I went around the Broad Street neighborhood having on the spot Bible Clubs on streets that were full of kids Toronto St., Mayfield, Sydenham. I had four clubs. They went pretty good. We showed "Vengeance is Mine" at Richard Allen projects tonight. The audience and even the kids were pretty good. See, we show the films outside, so sometimes there’s a lot of confusion.

Little Kinney surprised me today. He told one of his friends that "when someone does something to you, you don't supposed to get even with them, because God's gonna do it." I told him and Baba that almost a month ago, when they were arguing!

Sooty stayed and listened to the Bible story. His grandmother is Jehovah Witness and won't let him come to a regular club.

I love to watch the relationship between Doug and Bone. Doug led William (Bone) to the Lord when he was an ornery little kid of 12. He had real peace for a while, but then he got away from the Lord, became a gang member, got into a rock and roll band, and kind of dropped out of school. He's 17 now. This last spring he realized he just wasn't happy, and he remembered back when Doug led him to the Lord, and peace he had. Well, he went to Teen Haven, looking for Doug. Doug had some good talks with him. I remember when Doug shared this as a prayer request with us in staff meeting.

Well, Bone started spending time with Doug, and they started a Christian music group Doug, Bone, Dino, and Kick. And now Bone's joined summer staff. He's really sharp. He and Doug have almost a man to man relationship even though Bone's only seventeen, and Doug's 34 or 35!

Kick has an interesting story too. See, it begins with Moose, a teenage guy Teen Haven had contact with. Moose now goes to Taylor University in Indiana. Well, Moose had a younger brother, Snake, who is now about 16, and an inmate at Camp Hill. Snake had accepted Christ, and was having Bible study regularly with Doug, and was doing pretty well. I guess he and Doug were pretty tight, but then, all of a sudden Snake dropped out of the picture. Week after week he would avoid Doug. When Doug finally found him and pinned him down, he had joined the Mighties, a gang. He told Doug, "I know I'm a Christian. I asked Christ into my life but I just can't live the life, man." Doug couldn't persuade him. He just wanted to be left alone, so Doug had no choice but to do just that. He waited and prayed for Snake. Then one day, when Doug opened up the building for the guys in the neighborhood, who are in Zulu Nation, a gang that fights the M. M. F.'s (Snake's gang), they came in gloating. They told Doug, "Hey, your boy Snake's in big trouble. They gonna lock him up for a long time.

Well, I can't remember exactly what happened. I think Doug went looking for Snake, and when he found him, Snake told him, "Pray for me. I'm not going to tell you what it is, but I'm in big trouble. I'm gonna split." Soon after that Doug got a phone call from Moose, with the news that the police had picked Snake up. I don't know if Doug went to the trial or not, but Snake ended up being sentenced to Camp Hill for participating in a gang murder.

Doug visited Snake there, and Snake wouldn't hardly talk to him or look at him. So, Doug simply shared I John 1:9 with him, and told him that if he would confess his sin to God, God would forgive him and cleanse him from all unrighteousness. Snake didn't respond, so Doug left and told him he would visit him again.

Well, after such a cold first visit, Doug wasn't too hopeful, but he did go again. This time he met an entirely different Snake! Snake was smiling and talking and interested and relieved. He told Doug," After you left, I kept thinking about what you told me. So I confessed to Him and asked him to forgive me and He did! And I've been wanting to talk with you so bad!"

Doug started a Bible study there with Snake, regularly, weekly. And Snake started sharing with the other inmates inviting them to come. Soon there was a group. Well, this is where Kick enters the story. He had been picked up for something he didn't do, and was being held until his trial (Come to think of it, this must have all happened at the Detention Center, not Camp Hill. Snake was probably being held there until he was moved to Camp Hill, where he was to serve his sentence). Well, Kick wasn't a Christian, but he started thinking about God while he was being held. And one day he picked up a Bible to read. One of the inmates in the Bible study saw Kick carrying the Bible, and said, "Hey, are you a Christian too?" I forget what Kick answered, but the inmate invited him to the Bible Study, and he came and accepted Christ. Meanwhile, his trial was coming up, and Kick and Doug really prayed about it. Kick said he couldn't sleep all the night before (he’d been held for about a year), but he had faith God would answer his prayer. He prayed all night. Well, the upshot was that Kick was released. He began to come to Doug's Bible study, and he joined the singing group that I told you about.

I don't know if I ever wrote this down. One day when we were talking about his father, Ronnie said something very descriptive of the relationship. Leading up to it, his immediate comment about his father is always, "If I ever see him, I'll punch him in his face!” Trying to dissuade him from this bitterness, I said, "Well, he must have some feelings for you.” Ronnie once told me that when he was sick in the hospital a lot, he would come see him and bring him a toy. Ronnie laughed at my answer, and said, "My father felt toward me like I feel toward this kitten," which he was petting on his lap. "One minute I'm petting it, and the next minute I slap it, or ignore it.”