My First Month at Fortress

by Jessie Sorenson

Well, here I am, sitting at my desk in the Fortress Literacy Lab, with a month of the Fortress routine under my belt, feeling this odd mixture of the comfort of home and the realization that I still have so much to learn.

I have learned a great deal about the children during this month, but only enough to realize how much I have yet to learn. I am a recent college graduate, having majored in everything from English to Music to Physical Therapy: they call me the professional student where I’m from. With that in mind, you’d think I would have figured a few things out by now, but God keeps surprising me with just how small I am and how limited my perspective is in the grand scheme of things.

I am so thankful for this experience because it has opened my eyes yet again to the great rich diversity of God’s creation. Each of us has experiences in life that shape and mold us, form our perspectives and the lenses with which we view the world. These children have enriched my life in such a way that I feel like my lenses are expanding. They are opening my eyes to an entirely different culture and flavor of life. Their dancing, singing, rapping, laughing, and storytelling give me joy and fill me with an overwhelming sense of God’s goodness.

I thought I was taking this job so that I could impact them, teach them, and show them God’s love (and yes, I still pray that God is using me in that way), but the most astonishing reality is that the very thing I thought I was to bring into their lives, they are bringing into mine. While we don’t always share the same musical taste (I’m working on my appreciation for Lil’ Wayne), we do share the same Lord, and His love is the force that transcends every single cultural, racial, or even personality difference. Our differences only illuminate the power of God’s love working in and through us, creating a unity in spirit that can only be possible because our Creator has made it so.

Jessie is Fortress YDC’s newest employee. She facilitates the Literacy Lab with an enviable mix of fortitude, authority and grace. The infectious, euphonious laugh you hear in the Fortress building? That belongs to Jessie. The hearts of both the rowdiest and sweetest kids on our roster? They belong to her, too.

Fortify

by Ramon Smith

Matthew 9:36-38
Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

Matthew 10:1-The Twelve Disciples; Instructions for Service

Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.
What an honor it is to be called on as Christ’s solution to His compassion. For the first 10 chapters of Matthew, we hear all about the lineage of Christ, the baptism of Christ, His teaching. His disciples have been right there learning from Him, watching His miracles and hearing His teachings.
In Chapter 9 of Matthew, when His compassion is expressed, the first thing He teaches is for His disciples to pray that the LORD of the harvest would send laborers into the harvest. The next thing that we hear from Matthew after this request is Jesus commissioning His disciples to go to the house of Israel, with the message of the kingdom, to cast out evil spirits and to heal diseases…the very work that Jesus was doing.
Working in ministry in general and with “inner-city youth” specifically, we can easily see Jesus’ compassion if we open our eyes. Just as Jesus saw, they are helpless and confused like sheep without a shepherd. They are following anyone who seems to have an answer.
Pray that Christ and His teachings be presented in a way that is easily understood, and will that out youth will choose to follow HIM. We are Christ’s solution to Christ’s compassion.
May we be faithful,
Quest

A Timely Reminder

I’ve had the blessing and honor of ministering to urban youth (and having urban youth minister to me) for almost 10 years. Over the years, as I transitioned from volunteer to youth minister to executive director, my role and hands-on involvement has changed some. I still get to interact and love on kids each week, but I also have to fulfill my ED responsibilities such as strategic planning, HR, fundraising, etc. Often I get so caught up in all the tasks that God has to remind me who I am and why I’m here. Last week was the latest reminder.

A couple of kids in our after school literacy program got in trouble and I had to take them home early. I was frustrated with them for not behaving and costing me an extra trip out of the office. Trying to stay positive, I prayed a short prayer for God to give me encouraging words for the young boy and girl on the ride home. As God often does, he answered my prayer with what I needed versus what I asked for. Before arriving at the apartment complex of the young girl, I mustered up a few kind words and said something along the lines of, “you know I love you, but you can’t act like that”, which in hindsight is not all that encouraging.

As we drove through the neglected complex, I became heavily burdened by the cloud of spiritual darkness that lingered all around us. Walking through the cluttered breezeway to the door of the apartment, I felt a deeper sense of despair. Once inside, the little girl sat on one of the two couches - the only furniture in the apartment - and I explained to the seemingly disinterested parent why she was home early. I left with a heavier feeling of hopelessness, and on the verge of tears that I would not shed in the presence of the young boy I still had to take home.

Driving out of the complex, my mind raced about what it must be like to live in poverty. Not the poverty of having little money, but that of lacking hope, dreams, emotional support, nurturing, love, etc. The absence of knowing God’s promises that are there for the taking, that you could and should have more. No words were spoken on the short ride to the boy’s house. We pulled in front and I tried to regain my composure to speak to the guardian. The boy unlocked the door with the key that hung around his neck. Grandma was not home yet so we sat on the porch and made small talk until she arrived.

When she pulled up, 4 other children jumped out of the car and took off on their bikes. While I helped unload a few grocery bags, I explained why the boy was home early. She listened as we walked into the house, but seemed exhausted and did not have much to say. With an aching lump in my throat, I drove off and watched in the rear-view mirror as the young boy jumped on his bike.

Instead of giving me some magical words for these children, God opened my eyes and made me feel. It’s easy to harden your heart and become blind to the injustice; doing so protects you from hurting over the suffering of innocent children. But that is not what God did. God, through Jesus, came to walk and suffer alongside his children, to give of himself for the sake of his children.

Praise God for the reminders of who we are - his children, and what we are to do - share his promises with others.

-Michael Thames, Executive Director

A Special Message from Michael

As in our individual daily journey with God, Fortress YDC seeks to keep and strengthen our dependence on God. As an organization we constantly try to keep in front of us that the work God has called us to, is more than we can handle. If we could figure it all out and make it all happen, it would be a good idea, not a God-sized vision. A divine vision necessitates divine provision. We pray that we can keep the perspective of doing what we can do and knowing that God is always working behind the scenes and on the hearts of those we minister to.