Help with a Move

One of our LAMP moms really needed help moving tonight, so I got a Uhaul and spent most of my evening moving boxes and furniture to a house in Homewood.  Helping me move were about six or seven other men from her neighborhood that she had enlisted to provide the muscle.  A good friend of mind, Greg, also showed up with his LAMP mentees to help out with the move.  It's great for mentors to do fun things with their mentees all the time, but it's also good to do service opportunities with mentees to model for them how Christ calls us to serve others.

God says we can use words or works to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Sometimes we have the opportunity to use words, and sometimes we have the opportunity to use works.  God gave me the opportunity to share the gospel through my works tonight, but while I was driving between houses with two men from the community God also gave me the opportunity to use words.  The guys asked me why I was helping with the move.  I told them about the mentoring program, and I told them about our church.  And then I invited them to church, and that led to me sharing the gospel message en route to our destination.  We had a great talk about God, and I was able to plant some seeds of faith.

There seems to be a lot of fear and uncertainty in the world right now, and Christians in America are withdrawing from the world at an alarming rate.  I think that during difficult times, Christians should be egaging the world to demonstrate the profound love of Jesus Christ.  God opens up doors to share the gospel message when we are obedient to his clear call to engage culture and serve people in need.  Right now is the best time to love our neighbors and to show people the love of Christ through our actions.  I got to experience the fruit of that call tonight.  The Holy Spirit was moving on the streets of Homewood tonight during what seemed like a simple act of obedience to help a single mom move her family.  God loves to work through us in broken places with people who are struggling.

Good Press for Homewood

For all of the attention I give the media when they are so quick to point out negative things in Homewood, I need to make sure they get some kudos when they cover something good.  Julie and I and our neighbors were featured in an article in The Pittsburgh Courier about living in our new housing development in Homewood on Susquehanna Street.  I could not find the article online for some reason, so if you live in the Pittsburgh area you should buy a copy of the newspaper to check out the article.  The article is called "New Homes Renewing Homewood."

Weekend Rewind: What You Missed!

Upon searching the internet for news this morning I stumbled across this attention grabbing headline on the MSN website:  "WEEKEND REWIND:  WHAT YOU MISSED!"  Curious to see what I had missed this weekend, I checked out the headlines in the article.  Each headline had a video to go with it... a tribute to our instant visual society.  Here are some of the things that MSN says I missed this weekend:

NFL:  JETS BEAT DOLPHINS:  I like football, and I am a fan.  I understand that the NFL is a great "release" for people in America.  We kick back on Sunday afternoon and cheer for our favorite teams.  I do question how much time we spend worshipping football in our culture sometimes, but that topic is for a different day.  I didn't really get to watch much football this weekend.  I'm not upset, but according to this MSN article I missed out.

AMAZING ACCIDENT ON "AMAZING RACE":  Apparently I missed out by not watching this reality TV show.  I hardly ever watch TV, and I almost never watch reality shows.  I do know people, though, who plan their lives around their favorite TV shows.  That's kind of an interesting phenomenon, if you really stop and think about it.  As human beings, we could all be out in the world enjoying our own adventures.  But we don't.  We sit in front of our TV screens and watch other people live out their adventures.  We watch other people do hard things in front of the world while we comfortably fire down Doritos in our easy chairs.

1,000 POUND BULL SHARK CAUGHT IN AFRICAN RIVER:  My friend, Tim, is definitely glad he missed out on this one this weekend.  He has what I have always considered to be an irrational fear of sharks.  I have been waterskiing with him in freshwater lakes where he got freaked out because he thought sharks might get him.  I, of course, as a good friend... ridiculed him.  According to this article, and the video that proves it, his fears of sharks in fresh water are no longer irrational.  Tim... let me state here publicly, in this blog forum, that I hereby release you to be afraid of sharks in fresh water.  Just be careful because I think sharks can smell fear.  Just sayin'.

RAIN-SWOLLEN RIVER FORCES EVACUATIONS:  This is another strange phenomenon in our culture.  I feel bad for the victims of this flooding, so I hope I don't sound insensitive.  But this is another example of how natural disasters all over the world are beemed by video right into the comfort of our living rooms.  We can watch people struggling through a flood or fire or earthquake, or we can watch children in Africa dying of starvation, while licking the remnants of Doritos off of our fingers and agonizing over how we're going to get the salsa stains out of our clothes (OK, maybe that's just me).  What would happen if Christians in America saw people struggling on TV, and they turned of their TVs, and they went to where the people were hurting and loved their neighbors by demonstrating the profound love of Christ to the world?  I don't know.  Maybe I'm wierd for thinking that way.  MSN did tell me that I missed the flooding this weekend, though, so it must be an important issue.

