Big Brothers Big Sisters – Need Your Help
As we shared with you several months ago, we have chosen to partner with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Oklahoma, or BBBS, to address the issue of fatherlessness in this city. A good number of you responded to our invitation and we are so grateful. We’re bringing the need before you again on behalf of the 125 kids on BBBS’s waiting list who are hoping someone will reach out and mentor them.
We care deeply about the fatherless because we believe God cares deeply about the fatherless. In Psalm 68:5-6 God is described this way: “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families.”
To remind you again of the statistics surrounding this epidemic of fatherlessness we’re facing in our city, Oklahoma is #1 in the entire world for female incarceration and #3 in the nation for male incarceration, so the need for mentors for the children of these incarcerated parents is urgent. Those statistics sound overwhelming, but we can change them one mentoring relationship at a time. Listen how:
1) Studies have proven that children who are mentored through BBBS are far more likely to finish high school, and if they finish high school, they are far more likely to stay out of jail.
2) 81% of former mentees surveyed agree their mentor gave them hope & changed their perspective of what they thought possible.
• Our goal is to take every child off of BBBS’s waiting list. They currently have 415 kids in mentoring relationships, and some of those 415 mentors come from Frontline. But, over 125 children are still on the waiting list. In partnership with Bridgeway—where a similar announcement is being made right now—we want to demolish that list.
• You don’t have to fit any particular personality stereotype to do this. You just need to do 3 things:
1) be yourself
2) be faithful
3) be willing to make a commitment.
• Also, if the thought of mentoring one-on-one feels intimidating, if you’re married, the good news is you can be matched with a child as a couple!
• The Department of Justice has just offered BBBS a grant for $135,000. This good news with a bit of a cruel twist. If BBBS fails to make 40 matches by April 1st (two Sundays from today), the Department of Justice will withdraw the grant. This could cause BBBS to be downsized here in OKC. With 415 kids currently being served, and 125 kids still on the waiting list, that would be an incredible shame. We need your help right now to make sure that doesn’t happen.
• If you already know you are ready to mentor, you don’t have to wait. Simply email Rex Barrett at rbarrett@frontlinechurch.tv to start the process.
• For the rest of you, we would ask you to use this week to continue to pray and process whether you have one hour a week to give to a child in need, and next Sunday, we will ask you to commit yourself to the fatherless children of this city.
