Signs of Hope in Pitcairn

I had the opportunity to spend some time in the neighborhood of Pitcairn last night at the home of Gary and Carol Agate. The Agates have an amazing incarnational ministry. They moved to Pitcairn to be able to reach out to the kids and families there, and they are mobilizing volunteers from local churches to get involved in the work. Last night I got to be a part of the community meal that they share with a bunch of kids in their neighborhood. The kids powerhoused slopply joes and homemade french fries while the adults built relationships with the kids. We spent about 30 minutes with the kids on a little Bible lesson and some "real talk" about life. Then after the kids left I hung around for a while to talk to the adults about the challenges of incarnational urban ministry and how to build transformational mentoring relationships with kids over time. The entire evening was so much fun.

God is doing a great work in Pitcairn, and he is doing that great work through followers of Jesus Christ who are simply being obedient to the calling that God has given them. The ministry is built on relationships, not necessarily programs. The ministry points the young people toward a relationship with Jesus Christ. The ministry is being contextualized to the neighborhood. The leaders are truly trying to find out where the Holy Spirit is working, and they are joining that work. If more people like the Agates would reach into other Pittsburgh-area neighborhoods, we would see God literally transform this region. I was thankful to get a small snapshot of what God is doing in our city last night. I am encouraged to pray that God will continue to raise up more leaders in Pittsburgh to participate in transformational leadership in urban neighborhoods.

Why Raise Children in a City?

My daughters attend an elementary school in the Pittsburgh Public Schools that is very diverse. They have friends representing many different ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. When my daughters grow up, they will live in a world that is greatly defined by urban and multicultural realities. With that in mind, it is important to me that I raise them in an environment that is urban and multicultural. We are pretty intentional about these things, and I love to see how this philosophy plays itself out through personal relationships.

For just one example, my youngest daughter has developed a friendship with a girl whose parents are both originally from Cuba. The parents moved to Chile, then Germany (where their daughter was born), and finally to the United States. We developed a friendship with the parents through their daughter, and now our families are becoming good friends. A couple months ago, our friends moved from Pittsburgh to Washington DC. They invited us to visit them this past weekend, so we took them up on it. We had an incredible time! We received tremendous hospitality. They truly welcomed us into their home. They cooked authentic Cuban food for us. We toured the DC area together, and we navigated the city with ease. It was a wonderful weekend, and these relationships all developed because we chose to raise our daughter in an urban environment and put her in a school that represents the diversity in the city.

People sometimes will ask me if I'm "sacrificing my children on the altar of my ministry in the city." My answer is not that I'm harming my children by raising them in the city, or just hoping that they get by without too much trouble. I'm actually giving my children a great gift by raising them in the city. Regardless of where they choose to live when they are adults (urban, suburban, rural, etc.), my daughters will know how to navigate cities and they will know how to authentically build relationships with people who are from different races, cultures, and socioeconomic status. The city is serving as their classroom.

Cultivating Authentic Relationships through Incarnational Urban Ministry

Last night, three young people stopped by my house to visit. These are young adults who started out as children who happened to be in a mentoring program that I was coordinating in Homewood. They became my neighbors when I moved into Homewood four years ago. Over the years they've spent a lot of time with my family at our dinner table, in our living room, or in our back yard hanging out. They don't come over every day, but they stop by often enough for our lives to be interconnected. That's actually a really cool thing that God has done for us as we moved in the city to live in the same neighborhood where we had started a program to mentor kids. The program continues, but the program begins to fade into the background as real, authentic relationships develop as a result of our incarnational presence in the community. We are neighbors now. The lives of me, my wife, and my children are deeply connected with the lives of my neighbors in Homewood. We never really experienced that type of community in any of the previous neighborhoods that we lived before moving to Homewood. We don't do things for people, we share our lives with people.

