Prayer on Saturday Morning

I am so excited to gather with people from North Way this Saturday morning at 8am at the Whole Foods upper level parking in East Liberty. We will be strategically praying for the East End and Oakland areas as well as the greater Pittsburgh metropolitan region and its 2.5 million residents. We will be taking our prayers to the streets! In the Bible we discover that cities are a great gift from God to mankind. Cities are like giant magnets, attracting people from far and wide. This is true of East Liberty, one of the largest urban centers in the state of Pennsylvania. Many different kinds of people live, work, worship, or spend recreational time in East Liberty.

100 years ago, only 8 percent of the world's population lived in cities. Now, over 50 percent of the world's population lives in cities. This represents the largest mass migration of people in the history of the world. God is rapidly urbanizing the world, and this should give us a great sense of anticipation for how Christians can reach the world. God is calling us to expand our presence in the city. Christians should not be running away from cities. We should be running full speed into the arms of the city. Psalm 107:1-9 describes how we can be thankful to God for his gift of cities:

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say this - those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
Those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.
Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle.
They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.
He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,
for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

I am so thankful to God for the city of Pittsburgh. I can't wait to pray for the city with my fellow believers in Jesus on Saturday. It should be a great time!

Joy in Suffering

For the past week I have been looking at the concept of finding joy in suffering as part of the sermon at North Way this weekend. The appropriate understanding of suffering is important for all Christians regardless of their cultural context. God wants all of us to die to our selves and embrace the gospel message of Jesus Christ. As followers of Jesus, we owe our whole lives to the Lord. Our time on earth is limited, so we should choose to focus our attention on things that have eternal consequences. Oscar Romero, a follower of Jesus who gave his life for the sake of others, understood what it means to suffer or even die for Christ. He wrote, "To each one of us Christ is saying: If you want your life and mission to be fruitful like mine, do as I. Be converted into seed that lets itself be buried. Let yourselves be killed. Do not be afraid. Those who shun suffering will remain alone. No one is more alone than the selfish. But if you give your life out of love for others, as I give mine for all, you will reap a great harvest. You will have the deepest satisfactions. Do not fear death or threats; the Lord goes with you." If all Christians lived with that kind of passionate pursuit of Jesus, this world would be dramatically transformed in a very good way.

Christians Act When Injustices Occur

All Christians are called to act when we see or experience injustices because that kind of action is an extension of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Yes, part of the Christian experience requires patience amidst suffering. However, we are also victorious because Christ is victorious. In Orthodox Alaska, Michael Oleksa writes, "Christians cannot stand silently by, witnessing the destruction of sisters and brothers... Christians act. In the face of injustice and oppression, it is a betrayal of Christ to remember only His suffering, and to apply this as the only appropriate Christian metaphor, the model for appropriate human response to evil. Too often, when confronted with such situations, the Church has urged silent suffering now, assuring those who humbly bear their present humiliation of some eventual, eternal reward. But Christians are also called to remember the future and to act with the Second Coming, the Kingdom of eternal love, freedom and justice, as the other guidepost, orienting and directing their lives. The Church acts and lives in the tension between what has gone before and what will be, the former being the revelation and foretaste of the latter. The Church and individual believers act as Christians, whenever they bring remembrance of both this sacred past and the future, in Christ, the Christian 'Metaphor,' to bear on a particular situation. It is the creative tension between these two poles that enables a Christian to act, and which makes the action Christian." This is a tough thing for any Christian, but the last thing we should do is sit idly by as people suffer. We can learn and grow through suffering, but we also have the God of the universe on our side. We must act on God's behalf so that He can be glorified through us in situations of brokenness and injustice.

We're Home

We arrived home from Honduras late last night. Thanks to everyone who prayed for us and followed along with our journey over the past week. God is doing a great work with some of the most vulnerable people in the world in San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa, and I was fortunate enough to be able to experience that for a week. The first day back from a trip like this is usually filled with culture shock and immersion difficulties for most Americans. It's funny, but I'm not really experiencing that at all. All I could think about on the plane ride home was our life here in Homewood and the kids that we have been working with for the past five years. I really think that this is because I view my work through relationships, not programs. God is always on mission to redeem the world, and we can choose to live in that mission all of the time. That mission comes with great joy because it is our purpose in life as followers of Jesus. We may be called to different people in all kinds of different places, but the mission is the same. All Christians have that in common. I can't wait to catch up with all of my friends in Homewood this week because is moving here, too.