Despite missing out on all of these things, I had an incredible weekend!  The MSN headline gave me the idea to describe my weekend through my own headlines.  So, here it is:  WEEKEND REVIEW:  WHAT YOU MISSED... HOMEWOOD VERSION:

A HUNGRY CHILD FINDS COMMUNITY:  A boy we know from our neighborhood has an unstable home life and he doesn't really know where his meals are going to come from from one day to the next.  Most of the time, he is out and about in Homewood wandering around looking for things to do and for people to hang out with.  Lately, he has been at our house a lot.  This weekend, he shared several meals with us and he was just kind of "here," even when we had guests over for dinner on Friday and our small group met on Sunday night.  I had to kind of chuckle last night when everyone showed up at our house for small group and brought their kids with them, because there were tons of kids running around everywhere and about half of them didn't belong to couples in our small group.  The kids from our neighborhood had just seen that some type of gathering was happening at our house, and they assimilated into whatever was going on.  It was kind of a wierd mix of "intentional" community where people at a church form into organized small groups in order to build relationships, and "spontaneous" community where people just show up uninvited and join in on whatever is going on.  I love it.  Too bad there weren't any news anchors here to report it.  It was quite a block party.

A HOMELESS SINGLE MOM EXPERIENCES GRACE:  A single mom who has been struggling to find a place to stay found a room at a house in Homewood that she can stay at for a little while.  A kind person offered her the place to stay, rent-free, until she can get back on her feet.  I've been spending time with her son over the past year or so until I can find him his own one to one mentor, and she has really appreciated the support.  She's been really struggling lately, so the act of compassion that she experienced this weekend was meaningful.  I don't think MSN will be running with this story any time soon, but these kinds of stories in the margins of society get at the heart of Jesus' message to show compassion to people who are hurting.

AN ANGRY YOUNG MAN HAS THE BEST DAY OF HIS LIFE:  One of my mentees has been struggling with a lot of pain and brokenness recently, and he has been acting out by being angry and depressed.  On Saturday night, God opened the door for me to take him to a Penguins game at the new arena in a luxury suite.  The night was exactly what he needed!  We had the opportunity to talk about all kinds of things, ranging from how he can cope with his anger and depression to how he can make good choices by staying away from the negative influences on the streets that are desperately pursuing him at the moment.  He really needed a fun night away from his neighborhood and his life circumstances.  He must have told me about twenty times that Saturday was the best day of his life!  Too bad the journalists missed this story as it unfolded.  It was a good one.

A BOY WITH A BROKEN HEART IS REUNITED WITH HIS FRIENDS:  God is so amazing!  I had one extra ticket for a Pirate game on Sunday, and as I was driving around to pick kids up I got a call out of the blue from a former mentee who I had not seen in over a year.  His family had just moved back to Pittsburgh this weekend, and he wanted to know if we could hang out.  So he had the chance to hang out with me and four other LAMP kids most of the day.  Last year at about this time his family had to flee in the middle of the night to a different state, so I never had the chance to say goodbye.  We've kept in touch by phone about once a month, but I was so happy to be reunited with him finally!  He has been through a lot over the past year (a brother and uncle were killed due to gang-related violence, and his family has had to live in constant fear of being attacked).  I could tell this past year has changed him, and his heart has broken even though he is trying to put up a tough front.  I know he has accepted Christ, though, and I am praying that the Lord will bring about healing in this young person.  The TV cameras missed out on this reunion of long lost friends.  Too bad... it was a joyful reunion that would have made for good reality television!  I'm sure the reporters were there after my mentees' relatives were killed, though.  Gotta keep those ratings going for the evening news.

Planting Seeds through Fun

This weekend I have the opportunity to take LAMP kids to do some fun things.  Last night a corporation generously donated two tickets to a Penguins game at the new Consol Energy Center.  I took a mentee who really needed to have a night of fun (I think I needed a night of fun, too).  We sat in a luxury box with the CEO of the company and his family.  What a great night!  Today I'm taking a few other kids to a Pirate game with my family.  I know we're going to have an incredible time.

