About 20 years ago a family who lived in the worst drug neighborhood of the city asked for help. Four boys of that family came to live full time in residential care. One of the people who had befriended the family accepted the Lord’s call to become their main house parent (read: Dad).

The journey of those four brothers has not been easy. It takes a lot to surrender to God’s will, to follow the rules of the house and to allow the Lord to heal you, add the common struggles of going through adolescence and the pressures from others who do not want you to change. The decision to not continue under the ministry house rules for some of the brothers lead them to become of the world. However, the third brother stayed all through his childhood, adolescence and university years. He completed a DTS and basically went through each stage that the ministry had established of the restoring process.

The youngest lived with his mother for a time but the last few years has lived with his ministry family and his number one priority is serving the Lord. He completed his DTS and wishes to do another YWAM training school, then get a university degree before returning to missions. The second brother is also living with his ministry family and working and saving to complete a DTS.

This last weekend all the brothers were together. All of them are following the Lord and facing life challenges by following Jesus’s example.

Our main way to evaluate the ministry programs is to see how these children, who grew up in the ministry, are raising their own children. While watching the oldest brother interact with his kids we could only give Glory to God for the work that He has done.

The reason the brothers were all together was for the wedding of the third brother. Their extended family including half-siblings were also present. We were able to see a dozen third-generation members of this family along with both the moms and dads interacting positively.

** These four brothers’ story changed as God transformed them from the streets to become men who seek Him. And best of all is that through God’s help the next generation will not be destroyed through life on the streets.