Honduras: Day Eight

This was our last full day in Honduras, and I know I am really going to miss this country when I am gone. I have met so many amazing people. I've heard heart breaking stories of orphans struggling to survive, and I've heard the joy that can be found through resilience in Christ amidst difficult circumstances. I saw many signs of need, and I saw many signs of hope. I met street thugs while I was here, and I met street saints. God is moving in cities all over the world, and it was a joy for me to be able to spend some time in His stream of mercy and redemption here in two world class cities, Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. I've made new friendships that may or may not last for a long time here in this world, but I know many of the friendships will last forever as we spend eternity together. We'll probably share stories with one another about these adventures in Honduras this week. And we'll celebrate together with God for all of eternity along with the people who He worked through us to reach for His sake. It is amazing to think that people, including myself, would choose to get caught up in the false gods and idols that this world has to offer when we could be spending all day, every day, living for eternal purposes by fulfilling our callings to serve our Lord with complete abandon. My big prayer for my return to Pittsburgh is that God would continue to open my eyes and break my heart every single day for the people in this world who are suffering and lost. I will pray that God would be good enough to somehow continue to work through me to achieve His plans. I'm also praying that God will give me the words to describe what I've seen this week in Honduras so that more followers of Jesus might throw themselves into this great work.

Honduras: Day Seven

It's getting kind of late tonight, so this update won't be as long. Lisa Anderson-Umana, a long time missionary in Honduras supported by North Way, visited with us at the hotel tonight. We had a great time catching up, and I know her kids enjoyed the swimming pool. This was a full day. We visited a church and Buckner community transformation center in a barrio by a river in Tegucigulpa. In just one year of being opened, the community center has served over 400 children. They also reach out to the families of the kids who are involved in the center. The center is mostly built upon volunteers from the community, the church, and people from outside the community who work together to meet the holistic needs of the people living in poverty. I noticed a great sense of hope in the people I interacted with, even though the center has not been around very long. I was able to interview kids, parents, business owners, and many other people involved in restoring the shalom in this neighborhood.

I really enjoyed interviewing the pastor and his wife at their church after we had walked through the community. He has been a pastor in one of the poorest communities in Honduras for 13 years, and he has been through a lot during that time. He has personally led gang members to Christ, and led them to life change through God's transforming power. He has also built relationships with gang members who terrorized the community and died violently. I had a meaningful conversation with him about how difficult it can be to work with high risk youth. He wept as he shared about the burden that he has for the kids in the community. I share his sense of burden in my interactions with some of the high risk youth in Homewood. Young men die violently in my nieghborhood just as they do here. I really respect this pastor for moving his family into the neighborhood where he pastors in order to be an incarnational presence. Being in the midst of difficult environments helps us to reach the people in the community more effectively. I will have much to share about the many different people I have met today, but for now I need to get some rest because tomorrow is going to be another intense day.

Honduras: Day Six

Today was mostly a travel day from the city of San Pedro Sula to the capital city of Honduras, Tegucigalpa. We did visit a Nazarene church this morning led by Pastor Victor from the Las Brisas community transformation center that we had visited earlier in the week. Many of the children from the slums that are a part of Las Brisas were present at Victor's church. He is an amazing man. He works full time as a teacher at a public school, leads the Las Brisas center, and pastors a church of around 100 people. And I thought I had a lot going on in Homewood! This little church has dramatically impacted the community around it. They are so committed to serving people outside the walls of the church that they have a big sign on the wall on the way in that reads, "We Gather to Worship," and they have a big sign on the wall on the way out of the church that says, "We Leave to Serve." That mission is simple, but it pretty well sums up the purpose of all churches.

