IMPACT OKC Magazine: Vol. 3 Issue 1 by varianceadvertising

IMPACT OKC

VOL 3. ISSUE 1

ROBERT “BOB” FUNK

Building a city through faith

THE SPERO PROJECT

Changing lives of at-risk youth

Thriving YFC programs Impact souls for Christ throughout the Metro

YFC OKC

YO UT H F O R C H R I S T w w w. y f c o k c. o r g

To advertise or submit articles to IMPACT OKC send emails to brian@yfcokc.org

CONTENTS IMPACT IMPACT COMMUNITY: COMMUNITY: BISON AQUATIC AQUATIC CLUB CLUB

EXPRESS: ROBERT “BOB” FUNK ROBERT “BOB” FUNK, EXPRESS

THE THE EXPRESS EXPRESS CLYDESDALE CLYDESDALE TEAM TEAM WITH WITH BOB BOB FUNK FUNK

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THE THE SPERO SPERO PROJECT PROJECT

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IMPACT IMPACT PARENTING: PARENTING: “BLESSING” “BLESSING” OUR OUR CHILDREN CHILDREN

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IGNITION IGNITION TO TO IMPACT!: IMPACT!: INVOLVEMENT INVOLVEMENT

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IMPACT IMPACT EDUCATION: EDUCATION: POINTS POINTS FROM FROM THE THE PRESIDENT PRESIDENT

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Focused on what’s important.

www.SandRidgeEnergy.com

bison aquatic club Y

outh athletics are a major part of our modern American society. According to the United States Census Bureau, the number of youth involved in organized sports in the United States is estimated to be over 50 million. Between practices, tournaments, working out, training and games; estimates on the number of hours teens are involved in sports reach as high as 43 hours per week! For most youth that is in addition to school hours homework, part-time jobs, family and friend time, which leaves few hours for anything else, including church or youth groups. This absence of a consistent spiritual focus, a negative secular media fixated on appearance over character and a potential over emphasis on wins verses loses can leave a young person misguided during a critical phase of life. Over the last several years, I have observed a response to this growing spiritual need in this active segment of the young generation. Parents, pastors, para church ministers, teachers and concerned citizens have partnered together to create teams that compete in established leagues and tournaments, but practice a distinct set of core values. One such example is Bison Aquatic Club, a swim team based out of the greater OKC area, which was developed by two dads who wanted another option for their

children. JC Riley and Terry Lawson, tired of the philosophical differences in training and disagreeing with the negative atmosphere in the two separate teams their kids swam for, set out to form a different type of club in May of 2013 with 5 swimmers. Paying for lane space out of their pockets and rearranging work schedules to accommodate the need for evening practices, they committed to the cause in spite of the difficulties and cost. Since that time, through positive ‘word of mouth’ expansion and success in tournaments, Riley and Lawson currently coach 63 student athlete swimmers. Viewing the team as an opportunity to not only compete with excellence, but to share God’s presence through daily disciplines and team work. “The opportunity that we have to mentor them and develop their character… you can’t put a price on that.” Although Christian faith is not a requirement for membership in Bison, the team’s core commitment to Christ guides every part of the team’s purpose for being and the coach’s philosophy. Even though Bison now sports an astonishing track record of winning, the coaches have placed a higher value on the character of their students than on the medals they win. Lawson said, ‘We care. We simply care more about them as a person than we do as a swimmer.” From opening every practice in prayer to sharing a

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weekly devotional at practice and from building self-esteem through reassuring words to selfconscious teens to reminding parents to encourage rather than criticize their swimmer(s); the roles which Riley and Lawson fill sound more like the job description for a church staffer than volunteer coaches of a swim team. However, they have answered the call to this ministry and are now weekly Impacting 60+ youth plus their families with the love of Christ through consistent coaching. “We tell our kids (the team) at some point your swimming career will come to an end, everybody’s career comes to an end, but what you do now will develop into the character, the morals, and values that set the standard that you will take with you the rest of your life.” As a minister to youth and young adults over the years, I have personally seen the benefits of organized athletics, both through the public school campuses and through leagues. I have watched as boys and girls who were unfocused and disengaged, as they got involved in a sport becoming motivated and confident. The value of committing to a team as a teen can be priceless. But how much more effective can that experience be if the Coach and/or the teams core values are based in Christ? That is why it is so significant for groups like Bison Aquatic Club, Warrior Wrestling and many others that exist to impact kid’s lives in Oklahoma and beyond, in conjunction with Christian Coaches in public school programs, to carry this worthy cause of shaping young lives in the reflection of Christ. I would like to encourage you as a parent, coach, minister or as a member of your community to look for opportunities to get involved in sport programs in your area as a mentor or coach to youth. If there is a vacancy of an athletic team

seeking to impact young lives through Christ in your region, consider answering the call by starting one as Riley and Lawson did through Bison. I ask you to inquire of Middle and High school coaches of a need their team might have which you can fill for the students they guide. A great example of meeting needs of a team and ministering the love of Jesus can be seen in the partnership of YFC OKC WEST with local Churches to feed the Basketball and Football players of an area high school. Through that simple action of love, they are now able to mentor and serve on that campus consistently, sharing the example of Christ through acts of simple service. How will you, your church, your business or your community organization leave a lasting mark on young lives in your neighborhood? JC Riley and Terry Lawson have a long term goal for Bison to help guide other individuals to create Christ centered teams in other sports that participate in established leagues and produce young people who compete with character in both athletics and in Life. To learn more about Bison Aquatic Club or to sponsor their continuing work, contact them statewide at www.BisonSwimming or on Facebook at BisonSwimming. If you are contemplating the possibility of creating a faith based team, contact JC Riley with Bison Aquatic for suggestions in making it a reality. If you are considering serving on a local school campus and would like guidance on how to pursue connecting with coaches and principals or to see which partners might already be involved on a particular campus, contact me at brian@yfcokc.org.

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by Samuel “Brian” Hill

EXPRESS

ROBERT

“BOB” FUNK

Entrepreneur. Rancher. Franchisor. Innovator. Cattlemen. Minister. Gentlemen. Christian. Oklahoman. “Doctor of Hope”. These are just a few of the titles that have been attributed to Robert “Bob” A. Funk, the CEO and Founder of Express Employment Professionals and multiple other affiliate companies. For over 30 years, Bob Funk has built Express Employment Professionals into the leading employment solutions company in the United States with over 600 franchises and branches in multiple countries. In 2012, Express EP did 2.3 Billion in sales and put 367,000 plus people to work through Bob’s guidance. He has developed Express Ranches into the number one pure bred breeder in the Angus business and the number one pure bred breeder of all breeds in the United States with four ranches here in Oklahoma and a 167,000 acre Ranch in New Mexico that is 84 miles long and 54 miles wide. Through a scholarship program he set up, they have given away approximately $3.4 million within the last 15 years to students who have bought animals from Express Ranches and showed them. The Express Clydesdales serve as representatives of Oklahoma throughout the nation, raise funds for local branches of Children’s Miracle Network and they have won a number of National and World Championships. However, if the true measure of a man’s success is not in what he accomplishes, accumulates or acquires, but rather ‘who’ he believes in through hard times and also in whom he surrounds himself with, then Bob Funk is truly a wealthy man. But to understand how phenomenal his story is you must know where he began. Bob’s parents were “extremely poor” and he grew up learning how to milk cows from his dad. In his teen years, he started working on his cousin’s farm while in high school. He became a Christian under Billy Graham’s ministry in 1951. Bob went on to attend College at Seattle Pacific through scholarships and hard work, where he earned two degrees in theology and a minor in business. After college, he went to work for ACME Personnel, a personnel placement company in Washington which began his professional journey. Out of the dissolution of that company, Bob began the process of building the company we know today as Express Employment Professionals, an Oklahoma City based Multi-Billion dollar corporation which spans multiple continents with over 600 franchises in the United States, Canada and South Africa.

