Paul’s inner-city adventures

Dear family and friends,

The new year has begun, and it has begun roughly, to say the least. Such is the ministry, you never know what will be thrown at you. The most troubling thing that has been thrown at me is epically low attendance. My last camp day in 2005 was a day of full attendance; it was wonderful having all 15 regular kids. All but two days the last few weeks have been below 10; today I had a grand total of 4. It’s discouraging, I’ll admit; it makes you think, “Am I doing so little that they’d rather be at home than come to camp?” Of course, there could always be other factors. However, the fact remains that a large portion of my camp has not come, and I want to understand why.
I have also run into the problems of attitudes. For whatever reason, the first couple weeks were filled with arguing and “disrespecting”, if you will. It made me think; I realized that I do, in fact, have a middle school camp. After all, almost half my camp is made up of 6th graders. That, of course, brings with it all kinds of adventures, that I do not need to go into at the moment. However, I am understanding more readily that I must make adjustments, since my camp is not elementary age as the others are.
Now, problems like these, when allowed to engulf one’s thoughts, can lead one to believe that the past few weeks have been bad. In fact, it can lead one to miss the good that happens constantly; let us not forget that God is continually working. Fortunately, he’s kept my eyes open, or at least squinting. The first good thing; my numbers have gone from 15 to 22. True, of those numbers, there are about 6 former kids that have yet to show up, and many more that haven’t come regularly; but there are new kids. 2 were a result of going through the east side and looking for kids. 2 were a result of siblings moving from the west side (they had gone to Camp Promise) to their grandmother’s house on the east side. However, 2 were a result of my kids doing their own recruiting, and that is the most exciting part. Plus, it isn’t the first time. One child, who we’ll call Andy, is a wonderful child. One of the tiniest 1st graders I know, he has proven to be very polite, very smart, and very fun. I love having him at camp.
Plus, the lack in numbers has proven very helpful during a time when we are understaffed. I must sadly report that two of my StreetLeaders have left; one had to quit, the other had to move. Not only is this quite a loss, being they were wonderful workers, but it makes it a bit harder to run a camp. But we have managed, and I will admit that 4 kids is easier than 22. True, I would still like 22, but I can’t complain as much about the relief. However, I have a new girl StreetLeader starting Monday, so here’s to hoping the numbers rise.
So how would I sum this up? There are always valleys in ministry; however, it is foolish to constantly see these valleys as low and dark. The sun still peaks through, it’s a matter of how open one’s eyes are to see it. The past few weeks have been discouraging, but it’s pushed me. I’ve made a number of home visits, and have been to every child’s home at least once, some multiple times. I have gone through the neighborhood, and plan to do so again this weekend. I’ve even gone to a community meeting. When things are good, it’s easy to settle; but when times get rough, you can either give up or push harder. I’m not giving up. So here’s to struggles, and their ability to make me more of whom I need to be.

In Him,

Paul Granger
Director, Camp Victory
UrbanPromise Ministries
302.425.5502