I was so encouraged to see that the children being served by Victor's church also were welcomed to worship with the church. Many churches have been built on the homogenous growth principle, which many well-meaning people have tried to explain to me but that I still don't understand and it's a method of church growth that I personally believe to be unbiblical. The basis of the concept is that people like to go to church with people who are just like them, meaning the same social class or race or however you want to quantify sameness. With that in mind, homogenous growth churches don't even try to be diverse. They just try to reach one particular group of people that are comfortable with one another, and they design the worship experience and all the programming according to that one way of thinking or being. Most churches wouldn't come right out and say that the embrace the homogenous church growth movement, but still, as Dr. Martin Luther King once pointed out, Sunday morning remains the most segregated part of our society. Pastor Victor's church truly embraces people who are different from one another, in this case socially, so much so that kids living in extreme poverty are welcomed right into the church with all of the other members. They are, in fact, celebrated for being there. In my mind, this is the purest form of what it means to be the body of Christ, the Church. There are a few churches in Pittsburgh who have figured out how to be cross-cultural, but that issue remains a challenge for most churches. If we go to church to worship, and everyone we gather with looks just like us and everyone has just about the same level of income or worldview, then we should probably challenge ourselves to ask why that is happening. The world is a diverse place, and Christians should be leading the way when it comes to building relationships across cultures instead of settling into our own limited comfort zones.

I have many things to take away from my time in San Pedro Sula. My heart broke for the kids that I interacted with, I was able to interview a lot of people, and most importantly, God moved in mighty ways and He blessed me with the eyes to see His love for some of the most marginalized people in the world. I really am hoping that I will be able to return some day. In the mean time, I am now in Tegucigalpa and the Lord has new experiences in store for me during the remainder of this trip. God is a God of risk and unpredictability, and that is what I am embracing this week. I have been struck by the profound majesty and bigness of God since I've been in Honduras. I am feeling stretched as a bridge builder, with one arm out to the world and one out to my crucified King to whom I owe my very life. It's a great way to be stretched though, for sure. We can't be stretched when we're living in comfort. Let the stretching continue!

Honduras: Day Five

It has been a long week so far. I completed 31 interviews in the previous three days, so with this being Saturday it seemed like a good day to take a little break from the intensity. We slept in for a little while this morning, and after that we visited the central market here in San Pedro Sula for the gifts for our daughters. After shopping we enjoyed a yummy traditional Honduran meal that was prepared by some people who work in the central market. In the afternoon we picked up a bunch of snacks and crafts for the girls at Casitas, and we spent most of the afternoon visiting with the girls there. It was very hot and humid, but we looked past that in order to spend some good, quality time with the girls. It's hard to believe that the girls live in such difficult circumstances day after day, and I know they were happy to have visitors. I did interview a couple more kids while I was there, and they also claimed not to have any consistent, one to one visitors. There is such a huge need for mentoring in these institutions that we've visited this week. We need to really pray that mentoring takes off here. Tonight we're going to a big, multisite church here that Bill told me is very similar to North Way. I'm very excited to worship with my new Honduran friends, and I know that this church is very interested in mentoring.

I definitely got a lot out of the visit to Casitas today, but I can tell that God really reached my wife through the experience of being with so many young ladies who are experiencing such struggles in life. One little girl could not talk, but she desperately wanted to make a bracelet out of yarn for Julie. Julie and I haven't talked too much about coming back to Honduras, but I'm hoping that we'll be able to come back some day. One of the strangest feelings about being here is that this is not really too much of an "escape" from our lives in Homewood. The degrees of material poverty are different between the kids we serve in Homewood and the kids we have interacted with here in Honduras, but their tremendous needs remain the same. At-risk youth just want somebody to spend time with them, invest in them, and show them that they matter in this world. I have learned that it is very hard to convince Christians in Honduras to get involved with these kids here, and it continues to be very hard to convince Christians in Pittsburgh to care about kids in Homewood. The problem is, it's not my job to do any convincing to somehow get people to care. It's the Holy Spirit's job to convict people for being disobedient and dismissing the most vulnerable people in our society. I am praying that God will continue to keep this burden on my heart, and that the Holy Spirit will continue to work through me prophetically to shed light on the injustices that are happening to high risk youth around the world. This week has definitely helped my passion to grow, and I am praying that many children will be served and God will be glorified by my research in cities around the world.

