Encountering a Beautiful Captivating God together!

For 50 days the Vanderberg Youth Center halls were filled with the joyful hum that comes from City Camp, but on August 10th the hum was somewhat bittersweet. That's the day we said goodbye. We said goodbye to 16 interns, 85 campers and City Camp 2012. As 4:00 pm rolled around and parents started picking up their children for the last time of the summer, we gave our last hugs, exchanged phone numbers and wiped away tears. Saying goodbye is always hard.

When you've spent 350 hours with a camper over the course of 10 weeks, you hear their stories, you see the power of the Gospel at work transforming hard hearts, and you feel that same power cleaning out the ugly places in your heart too. City Camp starts to feel like one big family living life together, sharing meals together, going on adventures together, learning to love and forgive each other, and encountering a beautiful and captivating God together.

As we made the final page over our walkie talkies for our last end of the day staff meeting, we walked to the classroom to say our final goodbye to an incredible summer. We walked in with heavy hearts having said goodbye to campers we may never see again, but an aroma in the room lifted our spirits. A mom of one of the campers had set up a feast in the classroom to honor our staff. This is a mom who we met because her family found themselves homeless and living in our Family Shelter. When the mom went to classes, the daughters came to City Camp.  They apparently loved us as much as we loved them, because when they found a home and left the shelter, the mom still made sure to get her girls to City Camp every day.

So there we sat, exhausted from a summer of pouring out and the very person God sent to be a blessing, is the person we existed to serve. The person that came to feed us, was the women we fed. When our hearts were heavy, it was the heavy-hearted women we had served that came to return the favor. The once homeless women and her children brought us a meal to say thanks. Now the tears were not from saying goodbye, the tears came from an overwhelming sense of God's mercy on us. As our pride crumbled and as we gave thanks for God's provision we reflected on a summer full of tangible reminders of the goodness of our King. 

(Submitted by Kalie George, Youth Ministry Asst. Administrator at City Union Mission)

Churches for Clients

Within the Christian Life Program we have several key parts to restoring men to wholeness in the Lord.  We spend great sums of time in teaching the scriptures, in counseling, in helping them manage their legal issues, physical and mental health issues and in building relationships in the Christian community. 

The Christian community and their local churches are really critical to success for the men, especially once they move along from here into their new world.  Without those solid relationships they tend to slide back into old relationships and patterns.  So we require that men attend and get involved in as much as possible a Bible believing, evangelical Christian Church. 

This is not easy though for them and for the churches.  The men see themselves as different than the rest of the congregation especially if they hang together with other clients at the church.  In isolation they don’t meet and develop warm relationships with others.  The church also may struggle with not seeing the men as just other sinners seeking a sanctuary with other sinner/saints.  When they do get together it is really good and as it turns out it is no different than most folks becoming at home in a church group.

We really need churches to take up this mantel and do it wisely.  These men need the resources of the saints who are ahead of them and the help to grow in the Lord.  These are intentional actions marked with constant growing pains and great joys.  Men getting baptized.  Men celebrating anniversaries of sobriety.  Men maintaining work and healthy relationship.  The joys are there for the mature who can give of themselves to help guide men who have chosen to be disciples of Jesus.  You don’t have to go into the world to find them, they’ll come to you and you can shepherd them to their next level in the Lord. 

(Submitted by Gary Mountz, Director of Men's Ministries at City Union Mission)

Family Center staff shares of special moments with clients & volunteers --

(From Grace) A guest came into the office to tell me her testimony. It is normal to hear her voice goes in and out when she speaks and she also suffers from severe anxiety. She was sharing with me how good God had been to her, but every time He lifts her up, she tries to go it on her own. She continues to fail even the easiest of tasks. Now she acknowledges God's presence in her life. She's willing to let GOD use her for His will. As she was giving her testimony, not once did her voice crack. That's the power of an almighty God! As she spoke I felt the presence of the Lord in the office. He said that when two or three are gathered in his name that He will be in the midst, and he certainly was!

