Bridges for Youth

Its a month of thanksgiving and a time to give thanks to God for the miracle that is Bridges For Youth.  I have not been able to find adequate words for what God has done at the Bridges For Youth Centers. Perhaps I will be dead and gone before people see what the hand of God has planted and given to the hurting children of our area.

Three weeks of financial strain on the Bridges For Youth ministry has lead me to seek God for what direction to take now. By the grace of God we have been able to expand our services from one neighborhood center in 2001 to the present 5 centers in 2008.  Every week, spare only a few, since 2001 we have not known were most of our monthly needs would be met. Our last Bridges for Youth center was planted in Marshfield in 2006. 

Our vision has been to passionately move forward in planting centers throughout Southwest Missouri and across the United States.  The vision , passion and tremendous needs among our youth remain intact to this day .   God has given us the knowledge of how to plant a Bridges For Youth Center and how to staff it to his glory.  In the short 10 years since we have operated the National Bridges For Youth center, we have seen the tremendous fruit and hope that our presence brings into the lives of young people and their families. The only missing ingredient that hinders us from moving forward is a donor base that understands and supports the valuable work we do at our centers.  

Our “A Place Like This” vision has already identified three neighborhoods in the Springfield area and numerous surrounding small towns in Southwest Missouri were a Bridges For Youth center could make a profound and immediate impact.  A 5th neighborhood Bridges For Youth in Springfield could be a reality within the month, but we must first address the need for new donors  who will sustain our current work with kids.

Monthly and one time gifts alike sustain us. The amounts or methods don’t matter as much as the acknowledgement that you want to partner in what we do at Bridges For Youth.  Several of our donors have expressed that we are fiscally conservative with our budget and that we stretch dollars further than is humanly possible.  One donor described out day to day existence to be like the story of the ‘fishes and loaves’ in the Bible.   Assuredly God has multiplied what has been received to sustain us, as well as bringing the emergency provisions in a timely fashion.

The simple truth is that your donations, prayers and spreading the word about our work with kids, are needed to gird up our current 5 youth centers immediately.  Today, November 5th, we need to have 338 more kids who are already attending our programs.  It is easy to sponsor a kid and its only $120 for a whole year.  Kids, ages 6-18, are able to attend the Bridges centers at no charge.  Two of our Bridges For Youth Centers even pick up kids at school now.   The kids are greeted by strong adult mentors who nurture and play with them each day. 1005 kids were served in the last school year.

Two kids can be sponsored by a $20 a month gift. Five kids can be sponsored by a $50 a month gift.    Our Goliath Slayer giver can make a profound and needed impact by commiting to sponsor 100 kids by donating $1000 a month.

I invite you to prayerfully consider sponsoring a child, praying with us for full funding, and helping to spread the word about the work we do with kids.

Tell us what a great job we are doing and never contribute, pray or tell anyone about our needs.Take us for granted in a religious kind of way, or a non religious kind of way.Trust that someone else will take care of the financial needs at Bridges For Youth. Wrongly justify that we are supported mostly by a church or churches. Expect us to have fundraisers all the time to make enough to stay open.Say that God will take care of us, so you don’t need to do anything.Devalue the importance of our work with kids, by never visiting a center and seeing what we actually do with kids each day.Say that we are a duplication of services in the community and we are not needed.Be a hearer of the words of the Bible and not be a doer.Surrounded by such a large Christian community, I think we need to make some noise, rather than stand in silence.   James 1:22-27 Pastor Steve Hare       www.bridgesforyouth.net

Admiration, respect and honor are not responses that you want to count on drawing your strength from  or depend on, when you are working with at-risk kids.   Yesterday, I walked into a Bridges center to announce that a former pro football player was coming to visit the next day.  You would think the kids would be excited and pay close attention, but that was not the case.   The noise level and chatter rose to a level were they could no longer hear anything I was saying.  If the kids had tomatoes and rotten fruit, I felt like they would probably be throwing them at me.  It felt like I had just told them that summer vacation was cancelled, that there would be no recess, or that we were taking all their youth center games away.  No, I was telling  them some really cool news, a former pro football player was coming to visit.  The whole encounter lasted about 30 seconds and I walked out with my head down, my feelings  hurt and in disbelief at the unexpected response.

There is no one among the staff at Bridges For Youth who has not experienced the hurt feeling dilemna of youth ministry. This is undoubtedly the reason that statistics show that youth workers often experience burnout very early on, and are not able to stay the course for very long. As Christian staff we trust in God to fuel our journey, and we believe that you have to consistently turn to God, so that you can weather the storm.