Mr. Funk, how did you get your start? I’ve been very fortunate, very fortunate to have some great opportunities. The first company I was with gave me the opportunity to manage an office in Seattle and then they moved me to Oklahoma. I had an opportunity to be an entrepreneur here with someone else’s money and we built that company up from nine offices to 84 when he passed away. The owner, Bill Rife, was a mentor to me also. He was a Great guy and a wonderful Christian man. My immediate boss was a fine Christian man as well. Matter of fact, Bill led him to the lord after he had been with him for about three years. But working for Bill was a wonderful experience. I was vice president of the whole Midwest for him when he died suddenly with a brain tumor at the age of 52. How old were you during this time? I was 42 at the time. And I had been with Bill for about 17 years. His son took over and proceeded to remove us four vice-presidents to try and cut expenses. This was when the Oil Bust happened in ’82. Absolutely worst entrepreneur.

time

become

September of 82. Terrible time. And the unemployment was 14%, you know, here in town and so, he said, if you find the money, I’ll sell you the franchise for Oklahoma City. And I said, ‘I don’t have any money. I’ve got $5,000 in the bank and your dad owes me $72,000’, of which he couldn’t afford to pay me. But I said I’ll try. Ended up the three banks downtown wouldn’t finance me. So I went to the bank there in Piedmont and begged him to loan me $150,000 to try and keep the six offices here in Oklahoma alive. And after about two weeks, he loaned me $150,000, if I mortgaged the house, the cows, the land and stuff. He gave me the window of opportunity to get through it in order to build the company with the people that I had. I had six great managers and when the young man fired us all, the managers said, ‘Bob where ever you go, we go’. That’s the quality of Oklahoma people. They were loyal, dedicated and they were willing to stick with me where ever I was going to go. I told them they weren’t very smart because I didn’t know where I was going. (laughing) But in two weeks, I found the money with that bank and was able to keep them all in tact, keep all

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six offices open and make their payroll checks at the end of each week. But they’re the reason we’re here… because they were dedicated to the vision that I had. I wanted to build it back to 84 locations, and because we didn’t have any money, we had to franchise, so the franchisees had to put up their own funds. We had the knowledge on how to do it but we didn’t have any capital to expand. So we started franchising right away and the rest of it, of course, is history. But I was very fortunate and the Lord blessed us richly. I made more money in the first six months with the new company than I had made in any one year 17 years prior with the old company. I’ve just had some great people, just some tremendous people. How did you convince people? You had just purchased the Oklahoma offices from the other company. You had six locations. How did you convince people to start franchising with you? Well, I have interviewed nearly every franchisee that’s ever come into the company. And they had to have some trust. Franchising is all about trust between the franchisor and the franchisee. They have to trust, first of all, that we know what we are doing; second of all, that we will teach them, that we’ll transfer that knowledge over to them so that they can be a successful entrepreneur. Because being in business is tough. It’s not easy. Fortunately, we finance all of their temporary payroll, so that they do not have to worry about their banking on a weekly basis and that helped sell the franchise. If I don’t have to go out and find, you know, 300 or 400 thousand in capital, (as a franchisee) I think I can do it. If they had $100,000 to $150,000 in capital, in savings, in mortgaging their

homes or whatever; then they had to have confidence in us that we knew what we were doing. As a matter of fact, in Oklahoma, I had over 130 years of experience in the six offices that I had in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. So we had the experience, we just needed the capital in order to do it and then teach others how to do it. And that was fun because the first year we sold five, I think, of the old company. The second year we brought 13 of them in from the old company and then we started finding people that were not with the old company. Other people with other occupations came in and saw the success of those first 18 or so, plus ourselves doing very well in Oklahoma, then that attracted other people to come in and want to do the same thing. So it’s encouraging. It’s motivational. You have to motivate them; you have to encourage them that they can do just as well as I could. Some of them say, looking at “Bob”, if he can do it, I can do it a lot better. If you were going to give a simple description of what Express is, what would you say? I would say we’re leaders of hope. When people are out of a job or when companies need good people, they need encouragement that there are good people out there for them as a company and there are good jobs available for them. It may take them longer to look than what they would like to but they’re discouraged. It’s very discouraging to admit you don’t have a job and so our job, of course, is to give them hope and encouragement which is a ministry. Let’s face it, it may not be an eternal ministry but it’s a “for-now” ministry, if you will, because they’re needing that encouragement. And when people are working, they have a better self-image of them selves, their families are better, their relationship with their husband or wife is better and so on and so forth. So I’ve always considered us (EXPRESS) to be doctors of hope when they come in. Now, we can’t find every one of them a job because of their skill level, or a lot of times, it’s just because those types of jobs may not be available in the market at that present time. Sometimes it’s a little discouraging because

“Youth For Christ has done a great job of helping young people understand the values of life and their relationship with Christ.”

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they may have taken a different job, and then, suddenly the right kind of job opens up two weeks later, but its timing. A lot of it is timing. And so, we’ve got to be doctors of hope. We’ve got to encourage them. When they come to us, we’ve got to help them psychologically to be encouraged. We have to help them to understand that their skill levels may not fit these jobs, but they’ll fit these jobs over here. We find them good companies to grow with if they want to grow. Some people don’t want to grow but if they want to grow and advance in their lives, that’s our job… to help them and encourage them. But it’s like being in the ministry and I’ve always said this with franchisees, if you don’t have a heart for people then this is not the business for you to be in because you have to have compassion, you have to have a heartfelt need for them and to work as hard as you can to find them an opportunity… to find them a job. So it’s a ministry. What role has your faith played in all of this? Well, being headed to the ministry, I’ve always had a compassion for others. Money is not my motivator, never will be my motivator. It’s probably number eight on the list of motivators for me. My motivation is to try and help others to succeed in their lives and to improve their lives. And this is what really entrepreneurship is all about – building businesses and having the opportunity. By the way, United States is probably the only country that you have as many opportunities as you want in your life. So my job has always been probably from the spiritual standpoint is to help others to fulfill their lives as best we could do to help them to do that. And that goes back to the spiritual nature in them. When you’re trying to encourage people to find Christ, you’re trying to help them out for eternity and we’re trying to help them out to fulfill their needs while they’re here on earth, so it’s parallel. It’s almost identical but just not as long-lasting as spiritual nature is. And I think if you’re going to be a good employee you need to have some spiritual values, if you’re going to be a good one. And in the Wall Street Journal the other day, I told them there are three things that we look for in an employee – number one was integrity and I think that spirituality gives you a great sense of integrity. Second of all you need a good work ethic and I think the scripture talks that about 400 and some times about if you’re going to serve somebody you need to serve them.

