Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Congrats to the Himmlers!

I am so excited about some very good friends of mine who are moving to East Liberty, an urban neighborhood in the East End of Pittsburgh, this weekend. They have an amazing story! I met Chad and Kristin at the North Way Wexford church location in the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh probably four or five years ago. We first met at church, and we had a lot in common raising young children. We eventually ended up in a small group together, and they have been good friends with our family ever since. They have four children, recently adopting their youngest son from Ethiopa in a huge leap of faith. They each also serve as LAMP mentors to children in Homewood, and they serve in many different ways at the North Way East End campus as a part of the launch team. I have been so grateful for their friendship over the years... they were very big supporters of our move to Homewood at a time when many of our friends and peers thought we were crazy for leaving the comforts of the suburbs to move into the inner city. Chad started reading a lot of the same books I was reading, and he started asking a lot of the questions I was asking about God's potential calling to raise a family in the city. Julie and I were thrilled when Chad and Kristin made the decision to sell their home in the suburbs north of Pittsburgh and move their family into the inner city. We walked with them through the many ups and downs of selling their house and praying through where they would live and how they would educate their children once they moved to the city. I am happy to say that they are fully embracing incarnational urban ministry in its fullest form. They are taking a huge risk to move into unfamiliar, uncomfortable territory in order to be able to be obedient to the calling that God is giving their family. I know that God is going to be glorified in many ways by their obedience, and this is only the beginning of the urban adventure that God has in store for them!

So why would a family abandon the upwardly mobile, safe and comfortable lifestyle to move into a marginalized and transitional urban neighborhood? That kind of a calling only comes from God, but I can speak first hand that it is an incredible calling. The world is rapidly becoming more and more urban, and Christians who choose to move into cities to be used by God to advance his purposes are actually positioning themselves in great position to reach many people for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Chad and Kristin will have the opportunity to serve amongst the poor instead of distancing themselves from the poor. They'll also have the opportunity to have diverse neighbors from many different socioeconomic and racial backgrounds. They'll actually have the opportunity to live in a neighborhood that is much more reflective of the diversity that is in the modern world. They are giving their four children a huge gift by raising them in the city, because the world where their children will live when they become adults is going to be defined by the urban reality. They are giving their children a great gift by raising them around other children who represent the socioeconomic and cultural differences that reflect what the world is really like. They are giving their children a tremendous gift by modeling for them how to fully live out the downward mobility of following Jesus Christ in a worldly culture that overemphasizes upward mobility, comfort, and safety. This family will experience the joy of living in God's mission all of the time. Many modern Christians take short term mission trips to third world countries to experience what it's like to live in God's mission to marginalized people, when they could be experiencing the joys of living in God's mission to the poor all of the time right in their own cities. Most importantly, this family will experience the joy that comes with being obedient to God's unique calling on their lives. I'm so happy for them! Congrats Chad and Kristin!

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Looking Back on the Week

As a pastor in the city, I have many different conversations with many different kinds of people throughout the course of the week. The city presents such an interesting calling. Just this past week I talked with doctors and successful businessmen, and we talked about how to steward the resources that God has given them for kingdom of God purposes. I shared a meal with a homeless man, and I listened for a while as he shared his story with me. I met with my church colleagues to plan for this Sunday's worship services and to do strategic planning for the fall at North Way East End. I talked to a gas company employee in my neighborhood who was walking around checking meters, and he expressed his frustration because he had been approached by at least five different women who offered sex in exchange for money to buy crack. We talked for a while about my neighborhood, and the work that we're doing to bring God's shalom to the streets instead of streets characterized by crime and addiction. Transformation is a process, though. I met with a young man this week who is passionately following Jesus Christ despite a background of tremendous abuse and pain that he has had to endure. I spoke with a woman who God healed of tremendous physical pain just this week! I spent most of a day earlier this week at the city/county building downtown with a woman who has experienced an injustice, and we were able to take some big steps to empower her to gain justice in the situation. It took time, but the time and energy was worth it for a single mom who struggles with poverty. I had a great meeting with a pastor this week, talking about theology and calling and what God is doing in cities all over the world.

God is a God of the powerful and the powerless. God is present in high places and low places. God is present in relationships and conversations. God cares about how affluent people steward the resources he gives them, and God cares about bringing justice to people who have been opressed. Jesus wants to work through all followers, including me, to accomplish his purposes on a daily basis. That is why it is impossible to be effective at urban ministry while sitting in a comfortable office. There is no effective ministry that takes place in sterile conditions. Urban ministry practitioners get out into the community and mix it up with people in many different situations. It's a big challenge, but I'm loving every minute of it. That's because my calling in the city has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with God. God will be glorified in all situations, and that is especially true in the city. The redemptive God is always on mission to redeem every part of the East End.

