February and March 2019

two:fiftytwo After School Program - Only at the program once a week these days, I still cherish the opportunity to teach our weekly Bible lesson on one of God's promises. One particular lesson I enjoyed teaching was when all the students got to throw a bunch of balled-up paper at a student holding an umbrella. This was to represent God being our shield and taking care of us when going through a rough patch. Ephesians 6:16 says, "In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." How foolish we can be when we sit there getting pelted by life even though God willingly offers his protection and guidance. Pray that as the school year approaches the final two months, the students would finish strong, that volunteers and staff would not burn out, and that those students that are still coming consistently can experience the love of Christ. Pray for the teachers of this neighborhood as well. Turnover is so great in neighborhoods like these since classrooms can be very stressful. Being in the school a couple hours a week, I see it firsthand. If you know someone who is a teacher, I challenge you to either offer them some help grading papers, or getting them supplies, or even just tell them you are in their corner praying for their year to finish off well.

Connect Middle School Program - I've had the privilege of leading the middle school program now for a few months and boy has it been eventful. In February, our Bible topic (chosen by the students) was MONEY. They learned about King Solomon's enormous wealth and how he saw his many possessions as meaningless. They looked up their own verses about money and we shared them with each other, learning about what God says about it in his word. They also learned about being good stewards of their money. The month of March, the Bible topic (again, chosen by the students) has been ANGER. Those who voted for this topic wanted to know better ways on dealing with their own anger. We learned that it's okay to be angry, but to not sin while angry (which is admittedly difficult when it's anger towards someone else). We even got to watch the movie Unconditional and wrote out times when the characters displayed anger, in order to help them recognize this emotion in others and the choices they made with their anger. We also learned that the things that we get angry about often reflect something specifically about ourselves. 

Entrepreneurs share their stories

We have Bible nights on our Thursday meetings, but on Mondays, we have our wild card activities including art, music, life skills, leadership, etc. A few weeks ago, we got to hear three African-American entrepreneurial women share their experiences with starting their own businesses. The students had the chance to brainstorm what types of businesses they would start up if they had the opportunity to do so. Their ideas were awesome! One girl talked about creating a social media app that helps to prevent online bullying. Peoples' accounts who make bullying comments could get blocked, then get suspended, and then eventually deleted. Another girl mentioned becoming a fashion designer who makes affordable clothing look stylish for those who don't have enough money to buy really nice clothes. These ideas were very specific to their own life experiences and I think it would be awesome if the seed was planted in their heads that if they wanted to, they could make their businesses happen.

Mission Teams - Every Spring break, we get college groups from all over the country (mostly Iowa) and they spend their week-long spring breaks serving the Brentwood community. We had teams from Northwestern College in Iowa, Simpson College (Iowa), and Asbury (Kentucky). The teams helped out teachers in the classrooms, mowed lawns, edges some sidewalks, picked up trash, bagged leaves, painted lines and colors on our courtyard, organized our church's storage and kitchen area, weeded our garden, watered our garden, spread zoo poop in the garden beds, spread mulch all over the garden, built new garden beds in the garden, completed our garden mural, and made an impact at our after school program. On top of all the ways they helped the community and 2nd Mile, we gave many talks about God's heart for the poor, God's heart for justice and righteousness, and the racial inequalities still experienced by so many people in our country.

Art night: learning about different textures

If you support the work that 2nd Mile is doing, consider giving towards our ministry. Check out our website at www.2ndmilejax.com and click "Donate." Thanks!

Remember Remember the Titans?

Moving to Jacksonville has changed my thought process a bit on many things. Here are some things I never thought about before while watching Remember the Titans for the first time in about a decade.

1. Coach Boone's white neighbors applaud him one night when they are going to the state championship game. When Boone first moves into their current home, the neighbors were nervous about black people taking over their neighborhood. Only when their home town high school football team performs well do they accept him, celebrate him, and applaud him (from a distance).

