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Youth program takes kids off streets
Published January 2, 2008
MONROE — The youth ministers at Emmanuel Praise Church wanted to reach the youth of Monroe. So they started with the hardest to reach.
The church’s 24/7 youth program, which began last summer, reaches close to 200 youth each week, many of them from the city’s most dangerous streets.
“We bus them in from the hardest part of Monroe, according to the police,” said Jeff Reynolds, outreach minister for Emmanuel Praise, naming Lacy Street and the surrounding area as one of their principal places for ministry. “We come to their neck of the woods, try to be a positive role model for these kids. We get involved with their lives.”
Every Monday at 7 p.m., Reynolds, youth pastor Frank Walker and Pastor Wes Wingo bring children ages 12-18 to the church, where they provide food, games, entertainment and, of course, a little bit of the Bible.
“We have pool tables, video games, basketball goals,” Reynolds said. “But we also minister to them.”
It’s a policy that seems to have worked.
“We started out with about 60 kids,” Reynolds said. “At first they wouldn’t open up to us. It was real tough. It’s not an overnight process. It’s taken some time.
“Now, they’re talking to us, bringing us report cards and sharing stories. I’ve got 20-30 kids each night ready to tell us what they’ve done.”
That success at reaching out has also meant an increase in attendance.
“We were trying to have 100 kids by Christmas, but we’re actually closer to 200,” Reynolds said. “We want to have 300 kids next year.”
Not only has Reynolds seen a change in individual kids, but he’s seen changes in neighborhoods as well, saying police have told him crime rates in the area have dropped since the program began.
“We don’t want them to just behave the one night,” Reynolds said. “We want them to be good all the time. If they’re not in school, they can’t be a part of this. We are making a difference.”
The success has prompted the program leaders to start thinking of expansion.
“We will have our own building on site,” Reynolds said. “We hope to start bringing in speakers in the future.”
As part of the program’s focus on academic performance, the program leaders also hope to partner with Walton County Public Schools in an effort to reach more children throughout the area.
While it costs the church more than a little — Reynolds estimated that 24/7 spent $400 each Monday on food alone — the program is free to youth.
“We don’t charge them anything,” Reynolds said. “We want them to be involved with everything without having to worry about the cost.”
As the program adds more features and brings in more youth, Reynolds hopes to transform lives in Monroe.
“We want to get these kids right,” Reynolds said. “It’s not working on all of them, but it’s working on a lot of them. We’re going to better this community.”
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