Celebrating Diversity at North Way East End

Churches in America tend to not be very diverse. That happens for a wide variety of reasons, but as I've written about many times before, I'm following the leading of the Holy Spirit to lead a diverse church in the midst of an urban environment. We've had our fair share of ups and downs as a church at North Way East End in terms of reflecting the diversity in our community. I believe that these types of things take time and intentionality through following God's lead.

While I have been open about the struggles of reconciliation and cross-cultural ministry, I need to be sure to celebrate when I see signs of hope in our church community. Over thirty years ago, North Way Christian Community was founded in an upper middle class, mostly white suburban neighborhood north of Pittsburgh. Today, there are four North Way locations including two in the city and two in the suburbs. This past Sunday morning, I had to pause and thank God for what I was experiencing. An African-American pastor from Homewood preached a message that was heard by thousands of people across our region, both live and at our video venues. Our worship at North Way East End was led by a worship team that consisted of white, black, and Asian-American members. The highlight of the worship time together occurred when Lisa, an African-American worship intern, led the congregation in a Spanish language version of the song With Everything called Con Todo. We had our global mission partners from twelve different countries throughout Latin America in attendance at the service, and we had the chance to pray for them and learn more about their ministries. And, of course, we shared in a huge fiesta/block party after church. All in all, it was an incredible day.

I caught a glimpse of the kingdom of God this past Sunday at North Way East End. People from different ethnic backgrounds, languages, and countries gathered together in Christian community to worship the Lord together. Urban and suburban people came together to honor God. Rich and poor people continued to get to know one another through the prompting of the Holy Spirit. We know that Jesus Christ died for us all, not just for people that look like one another. I honestly cannot wait to see what God continues to do through North Way East End in the future, but for now I'll take this moment to celebrate. God is reconciling people to himself and to one another at our church. It's a beautiful thing to be a part of.

Con Todo Dios at North Way East End

The Next Generation of Mentors is Here

This morning I had the opportunity to train a new group of LAMP mentors. It was a great group of potential mentors all around, and included in the group was a young man that I had the privilege of mentoring through LAMP when he was in middle school. Now, that young man is 20 years old and he has decided to become a school-based mentor at the same school where he went to elementary school in Homewood. He still lives in Homewood, and he wants to invest in the people in his neighborhood.

My goal in leading LAMP has always been to work myself out of a job. I would love to see the next generation of LAMP mentors consist largely of this group of young people in Homewood who are currently being mentored by people who generally live outside the community. Several hundred children have benefited from mentoring relationships through LAMP, and it would be incredible if those several hundred children who are becoming several hundred young adults would be able to pay it forward by mentoring the next generation of children in Homewood.

Faith-based mentoring is a transformational force for good in the lives of both mentors and mentees. When mentees experience transformation, they develop a vision for their future and they envision themselves making a positive difference in their own community where they have grown up. This is why it is so important to have a long term, relational approach to urban renewal. These things take time to develop, but when it happens... it's an incredible process to behold. I thank God for the privilege of being able to watch the next generation of leaders in Homewood rise up to participate in God's mission to redeem their community.

I Want to Live and Lead Like This

These words from Robert Lupton have been hitting me hard this week:

A passion for excellence. Diligence. Drive. Efficiency. The competitive edge. These are the values of achievers, the essence of upward mobility and the stuff of which success is made.

Enter Jesus, the Christ, Mighty God. The Everlasting Father. Emptied. Weak. Dependent. Here to show us the way to greatness, heavenly greatness, by becoming least. King turned servant. Downardly mobile. What sort of ethic is this?

There are those who will find it exceedingly difficult to understand, the Teacher said. Like the wealthy, successful, educated ones. But there will be a few renegades and other out-of-step people who will be given eyes to perceive the kingdom. They will listen to the homeless leader who owned one change of clothes, didn’t budget to pay his taxes, and was an affront to self-respecting, responsible believers.

“Take no thought for tomorrow… don’t worry about what you will eat or wear… don’t lay up treasures here… give your coat… share your bread… lend without expecting a return.” Wonderful rhetoric but highly impractical. Suicidal if taken literally – and so the reasonable folks did not take it that way.

Indeed, his teachings are suicidal for the successful. The downward mobility of the kingdom strikes at the very heart of our earthly strivings. It feels like death to let go of our diligent preparations for the next step and the investments that insure our tomorrows. Who in their right mind would gamble away a reasonably predictable and secure future on a high-risk, intangible faith venture like the kingdom of God? A balanced portfolio makes more sense. A good mix of earthly investments with enough heavenly stock to carry us if the bottom falls out of the economy. The best of both worlds, we might say.

Jesus the Christ. Mighty God. Destitute. He says we can’t have it both ways, that our security is either in God or mammon. He tells us that the servant is not greater than his master, that greatness – his and ours – is found only in servanthood, in choosing the lesser positions while yielding the better places to others. It is only in laying down our privilege, our control, our comfort for the sake of others, he says, that we can know life as he created it to be.

Heavenly hosts burst forth in hallelujahs (not tears) at the sight of their naked, helpless Creator in the straw. Heaven’s best lavished on the least of the earth. Glory to God, they exclaimed. The first fruits of a new world order have come, and he has revealed the values of his kingdom: vulnerability, obedience with abandon, lavish giving, faith that defies reason, volitional downward mobility.

Foolishness. God has chosen the weak to lead the strong and the foolish to confound the wise. His end? That all may know his utter dependability to care for those who will risk trusting him.

- Robert Lupton 

Making A Run For It

I do it every time. When I do a mentoring activity with a group of kids, we will leave where ever we are (restaurant, mall, movie theater, etc.) and I will break out into a full sprint across the parking lot to race them to my car. It happens, literally, every single time. They've come to expect it now, so I lose most of the time. I'm old. I'm slow. It's not a pretty sight watching a grown, goofy-looking man run awkwardly across a parking lot with a group of kids from Homewood.

The point isn't that I win the race, though. The point is that it's "our thing" that we do. I'm willing to make a fool out of myself in order to connect with the young people that I'm mentoring. If I would ever happen to forget to run to the car, I'm sure my mentees would do it anyway. It's just a part of what we do. I've been cursed at by people for being irresponsible. I've had all kinds of funny looks from people. I don't care. It's fun. It's what we do.

There are serious moments in mentoring, but there are also so many funny moments. My mentees keep me young, even when I feel old. One of the most important parts of effective mentoring is discerning how to connect with kids in all kinds of different ways. Kids know if you're being authentic or not, so it's important not to try too hard. But, kids appreciate it when an adult is willing to make a fool of themselves in order to bring some life into a friendship. I hope I never grow out of my willingness to make a run for it.