Honduras: Day Four

Most of the research that I have done this week has been with boys, so I was looking forward to gaining some perspective from girls today (so, too, was Julie since she's been traveling around with our group of men all week). I have been looking at how Christians can work toward transforming the lives of at-risk youth, and today I was able to speak with girls who are pretty far along in the process of transformation at a transition home for six girls run by Buckner International (a Christian nonprofit that does a lot of work with orphans here in Honduras similar to the other organization that we have been spending time with, Orphan Helpers). The girls in the transition home were former residents at Casitas, which is a government run orphanage for tween and teenage girls. We visited Casitas in the afternoon. I was able to interview all of the girls at the Buckner transition home, and five or six girls at Casitas. There was a stark contrast between the two places we visited today. The girls in the transition home seemed to have much more hope for a healthy life and future, compared to the girls in Casitas who seemed to just be in full on survival mode as they tried to get through each day. The girls from the transition home were hand-picked to go there because of their leadership potential and their willingness to improve their lives. In my time with them I tried to capture what it is that is the difference between them and the girls at Casitas who are still struggling so much. The only real reason that the girls could tell me was "God!" I know there is much more to it than that, but clearly God is at the center of the life change that is happening in the girls in the transition home. Also, several Christians from Buckner have discipled and supported the girls to help them learn how to follow Christ and lead a more healthy lifestyle. Several of the girls from Casitas mentioned that they prayed and sang songs to God, but I could tell in talking with them that they still had a hard time applying their faith to their lives considering the extreme circumstances they lived in. I am hoping and praying that more Christians, as mentors, will be able to visit the girls in Casitas every week and spend time with them.

Many of the girls I visited today, at both locations, have been victims of sexual assault, abuse, and neglect. In a way it was difficult for me to spend time with them, because I am a father of two daughters and I can't even imagine my daughters having to endure the pain that these girls have had to go through at such a young age in life. When I think about the pimps and men who took advantage of the girls here, the only word that comes to mind that really does the situation justice is "evil." Any man who would hurt or abuse an 11 or 12 year old girl is evil. Several of the girls had babies with them at the facility, and it was heartbreaking to think about how their babies are going to struggle given the rough start they've had in life. I know that there are short term mission teams who come to spend time with the girls at Casitas, but I am really hoping that a church-based mentoring program can be started here. Just like the boys, the girls told me that they don't get regular, weekly one on one visits from Christians in San Pedro Sula. I know that Christ-centered mentoring would go a long way toward transforming the lives of these girls. If the body of Christ would rise up in San Pedro Sula, in Pittsburgh, and around the world, we could collectively have God work through us to bring His light to the most vulnerable people in our world who suffer needlessly. Instead, we are often indifferent to the plight of orphans, widows, and the poor. It honestly breaks my heart. My prayer is for the hearts of people who are too busy, or too distracted, or too popular, or too caught up in material things, or too caught up in work, or too afraid, or too consumed with their own nuclear families, or too comfortable, to be broken by our God who is on mission to reach the billions of people who are suffering in this world. As God's heart breaks for injustices and indifference, let my heart break also.

Honduras: Day Three

We ate breakfast at the hotel this morning, and then we headed out to El Carmen, a youth detention center for boys who have been accused of many different types of crimes ranging from robbery (the most common) to homicide, gun violations, rape, drug trafficking, kidnapping, and gang activity. My goal was to learn more about these inmates and how the center is operated. When we arrived, some of the boys were roaming around the campus while others had to remain locked in their rooms because their behavior was not good enough to be let out. The head school administrator gave us a walking tour of the entire facility, a tour that she had the time to do because these kids do not have any school classes even though this school year was supposed to begin in early February. The government has not released the funding that they need to have instructors, so things have just been held up. Without any school classes, the boys are left to just pass the time in whatever ways that they can think of. A workshop with tools sits empty because there is nobody to teach the kids. A classroom that has been set up to teach the boys how to bake is locked up because there is nobody to instruct them, and also because the complex has significant water problems (Orphan Helpers has been partnering with them in trying to fix it). Along our tour I stopped and randomly interviewed several of the boys. I asked them lots of questions about life, what it's like living there, if they thought they would like to have an adult come and spend time with once a week (a mentor), and what their hopes and dreams are for the future. Those boys were at various stages of transformation... some were still hardened (especially those who had recently arrived), while others had received Christ and made moderate progress in terms of their behavior and positive outcomes. I interviewed the pastor from Orphan Helpers who works in that facility, and he suggested that I interview two of the boys who the pastor had really gotten through to and who were pretty far down the path of getting their lives turned around while wanting to serve Christ even in the midst of what have to be some of the roughest conditions that any human being might have to endure in life. I am really looking forward to writing about these kids and the adults who work with them in this detention center. Both the kids and the adults would benefit tremendously if local churches and Christians in general would invest in them, but instead the youth detention center is considered to be a place where bad things happen or else people are just indifferent to how broken the system is. Even short term mission teams that come from the US are often afraid to go to this facility. My friend, Pastor Bill James, told me that North Way was kind of like that when they first went to Honduras a few years ago. Now, when they are in Honduras many of the people on the team actually look forward to going to El Carmen because they have come to learn that these boys are just boys and they need love and attention just as much as the orphans in other facilities. I believe that I will be able to build a powerful case for mentoring in this facility through my dissertation research. The Holy Spirit's presence was felt in the detention center even in the midst of such brokenness.

