Faith in Action

This past Resurrection Sunday, I joined about 4 other brothers in going inside the Baltimore City Juvenile Justice Center to lead a nontraditional worship experience for the young brothers who were incarcerated.  Spearheaded by Rev. Russell St. Bernard (who’s now serving as a Youth Pastor in FL), we had a wonderful time taking the gospel of Jesus Christ behind the bars of juvenile lockup.  Since that time, I’ve been itchin’ to get back behind bars to reconnect with young men in that situation.  I knew that though a one time visit was nice, if we were going to make a major impact we needed to establish a program that included weekly visits.

Thee one and only Ezekiel Jackson of Soul Cannon (SIDEBAR:This brother has a serious gift from God as an MC and musician.  Soul Cannon’s sound demands an international audience and I’m sure that a much larger platform is coming.  Support my Brother!) and I have been mulling over how we bring greater permanency to the idea of mentoring incarcerated youth since we both walked behind those bars on Easter Sunday 2007.  Then Anjelene Branch, Case Manager Supervisor from the Charles Hickey School called me looking for mentors.  Hickey is a state-owned facility operated by the Department of Juvenile Services providing alternative education options to detained youth ages 12-18.

God worked it out so that the same week that she called me with that request I was scheduled to go on 1010AM for the Pause for the Cause Radio show.  I made the request public over the mic and challenged men listening to pick up the phone and call me.  Larry Brown heard the interview and remembered that we had met each other on the basketball court last summer.  He called my God-Brother and got my number.  David Overton a.k.a. “O-V” had just completed mentor training with a mentoring organization that I’m connected to so when his college classmate from Coppin State - Larry Brown - called him telling him about me and the challenge to mentor at Hickey, he was all for it.  God really orchestrated our steps and tightened the loop on brothers that were already loosely connected.

After weeks of planning and preparation, the day finally came for us to begin our weekly mentoring sessions at Hickey.  This past Saturday, November 2nd was our first day.  I was excited and a little anxious not knowing what to expect.  The brothers and I had been praying and planning - thankful that God would use us to reach out to young brothers behind bars, but how would they receive us? 

We gathered at 9:30AM at the front gate and proceeded to make our way to the classroom.  Ms. Branch met us there and we had a short talk about what our plan was.  We are going to do weekly sessions every Saturday morning for 90 minutes.  Half of our time, we’ll focus on some topic to engage the brothers on and the other half we’ll spend playing basketball, working out, or doing some other type of physical activity. 

The moment finally came.  We were sitting in the classroom talking amongst ourselves when the brothers began to file in.  We greeted every brother - and every lil brother looked just like us.  And I shouldn’t say “lil” - some of the brothers were taller than us - well taller than me anyway.  We had young men ranging from 14 - 18 years old.  For the next 90 minutes we had our orientation and introductions.  We wanted the brothers to get a feel of who we are and we wanted to see who they were.  The session went far better than what I expected for a first encounter.  Usually, brothers are a bit slower in connecting to other brothers, but as things progressed everyone really seemed to open up.  One brother who is scheduled to be released this week even made sure to let the group know how much he appreciated us taking time away from our families on a Saturday to come and reach out to them.  He said, “I may never see ya’ll again because I’m about to get out, but I can tell this is going to be a good program and I appreciate ya’ll coming out.”  I could’ve broke down right there.  It’s amazing how quickly I became attached to the brothers.  About two of them are scheduled to be released this week so I made sure that they have access to my cell # so that I can link them to job and educational opportunities once they get out. 

That’s one of the features of our mentoring program.  We are going to stay connected to these young men even after they are released or transferred so that we can continue to provide support for their transition back into society.  An overwhelming number of them had multiple arrests and had been detained numerous times.  Larry, Eze, OV, and I plan to put a brick in the revolving door so that these young men find the path that will lead to them embracing their fullest potential.

I really look forward to next Saturday.  We have a great group of young men and I’m hopeful that God will continue to use us to be true mentors to them.

Kudos to Larry Brown, David Overton, Jr., and Ezekiel Jackson.  I really enjoy serving alongside these committed brothers.  We have a special chemistry and I’m honored to know men that are serious about reaching out to others despite the fact that they have families and many other responsibilities of their own.  So if you’ve read this far down the page, take a minute to let Larry, OV, and Eze know how much you appreciate them BEING (not talking) the change that they wish to see in the world! (Also, support David Overton, Jr. who has started a Christian clothing line called “Sons for Christ“.  Get at him for more information.  Support my Brother!)

Brothers, let’s MAN UP and be good fathers to our own and strong mentors to those young brothers who need our support!

You want to be a mentor?  Holla at me. (only serious inquiries please)