Update on the new PC Facility

The boys have been hard at work this week on the new building. We have mostly been painting and eating! We were blessed to get two hitting nets and some outdoor carpet for the hitting area. When Jeff and myself and the boys were unloading the nets we were surprised to find two baby Copperhead snakes inside! You just never know what you'll get when your bargin shopping. The nets are perfect! We are slowing getting things done and we will keep you posted with new pictures and videos. It's very exciting that the boys are riding their bikes and walking over already, when it's basically just an empty building! The just walk around and look so proud saying, "This place is going to be so much fun!"

Help Power Cross fill the walls...

About four years ago, God laid a vision on Jeff's heart that would reach out to the lives of the young men in our community. And for the past four years our home has become the second home to almost 90 boys every week. We have prayed and searched for a building or land to build a facility for about 2 years. It's been kind of like being stuck on the runway on an airplane. God loaded us up with all the passengers, and we've just been waiting for the runway to open up. We've been waiting with the boys for over three years to have a place they can really take off. Today I am so very happy to tell you that Power Cross now has a temporary facility! As you'll be able to see by the video, it's not pretty, but we'll take it! We were blessed to find a 7,000 square foot warehouse that was available right in the downtown area where many of the boys live. We are within walking or bike riding distance to about 90% of the kids we work with. Although we won't be able to have the indoor basketball court as we had hoped, at least not for the moment, we will be able to do a lot of other activities in the buildings. We are working today on hanging the indoor batting cages, and other baseball training items. We hope to have the indoor speed and agility training center set up within the next couple of weeks. We will have almost 3,000 square feet for just the Bible study, tutoring, eating, and recreation area. The Middle/High School boys are excited! They got to help us clean yesterday, and we'll be painting and revamping for about the next week before it's ready to go. The Elementary kids will get to see the new facility on Tuesday. We were not able to purchase the building right now, so we are just leasing with the hope that we don't get kicked out for a while! We know God will help provide the funding for our permanent facility in His time. But in the meantime we need some help filling the walls of the temporary facility. Below is a list of the items that we will be in need of. It's a pretty big list! If you can help personally or have a connection on getting any of the items listed please call Coach Jeff today (704)902-1653. We can wait on some of the items but the majority of them we need to try and get pretty quickly. Along with the excitement and wonderful benefits of having a Power Cross facility come the reality of paying for it. As soon as our lease was signed yesterday we increased our expenses by about $2300.00 a month. Please remember Power Cross in your prayers! We are going to need a lot of monthly support to keep this ministry running full speed. Thanks so much for the prayers over the past three years. The prayer that has been number one for many of us was finding a facility. The Bible tells us "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6. God has always provided everything this ministry has needed and we have great faith He will continue to do so! Thank you for your prayers!


Power Cross Facility Needs:
Paint and paint supplies
Cleaning Supplies in general
4 Sectional Couches
2 Big Screen Televisions
2 Television Stands
2 Ovens
2 Refrigerators
Double Sink
Microwave
Ice Machine
Folding Tables
Worship Style Seating Chairs
Shelving (lot of shelving for food, pantry items, sporting goods, books, and clothing)
4 Desktop Computers
Bike Rack (to park bikes)
2 Roll-away Basketball Goals
2 Baseball Cage Nets
2 Pitching Mounds
1 Pitching Machine
Baseballs, Basketballs, Footballs
A Stage
Digital Projector and large Screen
Sound Equipment
Rugs
Filing Cabinets
2 Ping Pong Tables
2 Desks/Office Furniture
Commercial Pots and Baking Pans

Have a wonderful weekend! We'll be uploading pictures of the progress as the building comes along!

God Bless,
Jeff, Nat, TJ, and the PC Boys

Reservations please...

It's a normal Friday night at our house. We have pretty much the entire baseball team spending the night in order to make sure they actually arrive for the game tomorrow. Pun's back for another few days to round out the bunch. We had a couple of funny quotes today I thought I'd share with you for the weekend. Both Power Cross baseball teams are in action this weekend, we'll give you an update on Monday.

Funny Quote #1:
This afternoon Jeff and I were running errands when Pun called. Pun is eight years old, he's a regular at our half. He's been staying with us about two weeks out of the month while his mom is battleing Sickle Cell Anemia. The part that's funny about this is that Pun called Coach Jeff when he got home from school to ask what his mom's cell phone number was. So being your average eight year old in Power Cross it's much more important to have Coach Jeff's cell phone memorized that your own mom's! Actually he told me tonight that Coach Jeff's number was the only one he memorized, because it was the only one he needed.