Mentoring is not always about special events, but it is often about fun.  The kids love to get out of their neighborhoods sometimes.  They love to laugh, relax, and open the door to new experiences just like anybody else.  Sometimes I talk to my mentees about tough life stuff, like staying away from drugs or gangs, or navigating through difficult family or school issues.  Most of the time, though, we just talk about common things that friends talk about.  One of the great things about mentoring is that it is a relationship that is different than those of parents or teachers or tutors.  Mentors don't need to try to change kids or prescribe behaviors for them.  We just need to be friends, and the results come later on as a result of planting seeds.  I'm looking forward to planting some more seeds at a Pirate game today.  I may even have fun while I'm at it.

The Waiting Game

I found out some tough news today.  A boy in Homewood that I know very well is going through a difficult time in his life.  He is at a critical age, and he is starting to make some choices on the streets that are taking him down a bad path.  That path leads to death and destruction.  He has been waiting for a mentor for a long time, and nobody from my church has stepped up to mentor him.  I get the feeling that we're losing him, slowly, to the negative influences of the streets.  He is being mentored right now... by people who want to take him down a destructive path.

I have to admit that I'm very frustrated by this situation.  I really care about his young man, and I want to find a mentor for him so bad.  A mentor could change the course of his life forever.  There are thousands of men who go to my church.  Most of them know about LAMP.  Most of them know LAMP has a waiting list of children, especially boys.  There are some men from my church who have stepped up, but not nearly enough.  To me, this is a matter of obedience.  God has opened the door for us to mentor children in Homewood, and we are not meeting their needs.

I don't want to guilt any men from my church into mentoring, but I am sitting here today wondering why so many kids are hurting and why so few men have come forward to mentor them.  There is nothing worse than watching a young person take the slow path to destruction when it could be avoided.  What would happen if the church fully embraced God's call to be fathers to the fatherless?  Maybe some guy from my church has a golf club in his hands right now on this beautiful day.  Is that more worthwhile than mentoring a child?  Maybe some guy religously carves out three hours every Sunday afternoon during football season to watch Steeler games on TV.  Is that more worthwhile than mentoring a child?  After five years of partnership with the Homewood community, perhaps it's time that the men in my church wiped out the list of boys who are waiting for a mentor.  It's time to end the waiting game.

On Call

Today I was "on call" at my church in Pittsburgh, which meant that I had to sit in my office at the church from 9am to 5pm.  Our POC (Professional On Call) system is a way to make sure that if people from our church have a need, they can get in touch with someone to help them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by either calling the church or visiting the church office between the hours of 9am and 5pm Monday through Friday.

Being "on call" at my church is kind of funny to me for several reasons.  First, let me say that I think that the POC system is a well-thought-out, efficient way for a large church to make sure that they are meeting people's needs.  A lot of us on staff take turns being on call, so it all works out well.  That being said... as a person who is involved in urban ministry in a troubled neighborhood, I am seemingly on call (or available to help people in my community) all the time.  I don't know if there is such a thing as being "off call" for urban ministry practitioners who work in vulnerable places with vulnerable people.  Often, my most significant work does not happen during traditional 9-5 hours during the week or when worship services are happening on Sunday mornings.  I'm generally with kids and their families during evenings and on weekends.  Also, I hardly ever minister to people in a sterile office building environment.  Most likely, I'm with people in the urban lab of the streets, or in a public school cafeteria, or in somebody's living room (mine or theirs).  I really struggle if I have to sit still in an office for too long!

So, this reflection of mine begs the question... what does it mean for a Christian leader to be "on call?"  This is a tough one.  Do we wait for people to come to us, which has been the most popular mindset of recent attractional model, church growth movement evangelicalism?  Or do we go to where the people in "the world" are to minister to them on their turf, which is more representative of the missional church movement that is gaining significant traction in modern evangelicalism?  I think the answer depends on the type of church and who you talk to.  Some Christians think that we have the corner on how to be successful in life, and that hurting or lost people should come to us.  Others think that Christians should go to where the hurting people are to bring light into darkness.  I think the answer depends on the context, and I think both methods are needed in order to be "on call" as Christians.  We need to care for people within the church, and we need to care for people outside the walls of the church.

One of the biggest takeaways from this on call discussion is the power of presence for leaders.  As Christian leaders, we cannot be effective from afar.  We must enter into the ministry context to which we have been called.  We must enter into people's pain.  Too often, Christians want to make a difference in this world, but we are afraid or unwilling to go where God is calling us.  That is sin.  Just read the book of Jonah.  And guess what?  Just like Jonah's story, we don't get to control the outcomes.  God is God.  He will do what he will do.  Our job is to be obedient.  Obedience to God means that we are always on call, no matter how he calls us, or when, or who, or what, or why.  In the meantime, I'll be fine as long as God doesn't call me to my office too often!

