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MIAMI – His name was Antwan. A nine-year-old boy from the Overtown community in Miami, Antwan spent a summer participating in camps facilitated by the Touching Miami with Love ministry center. He was one of Christy Craddock’s favorite kids. 

So when Craddock, then a college intern, sat with Antwan to make a nametag with the words “God loves Antwan” and realized he could not read or write it touched her heart. She learned that his mother was addicted to drugs and rarely sent him to school. Without a parent advocating for him and with the failing standards of local schools, Craddock knew Antwan’s future opportunities would be limited.

“I had grown to really love Antwan, and it broke my heart that without parental support Antwan would likely drop out of school and might end up joining a gang or selling drugs,” said Craddock. “And that might lead to being shot or put in prison. When I left, my heart was so burdened with who he would become. I knew that it was likely he would easily fall through the cracks and be one of the forgotten children of the inner city.”

Antwan is the reason that six years later Craddock has returned to Touching Miami with Love (TML), a ministry of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and CBF of Florida, to serve a two-year assignment as one of the Fellowship’s field personnel. She is now equipped with masters degrees in social work and divinity from Baylor University, a Fellowship partner school. 

“Antwan changed my life,” said Craddock, of Lexington, Ky. “He’s the reason I’m back here. I realized that there are forgotten kids who need somebody to love them.”

Craddock doesn’t know what happened to Antwan, who would now be a teenager. But she’ll spend the next two years ministering to youth who’ve also grown up in Overtown, the poorest community in the state of Florida. Teenagers in this inner city community, many who are raised by extended family instead of their parents, witness the effects of poverty in their homes and neighborhood – crime, prostitution, drug trafficking, teenage pregnancy, low graduation rates, substandard housing. 

“I really want to offer them freedom – the idea that they can become who it is that they want to be in life.” Craddock said. “I don’t want them to see the crime and violence and poverty around them and think that this is all that is available to them. I want to help them understand the choices they’ll have to make along the way to allow themselves those freedoms.”

Craddock is one of four CBF field personnel serving at TML. The center follows Jesus’ example of ministry to the poor, reaching out to children, youth, families and people who are homeless by providing a variety of services – summer camps, after school programs, a Christmas store, tax services and assistance finding jobs, housing and social services.

“That first summer I was here, I saw that children and youth who grow up in this context do not have the same opportunities that I had growing up in the middle class and that many of us in the U.S. take for granted,” Craddock said. “For the children here whose parents never finished high school or are unemployed or are addicted to drugs or involved in prostitution, they do not have the same opportunities as the rest of Americans. I feel burdened to be an advocate and try to offer some of the same opportunities to children and youth who otherwise would not be afforded those.”

To learn about partnership opportunities with Craddock and TML, call (800) 352-8741. TML hosts eight weeks of summer camps led by Fellowship partner churches. Craddock is looking for individuals or groups to teach youth activities such as photography, dance, art and drama throughout the school year.

To financially support the ministry of Craddock and other field personnel at TML, give to the CBF Offering for Global Missions. To give, go to www.thefellowship.info/OGM or call (800) 352-8741.

CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.