Blessings Observed - by Jeff Bills

Earlier this year, 20/20 with Diane Sawyer did an hour-long feature on Camden, N.J. It was a sobering look at the realities of life for people who live just 15 minutes from this campus. The exciting thing about the story was that for 26 seconds, the focus was on Urban Promise (UP) as an oasis of hope in the midst of the poverty and despair that often defines life in Camden. That brief focus changed the landscape for UP and the ministry they are doing in the city.

Immediately following the program, the phones began to ring and the website began to get hundreds of hits. Money, inquiries about how to help, and prayers came in like a flood – fortunately the producers of the program had warned the leadership of UP that this could happen which allowed for preparations to be made to handle this heightened level of interest and support. The end result was that for the first time in UP’s 20 year history the ministry was fully funded! For a ministry that spent every month for the last 2 decades not sure if they would be able to continue because they were nearly broke, this was a miracle!

I view UP’s current situation as God’s abundant blessing for 20 years of faithful service. What I have always admired about Bruce Maine (UP executive director and founder) is he never has allowed money worries to deter the ministry from growing. When I was chairman of the UP board, Bruce brought us a vision for launching a Christian elementary school that would provide children in the city a safe, academically excellent, Christ-centered school. He envisioned starting with a kindergarten and adding one grade level a year. At the time we were just barely able to afford our existing ministries; how were we going to take on such a big (and expensive) new ministry? Because I knew that Bruce was not a reckless leader and that he was plugged into the Holy Spirit, I encouraged the board to support the vision.

Today, the Forward School covers grades K-8 with 135 students. Subsequently, UP launched the Urban Promise Academy for high school kids who have dropped out of the city high schools due to the profound challenges that urban youth face in those environments. Currently, there are 45 students enrolled, and the graduation rate for the UP Academy is nearly 100%, with the majority of the graduates going on to college.

As a result of the Diane Sawyer program, the producers of the show Extreme Home Makeover contacted Bruce Maine to ask about helping one of the families featured in the 20/20 piece. The UP Board donated a piece of property right next door to their facility to be used to build a house for the Marrero family. That show will air tonight at 9:00 p.m. and will once again spotlight UP.

The lesson in this story for us is that God will reward those who are faithful and trust Him even through the hard times.