Working with the Dry Bones Ministry in Denver, fresh– man Sophia Smith takes a break from serving sandwiches to the homeless community March 16 to play with one of the children. The name "Dry Bones" was inspired by the story of Ezekiel in Ezekiel 37. -Courtesy of Kelly Boyett • •• .. ... .. EFINED Dry Bones campaign reveals new Christian image Spring break campaigners helped breathe new life imo the homeless of Denver from March 4-12. A group of 10 students reamed wi th another campaign group from Abilene Christian University and worked with the Lakewood Church of Christ in Denver to reach out to the homeless teens and young adults in the area. The students worked with Dry Bones, a ministry linked with the Lakewood congregation, which targeted Denver's forgotten youth. Dale Coley, a senior kinesiology major from Abilene, Texas, was the leader of the campaign. "I was drawn to Dry Bones because my former youth minister from Dallas now wo rks with the Dry Bones ministry," Coley said. The group's primary goal was to help the teens realize they were valuable. "We weren't there to preach to these kids," senior Michelle Parrish said. "We were [here to show them that someone wants to take time for them and that they matter in this wo rld." Even though the teenagers were considered cast-offs by society, the cam– paigners were impressed by the faith these teens displayed. "We we re around people all week (whom) our society is quick to write off because they don't have homes or they might not be clean," senior Kelly Boyett said. "But I soon found our that these homeless teenagers are not people to dismiss. Most of them had a faith that was unwavering." Some in the group noticed things that made them rethink their views on 26 student life what it meant to be a follower of Christ. "Before, by default, 'Christian' was a middle-class, perfect citizen," Coley said. "But now [the term] 'Christian' has been broadened [for me] . 1 met many Christians who are more on fire for God than I can only hope to be, who smoke, drink and even curse in their prayers. But this doesn't make them any less of a Christian. Ie may make them more ofa Christian because of their ability to be relatable." Their new outlook of the term 'Christian' helped some of the campaigners aevelop a hean for this type of outreach evangelism. "These are the people Jesus would have associated with," Parrish said. ''As Christians we try to avoid people like this because they are robbers, drug-users or proscitutes. But that [avoidance] isn't what Christ is calling us to do." Robby Goldman, one of the leaders of Dry Bones, read a passage from Ezekiel 37 to the group upon their arriva1 in Denver. He told the story of how Ezekiel was told to prophesy that the Lo rd would make breath enter dry bones, restoring them [Q life. T his was parallel to the situation of the homeless teens, who were considered figuratively dead by some people. "It's amazing that God put the desire in the heans of [the Dry Bones min– isters] to tell these kids that they are worth something and that [God] created them for a reason," Parrish said. "These kids, [whom] society ignores, feel they have no reason to live, bur Dry Bones is there to tell them otherwise." -lindsey Lowe
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