(From Jonathan) One day a man came to serve lunches at the Family Shelter, as he does every month. There was an event going on that took many shelter clients off campus and it ended up that he was only able to provide lunches for a small number of our guests. This did not upset him. In fact, he was thanking God for the mouths he was able to feed. I thank God for our volunteers, especially ones like this man, who are still willing to praise God when things don't go as planned! 

(From Jeanie) There is a client here who has quite an amount of medication she takes on a daily basis. Her container that holds her presorted pills was not in the best condition. I felt a prodding that I should get her a new one. After about 2 weeks with this on my mind, I finally went to Wal-Mart and purchased a new pill container for her. It was only a few dollars but when I gave it to her, the joy on her face was worth so much more. I'm glad I followed through with what God placed on my heart because He was able to bless someone through me.

I Made it Home

Early on a Thursday morning I drove North on Troost and as I neared the City Union Mission I passed a client who recognized me and we waved.  I pulled into the parking lot and once I was parked and heading toward the Men’s Center I heard, “Hey Gary, hey Gary!”.   I stopped and waited while the gentlemen who had just waved at me came across the lot.  He came with a big smile and hand stretched out to shake my hand.  “Gary, I just have to tell you how great this day is and how wonderful the Mission is.”  He has been around here for a couple of years getting his life back.  He went on to say “I’ve been clean now for over a year and I have two PT jobs while I get some stuff done (bills paid and getting his license back) so I can begin a full time job I’ve been hired for.  You know I was gone for a while and got back the other day."

He continued, "As I came up Troost at about 11^th Street I saw the Mission and as I got closer I said to myself, ‘I’ve made it home.’  It was like huge to me to have made it back.  This place is like no other place for me.  I needed a bed and you guys gave me one.  I needed food and it was here.  I needed clothes and here they are,” pointing to the clothes he was wearing. 

What a blessed encouragement that was to me.  He shook my hand a second and third time, smiling ear to ear, clean, sober walking with the Lord.  My how I love this job.  My how I love this Lord of ours. 

(Submitted by Gary Mountz, Director, Men’s Ministries, City Union Mission)

God Has a Plan

A co-worker and I went to court in Warrensburg, Missouri last Monday to witness on behalf of a client, currently in our Christian Life Program. We sat through all the court cases only to find out that my client, whom we were there for, was being held over until the following week to see a different judge. At that time, we didn’t see the purpose in the time spent traveling and waiting in court, all for nothing.

This Monday we made the trip again to Warrensburg for the same client as the week before. As we sat there waiting for court to start late and then go long, with my guy being next to the last person to be called before the judge, we witnessed and ministered to another young man. The judge was tired of this 23 year old drug addict and was ready to send him to prison. The young man, named Anthony, told the judge that he would see about checking into a 21-day program. The judge told him that wasn't good enough; he needed more help than that.

The Public Defender representing Anthony remembered me from the week before.  She turned and made eye contact with me and raised her eyebrows.  I knew what she was considering and I smiled back at her in affirmation.

As the Judge asked Anthony to sit aside for a while, the Public Defender came to ask me if he would be a candidate for our program. I said, "Yes, I'll take him back with me today". She repeated me to make sure what I had offered. Excited about the alternative, she spoke to the Judge, who then called me up to explain our program. As soon as I told her it was an in-house, 12-14 month program, the Judge said to offer it to Anthony. The Judge said that she knew of City Union Mission and even made the comment that "we need one of these in Cass County"!   Anthony was hesitant, as he was fully expecting to have to go to jail.

When it came time for me to speak on behalf of my own guy, the Judge, the Public Defender and I were all advocating for him. This was truly an act of God! It was beautiful!

 
Needless to say, we came back to Kansas City with two guys, when we had gone for only one.  Today Anthony thanked me. He knew without us being there for him that day, he would be spending the next 7 years in jail.

God had a plan.  He knew that we needed to be in Warrensburg THIS Monday, for THIS purpose.

