There is a young teacher at the academy. Her name is Jessie. She has not been tainted by the struggles of the inner city. She loves the children. She lives in Brightmoor like the rest of the staff. Her office is lined with drawings and little notes from the students. She knows how to reach them. She understands their story and has dedicated her life to helping each child rewrite their life story with each day. There is no fear here. There is mutual love and respect between her and the children.

            My time at the mission has changed me in such a short time. My own life has been enriched and inspired by God’s place. Because God’s place isn’t the building or the office or the business of being a school. God’s place is the heart of every person here, including the children. I can’t help but be infected by hope, truthfulness and grace as I move through the rooms of people. I cannot be sad while listening to the voices of the children as they sing praises to God. Lunch is fun when the kids ask you to please sit with them during their meal. It makes you feel like one of them, like a child again. That certain something that gets tainted and lost when you grow up and have hardness of life drains you. Being at City Mission restores the gleaming hope that maybe you really can change the world.

            There are so many stories to tell here. Observing the life and death of Detroit while surviving in Brightmoor means thriving in a place called City Mission. It is the difference between flat lining and living in a real community rhythm. Here, in Brighmoor, everyone’s got a compelling narrative, rich in both idiosyncratic personal details and neighborhood truths. City Mission peeks up over the fences that divide backyards and listens. City Mission turns life misfortunes into breakthroughs to conduct real long-term change.

            Brightmoor has characters that span extraordinarily desperate lives. Brightmoor and the mission have converged on a collision course with catastrophic ramifications. A collision worthy of starting a ‘Big Bang’ directed by the Creator himself.

            As a born again Christian, a Christ Follower and utterly in love with God as my source of life, hope and deliverance, I can say with absolute confidence, God has brought me here. He used the most unusual of circumstances, but he orchestrated an elaborate plan to get me to set foot in Brightmoor. I have been all over the world to serve the oppressed, free the captives and feeding the hungry. Now, I have the honor of tasting the poverty and desolation of the ghettos in Detroit. An honor that will live in my heart, mind and soul.