As unto Christ? As unto Christ. And then, of course, you need to be able to pass a drug test. That’s got to be a little more difficult in the state of Washington and Colorado but that goes back to your value system. The productivity of an employee that is on the alcohol and drug system is not going to be as good as those who are not. And so it goes back really to the values, the spiritual values I think are really important. So it’s helped in the personnel business, I think, for us to hold and we do, we hold pretty tight to our value system. We try and hire people, we try and select franchisees that have the same value system that we have. Now that doesn’t mean that their all Christian individuals but if they got the same value, if they appreciate the value system that we have in the company, they’ll do well, I think. I think they will do better than our competition whose only interest is money because the more people you help, the more money comes running at your door – Zig Ziglers comment. So the key is to have compassion and heart for people and the more compassion and heart you have the more people you’re probably going to place which probably the more revenue stream’s going to come into the company. So the spiritual background has been real key, I think, to our success of the company. You were recently quoted as saying “success is so hard to define but I think it is best defined as the number of people you can help”. I’ve often said the most successful you’ll be is the last person you helped in your life. In other words, your whole life needs to be helping others and the more people you help, the more success-

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ful your life becomes. So many people believe success if financial and I have interviewed many a millionaire who are extremely unhappy people because they put all their faith and all their confidence in financials and financial wherewithal and that will never satisfy you. Very seldom. If you buy a new car, how long does that last – 30 days, 60 days. But that’s a symbol for some people of success, you know. They got a Mercedes. But that really won’t satisfy you. Helping others will satisfy you. Relations, building relationships with people will satisfy you. When you get older, like myself, some of those relationships pass away and so part of your life is gone with the death of your friends. So building relationships through your life, spiritually and otherwise, is much more important than any amount of money. The Lord’s not going to let you take any of that money with you. So to put your whole value system on how much money you have is quicksand. It really is. And you can have a lot of money today and no money tomorrow. We’ve seen that in the oil business many times, you know. So putting your value system in financial wherewithal really doesn’t have that much value. Now, certainly, you can help more people if you have more finances. That’s what we do with our profits in our company. We put it right back into more franchises, more people, more systems and so forth. So you can help more people with more finances. But if that’s your goal, to be rich, it’s quicksand. Is that the number one thing that most young entrepreneurs get wrong? A lot of people get that wrong because they think that being well-to-do is a happy life. You have

more problems when you have wealth than you do when you don’t have wealth. And many, many, wealthy people will tell you that. The problems are just bigger and their different. They are larger. And so it’s not self-fulfilling, let me put it that way. And then you look at the fulfillment found in the ministry. I don’t know of very many ministers that have ever been very wealthy, because their object is to help people for eternity. It’s not financial. If you find one that it is, usually they are there to help themselves, not people. And spiritually, selfish people usually are extremely miserable people. Very seldom will you find a selfish person that has the joy of life and giving and caring and sharing and giving away. I wish I could give all of my money away. That would be a lot more fun than gathering any of it up. But you can’t do that and run a company because you have to have it to expand and help more people. But I enjoy giving more than I do earning or building wealth. If you could give a couple of principles to a young entrepreneur to work and live by, what would they be? There are a couple of things. Number one is honesty and integrity. There are, in the business world, enough of them out there who believe they can get there by being dishonest. It doesn’t work. We had a very dishonest competitor here in Oklahoma City and they finally went out of business after five years, which is longer than most of the time. Mostly, a dishonest businessman, you can get them out of business in two to three years. So integrity and honesty in businesses is one of the keys. The other key is hard work. You cannot build a business without putting in the extra effort that it takes. Now, I’ve often said when I was in school, and this is true, that I was in the one half of the class that made the upper half possible, but I can outwork every single one of them. I mean, when I started the company, I was putting in 60, 70, 80 hours a week. It’s that little extra that you put forth that really makes the difference and we Oklahomans have a good work ethic. One of my friends went to California and because he showed up for work 30 minutes early and stayed 30 minutes late, he got four promotions in one year, because he was willing to work harder than the average. I’ve never found hard work to be a negative. I’ve always found it to be a positive. When I was on the farm working from 6 in the morning to 11 or 12 o’clock nearly every night, seven days a week,

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I don’t think it hurt me at all. As a matter of fact, I enjoyed most of it. Hard work is synonymous with success in my mind. Most people who put in that extra effort usually are the ones who rise to the top of the company. And so, some of our young people don’t understand that. They want it given to them. They want to come in and be manager when they get out of school. This is why our MBA programs have struggled over the last 20 years. They came out of school with an MBA and they thought they were going to have something given to them. They weren’t willing to work hard for it and consequently, they haven’t been all that successful. They may have had good theory and good theory training from the schools but to put it into practicality is different. I’ve found in business common sense is a lot more important than intellect. As a matter of fact, the average millionaire in America is a C+ student. They’re not the A students. And it’s because they have some practical experience, they have practical knowledge and they’ll apply it to the business principles. And so, it’s important that they have some common sense. Frankly, this is why a lot of the rural kids, who have had to use common sense on how to get through difficult situations, their experience helps them when they get into business or when they get into a job… to know practically what they need to do to succeed. To grow up, if you will. And I found that to be a lot more important than intellect. Now, that’s not to say that we shouldn’t get as much education as we possibly can, because the average college graduate makes about a million dollars more in their lifetime than the non-graduate, because of the level they come in when they start. But the real key is to make sure they have a lot of common sense and make sure… this is something not taught in our schools… that you have good relationships with your employees and with your boss. That’s a real key to it. 50% of all executive firings come because they can’t get along with their people around them. They may be very, very smart, very intellectual and have a lot of knowledge but you have to build relationships with the people around you in order for a company to succeed. That’s extremely important. That’s why I interview the franchisees, because we’re going to be partners with these people for the rest of their lives, so we have to know if we can get along with them and have a good relationship with them. That is a real key.

Many of your staff have worked for you 10 to 20 years. You came from poverty to notoriety and wealth, yet you are a very likeable, nice guy. You are what society would view as a true success story. How have you remained grounded and also, kept a core team of employees for so long? Well my theory is that there is no person better than myself. I mean, I was poor and I know what it is to be poor. Just because you financially have some success, you’re no better. It’s the spiritual thing. Christ really doesn’t care how much money you have. He looks at who you really are. If you think you’re better than anyone else, I think when you meet the pearly gates, you’re going to find out that it isn’t true. You have to keep that in mind all the time. It may appear that I’m very successful, but my dad was very successful with a sixth grade education. He was a maintenance man on the highway department but he knew that was his level of competency and he stayed there. They tried to move him up three or four times and he wouldn’t do it because he knew that was what was best for him. And, no he didn’t have any money. We were poor all the time but Dad was a very successful person because God only looks at the heart. He doesn’t look at how much money you have because He doesn’t care how money you have. (God) cares what you do with what you’ve got or the money that you earn, but He doesn’t care about the outward stuff. He just cares about what you have in here (pointing towards his chest). So my philosophy is that there is not one person on earth that’s any better than anybody else. You have to stay humble and caring for people if you want to enjoy your life. It’s got to be that way. Egotistical people are probably my one hot button. I have a hard time handling anybody who thinks they’re better than anybody else, because that’s not spiritually correct. What are three words that describe you? Old. (laughing) No, probably compassionate, caring and understanding. Probably those three words. I do love people. I enjoy the business because of that. I enjoy building relationships. I just enjoy other people. So those are three words probably.