Monday, July 23, 2012

A Full Day in the East End

Sundays are becoming interesting days for me as a pastor in the city. Yesterday we had a worship service at North Way East End where people connected with God through powerful music, a strong, biblical teaching message, and communion. We are building community with one another even though the church is relatively young, and we are building relationships with people outside the walls of our church on a consistent basis. I spent most of yesterday afternoon after church with three seventeen year old kids from the inner city. We visited the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix where we walked and talked while watching races and looking at all of the sports cars. We went to a movie, we listened to music on the car ride, and we talked while we were riding in my car. We talked about what it means to be a man. We talked about dating relationships and marriage. We talked about money and how God wants us to steward it. We talked a lot about life while we enjoyed the activities together. Then, after I dropped all of them off at their homes, I drove through Homewood and saw a bunch of teenagers sitting on the front porch of their row home. They were sitting outside because it was such a hot day. Honestly, this is the kind of scene where people would just drive by them as fast as they could in order to get out of the neighborhood. They're coming over to my house for dinner tonight. Mrs. McCabe is making stromboli. We'll talk about life while we're eating, I'm sure. The dinner table is one of the best places to have deep discussions about life, and we love having our neighbors over for dinner.

Spending time with Christians. Spending time with nonChristians. Spending time with neighbors. Gathering with friends in a performing arts theater to worship God together. Gathering with friends at an auto race in the community where I serve as a pastor. Hanging out with doctors and entrepreneurs. Hanging out with at-risk youth. All of these things represent the kingdom of God advancing in my city. The gospel takes hold because of the Holy Spirit and through the relationships that we build with one another. We live in a world with great evil, but we live in a world with a God who sacrificed all through his Son so that we can live victoriously and joyfully through his grace. We live in the now, but not yet. God is on mission to redeem my city, and to redeem the world. North Way East End is a part of that mission. It is a wonderful calling that brings tremendous purpose to every day of the week... not just Sundays. It's a new day today. I can't wait to see what God does today!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Reflecting on Life with my Wife

Last night I had the opportunity to sit on my back porch with my wife and reflect on a full day of urban ministry. Yesterday was a reminder of the full ups and downs of advancing the kingdom of God in the city. The city is a magnifier of both brokenness and triumph. The city is full of pain and joy. As such, urban ministry leaders need to learn how to lead sensitively through all of the ups and downs that come on a seemingly daily basis. Much reflection is required in order to be effective as a pastor in the city, and I am thankful for the opportunities that I have to navigate through the complexities of life with my incredible wife. We are on quite an adventure together as a family, and I am so thankful that God has given me such an amazing advocate and life long friend in Julie.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Normal is now Weird

The last couple of days have been relatively "normal" around the McCabe household. By that, I mean that things have been relatively calm by urban ministry standards. We didn't have any unexpected visitors to our house. There were no crisises that needed immediate pastoral attention. Nothing out of the ordinary really happened, and that in itself is out of the ordinary. We've come to expect that just about anything can happen at any time when doing life in the inner city. God always has our family on stand by, and we love that style of living. Instead of distancing ourselves from anything messy in life, we have thrown ourselves fully into the fray... God's mission to redeem the city. So, a little bit of peace of quiet is nice, but I know God could change that at any given moment. I'm looking forward to the adventure that comes with the calling that God has given our family.

Monday, July 9, 2012

The Importance of Relationships

As a pastor and a leader, I am very passionate about emphasizing relationships. Programs are important, but they are only tools that can be utilized to build more effective relationships. It's easy to say that relationships are important, but, at the end of the day, relationships can be messy and inconvenient. Sometimes it seems like it would be much more convenient to sit in an air conditioned office and do email than to roll up my sleeves and dig in relationally with people. As an urban ministry leader, though, the value of placing the emphasis on people is so important. People in the city want to know if you are authentic, and they want to spend time with you to find out. They can tell if you're faking it relationally as well. When it comes to advancing the Kingdom of God, time and relationships are crucial. Emails and programs can wait, although they do have their place in effective ministry. Also, relationship building is not just important with other Christians. Relationships with other Christians and our family and friends have their important places in life, but we should also be involved in intentional, meaningful relationships with people who are not Christians and even with people who are our enemies. That is how we effectively fulfill our purpose to be a part of advancing God's mission on a daily basis. All of these issues are very real to me as an urban church pastor, and the city is my parish... a training ground that tests my relational capacity on a daily basis.

Monday, July 2, 2012

The Sounds of the City

After a long weekend of urban ministry, Julie and I sat on our porch last night and reflected. We realized that we had just officially celebrated three years of living in Homewood. As I had that realization, I noticed the same sounds of the city that struck me as shocking when we first moved to the city. I noticed the same sounds of sirens, trains, busses, and fireworks that we noticed during the summer three years ago. I noticed the sounds of children playing in the streets. My daughters created street chalk drawings on our sidewalk as we listened to the sounds of the city. A whole bunch of neighborhood kids stopped by our house to see if we had any freezie pops to share with them. We did. As the kids rode away from our house on their bikes, freezie pops in hand and big smiles on their faces, I thanked God for the ministry that he has given our family in the city. God has blessed us with good relationships with our neighbors, a unique mentoring program, and a new church to lead. We are in the midst of quite an adventure, and I am so thankful for how good God is.