The mission of LINC North Texas is to transform lives and communities, especially of those that immediately surround us. Spanish speakers are a substantial demographic force within our proximity, many of whom speak little to no English. According to a 2010 survey by DFW International, in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch area alone the Latino populations are 49% and 28% of the total, respectively (13,459 in Carrollton and 14,053 in Farmers Branch). Moreover, in 35.3% of homes in Carrollton, English is not the language spoken. Similarly, this is the case for 46% of homes in Farmers Branch. A full 24.5% of Carrollton’s entire population, as well as 28% of Farmers Branch’s, are immigrants or foreign born.
These statistics mean that this community is ripe for growth and mission. We find that a Latino community that is able to speak English is not only empowered - open to more numerous and greater opportunities as well as to deeper relationships within their communities and families - but more importantly, open to hearing a message. Our ESL program will become a base around which we can instill this message. In order to develop communities, people must build relationships with people. We believe in programs that simultaneously offer benefit to people while building those relationships. That's why we teach character, leadership, and parenting to public school families, and why we are starting ESL. Through these efforts, LINC North Texas can grow and foster new and strong relationships among unreached groups around the metroplex.
If any of your family or friends might benefit from this, we'd love to give them more information. We are also looking for volunteers to help facilitate the program. Please contact Brandon Garcia at brandon@lincnt.org or call our offices at 972-417-5950 for more details.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
Stories...
What stories do you come in contact with on a daily basis? Perhaps you sit down in the evening and hear a recap of your spouse's day, or you overhear co-workers talking about their social or family life. While you eat breakfast, perhaps you listen to stories of famine, war, and recession on the news. Each of these stories, however, exists in a vacuum - your co-worker's weekend recap has about as much to do with your daily life as the uprisings in Syria.
What if we started to think about how our stories could be interconnected? Imagine God for a minute as a wise author, penning the tales of not just world events and dramatic mission trips, but your daily experiences. Could it be that God is in the business of telling one grand story from Genesis to Revelation, and that even our daily experiences figure into this story somehow? Let me give you one example of one young girl's story becoming part of the story of an entire school district.
A young girl in our program in Ft. Worth sat in her AVID class one Friday while LINC NT's SALI teachers showed a video entitled, "If you really knew me..." She was impressed by the concept and thought back to her story of surviving bullying. She went home and created her own video that proclaimed how if you really knew her, you would know that she had survived bullying, depression, and worse, and that she was ready and willing to help others going through the same thing. Tears in their eyes were the common experiences as the young girl showed the video to her class, and as the SALI teacher showed the video to the school faculty, then as the school administrators told the district leadership about the video. The video is now set to become part of Ft. Worth ISD's bullying-prevention program.
One young girl had the bravery to share her story with others, and it now has the power to affect the stories of thousands of students across the city. Her story was told because God weaved together the stories of LINC NT's staff, board members, and donors to create a program called SALI and bring it to a middle school in Ft. Worth. This young girl asked, "Do you really know me?" Now her classmates do. If you hold your story inside and don't share it, whose stories will not be impacted and released? And at the end of the day, do you really know those around you? Think today about the stories that God is writing in you and in others.
What if we started to think about how our stories could be interconnected? Imagine God for a minute as a wise author, penning the tales of not just world events and dramatic mission trips, but your daily experiences. Could it be that God is in the business of telling one grand story from Genesis to Revelation, and that even our daily experiences figure into this story somehow? Let me give you one example of one young girl's story becoming part of the story of an entire school district.
A young girl in our program in Ft. Worth sat in her AVID class one Friday while LINC NT's SALI teachers showed a video entitled, "If you really knew me..." She was impressed by the concept and thought back to her story of surviving bullying. She went home and created her own video that proclaimed how if you really knew her, you would know that she had survived bullying, depression, and worse, and that she was ready and willing to help others going through the same thing. Tears in their eyes were the common experiences as the young girl showed the video to her class, and as the SALI teacher showed the video to the school faculty, then as the school administrators told the district leadership about the video. The video is now set to become part of Ft. Worth ISD's bullying-prevention program.
One young girl had the bravery to share her story with others, and it now has the power to affect the stories of thousands of students across the city. Her story was told because God weaved together the stories of LINC NT's staff, board members, and donors to create a program called SALI and bring it to a middle school in Ft. Worth. This young girl asked, "Do you really know me?" Now her classmates do. If you hold your story inside and don't share it, whose stories will not be impacted and released? And at the end of the day, do you really know those around you? Think today about the stories that God is writing in you and in others.
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