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THE EXPRESS

CLYDESDALE TEAM

WITH BOB FUNK

klahoma is proud to have the Express Clydesdales as representatives of our great State. What was your reason for developing the Express team? Why did you go with the signature Black & White Clydesdales? They’re great representative of the company and, you know, they’re on the road about 220 days out of the year, so it’s tough on the staff but they do a great job of representing us. We basically make the franchisees vie for their attendance, if you will, every year and then we design our travel arrangements according to which offices we select that they’ll go to. They’re a good representative of the company and in branding the company the way we’d like to have it branded. When we go to these markets, we raise money for Children’s Miracle Network So, any money they raise for rides and so forth with the Clydesdales stays right there at the local hospitals in that community. There are only 300 to 500 black and whites in all of North America, so the gene pool is much smaller. There’s only about 10% of all Clydesdales that are black and then, of course, you’re looking

for geldings or for the males so about only 5% are males and then, of course, you don’t know whether they’re going to be marked properly which would be the white socks and white lace face. So it’s a little difficult finding a team that all looks alike and acts alike and so forth, but it’s fun doing that. My reasoning to begin with in buying them…First of all I love the black and white contrast verses the bays like Budweiser, but secondarily Oklahoma did not have a major hitch really that was touring the United States. And, of course, the ranch didn’t have one but Texas and New Mexico did. They were Bays down in Texas and they were Belgians out in New Mexico, so I thought we could represent the state, we could represent Express and then we could do something good for the kids all at the same time. It is a win situation. So we’ve had fun doing that. Of course, they’ve won a number of National Championships and World Championships with them but that’s because we’ve got one of the best drivers and one of the best managers in Josh. The entire team we have are good people.

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written by Samuel “Brian” Hill

written by Samuel “Brian” Hill What if the Church of Oklahoma City committed to being fully engaged in relationship with each other and their communities? What if the people of Christ of our great city collectively devoted themselves to ‘knowing, loving and valuing our neighbors’ as commissioned by God’s word? What if ‘giving sacrificially of time, energy and financial resources without expectation of ‘return’ or ‘result’ simply because we understand that all of our resources are actually His’ became part of the fabric of our faith? What could be the lasting impact if Christians dedicated themselves to ‘Standing shoulder to shoulder with the oppressed’ and in ‘doing all of this only because we have found Jesus to be such a treasure that we find freedom to join Him in His redemptive work in the margins of society? These questions are the foundation of The Spero Project of OKC and they serve as the Vision for this organization that began in the heart of Brad and Kim Bandy as a response to the needs of our cities hurting and marginalized. The following article provides a glimpse of the heart of this inspiring nonprofit as it continues the mission to confront injustice and oppression in Oklahoma City by mobilizing the Church to fully engage in a Biblical response to underresourced populations.

BRAD BANDY: Spero is Latin for hope and that is kind of the idea. We know the hope we’ve found in our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the implications of His life and ministry are global and universal; so wherever you find hope, you find God because He’s the author of it. And so we just think that’s a theme that really creates life and it’s been essential to what we do. We want to find hope and go pour some gas on it. And so

that was a theme that we were looking at for our city and knowing that the hope…What is the hope for Oklahoma City? It’s that we thrive. That we resemble what Jesus talked about in the kingdom of God. That was a message that He preached. He preached the kingdom of God. The Lord’s Prayer was something that really started hitting us about ten years – ‘May Your Kingdom come and Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.’ And it was kind of a theological shift for us in really helping realize the way Jesus lived his life. (His life) was on the streets with people, moving into margins, bringing truth and authority and restoration and unity, integrating the life of people into the life of God in a natural, life rhythm type way. And so, that’s our heartbeat, that’s our world view, the kingdom world view. Not that we’re bringing hope, but what we’re doing is mining it. We’re excavating hope wherever we find it. That was a real theological shift for me because I grew up in an evangelical culture where the idea was we are bringing hope to the world and when I actually got a chance to travel internationally, I saw the church in different forms. All of them were different. At refugee camps in Cambodia and South America, I began to see how hope is already alive in the hearts of people. What we need to do is be a part of God’s plan in excavating hope and helping (hope) come alive as they hear the message and life of Christ and receive His life inside. That’s a real joyous thing and that can happen in the deepest, darkest places in the world and in the deepest, darkest broken places in our lives. It was very common that Jesus put himself there, seeing where God was at work and joining Him there. That was a big deal for us. Once we started experiencing this and seeing it all around, it was like wow, this is amazing. That doesn’t just happen in the four walls of the church. It happens

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wherever the church is – that’s where life happens. That’s where hope happens. That’s where innovation happens. That’s where abundant life is, wherever the people of God are. That’s where abundant life begins to be realized in this realm where God’s rule and reign is actually being lived out. And so we want to inspire that. We want to discover that wherever it may be. I’m pretty convinced He’s everywhere… just like the Bible says. We really believe that Christ’s message is Relevant. We don’t have to make it relevant, it is relevant. By nature, His message reveals itself. We don’t dress it up and make it look like the culture to make it relevant. Actually, the gospel itself is relevant. I’m irrelevant sometimes in my culture. I am not integrated into my world. I might have put myself at odds with the world, but Jesus says the fields are ripe for harvest. Few are the laborers. Few are the people that really believe me. Let him who has ears, let him hear. And so, that’s kind of this journey we’ve been on of just how we want to go see where God’s at work. In the very beginning when we started, we were volunteering in our neighborhood with international refugees that had been resettled here by Catholic Charities. We actually started from a life group from Life Church, a bible study that we had. We wanted to start volunteering and I had a friend at Catholic Charities. We realized there are refugees that are being resettled today in Oklahoma City from all over the World… from Africa, Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Congo, Uganda, Afghanistan, Iraq and Burma. They live right here in OKC. So there was this global community and it just happened to be in our neighborhood. We had lived here for two or three years before we discovered these people.

So we started volunteering for Catholic Charities. They said that they needed a child safety class for the Burmese arrivals because they raise their children as a village and sometimes they don’t understand the laws here in the States. They wanted to make sure that their children were kept safe and in the parent’s custody. So we showed up. We were just going to do a six week class, you know… car seats, don’t leave your children unattended, little bit about school enrollment, this and that. Well, we showed up and there were like 25 single guys… So we said ‘okay, we don’t have children here, what are we going to do?’ In refugee world you have to think on your feet because nothing goes as planned. It’s quite improvisational. We asked, ‘what do you guys want?’ They said ‘we want to learn English.’ So we got on the iphone and start teaching English. We immediately start teaching greetings and stuff like that. We came back the next week and had some worksheets. We came back a week after that and we just slowly started doing what we could. None of us were trained teachers. We were just at the right place at the right time and established a relationship. After the sixth week, we were kind of in the mindset of volunteering. There is a start and an end to that. It is a project. In the process of doing the project, we discovered people and it was really a wonderful thing. They asked if we could come back the next week. We didn’t know there was a next week. The guys asked us, ‘Will you come to our apartments and continue to teach us?’ We discovered that this apartment complex was in the neighborhood and that started a journey with the refugee side of things with Spero Project. It happened over five years ago and we have developed wonderful relationships with our