Being alone in a youth center with even a couple of kids is a recipe for getting your feelings hurt. In 1998 and 1999, I was in just such a situation as the lone staff member at the National Bridges For Youth center.   The number of kids wasn’t overwhelming at the time, as I often had only two of three kids that I would be shepherding. It was a time when God was educating me about at risk kids and I was learning on the job. Save the presence of God I would have perished back then and  my existence and mission would have faded into oblivion. 

The two or three kids in attendance back then would divide and conquer Pastor Steve. While I was attending to one’s needs another would turn all the lights out at the breaker box-that’s why it has a lock on it to this day. They would circle the building, going out the front door and coming through the back.  Frequently they would be annoyed by my attempts to control them and they would leave stating, “They would never come back again!”.   In a short time they would return, smiles on their faces, with another clever childish prank to play on me-that is why kids are not allowed to leave and return the same day anymore.  Basically, my feelings were getting hurt right and left just about eight years ago.   It was  staying on the front lines and coming back day after day that eventually showed the kids that I loved and cared about them.

One particular incident at National stands out, that left me feeling particularly upset. We had a small snack bar at the Bridges center with candy bars and a variety of candy. Two of the kids devised a plan, distracted me and took the snack bar money. I discovered the money was missing but certainly couldn’t prove who took it. The incident left me shaking my head and I felt like someone had just beaten me for no apparent reason. The next two days at the youth center my enthusiasm had waned and my disappointment showed. God renewed me on the third day after the incident, when two boys came to the front door, handed me the money they had stolen and expresed their heartfelt apologies. I still remember the sincere expression on the boys faces, and the remorse for what they had done.

As I verse the memories of my feelings getting hurt there are a flood of memories. Putting yourself in the uncomfortable position of getting your feelings hurt seems to be the inevitable price to have victory in dealing with kids and in building nurturing relationships. God is in control!

“And let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Galatians 6:9-10

Pastor Steve  (When I am weak, then I am strong)

     Adventures in the wilderness probably brings to most of our minds scenes like in Davy Crocket, King of the wild frontier.  By the way adventure is defined in several ways: taking a risk in the hope of a favorable outcome, a wild and exciting undertaking, venture:put at risk, I will stake my reputation on this, is an activity that is comprised of risky dangerous or uncertain experiences for the sake of physical or emotional excitement.

   Lower income neighborhoods and many of the areas in our small towns in Southwest Missouri, are the two  wilderness adventures that I would like to address.  I just say wilderness because it appeals to me that it will take people with great vision and faith to take back territory that many have long since forgotten about.

      I spent two days on the roof of the Bridges For Youth center on National in 2006. I was amazed at how many people drove by and were oblivious to me being on the roof in a lawn chair with banners hanging all over the building. Needless to say when you are on the roof and nobody much is noticing you, and your not raising any money like you thought you would, you have lots of time to think and prayer.

     God showed me two things during those two hot days on the roof. We are a self centered society focused on the next thing we need to get done, and we seldom look to the right or the left, or slow down enough to just look around us.   Therefore many of the needs of the poor and those around us are never met.  The hundreds of thousands of kids and their parents living in poverty just off the beaten path are not always met, because no one gets off the beaten path of the main drag to see how they can help.

    The second thing I learned was that many people noticed me when I was on the roof and enthusiastically waved, knowing we were raising money, but never gave even a dollar.  I only received a couple bucks from one donor, on foot,  in two days on the roof. By the way, I include myself in both these categories, because I like the Apostle Paul am the ‘chief among sinners’.   The point is that we need to take personal adventures into the needs of people in our neighborhoods and small towns, and help those in need.   If we see need as Christians, if we see the poor in need, then we are supposed to help.  Jesus said “You will always have the poor with you…..”. Bridges helps the poor in 4 neighborhoods and 1 small town and we are just one opportunity you have to support the poor through our daily presence and programs.

   Bridges For Youth’s new vision will be coming out soon and it will detail new adventures we will be making into neighborhoods and small towns over the next 5 years. Follow our progress and look for our vision on the Bridges website.  Wagons ho into new areas of ministry with prayerwalking, establishing new centers, and reaching thousands more with the Good News of Christ.

