The timing was perfect, as they were planning to be here just as we were recovering from a rodent invasion, and just days prior to the kickoff of FLC’s spring semester. We planned for them to do a floor-to-ceiling deep clean of our building.

The group, led by youth minister Kody Speer, had never been to Fortress before. After giving a brief overview of our organization, I launched into the day’s agenda. I wish you could’ve seen the faces of each teen as I spoke the words “mop” and “rodents” and “dumpster”. One by one, their mouths dropped open,  their eyes grew large, and they glanced side to side to see if anyone else was freaking out. I looked at Kody and said, “You didn’t tell them ahead of time, did you?” He just laughed and said, “All they know is that they’re here to serve.”

Supervised by Aundrea Torres, Dorothy Waites and myself, they jumped in and started cleaning. We didn’t hear a single grumble or complaint. The two young men who offered to clean out and reorganize the scrapbooking/crafts closet barely even flinched when they pulled out a rack of paper to discover piles of multi-colored mouse droppings. (One thing I’ve learned at Fortress is that mice love ink!)

After each group completed their “To Do List”, they gathered in the front room and wrote notes of encouragement to our each one of our students and staff. Here’s a sample letter:

“Dear Mrs. Stacy,
Thank you so much for giving me and my youth group the opportunity to come and serve you. We had a lot of fun cleaning together. The Fortress is such a wonderful place! I know these kids’ lives are being changed by y’all blessing them daily. God bless you!
Love, Jordan” 

We wrapped up the afternoon with group photos, a few comments about the day’s experiences, and a prayer. The group was FABULOUS—great work ethic, beautiful relationships, and such service-centered hearts. 

Thank you, MacArthur Park! May God bless each of your for your service to others.

We don’t need anything but ourselves to spread the gospel—only us. Whether we’re at the pool, in school or in public we just need the belief that He is with us, and wants us to succeed. Today at the water park all of the children were so happy to be able to play, and have someone to play with. I loved being able to just share that happiness with them. Live for the moment, and make the best of it. That’s all we can hope for; living life to its fullest, while making these few moments last a lifetime.

We all need to ask for forgiveness—a chance to redeem ourselves before the majesty of the King. I need forgiveness. You need forgiveness. The children here at Fortress need forgiveness. It’s a part of the cycle of life. “Ask and you will be forgiven” is spelled out in the Instruction Manuel; but do we really ask?

I’ve noticed today that the kids long to be forgiven. They beg for it in their eyes. Love is shared throughout this whole building. Hugs and kisses and kind words fill the main room. Forgiveness (the act of understanding and accepting wrong while making peace with it)  is not very well-voiced here. These precious kids long to be accepted and to feel wanted. That’s our mission.

Let me introduce a very sad, confused and lost man. This man’s name is Lonny Reyes. Sitting on the bus he readily explained that he feels the whole world is against him, and is “just ready to go home.” I’ve known him for half of a day, and already my heart bleeds for him. Lonny has been through some rough stuff. Lonny is 44 years old. He was very intoxicated, and ready to kill himself over mistakes he feels condemn him to an eternity in Hell. Lonny was an open door—a red flag for me.

Lonny needs prayer. We prayed with him, but I am afraid the darkness is dragging him down and he doesn’t understand how to find the Light. Lonny ripped my heart up and really has changed my life. Those short, emotional minutes spent with Lonny Reyes will forever stay in my memory. Please pray for Lonny Reyes. Pray that something comes in his way sent by the Father that shows him he’s needed. We can do it. I know I am rooting for Lonny Reyes. He needs Light.

-Christy Blevins

God is love. Sometimes it’s hard to just stop and soak it all in. How majestic our Father is…how beautifully perfect His creation is—made just for our pleasure.

I think today has been the hardest because I’ve started to realize there’s more to this opportunity than what I want to achieve. The King has this whole mission already planned, and has opened so many doors in front of my blind face. I want to love on the kids. HE wants me to reach out and do more.

Driving out around Fort Worth I think God was reminding me that there are more than just the children at Fortress who need His light shone into their lives. Lining the streets are numerous lost and scared people who could benefit from simply knowing that He is in control and loves each and every one of them. All the struggles and fears we face are just moments, passing aimlessly through what feels like eternity on this planet. HE is in control. The Lord our God, the King, the Father has it all planned out for us…so no worries, my friends. He’s got our backs— BUT we must remember to place that confidence into His open arms.

What I haven’t realized until this point is I am surrounded by amazing examples. I have so many wonderful friends here at Fortress, in my youth group, at the house; all of them show me every day what it is like to be a real-life believer. These kids are so wonderful and close to our God. They inspire me to fight for my beliefs and try to succeed in becoming a true “Jesus Freak.” Inside and out; all the way.

 - Christy Blevins

SHOUT FOR JOY TO THE LORD. I feel like I don’t ever choose to just rejoice the King of Kings. I never just thank Him that I was created “…on purpose, for a purpose.” as said by Ramon in our group devotional.

It’s different here. These people, who have so little, can sit and enjoy the sunlight while praising the LORD for blessing them with a new day, while I complain about my toe-nail polish chipping during the night.

Listening to some of these children compare the number of bullet scars left in their houses and how long one or both of their parents have spent time in jail really opened my eyes to how real all of this is. How frighteningly real their lives are. Day in and day out they, only children, sit listening to sirens and gunshots while I worry with petty, insignificant things that I consider to be necessities.

Food is a necessity. Shelter is a necessity. Love is a necessity. I expect these things; they are lucky to hope for these things—and still… still all of the people I’ve talked to in just one day are so happy. They are so helpful, respectful, encouraging. They love the LORD. They shout for joy to the Father. They are truly thankful. I can learn a lot this week. We need to learn a lot from these examples. It’s a necessity.

