Lydia Urban Academy: Summer 2013

Kids Across America (KAA)

In June, LUA took 19 students and 3 staff to KAA in Golden, MO. While at KAA students are encouraged to stretch themselves physically and spiritually. They are given new experiences that push them to move outside their comfort zone. Activities include; High Ropes courses, biking, tubing on the lake, basketball, cheerleading, swimming, volleyball, archery, golf, and canoeing just to name a few. The counselors and staff are very intentional about constantly sharing the Gospel with the students. There is a night mid-week where the campers take part in what is called “Cross Talk”.  On this night the campers are clearly presented with the Gospel through drama and a Bible message, and are given the opportunity to make a decision to follow Christ. This year we had one student chose to give his life to the Lord. The campers are then encouraged the next day to “ring a bell” in front of the whole camp to show they are serious about their decision. This boy “Rang that bell”! 

Graduation!

August 16, 2013 LUA held a graduation for 8 students. These 8 students all came to LUA with individual difficulties that prevented them from remaining successful in a traditional high school. Stepping through the doors of LUA they started experiencing success through academics, friendships and ultimately graduating from high school. A student who couldn’t read before coming to LUA was presented with a hardbound story book that he wrote and created for his daughter. Another student who felt like graduation was always out of reach for her proudly walked across the stage and received her diploma. As a staff we could not have been more proud of these 8 graduates!  Our next graduation will be in January for hopefully 8 more students. 

LUA Staff (Best co-workers ever!)

Prayer Requests:

·         Students would continue to respond to the Gospel.

·         LUA staff would be intentional with sharing the Gospel with students and parents.

•  The 8 potential graduates for January will complete all course work. 

KAA

Please pray for our students! This week we're at Kids Across America which is an amazing urban youth sports camp in southern Missouri. Our kids are being exposed to the Gospel in real practical ways that many have never experienced before. Below I'll list each of their names. If one stands out to you please pray for them. 

A real need that we have at LUA is discipleship for our students. Between the 5 of us on staff we all wear so many hats as is that it's like next to impossible for us to follow up with all of them on a consistent and personal level (we try, don't get me wrong, but they need more than we offer right now). So please pray that God would provide ways and people to help fill that hole/gap in our students lives once we leave camp. I really want to see my kids living Godly lives and making decisions based on Christ and His Word.  

Girls:

Angie, Maggie, Kierra, Michelle, Randi, Ashley, Karla, Danielli

Boys:

Jospeh, Airiel, Joel, Freddy, Steven, Pedro, Frank, Daniel, Nik, Ricky and Adam

Missionary....

For the past year and a half I haven't seen myself as a "missionary" even though I am doing full-time ministry. My experience in Detroit had me thinking that to be considered a "missionary" in the world of ministry meant raising financial support. Well, I was wrong. I'm wrong about a lot of things, and this was one of them. Do any of you remember the song from our childhood called "Be a missionary"? 

"Be a missionary every day... tell the world that Jesus is the way. Be it in a town or country, or a busy avenue, Africa or Asia the choice is up to you..." 

That song often pops into my head and I'm reminded that we're all missionaries wherever God has put us. My roll as a Missionary has changed once again. In order to remain that Lydia Urban Academy I had/have to raise support for my salary. 

Let me just tell you what God has done... 

I have not had to do any work at all in order for God to provide the money that he has brought in to go toward my salary. Two individuals (who were simply made aware of my need by an outside person) have given two large donations and my home church in Canton is going to begin supporting me as one of their missionaries. I shared my passion for urban teens and my desire to stay at LUA and the money was given. Now, I realize these situations are RARE! But I believe that God has allowed this process to be "easy" for me to show me HIS goodness and faithfulness. 

I have been OVERJOYED by this whole thing, and I know for sure that I am exactly where God wants me to do for this season of my life. 

Not all of my salary has been raised yet. I need about $3000-$5000 more in order for it to be at 100%. I have total faith in my Lord that this money will come in. At this point i'm not sure where it will come from, but I know it will come. I believe Lydia is where God wants me, and Lydia is where I intend to stay. 

Weeks like this...

A week like this one when i'm reminded why I love urban ministry. It might sound strange saying "why I love..." as I tell you that this week has been absolutely terrible. Our school goes through phases, one phase being when just about everyone is being polite (or at least their version of polite) and getting their work done on time, so on and so on. Well its in the middle of that phase where I begin to get nervous because I know what the other phase looks like. This week we entered into the phase, the phase of blatant disrespect, dishonesty, and self sabotage. Each phase has new students being the main contributors while others you can just automatically expect to be a part of it. 

Today I've feel sick to my stomach because of the amount of disrespect that has been happening this week. Disrespect to me, other teachers, other students, the building, school property, my own property.. basically you name it and its being disrespected. There has been sexual harassment, lying, and stealing. It has brought me to tears of anger, but its in that moment that God spoke to me and said... "LOVE these kids the way that I love them!" Wow, talk about a slap in the face. I am beyond frustrated and am counting down the hours till the weekend, but tomorrow I will go into school with love in my heart for my students. I truly do love my students the way a parent loves their child. I want them to be successful and learn how to live a life of love. They will learn that by watching my actions, words, and overall attitude toward them. 

So, its been a hellish week but through the pain, tears and anger God has revealed himself to me. It is weeks like this that I remember why I have responded to the call to urban ministry. Weeks like this don't scare me, I don't go running away scared, it only better equips me and trains me for years and years of ministry ahead of me. I know that God holds each of these teens in His hands, and I trust HIM with their lives. I can't chose their life path for them, but I can help steer them in the right direction. 

Lydia Urban Academy (LUA)

 

I'm pretty sure I have the best job in the world... one of the hardest, but definitely the best! My "official" job title is Teacher's Aid, or Teaching Assistant, but I tend to wear MANY hats throughout the day. 