2. Ryan Gosling was a string bean in this movie.

3. What was supposed to be a "get this over with" meet and greet between Gerry Bertier and Julius Campbell turned out to be, in my opinion, the most powerful scene in the movie. Their raw anger and brutal honestly towards each other brought out the best change in one of the next scenes where Gerry gets on his white teammates for not blocking for the black QB. Julius, who recently lost a friend who got shot by a white business owner, was playing for himself and no one else. What team?

4. The Hall of Fame committee played a part in trying to rig a game in order for Coach Boone to get fired in order for Coach Yoast to be reinstated as head coach. This made me think, "Hmmm, I wonder if either of those NFL Conference Championship games were rigged."

5. Lastly, I never noticed subtleties in the following scenes of the movie.

Disgruntled football parent: He's not some walk-on scrub, Yoast. The boy's a player. He's a star. And he busted his butt for you. [Turns to Coach Boone] This is all your doing, you black---

Yoast: That is enough. It's my call.

Parent: Now listen.

Yoast: You just go on home now, Fred, before you do something that you're going to regret.

Doc: [Sighs] Yeah, well...I guess we won't be seeing much of him, huh?

Yoast: I will. He's on the deacon board with me.

Boone: [Laughs]

Gerry: I'm going to play basketball with Julius. Then we're going to come back here for dinner.

Mom: Gerry, if your father was still alive---

Gerry: Ma, would--just give him a chance. Just get to know him.

Mom: I don't want to get to know him. You are coming to church with your mother.

I never thought much about the underlined sentences when I saw this movie when I was younger, the irony of Gerry's mom being so committed to having her son come to church with her while wanting to keep black people out of her sight. Gerry was going to hang out with Julius, a black teammate whom she wanted nothing to do with. In the first scene, the disgruntled football parent's character doesn't quite match what you might expect in the deacon of a church either. Boone's laugh never made sense growing up until watching this movie again.

Unfortunately, this movie is still all too relevant today. Although segregation is illegal, in appearance it would seem that many people conduct their lives in a very segregated way. What might it be like if we had a Coach Boone forcing us to spend each day getting to know a brother of a different race, asking questions about their families, their likes and dislikes. There is too much hate, too much ignorance, too much talking and not enough listening.

What is discrimination like?

Zero fun, Sir.

That You May Abound In Hope

A crowd of people lined up outside. It was a chilly December morning, but they waited nonetheless. Too early for sunlight to sneak over the tall buildings of downtown Jacksonville, which made it even chillier. So many faces, stories, and expectations. Some may not have possessed home addresses, some may have been disappointed time and time again in the past, some had a criminal record, which in employers' eyes either taints or eliminates their chances. How could a job fair change the direction of one's life?

Last month, 2nd Mile partnered with the Better Together Job Fair, volunteering our time to help it run smoothly. I held a parking sign and waved it at traffic, directing them to an open field near where the fair was taking place. There were companies, businesses, lawyers, and counselors also giving their time to make sure that people were given the chance to either fill out applications, schedule interviews, or in some cases, be offered a job on the spot. Standing on the corner with my sign, I mostly just engaged with people that had yet to enter the job fair. On one occasion, a woman in a van pulled over to where I was, rolled down her window and explained with the biggest smile on her face, "I got a job!" I have friends and family that don't even look me in eyes with such familiarity and excitement, and I don't even know this woman. Oh yeah, she also won a bike in a raffle to help her get to and from work. Many others walked away from the fair, walking their bikes alongside them with newfound pride. Each one of those anticipatory faces early on, hopefully, got one step closer to the direction they were hoping. For those with a criminal record, many places of employment refuse to offer jobs, and in many cases, those released from prison end up right back in prison due to lack of opportunity for putting themselves on the right path. I commend these companies and businesses for taking chances and giving hope to people that may have been running low on any kind of hope. I've been encouraged by Roman 15:13 when hoping and praying for Max to be born which says, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, that you may abound in hope."