(Submitted by Pat Johnson, Case Manager at City Union Mission’s Christian Life Program)

Volunteer Project Leader Position Available

City Union Mission is seeking a volunteer to serve as the Volunteer Project Leader. This volunteer will lead, organize, and direct volunteer groups working on various projects through out the mission. The projects range from cleaning to construction to retail training.

This person must:
  1. be a Christian who is able to share the Gospel,
  2. love volunteers
  3. have leadership skills (Supervisory experience is helpful)
  4. be available on Saturdays

Any interested person may apply by completing a High Impact Volunteer application HERE.

Society’s Landfill

When I start investigating a purchase, I will definitely consider buying something that isn’t new. I’ll buy it if it is previously used, but I want it to be in “gently-used” condition. I don’t want something that has taken serious abuse during its lifetime. I want to know that I am not inheriting someone else’s problems. The last place you’d find me shopping would be at the local landfill. Items that end up there are there because someone has given up on them . . . the headaches and problems they are causing. I don’t want to buy someone else’s headaches.

I was recently thinking about the expectations that people sometimes have for the men that “end up” at places like the Mission. Even the word “end” in “end up” implies there’s not much further down a man can go than to a mission. It’s either “on the street, under a bridge, in a homeless camp . . . or to the mission.”

Ministering at the Mission is like a double-sided coin. On one side, most of the men who end up here at the Mission are seen as beyond repair, “not repairable”; therefore, they are deemed dispensable . . . “throw away” condition. For them to remain in their family, work or societal relationships creates too many problems anymore, and people are not at a place where they want,  or are able, to invest anymore time or money trying to “repair” the person so that the man will “work right, like he’s supposed to”.

This is not to minimize the problems these men are causing others . . . they very well might need to be told to leave those environments of which they were a part so as to allow peace, health, safety and sanity back into those same environments. Most of the men who end up at the Mission do need a sincere moment of clarity when they begin to understand the gravity of their condition, and the problems, pain and hurt they are causing other people. They do need to see that they are not “working right”. They do not possess peace, grace, hope or health, so it is no wonder that they have none of those to offer others.

But the other side of the coin is this . . . because the men who come to the Mission can be tremendously problematic and dysfunctional, it does not mean the only “end” is to be thrown away. To think that “ending it” is the only solution is not a thought from God . . . that thought is from Satan.

Most of the men who end up at the Mission will admit, in moments of transparency and honesty, that the thoughts playing in their head like a continuous CD are, “You’re a failure, a loser. You’re stupid and idiotic. You’re trash, worthless, and of no value to anyone. Just stayed blasted and wasted with your drugs or alcohol so as to escape that reality. Or better yet, go ahead and just end it all so you can get the pain over for yourself and others.”  When a man gets there in his mind, he has found himself at the gates of society’s landfill.

It is in that moment that he needs to hear a message and vision from Jesus Christ as found in the Good News of the Gospel. “You may have been a serious problem for yourself and for others. You may think you are beyond repair . . . but, hear this . . . you are not trash. The landfill is not the final plan I have for you. Others might think that, but not me. I have a vision for you that is beyond what you can possibly imagine for yourself! If you need to know how much you are worth, even as a sinner, look at the cross.”

That is what I like about working at the Mission . . . seeing the change that a man can undergo from hopelessness and despair, to a countenance that communicates his hope and possibility. A man may think that the circumstances he has created for himself can only mean life without love, purpose or meaning. But here, he can begin to find that God can create meaning out of meaninglessness, purpose out of purposelessness, hope and joy out of darkness and despair. To see that transformation and miracle in a man’s life, even in the smallest of increments or steps, is a delight beyond description!

Please don’t ever think that your investment in a ministry like the Mission is anything less than an offering of the grace and hope that you have. It is a statement that you believe in miracles! No matter how dark it may look, you are saying that you believe the Light ultimately wins! Thanks for being a part of City Union Mission.

(Submitted by Bret Kroh, Asst. Administrator of the Christian Life Program at City Union Mission)