Seeking solace, refuge in church

Youth group offers alternative to streets with its Bible study

Bianca Prieto, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 20, 2007 at midnight

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In an upstairs room at the Rising Star Missionary Baptist Church, youth group members come together on Wednesday nights to pray, learn and, for some, avoid the pull of the streets.

It's slightly after 7:30 p.m., and the 25 teens take their seats in the scattered rows of cushioned chairs.

David Green, a tall, muscular man with a shaved head and a steady smile, starts the night with check in.

"How has your week been?" he asks. "Is it bad? Good?"

"It's going great . . . 'cause I woke up this morning," DeAndre Meigs, 16, said. "It's a blessing to wake up in the morning because tomorrow is never promised."

It's been six weeks since his friend Derrek Ward, 18, died in a gang-related shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party in Aurora. No arrests have been made.

Ward wasn't a gang member, his family and friends say, but the violence of the streets took him.

"I've seen a lot of violence," Meigs said later. "I've been influenced by violence, but it was my own choice, and I decided not to go down that path."

The lanky 16-year-old sat in the first row, listening intently to Green, whom they call "Brother Green." His puffy black jacket and wind pants are several sizes too large for his thin frame.

Several seats to his left, Ward's mother, Toni Brooks, and sister, Jasmine Williams, absorb what is being taught.

Since Ward's death Dec. 5, the church and the youth group have become like a second family to the grieving mother and daughter.

"Sometimes, I feel like they are talking directly to me," Brooks said of the sessions. "I feel like someone is giving me feedback."

With Bibles in hands, the teens flip the delicate pages forward and back, searching for the verse they are studying, hoping it will give them the direction and strength they seek.

"The topics are related to their experiences through the week and how their biblical response should be," said Rev. John Quick, the youth minister.

"They are here to get fired up and more empowered," he added. "When they walk out of these doors, they have hope."

During the two-hour session, they learn about Cain and Abel, the Ten Commandments and various passages of the New Testament.

Life lessons about choices between right and wrong, murder, relationships and honor are interwoven with the Bible study.

"The world is not going to take it easy on you," Green says, as he passes in front of them. "Heaven is still our home; it's still our goal."

The quiet hum of the fluorescent ceiling lights fills the short pauses between his statements.

In the class, the teens are still learning to deal with the finality of Ward's death. He was a popular senior at Gateway High School and a dance troupe member.

"I don't want to die over stuff that doesn't even matter," Meigs said. "I want to do something with my life."

Meigs wants to be a video game designer or go to the NFL, but either way, he said, he has a strong work ethic and will work hard to realize his goals.

Nearing the end of the Bible study, Green poses the question: What do you need from the Lord?

Not a single hand raises, and the kids wait for direction.

Leading by example, Green takes the red dry-erase marker to the white board and writes the word "job."

One after another, each teen takes a turn at the board until it is full of words and sentences.

"To meet my mom."

"Help me teach others about God."

"Deliverance."

Jasmine Williams took her turn and wrote, "Find the person who killed my brother."

prietob@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5219

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