I could go on and on about the amount of research that I was able to do in El Carmen, but there was much more to our day. In the afternoon we visited with a pastor named Victor who leads a community transformation center and school called Las Brisas. When our small van arrived at this center, tons of kids ran up to us and just started hugging us and screaming and jumping around. It was crazy! The children were literally overjoyed at the sight of Pastor Bill James, and I could tell that he was right in the midst of his calling when he was with them. Although the kids were somewhat attentive to Julie and me, I could tell they were kind of looking past me to see if anyone else was in the van. They started chanting in unison at the top of their lungs, "Randy! Randy! Randy! Randy! Randy!" I finally had to ask Bill what they were doing, and he said that because Bill was here they were also expecting North Way member Randy Blincow to get out of the van as well. Apparently, my friend Randy, who has been to Honduras on mission teams, has rock star status here at Las Brisas, and the kids were disappointed that he wasn't on this trip. Another mission team from Texas arrived shortly after we did, however. They had been there all week so they were able to engage the kids in a bunch of activities right away. Our North Way team slipped into Pastor Victor's office to talk to him about the center, and I interviewed him for a while. He then gave us a walking tour of the community that this center serves, which has 65 children on scholarship from the slums along the river a few hundred yards away. Honduras has some of the poorest people in the world living here, and we met a few of those people today. We also prayed together. I was inspired to see Christians serving among the poorest of the poor. When I asked Victor if he thought all pastors and Christians should serve the poor, he said that of course they should. It's not just something nice to do for others. It's clearly required of us based on the Scriptures. He then read us Isaiah 58, which was so encouraging to me and Julie because we have gone back to that passage of the Bible over and over and over again since we started working, and escpecially living, in Homewood.

This day definitely wiped me out! I was so tired tonight that I didn't want to write this journal, but I'm glad I stayed disciplined. There is a great story to tell here. One of my favorite questions to ask the people I'm interviewing is, "Other people from universities and organizations from cities all over the world might potentially be learning about you from the project I'm working on. Is there one important thing that you would like to say to the world?" The answers have been wide ranging because the people I'm interviewing are at many different points in life. However, no matter how hardened people's hearts become, or how desensitized they become to the grind of crushing poverty, they still give me some incredible answers to that question. I have heard some amazing truths that come straight from the heart of suffering and brokenness, and sometimes redemption. It's hard to think that kids have to go through such struggles at such a young age, but it is happening here just as it often happens in my neighborhood in Homewood. I'm learning many similarities between the children that I work with in Pittsburgh and the kids that I'm spending time with here in Honduras. The levels of material poverty are different, but the spiritual and heart-level deficiencies are similar. Jesus is the way to treat broken hearts, but unfortunately many of these kids don't hear about Jesus because Christians refuse to obey God and go spend time with these kids. Whether it's fear, or indifference, or just plain disobedience to a clear call from the Lord, Christians are failing to join God's mission to reach high risk youth in cities. There are a few brave Christians who are doing it, but not nearly enough. Unfortunately, that's true both in Honduras and in Homewood. Why else would these boys in the Honduras youth detention center be sitting around all day with no education, no water, and few people to visit them to pay attention to them in their time of need? Why else would I have boys in Homewood waiting for well over two years now for a mentor from my church in Pittsburgh? Maybe if the kids are similar in Honduras and Homewood, the Christians are also similar between San Pedro Sula and Pittsburgh. Indifference to the poor and private, individualized religion are rampant throughout Christendom. My words may sound harsh, but those are the only words I have to describe what I have seen this week and what I often experience in Homewood. There is hope, though. There are Christians who are standing in the gap for the poor and doing heroic things all over the world by joining in God's mission to redeem people no matter the circumstances. I have met a few of those heroes here, and I know some of those heroes back in Pittsburgh. It's time for more Christians to join the work, and I hope that God will use me for the rest of my life to lead them there.