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neighbors since then. That’s kind of how Spero Project was born. We started to get calls from churches – ‘Hey, we’ve got a youth group coming in, do you know anywhere we can volunteer, like a viable volunteer option?’ So we would have them meet other people who have a wonderful ministry. So we started matchmaking people and that happened quite often. At the same time, we noticed a disparity at the consciousness of our city. We started seeing that more and more people were getting really involved in social injustice. You know, human trafficking became a hot topic and how do we really reach neighborhoods, education and inner city mentoring? These kinds of things were brewing among the churches. People were really asking the questions, ‘how do we become missional?’ ‘We don’t want to just do mission projects; we want our people to be missional where it’s a lifestyle.’ But we noticed there were a lot of churches reproducing work that’s already been done. A classic example is that of a local church who became aware of human trafficking and they put together a vision trip. They got four or five pastors together, spent about $15,000 to $20,000 and they flew to Cambodia. They didn’t know anybody on the ground. They were just walking around trying to get a feel for it, maybe make a contact, starting from scratch. Well, in that same town was a ministry that had been going for seven years, a safe house for girls with solid contacts. They had already done all the ground work and yet, I don’t even know if those two groups met. That was part of why we started this. We knew both of them. We heard about the vision trip when they came back and it just made us realize the need to start a conversation. We wanted to start a conversation between church leaders and non-profit leaders together. To say, ‘listen, partnership is how we thrive.’ It’s not everybody branding, doing their own thing and trying to reinvent the wheel all over the place. If we can develop some partnerships and create a conversation, that is going to bring a lot of fruit. That’s going to bring a lot of partnership. We do better together. And so, for whatever reason, we were just a part of that culture in getting non-profit leaders and church pastors in a room to start talking. It was neat when it started. Ben Nockels approached me in a coffee shop and said, ‘we

heard through Bridge Way Church about what you guys were working with refugees. I’m doing a church plant down town. We’re small, but is there anything…Can we help you guys?’ Well, at first, I didn’t know. I grew up in this culture and generation where it was very competitive and not open to unity. That’s always been something sad to me. So we started talking about it and I said, ‘hey, a charity asked us to throw their 4th of July picnic this year. There will be about 150 people there and there are only 10 of us. We could use help pulling off this picnic.’ He asked for details and I said, ‘if you guys could get the meat, we’ll get everything else.’ Ben showed up with about 15 volunteers, a trailer with a cooker on it and they took care of the whole thing. They just blew it out. It was amazing! And I said, ‘man, I have to be honest with you, a lot of these people are Muslim or Buddhist. There are many Christians as well, but I’m going to have to ask you to not proselytize. You know, you can’t hand out tracts.’ We believe in engaging people with our life… our message is our life and our life is our message. And I told him ‘they’re probably not going to come to your church and you’re not going to brand it really. So if you want to really love and serve people, that’s awesome.’ He looked at me like he didn’t really understand the question. Then he said, ‘I don’t have any business doing that. We just want to come and help.’ After that, the partnership was really forming and at a subsequent meeting with Greg Dewey, Skyline church and Ben, he said, ‘we want to find out where God’s at work and go pour some gas on it.’ That was his quote. That changed my life. It gave permission and it gave perspective on just what we can do if we see ourselves as the church of Oklahoma City, not just this church or that church. We are One. We are the church of Oklahoma City. We want to create strategic community development partnerships. ‘Whoever calls on the name of the Lord’ is on the same team. In fact, we’re on the same team with every human being in Oklahoma City that wants to make a difference. Let’s do it. Let’s see this place thrive. And it was just an amazing shift for us. That’s our new motto. Wherever God’s at work, wherever there’s love and hope and order and restoration; let’s go pour some gas on it. And that primarily happens through relationships. So we create conversations that lead to relationships that lead to partnerships

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with anybody who’s doing good in Oklahoma City. That’s our philosophy.

KIM BANDY: Simply put, we work to mobilize local churches to engage under-resourced populations. We feel like the answer to all of those things is relationship. In a lot of ways now, what we do is some awareness, but mostly when we are talking about mobilizing a church, I think that there is not a lot of mystery around what the needs are in the city now. Certainly there needs to be more awareness of some issues. But, there’s no one in the city that goes to a church that thinks there are no poor people in Oklahoma City. We know this. So the question to us is if it’s not being engaged long-term, why and what do we do about that? So in a lot of ways, I think when we started the process we thought we just needed to match make. We thought ‘people just need to know about each other.’ And in some ways, that’s true, but we each year keep taking a step back and realizing maybe we don’t just need to match make. Maybe the local churches need a little bit of help in learning how to engage people that are different than them and be challenged on the fact. Just because we have monetary stability doesn’t mean we are better people than those who we are going to serve. And so, a lot of what we do now is share a lot of curriculum we have that helps move church attendees into a conversation with themselves and each other about ‘how do we confront our own lack of humility?’ and ‘how do we do relationships with anyone that’s different than us?’ It’s hard and you have to work at it, but we need to be aware of that upfront. What we recognized was the expectation was off when people were engaging and so it was like there was an expectation that I’m just going to volunteer one hour a week and that’s what I’m going to do. We want to challenge that expectation. If you want to missional and if you want to follow Jesus, that doesn’t work in an hour a week. You are in relationship with someone, you are going to give them access to your life and that’s much messier. We want to challenge people that volunteering somewhere is a start of something, it’s not the end. That is the beginning of the journey. We want to challenge that expectation and also challenge the expectation of the difference that you’re going

to see. So I hope that pockets of need in the city look very different when the church shows up to them, but if that is our only goal, then we stop or finish the wrong way. If we stop because we think we’re done or because something looks different or because some of them have jobs now, but we never discipled anyone, we have stopped short. It’s just the recognition that we need to be discipled as much as those that we come in contact with. And every relationship, as a follower of Jesus, every relationship I have in my life, is about discipleship in some way. But we the church are pretty good about thinking we are coming in to disciple, but not to be discipled. So we just want to have those conversations with communities of faith, of how do we come in humbly, with the right expectations, in obedience to Jesus and that’s it…not what the end result is going to look like. What we recognize deep in the culture of America is this idea of return on investment. We are so crammed with all of these activities that we do which we have been taught to pick out those things that are worth our time. ‘Listen your time is short. You don’t have a lot of it, so you pick those things that you’re going to get an investment on.’ That is not a healthy formula for relationships. We’re preaching the gospel of our culture, but maybe not the gospel of the kingdom. So we just want to challenge that.

BRAD BANDY: Charity itself can become oppressive. It’s a pat on the back. It’s that feel good feeling like I’ve made a difference at the expense of someone else. Ben Nockels talks about it as being a spoon length away from someone. He gave a masterful sermon about the rich man and Lazarus. What was the sin of the rich man? Was it that he didn’t give Lazarus the scraps? He should have given the scraps to Lazarus instead of the dogs. I mean, maybe, some people say that. But Ben says the sin of the rich man is that he didn’t invite Lazarus to his table, you know. He didn’t invite Lazarus to be a part of his life even though he was a part of Lazarus’ life because he was outside the gate every day for 20 years and he never took the time. He may have waved at him, ‘hey neighbor, how’s it going?’ But when they threw out the scraps at the end of the night, they didn’t prepare a little plate for Lazarus and say ‘hey, here you go man.’ They just threw them out

