'We're the only church they see': Metro World Child is reaching out to Stark kids

LOUISVILLE − Doing a favor for a friend has resulted in Joann Macksyn embracing a mission to serve the community's most vulnerable children.

Macksyn said she was introduced to Metro World Child when she traveled to New York City to help a friend who was producing a Christian television show.

"She told me I could ether interview (gospel singer) Carman, or Pastor Bill Wilson," Macksyn said. "I flew to New York, met Pastor Bill and fell in love with the mission. I've been a sponsor for 23 years."

The nondenominational mission is international in scope, serving 256,000 children around the world, and providing everything from food and housing for orphans, to medical care and the world's largest "Sidewalk Sunday School."

In New York, World Metro Child feeds about 28,000 children every week.

Other countries served include Canada, India, Pakistan, Kenya, Romania, Brazil, South Africa and Lebanon.

"We were in Afghanistan, but a lot of our missionaries were killed and they closed down," Macksyn said.

Wilson, who founded Metro World Child in Brooklyn in 1980, was himself abandoned by his mother when he was 12.

Macksyn said she was so inspired by Wilson, she started Metro World Child's Stark County branch in 2019. Locally, she and her team ministers to hundreds of local kids by sharing the gospel as well as supplying food, clothing and encouragement.

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The Rev. Armone Provens is Metro World Child's urban outreach director in Stark County.

Several days a week, Provens, his wife, Tameka, their daughter Taniyyah Kelly, and the Rev. Isaac Pennymon conduct "street church," primarily in public-housing neighborhoods in Canton, Massillon and Alliance using trucks that feature a portable stage.

"We go out and we have service for the kids," he said. "We play games with the kids, we do Bible lessons. We give out prizes when they memorize a Bible verse."

'Always keep climbing'

Kelly, the newest team member, said she always looks forward to meeting the children .

"I see that we make a difference in their lives," she said. "It's been a great experience and its good to like what you're doing and reaching out to people in need because a lot of children don't get that."

Metro World Child also hosts a "Saturday church" service from 5 to 6 p.m. followed by dinner at Antioch Baptist Church at 142 Arlington Ave. NW.

The ministry also does nine special events a year, Macksyn said. They include dinners, giveaways of outerwear, shoes. and school supplies, and holiday celebrations.

"Last year, we gave out give out over 1,500 toys for Christmas in partnership with the Salvation Army and Toys for Tots, and that was just in Stark County," she said. "Our goal is, 'Always keep climbing.'"

Macksyn has donated $20,000 of her proceeds to help feed 9,000 children Kenya, and another $22,000 a month to support World Metro Child Ohio.

"Basically, I started the agency so that I could have the money to help people that want to be missionaries, but didn't have the money to do it," she said.

Provens joined Metro World Child after his own outreach, Fathers Against Violence, closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said he was introduced to Macksyn by his wife after she started working at Alive Now Services, Macksyn's home personal-care agency in Louisville.

The call of God

"She told me 'You have to need to watch this video. This lady is awesome," Provens recalled. "So, she sent me the video, I watched it, and I thought 'That's exactly what I do. COVID had shut us down, so I really hadn't been able to do anything."

Macksyn called Provens and initially offered him a position as volunteer, but after he sent her a video of his ministry, he was invited for an interview and was hired and sent to New York for training.

"After that, it just took off," he said.

The Provenses, parents to a total of eight children, said most of those they serve have no prior experience with church.

"When we first started going out there, (there was) not really too much attention," Tameka Provens said. "But now, they can't wait to see us. They want to learn and they want to know about God, which is beautiful to me. Some of them let us know that we're the only church they see. They don't learn about God other than us coming to those sites."

Macksyn said the need is the call of God.

"Whatever God puts in front of us, we meet the need that day," she said.

Tameka Provens said she's deeply concerned by the lack of education among the children they serve.

"Half the kids we see don't know their phone numbers, they don't know how to spell their names," she said. "And this was a big majority of the kids we see. It was shocking to me. When I was in school, we had little cards so you knew all that. It makes me think that if something happened, you can't even give somebody your phone number and address."

She and Macksyn share a hope that they eventually can offer tutoring to their current outreach.

"A lot of it, the parents just don't know what's out there," Macksyn said.

Perrymon said he was shocked to learn that the local higher-education rate is about 17%.

"That's low," he said. "That means they finish high school and don't go to college, or they don't finish high school and get into trouble."

Pennymon said that when people in poverty need help, they often don't seek it because of pride.

"Not pride from the standpoint 'I don't want to ask,' but 'What happens if I ask? What is the perception of my community and friends? I don't want to out my life in the hands of somebody else,'" he said.

In addition to Antioch, Metro World Child also works in partnership with Hope Outreach, God-Given Church of God in Christ, the Total Living Center, Trinity Gospel Temple and Cathedral of Life.

Metro Child Ohio also has expanded into Akron and Cleveland, with plans for Columbus and Cincinnati.

"There's 80,000 kids in Cleveland living in poverty," Macksyn noted.

'I was one of those kids'

Armone Provens said he has received permission to go into some elementary schools in Canton, including Stephanie Rushin Patrick, Heritage Christian and Bright Academy.

"The ultimate goal is to have sponsorship; that's what they do around the world," Macksyn said. "The goal eventually is sponsorships to make the program itself efficient and it'll pay for the trucks and all of that."

Pennymon said he and Provens hope the idea will extend to "adopt a school, adopt a child," based on the need.

Macksyn said Metro World Child does not insist that a child convert to Christianity as a condition to receive help.

"The goal is just about love," she said. "We're in all those countries, they come but it doesn't mean they're all going to believe the way we believe. They still have their right to believe what they want, and they still come to our events. For instance, we're in New York City and there are large Jewish communities where we have sites. There are Muslims and Hindus who come to all of our sites."

Pennymon challenges anyone with concerns to look at the children they serve.

"From where your child started from before the program, to where they are now, have you seen growth?" he said. "If I have to leave the faith up to the kids, that's fine, and I agree, but can you discredit us for what we started, and what your child knows from the time before, to the time now?"

Armone Provens said they've encountered adults who have been suspicious of their motives.

"My thing is, and I've said it before, I tell them, 'You know, you've tried everything in the world. Just try God, once,'" he said. "When we pull up to that site, when we get out of our vehicles, the kids hug us, they love us."

Provens said they're recognized by kids everywhere they go, and added that some children also remember him from his previous ministry, Fathers Against Violence.

"I see the parents, they're in amazement like, 'My kids are really into Metro,' like 'These guys are really doing something for my kids.'" he said. "'I'm like they don't have a choice but to acknowledge what's going on. They can see it in their kids ... it touches my heart because I was one of those kids. I ran the streets."

Provens became a Christian after serving 13 years in prison on charges of reckless homicide and felonious assault, the result of a life of crime and violence that began with his first arrest at age 11 despite having a mother who worked in the juvenile justice system.

More:Armone Provens: "I have a story to tell"

Provens said he knows World Metro Child is making a difference in children's lives.

"For me, to see the inspiration that we give kids, it's a beautiful thing," he said. "No parent, nobody in the community can take that away. You can't take away what's reality. Metro World Kids Ohio making a difference in the lives of these kids, and they love it."

Macksyn said society often writes off too many people as hopeless.

"They're not hopeless, she said. "They just need hope."

To learn more, contact Macksyn at 330-371-9876, or Provens at 330-871-4599 or 330-232-4054, or visit www.metroworldchild.org

Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: 'We're the only church they see': Stark's Metro World Child makes a difference