Experiencing something new...

Alden with one of the young Super Saturday attendees

     Two years ago when I was in 5^th grade, I had an awesome experience on a 3 day mission trip in downtown Grand Rapids. We were told we would stay downtown in a church and would serve with 3 different ministries in the inner-city of Grand Rapids. One such ministry was Urban Family Ministries. I thought it would be scary to do ministry with a bunch of urban city kids. I applied to go on the trip and was excited to see what God had in store for me and the ways I would see him work.

     The first day of the mission trip the guys on our team passed out fliers for a community cookout and the ladies went to Alpha Women’s Center. While passing out fliers we met some members of the community and were blessed to invited them to the cookout. That night was a great night for a cookout. We had about 2 hours of prep time and 1 hour of service. The menu consisted of hot dogs, watermelon, baked beans, and chips. We had 3 positions: serving, plating, and talking to members of the community.  I noticed when I was asking what people wanted to eat many said “we would like hot sauce on our chips.” I found that interesting.  We had a powerful moment during the cookout when a member of our team got to pray for/with one of our guests. God was moving.  The next day we spend the full day at UFM helping with projects around the office. My group was responsible for cleaning up the landscape. That was a hard but rewarding task.

 

     During our time at Urban Family Ministries I was thinking, “Wow, I can’t believe what God is doing here. This is a ministry that is helping to transform one urban kid at a time.”

     Time passed, school began, and God called me into this field of ministry. I went to the UFM website and printed out a volunteer application, had a meeting with Alf Clark, and got to know more about UFM and what it was like serving in the urban setting. I now serve at Super Saturday and help out in other areas when needed. Volunteering with this ministry is very rewarding for me. God has worked tremendously in me and through this ministry.

Praise God for all He has done!

~guest author, Alden, volunteer

Superbowl Sunday... connecting Urban and Suburban

UFM and Georgetown Bible paired up to host a fabulous Superbowl Extravaganza. 

Samantha and Deshowne celebrating with their new iPods.

Glen Wilson, youth pastor at Georgetown Bible, collaborated with UFM and Tabernacle Community Church youth group to throw a hype party at UFM’s office on the corner of Eastern and Baxter.  The game was broadcast on 4 different televisions and a large projector screen. Middle and high school students and volunteers filled the rec center with laughter and conversation. Over 60 people joined in cheering on different students as they participated in a variety of “minute-to-win-it” games. Winners went home with a variety of prizes from candy bars, buckets of gumballs, all the way to $25 to iTunes or Best Buy, and two lucky winners took home iPods! 

It was a great blessing to see this facility used so well, packed with students and volunteers having a blast, sharing in community, and creating memories.  We ate, we danced, we cheered!! It was a Superbowl Party to remember.

Executive Director, Alf Clark responded to the night with these words: 

And the game gets serious....

Minute-to-win-it game

“I had a dream right after starting here in March of 2012.  I dreamed at some point, we could be part of bridging the urban community with the suburban community.  My dream included urban and suburban youth filling the main room in our office building, breaking out of their cultural shells and experiencing what Heaven will look like.  This dream, in which we as a staff continue to cultivate, is called in the office “God with US” (Urban Suburban).  This dream became a reality for the first time on Sunday night as Georgetown Bible Church, Tabernacle Community Church youth group and UFM high and middle school students merged together to watch the Superbowl game.  We had door prizes, pizza, games, pool table, foosball table, Superbowl game playing on 4 flat screen T.V’s and music bouncing in the building.  

As I sat there and looked around, it was hard to not allow a smile to break across my face.  I saw teens from the suburban area breaking bread with an urban teen.  I saw an urban teen engage in a conversation with a youth group member from a suburban setting.  As I thought through the evening of what God was doing right there in that room, he reminded me of how one of our teen boys, Dearis, arrived and immediately broke down barriers.  A group of suburban teens were sitting in the cafe’ getting ready to play cards.   They were sitting around a small round table which created more of a “huddle” look where the group is shoulder to shoulder facing each other.  This was not intentional by any means.  Dearis, walked into the cafe’ and right up to the group, placed his chin almost on the shoulders of two people sitting at the table peering into the circle.  He looked right, then left and asked “What are you guys doing?”  Someone from the group spoke up saying “We’re getting ready to play cards.”  Dearis not skipping a beat questioned, “Can I join you?”  The response was a welcoming yes and as the two people who he was peering over the shoulder of separated, he pulled up another chair and began playing.  For the rest of the night, Dearis and that group of young men and women were connected, talking and the barriers were non-existent.  

What an awesome experience watching again God, first hand, break down barriers we all know can be there, but rarely speak of.”