To Timothy, a true son in the faith…. be an example in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. (I Timothy 1:2 & 4:12)
To Timothy, a beloved son…. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth…Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace…call on the Lord out of a pure heart. ((II Timothy 1:2, 2:15 & 22)
CROSSFIRE provides a spiritual family for our “beloved sons in the faith”. As the apostle Paul did for his spiritual son, Timothy, in the Scriptures, we are constantly encouraging kids, many of them fatherless and living in poverty, to be godly examples, flee youthful temptations, and call on the Lord with pure hearts. We not only instruct them in the “what,” but train them in the “how to.” We let them know that we have the utmost confidence in them and in the Lord’s purposes for their lives.
We provide a safe, loving place to which they can flee the streets where many of their peers hang out and much temptation lurks; they are supported in academics; trained in life skills; eat lots of meals; take part in fun activities; laugh, pray, cry together; and are instructed in the truth of the Word of God which brings hope, vision, and identity.
Amazingly, CROSSFIRE has been living and serving in this inner-city neighborhood for over 25 years and has affected hundreds of lives spanning generations! God has been faithful. Children “living in darkness have seen a great Light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a Light has dawned.” (Matthew 4:16).
We live here. These children and their families are our neighbors.
We share the street and the sidewalk and the concerns and the gossip and the noise and abandoned cars and stray dogs and late night sirens and flashing police lights and loitering thugs and disintegrating dwellings and blaring bass and chaos and crime and homeless wanderers and domestic disturbances and gunfire and all the other non-stop vibration that makes up inner-city atmosphere.
It can be a dark place, but this is our neighborhood.
And we bring the Light. And we change the atmosphere for those who live kingdom life with us.