What If? Youth Impacted their World Pt. 1
From Transitional Beginnings to Stability in Christ
His father being wildly abusive in nearly every way towards his mother, Jesse Lobato and his two older siblings left New Jersey for Salem, MA with their mother. Jesse lived with his mom during the week and vacationed with his dad throughout the year. His dad had a strong Christian background and was deeply involved in the church, but due to his alcoholism, he lived two very different lives. On Sundays, Jesse’s father would take them to Spanish church services, but also take them to the park only to be drunk by the time they left. As he was first exposed to God through the complexities of his dad, he never took his faith seriously. To Jesse, church was something you did, there was a God out there, but there was nothing interesting enough about faith for him to further explore.
His mother never enforced going to church, however the Church always seemed to find Jesse. During his five years living in Salem, his family moved four times. Moving nearly every year, he would get to know the neighborhood kids, only to have to move again soon after. However, twice they moved next to pastors that would invite his family to church and another time they moved near members of one of those pastor’s churches.
In middle school, his family moved to the diverse community of Malden. They moved into an apartment they thought would be their forever home. Jesse had his own room and loved his new place. Unfortunately, six months later a city inspector came and informed them they had six months to move out due to several problems within the apartment. This final move would be his last until after high school.
Despite the separation of his parents and instability of his childhood, Jesse and his friends rejected the consistent and typical temptations of middle school. Unfortunately, that would only last so long as he and his friend would soon start smoking. Three weeks into school, Jesse’s brother got into a bad fight with his mom and was kicked out. Burdened by this, Jesse called his friends to smoke before school. Doing so in the back of a church parking lot, the priest caught them. The police, principal, and his mom were all called. Healthily terrified of mother, he knew that life was not for him. By grace, his principal gave him a second chance to get his life back on track.
For the most part that would happen, however a couple of times in the summer Jesse still smoked with a group of friends. After a while of not seeing each other, Jesse ran into the older brother of his friend who was one of the people who first introduced them to smoking. He told Jesse that he was trying to stay away from all that stuff. He explained he had a moment where he evaluated his life and thought, “is this it?” He wrote a list of things he wanted to accomplish, then woke his dad up at 1:00 AM. His friend’s father gave him the wisdom that the first thing on his list should be God. From that moment, his friend’s older brother followed Jesus with deep commitment.
His friend’s brother invited Jesse to church time and time again. Due to Jesse’s experience with his father and church, he had no interest in attending. The service was in the basement during the middle of the week and in Spanish, which Jesse was not fluent in. Yet one day, Jesse finally said yes and attended. He was taken back as everyone greeted him with a hug. It was strange, because he never walked into a place where he was loved and received without having to prove himself first, a sentiment echoed by so many urban youth as they encounter a community of Christ
As they sat down for prayer and praise reports, his friend’s voice turned weak as he shared a praise report. He said, ”I have been praying that Jesse would come and now he is here. I want to thank God.”
Jesse was embarrassed, yet it is the only thing he remembers from that night.
Jesse went home having felt something different within himself. He felt if Jesus was calling then he needed to do something. Regardless of his dad’s inconsistent lifestyle, Jesse called him as he knew his dad would understand what he was going through. He said, “Pa, I went to this church and want to give my life to Jesus.” His dad shared how to give his life to Christ, and from that day forward everything changed for Jesse.
Three months into his commitment to faith, Jesse was picked up by a bus for a church to attend another friend's church. He went prepared for the context and type of church he knew. Overdressed at this contemporary church setting, he never saw anything like it. It was the first time Jesse worshiped God through music. Connecting with other friends from school that also attended there, he continued to make that his home church.
During his sophomore year, Jesse was invited to camp and received a calling to do ministry. Not knowing what to do with that, his youth pastor walked alongside him to figure it out and what that meant in Jesse’s life.
Meanwhile, as Jesse became more engaged in the church, his friend became less involved. Over time, they would rarely see each other. During Jesse’s junior year he crossed paths with his friend and grew saddened they were not as close as they once were. This would be the last time they saw one another as only a month later his friend went missing and his body was found soon after. In this, Jesse could see the world is tough, and following Jesus still brings struggles.
Sometimes it feels as though it can bring more questions than answers. He began to wrestle with why God would take someone that was used so mightily in his life. He also became deeply grateful that his friend’s life, although short, gave Jesse a chance to know God. Out of his Christ-centered transformation and in honor of his friend, Jesse became fully committed to taking advantage of his life. He desired to ensure his friend’s efforts in faith would never be wasted.
Please pray for youth that are in need of the hope and love of Christ. Pray for young people, like Jesse and his friend, to know God and remain in Him. Pray that every effort of the Gospel message bears fruit.
WHAT IF? ...Urban Youth lived out a faith that impacted their world?
As we launch our year-end campaign, our aim is to raise $550,000 by December 31st. This will ensure we continue equipping the next generation of urban leaders with the tools, knowledge, coaching, and networks to reach more youth with the Gospel. We invite you to join us in this life-changing work.
Would you prayerfully consider making a special year-end contribution to support our mission of developing youth leaders who disciple young people with the Gospel? You may do so here on our website at uywi.org/donate.
Thank you for your continued partnership and support to continue to reach youth with the Gospel.
With gratitude and hope,
TOMMY NIXON, CEO
Urban Youth Workers Institute
PS. Stay tuned as we drop this four part story about Jesse and his journey from being an urban kid to now leading young people to Christ as a youth pastor in Lynn, MA.
As we continue in our year-end campaign, our aim is to raise $550,000 by December 31st. This will ensure we continue equipping the next generation of urban leaders with the tools, knowledge, coaching, and networks to reach more youth with the Gospel. We invite you to join us in this life-changing work. Would you prayerfully consider making a special year-end contribution?
WHAT IF? …more leaders were equipped to reach the next generation with the Gospel?
WHAT IF? …YOU made the difference?