Grace in a "Mom's" Embrace

A boy I mentor in Homewood has had a severely strained relationship with his biological mother for a long time. His mom battles addiction and homelessness, and she has been unable to take care of him. Their relationship was abusive when he lived with her, so he is no longer able to live with her. As long as I've known him (four years) he's bounced around from house to house, staying with whoever will take him in for the night. Now a freshman in high school, from what I have been able to see he is pretty much raising himself.

I had the opportunity to meet his mom one time, which was early on in our mentoring relationship. I needed to have some paperwork signed by a guardian so that he could be in the mentoring program, so my young friend showed me where his mother happened to be staying at that time. There was no way to reach her by phone, so we would have to go directly to her house to try to catch her. On that day, let's just say I caught her at a bad time. I did manage to get her to sign the paper, but that visit to her house came at a cost to my mentee. Although I've probably seen this mentee every week for the past four years, I have not seen his mom since that day. In fact, over the last year or so he has even stopped talking about her. I know he is deeply hurt and wounded from not having a relationship with his mom, but he distances himself from her out of self-preservation.

So I was surprised a few days ago when, after hanging out together, he asked me to drop him off at a new house... his "mom's house." I was shocked! He had not mentioned anything to me about being reconciled with his mother. I was nervous about dropping him off there at this new house with her. He got out of my car, and I always wait to make sure the kids get into their homes alright. As he slowly walked to the front door, he noticed a kid who I know is his best friend walking down the sidewalk toward him. He stopped on the steps to this house, greeted his friend, and then they both went to the door together. The door opened, and a woman who I did not recognize greeted them with a warm smile. She hugged and kissed my mentee's friend. Then she opened her arms wide for my mentee, she embraced him for a while, and I overheard her say, "Welcome home, baby! How was your day?" Needless to say, I was confused. When my mentee slipped out of her embrace, he turned around and saw me still sitting there in my car with my window down... staring at them with a dumbfounded look on my face. He said, "Mr. B... come here. You gotta meet my mom." Of course I got out of my car to meet her and figure out what was going on. She invited me to come in, so while my mentee and his best friend went into the kitchen to get something to eat, she explained to me that she was not his real mom. She was his best friend's mom, and she had taken my mentee in to live with them for a while. She had become a "mom" to him. I had the most incredible conversation with her. She doesn't have much, and she struggles to meet the needs of her own son, but by her measure... "Everyone should have a mom."

There is power in a mother's embrace, even if that embrace doesn't technically come from a "real mom." In church we talk about grace. A few days ago, on the front porch of a broken down row house in Homewood, I got to see grace lived out in a woman giving out a "mom hug" to a boy who desperately needed it. God let me see that hug, and I got a snapshot of the Kingdom of God in that moment. The Holy Spirit works in vulnerable place with hurting people, and grace isn't just found in church buildings on Sunday mornings.

LAMP is Going Global

Yesterday I had the opportunity to prayerfully send off a new global missionary from North Way named Kara Conaway. She'll be living and working in Honduras this coming year, and one of her responsibilities will be to get LAMP started for orphans in orphanages, youth detention centers, and schools through her sending agency called Orphan Helpers. Orphan Helpers is very excited about the possibilities that mentoring provides for the children that they serve. LAMP is going global! I am planning to go to Honduras next spring to work with Kara and Orphan Helpers on the implementation of LAMP in that context. If I can work it out, I would like to design the trip through BGU as a DMin specialization class (a potential chapter of my dissertation) so that I can study how the LAMP model functions in the Latin American context. Should be fun!

Please pray for Kara as she enters into this new adventure. She is a great example of someone who was raised up in the local church, and now is being sent out to make a difference in this world. God calls each of us as Christians to be "all in," even if we don't end up in Honduras ministering to orphans. We each have a unique calling to live out according to God's purposes, and all of life is a mission field. Where is God calling you today?

A Day of Writing and Rest

Today I have withdrawn from the city to spend some time alone writing, praying, and recharging my battery. During Jesus' ministry he modeled for us how to enter into people's pain and brokenness, and then withdraw from the activities of ministry in order to reflect, rest and pray.

