August Update

August 1, 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

Ding-dong. Ding-dong. Diiiiiiiiiiiing-doooooong. On a regular basis Andrew and my doorbell gets a little extra love from an eleven-year-old named Demetrius, or “D. Reid” as he likes to be called. He lives down the block from us and also frequents our youth programs, but it is the many visits he makes to our front porch that has allowed us to get to know D. Reid.

D. Reid is eleven going on thirty. The second oldest with three sisters and a very young and somewhat absent mother, he worries and wonders and takes on responsibility and asks question after question after question. I have never met a more inquisitive child. Sitting on our porch he asks about home ownership, insurance companies, college and financial aid, electricity and generators, and anything else that happens to cross his mind and reach outside his ever-expanding sphere of knowledge.

So old in the way he speaks and acts, it takes really looking into his eyes to see the eleven-year-old D. Reid—lonely, naïve, unsure and desperately seeking guidance. It is this D. Reid who seeks out Andrew for advice and approval and who also falls into the company of other lonely young men lacking guidance, both things propelling him in different directions. And so it has been a summer of battles for D. Reid as he takes steps to do what is right and then falls back into peer pressure. Yet, if there is any kid that I am hopeful for (and I have hope for them all) it is for D. Reid.

Much of our summer program focused on the Gospel message this year. By the end of the summer the kids knew very well what sin is and why Jesus died for our sins. On one particular day we were teaching on Romans 3:23 (“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”) and D. Reid seemed particularly preoccupied and bothered during the devotional. He told Andrew he needed to talk, but soon rescinded and said he had figured everything out.

Later, after Bible Club was over, Andrew was mowing the lawn and I was doing some other chores around the house when D. Reid paid us a few more awkward visits. He finally could bear the guilt no longer and confessed to Andrew that he and another kid had thrown seat backs out the window of their school bus that morning and he felt bad and wanted to make it right. The Holy Spirit had been working on him all afternoon! He said he knew right where they had tossed them out and he wanted to go find them and return them to the bus driver. The three of us took off in our car on a mission to find those bus seats! Being hours after the incident and in a residential area, we were not too hopeful that we would find them but we drove up and down the blocks he remembered several times. We did not see them. Andrew kept telling him that whether or not we found them, he needed to make things right and D. Reid agreed. In one last attempt to locate the seats we got out of our car to search for them and amazingly someone had moved one of the seats off of the street and into an abandoned lot. D. Reid carried it to our trunk and we climbed back in with renewed hope to search for the second one. His breath was short in the backseat with nervousness and excitement, his anxious pants revealing the child making this man-sized decision. On a hunch Andrew drove down the ally and there was the second seat sitting beside a dumpster!

With both seats safely in our trunk, we drove home praising D. Reid for his choice to make things right and encouraging him to take the most difficult step yet, to walk onto the school bus the next morning in front of his bus driver and the other students with the incriminating evidence in his arms. He was going to do it he said. We dropped him off at his house and watched him carry the seats up his house steps. It was one of those moments that makes all the other moments in the day worth it. God is working on this young man’s heart! He followed through and returned the seats the next day, proving that his little boy days are coming to a close and his feet are beginning to walk the steps of a young man. The rest of the summer was not perfect for him. He continues, as we all do, to battle with making wise choices, but at that one moment I saw a glimpse of the man that God wants D. Reid to be and I was honored to play a part in the process.

It is for this reason that Andrew and I are here. Please continue to pray for us as we deepen the relationships made over the summer, and pray for these young men and women in our neighborhood who have so much to overcome, yet who have so much purpose for God’s Kingdom.

For His Kingdom, Andrew & Adria Medlen

Take me out to the ball game...

Yesterday eight kids decked out it red excitedly gathered at the World Impact on the verge of the much anticipated Christian Family Day fieldtrip. All summer these kids had been working towards earning this fieldtrip. Having limited tickets available, we made this fieldtrip attainable only by the "best of the best." This fieldtrip required the accumulation of the highest amount of points (points earned through attendance, memory verses, and bonus points).

