Building Relationships Across Cultures

The Harvest Party in Homewood on Friday was a big hit! Hundreds of people from Homewood and many other neighborhoods came together to build relationships around a special event for families and friends. These types of things are so close to the heart of God. God designed human beings to be in relationships with one another that bear fruit in the Kingdom of God. That includes building relationships across cultures, racially, socioeconomically, and in many other ways. Christians should be leading the way in this area, but too often we lag behind as Sunday mornings are culturally segregated and disconnected relationally. One way Christians can overcome this reality is to plan for worship together that is cross-cultural. However, special events are also helpful in drawing cultures together so that people can enter into an environment where they can build relationships. This happened on Friday night at the Harvest Party as people from many diverse backgrounds came together to enjoy one another's company. It was a beautiful thing to be a part of. God is so good to open those kinds of doors for us to build community with one another, and hopefully the seeds of reconciliation through relationships took one more tiny step forward.

Harvest Party on Friday

Over 700 residents of Homewood have signed up to attend the Harvest Party in Homewood this Friday night from 7 to 9pm. This event is so much fun! We'll be playing games, jumping in inflatables, eating tons of good food, and, of course, going through the trunk or treat line to get yummy snacks. I know I'll be there with Julie and my girls. The North Way East End launch team will be there serving and building relationships with people. If you live in the Pittsburgh area, I hope you'll come on out to join us and take part in the fun. The event is held at the Pittsburgh Faison School (7430 Tioga Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15208). And we love visitors to our home, so feel free to come to Homewood early to hang out at the McCabe house that's right next to the school.

The Life of an Ordinary Radical

Yesterday I had the opportunity to talk to somebody for the first time about the incarnational urban ministry that my family lives out in the Homewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The person asked lots of questions, as many people do, and I just really enjoyed the platform that God gave me to share about the amazing mission that God is up to in Homewood. The concept of incarnational ministry is so simple... Jesus came into the world 2,000 years ago and he modeled a perfect life. Jesus modeled the standard to which every human being should aspire to live. He lived out the ultimate lifestyle of presence. He didn't shout down from the clouds with a heavenly megaphone. He became like us. He entered into our context and our human experience. He became present. He was present with the powerful religous people of his day, and he had some harsh words for them so they wanted to kill him. He was present with nonreligous people all the time because they were the ones who needed the good news. He was present with adults, kids, sinners (all of us), rich people, poor people, powerful people, marginalized people, sick people, prostitutes, drunks, and just about everyone in between. People, people, people. Jesus' life was all about relationships with people because his mission involved ushering in the Kingdom of God for the sake of every single person who has ever lived. So, just as Jesus entered into other people's contexts and became the ultimate servant of others, then we should enter into other people's contexts and become the servants of all. That's the ultimate expression of what it means to follow Jesus during the short life that God gives us here. We love God and love others well.

Jesus is the one who inspired my family to live incarnationally in a world that is in desperate need of Christians who will love God and love others well. In our particular case, God called us to Homewood. It is a wonderful calling. It is an amazing, astounding, profound, joyful calling filled with so much purpose and meaning in our lives. God has given our family a huge gift in allowing us the opportunity to reach people in Homewood that most people in our city and in our world ignore. Over the past several years we've developed friendships with rich people, poor people, powerful people, and marginalized people. My wife, my daughters, and I have developed meaningful friendships with thieves, homeless people, prostitutes, addicts, convicted felons, drug dealers, graffiti artists, elderly residents who have lived in Homewood for over 50 years, single moms living on government assistance, dads struggling to make ends meet because of the lack of good paying jobs in my community, kids who sleep on the floor and only have one change of clothes, orphans, widows, and just about every other kind of person in between. This calling has not been a burden. It has been the great joy of my life to serve my neighbors.

