HUNTSVILLE, AL --
It was the kind of story a grown man pulls from the backpack of his own youth to share with kids. A story that impressed him when he was their age, something that might offer one of the lifelines kids need as they pull themselves up their own mountains.
So Kenny Cole, a Huntsville lawyer who'd played football for Vanderbilt University and who volunteers to coach football at schools in Huntsville , told the Chapman Middle School
Cole had read Cruz's 1968 biography, "Run, Baby, Run," when he was about their age. He told them about the tough Puerto Rican teen who ran a murderous, drug-dealing gang on the streets of New York City until a skinny preacher, David Wilkerson, arrested him by showing him God's unconditional love.
The kids listened intently.
"Do you think you could get this Nicky Cruz to come speak to the students here?" asked Chapman Coach Gary Shelby when the Bible study was over.
"Man, I don't even know if he's still alive," Cole told him.
Waiting for God
So Cole did some basic Internet searches, saw that Nicky Cruz, now 70, still heads a ministry of his own as well as working with Teen Challenge, David Wilkerson's program that combines evangelism of youth with drug and alcohol rehabilitation.
Cole called, picturing maybe an event that would involve, say, 200 students. Yes, Cruz could come, he learned.
Cole sent out letters. He got no responses. He made phone calls. People agreed it was a great idea, but offered scant help. Dates for Cruz to come in August, then September kept getting pushed back again and again. To October, then November.
"I'm feeling pretty discouraged at this point," Cole said.
But then, just a couple months ago, a friend sent his e-mail to a friend in Kentucky who messaged back: Doug Weaver, a minister with Teen Challenge, David Wilkerson's ministry, lives in Huntsville
When Cole called Wever, Teen Challenge's regional director for Africa , he felt like he'd hit the intersection toward which God was guiding him all along.
"I believe that God starts caravans out moving from different places, and they all arrive at just the right time, carrying just what you need," Cole said.
Weekend of events
Alabama Teen Challenge is set to open its first Teen Crisis Center in the Huntsville
A three-on-three basketball tournament, organized by the Rev. Ricardo Vega and New Life Outreach and Al Garratt and the Youth Development Agency, had been set for Nov. 14 at Johnson High School
The uproar over moving poor black folks from north Huntsville into the middle-class white neighborhoods of south Huntsville has brought out both the worst and the best of Huntsville as congregations and civic leaders begin looking for ways to heal the racial and class divide in the city, and have scheduled the first joint community Thanksgiving service, for Nov. 20. The service will be hosted by the ministers of the city's black congregations in the north end and the white congregations in the south end.
And a major motion picture based on Cruz's autobiography is set to open in the next few months.
What better time to bring a former Latino street
Cruz is now set to speak not only to the Chapman Middle School students, but also at the Teen Challenge Banquet Nov. 13, at the three-on-three basketball tournament and youth rally Nov. 14, at a region-wide teen rally the evening of Nov. 14, and, finally, at both services Sunday at Calvary Assembly of God in Decatur.
"I just don't know how to organize this kind of thing; I'm just in amazement," Cole said Monday. "You know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God has a purpose in this. I'm sitting back in amazement at this point and watching God at work."
"It's gone from 200 kids in a school auditorium to Nicky having the opportunity to talk to thousands of people, having the opportunity to reach out to all kinds of kids - believe me, it's not just the kids in the projects who are 'at risk!'
"I think Nicky has a message that all of us need to hear."
Global Teen Challenge Banquet. Nov. 13, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Huntsville
Banquet will include performance and testimonies by Global Teen Challenge Choir and information for congregations and individuals interested in the Teen Challenge ministry.
Rock the Court 3-on-3 basketball tournament with mini-clinic for youngsters 14 and younger from 10-11 a.m. 3-on-3 beginning at 11 a.m. Also music, food, all free. Also drawings for XBox, 360s and more. Nov. 14, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Johnson High School 6201 Pueblo Drive N.W.
AfterShock. Area-wide youth rally. Nov. 14, 4 p.m. Free burritos, rice and beans, soccer extravaganza for Latino youth particularly. BMX freestyle demonstration at 6 p.m. 6:20 p.m., doors open for The Epicenter for the youth rally with Nicky Cruz. At the new building of Calvary Assembly of God on Alabama
Worship. Nicky Cruz will speak at both services Nov. 15, 9 and 11 a.m. Calvary Assembly of God's original campus, 1413 Glenn St. N.W. , Decatur