At fourteen years old, Jermaine was the man of the house. Being the oldest of three, he was responsible for helping his mom take care of his younger siblings and keeping the household in order. Every day, Jermaine rode two buses from Euclid to the City Life Center to attend the School of One.
Erin, the City Life director, met Jermaine at the Center after school. “He was a hothead,” she says. “When he first came to the Center, he was only there to cause trouble.” Jermaine, like many kids his age, struggled with anger, lust, and a bent towards violence. When something upset him, he took matters into his own hands. Without a positive role model in his life, he might have continued down that road. But then he met Mali.
Mali leads basketball and Tribe Time at the Center each week—an opportunity for teens to release some energy by playing team sports and to hear the Gospel through a Bible study afterwards. Jermaine hit it off with Mali. He started coming to Tribe Time regularly. Eventually, Mali started meeting with him one on one. He built a relationship with Jermaine where it was okay to ask questions that challenged his view of the world. Mali mentored him, teaching him about God and what it means to be a godly man. As Jermaine got to know Mali better, he found himself also getting to know Christ.
One day when Jermaine came to Tribe Time, something was different. Mali could tell. When he took him aside to ask what was wrong, Jermaine broke down and cried. He had just lost a friend to violence.
Jermaine was an atheist when he first came to the Center. He’d grown up going to church with his grandmother but stopped as he got older. God had never seemed to care about him, so why would he care about God? However, as Jermaine spent time around people who lived out a life of genuine faith, he had started to get a better picture of God. Now, when it seemed like all was lost, Jermaine knew where to turn.
The City Life community came around Jermaine in his grief. This was a turning point. Jermaine realized he could no longer live for himself. If he wanted things to change, then something needed to change in him.
In 2025, Jermaine surrendered his life to Christ. He made this decision at a retreat he attended on scholarship. Shortly after, Mali had the opportunity to baptize him. Now he is working, attending school, and learning what it means to live for the Lord. He’s not as angry as he used to be. His leaders describe him as a natural leader—he’s dependable and looks out for his close friends. He exudes a maturity that comes from his new identity in Christ, and the younger teens are drawn to it.
The relational ministry we do at City Life means our leaders are committed to raising up new leaders. Jermaine’s life is a testimony that God can transform our greatest weaknesses into a story of new life.
3Story® is the phrase we use to describe how we live in relationship with God and others. We use three circles to represent these stories—God’s Story, my own story and the stories of young people. When the circles overlap, it means friendship is growing, trust is building, and transformation is happening.
When Jermaine met Mali, he entered into an authentic relationship where Christ was being shared as well as modeled through Mali’s example. We want to be people who love like Jesus loves us, serve as Jesus serves, and who are consistently drawing near to God for the sake of young people. As we live 3Story® lives, we represent Jesus who is steady and trustworthy so that young people feel seen, heard and valued.