Buddy and Ruth, the leaders of Metro Fort Worth, spend their lives ministering to the children on the streets. Ministering in different sites throughout Fort Worth, they take the gospel to the heart of the inner city. Instead of just going out there and preaching, they “bring it” to the kids. They come with loud music, prizes, candy, and fun games- relating to the kids where they are.

Every Christmas and Thanksgiving they reach out to hundreds families- bringing gifts and food. It’s not enough for them to tell the families that God loves them… they show it. It is an awesome learning and ministry opportunity for Master’s. We get to go out there and hang out with kids as well as participate in the services…coordinating the games, singing, and speaking. We build relationships with the kids- we see changes in them and know that we have really impacted their lives. Hopefully we showed them how to build momentum in their lives to push past the gangs and into fulfilling their God given dreams.

Fort Worth Metro

We cry freedom from the chains that bind our children! We cry freedom from the chains that bind our praise to you! We cry freedom from the lies of the enemy! Freedom! The words of a once imprisoned soul who no longer accepted the chains that are their puppet masters.

Retreat is the point in the year whenever the team literally retreats and gets away from the way things are. They get away from stress and are influenced to form together into a family. The results of Retreat can only be told from the individual because each is different…but there is freedom and there is peace.

Imagine with me for a moment…imagine that you and I are in a church just worshipping God. The building is small and is likely used for something else during the week. The mood is set for worship; the lights dimmed, the people focused, and band is just starting to play. You don’t recognize any of the fifty faces in the room… you’ve never been here before. The room is filled with different cultures, from American to African, and from English to Indian.

Suddenly, as you are worshipping, you hear a loud noise coming from outside of the building. It isn’t chaotic…no it is a voice speaking in a language you can’t understand. It isn’t louder than your music, but you can hear it distinctly. A man standing next to you tells you what it is. It’s obvious from your expression that you’ve never heard it before. It takes a moment but reality hits: it is the mosque call, calling all Muslims to prayer. You have already heard it four times today but never got the chance to ask someone what it was. The realization that you aren’t home doesn’t make you home-sick… rather it ignites you. You are on the mission field in a world of people who believe in an distant, uninterested God. That is life in the U.A.E., and we experienced just a taste of it.

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“My name is Mike Salve…don’t forget it’s Mike Salve. M-I-K-E S-A-L-V-E. Well goodbye, just remember that my name is Mike Salve.” He doesn’t want me to remember his name so that he can be famous, or because he thinks he’s somebody. He makes sure that I know his name so I don’t forget him, so that maybe I’ll come back, so that just maybe I’ll return and visit him. Mike Salve is a man living in a nursing home.

Along with many of the other residents, he just wants a friend… to be remembered, to have someone sit down and talk. And every week we do just that. We get to be make their world a little brighter. Nursing homes are so often a place where people go and wait to die. We believe that God isn’t done with them yet. So we go and we sing, and we pray, and we talk with them, and remind them that there is still something worth living for.

They just believe without any complications. When did they stop believing that they’re superheroes and start believing that nobody loves them? Why didn’t anyone tell them that they have permission to be strong forever, or that beauty is second nature?

Children will live the same way as those who impact them. Every soul that we don’t try to reach, we lose by default. The words ring in our hearts: “train a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it”.

So with that charge we impact their young souls, helping them to understand the greatness of the God who created them. Not all children make it to Children’s Church on Sunday mornings…sometimes we must take church to them. In our apartment complex we are bringing a tangible experience of God to those who may never get it at home or anywhere else. We bring them hope for their future.

Maybe it’s when we sit down and help with their homework, or the game that we play and the snacks that we share. It could be the dance that we are practicing, or maybe it’s the Bible story. They get to come and worship God. For some that means not having to worry about being the man of the house, for others it’s a chance to escape from the drugs, or abuse. They get to just be kids and learn that they’re important to somebody.

So one of our farthest trips, with the exception of overseas trips, was to New York City. We went to help distribute the Book of Hope as part of a Times Square Outreach, but the trip ended up being so much more.

For a couple days, we just hung out in Times Square and other areas of NYC, just talking to people and passing out books and pamphlets (of which seemed to end up all over the streets of Times Square!) But then we met a young Jewish minister who had a very unique ministry: His small “church” met in the back room of TGIF Friday’s on a weeknight for a couple hours. Essentially, he would go door-to-door throughout Queens inviting people to “dinner.” So we got to help him for a couple days, inviting people to his meetings. It was really awesome to see him connecting with the people in his area like only he could, and just to know that he is still there in Queens doing all that he possibly can to reach people for Jesus Christ.

Ok, so you know we couldn’t go to New York and not have a day to just chill! So that we did. We walked all through Manhattan, seeing the sights including Ground Zero and Central Park. We took a ferry to the Statue of Liberty and saw Ellis Island and its museums. That night we went to eat at a cool restaurant and one of the most memorable activites yet: We saw The Color Purple on Broadway. Other nights we did different acivities, like ice skating and visiting the Imac Apple Store.

So there you have it, New York had great ministry, great sights, and we had a great time.

An oldie but a goodie…this outreach has become one of the most looked-forward to events in good old Sheridan, WY. We started out with just 5,000 Easter eggs stuffed with candy, a few blow-up games, and some hot dogs… It has grown into an event that takes up most of a schools outside campus, 35,000+ Easter eggs, 4 seperate hunts, games, food, the Easter bunny, pictures, live radio coverage, and a large percentage of the people in a county of around 18,000. We get to preach the Gospel, do some fun skits, make people laugh, and have a day where families come and have fun together. What could be better than that?

October…a month of ghouls, goblins, carved pumpkins, witches, costumes and candy. It’s the only month of the year where the powers of darkness are so openly celebrated and advertised-accepted even. Which also makes it the month for the church to rise up and take its war against the gates of hell to another level. Besides the House of Horrors, we also help our home church- specifically our children’s pastor, Pastor Phil Howe- put on the Fall Fest. It’s a one-night event that takes a good week of work to set up. There are fences to put up, literally tons of candy to collect and seperate, balloons to blow up, arches to build, and games to play. The actual event takes place on Halloween night, and we get to help run the blow-up slides, count people as they come, play baseball, pass out candy, and help the night run as smoothly as possible. We have between 5-6 thousand people pass through our church campus in one night-many of those are people who do not regularly attend church. They get to hear the Gospel and see it put into action all in one night, when normally, they might have never heard it at all.

In May, 2007, we had the adventure of a life-time in India. From wild monkeys attacking our van, to crazy mountain rides, to staring in awe at the Taj Mahal-this trip was not without its thrills. We had the opportunity to serve a church and do some tools training in Delhi. The church there is incredible, and we found that they did not need much from us. As Americans, we thought that we were going to go in there and give and give and give, but instead we found that we were the main ones being poured into. The church in India has a passion for its people, and the church body as a whole.

Blasting music; rowdy games; contests between boys and girls; a lively Bible story, free candy and prizes… What’s not to like about Metro? We get to be a part of this awesome outreach every week, run by Buddy and Ruth Calzada, taking the message of Christ to the inner city youth of Fort Worth. There’s a pimped out moving van-turned mobile dj station, equipped with huge speakers, a large movie-like tv screen, and a fold-out stage. Hundreds of kids and parents are reached on a daily basis, and get to hear the good news of Jesus Christ, taken directly to them, because most of them do not go to church. Amongst all of the fun and games, we get to love these kids, and give them a stability that they may not get at home, and breathe a hope into their lives that is not quickly forgotten.