We have prepared a “Micah 2.0” acrostic below that succinctly states the reasons that we have developed over the months of planning for making this exciting move. Please let us know if you have any questions about any one of these points! We’d love to chat with you at greater length about these plans.
M… is for Mature
…the verb, not the adjective, as in “to mature.” When we bought the original Micah House in October of 1999, we knew what we wanted Micah to be, and how we wanted our boys to grow up. Over the last twelve years as we have matured as a ministry, that original vision has been undergirded by a wealth of knowledge about the practicalities of transformation. As we design our new facility from the ground up, we can take those thousands of little lessons we have learned over the years and build them into our structures in a way that promotes success at every level. We can approach Micah 2.0 with an intentionality that will promote further maturity in our boys and in our ministry.
I… is for Insulate
…like the kind of insulation that protects a house from external elements that would damage it. Sadly, in 2011 Honduras was declared the murder capital of the world and the new hub of the Latin American cocaine trade. Violence and insecurity have become a daily part of life in our current neighborhood, which is no longer a safe place to raise the boys. Micah 2.0 will be a sanctuary, a place where our boys and staff can find peace and refuge from the violent world around them…in order to go back out into that world to transform it.
C… is for Community
…because insulate does not mean isolate! Our boys must be fully integrated into their society, and must be given the freedom to learn how to make wise decisions on their own. The Villa Linda Miller community, consisting of 165 working class families that lost their homes after Hurricane Mitch, will provide that community for our boys. At the same time, it is a more controlled environment than most communities since we have a relationship with the families there and will be able to supervise our boys’ activities among them. Another aspect of community is the fact that our staff will be able to live “in community” with our boys in their own on-site housing!
A… is for Accommodate
…having sufficient space to be able to grow into our present and future ministries. We have outgrown our current facility, and the fifty-plus people that pass through our doors daily trip over each other as they attempt go about their daily responsibilities. At Micah 2.0, our missionaries will have ample space to do their transformative work in a creative and outside-the-box manner…in ways that are just not possible in our current limited confines. Every aspect of our ministry, such as the technical school, our formal education program…even athletics and recreation, will have its own space on which to develop and flourish!
H… is for Home
…and Micah will always begin and end with the concept of home. One of the reasons that our population will not grow too much…we will have space for eighteen boys rather than the current twelve, is that the ability to be a family for these boys is the main reason that we are successful in the process of transformation. While we will be able to reach out to other needy people through our technical school, athletic program, Bible studies, micro-enterprise development, etc, the new Micah House itself will be just that: a cozy, intimate, family-centered home.
2.0 stands for Innovation.
As soon as we get moved onto Micah 2.0, we will begin visioning Micah 2.1, and then Micah 2.2…there are an infinite number of decimal places between 2.0 and 3.0, after all! We will be constantly searching for a better way to do the ministry that we are called to do, and thankfully, we will have the space and the facilities to do so! Our incredibly humble and incredibly visionary staff will keep stretching their eyes beyond the horizon, searching out those new possibilities…and figuring out how to turn them into action…and transformation!
