wordsmith.

Wordsmith, aka David Derf, doesn’t want money for what he’s pushing. He’s giving away hope for free.The man known as the The Neighborhood HOPE Dealer. HOPE is an acronym for Helping Others Prosper Eternally.School gyms, juvenile halls and gatherings in high-risk neighborhoods are some of his favorite hangouts.

A native of Chicago, Wordsmith arrived in Vacaville before he was a teen.

“I started getting in trouble,” he said.

He eventually got arrested and quickly learned jail wasn’t the place for him.

“I didn’t know who I was,” Wordsmith said. “I cried out to God.”

His prayers were answered and Wordsmith began his ministry in the Solano County juvenile hall.

Visiting juvenile halls can be a tough place as he sees some the same ideas and behaviors he had as a teen. Rather than let that discourage him, Wordsmith said it motivates him to try harder.

When the youth start to question his life experiences, Wordsmith quips, “I have been your age. You have never been mine.”

Preaching is not his style. He chooses to minister the essence of God, he said. While he delivers some messages in churches, Wordsmith, who is a licensed minister, takes his church to the street.

merry x-mas. 

i. Santa on the Old Sacramento Northern train line. 

ii. Senior Master Sgt. Mark Kloeppel waits backstage to play Santa Claus for the last time after participating in Operation Teddy Bear following 25 years with the Travis Air Force Base 349th Air Mobility Wing.

these images are © 2013 Fairfield Daily Republic and may not be reprinted or used without permission.

hoops, hip-hop and hope.

The On Eagles' Wings ministry came to Rapid City to bring the “resurrection to the reservation." The 40 person young adult group uses hoops, hip-hop and hope to evangelize to teens and young adult Native Americans. “We go where the youth hang out,” Joe Donnell, 33, a Native American evangelist, said. In Native communities, that often means a basketball court.

In the first photograph, Tyrone Sudden Brave, laying on the court, prays with Joe Donnell, center top, and other members of the On Eagles' Wings group while waiting for the ambulance after he badly injured his leg during a pick-up basketball game.

these images are © 2012 Rapid City Journal and may not be reprinted or used without permission.

a baptism.

this image is © 2011 Rapid City Journal and may not be reprinted or used without permission.

an x-mas celebration.

i. dressing up for nativity scene family portrait.

ii. playing "name that x-mas tune."

these images are © 2010 Rapid City Journal and may not be reprinted or used without permission.

x-mas light celebration.

these images are © 2010 Rapid City Journal and may not be reprinted or used without permission.

nothing but cold air.

The scene at a Christmas Tree lighting ceremony.

this image is © 2010 Rapid City Journal and may not be reprinted or used without permission.