By: Curt Williams, Founder & Executive Director
Admittedly, I am reaching the age when it is common to look back and evaluate the journey. As I think about the way I was raised, and the culture in which I was raised, I can see that much has changed about life in these United States.
Some of the shifts include changes for the better. I am grateful that, despite the narrative that we are being force-fed every day, our nation is much less racist than when I was a kid. Sure, some of the racism has just become stealthier, but all told, younger generations are far less inclined to judge someone because of the color of their skin. That’s progress.
It is also notable that we have come a long way in dismantling institutional religion. We have moved more towards a simple and humble walk with Christ that recognizes our deep need for Him without the self-flagellation that religion can stoke. That’s progress.
Yet in so many ways, society has devolved; the intact family that was once the norm is being replaced with a structure that seems progressive, but when you view its victims it’s clear that it is, in fact, regressive. The Lord created an ideal model, where the natural masculine attributes of the father combined with the natural feminine attributes of the mother combine to provide a complete developmental diet for growing healthy kids. Today, instead of recognizing the value of this ideal, many are maligning the ideal and doing all they can to champion the less-than-ideal. This is a harbinger of a society’s collapse when the best is mocked and lowered, and the flawed or incomplete is raised up as the “new” and preferred ideal.
If anyone seeks evidence of the damage caused by the abandonment of God’s ideal structure for the family, they should visit Youth-Reach.
It is incredibly rare that we have an applicant from an intact home where the mom and dad are still active and present in the traditional parental roles. It is even more rare to find a boy–one who grew up under the care and tutelage of a strong father–out committing crimes, dropping out of school or getting a girl pregnant. If a boy is raised in a home where the father honors, loves and respects the mother, this behavior will be reflected in the way this boy treats girls.
In the relatively short time that we have the boys here at Youth-Reach, we are doing our very best to both teach them and to model in front of them what it is to walk out the commitments necessary to hold together a strong family. All our staff live on campus and the boys are in and out of our homes on a regular basis. They know us, they see us with our wives and children and we know they are watching. It is our hope that they will leave with the tools, knowledge and strength to one day lead their families well.
This is what you are supporting when you invest in the lives of the boys of Youth-Reach. You make the investment, and it is our quest for you to receive a strong return on that investment.
