Rev. Wayne S. Daley, Community Relations Director for the Boston TenPoint Coalition shares his first person account of the miracles that can occur when Christians unite around the gospel.  The Boston TenPoint Coalition is an ecumenical group of Christian clergy and lay leaders working to mobilize the community around issues affecting Black and Latino youth.

 In 1992 the Boston TenPoint Coalition was birthed due to some violence that spilled over into a funeral service at Morning Star Baptist Church. What was supposed to be a Celebration of Life, turned into an unfavorable act of hatred amongst our young people, and against the church!  Because on that day, the Devil was at work within the spiritual realm of a spiritual battle, and the Devil brought it into the church which then opened the eye’s of every believer to come together and fight this demonic presence that everyone was preaching about as quoted by the Apostle Paul to the church in Ephesus, “For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” 

When this horrific act of violence took place I was not living like a child of God, I was stuck in a deceitful relationship with Satan who often kept me blinded from the doors of the church because the streets appeared to be the place where I could become the man. The only reason I was not at the funeral service to say goodbye to a friend, was because the word on the street was there would be some get back so we decided not to go just for this very reason. When the news came, we were thankful that we were not there and we were hurt that this took place at our friends’ service and in the church!

Even though I was involved in the streets, I always maintained a relationship with the Lord, often praying for Him to help me get out of this struggle.  Finally, one morning He did and sent me back to Greenwood Memorial United Methodist Church where I began to teach Sunday school. After my Pastor Rev. John retired, I started to visit Charles Street A.M.E. Church, where I became active in the church and then received my calling to the ministry under the spiritual leadership of Rev. Dr. Gregory G. Groover, Sr.

I was not sure what my calling was, or where the Lord was leading me to do ministry until a young preacher named Rev. B. Christopher Sumner came to Charles Street to invite us to participate in Neighborhood Walks in and around the Grove Hall community. I knew Rev. Sumner who was the Executive Director for the Boston TenPoint Coalition, because we used to play basketball on the same court, Ronan Park court, where my friend Rob, often played. Once I heard how TenPoint came to be, I was immediately committed to their ministry, because I felt a connection to their mission which started because of an act of violence at a Celebration of Life service for a friend who was murdered because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Twenty years later, the Boston TenPoint Coalition is continuing the crusade against gang and youth violence. Still to this day, TenPoint continues to reach out to bring believers of the faith, believers of the Almighty God, clergy, pastors, ministers, lay leaders, faith-based, non-profits, companies, organizations, and communities to stand together, and to fight together against this spiritual attack on our city, through our young people. Everyone is a piece of the puzzle that can and will propel our young people, back to their God-given potential. That’s why we must continue to hold each other up in prayer, support and encourage the efforts of each other so that no one will get discouraged because we know that at the proper time, we will reap a harvest of blessings if we don’t give up.

To learn more about the Boston TenPoint Coalition and their Seasons of Peace initiatives for 2012 visit www.bostontenpoint.org