I have shared with many of you that the reason I began to volunteer (and then later full time staff) at Acts 2 was from my husband and my pastor advising me to seek out the need in this area for a House of Hope. Just the other day I recieved a news letter that the National House of Hope sent me with some sad statistics and I wanted to share them with you.

The horrifying statistics are:
* Only 4% of teenagers in churches have a relationship with Christ Jesus                  
* Every 8 seconds a teen drops out of school
*Every 45 seconds a teenager is abused
* 60% of church going teens are sexually active
* 1 Million teenage girls will get pregnant this year
* 1 out of every 4 girls has a sexually transmitted disease
* Suicide is the #2 cause of death among teenagers
* Every minute a teenager is arrested for drunk driving

These are only the reported cases and the list goes on and on.....

You are keenly aware that our economy is in a serious condition. Yet as you see, there is a serious recession and depression going on in the lives of our teenagers and the break down of families. Their futures look bleak and almost impossible. That is why your prayers for this staff is helping us reach these students while sharing with them the hope and love of Christ, which is very important to help them with the many struggles they face today.

In Malachi 4:6, " He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse." We as a small staff, are being used by Christ to share with these students the truths and ways that our Lord has set up creation. If we do not follow this order, it will cause so much heart ache and suffering; Some of which we are seeing today with the break up of families.

Witherspoon Institute at Princeton University, New Jersey gathered 70 professors of every kind of discipline: lawyers, doctors, economists, educators, sociologists, psychologists to study the impact of marriage and family on society. Their reports concluded, " As the family goes, so goes the Nation." Robert P. George, Ph.D McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University said, "Goverment can not step in and do what the family, husband and wife together in marriage can do. FAMILY MATTERS! Here is something scary; what happens in the home is an indicator of what will happen in the NATION!

Each staff has to raise their own support, raise camp funds and help in raising general funds also.We recieve no government support, and are truly a faith based ministry. Daily trusting God is what we need in order to touch the hearts of those who are to help us. Will you please pray that you might be one to help us win this war? Fighting for these teens of the Inner City of Roanoke and their families...they are our future Christian leaders.

In His Service,
Gena