And so, at half past noon we set out in our big brown van for a day full of festivities. First we attended the pre-game carnival where we were given free Chick-fil-A and Coldstone Ice Cream and we played several of their carnival games.

Then we were off to the game! The last few years we have gotten seats at the very top of the stadium, under the shade. So this year, to "sell" our nosebleed tickets to the kids, we pitched them as luxury seats under the shade and open to the cool breeze where you can see everything. So yesterday when we filed into our row, 10 rows down from the shade, still in the nosebleeds, there was a collective groan...."Andrew, you said we were gonna be in the shade"....You told us our seats were in the shade, Andrew." The kids were not happy. (We were not that happy either!) But we acted excited to be closer to the field and began our several hour sit in the roasting sun. It was HOT! But we made it through the game and got a free hot dog and drink with our ticket. Even though it was miserably hot, the kids loved being able to be at a game.

After the game came the concert, and a special part of the program for one of our boys, as he got to go down on the field and meet several of the players.

All in all it was a good day. We came home dead tired and drenched in our own sweat, but the kids had enjoyed the day that they had worked so hard to earn.

July Update

July 1, 2008

Dear Team,

If you were to come and visit Adria and me in St. Louis on a Thursday evening, you would find me (Andrew) at World Impact helping out with our Men’s Basketball Night. We usually have anywhere from 30-50 guys over the age of 18.

The night consists of three hours of some of the most talented basketball players you would lay eyes on playing some of the toughest basketball you would ever see. About half way through the evening, one of the guys on staff named Jason calls a break and leads a short devotional. Two weeks ago, Jason thought he would try something different. Instead of the usual shared devotional, he thought he would ask the guys if they had any prayer requests, and then he was going to pray for them. The guys started out with shallow requests such as, “Could you pray for my team that is in the NBA playoffs?” But then they started to get a bit more serious.

One guy asked for prayer for a job; another wanted prayer for his housing situation. One young man even asked for prayer that he could get full custody of his baby boy. I was shocked at how open and honest the guys were. After every request was presented, there were about eight to ten petitions. Jason prayed for each of these very real requests.

After the prayer time ended, one of the guys came up to Jason and asked him if he had heard his request. Neither Jason nor I had heard his request because he was talking while someone else was sharing. He said that he wanted prayer for the poverty that he was facing and that his neighbors were up against. He wanted that burden to be lifted. He shared that he really liked the time of prayer and that he really appreciated it. Then another young man came up to me and said he needed a Bible and asked me, “How much will you sell me a Bible for?” I told him that we do not sell Bibles here, but I would gladly give him one. He was shocked at this offer. I told him to come and talk to me before he left.

At the end of the night, he stopped by to see me, and I gave him the option between two versions. He picked the more manly-looking of the two Bibles, and I told him a good place to start was in the Book of James. Since then we have been talking about deeper things, and he is reading the Bible as often as he can.

“How much will you sell me a Bible for?” The sad thing is that some people would have probably taken him up on his deal. I cannot think of a better gift than providing a young man with his first Bible. Just think; you play a vital role in allowing Adria and me to be on the front line in our community. We need and value your praying for us so much! Handing out the Word of God is just the first step. Being here when this young man really needs us in the future is just one of the reasons we are here. This young man could be the next pastor at a local community church. He has so much potential, it is not even funny. Thank you for partnering with us in reaching our neighbors for Christ!

All for our King,

Andrew & Adria Medlen

Fun in the Sun

This summer has already had so many ups and downs and we are only in week three! With high attendence and a mixture of return kids and new attendees we have been wrestling with discipline issues almost on a daily basis. We have a strong discipline process in place that we passionately believe in, yet we are learning so much about something we thought we already knew so well. Different kids in different situations call for new approaches to our tried and true process. The best part of making this process work is that we get to watch God work on the kids' hearts through redemption. Also fun are the field trips we get to offer as rewards to those kids who have shown good behavior, consistent attendance and growth.