Funny Quote #2:
This evening we were at the Statesville High School baseball game with the Power Cross team. Rayshawn called to see if he could spend the night and we had to tell him, there was to many kids already for tonight. Maybe he could go ahead and make a reservation for tomorrow. So T.J. made the comment that, "Our house was like a hotel, only we don't get paid." I second that only we don't have a maid either!

God Bless you this weekend!

Coach Jeff & Nat

Statesville School Release

The Statesville High Students begin released from school...








This week Bonfire Crusades, Ken Freeman Ministries, Front Street Baptist, Power Cross, the band CAYERIO, and a team of volunteers, held the first school release in Statesville. For those of you not familiar with a school release here's a quick summery. We were able to get students from Statesville High and Statesville Middle released from school for 1 block (or class). We bus them to a local church (Front Street in this case). We share with them the word and love of God through music(CAYERIO Rocks!!!), and through a speaker (Ken Freeman, there's no one better!). We are able to reach many children who have never set foot in a church or opened a Bible. On Monday, our first day, we had about 200 kids participate. By Wednesday, the final day, we had pretty much doubled that number. In addition to the release from school we had a pretty kick butt revival all three nights. Last night we even filled the balcony! The entire experience may have been the most moving thing I have ever taken part in. To see all of the kids spilling off the bus to come to church was just an amazing thing. Granted some kids came just to get out of school for a little while. But that's the whole idea! For many of them they left with so much more! I think pictures do a better job of describing the events! We have had about 10 calls already this morning asking, "How many people got saved?". Someone guessed 50 people, and just laughed thinking there is no way that many was possible. We saw 257 students and adults give their life to Christ this week. We had about 5 Power Cross parents finally receive the same gift their son's have received. Seeds are being planted in Statesville everyday. This week we had almost 400 students released from school, but we had 257 people released from their past, their sins, and the life they use to have. What an awesome week.







Statesville Middle Students being released from school.






CAYERIO showing the students how to worship!!!



CAYERIO rocking the Power Cross hat!!


The reason for the event...Salvation is here.

Coach Jeff praying for the students.

TJ with Khalil at the alter

Students at the alter...

19 more on Thursday...

Coach Jeff did a great job with the Bible study this week. He shared with both the elementary and high school boys the Easter story. Next week we are watching The Passion, which really helps the boys to get a grasp on the actual events. At our middle/high school Power Cross on Thursday we always have right around 40 boys. We have a base of 30 boys that are here every week rain or shine. Then we have maybe 20 more that pop in and out according to the athletic season and what's happening after school. We had several first time boys here yesterday for Bible study and I think all but one of them accepted Christ as their Savior last night. We had a few boys that God (and Jeff!) had really been working on for some time finally make the best decision of their lives last night. One who is really special to us is a young man named Devantae. Yesterday happened to be his birthday. I prayed all day that God would help him to have an open heart and receive his word. He didn't make a decision with Jeff's initial invitation,but 4 boys had it right off the bat. One of them was a first timer at Power Cross and he was standing up ready to receive the Word before Jeff even finished asking. Then Jeff said raise your hand if your not sure your going to be in heaven when you die. About 10 hands went up. So Jeff told them again that nothing they had done in the past mattered any more. That when Jesus died on that cross he died for all of their mistakes and sins. He ask if you want a new lease on your life, if you want to start over, but this time with God in control make this decision tonight. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Devantae stand, take his backpack off, take a deep breath, bow his head for a moment and then head to the back room with the other boys who had decided tonight was the night for them. I thought all day yesterday how neat it would be if Devantae had a new birthday on his real birthday. Obviously God was thinking the same thing.



God Bless!
Nat, Jeff, TJ, and the PC Boys

12 More for the Lord...

Wiffle Ball at the Park...


Sepie showing his skills

Tra doing the Dizzy Bat relay


Sepie helping Savion with his stance.

TJ and Jim getting ready to crush it.

We had a great Bible Study at Power Cross on Tuesday with our elementary school group. The boys have finally gotten all of the words to "All Ye" by Coffey. Check out the video below. We had a great afternoon of wiffle ball at the park. We are so excited this year to have two Power Cross baseball teams. More to come on the baseball teams as the season gets going. It's great to see some of the more experienced players help out all of the new kids. The best part of the night was definitely the Bible Study. Jeff began sharing with the boys the last day in the life of Jesus and the Crucifixion. The boys were all effected by the message. It's a wonderful thing to have this little wonderful face come to you with tears and say, "Did He really die like that for me?". We say 12 young men give their lives to the Lord on Tuesday. The best part is that we had 3 sets of brothers share in salvation together. Just imagine what an impact those young brothers might have on their entire house hold! Tonight we have the middle school boys and hope to have another great night!

