ingful relationship with a loving, mature adult, boys and girls are left
to determine life’s flow and meaning from their peer group.
It is a terrible thing to live in the United States of America and
have no personal “advocate” to help you. As I go into our school sys-
tems and observe young people in trouble, I see that those without
advocates move swiftly through the system and toward incarceration.
God is very concerned with the helpless in our society. Remember
James 1:27 (see also Isa. 1:17, 19, 23; Job 29:12; 1 John 3:17).
Even kids who are not considered “at-risk” benefit greatly from a
variety of adult advocates in their lives. How much real dialogue is
happening between generations in the average American family? I
know wonderful fathers who neglect to teach specific things to their
kids. I have a wonderful son and we have a wonderful relationship. Yet
when I am teaching concepts to my “mentees,” I’ll find myself think-
ing, Did I teach my son about this?
I believe that the church of Jesus Christ should stand up when the
home fails, and be next in line to deal with problems. I don’t blame
the schools. Instead, I see a wide-open door of opportunity for the
church, and in some capacities, the schools are asking churches for
help.
Concerning the separation of church and state, Christians should
have the same right as any other group to go into the schools, not to
promote our religious beliefs but to help! The majority of our TALKS
mentors are committed Christians. We go into the schools, not
preaching Jesus, but livingJesus and letting our actions speak.
THETALKS MOVEMENT
TALKS is a grass-roots mentoring movement. It takes only one indi-
vidual to get it started in a given locality. In my city I mentored three
boys by myself. Then seven of my friends joined me, and together we
mentored twenty-one boys. Three years later we had around eighty
mentors, both men and women, helping almost 250 children.
This is happening in cities around the country. You may have
noticed the growing trend in our country for adults to try to reach
children through mentoring. Because this is something I have done
The TALKS Mentoring Curriculum and Approach 163