-Christy Blevins

I love children and aspire to one day teach and minister to those who don’t have access to free education. Missions – well, ministry- is my passion. I’ve traveled near and far trying to do what I can to make a difference, but I think this mission is one of the toughest because this feels real. It’s scary and this can happen to me—to anyone. I never really thought about how good life is for me.

I have a feeling that this week will change my outlook, and emotionally and spiritually test everyone while re-enforcing everything we have learned in our walk with the Father. Like a fire, the Lord and his good love is growing stronger by the minute in my heart. There is nothing that will stop this girl. I’m on a mission.

In mid-June, a number of high schoolers from my youth group at RiverWalk Church of Christ traveled to Fort Worth, Texas for a mission trip. We weren’t really sure what we were going to do or what would be expected of us. We just knew that we wanted to make a difference and have some fun.  After the 6 hour drive to Fort Worth, we settled into our hotel rooms and prepared to attend the orientation that would inform us on what we would be doing throughout the course of the week.  We had the opportunity to learn a little bit more about the children we would be spending the week with and what our responsibilities would be. The kids we would be working with don’t have a lot. In fact, they have nothing compared to all of the conveniences we have.

Each of us was assigned our duties for the week, to ensure that every day was successful and well prepared.  We were also asked to not have cell phones, watch TV in our hotel rooms, use cameras, or listen to iPods all week. This was so that we could understand a bit about how the kids we would be working with did not have all the modern technology and luxuries that we were accustomed to. After the first day we settled into a familiar routine. The buses picked up the kids and we waited at the park for everyone to get there.  Volunteers from TCU came to lead a sports camp and then everyone came back to Fortress for songs and lunch. After lunch, groups went to three rotations that centered around the daily lesson. After the kids left in their buses, we cleaned up and prepared for the next day.

Another opportunity we were given was very unique. We were divided into three different groups of about 4 or 5 each to have an Urban Experience. Basically, one group would go out into Fort Worth every afternoon and do different things that showed us how people lived in the area. The group that experienced the activity would come back and make a presentation to the rest of the group. Each group experienced something different. The first group went out into urban Fort Worth and met and talked to people living in the area. The second group created a budget for a single mother with 3 children. The third group used that budget to “grocery shop” for food for a month.  It was an amazing opportunity to experience what these people go through every single day.

We all took away different lessons from working at Fortress. Some of us gained an appreciation for how hard it is for families to live with a limited budget. Some of us discovered what it really means to live out your faith by serving. And some of us realized how little we need to truly be happy. Whatever we learned, I am confident that it will shape our lives and make us the people God intended for us to be. Fortress changed us. Fortress changed us because God wanted it to change us.  That’s the reason we were there. Sure, we impacted people and made a difference. But the people at Fortress – the kids, the staff, and the interns – they impacted us too! The relationships we developed meant so much. We loved the kids and we received love in return–a simple exchange of the passion and dedication that God gave us when He created us. 

I will never forget the people I met at the Fortress ministry. They taught me so much. They taught me how to love, how to serve, and how to be a Christian example. I will never forget the awesome impact that was made on my life and I will never forget the relationships I established there.

Today, Thursday, was our last day with the kids. It was so sad seeing them leave. Most everyone in our group connected with at least one child and to think that we might not get to see them again was heart wrenching. We all said our good-byes and gave hugs as they hopped back on the vans. Hopefully we’ve made as big an impact on their lives as they have on us.

The kids here at Fortress are truly special children.

There were many positives to today. We took the group on a field trip to the Botanic Gardens to see the Japanese Garden exhibit. The children absolutely loved it! We got to see a sand garden and feed koi. One of the youth members even found two snakes, and some of the groups got to see a special gift given to Fort Worth by the Japanese.

My girls seemed to be thrilled by the fish so we spent most of our time there rather than exploring.

After we returned to Fortress from our field trip and the children left, we had a close-out session with Mr. Quest and some of the other staff and interns. We shared the experiences we were taking away and how much of an impact this trip had made on us.

All the members spoke about the relationships they had made and our hopes for Fortress to continue with great success. Thank you Fortress Staff, Interns, and children for an experience of a lifetime and a great opportunity to serve. You will be in our thoughts and prayers.

Christina Bartelt

Today was bittersweet for the volunteers working with the pre-k students.  Some of the girls played with my hair for a good bit and then had lots of fun at the creative center dressing up. We took tons of pictures for our mission scrapbook back home, and the Fortress kids loved posing for them.  It was probably the most fun and behaved day, but it was also the last day we’ll get with the children.

After seeing the youngsters off, it was time for centers with the older students. This went fairly well and we got to trace outlines of some of the students on the ground. The outlines later came to represent Abraham and Sara. Overall we had a really good day. The kids were slightly wild but enjoyable nonetheless.

-Christina Bartelt

After centers we watched Elmo’s nature video to remind the kids that Abraham had to live on his own out in nature.

The urban experience of the day consisted of several of our youth members asking for food stamp applications and planning a budget as a 23-year old single mother of three: seven, six and two years old. One of the children has asthma and the seven- year old is a rowdy individual who finds himself in a fight a week.

The “experiencers” had to plan out how the family was going to afford all the household’s necessities with only $227 a month. It was an eye-opening event for the youth to realize how hard it was to afford just groceries and that these families had to leave items out that most would view as a necessity.

Both days have been a learning experience as well as days of bonding between the youth group and the children.

-Christina Bartelt