Power Cross Prayers...

JaQuan with what's left of his house.


Hi Everyone,
Several Power Cross families have had a rough last few weeks. We just wanted to ask for some extra prayer support for them. Below is a quick prayer list. Please pass this information along to anyone you know who would join us in support.

1. Chris and JaQuan's home burned down last week on Saturday. Actually there is still a shell of a house there, but everything inside was completely destroyed. We have been able to provide the boys with new pack backs, some clothing, and a basketball. Their mom also lost everything. If you have any furniture that you'd like to get rid of, or some extra clothing lying around just give me a quick email. I'll send over all of the sizes for the family.

2. Cynthia Branch is Power Cross member Ausar Rankin's mom. She is currently in the ICU at Iredell Memorial Hospital suffering from a blood clot in her lung and pneumonia. She's doing well, but we just ask that you pray for her quick healing.

3. We had a Power Cross dad return back to jail about three weeks ago. He was just released out of jail a couple of months ago. So the excitement of him coming home, didn't last long. Please just pray for this situation.

4. Please pray for our search for a Power Cross facility. We realize that it is all in God's timing. Pray that we may be blessed with a facility before school is out for the summer.

5. We have had three Power Cross mom's (all three single mom's) loose their jobs over the last two weeks. We just ask that you pray for them during this time for patience and faith.

Please just add these families to your prayers!

God Bless,
Jeff, Nat, TJ, and the PC Boys

Clemson Trip

Cathy Parker and Athletes to Champions helped organize a trip for our baseball team to visit Clemson University and take part in two days of fun events. John Peters and First Baptist Church of Clemson hosted the boys with two hotel rooms and dinner on Sunday night. Sunday afternoon the boys got to attend the Clemson baseball game. On Monday Clemson baseball/football player Kyle Parker spent the afternoon with our baseball team. First he gave them a tour of the facilities, next the team got to take a little infield on the Clemson Practice field. To top the day off the boys got to go onto the Clemson football field and play a real flag football game with Kyle Parker as all time quarter back. Let's just say there were a few less diving catches, than when Coach Jeff and AJ are QB-ing. The boys left Clemson with hats, t-shirts, and all kinds of goodies. What they also left with was a little extra motivation to try hard in school and at sports. Clemson has several new fans. We were really blessed over the entire trip and we were happy to share with these boys what could await for them at the next level!

Bobcats Skills Challenge..

This past weekend we had several Power Cross boys participate in the Junior Bobcats skills challenge with the City of Statesvilles Rec league. They had a small course set up for each boy to go through and the fastest time would qualify for the regionals. There were around 35 kids who participated. Power Cross was well represented! Tra Ramseur was the overall winner and he will go onto compete at the regionals.



Coach Jeff getting ready to show his skills.


Coach Mike with Matt after he received his award.



The anticipation...

The results..

Shout Outs...

We need to say thank you to a few people and organizations who have helped out Power Cross over the last few weeks.

First I wanted to say thank you to Cathy Parker and Athletes to Champions out of Jacksonville, Florida. Cathy has arranged a few things that Power Cross got to take part in over the last month. Cathy arranged a trip to Clemson for our baseball team, that will be the next post. A few weeks ago I was privledged to be invited to Florida and attend a Ladies of Influence luncheon that A2C was hosting. A2C flew me down to Florida for two days, and it was a nice little break from the boys! The guest speaker was Pam Tebow. Pam is Florida quarterback Tim Tebow's mom, or Timmy as she calls him. Pam and her husband both have wonderful ministries and have raised a house full of children all who live each day for God. She gave me some great advice on being in ministry and I was blessed to sit next to her at lunch and share an afternoon with such an amazing lady. Here are a few pictures from the lunch.

Natalie with Mrs. Pam Tebow


Natalie with Cathy Parker (in blue), and her family

Another Thank you needs to go out to First Baptist church of Statesville. They have been kind to us throughout basketball season allowing a couple of our teams to practice in their gym after school. A couple of weeks ago they approached us about using the gym every Tuesday and Thursday that we have the group over. Having a gym to take the boys to has been such a blessing, especially on rainy days! This week they also suprised the boys with some left over balls they had. Several of our boys received a basketball to take home, they were very excited! Jesaye, who is playing his first season of soccer, picked out the only soccer ball!



