old girls. With the help of two other women, I will be leading a Bible study this summer, focused on helping them develop a vision for the future and make right decisions based on that vision. Through teaching the Word and living out the Word's precepts alongside our youth, we hope to help them see the world as Christ sees it, and to see themselves as He sees them. Instead of worrying about what other people think of them we want them to be focused on their identity in Christ. Hopefully, through this Bible study, the girls will continue forward making wise choices, stemming from their Christian convictions.
The theme for this year's Urban Youth Workers Institute (UYWI) conference was "Living The Legacy." Each general session focused on a different element of legacy: legacy of faith, legacy people, legacy at-risk, legacy of love, and legacy unwritten. All of the messages were incredibly inspiring! The first two general messages reminded us of the hall of faith found in Hebrews Chapter 11 and which is described in the following chapter (Heb. 12:1) as the "great cloud of witnesses." We were exhorted to grab the baton passed to us from saints who have "run the race" before us - both the saints of the Old Testament (mentioned in Heb.11) as well as modern figures like Billy Graham, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mother Teresa. The emphasis of both sessions was on us - Christian urban youth workers - to be the next generation of leaders running with endurance. At the same time, we were also challenged to think about who we are passing the baton on to. The sessions left me intentionally thinking about the questions, "What legacy am I writing?" and "What legacy am I passing on?"
Needless to say, I've been thinking a lot about who I am passing the baton to. Lord willing, one day it is my desire to pass the baton of faith onto my biological sons. But, in addition to any of my biological children, it is also my desire and I believe, a huge part of my calling, to pass the baton of faith onto spiritual sons.
