Youth ministers aim to reach inner city Mobile teens with 'Vagabond Missions'

By ROB HERBST
The Catholic Week
MOBILE — Anthony Tobin and Lauren Alley have heard God’s call to minister to inner city and unchurched teenagers.
“It’s been something on our hearts for years. We continued to go back and forth to ‘where is the Lord calling us? Where is this leading?’ Alley explained.
Now the two are putting God’s call into action by helping start Vagabond Missions in Mobile. Vagabond Missions strives to invite inner city teens into a relationship with Jesus Christ through relational ministry. The Steubenville, Ohio-based nonprofit is currently in four cities and has reportedly reached more than 3,000 young people and helped more than 125 unchurched youths become Catholic. 
Tobin and Alley pray the Vagabond Missions model will soon impact Mobile. Tobin, a teacher and youth minister at St. Ignatius Parish in Mobile, and Alley, a teacher and campus minister at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, will leave their positions at the end of this school year and devote their time to helping the underserved.
Vagabond Missions in Mobile is independent from the Archdiocese of Mobile, although Tobin and Alley received Thomas J. Rodi’s blessing to begin Vagabond Missions in Mobile
“One of the great blessings that I have is ministering with and accompanying dedicated youth ministry leaders. Lauren and Anthony have brought so much joy into our ministry with young people, and I know them to be disciples first with wonderful hearts for service,” Archdiocese of Mobile Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry Adam Ganucheau said. “Both of them are outstanding models of relational ministry, so I'm excited to see them step out boldly in faith through this new ministry venture and for the ways in which our ministries will intersect.”
Tobin explained: “St. Mother Teresa says find your own Calcutta. That was kind of our journey. How can we serve here? We both love youth ministry. It felt like we could offer the youth here something and we saw the need too. There’s thousands of teens in our city who don’t get the same experience as McGill students or St. Ignatius youth group students. We thought we could offer that in the inner city to underprivileged kids.”
Tobin and Allen will be joined by three other missionaries this summer. 
The missionaries will go out and meet teens where they are, whether it’s inner city schools, parks or sports fields. Building that relationship hopefully leads to more.
“It’s not something where you’re doing everything outside the city and hoping kids get there. You’re going in, doing what Christ did and being a presence, being a person, encountering suffering, encountering the joy that comes with it and everything in between,” Alley said. “Let’s just be in those places where no one is and go where Christ calls us to be.” 
Vagabond Missions Mobile will also have a youth center called the “Urban Underground.” The exact location has not been selected yet, but it will be in an underserved location and unattached to a parish, according to Tobin. It will be open every day after school with the five missionaries staffing it. 
The Urban Underground will include weekly activities, including youth group nights and worship nights.
“We’ll always be ready to be present and to serve. It will be a safe place for them to be able to hang out and be loved,” Tobin said. “We envision the center being a home for the kids.”
- For more information on Vagabond Missions Mobile, visit www.vagabondmissionsmobile.com