There is a gym in Gadsden, Alabama that brings punches and prayer together to reach teenagers in a unique way. It is the vision of Blake Waddell a former youth pastor who took his passion for boxing and love for young people and combined them to create Crossroads Boxing Gym. A ministry designed to reach hurting teens. Waddell says, "the ones I felt were hurting that needed to be reached more weren't coming into the churches. The ones who were in homes where there were drugs, abuse and real hurt."
Crossroads Boxing Gym is taking them off the street and using faith to help them go the distance in life and the boxing ring. 16 year old Princeton Jones says, "I was into the streets, doing a lot of gang banging, smoking..what teenagers do." He met a woman who told him about Crossroads Boxing Gym so he stopped by to check it out. "I liked the people who were here and the ministry that went on, after about three weeks I got baptised and changed my whole life around."
Waddell says, "I hope we teach them some good life lessons so that when they grow up they'll become parents, better employees or employers. If they can walk out that door and have people know they are good people..." It's a simple goal that keeps teens coming to the Crossroads Boxing gym and learning that there is a better way of life than what they find in the streets.
