After two years of preparation, Mirage became the physical outpouring of LIGHTDANCERS desire to give our local youth here in Wellington, Kansas a place to hang out where they could creatively occupy their spare time in a positive environment that would nurture their creative gifts and talents. It was to be a place where they could comfortably be themselves, express themselves, and at the same time encounter Christ through our actions without having Him shoved down their throat at every turn.

We choose to cater to the age group of 13 thru 20. Some people have questioned "Why 13 through 20? A 20 year old is not a teenager." And to that we say, "A 20 year old is not an adult either." They are caught in that in-between zone. They think they are old enough for a lot of adult things. Often they are forced into situations which call for them to make adult decisions and yet the law still places certain restrictions on them not considering them "true adults" as defined by law until they reach 21. There is this delicate place of growth between the ages of 18 and 20 that kind of flounders when they are left to fend for something positive to pass their time or amuse their senses in the adult world which they are suddenly thrust into and yet still denied the full scope of.

So, we stepped out in faith to rent the old Micki's Bar (yes! It was a real bar! All 5000 + square feet of it!) at 2115 N. A St. in Wellington, Kansas. Our doors officially opened October 21, 2006….and officially closed March 31, 2007. We operated as a non-smoking facility, open 6 days a week from 4:00 pm -10:30 pm Monday thru Thursday, 4:00 pm - 11:30 pm Friday, 12:00 pm - 11:30 pm Saturday and we were closed on Sunday.

Inside Mirage was a beverage cafe, (no alcohol...why is that adults are the ones that ask "Will you be serving alcohol?" Uh, let me think...NO!) an art studio where you can dabble anytime, lots of books and music to rummage through, a mixture of good old fashioned board games and their computerized counterparts, and a performing arts club (aka "The Threshing Floor") where we brought in a wide variety of bands as well as DJ music. We also made available "The Sound Garden", where one could pick up a guitar, practice with their own band, form a new band, bang on the drums, or just sing to their hearts content. Our vision for the future was to include an outdoor pavilion, perhaps a recording studio and skateboarding ramps and rails to fill the need of our local skater community.

Small town life can be absolutely wonderful for raising kids! On the other hand, many small town kids can't wait to leave small town America because of what they perceive as limitations when it comes to opportunities. That's why I personally left and it's why my kids and many of their friends are looking forward to leaving. There are two mindsets here. One says that "This is how it's been for generations. It was fine for me when I was growing up. They don't need anything more." The other mindset says, "They have a legitimate need. Let's try to meet it." I am happy to say that as visionaries, we come from the school of the second mindset! Unfortunately, many of those locally who could have made a difference, seem to come from the first mindset.

We now better understand the scripture ‘The harvest is great but the workers are few.” We started with a staff of eight and many pats on the back and acknowledgements for meeting the need in the community. But those who actually stepped up to assist in coming alongside of us to do something about it were few and far between. Even our original staff quickly dropped off leaving us to number but a few to operate the facility and minister to our local youth on a daily basis.

As for those who did believe in our efforts to the point of being willing to put their money where their mouth was, well, they were even fewer and farther between! We could count the local businesses on one hand who assisted in any way and believe me, for that we were thankful, but it just wasn’t enough to keep things going. Actually, I believe we had more individuals brainstorming and supplying some of our basic needs but still very little follow through even with those who had such desire. And of the near 20 churches in Wellington, only one stepped up to the plate and made a one time monetary donation. The rest wanted nothing to do with our efforts as apparently they felt that Mirage was too far “out of the box” here in the heartland’s Bible belt.

Parents nor adults who had habit of gossip about what they perceived Mirage was, rarely brought concerns directly to us. One of the complaints we caught wind of through the grapevine were parents who were hesitant to allow their teenage children to patronize a place of business where there may be 19 and 20 year olds interacting with their 15 and 16 year olds because they didn't feel their children need to be around young adults of that age. Yet somehow they tend to forget about the bowling alley, the arcade, the movies, the mall, the school, were their teenagers are in contact with those peers who may be slightly older than themselves. That's what life is - interaction with others.

A concern that actually was brought to us by a local band member was the fact that we considered the
establishment to be Christian based, yet allowed secular music to be played on our DJ night. Never mind the fact that 98% of the bands we brought in were Christian or the fact that any other day of the week you walked in, Christian music was always playing. For the Christians we were too secular. For some of the teenagers, we were too Christian. And for the local adults, we were just the outsiders who didn’t look like the rest of the local adults. Ironic how suddenly we were being judged in the same way the kids we were attempting to minister to were being judged, by appearance and from a distance!

It would have been nice to see our efforts at this location in Wellington last at least as long as it took to plant and plan for it in our hearts. But as we have said all along, this is God’s baby and we were just along for the ride, following His lead. In our last days we had several genuine individuals show up to express an interest in helping, but by then God had made it clear that the work He set out to do through Mirage, the building, was done here. Salvaging the situation was not an option. Mirage existed to serve those who entered it’s doors during our 5 month run and in the end, the kids we had the greatest interaction with had even gone out on their own and individually raised funds that helped us meet some of our most immediate and pressing needs. We endearingly dubbed these kids “Our Gang” as they were very much like “The Little Rascals” of old. They were an awesome group and we still see some of them on a weekly basis for our “Hot Topic Discussion Group”that continued to meet on Tuesday nights after the closing of Mirage.

It was very disheartening to see an entire community take such a complacent and distant stance regarding something that could have been a long term benefit for the youth of their community. But we rest in the fact that God is in control of all that He calls us to and we are thankful for the fact that we don’t always see the big picture. Maybe if we did we wouldn’t venture down that unknown road, or put so much of ourselves into the things we do. Each of us involved in this undertaking learned a tremendous amount in the time that we spent operating the building that housed Mirage. We may not be visible in the community of Wellington in the capacity that many of the youth had come to know us, but we are still here and will continue our efforts in the unique spirit of LIGHTDANCERS, ministering stealth like, until God releases us to do otherwise.

As a footnote, we had established a My Space page at
www.myspace.com/mirageinkansas.com

to connect with, support, and update the local youth of the upcoming events and goings on. We will continue to post items in both zones that we feel will best benefit the youth and address the issues that they struggle with. So keep your eyes peeled for new updates!