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In 1981, Allan Tibbels was a 26-year-old youth director with Metro Maryland Youth for Christ.
His wife, Susan, was at home with their two daughters when she received the news: Allan had broken his neck in a freak accident playing basketball, leaving him a quadriplegic with only limited use of his upper body.
For most young people, such an accident would be emotionally devastating. However, Allan was not going to let this stop him.
I knew either God was in control, or he wasn't, he remembers. If he was in control, then there was a purpose for what happened to me.
Shortly after his accident, Allan and Susan read a book by civil rights activist John Perkins, With Justice for All, in which he strongly argued that churches should be a moving force in their communities. The book touched their hearts, and in 1986, they sold their house in Howard County, and with a young seminarian named Mark Gornik, they moved to Sandtown, one of Baltimore's most troubled areas.
They were deeply affected by what they saw: poverty, crime, drug use and abandonment - of 4,200 houses in the area, more than 1,000 were vacant - yet a neighborhood rich in history and a sense of community.
Allan, Susan and Mark realized they needed to become known and trusted in the community before they could have any impact. So, as Allan tells it, they hung out for a couple of years, living off the proceeds from their house sale and a small amount of support they had raised from friends who believed in their mission.