Monday, November 2, 2009

PRAISE REPORT...

This week we had a praise report as we received a phone call from a Youth Pastor in Oregon...

In the past, the Oakdale Youth House has served the Bayview Hunters Point community with a 6 week Summer Day Camp. We have been eager to plan a camp for the Summer of 2010, but with little help, resources, and support, have found it difficult to look that far ahead.

The Youth Pastor who phoned us has been involved with the ministry in our neighborhood for several years now in bringing teams down to help out and is keen to bring a team of 5-6 college students down for the summer to run the Summer Day Camp! We were floored when we heard the news because it will provide more ‘workers’ and added hands in the labor. They are keen to help plan and carry out lessons, games, etc... Now, all we need to do is meet with the pastor’s of our community to locate a venue and begin networking with the churches to see this happen! Praise the Lord for His faithfulness even has we can’t fully see the big picture!


Posted by at

1 comment:

  1. jake.dori.emmaNovember 3, 2009 at 12:52 PM

    Hallelujah! We're praying for Kennix!
    Love Jake, Dori & Emma

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Me and Miss Ria

Me and Miss Ria
Ria lives with her Grandmother and is staying with her cousins for the summer here in Hunters Point... she is a true sweetheart in every sense of the word!

Serving Lunches...

Serving Lunches...
Thanks to the government, we have been able to provide FREE lunches to the kids every day!

Being Silly...

Being Silly...
This is Kyra who comes to Day Camp with her sister and two cousins... she is every bit as adorable as she is in this photo!

Getting 'Mummy-fied'!!!

Getting 'Mummy-fied'!!!
This is one of the crazy games we played with the kids this week...

Haning Out...

Haning Out...
David hanging out with the kids as we wait for their rides to pick them up...

Summer Day Camp 2010!!

Summer Day Camp 2010!!
Group picture taken at Golden Gate Park this week...

Our Neighborhood

We live on the south-side of San Francisco in a forgotten neighborhood made up of over 30,000 residents. 61% of our neighbors are African-American. 16% are Hispanic and 8% are of Asian decent. Of the 30,000 neighbors we have, 134 are Caucasian. Needless to say, we stand out a little bit!


Gun shots and sirens are a regular occurence here in our neighborhood. There are 16 known gangs located within our streets. Our neighbors have the highest asthma and infant mortality rate in the state of California. Apart from those issues, our neighborhood is home to many other health related problems due to the fact that it is built on an old Naval Shipyard which was abandonded shortly after WW2. To this day, it releases toxic chemicals into the air.


As we have spent time studying the neighborhood, it is easy for us to get overwhelmed by ALL the problems, but God has kept revealing to us the potential of this neighborhood if His people would turned to Jesus.


The Vision...

Due to the numerous gangs in our neighborhood, it is extremelly complicated and difficult to hold community wide events. With each gang comes a complete territory, creating lines that can not be crossed. For that reason, we have broken up the neighborhood into 5 key areas. Four of the areas are different public housing projects. The fifth is around the corner from where we live.


Our plan is to start engaging the youth in programs such as sports clinics, dance clubs, art/graffiti groups, etc... to offer them a positive alternative to gang life. Our desire is that these ‘clubs’ would lead into discipleship groups located in the 5 key areas. We would eventually like to partner with local churches and key leaders in the community to form a youth church. We hope to start our first discipleship group here in our home and help run sports clinics at the local recreation center later this year. We are also constantly out on the streets, telling young people about Christ, and building relationship with them. We are in the process of turning our garage into a mini-youth center equipped with a X-box, TV, and, hopefully, a pool table. We want to offer a safe place for youth to hang out instead of being out on the streets.