This time away is especially important for me because I am working on a doctorate degree while still trying to thrive in my roles as a husband, father, and urban ministry leader in a complex environment. Over the course of today and tomorrow, I need to finalize my dissertation problem statement that will drive my research for the next year and a half. I am hoping that my dissertation will be a good gift to the body of Christ. Please pray for me over the next couple of days if you can.

Prayer in Work

Contemplation and reflection through prayer are important aspects of incarnational living and leading in Homewood. By this I mean that when I am involved in "actions," I am doing my best to remain in a mindset of prayer in order to connect with Jesus. This does not mean that I go into some kind of spiritual trance, or that when I'm interacting with people I suddenly drop to my knees, fold my hands, and close my eyes. I just try to go through the work involved in my days with a mindset of being close to God in the midst of the complexities of urban ministry.

For instance, almost every time I drive through Homewood I pray for different people and places that I see. When kids are in my living room, I am praying for them and I am praying that God would work through me. When I'm on the streets trying to deescalate tense situations, I am definitely praying. When I'm having conversations with single moms who are overwhelmed by the day to day struggles of life, I am praying as much as I can. Whenever I interact with a drug addict or a prostitute or a homeless person, I always pray for them while I'm talking to them (and I sometimes ask if I can pray with them). I love to pray with people who are hurting in the midst of broken-down places that most people try to stay away from. To me, places of extreme brokenness represent holy ground. The Holy Spirit works in those vulnerable places with vulnerable people.

The great thing about prayer is that everyone can practice integrating prayer with their work no matter where they live or where they work. Here's Mother Theresa's take on the subject: We must join our prayer with work. We try to bring this across to our sisters by inviting them to make their work a prayer. How is it possible to change one's work into a prayer? Work cannot substitute for prayer. Nevertheless, we can learn to make work a prayer. How can we do this? By doing our work with Jesus and for Jesus. That is the way to make our work a prayer. It is possible that I may not be able to keep my attention fully on God while I work, but God doesn't demand that I do so. Yet I can fully desire and intend that my work be done with Jesus and for Jesus. This is beautiful and that is what God wants. He wants our will and our desire to be for him, for our family, for our children, for our brethren, and for the poor.

Shalom in the City

Although it is raining today in Pittsburgh, the weather has been amazing here in Pittsburgh over the past week or so. Last night was almost perfect. We decided to just hang out on our front porch for a little while, and the signs of hope in Homewood just came out in full force. Our daughters rode their bikes in front of our house, and they played in the school parking lot with a bunch of kids from our neighborhood. A friend who is doing some great work in Homewood stopped by to talk to us about some exciting things that are going on. Our neighbors stopped by to visit with us. LAMP kids visited us. I tossed the football around while chatting with some kids. There were no thoughts of drugs or violence. Just the joyful peace of a beautiful night and good friends.

God's Shalom in the city is a goal of urban ministry. Shalom means much more than peace. In my urban context, it means that my kids can ride their bikes and play in the street in front of my house without worrying about being shot or impacted by anything illegal. It means that relationships between people and the community are healthy. Bakke Graduate University defines a shalom leader as a leader that "pursues reconciling relationships between people, people and God, people and their environment, and people and themselves. The leader works toward the well-being, abundance, and wholeness of the community as well as individuals." My goal is to be a shalom leader.

Homewood Children's Village

Tonight I attended the kick-off event for the Homewood Children's Village at the Faison Primary School in Homewood. I was very impressed and inspired by the model that was presented to the community (hundreds of people from Homewood attended). The leaders of the HVC outlined a comprehensive, holistic model for transformation in Homewood based on Geoffrey Canada's model of community transformation from Harlem called the Harlem Children's Zone.

If you would like to learn more about the Homewood Children's Village, please check out http://homewoodchildrensvillage.org. You can also sign up to receive updates through the website. Please pray for this initiative... specifically that God would work throughout Homewood and through the leaders of the HVC for the transformation of this community.

Prayer for a Family in Crisis

Last year at about this time a mentee had to flee Pittsburgh with his family in the middle of the night. His older brother had stolen a large amount of money from a drug cartel, and those dealers responded by putting out a "hit" on not only the brother but any member of the family. They moved to a state down south, and the mentee would call me periodically to tell me how he was doing. He asked to come up to Pittsburgh to stay with us this summer, but after talking it through with his mom we decided it was just too dangerous. A few days after that conversation, his brother was murdered. Then his uncle was killed. This family has really experienced a great deal of trauma over the past year.

