Church's New Computer Lab Helps Neighborhood Revitalization

Staff Report
New Journal and Guide

     Elder Michael L. Brooks remembers when his favorite toys were comic strips cut out of the thick Sunday newspaper. There were also the acorn nuts that fell from the trees in his Norfolk public housing neighborhood that became his “toy soldiers”. Brooks said those memories give him a special understanding of people with limited resources and are the force which today drives his inner city ministry not far from where he was raised.
     “I don’t want any kid to go through what I went through, as far as lack,” he said. “I want to make a difference.”

Elder Michael L. Brooks sits at computer in his church's new computer lab.

      Three years ago, Elder Brooks relocated his church, Blood of the Lamb Church of Deliverance, to the Huntersville neighborhood of Norfolk. He is the founding pastor and overseer with a small flock under 50 members. With a heart for young people—and those not so young, he quickly adds—he began to reach out to the surrounding community to let his new neighbors know the church was there to serve them.
      He received some unexpected support in his efforts from a Georgia businessman, Rod Aycox, who liked what he saw Elder Brooks doing in the community. He, too, wanted to make a difference.
      Recently, with the help of Mr. Aycox, the church and Elder Brooks opened a state-of-the-art computer learning center, fully equipped and internet-wired to service groups up of 15. Named the A&B Computer Center for the two founders (Aycox and Blood of the Lamb), the center is equipped to offer beginning and advanced instruction, and is open to the community for a small fee. Church members have special days where the center is available without charge.

     “We chose computers as a business outreach because that’s where the world is headed,” said Brooks. “You can’t even get a job at a fast food restaurant without applying online.
“We want our young people, especially, to be prepared for the challenges they will face once they leave school.
     “Not that we overlook our older people. We know many adults are not ‘schooled’ about computers, especially those in the poorer neighborhoods.”
      Huntersville, where the church is located has some of Norfolk’s poorest residents and highest crime rates. But, it is also home to a new higher income population as the area is being redeveloped.
      Brooks said the area’s poor, unfortunately, are not the priority of city politicians who proclaim they are doing something for the community. That’s where his church steps in.
     “The real problem is a lack of parenting and moral values being taught in the home,” Brooks contends when asked about crime in the area.
“The police should be the last resort in the community, not the first. We have to look out for each other, first.”
      He continued, “Yes, we were poor in Tidewater Park when I was growing up and playing with acorns as soldiers, but we had values.”
      There were nine children in the Brooks household—five boys and four girls—under the care of their mother for much of Elder Brooks’ life. He was five when his father left the family.
“My goal is to provide a place of refuge where kids can feel safe in an unsafe neighborhood—and at the same time prepare them for life in the real world,” he said.
      The new computer center is not the only A&B joint venture. There is a scholarship fund that rewards students in the church for good grades and improvements on their report cards. This year, three college-age students were awarded full-tuition checks from the A&B Scholarship Fund.
     And the church recently received a brand new 15-passenger 2008 van to make church transportation issues a thing of the past. The van is part of the commitment of the “A” in A&B to insuring field trips for leisure and education, as part of the church’s Christian education division. The first trip was earlier this month to the Virginia State Fair in Richmond, fulfilling the pastor’s promise to the youth of a Back-To-School excursion. (See Van)
      Elder Brooks, who is an ex-cop and ex-Marine, believes he brings the right history to his ministry in Huntersville. He says he understands the community’s needs, and works from the compassion God has placed in his heart for the people.
      “At the end of the day,” he says, “all I can say is To God Be the Glory.”
      To find out more about the computer center and to register for classes, call the church at 623-2400.

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