On Friday we got to take 7 kids swimming at a state park pool.
We had a great time...

Then on Saturday several kids were invited to go fishing. Only 2 were able to go, but they had a blast anyway.

Also on Friday evening we had a neighborhood cookout at our house! This wasn't a reward activity, but was open to everyone in our neighborhood. We didn't see as many adults from our neighborhood as we had hoped, but we had lots of kids and had a good time!

FLOODS!

For all of those who are wondering...we are not under water here in North St. Louis! However, there are a lot of areas near us that are being affected by the flood. On Saturday evening Andrew and I went downtown to the arch, which is right next to the Mississippi, and this is what we saw...

...the river has crested here near the arch, but it is still far enough from our house that we will not be affected. But there are lots of people who are being affected and we continue to get rain here in the midwest!

Summer is Here!

We are well into our second week of our Summer Program! What a week and a half it has been! We have already worked with over 30 kids and are close to maxing out our student to leader ratio every day! This has never happened so quickly in any of our programs.


Teaching a bible lesson in our backyard.

We run Backyard Bible Club each Monday-Thursday from 1-3pm, rotating locations between all three of our staff houses. Then from 4-6pm each day we run club at our ministry center. Then, Fridays give us an opportunity to take kids on field trips who have earned enough points through attendance and good behavior. Our first swim field trip was cancelled due to rain, but we improvised and took the few kids who had earned it to the movies and had a wonderful time. Our first neighborhood cookout was also canceled due to rain, but we are praying for good weather this week so that the field trip and cookout at our house will not be cancelled.


Singing our "Keep it REAL" rap up at the ministry center.

We believe that God has great things planned for this summer! Please pray with us for God to work mightily in the hearts of the kids who come to our program!

June Update

June 1, 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

It is not at all unusual for Andrew and me to be solicited for drugs in our neighborhood. Recently we went on a walk to get some much needed exercise and were flagged down by a guy in a red sedan who was eager to offer us his services. “Oh, no thanks,” we replied, waiting until he had driven off to laugh about how frequently this occurs. Only minutes later a cop car drove by us for the third time as he kept an eye on our course throughout the neighborhood. We waved to him, hoping our friendly faces would convince him we were up to nothing nefarious.

Another time when local police were concerned about our presence they pulled over in front of our house and asked, “Do you live here?” And yet another time they asked warily, “Do you know what this neighborhood is about?” referring to the rampant drug activity (of which they initially thought we were a part). To each question our answer was yes, we do live here and we are not naïve about some of the things that go on in our neighborhood.

The fact is that being white in our community comes along with several assumptions on the part of those who do not know us: we are either here for drugs or here to give hand outs, as several local organizations are known to do. We are here for neither. It can be funny and also frustrating to constantly come up against these assumptions, but it always leaves the door open for further conversation. If we are not here for drugs and we are not here to just give hand outs…then what are we here for?

Not unlike the assumption of some in our community that we are here for drugs, people from the outside looking in often assume that the drugs and violence and crime are why we are here. We are not here because of the drugs and violence and crime, we are here in spite of these things to speak a message of love and healing to people whom God cares about. The police officer who asked us if we knew what this neighborhood is about, however well intentioned he was, at the moment, had a very limited view of this community. God has a plan for the people of North St. Louis and we must all look past skin color and drug deals and violence to see what God is orchestrating for this community, for all of us, as participants in His plan of redemption.

We are so excited when we have new people to wave to as we take our walks, but even more exciting is when we have the opportunity to share with them why we are here—whether they are a new neighbor, a drug dealer, or a local police officer. Along with asking “do you live here” on that one occasion, that particular officer asked a few why questions as well. Andrew’s response was that God called us to live here and serve the community. Almost in disbelief the officer shook his head and said, “It must’ve been God who called you here.” Indeed it was and it truly is exciting to be sharing in a part of His plans for North St. Louis. Please continue to pray for our community and for our ability to be bold witnesses of the love of Christ to our neighbors.

For His Kingdom, Andrew and Adria Medlen