Street to Street by Fred Lynch

A monthly message from Fred Lynch.

Street to Street by Fred Lynch

Is your Network built for a Crisis?

October 2005

Hurricanes...earthquakes...floods...terrorist attacks...school shootings...this generation of teens have seen more than there share of tragedy right in their front yard and it has caused the Church on a whole to tighten up in her approach to relevancy in a hostile world. It seems that tragedy never arrives at a convenient time; it always throws off our schedule and causes us to put our agendas to the side and address the problem at hand. I'm sure you've heard the story about the lost man whose house was on fire. A pastor came by to talk to him about Jesus and the man replied, "Just help me put the fire out and I'll listen to you all day long about Jesus." One of the best things that I can say that I see happening for the Church out of these back to back sequence of tragic events (and if you've read the Book, it's gonna get worse before it gets better) is that its waking the Church up and causing her to get in place to weep with those who weep and comfort the afflicted and help the hurting. Although we may not have the resources like a Red Cross or F.E.M.A.; we are also free of the red tape that so many mammoth organizations must have to operate.

The great thing about the Church (when the church is acting like the Church) is that we can get right out there and provide immediate help to the weary. There's a youth worker out in the streets who's doing just that and I'd like to introduce him to you. His name is Max Torres and he lives with his family in Houston, TX. As soon as hurricane Katrina hit and Houston received its evacuees, Max got to work, networking the city through Somebody Cares America, overstepping the red tape were used as a distribution point to get help right to the people. As a result God begin pouring out so many opportunities they couldn't contain it! I'm talking about people with needs came pouring in like a flood, but the resources to help the people came as well and God used them to touch the streets with the kiss of God. Folks this is what revival is all about. Be sure to check out Max's story with Somebody Cares America. Doug Stringer, the founder of Somebody Cares says,

The Kingdom of God is built on relationships and outreach is a direct result of those relationships.

As we are building Networks to evangelize youth, disciple youth, provide cool Christian clubs for youth to step into leadership roles on campus...God is showing us one more need for the Network and that's to develop a safe place for teens to gather and be nurtured particularly in the event of a crisis. In light of recent tragedies like Katrina & Rita we find that we can't put all of our 'safe-havens' in one basket, one location or one church. We need to build city-wide safe-places that are networked with each other to handle the hostile attacks that our kids face. Networking for crisis doesn't have to be something 'new' or 'extra' to add on to the weighty task list that you have now. If fact with a few additions and tweaks you can arm your youth ministry network with an ability to respond to crisis as soon as it hits. For starters, bring up the 'what if' conversation at your next network meeting. As I said earlier, tragedies never schedule themselves in at the most convenient times, and often we are left in a reactionary mode to crisis. Get ready now by bringing up the right questions in you network and begin laying out solutions for different crisis scenarios. Find out who could be the point person in the case of a crisis. Begin to identify who has access to food banks, shelters, counseling, etc. Develop a city wide volunteer data base and be ready to use them when the time comes. Just think what could happen when the next crisis comes to your community if your network was in place to send an army of teens to volunteer a helping hand; a group of counselors to talk with those who've been traumatized; a gang of youth workers to pick up the pieces after everyone has scattered. I'll tell you what will happen: REVIVAL.

Below is a list of links of ministries who've worked with major crisis events who may be able to direct you with more ideas to get your network ready to deal with crisis.

Freddie Freebie: Here's a link to a free excerpt from a great resource on this subject. The resource is a new book written by Rich Van Pelt and Jim Hancock titled: The Youth Worker's Guide to Helping Teenagers in Crisis.

For more information on Max Torres please e-mail him at: rmaxtorres@yahoo.com

Sharing the gospel from 'Street to Street',

Fred Lynch III
GodStyle Productions

Fred Lynch is the founder of GodStyle Productions, a ministry committed to changing youth culture. For more information on Fred, visit his website or check out his latest project, The Epic (the gospel of John translated into rap).

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