Ministry space…. Ahead with the building
Please pray for us as we seek to move ahead on the building of our new ministry house in our neighborhood. This house will provide space we need desperately. The ministry house will allow us to reach out to our community through bible studies, tutoring programs, computer literacy programs, jobs training, back yard basketball, batting cage training, summer camps, and crisis housing, etc. Please pray specifically for the land that we are seeking to build on. The state owns two lots a few houses down from my home. The land purchasing process can take up to six or seven months. Please pray that we will be able to purchase the land within a two month time-period. Also, if you understand the ‘state’ process, if you know anyone who works in this area of the ‘state’, or if you know how to sneak into the ‘state’ while they are out for lunch and make this happen quicker, please let us know. (Please avoid getting caught… or we don’t know you!) Also, please praise God with us for the provision of a builder who has agreed to build the house at cost. This will save us a lot of money. Lastly, please pray with us as we begin to raise the money for this project. We anticipate that the project will cost between $200,000 and $225,000.
Baseball season will end this week
We finally approach the end of a very tough baseball season. Wins were rare and conflict and frustration were not. Please keep praying for the boys who participated this year. I plan to conduct individual follow-up time with these guys over the next few weeks. Hopefully, this will be a good time to collectively interpret everything that has happened this spring, and follow-up on a bible study we did together. I am asking the Lord to open their hearts as I seek to clearly share the gospel with them. We will take a few of the baseball players and other teenagers to Camp Arrowhead in North Carolina at the end of the summer.
Focus in the coming months of summer
Coaching baseball was a great way to serve at the high school. While coaching gave us credibility in the community in many ways, I am very thrilled about the opportunity to primarily work with our neighborhood kids this summer. We have a lot of ideas about how we can connect with them during their summer break. Summers can be a dangerous and destructive time for our neighborhood. The teenagers have told us countless stories of the violence that tends to happen in the summer. Pray for us and for them as we work hard to create gospel and fun-driven ways reach them. We are planning another baseball camp this summer, some short-term local camping opportunities, one week-long camp in North Carolina , an academic summer-enrichment day camp, and many other activities. All of the above will include bible study exposure and exposure to the wonderful news of what God has done for us in Jesus.
Our focus is not just on the kids. We will be using the activities to help us get to know the parents and extended family as well. God has also brought some young men into our lives recently. Some of these men have been involved in various stages of gang activity and have spent some time in jail or prison. We will seek to use the rapport we have built with these guys to share our faith with them. Interestingly enough, it is our time with the younger kids that has drawn the older guys to us. They feel like we are doing something positive for the younger kids; something they didn’t see when they were younger and seem to appreciate our efforts. May the Lord bless this.
Please pray for us as we seek to move ahead on the building of our new ministry house in our neighborhood. This house will provide space we need desperately. The ministry house will allow us to reach out to our community through bible studies, tutoring programs, computer literacy programs, jobs training, back yard basketball, batting cage training, summer camps, and crisis housing, etc. Please pray specifically for the land that we are seeking to build on. The state owns two lots a few houses down from my home. The land purchasing process can take up to six or seven months. Please pray that we will be able to purchase the land within a two month time-period. Also, if you understand the ‘state’ process, if you know anyone who works in this area of the ‘state’, or if you know how to sneak into the ‘state’ while they are out for lunch and make this happen quicker, please let us know. (Please avoid getting caught… or we don’t know you!) Also, please praise God with us for the provision of a builder who has agreed to build the house at cost. This will save us a lot of money. Lastly, please pray with us as we begin to raise the money for this project. We anticipate that the project will cost between $200,000 and $225,000.
Baseball season will end this week
We finally approach the end of a very tough baseball season. Wins were rare and conflict and frustration were not. Please keep praying for the boys who participated this year. I plan to conduct individual follow-up time with these guys over the next few weeks. Hopefully, this will be a good time to collectively interpret everything that has happened this spring, and follow-up on a bible study we did together. I am asking the Lord to open their hearts as I seek to clearly share the gospel with them. We will take a few of the baseball players and other teenagers to Camp Arrowhead in North Carolina at the end of the summer.
Focus in the coming months of summer
Coaching baseball was a great way to serve at the high school. While coaching gave us credibility in the community in many ways, I am very thrilled about the opportunity to primarily work with our neighborhood kids this summer. We have a lot of ideas about how we can connect with them during their summer break. Summers can be a dangerous and destructive time for our neighborhood. The teenagers have told us countless stories of the violence that tends to happen in the summer. Pray for us and for them as we work hard to create gospel and fun-driven ways reach them. We are planning another baseball camp this summer, some short-term local camping opportunities, one week-long camp in North Carolina , an academic summer-enrichment day camp, and many other activities. All of the above will include bible study exposure and exposure to the wonderful news of what God has done for us in Jesus.
Our focus is not just on the kids. We will be using the activities to help us get to know the parents and extended family as well. God has also brought some young men into our lives recently. Some of these men have been involved in various stages of gang activity and have spent some time in jail or prison. We will seek to use the rapport we have built with these guys to share our faith with them. Interestingly enough, it is our time with the younger kids that has drawn the older guys to us. They feel like we are doing something positive for the younger kids; something they didn’t see when they were younger and seem to appreciate our efforts. May the Lord bless this.
-Bryan Kelly
2 comments:
Hello, I'm Zinnada. Friends of Antoinette and Alonzo. This was encouraging to see as our family prepares to serve in the urban community around our church. My husband just got the position of Urban Ministry Director. So, we are excited to see what God is going to do in and through us as we serve in Durham,NC.
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