December 7, 2016
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| Become a 3rd grade reading mentor. |
7 year old A'Yanna Allen was shot and killed Saturday night while sleeping with her grandmother. The motive has yet to be determined, but the end result is no less tragic, regardless of the motive.
It was a night that saw three murders in Salisbury. Three. What's becoming of our sleepy little community?
For one, it's not a sleepy little community. As much as I love this place, there are some significant issues that have to be dealt with. Poverty remains problem #1, but has yet to be firmly identified as such by our community leaders. The other day a law enforcement official said that Enochville has more meth labs per capita than any community in the state. Last week in East Spencer, a 25 year old man hitched a ride with someone he then shot three times and left in the ditch, covered with leaves.
I'd much rather be writing about all the good and happiness that fill our community each Christmas -- and there's a lot, to be sure -- but the underbelly of crime, racial tension, poverty, and drugs has got to be dealt with. But how?
There are multiple approaches, but let me lift up two that need your help.
1. Our 3rd grade reading initiative at Isenberg School has shown some remarkable results. At-risk kids are beginning to read at grade level and relationships formed between student and mentor are life-changing. We need 5 more mentors to volunteer for 45 minutes/week. I'd love for you to be one of the five. A small investment of time -- less that a normal lunch break -- can make an enormous difference in the life of a kid whose future is at risk. Let me know if you'd be interested.
2. Our Barnabas Connection is taking on new life for 2017. Yesterday Celia Jarrett met with some wonderfully creative thinkers who mapped out an exciting plan for the program's future. Barnabas Connection invites 15 at risk Knox middle schoolers to our campus for mentoring, spiritual nourishment and engagement with a local artist. It's a tremendous program started by Celia's mom, Shirley Ritchie, ten years ago. In the next few months we'll be inviting a new crop of volunteers to invest time in the future of our community -- a future that is walking the halls of Knox today. Want to learn more? Contact Celia. She'd love to talk with you about it.
A congregation our size should have no problem filling those critically important volunteer slots, so in advance I want to say thank you for stepping up to the plate.
Those are just two initiatives to deal with a much bigger problem. There are many others that community groups, agencies, schools, and congregations are developing as we speak. Become involved in one or more of them. For the sake of our community, become involved.
In fact, that's a great way to think about it. Consider your volunteer efforts as your Christmas gift to our community. I can think of no better gift. And you won't even have to mess with wrapping paper :)
Blessings to you and yours. May the peace of Christ surround and fill our community in wonderfully profound ways. I'll see you in church.
Pastor Rhodes
