Kit’s Corner

We love because God loved us. (1 John 1:9)

Dear Friends,
It is wonderful, as always to greet you. There is much happening at Neighborhood Ministries and we wanted to keep you updated.

Autumn

We raced headlong into the Fall, with all our school year programs beginning. Here are just a few highlights of life at The Neighborhood Center: Katy’s Kids Pre-School launched enthusiastically into its second school year with two classrooms; the Fall garden is planted at Hope House; OpportuniTees is branching out with new customers; the Barrio Bike shop’s bike clinics are happening most afternoons, a new work force development grant is helping many youth and young adults, our young leaders have been mobilizing everyday getting out the vote, and strategic plans which consumed most of last year are in motion in all eight NM departments. I hope you will check out our newly updated web page which describes all we do most days.

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It was 1999 when we began construction to see a community center built out of an old feed and seed mill. The ground breaking happened between two old warehouses on dirt that a shovel couldn’t penetrate hardened like concrete over a hundred years of operating a processing center for grain. In faith, we began that stage of rehab. This week we put shovels into the ground again; another act of faith, another stage in the series of transformative activities at The Neighborhood Center.

Many of you remember those days. It was astounding to you that God would imagine for us, and then through us, the transforming of this dilapidated and dangerous property and neighborhood. And if you couldn’t have afforded to help us or in some cases couldn’t even believe it was possible, you committed to pray.

Well, its time to pray again. To pray for the continued work of God, for this next adventure, for the impossible goals before us. The vision is great, and simple. After decades of working with youth, and almost a decade building a substantive pre-school, we are believing with God that an enormous and abandoned silo building is to be repurposed into one of the most interesting features on our property to date. A new education building – with an entire floor dedicated to early childhood development and associated parent education – and a second floor dedicated to youth, youth leadership development, youth outreach and college access.

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We crossed the finish line to end our 25th summer experiencing the mighty privilege of outreach to kids and youth alongside life changing leadership development. Like the summer’s before, we concluded with an affirmation event, where this strong team clearly and creatively described what they saw in each other, their tenacity, their love, their leadership, their hope. It is a profound experience to hear these next generation leaders elevate the character qualities found in this determined bunch of young people who want to make a difference for the gospel that is good news to the poor.

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You have heard us say over the years that Kids Club is worth doing, in all its intricacies and devotion, simply for the ways in which leaders emerge and are developed. That has been true for the two and a half decades of this important part of Neighborhood and is even truer today when the majority of the leadership in the program comes from the community itself. Most having grown up as Kids Club kids themselves.

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I have been back in the saddle for a week, finishing a first ever sabbatical, after thirty years in the ministry. Coming back is a little like any movie or book about people re-entering from a time warp or machine. “Wow!” they usually say after a tumble from their previous dimension, “we were gone for such a long time, only to step back into a few minutes ago.” They usually come back changed in some way. And so it was with me.

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