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and he had to fight with the dogs to get them. But it’s even more than that. So the idea of the kingdom is not I’m bringing a message to you and I’m going to leave you with it. It’s that we share a life together. It’s integrated. There’s no us and them, it’s just us. The broken ones are us. We call it mutual discipleship. Here’s a lesson I learned. I spent a lot of time with the Iraqi refugee community and I have a good friend that I made a relationship with and I helped this man with everything – furniture, driving lessons, any health problem that he had. I mean I was very, very integral in helping him get his life started here and getting some handles on how to live in America. It was late at night one day and I had spent a lot of time, we were working through an issue and my son was sick. He was just a little baby. And I needed medicine, I needed diapers and I didn’t have enough money for both of them. I told him I had to go and he goes, ‘man is there anything I can do for you?’ I had been working in this community with a kind of missionary mindset. I was there to help these people, you know. I had a hidden arrogance about myself as helping these immigrant people; they’ve been through so much and I want to help them. Here’s how God brought it to me. My friend said ‘man, is there anything…Every time I call you, you’re just there. You’re like my best friend. Is there anything I can do for you?’ And, man, I was in a situation and I had to get home to my sick son. I said, ‘man, honestly, can I borrow twenty bucks?’ He looked at me and he goes, ‘Borrow? What are you talking about? He goes, we’re brothers, man. What do you mean borrow?’ He goes, ‘anything you need it’s yours.’ He’s a Muslim, I’m Christian. The only thing we have in common is friendship and love. So all these barriers I had, categories I put people in. It’s just my nature. It’s human nature, really, to categorize people. So I had him in a category. He’s an Iraqi, Muslim from Iraq who’s a refugee. I was genuine and very sincere in my friendship but I didn’t know that I had put these boundaries on him. Well, I was in a situation and I asked if I could just borrow $20 and I promised I would get it back to him. He’s like, ‘this is ridiculous. I don’t even know what you’re talking about. It’s nothing.’ He goes back and brings back a $100 cash. This guy doesn’t make much money and he has a family. And I looked at him and I said, ‘oh no, I can’t take this.’ He was offended and he

said ‘what do you mean. You’re my brother. If you need something, it’s yours. You don’t ever, ever question that.’ ‘Ever.’ He was offended. ‘What is this not good enough for you? Are you saying we’re not family?’ What I got from the interaction is it was so natural that I gave him everything that I have – my friendship and my time, but he couldn’t give me anything? ‘Like what, I’m a charity? Oh, I see how it is. I’m a charity case? Oh I didn’t realize that. I thought we had a genuine friendship. I can’t invest in your life?’ Now he didn’t say those things but I walked away very humble when I was in need. I was thinking I’m here to help these people, bring them up to my level in whatever way and then God started a real rehabilitation program on me. And I started sharing my needs, my hopes & my shortcomings. One of those shortcomings was the fact that I didn’t understand the value of relationships and community. This happens to be one of the strongest values of Arab culture. They have taught me what it means to just spend time together. We don’t have an agenda. We don’t have things to do. The thing to do is to spend time together. This happened several times and I realized that I was in is a reciprocal relationship. It’s a mutual investment, but I was in program mode. And I was told growing up, people are a project. But really the way we interact with them, they aren’t a project, especially when you’re talking about doing ministry. Now, I don’t do ministry, I do life with whoever I’m around. I don’t volunteer, I do life. Because that’s the abundant life Jesus promised us but it’s taken me so long to learn these lessons. But we’re finding out God is everywhere doing life with people. They don’t believe the same things, they don’t act the same way, they don’t have the same culture but wherever there’s hope and love, Jesus is there inviting us in. ‘Come on, let me show you something.’ If you would like more information about The Spero Project, trainings they offer or opportunities to partner with other churches and organizations in your community; go to www.thesperoproject.com

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IMPACT PARENTING “BLESSING” OUR CHILDREN

SEVERAL I RECENTLY

b y T ODD LOV ELAC E

years ago, Oklahoma City experienced something that read a classic only comes around once in a decade or so it seems. It book called, The was Christmas Eve morning, 2009 and our family was Blessing written John Trent and Gary on our way to a party thatby weDr. have been going to for Smalley. I thought it would be good to remind 17 years. I remember this particular year because there us, buzz as parents and “spiritual leaders” of our was a huge going around that day about the snow children, of the importance to take the time and storm that was apparently approaching the city. intentional bless children often. The The be church where I to serve as aour pastor was prepared Blessing is based on what we see practiced to host its traditional Christmas Eve service that eve- all throughout scripture. In Genesis 17, God, in the ning, so I would periodically sneak away to check the role of “Father,” blesses his “son” Abraham and weather so we could determine if we needed to cancel tells him he will be the father of many nations. the service. I remember hearing all the gloom and doom Some years later, Abraham then blesses his son reporters as they guessed just how much snow we were Isaac, who later blesses his sons, Jacob and going to get that day. It seemed to range from just a trace Esau. Then in Genesis 49, Jacob blesses his 12 of snow to a couple of feet! In reality it turned out to be sons. We see this continued throughout the Old just over 10” in the metro area. It was the most snow Testament and New Testament and the practice recorded in a single day in Oklahoma City. With winds is still relevant today in the Jewish culture. blowing forcefully at 40-60 mph the we storm In the New Testament, seequickly Jesus turned take this into blizzard conditions with very little visibility. idea of “blessing” to a whole new level!Snow No londrifts formed as ithigh 6ft in places blanketing ger was just as father tosome son, He began to “Bless” the hundreds of vehicles that werethe abandoned all over all people; whether it was children that came the streets Interstates 35, 40 andwoman 44 were at andand sathighways. on his lap, the Samaritan desolate, all well, shut down, as well as the the the blind man, or airport. even his disciples It was certainly a crazy as fewhedays as thetheir entire city at the last supper washed feet and closed down. cast aPeople vision were with stuck thematofhome whatwith theyseemingly would do... nothingremember to do ... except for spend with their family. in John 14:12 time Jesus says, “Very truly Yes, that’s right, this “blessing in disguise” opened thethe I tell you, whoever believes in me will do works I have been doing, and they will do even door for memory making! Sledding, movies, snowball greater things than these.books, Jesusfood, spent most fights, board games, video games, and lots of his time-in-ministry “blessing” people. of laughter. I have never worn pajamas that long in my what exactly is ‘The Blessing’? What does life! I didn’tSo, know I had pajamas! That Christmas will alit mean to “Bless” people? John Trent (who’s ways be remembered. been it a took champion of this ancient tool) Of course some time to stop feelingBiblical guilty that gives this definition in The Blessing, Giving I wasn’t at work being “productive,” but as I settled in andthe

focused on the gift that had been given to us, I gift discovered of your unconditruly sometional love and accepthing that our culture tance.to“Blessing seems skip over our all children” is a way of too easily. Unstructured helping them experitime, no deadlines, no ence, at thenodeepest appointments, phone levelnoofhomework, their hearts, calls, no the certainty that they sporting events, no hurare highly valued and rying. For a few days we forever treasured by enjoyed each others company, we created space to love someone significant in their life. This blessing is each other with our uninterrupted time, we slowed down especially critical when it comes to our relationlong enough to listen to each other, and we reflected on ships with our parents. Gaining or missing out the real meaning of the season, the birth of our Savior, on parental approval has a tremendous effect Jesus Christ. on us. What happens in our relationships with This Christmas season, would you consider creating our parents can greatly affect all of our present this kind of environment for your family? Would you slow and future relationships. downMany long enough listen struggle and learn with from your adults to today what children? Would be patientdisorder, and full ofthat’s grace? Would experts callyou attachment the fail- you be intentional withtoyour time and creatively ure for children create significant bondsteach withyour family about the real meaning of Christmas? Would their parents as they get older. They stumble you consider for needs around you that your family down a looking road toward broken relationships. They could help meet? Would you make this Christmas one enter young adulthood, and marriage, with for the books? for Oneconnection, that will not soon be forgotten? a record deep desire but they don’t There’s such a sense of joy, anticipation, and mystery understand how to have it because it was never during this for time of year. it! Allow the “awe” of modeled them, andEmbrace they have no confidence the season to capture andlasting fill yourelationwith the love that they can really your haveheart loving, ships for themselves. So, this idea of “Blessing” of the new born King! our children is critical. The biblical examples of “Blessing” had 5 different parts that can work closely together, or they can be used independently. As parents, we need to always be looking for opportunities to bless our children from the day they come home

