Greg’s Blog
Check out what IMPACT’s Executive Director Greg Allen has to say about what is happening at IMPACT. He’ll also list the PRAISE & PRAYER.
Praise & Prayer Requests April 21
Activities Update and Praise This Saturday’s youth activities were filled with learning and fun–even the college volunteers left out-of-breath. As Tory’on walked in to the Passport youth program he said, “Are we having church today?” When I asked him what he meant by that, he said, “You know, where we sit around and you tell us about God?” I assured him we’d be “having church” today. In the Tech Center upstairs, Sean led a group of young men in another session of the...
read moreUpdate from Greg
One of the graduates from Hip Hop 101 has is distributing copies of his “official bootleg” CD that he created at the IMPACT studio. To say he’s excited about it is an understatement, and he is quick to give thanks to Sean and IMPACT. The rapper has also been attending the LTC classes and bringing friends and family with him. It’s great to see the folks in the neighborhood view IMPACT as a “community resource center”. Several church teams schedule our gym for practices when we’re not using it and...
read moreAssociation Fears
Yesterday while waiting to see someone, I was sitting in my car (which looks like a police cruiser) in a nearly-vacant parking lot next to the ”Cut Rate Liquor” market. A group of 20-somethings walked up from behind the car. One of the guys kept looking back at me–I’m sure I looked out of place. I keep my gaze upon him, just being curious how he would process my presence. Then his face lit up and he said, “Greg?” It was a young man I knew from the gym. I remember bribing him with food to come...
read moreAlmost Missed Opportunity
We usually pray a few times with kids on Saturdays–typically as part of the lesson and again during snack time. Today as we were walking the kids out after a fun day, one of the boys said (in a defiant-type tone), “I know what you about to do!” You always do it…why can’t we stay?” I thought he meant he wanted to play more basketball, then he said, “You about to pray with them [the volunteers]; pray with us too.” Before I could say okay, he and his friend were huddled around me with their...
read moreGym Members
I was talking to a manager of a local “high-end” health club (with 24-hour key access) who told me the door to the merchandise room was left open one night. In the morning they realized items such as boxes of protein bars had been stolen. Also, from time to time they would arrive in the morning to find the bathroom was wrecked. I realized that since we went to a key membership for our not-so-high-end gym a few years ago, no one has ever broken in or stolen anything. The bathroom has never been wrecked and the guys let me know...
read morePrayer and Praise Feb 23
Praise: Tuesday night Bible Study was awesome…it’s a blessing for the community and especially our past LTC graduates. Praise: Volunteers have been coming in to paint our classroom all week. We should be ready for classes coming up soon! Pray: For responses to the recent appeal letters as well as overall funding for our programs. Pray: For our youth activities on Saturdays. So far we’ve had some great kids and great volunteers…pray God will guide us all as the numbers grow. Pray: For the teen basketball program...
read moreWho is Jesus? Join the Discussion!
Everyone is invited to our new bible study on Tuesdays at 7:15 PM. We are going through the Book of John. We want to find out what scripture says about Who Jesus is. It is appropriate for all levels of faith and Bible knowledge, and all denominations. Come! Join...
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