Honduras: Day Two

This morning we went back to the Genesis Center so that I could interview several of the young men who live there and are helping to get the place fixed up. I only had the time to interview two of them, Gerson and Saul. I can't wait to share their stories in my dissertation! They both have troubled pasts involving gangs and crime, and now they have both experienced dramatic transformation and are on the path to become pastors (even at the ages of 19 and 20 years old). They practically preached sermons to me with the stories of their lives and the closeness that they now feel with Jesus thanks to our Lord's grace and redemption. They are leaders, and they are extremely passionate about following Christ and giving themselves away to others. This type of Christianity is a far cry from the comforts of prosperity doctrine and self help gospel that has unfortunately made its way into many churches in the United States. These young men in Honduras, former prisoners, have a profound faith that would inspire any Christian to live a life that is sold out for Jesus. In the afternoon we visited an orphanage called Nueva Esperanza where I was able to interview three boys aged 9, 12, and 13. Nueva Esparanza is a sort of transition home for children in crisis, ranging in age from infants to 15 year olds. Over 160 children live there, and we were really touched by spending time with the children and the staff members. I was also able to interview their executive director and lead child pshychologist, which yielded a lot of insight into the struggles that they face to meet the holistic needs of the children that they are serving. They work very hard, but they face many uphill battles with the young people, particularly boys, who come to them hardened by life on the streets or in slums. I hope that I will be able to share their story well in my dissertation so that more people might be prompted to invest in the lives of the at-risk children there. After that site visit we went back to the Genesis Center so that I could interview a pastor named Harold who is basically serving as the very first LAMP mentoring coordinator in Honduras. He was one of the main people who was responsible for the transformation in Gerson and Saul's lives, so he is a seasoned urban ministry practitioner who I am confident will be great at implementing mentoring in his context.

God is moving in Honduras, and I am so thankful that He has allowed me the opportunity to spend time doing research in this amazing country. This trip is simply reinforcing the fact that Christians who choose not to spend time with the poor, whether in the United States or in other countries around the world, are missing out on so much joy that is found in life in humble circumstances. I've had American Christians tell me that not all Christians are called to minister with the poor because it is one of those "optional" parts of being a Christian. I push back strongly to people who tell me that because I believe that all followers of Jesus have a biblical mandate to care for the poor and other marginalized people in our world. It is not an option, we are simply being disobedient if we fail to act. However, that concept goes much deeper than that. Beyond ommission, neglect, or disobedience, we are truly missing out on the great joy that comes with our own transformation as our own limited worldviews are rocked. We miss out on having God work through other people to minister to us across cultures, races, and classes, through His Holy Spirit. This time in Honduras goes beyond a research project for my dissertation. It goes far beyond helping to get mentoring programs going in a new country. It goes far beyond somehow helping other people in my limited time here. This visit is about how much my Lord loves me, and the great gift that he is giving me this week as I am stretched and as I learn more about Jesus Christ through the eyes of orphans and young men and women who this world writes off as lost causes. Wherever a "lost cause" might be found, that's right were we will find Jesus. Thank you, Father, for this day that you have given me. I will never forget, and I am changed forever day by day because of your grace! Jesus, please help me to be more like the people I spent time with today.