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from the hospital to the end of our time here on earth. In doing so, we will help our children know that they are highly valued and forever treasured by us and by God. The 5, very small, but powerful acts of blessing are: 1. Meaningful Touch Research from UCLA and Harvard says that 8-10 meaningful touches are needed per day to maintain emotional and physical health. Other studies of newborns have been done for decades on what good, meaningful touch does for infants... for their self esteem and security... and consequently, how the lack of physical touch has terrible consequences! The same devastating consequences can be true for young daughters without appropriate touch from dads or grandfathers or other significant men in their lives as well. In the Old Testament, as fathers would bless their children, they would put their hand on the child’s head as they spoke to them and prayed. We see Jesus use this same kind of touch as he healed and blessed people. (He certainly didn’t need to touch them to heal them, but he did.) As parents, if we are not giving our children appropriate meaningful touch, we’re starving them of genuine acceptance. 2. Spoken Message (or in some circumstances a written word.) You know as well as I do that words are very powerful!! Listen to this in James 3:5-6 “The tongue is a small thing, but what enormous damage it can do. A tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is full of wickedness that can ruin your whole life. It can turn the entire course of your life into a blazing flame of destruction, for it is set on fire by hell itself.” That is a pretty honest and colorful statement from the New Testament. But, words are also meant for good, and can give life as much as they can death. I would hope that at some point in your life you could remember a time when

your parents (or some adult) intentionally spoke encouraging words to you. I remember my senior year of high school, a really tough time in my life, I got a letter from the Pastor of our church who knew I was struggling. Although It was just a letter, it really impacted me in a substantial way and helped to change the course of my life. The spoken message of the “blessing” communicates encouragement and hope. I don’t know anyone who couldn’t use more of that! 3. Words that Attached High Value To “value” something means to attach great importance to it. In our family we recently started a tradition on Christmas morning. Before we open gifts we all go around and say something we love about each other and the “value” that we bring to the family. And then we put that person in the middle of the circle and pray for them. In doing this, my wife and I are trying to help our kids feel valued and help them see the uniqueness’ they bring to our family. Attaching “high value” to our children is letting them know who they are in Christ. That they are the Beloved! It’s telling them what you see in them, their potential, and the value they have! The thing to be very careful of when communicating this high value to our children is that the value you put on them can not be due to something they have achieved. It’s not about their performance. We want them to know we love them for who they are, we value them for who they are, and not for what they have done or what they can do. 4. Pictured a Special Future (Cast Vision) Bo had been one of my mentors for about 15 years. One thing he’s done for me that no one else has ever really done is share with me a picture of a special future for my life. As I continued to learn from him and became more mature in my leadership, I really tried to make a habit to do the same thing for the students in the ministry I led. I loved to see their faces light up when they heard me

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speak about their special future. It was actually one of my favorite thing to do. I’ve continued this practice this with my own kids, painting these kinds of pictures for them of what I see in them. I believe this is very important for us to do as our children will begin to take steps down the positive pathway that’s pictured for them, or they can travel down a negative and hurtful pathway as well, depending on what path is pictured for them. As parents, we must intentionally paint these positive pictures for them and help them see their value not just for today but for tomorrow. 5. Genuine Commitment (Live it out) The last part of this “Blessing” is a genuine commitment to your children. This is the mortar that holds the blessing together. James 2:15-16 says “ If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one

of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?” In other words, giving the blessing involves action linked to our words! It’s not just a one-time locker room speech. Our children need to know that we are in this with them for the long haul. They need our commitment that we will be there for them and walk with him through life as they learn how to use their God-given gifts, talents, and passions. Our children are looking for a blessing, and they want it most from their parents. Will you be intentional to bless them often? Let’s make it a point to give them gift of unconditional love and acceptance.

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IGNITION

TO IMPACT!

I N V OLVE ME N T W H AT W O U L D G E T A C C O M P L I S H E D I F N O O N E E V E R G O T I N V O LV E D ?

t Youth for Christ OKC our Mission is clearly focused on discipling students and teaching them to become influencers for the Kingdom, on their Campuses and in their World. Personally though, I feel in many ways that the main action that has developed me and made me aware of the needs of my surrounding community is involvement. It’s all about involvement. Being involved in your community puts you in primary position to impact your community. For example, It is because of our involvement in the Putnam City School District that allows YFC to be a part of huge school events like Cooper Middle School’s “Parent’s Night Out” Fundraiser or helping the Putnam City West Boys Basketball team get to Florida where they became 1st place champions at their tournament, both of which were enormous victory efforts. Involvement allows us to come together to see the greater need of our OKC area. Another thing that I love about involvement is that is becomes contagious. Now we are able to partner with local businesses and churches like Arrowhead Energy, Works 24, Gate Church, Pinion Construction, Passion Church, Swadley’s BBQ, Victory Church and Quail Creek Bank, that provide additional help and volunteers for these campuses to impact the lives of students that are in their own backyard. Another example, one of our donors, Alan Webb, decided to get involved in his community 29 years ago to help less fortunate children receive a gift from Santa himself. A simple idea yet complicated enough to benefit from volunteers. Alan and his family would assemble gifts

for boys and girls of various ages, wrap them and then dress up as Santa to deliver the presents to that family’s living room. Upon hearing about his efforts, others started to sign up to help year after year. Inevitably that number continued to grow and now, what is known as “Santa’s Cause”, is able to use a unified community with hundreds of volunteers to join efforts so that our city is impacted for something greater than our individual need. That is how we share the love of Christ to a city, we go and we get involved. The mission is to create a familiar community so that it can become a stronger community, and involvement does just that. Think about how much easier it is for a teenager to relate to an adult who they already know and have a student/mentor relationship with. It was the fact that someone cared enough to get involved in the life of a student that enables them to be encouraged and to become leaders in their own life, in their school and in their city. The effectiveness of involvement is that it helps create a culture of local support, which then leads to a shift away from the direction that the secular world is attempting to guide our youth. Involvement is an enabler, and we are thankful to be a part of the massive impact that is going on within our city and on our schools which enables a positive difference. So the next time you are wondering what it takes to impact your city and reach your personal radius, a great idea is to start by getting involved!

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written by David Shaw

Arrowhead

Energy, Inc.