People are curious about my family's calling to incarnational urban ministry because it is countercultural. As Christians, our lives should be countercultural. If our lives look exactly the same as everyone around us in the world, which they often do in the American church, then something is drastically wrong. Following Jesus should make us all radicals because Jesus was the ultimate radical. People killed him because he was such a radical. Our lifestyles as Christians in America should be radical, but instead most of us choose to conform to the world. And it is a choice. We don't just randomly end up separated from the people who need the love of Jesus. We make a choice not to interact with them. We makea choice not to go into poor neighborhoods and to avoid people who are different than us racially and socioeconomically. We make a choice to live in places where we have virtually no interaction with our neighbors. We make choices that keep us from loving others. We choose not to be incarnational in a world that desperately needs it, and so we choose not to be like Jesus. Isn't that the point of following Jesus in the first place? And I'm not saying that everyone's calling should be like mine in Homewood. God calls each of us to go into different places for different purposes that align with his mission to reach the lost in this world. What I am saying is that as Christians in America, if we're not careful, our lives won't look any different than anyone else in our culture. We won't be radicals, we won't be present with the people who need the love of Christ, and we run the risk of missing out on the purpose for which God has placed us on this planet. And we might miss out on the joy that comes with the downward mobility that Jesus modeled so well for us, instead choosing to somehow find joy and meaning in the smaller stories that the world tries to manufacture for us to live in. Yes, I'm a radical. But I'm just an ordinary radical. And that's how God made me.

Nehemiah: A Good Example of Urban Ministry

The North Way East End launch team meeting this past Saturday morning was so much fun! Around 60 people gathered in a completely unfinished ministry center space in order to learn more about how God is calling us to join his mission to reach people in the East End of the city of Pittsburgh. I had the opportunity to share from the Bible about Nehemiah, who set a great example of what it means to be in a relationship with God while joining into mission in the urban context. Before Nehemiah did anything to rebuild Jerusalem, he actually went there and spent time, his heart broke, and he humbled himself before the Lord while praying and fasting. The attitude of humility is crucial in launching a new church location in a city. In Pittsburgh, the Holy Spirit has been working in the East End for a long time. There has been some tremendous work going on the city for many years, and North Way will seek to join the good work that God is doing in the East End. Just like Nehemiah, we will pray and be sensetive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. We will seek to be good neighbors and love others well. We will seek to reach people with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. These things are so simple, but they all spring from a foundation of prayer and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. The next step in the adventure is another launch team meeting on November 18th from 6-8pm in the East End ministry center location. I can't wait to be with everyone again!

East End Launch Team Meeting

This Saturday is the big day! The North Way East End launch team is gathering from 10am to noon at 5947 Penn Avenue in East Liberty. If you are planning to be a part of the East End launch, I hope you'll join us for this time together. I'll be casting some vision, going over some details, and then mostly we'll be connecting with everyone and plugging people into areas where they are passionate about serving. We'll also be praying a lot for this new adventure. Oh, and we'll have food. What more could you want for a Saturday morning? Come on out and be a part of what God is doing in the city.

A Week of Writing

I'm taking some time away this week to write my dissertation. If everything goes well, I'll have a completed rough draft very soon. I am really enjoying being at this point in the doctorate journey because I get to focus on doing something that I love to do... write! Writing is almost like a healing outlet for me because so much happens in my life with urban ministry. If I hold it all in I tend to get frustrated at times, so writing helps me reflect. Reflection is an essential part of leadership. We can't always be moving forward. Sometimes the most effective thing we can do is slow down and take a look back on what God has done for us. Also, a big part of leadership is taking others with you on the journey, and writing helps me to be able to do that. As God teaches me things about life, I intentionally share those things with others hoping that maybe God will work through my experiences to encourage others. Yep... it's shaping up to be a good week!

The Meaning Behind a Worn Out Doorbell

We've had a lot of visitors to our house in Homewood this week, which has been a common theme for the past couple of years. We have a constant stream of visitors who ring our doorbell. Tonight I took Kyra and Sierra to get a movie at Redbox, and as we were getting into our car parked on the street in front of our house something caught Kyra's attention. It was starting to get dark outside, and she noticed that the neighbors' houses on either side of our house had their doorbell buttons illuminated. The light in our doorbell wasn't on. It was broken. Kyra pointed it out to me, and she said, "Daddy, we've had so many visitors since we moved to Homewood that the light in the doorbell is broken!" We all had a good laugh as we realized what that meant. Our home has been opened to many people. Honestly, I can't remember a day when we haven't had a neighbor visit us since we've lived in Homewood. It would be really weird if we didn't have somebody eating dinner with us, or playing games in the backyard, or discussing the meaning of life on our front porch. We've met hundreds of different kids through that worn out doorbell. That doorbell has known the fingers of prostitutes and homeless people, mentors and mentees, school principals and pastors, small group members and family members, and just about every other kind of person. Our family never knows who to expect from one moment to the next, and we like it that way. That lifestyle is what following Jesus is all about. God wants to work through us to reach many different kinds of people at many different hours of the day and night. In its most simple form, our doorbell light is broken because God wants us to love our neighbors.

