I met a drug dealer named Chris in Great Falls who used to go to church. All the kids from the streets loved him. He knew the importance of reaching the next generation and spent time with them, especially the fatherless and those who struggle in school. His desire was to help them have a better future. Maybe one day they could be like him, owner of his own drug store and a respected pharmacist who loves Jesus.

A few years ago, Chris was not satisfied with just going to church; he wanted to be the church. He, along with others in his church, began to realize their community was in trouble. Rather than build a fence around the church and turn inward, they decided to turn outward and make a difference. It led them to start a Wednesday night service for at-risk children and an after-school literacy tutoring program. They work with their local elementary school to identify students who are not meeting standards in reading and help tutor them once a week.

According to the South Carolina Education and Oversight Committee (www.eoc.sc.gov), one in five third-graders in our state is not reading at grade level. Why is third-grade reading level such a big deal? Researchers have noticed that students who are not reading at grade level by the third grade are more likely to drop out of school, use drugs and possibly end up in prison. There is also a high probability that these students come from poverty-stricken broken homes.

Why should the church be concerned about literacy? This one need could potentially move the needle on other needs in the future. If literacy rates were raised in your town, more students would graduate and be eligible for college. In turn, businesses wouldn’t close due to a limited work force, and fewer students would be walking the streets. Joblessness diminishes, poverty diminishes, and homelessness diminishes. It also puts the church at a strategic point in impacting the lost. Nearly every individual in our state at one time was in one of our primary schools.

My wife, Leisa, is an educator who is passionate about assisting under-resourced learners, especially in the area of early literacy intervention. As an administrator of a primary school, she was faced with the harsh reality of diminishing budgets and limited resources. She said, “If you gave me a reading volunteer that would dedicate an hour a week for one-on-one interaction with at-risk students who were not proficient in reading and had struggles at home, I believe we could have them reading on grade level by the third grade. That one hour a week could change a child’s life.”

Get in the game, church. Organize a mentoring program through your local school. Lead a book drive for students’ summer reading. Volunteer one hour a week and read to an at-risk child. There are negative forces vying for the attention of the next generation and those in need of a better future. If the church doesn’t give them hope, the real drug dealers in your town will give it a shot. Be the church.