Breaking Generational Cycles

 

Mason Keller, our Incarceration Cohort lead and area director in Lewis County, Washington, met Alex in 2017. Detention had become a regular experience for Alex and his family. When Mason’s team came into the facility for Young Life One club that night, Alex and two of his brothers were all in detention together. At club they played and laughed and heard about Jesus Christ — all the normal club activities — with the addition of orange jumpsuits. At club Alex and his brothers had lots of jokes to tell about their whole family being “locked up,” but underneath the facade they felt hopeless and abandoned. When Alex looked at his future he saw prison or death, and at this point he wasn’t sure which would be better. ​

 

Mason invited Alex to a Halloween party at his house and this was the first Young Life event Alex attended outside of incarceration. After a while his brothers started tagging along with him. That summer all three boys went to camp, and all three gave their lives over to Christ.

When Alex began his relationship with Jesus, he decided he needed to quit selling drugs. He asked Mason if he could help him find a job, because he needed to help pay the bills at home and buy school clothes for his little brothers. Alex started working at a fast food restaurant, and student-leading with Young Life. ​

The next summer Alex wanted his friends to come to camp with him, but also wanted the opportunity to serve others. So in 2019 Alex served on work crew. He had the same life-changing opportunity to serve and live in community as all the other work crew, but his fellow workers would never have believed where Alex met Mason two years prior. ​

This summer Alex reached out to Mason and asked if he could go back to Young Life camp to serve again. In 2022 Alex worked on summer staff on the zipline. While serving at camp, he had the privilege to watch his younger brother stand up and proclaim he was giving his life over to Jesus. Alex’s little brother Edwin is 16 now and Alex is so proud that, unlike all his older brothers, Edwin has never been to the detention center. Christ is making a way. He is transforming the hearts and lives of Young Life One kids. He is breaking cycles, impacting families, and changing the future for the next generation of kids. ​

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”​ (Luke 4:18-19)