Saturday, August 29, 1998

Youth ministry reaches to help 11-year-old through tough times

By Ken Garfield

Knight Ridder Newspapers

Youth pastor Chris Perry of Jonesboro, Ark., will never forget the night that 11-year-old Monte Johnson came to Wednesday night church looking for a friend.

It was six days after Monte's big brother, Mitchell, had gone to their middle school with a buddy and a rifle and murdered four students and a teacher. The nation was in shock, the town was in mourning and Monte was drowning in tears and questions.

Why did his brother -- his best friend -- do this? What would happen to their family? Would he ever be able to walk down the streets of Jonesboro without suffering stares and scorn?

Monte hadn't been coming long to Central Baptist, one of the largest churches in town with 1,000 active members. But that night, with his family's name being written in red across the nation's front pages, he was moved to open up to 125 of his peers.

"He shared that he was scared and lonely and didn't have friends," Perry said.

With that, Perry asked, "Can he find friends in this youth group?"

The Jonesboro kids answered with applause, then at the end of the church youth meeting with their feet, Perry said.

"They just swarmed him and hugged him and literally surrounded him and his dad."

Kids surrounding one another, helping one another survive difficult times -- that's what youth ministry can do, whether your brother just committed murder or you're 16 and trying to resist the lure of fast cars and cold beer.

Perry, 37, likens it to two worlds colliding. The world of faith is sometimes the only place a kid can go for help in dealing with a secular world that challenges them at every turn. After Mitchell Johnson and Drew Golden opened fire March 24, 1997, at Westside Middle School, Perry did what any good youth minister would do. He made sure to fling open the doors to his world for anyone who needed in.

In the months since the shootings, Perry has tried to console the Johnson family, including Mitchell behind bars. He refuses, though, to offer any convenient theories why a then 13-year-old would snap and shoot without warning. Perry knows that the crime, and the human soul, are too complex for that.

"There's just something called meanness," he said. "The human heart can be mean."

In church, he has helped the members of his youth group talk about life, death and the importance of making the most out of every single day.

On the Tuesday and Wednesday nights reserved for Bible study and conversation, 18-year-old Rachael Sykes said they've also talked about getting out of their cliques and reaching out to kids who might be walking alone.

"I don't know," Rachael told me. "Maybe we could have helped Mitchell out a little bit."

Monte Johnson, a short, stocky guy in sneakers, remained active for a few months in the Central Baptist youth group before moving to a church where a neighbor of the family attends.

Rachael didn't get to know him really well, but she does remember the hug she gave him the night the kids at church laid hands on him and prayed.

Perry remembers how the church helped Monte get his guitar fixed so he could learn to play.

Perry mentioned seeing Monte the other day, about the time Mitchell and Drew were sentenced to a juvenile center until they turn 21. Monte told the youth pastor that at least he was able to hug his big brother before he was taken back to jail that day.

Hugs most everywhere he goes. Monte's doing about as well as a kid in his shoes can do.

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(Ken Garfield is the religion editor at The Charlotte Observer. Write to him at: The Charlotte Observer, 600 S. Tryon St., Charlotte, NC 28232.)

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(c) 1998, The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.).

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