Time capsule 20th Anniversary video /
Song Boastin' by LeCrae,
photos by Melanie Reyes
YouthWorks-Detroit
Celebrates 20 Years
by
Joshua Rock
Just
over twenty years ago, Dave O’Connor and Stan
Mathay, both members of the Servants
of the Word, moved to Detroit at the
promptng of God to teach in the inner city.
After a year
of teaching, Dave and Stan were looking for how
they could work with their students and other
Detroit youth in a more intentional way
outsideof the classroom walls.
In 1995, Stan envisioned the idea of college men
embracing the call to live household life
together in the city of Detroit while working
with youth during the summer, and YouthWorks‐
Detroit was born.
This
year, we are celebrating our 20th anniversary.
Over the past twenty years, we have seen God’s
faithfulness and transforming love in the lives
of Detroit youth, young people from the Sword of
the Spirit who come to serve in the city, and in
the lives of those of us who have made
Detroit our home. God has touched thousands of
lives through this work he began here twenty
years ago.
Over 300 young people from the Sword of the
Spirit have encountered Jesus here through our
Detroit Summer Outreach internship program.
Thousands of Detroit youth have heard the good
news preached through our retreats with
Cornerstone Schools and elsewhere.
We’ve hired nearly 250 youth through our
StreetTeam Leadership program. Over 300 Detroit
young people have engaged in academic, art, and
leadership based training through Bezalel
Project. Many have continued afterwards with our
youth group and StreetTeam, and have returned
later as Bezalel Project volunteers, Detroit
Summer Outreach interns, and even as staff.
Most importantly, many of our youth are building
long term relationships among us in the Sword of
the Spirit and growing as disciples of Jesus.
Many Sword of the Spirit youth who are alumni of
our programs have caught the vision for a
missionary life following Jesus and for our life
in community, and have taken up a mantle of
leadership among us. Many among our Detroit
youth are attending college, and some are
connecting with our university work through
Kairos. Some are becoming missionaries through
our UCO outreaches in North America and around
the world.
We honor our Lord Jesus for his provision for us
over these twenty years, and express our deepest
gratitude to him and to our brothers and sisters
who have supported this work with their prayer,
time, friendship, and finances.
[Joshua
Rock is the Executive Director of YouthWorks-Detroit.
He is married to Yvette and is raising his
family of four children in Detroit. He moved
to Detroit in 2001 after doing a Detroit
Summer Ooutreach (DSO) internship in 2000.]
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