Week in review

On Sunday we had about 35 attend the Sunday Night Outreach. There were West African Missionaries who were visiting the US. They were actually on like a mission trip as missionaries to the US. They were native West Africans. They brought steel drums and provided the whole evening's program.

Later in the week I worked at the Kokomo Academy on Wednesday and Thursday, I was interviewed for the substitute teaching job on Tuesday. I subbed in science on Wednesday and Math on Thursday. I will be hard for me to complain about youth group behavior again. I had about 75 boys, throughout the day, between the ages of 12-17. All but one were felons. Everyone of the used the F word multiple times. They jumped on chairs, banged on walls, slept through class, disrupted, rapped out loud and a whole host of other things. There was a guard to maintain some composure. Several were put in the hallway or into a quiet room. The class rooms had cameras. About half acted out while the other half did their work. All must reach a certain level to go home. Zeros in school makes them stay longer. If they put their head down and aren't disruptive that is fine, it is their choice how long they stay locked up. I heard a hand full of stories of mothers, murdering fathers, running from foster homes, drug selling and use, physical and sexual abuse as well as being abusers. The youngest class was the worst behaved, with those working toward GED being the best. It seems to me that someone had to work real hard to make these young men as hard and perverse as they are. Would I do it again? Yes I would, now knowing what to expect, I would go back in a heartbeat. It made me realize that what we are doing with Kokomo Urban Outreach is even more important, we must keep children here out of there.

Dave and I also recorded another podcast on Control, this was before I subbed. I may have had different comments if I we produced the podcast afterwards. You can find the podcast here.

On Friday Night Chris and I attended our District Pastor's Christmas Party in the past 21 years we have only missed one. The one this year was very good. It is good just to be around friends and peers. What made this one so special was that no one we sat with talked about church. We were just friends gathered around the table to catch up with each other. Maybe after 20 years of attending I have moved onto the old pastors table where everyone knows that we are all full of bologna. We had nothing to prove, we simply enjoyed the food and the evening.

This Tuesday coming ahead we are having a mothers morning out. From 10-1 we are providing child care for the neighborhood parents and offering them church bus rides to go shopping, we will be running a sort of a taxi service for those three hours. The Freshman class from a Christian School in Marion IN will be providing the childcare and lunch for the children. I have borrowed a church van and will play taxi driver. This will be our first venture into this new area. We are hoping to take moms to buy groceries but we are giving them the option of what they do with their free time. We are trying to offer our services as unconditional as possible. Keep Tuesday in Prayer. Thanks for you prayers. Jeff