New Chilren’s Bible Club in the Inner City

One of my favorite parts of the ministry with Open Air Campaigners, is the children’s ministry. But typically this isn’t done in the winter when it’s cold outside. But God opened amazing doors recently for us to start a weekly club at a housing project in a section of Boston!

This is part of an after-school program, and they asked us to come and teach the kids Bible so the kids could learn spiritual things! How cool is that???

So the housing project supplies the kids, they supply the snacks, and give us a warm place inside to meet, and we come and have a hangman puzzle that teaches a Bible verse. We do an object lesson. And we teach a Bible lesson with our paint board. Finally, we give them a worksheet with questions based on the Bible story! It’s a fantastic opportunity to reach many little ones for Christ!

These kids live in an area where many people want to just contain them so they don’t grow up to cause us trouble. But we know that God cares about the poor just as He cares for the privileged. So it’s wonderful to have the kids get excited to recite back to us their memory verses, and even bring friends!

What’s funny is that the gospel really is a great way to solve any issues of race or prejudice. After all, we’re a few white guys coming in to teach children of color, and already the kids know we love them and they love us back! They greet us with such enthusiasm, and ask us if we’re coming back next week. It’s fantastic!

Please keep the kids in this Bible Club in your prayers. I love them so much and I want so much for them to know Jesus as their Savior! These kids are the same ages as my own children, and God has given me a heart for them.

Please scroll down past the photos below to read a Boston Globe article about a gang shooting that happened last week in the middle of the day less than one mile from where we meet!

Here are some photos from the first 5 weeks of the club:

https://picasaweb.google.com/102024819319825275847/201303KidsClub

And to give you an idea of the neighborhood where these kids come from, last week, in daylight hours, the same time we were there, there was a shooting incident between two gangs. The Police had to intervene and shoot as well. This happened less than one mile from where we meet!

The following is a Boston Globe article about the incident:

One arrested after officers find themselves in barrage of gunfire on Roxbury street
By Peter Schworm and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

At least one Boston police officer fired his gun this afternoon after finding himself in the middle of a shooting on a street in Roxbury, police said. One person has been arrested and several others are being questioned.

Police said the shots rang out at 2:56 p.m. near the corner of Warren and Waverly streets.

A group of four to five people were shooting at an individual near a bus stop. A group of two or three others were also shooting. It wasn’t clear if they were also shooting at the individual near the bus stop or if they were shooting at the other group, said Boston Police Superintendent-in-Chief Daniel Linskey.

When two officers arrived, one officer, after being threatened, fired his gun, said Linskey.

“It was a harrowing scene,” he said.

He said police were trying to determine whether shots had been fired at the officer.

One handgun was recovered. No one was injured despite the barrage of gunfire.

The two officers involved were youth violence strike force officers, said a law enforcement official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the ongoing investigation.

Kenny Roberts, 31, lives just up the street from the shooting. He said he heard an initial two gunshots and then anywhere from 15 to 20 shots.

A woman was visiting Roberts’s building to look at an apartment at the time of the shooting. He came downstairs to find her cowering in the front hall, screaming, “Help me, help me!”

He let her inside the building and then went outside.

Roberts saw a police officer leap from his vehicle, chasing a suspect. The suspect discarded a gun in the street.

There was a second group nearby. They may have thought the suspect was shooting at them and fired their guns as well, Roberts said.

“The police were sandwiched in between gunfire,” he said. “When I came down, they were chasing him down the street.”

There have been incidents in the neighborhood before, Roberts said. “But nothing like this, in broad daylight.”

Globe correspondent Haven Egresitz contributed to this report.

Please pray for these children who grow up around such violence. I love these kids! I want them to know Jesus and be protected from this. Please pray for them!!!

Thank you for your prayers, encouragement, and financial support. Without that, we couldn’t reach out to these children for Jesus.