An Average Night in Homewood

One of the greatest things about incarnational urban ministry is that I get to keep up with meaningful relationships much more effectively than when I was commuting into the community where I work. Last night was a good example. Last night around 8:30pm a senior at a local high school stopped by to spend some time with me. His mom died a few weeks ago, and I've been helping him to work through things that he's experiencing as a result. If he was just a kid in a program that I was working, then our entire relationship would be developed mostly on my terms during regular business hours. Instead, I live in the same community as him and he knows that my wife and I have an open door policy. He is welcome to stop by and visit with us any time. Our relationship is a true friendship... not one of a youth worker delivering services to a recipient. Last night a third grader at the school right next to us where our church has a mentoring program stopped by to play with my daughters and eat dinner with us.  I'd bet that he's had dinner with us close to a hundred times since we've moved to Homewood, and he comes over to our house to hang out with my daughters almost every day. If I was just working a mentoring program, I'd see him maybe once a week on my terms. This way, I get to build a meaningful relationship with him over time that is truly transformational for both of us. He teaches me as much about Homewood as I teach him about life. His mom is in jail and he has never known his father, so God has allowed us to pinch hit as his family. It is a great privilege that our family enjoys... simply being his friend and demonstrating the love of Christ. Also last night, one of my long term mentees stopped by to visit with us and tell us how he's doing. He lived with us for a few weeks recently, but we have been working hard to restore his relationship with his mother so that he can live with his family. I've been through many ups and downs with him. Although he is a junior in high school, he is one of my friends and I think that God has big plans for his life. He has taught me a lot about resilience and courage while persevering through difficult life circumstances. Last night I just chatted with him on my front porch for a little while, and then he went on his way.

I think Jesus likes that my dinner table is known by many people who are struggling in life. I think Jesus likes that my home is a safe place for my neighbors. I think Jesus likes the fact that I am friends with high risk kids who might end up in gangs or getting involved in the violence in my community. Just last week, a good friend of mind who lives in a different neighborhood stopped by my house for a church small group and as we stood in my back yard we heard about ten gun shots. I'm not afraid of gun shots... that's just a part of my calling that I am working hard to resolve. God has opened up the door for my family to develop many meaningful relationships with people in need over the past few years, and I am so thankful that God has allowed that to happen. Sometimes I think that my kids are the greatest asset that Julie and I have in ministry! So much for worrying about their safety... God is taking care of all of those little details of our urban ministry adventure. Although God may be working through my family to impact some people, sometimes I think that God is slowly transforming our lives according to his purposes. God is teaching us so much about how this world really operates, and these lessons play themselves out in the day to day details that the we call life in Homewood.

It's Official!

This weekend we made the big announcement at North Way that the East End campus will launch on January 29, 2012, and that we will be gathering to worship on Sunday mornings in a leased performing arts space that seats 350 people located in the heart of the East Liberty community on Penn Avenue. We will also be leasing the East End Ministry Center at 5947 Penn Avenue. The ministry center will have over 5,000 square feet of space to be utilized for Kidz ministry, student ministries, counseling, small groups, special events, LAMP mentoring space, and outreach events.

There are three ways to get involved in supporting the East End launch:  join the East End launch team, join the East End prayer team, or donate items for use at the ministry center. The next East End launch team meeting will be held on Saturday, October 22 from 10am to noon at the East End Ministry Center. The East End launch team will also meet at the East End Ministry Center on Friday, November 18 from 6-8pm.

I am having so much fun with this campus launch! I know that God is already moving in the East End of Pittsburgh, and it is going to be a joy to continue to join that mission to reach people. I live in the East End, I am committed to this community, and I can't wait to see what God has in store. It's going to be quite an adventure.

A Mentoring Celebration

Today I celebrated another full year with the first mentee that I was matched with in Homewood. We have had so many good memories together. I was with him early on when he was suspended from school a lot and struggled with his grades, and I have been with him as he has become a very good student and young man. I have learned a lot from him in the five plus years we've had a friendship, and he tells me that he's learned a lot from me about how to be a man. I praise God for the time that he has given me with my mentees, and I look forward to seeing the kind of men they will all become one day.

One of the most important components of mentoring is longevity. Unfortunately, many mentoring matches end prematurely. That almost always harms kids, and the kids who have bad mentoring experiences would have been better off if the well-intentioned but uncommitted mentors had never entered their lives. Sometimes it doesn't matter what we say or how we think we can control the outcomes of the mentoring relationship. What matters is that we simply show up and spend time with our mentees consistently over a period of years. A good mentor can forever alter the course of a young person's life.

