What is a day in urban ministry like? Yesterday I started my Monday off with some quiet time and intentionally giving the Lord my day. He took me up on that offer. I had only a little bit of time that morning to handle some administrative responsibilities for LAMP, including a weekly e-newsletter to the mentors and staff at our church. Then came a phone call that a single mom of one of our LAMP kids was desperately in need of some help to move out of her apartment in Homewood. She had nobody else to turn to, so I spent the afternoon helping her and her children move their belongings to a new apartment up the street. Emails and phone calls would have to go unanswered for now. When I arrived back at my house, fifteen minutes before the "official" start time of Monday Night Madness, there were already a dozen kids waiting on my front porch to get in. By 5:30pm we had 25 people squeezed into our main floor. Julie managed to feed everyone (I think God miraculously turned sixteen hamburgers and two boxes of mac and cheese into enough food for everyone). Most of the kids decided to make a dance video to put up on You Tube, so our front porch and Susquehanna Street turned into a makeshift dance studio. After that, we played street football. Kids also played checkers, made bead jewelry, played dart tag, threw the frisbee, played video games, and much more. I had conversations with most of the kids. One boy got hurt playing football and I had to drive him to his house. Three boys who are brothers needed to talk to me about some stressful situations that are going on in their home life. Within a brief period of time, my front porch had been transformed from a front porch into a dance studio, a medical triage area, and a counseling center. After everyone left, I drove over to check on the boy who had been hurt playing football. That visit gave me the chance to meet several new people in Homewood for the first time. I returned home to put my kids to bed and help Julie clean up the mess. Then we finally had some time to use our front porch for its functionally intended purpose, as a place to sit back, relax, soak in the warm summer night, and reflect on the day. When my head finally hit the pillow last night I was asleep within seconds.
Just this one day's description points out some of the things that urban leaders need in their tool boxes: prayer, openness, planning, flexibility, typing skills, presence, muscles (for lifting boxes), dancing skills (sorry for the mental image I just gave you about what my dance skills might look like), athletic ability, gaming skills, counseling skills, medical first-responder training, reliable transportation, cleaning skills, and reflection. Oh, and good sleeping skills are a must. Who knows what God has in store for me today?
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