 *Nurse

*Counselor

*Parent

*Grandma (sometimes)

*Pharmacist 

*Security Guard

*Cook

*Therapist 

*Janitor

*Secretary

Just to name a few.....

What i'm trying to say is that my job is much more than I ever dreamed it would be when I first accepted the position. I have learned so much and grown more in the past 18 months than I thought possible. When I was working full time in Detroit there was something missing, but I could never put my finger on it. It wasn't until my first day at LUA that it hit me... before, in Detroit, I was sitting in an office or out running errands waiting for the kids to get out of school so I could hang out with them. I was missing out on the biggest part of their day- SCHOOL! Now if you would have told me a few years ago that I would end up working in a school I would have laughed in your face. I never liked school and chose not to be a teacher for a lot of reasons. God certainly has a sense of humor because look where HE put me. This is the perfect place for me, though. I get to be with my students up to 10 hours a day.. and I love it! It's challenging and I come home each night completely exhausted, but I wouldn't change a single thing!

One of my main jobs is discipline. When I first was told that I was pretty terrified... that meant I had to confront conflict head on! This, however has been such a great thing for me. Through figuring out what the student's "issue" is I am able to put a spiritual spin on things. I have the opportunity to share Christ with them when they are in a pretty dark place. I'm able to use scripture to help point them in the right direction, and I sometimes get the opportunity to pray with my students before sending them back to class. To me, those are the most important moments of my day/week. My students aren't always accepting of these things, but I know it means a lot to them.

With their permission I hope to share some of my students stories with you in the future. They all come from brokenness but with the help from LUA their lives are starting to change. 

At LUA, CHANGE HAPPENS!

How God brought me back to Chicago...

Lets go back in time a bit... Its August 2011. My Dad is in the hospital with a strange infection the Doctors can't figure out, my Mom is going through rigorous chemo treatments for her Breast Cancer, and my life in Detroit is in shambles. I take a month off from LifeBUILDERS to go home to be a "nurse" for my parents and quickly realize that God did not want me to return to Detroit. I start freaking out, because I am a missionary... people are supporting me financially and if I leave I will be letting them all down. I have to make one of the hardest decisions of my life. Do I disobey God and return to Detroit because I'm to afraid of disappointing everyone who cares about me, or do I obey God and leave LifeBUILDERS for good? 

Well, its pretty obvious which choice I chose. I resigned from LB on a Friday and started looking for a new job. Naturally I quickly contacted the two places that I had previously worked- South Side Mission in Peoria, and Lydia Home in Chicago.

On Tuesday I get a text from a friend who works at Lydia saying that there was a job opening in the Urban Academy and I needed to contact the director ASAP. I email Mandy my resume and she responds back very quickly. She wanted to interview me over the phone. She calls that afternoon and tells me all about LUA and the job I would have. The phone call was going very well and I could tell this was something I was really interested in. She needed to get back to teaching class and asked if she could call me back afterward and answer any questions I had. Between those two phone calls my Mom and I started praying. I asked my Mom if I should take this job if she offers it to me. My mom looked at me stunned and said "You would be crazy not to take this job, Lydia has ALWAYS been your dream, God is bringing your dream into reach!" In all the craziness of Detroit and my parents being so sick I had lost sight of my dream. It was true, Lydia was my dream. The next day I drove up to Lydia to meet Mandy and the students. She offered me the job there on the spot.. and it "just so happened" that there was a house Lydia owned that was made available for employees and there was a spot there for me to live **More on the house later! That was just one more confirmation from the Lord that this was exactly where He wanted me to be. 

When I started this job my prayer became "Lord, I want to stay in ONE place for at least two years and more if you'll let me." I was so exhausted of moving from place to place and starting over with new people. I was ready to set some roots. **More on that later! So far God has answered that prayer and allowed me to stay at Lydia for almost two years. I praise HIM for that because I see the difference that is being made through my time here. All because of Christ and for Christ!

NEW.. because I got locked out of my old blog!

HI :)

  I'm back on the blogging circuit. It has been a very long time since I have sat down to share my thoughts with y'all. So much has changed in my life in a short amount of time. In some ways time seems to be flying by. The last time I blogged I was living in Detroit, and now I've been back in Chicago for over a year and half. God brought me back to Chicago for a specific purpose, and I believe I am living out that purpose every day at Lydia Home. My number one passion is Jesus Christ, and second being serving him in an urban context. Since I was little girl, around age 12, I wanted to work at Lydia Home. My heart felt a deep love for "orphans". While in college I volunteered at Lydia every Thursday night. Upon graduating there wasn't an available job for me at Lydia, so I went to Detroit instead. My time in Detroit was, well interesting to say the least. In some ways I'm still waiting for God to reveal all of the lessons he was trying to teach me during those 10 months. If anything He taught me that living 10 hours from home, while both my parents were going through severe health problems, was not an option. Thankfully Lydia was here to catch me as I was falling. I spent about 3 days after I resigned from LifeBUILDERS doubting my calling to urban ministry. I was weary, felt defeated and was ready to move back home to comfortable Canton. During those days several people spoke truth to me and reminded me of my passion for the city. I'm so glad those feelings only lasted a few days. Five days after I resigned from LB I was hired at Lydia in their alternative high school, Lydia Urban Academy. I feel truly at home here... God has guided my steps to just the right place and just the right time for me to be here. 

Most of my blogging will probably center around my days (and nights) at Lydia, because lets me honest... my life is centered around this place and I wouldn't have it any other way. Ministry is about living life with people, and I'm definitely living life with those whom I work with and serve at Lydia. I plan to pour my heart out to whoever plans on reading this. I hope you're prepared for some serious heart to hearts! Enjoy :)