Connect Update

Learning about John 3:17, Christ came to save, not condemn

The new year has brought a little bit of change to our Connect Middle School Program. Firstly, I'm currently its director. Secondly, we'll be meeting every Monday and Thursday. More hours equals, hopefully, more time to help with school work and greater relationships among volunteers, students, and each other. I'm hoping to include leadership training from learning how to set up a projector to learning how to impact an entire community. Becoming servant leaders means having the right attitude, the right heart, and a right understanding of God. I hope to gain a better understanding directly from the students as to what topics they want to learn about, what questions they have about God, and how these things impact their lives outside of 2nd Mile. Thank you for those who donated Teen Study Bibles. The kids were grateful to have one to take home with them. I'm hoping this will lead to being able to do some program work outside of the program, getting them to read the word in their homes on their own.

Staff Retreat
At our annual staff retreat, we celebrated what God did in 2018 in Brentwood, as well as dreaming about the future of the ministry. With a vacancy at the permanent executive director position, we discussed what type of leader we would need to help reach our dreams of the future. Please pray as 2nd Mile navigates building a profile for the future Executive Director, searching for possible candidates, and filling the position.

Marshaun (4th grader) who attends two:fiftytwo, shooting a free throw. Check out that form!

November-December

Family Fall Festival

At the end of October, we held our 10th annual Family Fall Festival where hundreds of neighbors came to enjoy trunk or treat games, candy, food, a bounce house, music, and so much more! This is our biggest event of the year and we partner with JHA (the Jacksonville Housing Authority), many churches, and health vendors who come out and donate their time and energy to the people in our community. This was one of the colder and windier festivals to date (normally it's blisteringly warm) but that didn't stop people from enjoying time with family and friends. Our high schoolers in LEAD worked the grill, the food, the face painting, and the bounce house. Our middle schoolers in Connect worked on a photo wall a few weeks before the event so that people could take their pictures and share them on social media. 

7th grader Semajah (right) and her mom pose in front of Connect's photo wall

Voices of Health Competition

As many of you may have heard or seen, 2nd Mile Ministries was involved in an online voting competition from Oct. 1st through Nov. 9th. Eight non-profit organizations in Jacksonville battled it out to see who could get the most votes. First place was awarded $20,000 and 2nd place was awarded $10,000. After being in 1st for more than half the competition, the numbers from St. Vincent's hospital overtook the lead while we managed to maintain our 2nd place slot. Thanks to many of you, we won $10,000!!! We hope to use eventually use this money to revitalize our programming with supplies and possibly help with a new irrigation system in our nutritional garden. With such a heavy focus on health programming the past few years, we definitely were happy to be a part of Aetna's Voices of Health competition.

New Role

The past few weeks, I have taken over the director position for our Connect Middle School Program. I've been fortunate enough to partake in the weekly activities and lessons with this age group for the past three and a half years. However, even with that exposure to this age group, I still have much to learn about what life is like for a middle schooler in 2018 and in this neighborhood. Please pray that God grants me wisdom and energy to lesson plan and bring helpers into this new experience with me. 

Wishlist

If you are in the giving mood this month, here are a few things you could donate by either sending them to my house (3646 Brentwood Blvd., Jacksonville, FL 32206) or the church (4003 N. Pearl St., Jacksonville, FL 32206).

two:fifty two After School Program: Click on Amazon wishlist, kid-sized footballs, adult-sized basketballs, dodgeballs, construction paper, canvases, learning games, etc.

Connect Middle School Program: Click Teen Bible for guys (I could use 10), click Teen Bible for girls (I could use 10 of these as well), anything you feel a middle schooler would enjoy (?). I know Bibles shouldn't have genders attached to them, but I'm hoping these types of Bibles will allow for greater willingness to read on their own.

LEAD High School Program: Donations to go on a retreat this year with those in the program.

Me: I'm hoping to raise another $200 in monthly support. If you're led to eat up half my goal with a $100/month donation, great! If you want to give but can only give like $5/month, great! If you want to give but can only commit to one time at this time, great! Click on our website, 2ndmilejax.com, and you can give in any manner and amount you wish. Any amount helps.

Thoughts?

To end this blog, I'd love feedback. Do you like the new format? What would you like to see or hear more about in these blogs? Know anybody that might want to be added to my email or mailing list? Any ways that I can be praying and advocating for you?

