by Josh Lawson, Director of Community Engagement, Antioch Community Church
Besides being one of the longest and most annoying children’s songs known to man, “There’s a Hole in My Bucket,” is actually a great representation of what community development feels like. If you haven’t heard the song before, it is a winding conversation between “Dear Liza” and “Dear Henry” where Henry is trying to fix the hole in his bucket, but his attempts to fix it only lead him to finding more problems. Eventually he is left back at the original problem: the hole in his bucket. We all know that there is a problem in our community, but all too often the solution to that problem only brings up more problems! The educational system is not any different.
We know that kids need a better education, but as we dig in deeper and try to come up with a solution, we begin to see a web of problems. Poverty, hunger, lack of parental involvement, homelessness and learning disabilities all come together to form a massive game of pick-up sticks.
All too often, the magnitude of the problem causes those who can create the greatest change to simply give up.
But, that is never the answer. You have to start somewhere. And, I believe that for our community, mentoring is a fantastic place to start.
Now, don’t let me fool you, mentoring is not a silver bullet. We will not bring an end to poverty by simply mentoring kids, BUT it is one of the key components to helping us build a better community.
Take a look at a few of these powerful stats:
- Youth with mentors are: 46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs, 25% less likely to begin using alcohol, 37% less likely to lie to a parent, and 32% less likely to hit someone.
- Those with a mentor have also shown that they have better attitudes about school, higher college enrollment rates, enhanced self-esteem, improved interpersonal skills and decreased drop-out rates.
- And those youth who graduate high school are less likely to be imprisoned, become a single mother or become unemployed.
Mentoring can make an incredible difference. January has been designated as National Mentoring Month, so it is the perfect time to set a goal to become a mentor for a youth this year. Even if you can’t be a mentor yourself, you can become an advocate for mentoring by encouraging others to get involved in the life of a young person. It matters and it is a small step in the right direction.
There is a hole in our bucket, but we can do something. We can be a mentor.
To find out more about being a mentor or to connect with a local mentoring agency, please feel free to email Josh Lawson at [email protected]. For a list of organizations in town with mentoring programs, click here: Mentoring Organizations in Waco.
This week’s Act Locally Waco blog post is by Josh Lawson, Director of Community Engagement at Antioch Community Church. If you would be interested in blogging for Act Locally Waco, please email [email protected] to express your interest.
by Anthony Sytsma
My wife and I moved to Waco in January and we are only living here for one year as she completes an internship. So instead of committing to one church, over the past year we visited a new church in Waco just about every Sunday. We purposely visited churches of different denominations – Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Missionary Alliance, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Cowboy, and non-denominational. We went to large mega churches, small church plants, a church that meets in homes, and a church that meets on the street. We went to mostly Hispanic, mostly black, mostly white churches, and diverse churches.
Throughout these experiences, I was amazed at all the things churches are doing to help their communities. From our visits, we’ve learned and seen that churches are befriending the homeless, generously giving to the poor, taking care of young mothers and their infants, visiting those in jail, giving encouragement to drug addicts, visiting those in hospitals and nursing homes, and putting on vacation Bible schools for children. Many also volunteer their time at local organizations, such as at World Hunger Relief, where we live.
However, this is what struck us the most during our visits. At every single church we went to, we felt very loved and welcomed. No matter how we were dressed, no matter if we were the only ones there with our skin color, we were appreciated. People asked about our lives and listened to our stories. We were invited to other events and meals and were even given gifts. The person I remember best was a little boy who gave me a big smile and hug and said, “We love you.” That made my week.
Waco is full of beautiful, loving, hospitable churches that are eager to love people and get to know new people. So my encouragement to you reading this – you need not be afraid of visiting a church. Get out there and try a new church this next Sunday. It doesn’t seem to matter much which one you pick. My prediction is that you will be surprised at how loving, non-judgmental, and welcoming people will be to you. I believe the reason for this is that Jesus is at work among his people, sinful and imperfect though they are, transforming their hearts so that they can love others, as they have also received love and grace from God.
This week’s Act Locally Waco Blog post was written by Anthony Sytsma. He is at World Hunger Relief with his wife Sara who is an intern here. They are going to Uganda in February with World Renew as missionaries. He will be teaching pastors and she will be doing agricultural development. Thanks, Anthony for this lovely reflection on your time in Waco!
If you would like to write a post for the Act Locally Waco blog, please email [email protected]. Thank you!By Anthony Sytsma
by Rev. Dr. Leslie Ann King of First Presbyterian Church, Waco
I own a pair of “wise monkey” bookends. As you remember, the wise monkeys are depicted as hearing no evil (hands over ears); seeing no evil (hands over eyes); speaking no evil (hands cupped over mouth). The bookends are constant reminders to me about the need to manage my perception and speech. Particularly, the bookends remind me of the need to manage my perception when I perceive evil. I need to manage the way I speak about evil.
The word evil needs a specific definition. For the sake of Act Locally Waco conversation, I define evil as those things that injure life, given by God, and those things that injure an individual’s standing within society. Evil may describe the actions of people or the complexity of a circumstance. Evil is not something that God uses to tempt us, rather evil is something that God seeks to lead us away from.
When Ashley asked me to write this article it was in response to my participation in planning meeting for the Greater Waco Community Education Alliance Summit. In that meeting, I suggested that it matters how we talk about our Waco school district and those surrounding districts that we care so much about. Those gathered for the meeting seemed to agree that it was exhausting to continually lament the injurious circumstances and the lack of social standing among our students and their families. I imagined the three wise monkeys taking their place in the middle of our meeting.
Of course, I am not arguing that we should ignore – not see and hear – what is injurious and vulnerable. I am not suggesting that if we do not perceive evil, there will simply be no evil about which to speak. In fact, I do not believe the three wise monkeys are wise because of what they refrain from doing. Rather, I imagine the three wise monkeys as being in a state of preparation. They are in a holding position. Considering all they have perceived, they are readying themselves through meditation and prayer to consider what they will say. They invite us to a similar posture: holding on to what we have seen and heard to think about what we will say.
Will we fill this Reality TV world with more mindless chatter and idle gossip about evil? Or will we consider it all and speak the things that need to come into being? We can speak provocatively in the image of our Creator who, as you remember from Genesis, spoke in order to create. Enlightened by all we have perceived, we can use our speech as a strategy for creation.
Perhaps if we, like the monkeys, take the time to consider what we will say, our speech will be infused with Prescriptive Language rather than Lamenting Language. Here are some examples of how that might sound:
- Lamenting Language of our teachers – “Don’t you kids want to go to college and have a better life? You have to study and do this work to get that done!”
- Prescriptive Language of our teachers – “Look at what amazing and irreplaceable people you are. I know school is hard but you will learn and discover here in ways that no one else can. What will you do?”
- Lamenting Language of our citizens – “Our district does not have good and ready children within it.”
- Prescriptive Language of our citizens– “Some of the most important challenges of life, I was not ready for. These children need my support to rise to their challenges.”
- Lamenting Language of our children – “I can’t do this. There is no point in trying.”
- Prescriptive Language of our children – “If I try, I can do part of what I need to do to succeed.”
The three wise monkeys are not wise because of what they do NOT do. They are wise because of the holding position they invite us to assume while we distill the good word to form in our mind and be released by our tongue. It is the beginning of wisdom.
This week’s Act Locally Waco blog post is by Rev. Dr. Leslie Ann King of First Presbyterian Church, Waco. Would you like to write for the blog? If so, please email [email protected]. We would love to hear your thoughts on making Waco a great place to live for every person of every level of income.
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