The gift of authentic relationships in my community is something that God gave me as a result of moving into the same neighborhood where I lead. I am a big advocate for leaders living in the same neighborhoods where they lead. The community element helps leaders transcend the boundaries of a "job" in order to be able to more fully live out a "vocation" or a passionate "calling." Pastors and nonprofit leaders should live in the same neighborhoods where they lead. School principals and teachers should live in the same neighborhoods where they lead. I think the power of incarnational leadership, or the leadership of presence, is crucial for just about any vocation or calling. It's very difficult to lead effectively from a safe distance. I am experiencing this first hand by living in the same urban neighborhood where I serve as a pastor and as a leader of a mentoring program. Yes, my lifestyle comes with its share of challenges, but I wouldn't trade the relationships that God has brought into my life for anything that a lifestyle more disconnected from my vocation might have to offer.

Reflecting on Two Years of Serving as a Pastor

It's been almost two years since I officially became a pastor. The past couple of years have been an incredible learning curve for me. I love many parts of being a pastor, and I struggle with the many nuances of becoming an effective pastor. It is definitely challenging to be a pastor in our society. I have good days and I have bad days. On the good days, I'm leading people closer to God and to one another. On the bad days, I try to control my circumstances and my pride gets in the way of me serving as an effective leader. Some days I feel full of energy and optimism, while other days I feel tired and I'm pessimistic about things. I love serving as a pastor. I love the people in my part of the city and I love the church. If I'm honest with myself and with others, though, I still have a long way to go when it comes to adjusting my life to the role of "pastor."

To that end, I've been reading Eugene Peterson's book "The Pastor." The book serves as his memoir from his 50+ years of serving as a pastor. His perspectives on being a pastor are at times refreshing and at times extremely challenging. Peterson is a good writer, and I am thankful that he chose to share his wisdom in this book so that young pastors like me can glean from his insight. I'm still working my way through the book, but here are a few quotes from the introduction section that I'm wrestling with at the moment:

Peterson suggests that it is extremely challenging to serve as a pastor in North America: "Men and women who are pastors in America today find that they have entered into a way of life that is in ruins. The vocation of pastor has been replaced by the strategies of religious entrepreneurs with business plans."

With regard to the high rate of pastors in America leaving the profession or burning out, Peterson writes: I wonder if at the root of the defection is a cultural assumption that all leaders are people who "get things done," and "make things happen." That is certainly true of the primary leadership models that seep into our awareness from the culture - politicians, businessmen, advertisers, publicists, celebrities, and athletes. But while being a pastor certainly has some of these components, the pervasive element in our two-thousand-year pastoral tradition is not someone who "gets things done" but rather the person is placed in the community to pay attention and call attention to "what is going on right now" between men and women, with one another and with God - this kingdom of God that is primarily local, relentlessly personal, and prayerful "without ceasing."

Describing what it's like to become a pastor, Peterson writes: "There is no blueprint on file for becoming a pastor. In becoming one, I have found that it is a most context-specific way of life: the pastor's emotional life, family life, experience in the faith, and aptitudes out in an actual congregation in the neighborhood in which she or he lives - these people just as they are, in this place. No copying. No trying to be successful. The ways in which the vocation of pastor is conceived, develops, and comes to birth is unique to each pastor."

That last quote describes what it has been like for me in becoming a pastor to a local congregation in the East End of the city of Pittsburgh. I love our people. I have had the privilege of serving as a pastor with an extremely diverse group of people in a complex urban environment. In becoming a pastor, God has asked me to serve homeless people, entrepreneurs, college students, doctors, drug dealers, lawyers, drug addicts, stay-at-home moms, bankers, prostitutes, business executives, contractors, big families, single parents, at-risk children, nonprofit leaders, musicians, teachers, young adults, half timers, retirees, and people from many different socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds.

Such a diverse group of people requires a diverse pastoral skill set in my unique urban environment. I do appreciate the opportunity to serve as a pastor, and I am learning that it is impossible to take on challenges by myself. God has given me everything I need to thrive in my calling because I am not the focus of my work as a pastor. God is. I am just a witness to the work of the Holy Spirit in my context. As Eugene Peterson puts it: "A witness is never the center but only the person who points to or names what is going on at the center - in this case, the action and revelation of God in all the operations of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."

My prayer is that as I continue to learn to be a pastor, God will continue to stay at the center of my calling. I want to be a pastor who follows Jesus passionately, and leads others to follow Jesus passionately. I am thankful for the grace that so many people have given to me over the past couple of years as I find my way. I'm looking forward to what God has in store for me as a pastor in the future.