Max in Wisconsin during Thanksgiving, unsure of the cold

October 2018

2.5.2.

At my wedding as a middle schooler

Student focus- This is Diallo. I've known him for a while. Met him when he was in 4th grade in our 252 After School Program. He was an usher at my wedding when he was in middle school. He is now a junior in high school. It's crazy to me just how much he has grown. There are many stories like his in this neighborhood. Kids who have been in 2nd Mile for years and have stuck around Brentwood for a long time. Many of our students move away and there is a very transient nature in the neighborhood. I don't get to see Diallo quite as often as I used to, but it was encouraging to see him out on his porch and willing to come help out at our recent Action Day. He has a busy high school schedule and can't be around as often as he'd like. Pray for opportunities to invest in his life spiritually and relationally these next two years he has in high school.

Growing Leaders- Every Friday, our after school program takes a break from working on homework and does some sort of Fun Friday activity. This past Friday was the first time ever in 2nd Mile's history where a Fun Friday activity was partly planned and led by a previous two:fiftytwo After School Program student! Challah (now in 9th grade) taught our kids how to make slime, which is always a crowd favorite. She has been volunteering at the program either once or twice a week. She helps tutor and teach kids about how to be great students. Na'veh (standing next to Challah), who used to come to our Connect Middle School Program, also assisted Challah in leading the Fun Friday activity. Both of these girls have been regularly attending our LEAD High School Program on Tuesday nights. Pray the God uses these girls in many more ways to bring the love and presence of Christ to those around them.

Open Court- This past Friday was also 2nd Mile's first time doing Open Court. At North Pearl Baptist Church, one Friday per month, we open up our gates and let anyone who wants to run 5-on-5 basketball to do so. We sold chips, pickles, gatorades, soda and also had cards and games going on inside. I haven't played full court basketball for a few years. It was exhausting but lots of fun. It was especially fun seeing shots being made as literal lightning fill the distant sky. Hopefully these nights catch on and more people get introduced to 2nd Mile, the church, and others in our programs.

Voices of Health- If you are on facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, or have an email, YOU CAN HELP US WIN $20,000!!! Every day, from October 1st through November 9th, you can vote for 2nd Mile Ministries. The organization that gets the most votes wins. We've focused on Health Education heavily the past five years, giving kids healthy snacks every day, teaching about exercising, food labels, and eating healthily. If you have been keeping up with the blog, I'd love for you to help us out. If you have an email, facebook, twitter, and/or LinkedIn account, you can vote up to 4 times (once on each platform) per day. You can vote here to get started!

Could you commit to voting daily?

September

Action Day- Early on a hot Saturday morning in Jacksonville, Florida, it may not be everyone's first choice to get up, put on some gloves, and pick up garbage on the streets. Sweat runs down your face and you begin to smell like that which you have picked up from the ground. After the streets begin to look cleaner, no doubt in the following months, there will begin to be sprinklings of trash in those very spots. What's the point? Why is this important? As my pastor would say when bringing forth questions to the congregation, "Glad you asked!"

Our Action Days at 2nd Mile have consisted of picking up trash, mowing lawns, cleaning up empty lots, weeding/planting/watering our nutritional garden, getting rid of waste that has been an eye-sore, all in the name of being a tangible presence of God's love in the Brentwood. As 2nd Mile focuses on leadership development, we've turned over our planning for Action Day to our high school students in our LEAD program. Not afraid to make suggestion and take ownership of this, our high schoolers pointed out specific areas, streets, and blocks where there was particular need for cleaning up.

This coming Saturday, I'm excited to encourage their leadership with my presence and help in order to love on Brentwood through getting a little dirty for his name's sake. How great it is to see young people desire great things for their community and put their ideas into action!

Open Court- At the end of September, we will be having our first ever Open Court at North Pearl Baptist Church! Open Court will be one Friday every month where anybody that wants to come and run some basketball games at the church may do so. This will be in the evening times and as we approach fall and winter, the light in the sky will fade. Pray that we find a solution for visibility (some sort of lighting system) to continue what we hope will build relationships and excitement in our neighborhood. Also pray that this become a safe place where people can have fun and experience the love of Christ, even on the basketball court.

