During our time in Manchester, we stayed at a place called God's Closet. The Closet as we called it is a ministry to the town of Manchester that provides clothing and other necessities such as food and shoes to families in the area. The building consists of a big warehouse full of clothes with a kitchen and a few bedrooms in the back. During our second week in Manchester, we spent the mornings sorting, tagging and hanging clothes at the closet. Another cool ministry there has to do with those back rooms. They provide housing for people in the area that need a place to live during a transitional stage and a time of need. While we were there, a man named Forrest lived in one of the rooms. He is in his a former drug addict in his young twenties and a graduate of Chad's Hope (which you'll here about in a second here) and boy had God gotten a hold of him! He was on fire for Christ and it was inspiring and refreshing to see. Each night we would spend some time hanging out and talking with Forrest and he would share his struggles and passions and powerful spoken word he had written. It was beautiful to how God has worked in his life.
Some Closet Shenanigans. Size 52 pants and an XXXXXL shirt!!
We filled the first week of our time there at a place called Chad's Hope, a division of Teen Challenge. Steve May, the directed at Chad's, described the facility as a discipleship program, but it included much more than that. The men that go through Chad's nine month program are drug addicts and attend Chad's as a rehab center. The beautiful thing about this place and what makes it unlike anything I've seen is that Chad's uses no medication. No psychology. Just Jesus. We had the opportunity to join the men of Chad's Hope, who numbered about 20 and ranged from 18-35 years old, every day for a week as they continued their daily schedule. A morning at Chad's included personal Bible study for an hour starting at 8:00, followed by chapel and a class taught by Steve May. The afternoon consisted of lunch, three hours of "work period" (cleaning the building, creating things in the woodshop or doing other projects on the grounds), a free hour and dinner. My time at Chad's will stick with me. The men there were not as I had pictured drug addicts to be in my head. These men were growing to love Jesus and beginning to realize God's love for them.
One point Steve stressed to us again and again was that each of us are just one choice away from being where these men were. I recognized this especially when I met a guy from Kenosha who is 18 and graduated high school in 2015, same as me. It's amazing to think that was just one or two choices in high school from sitting in the same chair he was at Chad's. It's only through God's grace I am where I am. The beautiful thing about meeting the guy from Kenosha was the he is interested in joining LeaderTreks for the gap year next year. GOD DOES AMAZING THINGS!!!
I fell in love with AFE in Honduras Open Roads in Romania because of how obvious God's presence was and is in those places. I felt a similar feeling at Chad's Hope. Only He could make place like this a reality, a place where He is so clearly and definitively transforming lives.
I could talk about Chad's for hours, but God showed me so much more in tiny Manchester! It's been amazing to me how many times God has used children in my life over the last five months. In the Navajo and Memphis and Montana and Costa Rica and now Manchester. The second week of our time in small town Kentucky, we were to build a deck for a family living in a trailer. Little did I know, however, that my mission there was not to pound nails or cut boards, but to hike and climb and build dams and throw rocks and float tiny boats with a little boy. Austin is a nine year old boy who has seen and been through more in his nine years than a person should in their entire lifetime. He's been living in a trailer (where we were working) with his aunt and uncle for he last three years because his parents could not take care of him due to their drug addictions. I had they chance to sit down with his aunt and uncle and learned about his past and their love for him. Everyday I would work on the deck from noon to three or until Austin got home, then I'd spend the rest of the day with him. We dammed up a small creek that ran through his back yard, had rock throwing contests into a nearby small pond, chased each other around with sticks and climbed the hill/mountain behind his house. At the end of it all, he confided to me that I was the first adult friend he'd ever had. I was the first "adult" to invest in this boy's life and I could only be there for a week. Almost brought me to tears. Him saying that made me think about my own past. From elementary school through high school and today I've always been blessed to have adults constantly investing and pouring into me. My parents, coaches, teachers, LeaderTreks staff, Blackhawk Church leaders. I largely took all this input for granted, not realizing how blessed I was to have these incredible mentors and role models in my life.
Many of the men at Chad's Hope had similar stories. They grew up with broken families and with an absence of adult, especially Christian male, role models and leadership. It kills me to think that Austin may be on that same track. His aunt and uncle are doing their best, but they can only do so much. Though my three or four days spent with him is not nearly as much time as I would have liked to spend with him, I believe that God can use even my limited interactions with Austin to change his life. They certainly have changed mine. My time with Austin along with my experiences over the last five months have fueled my passion to live as a role model in kid's lives. To invest and pour into young lives that need it. To represent and example the love of Christ for them. I can't wait to see where that passion leads me and what God will do with it!
Next stop is Montana, which means a LOT of driving. Yesterday I woke up in Chicago, ate breakfast at home in Middleton (thanks mom!) at lunch in Minneapolis with Josh's family, at dinner in Fargo and slept in a hotel somewhere in North Dakota. What a day of travel that was! I'm looking forward to a week of skiing and snow camping and other crazy adventures, but most of all, I'm looking forward to the chance to spend some time with Him as I sit back and just listen.
Ben Hershberger
