STREETS MINISTRY

Ken Bennet – taking it to the streets…

In 1987 as Ken Bennett was sitting in a Bible study he heard God calling him. The voice he heard was not an audible one but it was real nonetheless. He left the Bible study got in his car with his wife Debbie and sat there unable to turn the ignition. Debbie looked at Ken and asked the obvious question. “What’s wrong?” Ken looked at her and said “God is calling me to share the love of Christ in the Foote and Cleaborn Homes neighborhood.” Debbie knowing Ken and sensing his sincerity said “I guess that’s what you should do.” So in short order Ken found himself in a used van driving the streets of the 38126 neighborhood forming relationships with young people and sharing the love of Christ with them. The first problem Ken encountered was from the police. “In the first few weeks I was picked up three times by the police who thought a white guy hanging in this neighborhood had to be selling drugs!” From those humble beginnings a ministry called Streets was formed. The van has been replaced with a $4.1 million state of the art facility. The staff of one has grown and continues to grow. 100’s of volunteers serve at Streets in a variety of ways and countless numbers of lives have been touched and changed.

To understand Streets you must first understand the neighborhood it serves. The 38126 neighborhood is bordered on the west by FedExForum and on the east by MIFA. A majority of the residents reside in Foote and Cleaborn Homes government housing. Almost all the families are led by single moms. It is the 3rd poorest neighborhood in the United States and the high school dropout rates, teen pregnancy rates and unemployment rates far surpass that of the national average. It’s an environment that breeds lots of hopelessness, lots of despair and very little success. Streets steps into this environment and offers hope, freedom from despair and the real chance at success by following one simple mission… “Unconditionally representing the Good News of Jesus Christ in word and deed in such a way that underserved adolescents have the opportunity to see, hear and respond to the Good News of the Gospel and to be empowered to live a life of obedience to God.”

So how does Streets put its mission to work? There are lots of ways but three main ones.  First Streets hosts weekly “Clubs” for elementary, middle school and high school students. Over 300 young folks show up every week to sing, play games and learn the Gospel. Secondly, every summer Streets takes 100’s of kids to one of 5 different weeklong camps. At these Camps the staff of Streets and the volunteers develop lasting relationships with the kids that effect and change lives. For many of these kids it’s the first time they are able to ever travel outside the neighborhood in which they live. Thirdly, is through education. The staff of Streets fully understands that education is society’s great equalizer. Everyone at Streets is very active in the neighborhoods three schools. They also sponsor college tours during spring break that provide the opportunity for many young people to visit 9-12 college campuses. A brand new and exciting program is mission graduation that Streets has started at Vance Middle School. This program gives incentives for kids to make their grades and to graduate. There are modest rewards along the way for good grades and a larger reward at the end for graduating. Space does not allow for us to mention all the ways Streets provides real hope to the 38126 neighborhood but to find out more you can go to www.streetsministries.org. The Streets model for success in changing the lives of young people has been so successful that many other ministries have been formed here in Memphis and around the country by simply copying the Streets model. Recently Streets has expanded its ministry here in Memphis by starting a second location in the Highland Heights Baptist Church building at the corner of National and Faxon.

Memphis will probably never know the total impact that Ken’s call from God has had on our city. But if you are wondering just ask Delvin Lane sometime. Delvin is now the #2 man at Streets. God has used Streets to pull Delvin from a life of crime and gang leadership into one of service to the neighborhood that almost destroyed him. Sure Delvin is just one man with a dramatic story but a closer look will show that there are 1000’s of Delvin’s out there and it all started with a van and a vision.