I am writing about his story because his family really needs prayer. Things are not working out where they live, and they are in the process of moving back to Pittsburgh. They are hoping that the drug dealers are done with their revenge. They are currently searching for a place to live, and a job has been lined up for the mom. A return to their old neighborhood is not an option, so the kids will likely have an adjustment to a new school district. Please pray for this family... for God's guidance and protection.

A Drive Through My Neighborhood

A short drive in my neighborhood can tell quite a story. I invited one of my mentees to church tonight, and he only lives three blocks from my house. On my way to pick him up I first noticed a red plastic cup lying in the middle of the street. We had given that cup to one of the kids who stopped by to visit us, and he hadn't made it twenty feet from our doorstep before he chucked it on the street. It was one small piece in a sea of litter in the streets around my house. I kept driving, right past a crack house. Traffic creeps up to that house at all hours of the day and night... people driving to my neighborhood to buy drugs. I turned right, and drove past a cleared lot with new straw in the place of what used to be a house of prostitution. That building was torn down a couple weeks ago. The prostitutes just moved down to the next block. I kept driving past junkees and dealers as I made my way to the next block. I drove past a few abandoned houses and abandoned businesses. Weeds have overtaken the sidewalks. I arrived at my mentee's house, and I got out of my car to talk to his mom who was smoking a cigarette on her front porch. As I talked to her, about six police cars pulled up and blocked off the street. The dealers and addicts scurried away from their corners. I kept my eyes focused on my mentee's mom, and I kept the conversation going. She became concerned, but she still sent her son out to my car to go to church with me. With mentee in tow, I maneuvered my car past the cop cars and we headed to church. Just another day in Homewood...

Litter. Drug addiction. Prostitution. Abandoned buildings. Vacant lots. All of these things are indicative of the brokenness that has seemingly overtaken my neighborhood. But those things are just the outward signs of brokenness. They don't tell the whole story. Behind those things are people... real human beings who Jesus created and loves so much that he gave his life for them. Jesus didn't focus on outward signs of brokenness during his ministry. He focused on the condition of the hearts of the people who experienced brokenness. That's why Julie and I have been intentional about looking past the physical signs of brokenness in our neighborhood in order to build relationships with people. We are good friends with people who litter. We have friends who are crack addicts. We have friends who are prostitutes. We know people who call abandoned buildings "home." We have friends who use vacant lots as playgrounds. What the enemy desires for evil, God is able to transform. God loves the people in my neighborhood, so we love the people in our neighborhood. God's profound love and grace for the people in my neighborhood are the real story of what goes on here. That is why Christians need to be obedient to God's call to enter into the brokenness of the world... God desires to work through us in order to transform people and places.

The Struggle

Whew! This has been an intense week on the front lines. I'm exhausted. Why does incarnational leadership have to be so difficult? Although the work is tough, and the process of transformation comes with a cost, I know God is working through me in the context that he has called me to. God is moving, and I can tell because the resistance is so strong. This week has been a struggle.

The very nature of my calling requires struggle, but I know I'm in God's will when I experience difficulties. Peter Kuzmic wrote, "... there is no authentic mission from a safe distance. Mission with integrity does not take place in antiseptic conditions... Entering the context is of crucial importance. Jesus did not pick up a heavenly megaphone to shout down to the inhabitants of Planet Earth: 'Repent!' He entered human history and human flesh. He was hungry. He was thirsty. He became a refugee. Contextualization is not just knowledge of the other context, but being willing to identify yourself with the context and become vulnerable."

God... thank you for the struggles this week. Please strengthen and sustain me, Lord, according to your purposes. My prayer is that you would be glorified in all circumstances. Everything in me is yours, Father.

"These Streets is Always Gonna Be These Streets"

One of my long-time mentees stopped by to visit us at our house in Homewood yesterday. He came carrying a to-go bag of fried chicken and french fries from a nearby restaurant. I invited him to sit at our dining room table while he ate, and we ended up having a great conversation. We talked about his first week of high school and how proud I was of him for making it that far in school already (some kids from his neighborhood have already dropped out of school before even making it to high school). He told me about his goals, his dreams, and his plan for making it through high school (pay attention to doing the work, and stay away from the streets). He wants to go to college so that he can "get a good job and support a family like you Mr. B." He even told me that he wants to do something to mentor or help kids some day like me. I pressed him just a little further on that point, asking him "Why don't you come back here to Homewood to do all that?" In the midst of a big bite of chicken, he shook his head no, paused, looked out the window at Homewood, and said, "These streets is always gonna be these streets." My translation: If he makes it out, he's not coming back because things are never going to get better in Homewood.