A proud sponsor of Youth for Christ arrowheadenergy.com 2934 NWarrowheadenergy.com 156th Street, Edmond, OK 73013 (405) 848-5777 email: arrowhead@arrowheadenergy.com

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Points from the President

DR. REGGIES WENYIKA, President, Southwestern Christian University

The following are thoughts collected from an interview of Dr. Reggies Wenyika, President of Southwestern Christian University in Bethany, OK. 1. Value Opportunities I love to see the faces of the international students when they arrive because they are arriving for a purpose. They are getting an opportunity here that they cannot get in their country. And they’re getting an education with a perspective that they could not get in their country. I like to get together with them. We’ll have a barbeque and I just like to listen to their stories. I like to see them work hard. I like to see them get the dirty jobs. You know, they are the ones who are sweeping these offices. You know they stay up late because those are good jobs. You can get 20 hours of ‘Work Study’ doing that, where as you can’t get 20 hours working in a professor’s office. I just love to see them when they don’t even complain. I have a student from Cameroon who heard the maintenance department was looking for some hands and he told the maintenance director, ‘I would be honored to work with you in your maintenance department.’ The maintenance guy sat there and just thought this is the weirdest thing. I have never had a kid say he would be honored to work in maintenance and he hired him on the spot. I just love to see that. I love to see light bulbs come on when I’m talking to these kids. 2. Be aware of your Time

With all of our students at SCU, I like to see them graduate without debt, but I find myself telling them there’s a time to learn and there’s a time to earn. If you confuse the two, your potential to earn later will be compromised. These next four years, just learn. Be a student of the education and be a student of life. Apply yourself. Don’t go out, pig out and indulge. Save money. Put some money aside. You know, you can do it. We are one of the least expensive private colleges. Our tuition and fees are lower than a major state university’s tuition and fees. Their tuition, with the tuition only, appears to be lower but there are two pages of fees. When you do the math, we still come out less. God forbid if you’re an out of state student and you’re trying to go to one of our large state run institutions, it’s more expensive. Granted, we don’t have as many facilities as they do, but what are you paying for? When you send me your kid, are you paying for the experience to climb up some tower? Is that really where your hard earned money is going when you are sending a kid for his or her education? Is that as a parent really what you want? We have the bare minimums here but we have what it takes to transform a kid’s life and give them a certificate that will open doors in any country. It’s up to the kid. We’ll help them, but it’s really up to them.

yfc | volume 3, issue 1

3. Opportunities are out there I had a student walk in my office and she said, ‘I’m thinking of missions.’ I asked her where she wanted to go. With her reply, I looked at her and I said, ‘you are not ready to go there but I want you to go to Australia.’ She went to Australia and spent six months there. The six months she spent in Australia cost her less than the four months she would have spent on this campus taking classes. And yet, she was able to take 12 hours of college credits, lived in another country for six months and her family spent less on those six months than they would have spent on four months in America. The opportunities are out there. I have a kid who’s leaving next week for Romania. She sat in my office about two months ago not knowing what to do with her life. Now she is leaving for Romania. And I keep pushing. Another college student who served on a local middle school campus through YFC OKC WEST as a mentor to students is now in Lesotho. He bought a one-way ticket. Missionaries of the 1920’s use to do that, but you do not often hear of that in the 21st century… of a young adult responding to the Lord and going to buy a one-way ticket. He told his mom and dad, ‘I am going to Lesotho.’ He’s there now impacting lives. I get excited when I hear those stories because that is what it is all about. 4. You are created for ‘a Purpose’ My passion is to help students realize that their lives have to represent more than their mere existence. I desire to inspire the young generation to believe that their lives are a lot more significant than just existing and occupying space and working. It is important that you know that You are not a donkey. You are not a beast of burden. You are not a horse on a farm. That’s what horses on farms do, right? They just exist. They work and then when they retire, they’re put out to pasture. We are not animals. We are created to be better than that. We are created with a Purpose. So you have to do something significant. So you have to think about someone else. 5. Think outside the box It is very rare that you get kids that are just sitting there thinking, ‘what do I need to sacrifice to make someone else’s life better?’ So when I tell my kids, you’re not getting anything for Christmas except for envelopes to put money

in and send to an orphanage, they’re going to complain at first. But when I tell them I don’t want anything for Christmas, instead I want you to give the money to an orphanage because I have everything I need… I have a roof over my head, my lights are connected. I even have cable TV for goodness sake. What’s more do I need? I have a car that’s not coughing blood. I mean, I’ve got plenty. I’m okay. I have three meals a day. I don’t need to buy a boat. I don’t need to spend $200 polishing my car when my neighbor’s lights have been turned off, when $120 could feed 100 orphans for a week in India. You can just dig in and forget about everybody else, but I am teaching my kids the concept that when you have a plate full, you look at that plate that’s full and you say, ‘who else needs to eat before I dig in?’ 6. Respond to Crisis It’s a radical concept because of the generation that we live in, but 50 to 60 years ago, it was just everyday life for the everyday person. When World War II came, everybody chipped in. Our women went to work. We all donated our metal because we as a country needed it. We all sold lead because they needed it to make boats. And when they said crisis, you know, guess what, people got together. Well, guess what, there is a crisis. We’re loosing kid’s minds to humanism, to secularism. There is a crisis right now. It’s urgent. Why don’t we get together and let’s attend to this crisis? But there doesn’t appear to be a crisis, because after all, whether I do anything or not, I still have my three meals. I still get my high school diploma. I still get my degree. What crisis? Until they have kids and then, the kids are going to class and in 20 years time, they’ll be forced to take a course on Islam or something like that. And then they think, well wait a minute… Well yes, it happened while you were sleeping, you know, while you were busy existing. The world moved along and you watched it as the world became the worst place for your kids. And your kids are now looking at you saying, ‘Dad & Mom, why didn’t you stop it? Why didn’t you guys do anything? What did your generation do?’ How will they respond? ‘Well, we didn’t know. We were too busy trying to exist.’ That’s why we must teach our kids today to respond to needs. We must make a difference today for our tomorrow.

yfc | volume 3, issue 1

Every Minute, someone is being Impacted throughout OKC through the work of Youth For Christ! Daily new relationships and partnerships are being developed with Students, Principals, Pastors, Teachers, Officers, Coaches and Parents! Unfortunately, many of those stories never reach you. That is YFC has developed three amazing social media tools to keep you up to date! For up to the minute information from YFC OKC Areas, you can follow your area(s) at www.yfcokc. org or on the area’s Tumblr page! (www.yfcokcwest. tumblr.com, www.yfcokcsouth.tumblr.com, www. yfcokcne.tumblr.com, www.yfcsuburban.tumblr.com) With these resources, you can see campus updates as they are happening! Through our monthly YFC Newsletter, you can stay in touch by reading relevant stories from the staff and volunteers who serve on the ground! The stories and pictures they share provide a true snap-shot of the students and campuses the YFC team members serve. The newsletter also serves as a great resource to share with friends and family about this amazing ministry you support! If you would like

to receive the YFC UPDATE Newsletter, send an email to admin@yfcokc.org and join the e-mailout today! With the support of Tate Publishing, in 2011, Youth For Christ created and published IMPACT OKC Magazine. This Quarterly publication provides you our readers, with the stories of Individuals, Businesses and NonProfits who Impact Oklahoma City, plus it shares additional stories from YFC team members of the IMPACT throughout OKC in lives of at risk Youth! Packed with compelling stories of changed lives, neighborhood restoration and organizations committed to improving our city; IMPACT OKC Magazine is a must read! To improve our reader’s experience, we now offer the IMPACT OKC Magazine “Stack” Option so you can View All issues at once! http://issuu.com/varianceadvertising/stacks/f3a1225a8933452aabe7c13bd71cb8fb You can also stay up to date with IMPACT OKC Magazine news and advertisers by following us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/IMPACTOKCMag #ImpactYourOKC, #ImpactOurOKC, #YFCIMPACT

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What if Christians get Christmas wrong?

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