Honduras: Day One

Today was mostly a travel day beginning at 3:45am Pittsburgh time, but we arrived in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, with about half of the day left. This has been a great day! We drove through the city streets with our translator, Roberto, who gave us a tour of the city he loves. After a stop at a local restaurant, we checked in at an amazing hotel before heading over to take a walk through the Genesis Center with the director of Orphan Helpers, Richard Yeargain. Julie and I caught the vision for the work that is being done at Genesis, and we enjoyed meeting several of the local staff people. Five young men are living at Genesis in order to repair the property. They all come from troubled backgrounds having spent time in the boys' youth detention center that is next door, but they have all experienced the joys of transformation that comes through our Lord Jesus Christ. Tomorrow we are planning to go back to Genesis so that I can interview the young men for my dissertation project. Transformation is a process, and as a researcher it is important for me to gain the perspectives of high risk youth that are at many different ends of the spectrum in terms of visible outcomes and heart change.

The time spent in Honduras has been wonderful! The most difficult part of our trip so far was leaving our two daughters at home in Homewood while their grandmother stayed with them. I could tell going off to Honduras to work with orphans seemed to go somewhat against Julie's maternal instincts, but she was able to navigate through those emotions. My oldest daughter, Kyra, who is eight years old, had a hard time with us leaving even though she's been through this before (Julie and I have visited cities all over the world in obedience to the calling that God has given us). A few minutes before I was scheduled to leave Homewood she asked me to take a walk with her, and as we strolled down my street on a summer night in the inner city of Pittsburgh she told me that she was sad we were leaving and she wondered if we had to go. We talk to our children often about how God calls us to do hard things for the sake of His Kingdom, and when they are old enough God will ask them to be obedient and join in His dangerous, scandalous, risky, adventerous journey to redeem all of humanity to Himself. After all, that is the central purpose to being a follower of Christ... a relationship with our Lord and being sold out to His purposes. I told Kyra that God is in control, and mommy and daddy are being obedient to God's calling to go to Honduras to advance the cause of faith-based mentoring in Latin America. It's because I love my daughters so much that I am so passionate about modeling for them how to follow Christ with reckless abandon.

Christianity isn't just a religion, and the Bible isn't just a bunch of words. Kids get confused when they learn about Christianity and read the Bible, but their parents don't live out what the Bible says. When parents lead sheltered lives, and they make their kids lead sheltered lives, then it's going to be extremely difficult for the kids to contextualize and live out their Christian faith when they become adults. One of the biggest blessings I have ever given my daughters is to raise them in Homewood while our family is obedient to God's calling to give ourselves away to the most vulnerable people in Pittsburgh for the sake of Christ. I don't need to take them on short term mission trips to foreign countries or down to the local soup kitchen in Pittsburgh to feed homeless people once a year for them to experience the life that Christians are supposed to be living. I am really looking forward to the day when my daughters are old enough to join their mommy and me in God's global mission to reach the most massive migration in human history of people moving to cities all over the world (this at a time when many American Christians are rapidly fleeing cities in order to distance themselves from complex problems and brokenness). I can't wait to bring my daughters to Honduras!

A Fun Weekend and an Adventure on the Horizon

This has been a fun weekend with the pastor ordination at North Way. I've had a great time talking with people at church, and the party last night was a lot of fun because I caught up with so many different people who have supported me and my family over the years. Being a pastor is a difficult calling, but it is also very rewarding. This weekend has been a tremendous reminder that I serve an awesome God. Now I'm turning my attention to Honduras and the adventure that God has for me there. It should be an amazing week! I'll do my best to keep this blog updated with how things are going in Honduras.

One Day of My Life

Of all of the things I thought I would be doing when I was 34 years old, I never really imagined a day like today. God has given me so much! I woke up this morning living the incarnational life of an urban ministry practitioner in Homewood. Things were kind of crazy at my house because of my daughters, our dog, and some men from my church who are finishing off the final details of the mentoring center in our basement, so I escaped to a coffee shop to work on my doctoral dissertation for my research trip to Honduras next week. I'm also collecting some thoughts for my first ever sermon that I'm team teaching with my friend Doug Melder in a few weeks. This evening family and friends will be joining with me for my public ordination as a pastor (I officially became a pastor a couple months ago) at North Way Christian Community, and we'll celebrate back at my parents' farm after that.