Lastly, we wanted to say thank you to Daylight Donuts. They have been kind enough
to donate their leftovers to us over the past few group days. This week we had enough left over for some breakfast this weekend. You may look at this picture and think, that Michelle is feeding the boys in a dungeon. Actually that is the Power Cross state of the art cafeteria. Also known as our basement.


More to come, just trying to catch you up!

Have a blessed day!
Jeff, Nat, and the PC Boys

An Awesome night at Power Cross

RJ going deep

Off the line of scrimmage- going long


Khalil looking guilty

Beaver trying to keep the basketball game under control

Let me start by saying this is a long post, but totally worth it if you'll take a minute to read the whole thing!

Over the Christmas holiday Jeff, AJ, and I decided we really needed to split our Power Cross group day into two seperate groups. We had around 55 kids coming each week and it was just to many for our house to take at once. So we decided Tuesday's would be the elementary school day and Thursday's would be the middle school day. We put this into effect a last week. On Thursday last week we had about 30 middle school boys join us. Last night we had 38. So much for keeping the groups small! Let me tell you a little bit about how our Thursdays go. The Power Cross crew arrives at our house around 2:30. AJ and Beaver or Andy usually head to West middle in one van. Michelle, Brittany, and I get the food going. Then Jeff and I head to Statesville middle in the other van and the surburban. Then which ever car has a few seats left heads over to the Bentley Center on the South side of town to pick up the boys from Troutman middle. Yesterday that happened to be my car. So I headed that way to pick up Rayshawn and KJ. When I arrived there was three boys in the center, Rayshawn, KJ, and a young man(12 years old) named Chris. Chris wanted to come too, but if he came his little brother would have to come because he was watching him. So of course I said come on. As we were pulling out the boys spotted one of their friends walking along the parking lot. His name is Erin. So Rayshawn leaned out the window and said, "You want to come do Bible study with us?". So we added another. Just stay with me a minute and you'll see where this is all going!
Jeff had invited Mike Gillespie to come and speak to the boys. Mike is Ekiah's dad. Ekiah is one of the original 5 Power Cross members. Mike was saved about 4 years ago, right about the same time Coach Jeff was saved. God blessed Mike last night with an awesome message for the boys. A message they all needed to hear and could relate to. He warned the boys about being in the "almost zone". He read from the book of Acts where Paul was before King Agrippa, and Paul shared all that God had done in his life. Then King Agrippa said, "you almost convinced me to become a Christian." Mike's message was very powerful for all of the boys. Somewhere towards the end he warned the boys that this time in their early teenage years could easily put them in the "almost zone". Around that time Erin,(who we had picked up walking), spoke up. He shared with the group how last year, when he was 13, he was walking around "trying to be the man" and he was carrying a gun. He said a few boys had been picking on him and he wanted them to know he was tough. As he was walking the three boys jumped him. He pulled out the gun, and shot. He hit one of the young men in the head cracking his skull, but not doing any serious damage. He was arrested. The initial charge was set to be attempted murder, but because they attacked him it was dropped to simple assult. He shared with the boys how he "almost" screwed up not only his life but someone else's. He said shortly after that he was saved and he didn't want any of them to do the same thing. He knows if he'd been a better shot that someone would be dead, and he'd be in prison as a 14 year old boy. When Mike ask why Erin had come to Power Cross yesterday he said he had seen some real good changes in Rayshawn and he wanted to be apart of the same thing. After Erin's testimony Mike told the boys tonight was a night to make sure that you knew your salvation. That's when Jalen, who has been attending Power Cross about a month, spoke up. He said I want to be saved, how do I do it. Along with Jalen, stood three other boys. One of those boys was at his first Power Cross, and God had placed him on Coach Jeff's 13/14 year old basketball team. Another of those boys was Chris, the boy who happened to be playing basketball with Rayshawn and KJ when I picked them up. God had everyone right where they needed to be. I know there was some serious celebration last night in heaven when four young man ask God to come into their hearts for eternity.
We were also blessed to have KJ give his life to the Lord over the weekend. KJ and TJ were playing Wii in the basement and he stopped to ask TJ, "What do I have to do if I want to get saved." So KJ was able to ask God into his heart with his friends TJ and Shaquay beside him, and Coach Jeff guiding him along the way. God is working so much through the boys, it's just hard for me to put it into works. I could write all day about the awesome way he is moving in Power Cross. Please continue your prayers for us to find a facility!!! We are busting at the seams.

Here is KJ giving his life to the Lord.