Michael W Smith- Rocketman

gospel | May 12, 2009 | Comments 0

“Who’s going to rescue these kids?” That question is the beginning of a journey which takes us to a dead-end street warehouse in the small town of Franklin, Tennessee, Michael W Smith and the picture of a weeping man sunk to the floor. That man is Michael W Smith and the sound colliding in his ears, on that very first night of Rocketown, was the frenzied traffic of 700 kids, the theme music of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey‘, and the beat of his own racing heart.

When that first Rocketown event happened in 1994 it was the start of something of which he’d long dreamt: the establishment of a local outreach centre where kids could be mentored and meet Christ. People had said it would probably never happen. People were wrong.

By 2003 Rocketown had become a permanent reality and lost its vowels along the way. Rocketown moved into a 40,000-square-foot facility, constructed in downtown Nashville. Today the attendance figures average at 1,350 kids a week, coming through the doors for rock concerts, to blitz the skate park and to hang out with friends. Of course church youth turn up, but overwhelmingly it’s for those to whom the gospel may be a myth or even a shock. Michael words it like this, “Rocketown is pretty unconventional, it’s sorta the back door approach of really trying to help kids come to know Christ. We don’t just play Christian music at the club, we have a variety of music, but our whole goal is that it’s all about relationship.”

“Most of these kids are in a lot of trouble, they’ve not had a good home life at all. These are kids that are angry, disenfranchised, you know, very difficult kids to reach. I remember when I started I just thought, Jesus would be after these kids, he’d be trying to reach these kids.” Michael W Smith knows that the angle needs to be inspired, “With this type of kid, I don’t think you can just go in and go, ‘Hey! You need Christ, let me share the gospel with you.’ They’ll give you the finger and walk out, you know what I’m saying? It’s all about establishing trust, because they’ve been burned, maybe physically, maybe sexually. Gosh, I mean the stuff these kids go through is mind boggling…. it just really blows your mind.”

Michael W Smith’s not on staff – his pursuit of worship is the crux of his daily ministry. But he talks glowingly of the volunteer team, as being surrogate mums and dads; he honours their dedicated patience. “It might take six months, it might take a year… but you earn the right to speak into their lives, and now you’re finding kids that, when they first walked in the club three years ago, your first instinct was going, ‘Oh my gosh! Man it’s gonna take the parting of the Red Sea for this kid to turn.’ And now that kid’s leading bible study in skate church at the skate park.”

In Nashville, young people are being led to Jesus, and wherever he is on earth, however far off, that’s a thought that sends Michael W Smith’s heart racing.

Source: Integrity Music INsite

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