How Urban Impact Makes an Impact

Live It: Lexington

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

A group of 30 middle and high school students learned they were works of art during the Live It camp centered around Christ and the Arts. Students learned that the doodling, humming and rhyming that they often do in class when they aren’t paying attention are actually God-inspired attributes that were laid upon their hearts long ago and they can be used to glorify Him as they express themselves. Many volunteers with very similar gifting, gave of themselves to show these youth that what they like to do, truly is worship. In that same process, to them, worship was redefined. Stay tuned, Live It: Lexington the 2011 edition is in the works and will launch in mid July.

The Village

With the challenges of single parenthood and the shadows casted by incarceration, children and youth in our neighborhoods have a tougher path to travel on their road to adulthood. If there is no intervention, the chances of risky and hazardous behavior increase dramatically. Studies show that, the more positive influences in a child’s life, the likelihood of success is also increased.

We believe the African Proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child”, still holds true. Unfortunately, the people in the urban Villages are not always around to help raise kids. Because of that, we intend to surround each of our students with 5 caring adults with varying roles to disciple these young people into indigenous leaders that will turn their neighborhoods inside out. For more information, contact Marcus Patrick with Urban Impact: mpatrick@LexLF.org

Arts Institute

A small cohort of students in The Academy, a program of Urban Impact, participated in a 6-week program that introduces them to skills like cooking, guitar, fashion design and a few others. These elementary aged students designed shirts and head bands, learned about chord charts and musicianship, as well as measurements and serving amounts. The students enjoyed their experiences and bonded with other students and instructors as their knowledge of who God is and what they were created for was explored.