by Mike Davis, Executive Director, Youth For Christ
Reducing Gun Violence Network Connector
“Do Not Cross” is what the yellow tape reads as we watch as officers’ motion for drivers to redirect or turn around, creating an unexpected detour. In addition to the inconvenience, there is an audience that begins to gather around the scene, separating the scene from activity that is still occurring throughout the rest of the community. Some of that activity includes children and teens going to school, people on their way to work, and every so often a few joggers on their daily run. All the while, gun violence has once again disrupted another family’s life.
Disruptive.
Disruptive best describes the gun violence that occurs in my community. So far, in the past 6 months 313 shots have been fired in Seattle Washington. This number isn’t far off from the 335 shots reported last year around this time. These shots produce loud and intrusive sounds that are unnatural to the environments they tend to find themselves in.
Disruptive.
From the sound of children laughing to the pounding of feet jogging on the pavement, these are the natural sounds my team and I expect to hear throughout the day. But unfortunately, those sounds are often interrupted by the sound of a notification on our phones from our local Law Enforcement Liaison alerting us of another shot fired in the community.
Disruptive.
You see, disruption is a part of the nature of being on any critical incident response team. Most of the team members, including myself, have families. At any time, our days, our evenings, and our time with our families can be disrupted because of shots fired in the community. But despite the disruption and the inconvenience we show up. We show up, as wounded healers as most of us have been victims of gun violence ourselves. We show up because we can recall the trauma of that moment and what it means to have someone present in that space. In addition to showing up to scenes, we show up to support victims and their families at hospitals and in the unfortunate event of a loss of a love one, we show up to funerals to be in space with those whose lives have been affected as a result of gun violence.
It’s obvious that gun violence is a major disruptor for many in our communities. As stated before, gun violence has a way of disturbing the natural flow of the day, guiding people through inconvenient detours in their own communities. But it is this very disruption that inspires me to do what I do.
And this is where I’d like to challenge us as the church, as ambassadors of the Kingdom and practitioners in our communities to see this disruption as an opportunity.
You see, as a man of faith in my community, I must begin to see gun violence as an indicator of what is missing, the peace of GOD. I have to take it a step further by being proactive before ANYTHING happens. One of the things we are working on in our ministry is being consistently present in the community. Whether it is through our arts programs or just showing up to schools, community centers, malls, etc.… consistent presence is key. This is why we work on being intentional about proximity, planting ourselves in the heart of the communities we serve. We call this proactive presence. And that’s how I see the peace and presence of God, proactive.
I want to invite the local church to collaborate, leverage resources, and saturate your communities with a unified voice of prayer and worship. Forsaking the many names over the doors of our churches, we can come together to lift the ONE NAME that can disrupt everything. Using ONE VOICE!
This is where I have seen God show up the most in our work to prevent gun violence. Because we are proactively present in our community, because of our prayer walks in spaces (hot spots), known for violent activity, because we walk the streets with students and their families in the mornings, we get to experience and watch the peace of God, through His people, transform spaces and become safer. We have seen the community continue in its natural flow with fewer disruptions. I believe this is happening because we have chosen to pray for the peace of God to fill these spaces while BEING in these spaces, TOGETHER! This is done in collaboration with the local churches in our community. Together we have decided to leave our four walls and proactively bring the peace of GOD with us. It is as if the peace of God has put up the yellow tape around our community and said to violence “Do Not CROSS, take a detour, you can’t pass through here!”.
My prayer for CCDA practitioners is that members of our communities will begin to see our faith in action as it relates to Gun violence. I pray that the church would begin to show up collectively, unified as the physical representation of the presence and peace of God, in support of the community. I pray that through His Body (the church) we would allow His presence and His peace to go forth as The Prince of Peace, experiencing a mighty move of His Spirit as He becomes The Disruption of gun violence.
Featured Resource
Reducing Gun Violence Toolkit
This toolkit is brought to you by CCDA’s Reducing Gun Violence Affinity Network. The network started with a small group of practitioners looking to address the gun violence that happened in their communities in 2021. We then created this toolkit in hopes that you and your community would take steps in addressing the roots of gun violence. We invite you to hold space to pray, lament, come alongside, and advocate for your neighbors. May we purpose as a collective to love our neighbors until justice flows like a river and righteousness like a never-ending stream.
Mike Davis, father of Mykey Davis Jr (13yrs old), Originally from Kansas City, MO is an electrifying performer and motivational speaker who reflects the knowledge of self, collective creativity, cultural consciousness and most important to him, the Gospel. Davis started his journey in 1998 as a motivational speaker and in 2002 began to marry the art with the message. In 2009, he moved to Seattle where he is currently serving as the Executive Director of Seattle’s Youth For Christ. Mike has continued his endeavors as both artist and minister to provide opportunity for youth and young leaders to encounter community, opportunity and the presence of God through a program he founded called “Cultured” a performing arts based, outreach ministry in South Seattle
