Tony Lowden

The term ‘inner city’ is commonly understood to mean poor, dysfunctional and Black. Nearly every large and mid-size American city has a core of neighborhoods where 40 per cent or more residents live below the federal poverty level. These concentrated poverty neighborhoods are characterized by abandoned and deteriorated properties, high crime, poorly-performing schools, drug markets and family breakdown. Concentrated poverty neighborhoods also produce their own urban culture - distinctive dress, music, speech patterns and behavior - that further isolates residents from the mainstream.

If one poor Black youth can escape inner city poverty through education, the logic goes, then so can others. In other words, they view concentrated poverty not as systemic in nature, but as a product of individual pathological lifestyles of inner city residents. This reasoning has serious implications for those trying to redevelop inner city neighborhoods without displacing current residents.

Inner city dysfunction weighs heaviest on people of color. According to the US Census Bureau, 80 per cent of all poor African-Americans live in conditions of concentrated poverty versus 20 per cent of all poor whites. Terrible schools, absent parents, racism, the decline of manufacturing jobs and a subculture that glorifies swagger over work are cited as causes of the deepening ruin of Black youth. But I believe that Christ is the biggest missing part in the Inner City. I believe that the inner city heart is where we need to share the Gospel to our kids. So praise God for Upward Basketball, and the 114 teams and 147 cheerleaders, which equates to 987 kids in the inner city. This is why and how we are using the Gospel to reach the heart of the Inner City of Macon. Please pray for us for eight weeks as we love on these parents and kids for the Kingdom of God.

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ we should be very prayerful, always petitioning The Holy One to rest upon the hearts of the lost. We should pray that the Kingdom of Christ may come, and that His will be done on Earth, even as it is in Heaven.

Blessings!
Tony Lowden
Campus Clubs Executive Director

Shirlynn Kelly

“Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.” 1 Thess. 5:24 Our God is awesome and amazing. I am always in awe of His faithfulness towards those of us who are part of His family. He is faithful, even at times when we are faithless. In my prayer time, I often find myself confessing to Him, a lack of faith. Through my outward stance sometimes my faith wavers, but in my mind more times than I like to admit. I become anxious and doubtful. Forgetting momentarily that He has called us by His marvelous grace, and that He has the power to bring it to pass. As I sat in my office, the Holy Spirit led me to 1 Thess. 5:24 and I tossed that scripture back and forth in my heart.

This year’s Mission Conference at First Presbyterian Church blessed me! Through a mere human vessel, Dr. Walford Thompson, the Lord met me at my point of need and through His Word encouraged me and spurred me on. “The Lord commands us to GO,” he said. “Every believer is commanded to GO! The work is His.” 1Thess. 5:24, Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass” Dr. Thompson stated.

Our God is a faithful God! He met me at my point of need. He spoke to me through His Word, and reaffirmed my calling through His Servant.

In Him!
Shirlynn