By Shawn Nowlin
Straight Street is a non-profit created to provide a Christian environment where at-risk youth can obtain the necessary skills needed to mature and discover God’s Divine plan for their lives. The organization, located at 333 Luck Avenue in downtown recently commemorated 30 years of community impact with youth participants and their families, staff personnel and longtime supporters.
The Straight Street leadership team consists of Keith Farmer, Director; Ben Richardson, Student Ministry Pastor; Derek Gordon, Team Pastor; Susan Stephens, Parent Life and Jeri Harris, Program Coordinator, according to its website.
Per Farmer, “When people look at Straight Street they see a lot, but it’s taken three decades to get there. We started off with a tub in the back of the trunk of my 1985 LTD and what takes place out of a tub and what takes place inside a 20-thousand-square-foot building is the same thing.”
Since 1994, the organization has helped countless youth overcome homelessness, human trafficking and several other obstacles.
“We prefer to describe ourselves as a youth center staffed by Christians, rather than a Christian Youth Center,” states its website. “One of our primary goals is not only to encourage the Christian youth, but to evangelize the unsaved youth. We have found that if we attach the word ‘Christian’ to our ministry, a number of those we are trying to reach mistake us for a church.”
Straight Street equips the youth emotionally, intellectually, physically and spiritually in a multitude of ways. The organization’s reputation is what keeps individuals like Carl Goodman, the lead pastor at Lakeside Baptist Church, and Ashley Batemon supporting the organization wholeheartedly.
What Batemon appreciates most about Straight Street is how it gives at-risk youth like she once was an opportunity to turn their lives around.
“What Straight Street has been able to accomplish over the last three decades has been nothing short of sensational,” she said. “When I was having trouble as a teenager, my grandmother got me involved with the organization. I didn’t understand at the time, but looking back, it was one of the best things that happened to me.”
She added, “The impact that Straight Street has had on countless individuals is hard to quantify. It’s not a coincidence that support for Straight Street comes from a myriad of ways.”
Every Straight Street community memory and panel discussion over the years has been an entry into a much larger story that is still going strong.
For the most up-to-date information, visit https://straightstreet.org/.
