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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Ministry by teens


Members of the Dream Center Youth Ministry sing songs of praise during a Wednesday evening group meeting at the Dream Center Resource Center.
 (Liz Kishimoto / The Spokesman-Review)
Paula M. Davenport Correspondent

The teens and 20-somethings who flock to Spokane’s Dream Center, a Christian-based outreach ministry, believe God is in the details.

That helps explain why about a dozen of them – armed with white, plastic trash bags and dressed in white Dream Center T-shirts – dispersed on a recent, hot Saturday morning in a poor, downtown neighborhood to pick up litter.

Residents, some who pulled back curtains to catch a peek and others who sat still as statues on front porches, watched the two-person crews scoop up sticky soft drink cups, cigarette packs, beer bottles and even boxer shorts.

“We know they’re looking and we’re planting seeds just by virtue of their curiosity,” explains Danny Blanchette, one of the adult organizers of the Dream Center’s Adopt-a-Block program and manager of the church’s men’s discipleship program.

He said by regularly returning to the same spots, young Dream Center members break down barriers, show they care about the community and may offer help to those in need.

“I just really like doing it,” said 17-year-old Johnna Martin, one of about 15 core members in this year’s youth group. “I want to see the community restored and I want people to have hope in their community. And a lot of kids play in these streets. We want to make it safer.”

Marc Holloman, who’ll suit up as a linebacker with the Rogers High School Pirates football team this season, said: “A lot of old people can’t clean up the neighborhood, and they’re just really grateful. We’d like to be able to add painting and lawn care.

“Eventually if we come in, they’ll start maintaining it themselves,” he said of residents in the struggling neighborhoods.

And over time, residents learn they can rely on the Dream Center if they need canned goods, clothing or just someone to listen or perhaps pray with them, said the teens.

The youth group meets at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesdays at The Intersection, a room next to the church’s Ministry Resource Center in the old Walgreen’s store at Sprague Avenue and Pines Road.

Kids often will share a meal, play pool, listen to music and just hang out until about 7, when they convene for a worship service.

“It’s kind of free-form,” said 25-year-old Isaac Cornelius, who along with his wife, Gail, makes up the youth group’s full-time ministerial team. “We don’t want to preach a whole lot of messages that aren’t really relevant. We try to meet them where they’re at.

“We’re kind of a father and a mother to a lot of them, even though we’re not that much older than they are,” said Cornelius. “We want to give them some direction and teach them some of the things we learned through growing up.”

Holloman – who along with an older and a younger brother – is active in the youth group, said the kids have bonded deeply with the Corneliuses and their ideas on how to live Christian lives in contemporary times.

“A lot of youth groups are just fun and games,” he lamented. “We’re after God, instead of just having a good time.”

He and Martin say they strive to demonstrate their beliefs through actions.

Last spring, for instance, they donned prom gowns and suits to attend a real “senior” prom with members of a Spokane Valley senior citizens group.

Lots of teens and college kids wouldn’t be caught dead at a dance for folks in their golden years. “But they really got into it and had fun,” said Cornelius. “We all danced together, and they taught us some of their dances and a lot of their songs.”

Once a month, the youth group provides music at the Dream Center’s Sunday worship service, held in their North Pines church. “And we like it loud,” Holloman said with a laugh.

Several of the group’s young musicians are headed to college in fall. So Cornelius will be grooming new singers and is eager to discover a new bass guitarist and a drummer among the youth group.

He said he and his wife also hope to welcome new kids into their fold.

“It’s a place where real issues are dealt with and a place to build real and deep relationships with people and with God,” Cornelius said.

Alcohol, drugs, premarital sex, staying out of debt, and dealing with emotions are among the topics they’re likely to touch on during the upcoming year.

“I think kids can identify with us because a lot of the lessons we’ve learned, we’ve learned not so very long ago,” Cornelius said. “We’re not trying to better than them. We just try to be really transparent with them.”

Martin said she’s grown to cherish the candor, friendships and lessons she’s learned in the youth group. Later this month, she’ll be leaving home to pursue religious studies at the Clark Fork City Church, a Christian school in Missoula.

“This group is like family, and I’m going to bawl my eyes out when I leave,” she said.