TJJD News & Announcements

SAN ANTONIO – Ayres Halfway House youth participated in a two-day Ministries Of the Third Cross Retreat on Dec. 17, 2017. Members of the MOTTC group treated the youth to uplifting fellowship, music, and worship. The retreat members volunteered their time to cook for, serve and lift up our young men in an incredibly powerful way, that even brought the shyest youth out of their shell. At the end of the retreat the group members surprised the youth with Christmas gifts for each young man in the house.  All youth in the program participated and even lead prayers and songs. Many MOTTC members asked to sign on to volunteer with our agency to mentor in the future. It was a wonderful experience for all and they have already began the process of returning for a full, four-day retreat in the summer.

Photo: Volunteers take time out to talk to youth on center  court at Evins. “It was amazing to see the transformation and change in the attitude of the kids as they started, and towards the end of the retreat.”   --Ernesto Duran, Evins Volunteer and Christ on the Cross team member for the Acts Retreat.      EDINBURG, Texas -- You could sense something was brewing at the Evins Regional Juvenile Center (Evins) on a Thursday afternoon when a huge U-Haul truck entered the gated youth correctional facility.  Once it made its way around the corner towards the cafeteria, a group of volunteers wearing blue t-shirts with Christ on the Cross Juvenile Ministry on them followed and quickly unloaded musical sound equipment, tables, water, boxes of snacks, soft drinks and other fixtures.Within an hour, the cafeteria was transformed into a makeshift chapel with an altar and other religious symbols adorning the big area. Thirty-five t...

EDINBURG, Texas – Twenty-four youth volunteered to participate in a three-day Epiphany weekend retreat at Evins Regional Juvenile Center this summer. “This is a remarkable number of youth that decided to stay for the whole program”, said Evins Chaplain Luis Alvarado. Community Relations Coordinator Fidel Garcia added, “When you see this number of kids saying, ‘I like what I see and it keeps me focused and entertained while,’ that is a good thing.” Epiphany weekends are non-denominational retreats for the youth and are scheduled twice a year. The days are long, usually 12 hours of in-depth spiritual programing combined with music, singing, skits, meditation, scripture reading, board games, arts and crafts, and lots of different types of snacks and food throughout the retreat. Eighteen-year-old Andrez who participated for the first time, said, “I think it was wonderful. People showed me they cared about us. These people don’t even know us and they showed us love. When it was over, I ...