The neighborhood surrounding the Johenning Baptist Center in Southeast Washington is known for its crime and drug problems, but for center director Wes Garrett, that’s all the more reason for the center to be there.
“In a word, it would be relationships,” said Garrett, who in four years has revitalized the ministries of the center and brought a renewed focus on evangelistic ministry. “In our effort to get children to know Christ, we just get to know them — and they must get to know us.”
Garrett is one of the featured missionaries of the 2002 Week of Prayer for North American Missions, scheduled for March 3–10.
Garrett understands the impact a Southern Baptist ministry center can have on an individual because he has experienced those benefits firsthand.
Friendship House, a Baptist center in the Newport News, Va., neighborhood where he grew up, provided not only emergency food and clothing on occasion but also a broad range of programs that shaped him spiritually.
“It was at a camp sponsored by the center that I felt God calling me to go into that type of ministry,” he said. “God gave me a love for it because I went through it, I believe.”
Johenning’s ministries include a job placement program, a Bible study for senior adults and an affiliated day-care center located in the same building.
But much of the effort is focused on ongoing ministry to the children, children who face daily crises and family instability much greater than he could ever have imagined.
“I guess my first love is working with children who need help,” said Garrett. “I just enjoy being around these children, seeing them nurtured and seeing them changed.”
One of the children in the Royal Ambassadors (RA) class has 21 brothers and sisters by the same father, and this boy lives with one of his cousins. Another boy recently was caught with crack cocaine at school. A third visits his father in jail every weekend.
So that is why Garrett finds himself at the center well into the evening most days, dealing with the group that has become a second family for many of the children.
There is the RA group, a computer club and even a “hobby club” that allowed Garrett to share his personal collection of Monopoly games last fall. Boys and girls clubs offer a broad range of activities mixed with Christian education.
“Our desire is that we have a lot of activities going on for the kids, so they can pick and choose what they come to,” Garrett said.
(BP)
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