Things got quiet in our conversation while we both paused to let his words sink in. He has every right to want to make it out of Homewood and never look back. He has been basically homeless for the past five years. He bounces around from house to house, between relatives and friends, looking for different places to stay each night. His mom is a drug addict who is in and out of his life. He can stay with his dad sometimes, but their relationship is constantly strained and sometimes abusive. Any time he stops over at his dad's place to ask to stay the night, he has to weigh the cost of how much dysfunction he can endure that evening. He was basically being raised by the streets when I first met him as a ten-year-old... tagging buildings with spray paint, throwing rocks at windows in vacant buildings (48% of the homes in Homewood are abandondoned properties), working the corners with stolen property or for dealers in order to make some cash for his basic needs. He was on the path of the streets, but now he is on the path to the Pittsburgh Promise (a $40,000 college scholarship if he graduates from Pittsburgh Public Schools with good grades and behavior). He has met Christ through our mentoring program. He has much going for him, and he assures me all the time that he is not caught up in the street life anymore.

I'll mentor him for as long as I possibly can so that he can achieve his dreams. He has a lot going for him... resilience, drive, passion, humor, leadership, street smarts, and most of all, God's will for his life. I have helped him to cast a positive vision for his life and establish some stepping stones to get there. Still, I wonder: Will these streets always be these streets? Will transformation occur in Homewood? If LAMP kids go to college and get good jobs and start healthy families, will Homewood ever be a place where they will want to live? It will take a lot more than a mentoring program for transformation to occur over time, but building long term relationships with at-risk kids is as good of a place to start as any I suppose. I love mentoring, but this also explains why I moved my family here to Homewood. Homewood needs systemic reform in such areas as housing, education, businesses, jobs, public safety, political representation, etc. Those things are all extremely important to me now that I live here. Broken systems have a direct result on my family and I. We experience what our neighbors experience. I don't just wish for transformation in Homewood for "those LAMP kids" anymore. This is personal now. I moved to Homewood to be a transformational leader in a complex urban environment. My prayers today are for my young friend who is starting a new journey of high school, and also for the transformation of Homewood (a difficult task that many residents and leaders from organizations are working on at the moment). God, please bring about transformation today... one child at a time... one family at a time... one street at a time... one neighborhood at a time.

Rich or Poor?

My friend Kent Chevalier recently posted an interview between Francis Chan, Mark Driscoll, and Joshua Harris on his blog. Please go to Kent's site (a link is on the right side of this page) and watch the interview. Francis Chan, who is a famous author of the books "Crazy Love" and "Forgotten God," has made the decision to walk away from his role as the lead pastor of a megachurch in an affluent part of southern California in order live and minister incarnationally among the poor in inner city Los Angeles. Chan seemed to have it all, in terms of success, from an American cultural Christianity perspective... a popular preacher and leader of a big church in the suburbs and great wealth that could potentially be generated as a famous author and sought after speaker within mainstream evangelical Christianity. So what would make him walk away from that path? He is on a journey to follow Jesus. But, what does it mean for Christians to follow Jesus?

Obviously I admire Chan for what he is doing, but I was very interested in the tough questions that Mark Driscoll asked him. What does it mean to follow Christ in America, a culture that is defined by extreme brokenness found in both affluence and poverty? Is a calling to minister to the rich just as meaningful as a calling to minister to the poor? These questions have "haunted" Christianity for the past 1700 years since the Roman Emporer Constantine endorsed Chistianity as the main religion of the Roman Empire. During the first 300 years of Christianity, the religion grew exponentially among the poor and Christians were persecuted by the rich and powerful people in the world. When Christianity was embraced by the rich and powerful, it caused a great deal of tension. Christianity has not really grown since the 4th century. About 34% of the world's population were Christians when Constantine endorsed Christianity, and today about 34% of the world's population classifies themselves as Christian. Most growth in Christianity over the centuries has been defined by growth in some geographic regions and decline in others, as is happening now with the massive decline of Christianity in America and Europe and the growth of Christianity in the global South (Asia, Africa, and Latin America). These trends show us that Christianity often declines when it is tied too closely to affluence and power, and it grows exponentially among the poor.