Oh Christian souls rejoice,      Pastor Steve

I’m not sure why, but suddenly God has shown me that the quick sand of ministry is going to swallow us up if we don’t make prayer a priority. Don’t get me wrong, “We Pray!”, it’s just that I feel God is moving us to a whole other level.

We have  a number of dedicated prayer partners who have covered us for several years now.  I’m feeling now like we need that same covering every hour and minute of every day.   Continuous and fervent prayer, inside the ministry and out.  Bridges is after all fighting a real battle on the front lines. Our centers, staff and kids are surrounded by combatants from the evil one.   This battle will definitely be won or lost in prayer.   We are pouring over resource material now on prayer and developing a prayer partner ministry for our youth centers.  I really like “Partners in Prayer” by John Maxwell.

 The concept of prayer walking is something I have been aware of, but have not practiced to this point.    In my research I was led to an organization called “the Prayer Closet Ministries Inc”.  I can’t believe we have never done this before. Knowing the power of prayer and the power of praying God’s Word, this could have very fruitful results in the neighborhoods and communities where we currently minister and in those places that God leads us in the future.   Even if we do not end up starting a Bridges for Youth Center in an area we prayer walk, we can be sure that there will be results that have eternal implications.

Teaching kids to give praise, thanks and petitions to God for themselves and others has always been a passion of mine.  I believe kids praying with that childlike faith is going to move mountains in our community.  Kids talking to God. Yeah!

 Who’s with me? 

I was joking with my wife the other day, when one of those surprise, smack you in the face, unexpected stresses of life reared its head.  I’m sure you know the feeling of cruising along having a good day, and then suddenly you are in the midst of a stressful situations that you have no control over. I liken it to standing in the middle of a busy freeway and suddenly the big semi-truck is headed right for you, horn blaring. 

Fortunately, God has given people gifts that really help the church, missions and ministries in this crazy highway of bringing the Good News to the lost.  These gifts and talents are good medicine for us who are in ministry.  Well, they are good medicine if they get out of the medicine cabinet or the comfort zone as I like to call it.   Good intentions ruin a lot of this good medicine and it never finds its way to the people who can benefit from it.  

Donating money is certainly one of the easiest ways to bring encouragement and make a difference.    I think one of the main problems is that people come up with objections, like my donation won’t make a difference, or I haven’t seen them have to close their doors yet, or someone else will take care of the need.   Let me speak for the Bridges For Youth Centers. Every donation does make a difference, it is a miracle every day we don’t have to close our doors, and did you know less than 100 people support us on a regular basis.

 People seem to underestimate what good medicine that prayer is.   Our staff at Bridges is embroiled in daily spiritual battles that can only be won through prayer.   If you lift up prayers on our behalf, then you support us in a big way.   It is impossible to do this work without being covered in prayer.   On days when there is no prayer support you can really get beat up in the mission field.

 Volunteers are some of the best medicine you can get.  To make a difference you just have to have a willingness to serve.  Its not always about the length of time you volunteer or whether or not you can see that you are making a difference. If you are trusting in God for your very existence on the mission field, then you always see a volunteer as a blessing.  ” Wow, its another adult.    I’m not alone and someone else does care about these kids, is what you say.   I can’t believe they came and helped us. We could never have survived without their help.  They came and played with the kids and brought a smile to their face. In my book they are A plus.”

 Be good medicine for someone today.  There is a pastor, a ministry, or a home mission like Bridges For Youth, who is feeling all alone right now.   You can make a difference in their lives and in the lives of others.   Pastor Steve 

If a youth missionary gets in trouble in the mission field and nobody is around, does he or she make a noise when they fall.   Many times you can feel pretty isolated on the mission field, even when it is only a couple blocks off the beaten path and you may be only a few miles from home. I can’t even imagine being on the mission field overseas, like many of our good friends are.

The real comfort about being on the mission field, is that God will never leave us or forsake us.   All others may forsake and forget, but God is certainly there to encourage and keep us standing.   God places the passion and vision in a person to go on the mission field and He is the provider for the work.

There is a lot of falling down and getting up in the mission field.  The falling down is usually a real learning experience and an opportunity to trust in God for your every need.  Getting up and spending time with God each day provides the energy and strength to face the new day.  God supplies the energy, the encouragement and the provision, otherwise this missionary wouldn’t still be getting up.

The reality of being on the mission field with kids, is that they often have no hope in their lives. Hope is alive and well in Jesus Christ, and the Bridges For Youth Centers and their staff are simply instruments to show kids how to find Jesus and how to find hope.     Pastor Steve