Pastor Terry Lane is no stranger to the outdoors and all of the things that walk, crawl, or slither in nature’s landscape. However for the past 19 years, Lane’s nonprofit MetroKids Konnection has worked with inner-city underprivileged kids who have never experienced anything beyond the “concrete jungle” of their neighborhood. And their neighborhood isn’t just any neighborhood; it’s the Cleveland Arms Apartments, the most violent community in Jacksonville, Florida.
Lane recognizes the need to always keep these kids busy. So far, their lives consist of school, Metro’s afterschool program, and then back to their apartment complex. He recalled how his own father took him camping in the woods and taught him valuable lessons and how these kids have never had this opportunity. So he created Wolf Pack, a program that takes them out of their familiar surroundings and puts them into a brand-new environment—the woods.
“That alone is an education,” said Lane. “I want to get them to achieve small goals, and that takes training.”
Lane wants these kids to learn basic camp craft, which teaches more than how to start a fire. It teaches responsibility, teamwork, and develops character. Through previous camping trips, the kids have been trained to know what to do once they get out in the woods. They break up into groups of three or four, and the members know they must work together without arguing or fighting if they are going to accomplish anything. They immediately grab their containers, which has everything they need to cook their own food. Then each kid is assigned a certain type of wood to gather for their fire, and they scour the edges of the woods to find it.
Lane said, “This keeps them all busy and keeps one kid from sitting and listening to music on some electronic device while the others work. If they don’t work, then they don’t eat.”
The kids use tools to start their fires, not matches. “It’s neat to watch them with the fire,” said Lane. “If they don’t do it, no one is going to do it for them. We teach them how to do it, and then they have to do it themselves…The kids are excited to do it. I stay on them, and they cook their entire meals.”
After they eat, everything must be washed and put back in the containers so it will be available to use on the next trip.
These kids understand that they’re not alone in those woods, and they want to know what’s in the woods with them. Since they learn by visuals and actually being out there and seeing things, Lane shows them pictures of the kinds of poisonous snakes they may encounter. This gets their attention more than other methods of teaching. In fact, they know more about snakes now than before the trips.
The campsite is owned by the Highway to Heaven Church and is located on 200 aces deep in the woods in Glen St. Mary with 600 feet on the water. The kids think it’s cool that they can see Georgia across the Glen St. Mary River. The campsite has showers and covered areas where they can teach lessons. In addition to building fires and cooking, the kids can earn up to 12 different badges and belt loops as rewards for other accomplishments. For instance, a professional archer who’s also a certified teacher instructs the kids. Lane’s brother Rick, founder of Amazing Horse Ministries, teaches the gospel using the relationship between man and horse and how it compares to man and God.
Initially Wolf Pack was designed for boys, but the girls got upset because they couldn’t go. So Lane opened it up to them and found out that they were the best group leaders. Everything is a work in progress, and Lane admits that he’s still learning as well. He’s constantly researching new and alternative ways to do things. Meanwhile, they take what they did last time and figure out how they can do it better the next time around.
Lane does see an improvement in these kids and how they are stepping up to accept responsibility. Still, he says, “It’s a process and will take time.” If he can get them to earn badges, then they’ll remember those lessons for life, and it will affect them for life.
He’s constantly looking for other activities to engage these kids, and he’s looking for talented help that can teach these kids. If you have a skill that these kids can use through your mentoring, please contact Pastor Terry Lane at 904-673-2676.