What does all of this mean for us as followers of Christ? Should American Christians immerse themselves in the culture of prosperity, materialism, and individualism in order to enact change from within? Or, should American Christians go to the poor in order to minister where Christianity is experiencing exponential growth in places that desperately need the resources and influence of rich and powerful Christians who have been hoarding wealth and power for many years? I loved Chan's answer to these questions... it is not a matter of choosing between rich and poor. It is a matter of love. If God is love, then all Christians should be ministering to one another whether we are rich or poor in this short life on earth. We are all the body of Christ. Affluent and powerful Christians should be engaged in deep, meaningful, authentic, loving relationships with the poor and powerless. And vice versa. We have much to learn from one another. This is not an either/or decision. We are not defined by our economic class. Christians are defined by the body of Christ. We are all one in Christ. The problem is, many Christians do not live like that. Societies in this world are often structured for us to assimilate with people who look and act like us, and reject people who are different than us. Just look at all the divisions in this world between races, classes, and religions. The way the world looks models what the world values. But Christians are called to be set apart from the values of the world. We are the one body of Christ. We are reconcilers and peacemakers. We should be defined by love and grace, not hatred. To be a Christian means that we follow Christ, and we all have different callings within that context. It's refreshing to know that even the heavyweights of American Christianity, people like Francis Chan and Mark Driscoll, wrestle with the implications of their unique callings within the body of Christ.

Friends at the Dinner Table

One of my favorite things about living in Homewood is that we have unexpected visitors all of the time. They are mostly children and teenagers, and they stop by at all different times of day and night. Sometimes they'll come in groups of two or three, but often kids will just stop over to visit with us. They are our friends. We always have food and drinks on hand, and it is a rare occurance when we have just the four of us McCabes at dinner. We share meals with people all of the time, and I love that part of living here. Dinner time is a great relationship building time. It also gives us a chance to share with the kids in our neighborhood about the importance of good nutrition, and the chance to experience the great joy and bonding that comes with sharing a meal regularly with family and friends. We also show them, in some small but tangible way, the profound love of Jesus Christ, their creator who desires to meet their needs when they are hungry and thirsty.

Many Christians in America arrange their lifestyles so that they do not come into contact with poor people who might be hungry or thirsty. Sure, they may pile their family into a minivan and head to the city to serve meals to homeless people at a soup kitchen during the holidays, but rare would be the occurance that an actual person in need from their city would be invited to dine in their home. A Christian may go on a short term mission trip to a foreign country and serve meals to orphans, and then come back to Pittsburgh and somehow not make the connection that there are hungry children living in poverty right in their own city. From a biblical standpoint, we can be sure that God does not appreciate us distancing ourselves from the poor in our midst. God's heart breaks when Christians store up money and food for themselves while others go without.

Bartolome de las Casas wrote, "Can you consider Christian those whose bread has not fed one single hungry person? whose drink has not satiated anyone's thirst? or whose table is not known by any poor person?... Christian are the ones who are merciful to all; who are moved by those who are injured; who do not allow the poor to be oppressed in their presence; those who help the needy; who frequently aid the indigent; those who suffer with those who suffer; who feel the other's pain as their own... Anyone, therefore, who wants to be a friend of the world, becomes the enemy of God (James 4:4)."

The thought that kids are going to bed hungry in Pittsburgh tonight should greatly disturb all Christians in the area. Distancing ourselves from the poor is not going to address the problem. Visiting a soup kitchen during the holidays is not going to address the problem. Giving food and money to kids charities is not going to address the problem. Christians need to go where the kids in need are and start building authentic relationships with them. Christians need to stop storing up money and food for themselves while others go without. When we give ourselves away to others, we fulfill our collective calling as the church to be the hands and feet of Christ in this world. And Julie and I have much, much more that we could do in this area. Around the world hundreds of millions of people lack access to enough food and water, and, yet, I have food and bottled water collecting dust in my house right now. Approximately 25,000 people die from hunger every day. I pray that as God's heart breaks, my heart would also break.

Research Bridge

Today I start my next DMin class called Research Bridge: The Dissertation Journey. This course goes from September 1st through December 31st, and it serves as the launching point for the second half of the DMin program which now becomes extremely specialized. My goal for this course is to come up with a good research question, in 30 words or less, that I will focus my research on.

I have several ideas that I am thinking about for my specialized research, including suburban and urban partnerships, church and school partnerships, racial reconciliation, and of course mentoring. Eric Swanson from the Leadership Network will be advising me and eventually supervising the dissertation, which I hope to complete in June 2012. As I jump into this next phase, does anyone have any ideas for things that I could research?