Ray McKelvey, minister of outreach and music at North Highlands Bible Church, proves it doesn’t take much to influence a child’s life.
McKelvey is in charge of the church’s outreach program to Brookshire North Apartments, 9857 Audelia at Church Road. On Thursday nights, he and volunteers pick children up from the apartments in the church’s bus and take them to North Highlands.
There, the children enjoy recreation time, a Bible study and refreshments. Then they are loaded back into the bus for the trip home.
“You would think, ‘Boy, that’s so boring,’ but they keep coming,” McKelvey says of the children.
“It’s because they’re wanted and they’re loved. And it gives them something to do.”
Last year, the outreach program had average attendance of 70 children. McKelvey hopes to expand the program, which was founded about four years ago to address the needs of many children living in the area.
North Highlands started the program as preventative stance to some of the problems in Lake Highlands, says Pastor Dennis Eenigenburg.
“I live in the neighborhood,” Eenigenburg says. “There was some concerns from my neighbors about drugs and crime in the neighborhood.”
Many of the children living in the apartments are latch-key kids living in single-parent homes. They needed something to occupy their time and stay out of trouble, Eenigenburg says.
The church consulted with Brookshire management and decided a youth program would be the best approach. The apartment complex allowed the church to use a model apartment for the activities. The program quickly outgrew the apartment, and the children have been bused to the church ever since.
Eenigenburg says he stresses to everyone involved that the church does not approach the parents and children with a condescending attitude.
“We respect them as equals,” Eenigenburg says. “They’re just in a difficult situation.”
Single-parent households can’t afford the luxuries of exposing their children to different activities. So North Highlands is trying to pick up the slack in that area, Eenigenburg says.
In addition to the weekly meeting, the church plans other outings for the children. Last summer, McKelvey took several teenagers to a camp for inner-city children.
“A lot of these children don’t have any alternatives,” Eenigenburg says. “They really want to come to a safe place where someone cares for them. We really don’t do an extravagant program, but we do try to provide them a safe place.”
McKelvey has been in charge of the program for about a year. On Monday afternoons, he meets with five junior high school students. They talk about school and home, and McKelvey gives them guidance. He assigns them a project each week, and then they do a Bible study.
“Every Monday, I hold my breath and wonder if they’re going to show up,” McKelvey says. “They’re dying for role models. They just need somebody, anybody.”
One of the students has flunked two grades. This is the first school year he has received passing grades in all his classes and has not been in trouble.
“This hasn’t happened in several years,” McKelvey says. “All of them are not like that, but it’s encouraging to hear one or two.”
“I think if kids aren’t given an opportunity to see a different way to live, they’ll fall into the same cycle,” McKelvey says.
McKelvey’s childhood was similar to many of the children he works with. He grew up in inner-city Kansas City, Mo., in a single-parent home. He says he was on his way to living the expected life of children in that situation when his high school drama teacher challenged him to change. And he did.
He started Bible studies with high school friends and sang in choir. He earned a degree in pastoral studies from Calvary Bible College in Kansas City, and in May, he will graduate from the Dallas Theological Seminary with two masters degrees in Christian Education and Biblical Studies.
McKelvey, 32, challenges the children he works with like he was challenged. He says the North Highlands program is successful because the children are approached from a spiritual point of view.
“We’re challenging them to change from the inside,” McKelvey says.
If he stays in Dallas after graduation, McKelvey hopes to expand the outreach program. He wants to set up a mentor program, and wife Robin, who also volunteers with the outreach program, would like to start a community choir.
“It has been so much fun,” McKelvey says.
“I think we stereotype people. It’s nice to know stereotypes can be broken.”
If you are interested in helping with the outreach program, call 348-9697.