Maintaining a Relationship with God

All North Way small groups are currently going through a series called 24, which focuses on how we can be effective as followers of Jesus with managing our time and being effective at ministering to others in spite of demaning schedules. Our small group met tonight and we engaged in a great conversation about how Jesus responded to adversity during his life. We are just getting started in the series with our small group, so it will be exciting to see where God takes us.

The topic of time management and busyness impacts many people. Many of us feel as if we cannot effectively follow Christ because we are so busy with trying to manage life. Sometimes we even become too busy because we engage in so many church responsibilities. When we take our focus off of the Lord and put it on our tasks or things that make us busy, then we miss the point of just why it is that we are doing all of those things in the first place. Days and weeks can go by without us stopping to reflect and spend quiet time with the Lord. Following Jesus is about a relationship to be experienced, and not a list of religous demands and tasks to be implemented efficiently.

And so that is what I have on my mind as I jump head first into launching a new North Way campus in the East End of the city of Pittsburgh. I want to make sure that I keep my relationship with Jesus as a priority during the busy campus launch season, and I also want to have God work through me to be able to help people be able to build their relationship with God. At the end of the day, God is moving and it is my job to be sensitive to where he is leading. It's not the other way around, where I lead and ask God to bless my plans.

Literature Review

I recently completed my dissertation literature review.  I read and reviewed fifteen books related to different approaches to transforming the lives of at-risk youth.  For anyone interested in checking out a wide variety of perspectives on impacting kids, here's the list of books:

Reclaiming our Prodigal Sons and Daughters (Larson and Brendtro)
Rethinking Adolescence (D'Ambrosio)
A Fragile Foundation (Search Institute)
Whatever It Takes (Tough)
Standy By Me (Rhodes)
On Your Own Without a Net (Osgood, et.al.)
Managing to Make It (Furstenberg, et.al.)
The Miracles of Mentoring (Dortch)
Hearts and Hands (Rodriguez)
A Framework for Understand Poverty (Payne)
The Way of the Wild Heart (Eldredge)
Youth At Risk (Olsen)
The Least of These (Ruthruff)
To Own a Dragon (Miller)
Code of the Streets (Anderson)

Football, Food, and New Friends

One of my favorite job responsibilities as a pastor and mentoring program leader is meeting new kids who have no idea who I am or what I'm all about. Yesterday my mentees invited me to organize a pick up football game with a bunch of their friends who I had never met before. We drove around to all different parts of Homewood and the East End in search of kids to round up for the game at Westinghouse Park. I must have met ten new teenagers yesterday. I always laugh to myself when I'm with my mentees and they introduce me to the new kids as "their friend, Mr. B." Their friends just say "hey" and then they start right into their usual conversations with my mentees with all of the unedited cursing and crass talk that comes with it. My mentees and I have this thing where we'll usually let that go on for a minute or two to see if the friends pick up on me being a pastor and mentor, and that their crude words might somehow harm my innocent ears. What's funny to me now is that I don't even have to ask the kids to stop anymore... my mentees will just kindly inform their friends that "Mr. B's cool, but you shouldn't talk like that around him." Their friends are usually perplexed by my presence but agreeable. We hang out together for a while, and then all of a sudden I'm "in" and the friends start begging me for a mentor. They'll do anything to sign up for a mentor. They'll ask me to be their mentor, and my mentees will forcefully remind their friends that they've overstepped their bounds. They can sign up for a mentor, but Mr. B's taken.

After the football game yesterday, three of the kids I had just met asked if they could go to church with us. A few hours earlier they were cursing up a storm when they first met me, and now they were pleading to go to church with me. It still amazes me how God puts me in those situations, and I never take it for granted. God has given me a passion for building relationships with people who are not Christians, and as long as I go where God asks me to go then he keeps bringing people to me. God is so good! We all went out to dinner and then we went to church together, and the kids had a great time. We had some interesting conversations about God and life and a whole bunch of other stuff. Plus, the car ride to Oakland was hilarious because if you've ever been on a car ride with five sophomores in high school then you'll understand what I'm talking about. These guys were cracking me up, and by the end of the evening I felt like I had made some new friends. I'll be sure to follow up with them this week if I can. And that's how the Kingdom of God advances in this world... one relationship at a time. Being used by God to reach others is the great joy of my life.