There is a popular phrase in our community. "Where do you stay"? People don't ask where you live, but where you "stay". It never really struck me until we found out that a family we have bonded with over the last year is moving across town to "stay" at another house. Our neighborhood is comprised of 50% upwards of rental properties. This means kids may live in the neighborhood and attend the local school one year, and up and move to another house the next year. It definitely makes it hard to establish relationships with the kids of the neighborhood.

Yet when we go on prayer walks as we did last night, kids and parents can be heard yelling "hello" to us or running up to see what we are doing. Some kids get what we are about, while others still come to us and say I'm thirsty or hungry and expect that we are carrying food or beverage for them. Despite the trend in our city, we are staying put as long as God wants us here. Hopefully our neighborhood becomes a place of choice, stability, and homeownership.

These kids show up at the park, eat, and play games with us. They love the attention they get. I'm often mobbed by kids looking to get pushes on the tire swing or to get a game of baseball going. I've noticed a lack of fathers in the park which could be because they are working, or more likely that they are around but are not concerned with the kids. So, I am often heavily enagaged in actitivities with the kids. We talk, ask how our day has been going, and have fun on the playscape. It's hard knowing that I may not see some of these kids once they move.

In the past week or so, we've seen our numbers swell and new people are now regulars in the park. If only they had come in June. We only have a few more weeks left now. So now we are in a mad rush to establish relationships (or rather to make every effort to engage these new families) which helps us to find ways to better serve in the neighborhood, meet needs, and share the gospel.

We still have a number of families from outside the neighborhood coming in to the park. Many of them have their own church, which we is often lacking in youth programs. We've been able to get kids involved even if they don't attend on Sundays. It's tough because I want our church to grow, but I am happy that we are speaking into the lives of these kids and their parents.

There really is no science or methodology that works perfectly. It's a dynamic ministry that requires an incredible love for people, infinite patience, and an undying hope that what we are doing makes a difference. People may move in and out of the neighborhood, relationships come and go, but God will always be here. He is in the neighborhood. We want to point people to him. We want people to shed the unhealthy ciclical life that is comprised of drug use and/or trafficking, alcohol abuse, child neglect, poor time management, etc, and find refuge in God. In our neighborhood, He may be the only stable thing that a person may have in their life.