Hello! My name is Hannah Palmer and I am the Director of Atlanta Metro Kidz! As you can see, it is finally my turn to be the lucky blog writer. Please bare with me…writing is definitely not my area of expertise.
Hundreds if not a thousand broken lives are being reached EACH week through Metro Kidz. I am so blessed to be able to see and experience it 24/7. I would like to focus today on the people behind the scenes, the people that truly make it all happen. They are called Site Pastors. Each Site Pastor is designated to a certain neighborhood which they are responsible to minister to at least 3 times a week through Sidewalk Sunday School, visitation and bus ministry. You see, people are like bank accounts…(I can already hear my interns moaning because theyʼve heard this a thousand times;P). You can either make a deposit or a withdraw on pretty much anyone. The more you deposit the bigger that number will be on that end of the month bank statement. It’s the same with people; the more you deposit into them the bigger their smile, the higher their self esteem, and the more likely they are to press on towards higher goals. In the same way, the more you withdraw, the less the bank account will have and it caneven overdraft. People who have had too much “withdrawn” from them, are easily pointed out in todays society. Unfortunately, many of these people are children. I would like to think there should be a rule for when the bank account is 1st opened… (when a personis still a baby/child) that there is no withdrawing until that person has been deposited into for at least 12 years. Unfortunately that is just not the case in the inner-city. Opening a bank account should be exciting, but more times than not, our kids are being viewed as an annoyance at the day of birth rather than a blessing. Or, on the opposite realm, they are automatically turned into an answer for their mothers need for security in life. Sadly these are both withdraws.
After withdrawing way too much, as I said earlier, you can actually overdraft a person. When a bank account overdrafts the debit card eventually becomes void and extra fees have been added to your debt. So many of these sweet children that we encounter daily have already been “overdrafted”, meaning, their outer shell has become hardened and they no longer have anything left to give. They have shut down and become void. Not only that but it is going to take some extra fees/deposits to get them running again. This is no small task.
These amazing Site Pastors have taken that task on to the fullest. Day in and day out, prayers, thoughts, sweat, and yes, tears are poured out for these kids. They know the power of consistency in their bank accounts: Checking in on it as much as possible and trying to make as many deposits as they can to fill the withdrawals the kids go through when they are not there. If this means visiting EVERY child EVERY Saturday even if it makes it an 8 hr day, or taking a couple kids out for ice cream when there is trouble going on at home, these saints will do anything to keep their kids in the “red”. They aren’t just there when it’s fun, when they need to feel like they’ve done something good for the world. They do it when they’re tired, when they’re sick. They sacrifice family time, friends, and other opportunities. They have given everything to make a difference, even if it’s just for one life. Correct me if Iʼm wrong, but is this not the exact example Jesus laid out for us? Their diligence convicts me. Jesus is always there rain or shine. He is true to His word, He has never made any empty promises to me and I trust Him fully. I know when I am with Him I can let down all my walls, and that all my debt has been paid for.
So I guess at the end of all this my question is; How many “deposits” have I made in others this month? How many have I “withdrawed” from? Am I depositing in others for my own deposit or do I do it whether I get anything back or not? I hope that we as Christians are being seen as “Depositers” rather than “Withdrawers”. I also hope that we are constantly turning to Jesus for our deposits rather than our fleshly desires. I have proof that Metro Kidz Site Pastors sure are;)