Chasing Mavericks: A Mentoring Story

Tonight I sat down with my family to watch a movie called Chasing Mavericks. It is a great mentoring story as an older, more experienced surfer takes a younger, fatherless surfer under his wing. Based on a true story, the movie does a good job of showing the challenges and rewards of mentoring. A process of transformation takes place through long term, meaningful mentoring relationships. Lives are impacted in such a good way when mentoring is done well.

Ironically, about half way through watching the movie our doorbell rang as it so often does. Several young men that I have been mentoring were standing at our door. We invited them in for a snack. We caught up on how everyone was doing. We jumped on the trampoline. It was a fun time. I am thankful for the opportunity I've had to share my life with them over the years. I've been stretched and challenged. My friends have been stretched and challenged. We all benefit from the mentoring experience.

After my friends left, I watched the rest of the movie with my family. The movie was based in California, so it made me miss living in California. I love it out west. I think more than the geographic location, I miss the relationships that I was able to build with people in my six years in California. I was able to mentor I lot of people in those six years as a teacher, coach, and volunteer youth leader. Those past experiences combined with my current mentoring experiences in Pittsburgh have led to a fruitful life for me. I have been blessed by every mentoring relationship that God has given me, and I am excited to see what the future holds.

The Inspiration of Mentoring

This week I had the opportunity to gather with a large group of LAMP mentors at North Way Christian Community. We gather together periodically to support one another, provide resources, and empower mentors to continue on in the mentoring journey. Mentoring seems like a glamorous thing at first, with all of the thoughts of making a difference in the life of a vulnerable young person. Once mentors settle in, they often realize how the process of mentoring can seem like it yields little progress. In fact, at first the kids being mentored can actually get worse or they might try to sabotage the relationship. There are instances when everything comes together right away and stays that way for a long time. In general, though, mentoring can be very challenging. That's why it is so crucial to have consistent, ongoing support systems in place for mentors.

When I gather with mentors, I am always inspired by how they give themselves away to others. Mentors persevere in the midst of intense circumstances. They are stretched, but they are not broken. Good mentors understand that God works through their mentoring when they allow themselves to be stretched. At North Way, we have mentors who have consistently stayed with their matches for seven years. We have some mentors who have just recently been matched. We have mentors who are mentoring multiple kids. I am so encouraged by the growth that I am seeing in the mentors, and we are seeing incredible results in the young people who are being mentored. Mentoring is challenging, but the process of transformation is an incredible thing to experience.

Signs of Need and Signs of Hope

We have had a streak of warm weather this week in Pittsburgh. Often, as the weather starts to become warm, incidents of violence go up in my neighborhood of Homewood. True, this has been a violent week in Homewood, and the media has been quick to point these incidents out to our region. I am deeply concerned by the violence in my neighborhood, not just as a pastor but as a neighbor. I am doing everything I can to work toward solutions. Still, the violent narrative does not define my neighborhood.

When the weather turned warmer this week, it seemed like everyone on my block wanted to be outside after a long, cold winter. Kids rode their bikes and scooters up and down the street. Our neighbors came over to sit on our front porch and chat. We had a stream of kids who wanted to jump on our trampoline, so our house has had a lot of traffic. Out in the community, organizations are out and about fulfilling their missions to reach out to people. Playgrounds are being built. Kids are learning. Sports teams are practicing. Residents are looking out for one another. New construction is under way. Gardens are being groomed for the growing season. Trees are being planted. Trash is being picked up. Art is being created. Relationships are being built. There is a great deal of healthy community going on in Homewood. This is a narrative that is generally not covered by the media, or by outsiders whose only perception of Homewood is that it is a bad place. Homewood actually has many wonderful people and many assets.

A process of transformation has been going on in Homewood for a long time, and it continues to go on every day. Even though I am aware of all of the signs of need in my neighborhood, I am also encouraged by the many signs of hope that I see all around me. I am pained by the people who are suffering because of the shootings that happened this week, and I am praying for God to continue to intercede in Homewood so that we might all be able to experience peace. If you are reading this, please join with me in praying for violence in Homewood and also in elevating the good work that is going on in the community.