Growing up, I never thought I would be a pastor, or live in the inner city, or write a doctoral dissertation, or have the opportunity to travel to cities around the world doing research and advancing the Kingdom of God. Living and working with the poor brings me great joy, investing in my wife and daughters is so amazing, learning new things constantly expands my worldview, and serving Christ as a pastor is a huge challenge. I honestly can't think of anything else that I'd rather be doing with my life at 34 years old. Life is full of surprises, risks, suffering, great joys and tremendous let downs, and everything in between. Regardless of the circumstances, or the dreams and desires that are on my heart, I know that the secret to life is to stay focused on loving the Lord no matter what life brings forth. If life comes at us one day at a time, then I am going to enjoy this day!

Why Do Some Mentoring Programs Fail and Others Thrive?

Transformational leadership really matters in urban ministry. Many well-meaning Christians seek to start programs in the inner city, but far too often those programs end up struggling from a lack of effectiveness and sustainability. Sports outreach programs, mentoring programs, and many other types of outreach efforts fall apart for a wide variety of reasons. No matter what the issues are with the programs, at the center of the break down usually lies the issue of leadership.

I spoke with a leader of a school this morning who told me that they had tried to get several mentoring programs started there, but the programs were not effective because the mentors quit the program and there was no pipeline for additional mentors. That is so sad! High risk youth face many struggles in modern society, and it is a shame that those mentors chose to add to that list of obstacles that those children had to try to overcome. It would be better for people to not mentor at all than to get involved as a mentor in the life of a young person and then give up on them after only a period of months.

While the mentors in the ineffective mentoring programs might be to blame, upon closer look I would bet that the leaders of those failed mentoring programs were the cause. Good mentors need strong leadership, and strong mentoring programs usually have leadership in place that understands how mentors need support, ongoing supervision, effective training, and resources in order to be able to more effectively build a transformational relationship. Transformational leaders are visionary, but they are also hands on and deeply committed to making sure program goals are implemented consistently and effectively over time. Programs do not run themselves, as many ineffective program leaders would like to believe. Healthy mentoring programs that truly impact the lives of at-risk youth are driven by highly effective mentors who are being led and supported by strong leadership. LAMP still has a long way to go before we will be able to determine how effective our matches have been, but we are off to a good start. And I am passionate about leading well through complex circumstances so that current mentors feel supported and new mentors are always entering the program. Mentoring is too important to the kids that we are trying to reach for LAMP to fail because it was managed poorly.

Drawing Inspiration from Las Casas

In preparing for my trip to Honduras next week, I have been going back through some books that I read for my Overture II class in Costa Rica and Mexico City a couple years ago. During that course I read a book called A Violent Evangelism in which I learned about the life of Bartolome de las Casas, a man who fought against the oppression and enslavement of native people in Latin America by Spain in the sixteenth century. In modern America we celebrate Columbus' arrival in the Americas, but his arrival ushered in an era of suffering and death for millions of people who had been living in that region for centuries prior to his arrival. Nearly 100 million indigenous people were inhabiting that part of the Americas when Columbus arrived in 1492, and about 100 years later only 5 million indigenous people remained. Widespread death occured as a result of forced Christian evangelism, forced labor, enslavement for financial gain, diseases, war, torture, and execution for many who chose not to convert to Christianity. Las Casas spoke out against these horrific actions by the Spanish conquerors, and he dedicated his life to protecting and advocating for the poor. Profound injustices still occur around the world and in modern America, and many Christians are not doing anything about it. Our inaction only serves to deepen the struggle of those who are suffering because we are failing to live out our Christian mission in a broken world. Las Casas drew upon the following words, which he attributed to Saint Augustine, to strengthen himself for the cause of justice.  These words are just as powerful for modern Christians today as they were centuries ago:

"Can you consider Christian the one who oppresses the needy, who burdens the poor, who covets the belongings of others, the one who becomes rich by making others poor, the one who rejoices in illicit earnings, who eats at the expense of others, who becomes rich to the ruins of others...? I know there are people so blinded by the profound darkness of malice and avarice that when their power has chained the poor, or dominated the weak, or crushed the innocent with false witness... they give thanks to God thinking their wickedness has been made possible through divine favor... And others think that they are justified in extending a small alms taken from the goods of the poor, giving to the one a small portion of what they took from the many. Only one is fed with what causes many to go hungry; and from the clothing stripped from many only a few are clothed... 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)."