I want to personally thank my friend Scott for donating some really cool basketballs and a couple chain basketball nets to the ministry. There are already kids saying, "Curry!" when they shoot that Steph Curry ball, hoping to match their shooting ability with the all-star's. These gifts are very timely additions to what we are anticipating to be a very fun opening night of Open Court. Thanks man.


Yoga- Starting in October, in an effort to contribute to the health and wellness of our community, Brentwood Yoga will begin. Having done a trial class with its instructor, I never realized the physicality and flexibility needed to do some of these stretches and moves. The instructor isn't into all that namaste stuff. She focuses on worshiping God with the physical bodies he has given us. It was a really cool experience and makes me want to take better care of this body that God gave me. Our body is not our own. We've received it from God, it was bought with a price and we should honor God with our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19).

Please pray for these three things coming up in our ministry. Already, there's been a lot of buzz amongst the students and families of our programs. A guy named Breon, who I met back in 2010 when he was 14 years old, walked down the street yesterday (now 22) excited to come to the church and run some basketball games. Pray that God would bring people who not only want to do these things, but need these things. I've seen God ignite drive and passion in our community through just a spark. Thank you for taking the time to read this blog.

My photogenic son (now 19 months)

Entering the New School Year

Duval County has started it's 2018-2019 school year which means our elementary, middle, and high school programs are in full swing. One of our biggest goals in 2nd Mile Ministries is to build into and strengthen relationships with students and their families through our leadership pathway. Students in our two:fiftytwo After School Program (2nd-5th grade) will transition to our Connect Middle School Program (6th-8th grade), who will eventually transition to our LEAD High School Program (9th-12th grade). This year, we have four girls entering high school, three of which have been in every one of our programs. They are also planning on volunteering at the after school program from which they once attended.

We are very excited to see our students spending lots of their childhood learning, growing, and leading. This year, I have the unique opportunity to attend every one of our programs in hopes to help kids graduate more smoothly from one program to the next. It's crazy to look at some of our kids now, knowing that they were once tiny elementary school students and in many cases, unfamiliar with the gospel.

two:fiftytwo After School Program: We have the most students that have been in our program for three years or more with six. We also have four brand new students and a returning student signed up. Last Friday, we learned about chemical reactions and mixed baking soda and vinegar to make a gas. We are excited to continue to build up these leaders in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and men (Luke 2:52).

Connect Middle School Program: Since the middle of the summer, we've started a new Bible series called "Fundamentals of the Faith," where we teach the main points of the Bible, how to read it, how it's put together, and who God is and what that means for their lives. Last week, we talked about the attributes of God. We have a very solid group of students. They are very committed to staying connected with us as much as we are to them and their families. Pray that they would be able to relate the gospel message and what they learn at our program with their own lives. Jovan, who gave his life to Christ at KAA, has been excited to memorize scripture and learn all the books of the Bible. Good things are happening here.

LEAD High School Program: I attended my first ever LEAD program day last week. There were about 15 students, most of which were very vocal and familiar with each other. Neek does a great job leading those kids. He himself is a rapper and very culturally relevant. About once a month, he plays a popular song (not necessarily Christian), and has the kids read the lyrics and dissect it. He has in the past focused a lot on having healthy emotional responses to different things in life. The program will occasionally watch a movie together and answer questions about the characters' emotions and whether or not they were healthy or unhealthy.

Ways you can help: At the beginning of the school year, we put new items on our Amazon Wishlist that you can purchase and send to us. You can send things either to my house (3646 Brentwood Blvd., Jacksonville, FL 32206) or directly to North Pearl Baptists Church (4003 N. Pearl St., Jacksonville, FL 32206). Another thing the kids would love is new basketballs and basketball nets. We get a lot of use out of our hoops and the nets usually break every year or so. If you wanted to get some heavy duty chain nets, that'd be awesome too! Another way our ministry continues to work in the Brentwood neighborhood year after year is from financial donations. If you'd like to give monthly to help sustain God's work, you can go to 2ndmilejax.com and give online.