Brooklyn Park youth center struggles forward | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

Those were the words of the Rev. John Christophel two years ago. Responding to his call, his congregation at the Brooklyn Park United Brethren in Christ Church decided to build a 30-by-40-foot addition to the parsonage for an afterschool program for at-risk youth.

It memorializes Maranda Callender, a neighborhood teenager shot in the head by another teen in 2004 just one block away from the West Hilltop Road church.

The bullet lodged in her brain, and doctors decided it was too dangerous to remove it. Doctors believe it led to a fatal case of meningitis that took her life a few days before she was to graduate in 2006.

Now two years later, the UB Lighthouse Youth Mission is still in the works and the church's 40 to 50 members are struggling to find the funds and skilled volunteers needed to complete the project.

The church has to turn kids away from the temporary, 12-by-20-foot basement location and others are waiting until there's a "cooler place to hang out."

So far, the program has raised around $11,000 in funds and $14,000 materials and donated labor, all donated by the church and business community. Although individual elected officials have made personal contributions, there has been no help from county, state or federal government.

"(Presidential candidates) spend millions of dollars a year trying to get elected," the Rev. Christophel said. "All we're looking for is $10,000 to finish the building."

There's not much doubt in the community that some resource for children is needed.

Adrienne Taylor, principal of nearby Belle Grove Elementary School, considers the afterschool program an important resource for her students and their families,

"The church is providing a valuable service by keeping them off the streets. Parents are too busy. Many of the students go home to empty homes," she said.

"When I hear my students say they are going to the church, it makes me feel good because I know they are going to a place that is safe. They get food from the church and homework assistance. And the kids look forward to going there."

Ms. Taylor also noted that other than the church program, there is nothing free for kids after school in her school's community.

The Rev. Christophel has frequently gone to the school as a volunteer as well as to offer the church's services.

"I know firsthand various parents who have gone through tough times who have told me how the church helped them in different ways." Ms. Taylor said, "They are deeply involved in the community."

The plight of neighborhood children is a motivation for much of what the Rev. Christophel does.

This spring, a 7-year-old boy was seriously injured when he was struck by a vehicle two blocks from the church.

His response was to circulate a petition with the Belle Grove Improvement Association to get the county to institute speed control measures on county streets overrun by dirt bikes and speeding cars.

"I have pity and I feel sorry for them, but you have to pay to get speed bumps in your community. He's looking for the county to pay for it all," said Woody Bowen, a longtime community activist and now president of the Olde Brooklyn Park Improvement Association.

He pointed out that the county pays for 60 percent of the cost of approved speed bumps. But before that can happen, the community needs to submit the right paperwork, which includes arranging for a traffic study.

It took his group eight years to get its traffic study completed and approved. At this point, only three of eight speed bumps have been constructed.

"Parents need to get their kids off the road. There are plenty of parks for their children to play in," Mr. Bowen said. "We can't be babysitters, here."

The Rev. Christophel disagreed, "We cannot be so naive as to not be aware that there are children in our community whose parents are absent from their lives. We are the ones that need to step in and help out when we can."

"Sure, there are parks and there places for children to play, but with over 70 sex offenders in one ZIP code, they may not be so safe for them to play unsupervised."

Mr. Bowen also expressed reservations about the youth center project, wondering if it was too big a project for the tiny church and its pastor.

"When is it going to be finished?" he asked.

The Rev. Christophel said it will be finished when the community lends a hand.

"Since we are a small church, and we can't get a loan, we are doing this all on our own. For it to be completed, we are relying on the support of the community to help with funds, materials and labor. If they'd like to help, they can contact me."

Jeannette Russell, the church treasurer, also stressed the importance of completing the afterschool facility, "The kids are getting anxious. We're trying. But we're small."

In the 10 years since the Rev. Christophel moved with his family from Fort Wayne, Ind., where he had been serving as the recreation director for the Indiana Department of Juvenile Corrections, there have been changes in the church.

Church member Janet Syme said some longtime members, many of them older, didn't share his vision. Some of them left.

"There were set in their ways."

Part of the void has been filled by a slightly younger group, some of whom are moved to serve the determined pastor. Sometimes, though, they find themselves a bit overwhelmed by the magnitude and pace of the Rev. Christophel's ideas.

"He is such a good person. But sometimes, he isn't as patient as he should be. He wants it today," said Ms. Syme. "Well, I'm 72, so I can say, 'well, now, wait a minute!' "

Mrs. Russell agreed that the pastor can be impatient, "He has a lot of wonderful ideas. Sometimes, we have a hard time making those ideas happen," she said.

"He gets frustrated, and I remind him, 'all in God's time!'" She laughed, "He can't listen to his own advice!"

"It's amazing to watch him," said Mrs. Russell, "I don't know how he goes through everything he goes through. All the (recent) funerals he's done. I don't know how he keeps himself together."

The pastor has an answer to that. Normally a man animated by a high spirit fueled by an unabashed and boundless faith, he is noticeably subdued when he speaks of the recent death of a woman who left behind five children.

Having already suffered the loss of his father and stepfather, the eldest son was lost upon learning from his grandmother of his mother's sudden death. He showed up at the pastor's front door and implored, "what do I do now? I'm the oldest." The Rev. Christophel paused for a moment, looking down at his feet. Then he looked up and said, "That's why I'm here. Somebody has got to love these kids."