For the third consecutive year, we (BSM) are taking students from UTSA to serve in Los Angeles for one week. We will be working on Skid Row and in South Central (Gang Land), and once more, we are looking forward to a transformational experience for our young people. The lessons learned in Los Angeles are always transferred back to San Antonio.
I am blessed beyond measure by our young people. I don't even like using the term "mission trip" to describe what we are doing because in some ways, the term trivializes the idea of being on mission, as if being on mission is something one does once a year. Our students are always on mission-on our campus, in our city-they are one of the most amazing missional communities I have ever been a part of in my 25 years of vocational ministry.
Los Angeles is our 'ends of the earth' when it comes to the Great Commission. God has specifically given us a burden to serve in places that most people go out of their way to avoid. Consider:
There are over 90,000 homeless in Los Angeles. That number continues to climb. It is staggering. A city within a city. 25% of the homeless are women. There are an estimated 6,000 homeless children as well. Los Angeles has the largest disparity between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' in the U.S. The drop off point between barely making it in Los Angeles and winding up homeless is small.
Skid Row is a very real place with very real people. A sea of humanity populates the area. It is said that Skid Row is a place where 'people go to die.' We have seen and heard such things when we serve on Skid Row. We will be working with Union Rescue Mission and the Dream Center to minister to the homeless on and around Skid Row. If you've ever seen the excellent movie, "The Soloist" (based on a true story) you get some idea of what Skid Row is like. Having said that, there is no way to describe what it actually is like until you walk outside the secured gates of one of the mission centers and actually take in the sights, sounds, smells and sense the despair, which is tangible, on the streets themselves.
There are so many stories, and so many of the 'stereotypes' of the homeless are shattered when you are on those streets and talking to individuals who neither want to be on the streets or chose to be there. And yes, you hear many stories of people who are barely hanging on, ready to give up.
But God is at work in the midst of the darkness and despair. Union Rescue and the Dream Center are doing remarkable work sharing the Gospel, providing training for people, helping individuals find housing and the care they need. God is at work, but it is surely one of those cases where the harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few....
School on Wheels is a remarkable agency. Their objective is to tutor children (elementary through high school) who are homeless so they can successfully re-enter the school system when their parent(s) find housing. The reality and pain of homelessness really strikes home when you are helping a child with school work and that child is either living on the streets or in temporary housing for the homeless. Children have no say in the matter. They don't choose to be homeless. More amazing is just how determined and how focused so many of these children are, wanting to make the best of the opportunity to go to School on Wheels, to receive their education, to help their family (usually their mother). It's humbling. It's heartbreaking-but God is working.
South Central is the stuff of TV cop shoes and movies. Gangs literally infest the area. There is a tangible sense of oppression in the region. We work with the Dream Center's ministry "MetroKidz" which targets children and younger teenagers. The objective is to share Christ with the young people, to teach them how to make wise decisions, to help provide an alternative view of life and reality than the one offered by the many gangs who compete for turf and for the next batch of 'young soldiers.' Children as young as 10 are recruited-lured by $50.00 a day and a free cell phone to simply be on the lookout for police cars. If one is seen, the playing children just 'call the man on the phone' and warn of police presence. For many of these children, who may eat one meal a day, $50.00 goes a long way towards providing material things they both want and need.
When we are working in the area, we have the sense that we are not in a safe place, but the most amazing thing is...we feel absolutely at peace. The Dream Center has developed great credibility in the area and families appreciate the investment in their children. God is working through MetroKidz to reach children. The enemy has stolen so many young people, but God is redeeming many as well. Again-Light is present in the darkness, Hope present in Despair.
Our students dont' go on 'mission trip' in LA to hang out in Hollywood or the beaches-they go to the places people avoid and we spend our week there. It amazes me that our young people will spend 3 months in training, will raise their support to go (approximately $900 per student), and give one week to go to places....again...places most people would pay to avoid.
We need your prayers. These are tough economic times. We realize that. The past two years, our students have found it easier to raise their support. This year is particularly challenging-yet we still sense His call and believe it to be our mission and calling to return.
We need your prayers, and if you are able, your support. The lessons these students learn in Los Angeles will be applied here in San Antonio. Every year that we go, we bring back a stronger core group of leaders and missionaries who will impact our campus, our city for Christ.
If you feel led to give, you can send a check to San Antonio Baptist Association; 5807 I H 10 W; San Antonio, TX 78201. In the memo section of the check you can simply designate "BSM Mission Trip LA" and 100% of your gift (which is tax deductible) will go towards sending our students.
We are also sponsoring a 5K Fun Run and 10K competitive race on Saturday, April 24, at McAllister Park. It is a "Run for the Least of These." More information on the run will be coming soon. By participating ($15.00) you will help send students, and if you choose to help sponsor (again, tax deductible) you will also be helping to send students.
I believe in this mission and this cause because I see how He has used this trip to impact lives in profound ways-not only our students, but the lives of men, women and children in Los Angeles, and again, as lessons are learned, here in San Antonio.
