Roundball ministry gets kids off the street

By Carla Hinton

Published: June 3, 2006

When the goal is out, the game is on.

Tony Johnson shoots the basketball toward the backboard. Travis Jackson catches it mid-air, then dunks.

Swoosh!

Midnight basketball is back at Christ Temple Community Church, 2717 N Kelley Ave.

Friday nights beginning this week, the church will wheel out the portable basketball goals for neighborhood teens ready to shoot hoops.

The fun begins with a free meal and soft drinks. A moonwalk and arts and crafts projects will keep elementary-age youths busy.

The outreach is more about sharing the love of Christ than getting the young people into the church pews, said Priscilla Meadows, the ministry's youth pastor.

"It's not like we're saying you have to go to this church in order to play. It's not about that. This is about giving the kids something to do.

Hoop dreams

Meadows envisions a roomy gymnasium for the summertime hoops that draw 50-200 young people to the northeast Oklahoma City church each Friday.

Until that dream becomes reality, the youths will have to continue to play ball in the church parking lot.

That's fine with them.

"This is fun, a challenge, Johnson, 16, said. "My family, we come with our fire every year.

By "fire, the teen means he's got game.

Jackson takes some exception to that statement.

"They can't stop me, he said, looking around at other players.

Jackson, 20, plays with "lots of energy, Meadows said, laughing.

He said he participates in the games to see his friends and hone his skills.

"It's fun. I play all the time when I'm not working, Jackson said.

"It's all about laughing - and people dunking!

Meadows said she is trying to get more groups and businesses to sponsor the youth outreach. She said some sponsors donate hot dogs, hot links, hamburgers and soft drinks. Others serve as volunteer mentors and speakers during the outreach that kicks off at 7:30 p.m. and generally lasts until well after midnight.

Some volunteers shoot hoops with the youths. Some don't, but they bring whatever gift or talent they have to reach out to the young people.

This summer, Christian rappers and musicians are scheduled to perform, she said.

"We have limited resources, but we do what we can with what we have, said the Rev. Krizzo Meadows, Christ Temple's pastor and Priscilla Meadows' brother.

Winning together

While games are being won and lost on the blacktop, lives are being affected, Krizzo Meadows said.

He said volunteers from local fraternities and Tinker Air Force Base work with church and civic leaders to talk to the youths one-on-one about challenges they face.

Words of advice are offered. Encouragement is spread around as much as the good-natured barbs traded by the ballplayers.

"Sometimes they will accept that better than someone preaching to them, Krizzo Meadows said.

By summer's end, youths who gather at the church know that someone cares about them, he said.

"It's been a labor of love for the people here, he said. "I know it's a sacrifice, but in order for our young people to be what they need to be, somebody is going to have to be willing to sacrifice.