CityKidz' Stories - Episode 1!

That's right, Citychurch kicked off it's children's outreach program for the spring semester last night with the introduction of "CityKidz' Stories".  This "show" offers a wellspring of creative thinking to reach into the child's mind and heart giving them a fresh look at God, Jesus and how we should live our lives for Him.

After the kids arrived at the church from the van ride, they entered the cafe where they ate hand-battered fried chicken, green beans, corn, mashed potatoes and rolls, almost a Thanksgiving spread!  During dinner the kids had a surprise visit from Mr. O.T. Hinklee, the Weelz shop owner from the "show".

When they had there fill of food, they made their way into the main church auditorium, which had been transformed into a street corner.  It has an alley, a store front called "Weelz" where Mr. O.T. Hinklee works as a repair man, and of course The Bass Monster and his tamer.  The Bass Monster is the watchdog for the Weelz shop, but also the spring of truth, ready to spout scripture and words of wisdom straight from the Bible.

While Mr. O.T. Hinklee and The Bass Monster were the good guys on the corner, the van was base to a group of wannabe thugs, Rantz the dog, Edward Peabody aka "Skinnie D-Wayne", Hector the ape, and Chaquita the chicken.  These thugs made their appearance in a chopped VW van, complete with rims, custom green paint and flames.  The kids know this group as the Green Van Villain Gang.

The show will run through the spring semester every Wednesday evening, the food is served at 5:00pm, and the show starts at 5:30pm.

I look back this morning, and think about why we go to such lengths for these kids.  Then I see them come bouncing in, eyes and mouths open in wonder at the show that is performed just for them.  These kids spend most of their young lives in having gifts given to them, then taken or stolen from a cousin or dad needing money.  We try to battle that by gearing everything we do towards them, they need to know and feel like Wednesday night is there because of how IMPORTANT they are as a little kid.

This is an important tool God has allowed us to use to reach their hearts.  Everywhere else they are beat down, stolen from, or forgotten about, but at church they are important, not just to us but to God.  They hear about God's love for them and how the can have a relationship with God through Jesus.  We encourage them to do the right thing in life by writing stories that deliberately mock the world in their neighborhood and make heroes out of those who choose to follow God and his directives.

At the end of last night, we had served over 40 kids food and the message of forgiveness from a God who loves them.  As those who wanted to make a choice to follow God left the room for counseling, I looked across the room to see that well over half of the audience had left...to be counseled.

God sees to it that His work is complete.  He loves these kids down here and wants them to know He loves them.  Citychurch is here at the frontlines, ready to move on that purpose alone, using whatever we have at our disposal to see the mission complete.

-Jeremy

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