Alpha

A group of people from Steamboat Rock Baptist Church and other local churches united together to share the gospel and the love of Jesus through a program called ALPHA.  Scott and Monique Dorow, Ally Kempf, Harrison and Pam Lippert, Sara Zellmer, and other local volunteers and chaplains facilitated 24 boys at the State Training School on Sunday afternoons for 8 weeks from March 3 through April 28.  The Alpha Evangelism Series is a video series with facilitated conversations to discuss faith and life in our current world.  Our mission was to SERVE the boys and to GO and share the gospel with them (2 of our key missions here at SRBC).  Many thanks to all the wonderful volunteers at SRBC who provided yummy snacks for the boys.  They were devoured every week!  A typical ALPHA session each week started with all the volunteers praying together, greeting and welcoming the boys, playing a fun game, prayer, snack, watching the video, group discussion, and concluding with a reflection time with just the volunteer leaders. Many of the boys came faithfully each week and said they really looked forward to coming to ALPHA all week.  The boys come from a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and religions.  The discussion questions each week encouraged them to wrestle with their faith and what they believed and ask many thought-provoking questions.

Here are some reflections from the boys:

• ALPHA was a safe place that I could say whatever was on my mind.

• The leaders at ALPHA are different from the people I typically hang around…they are really nice and kind and calm.  I want to hang out more with people like that.

• Going to ALPHA is my favorite part of the week.  I look forward to it all week.