Thankful for urban ministry opportunities in 2022

 

Hard to believe that I haven't posted any content on this blog since 2021. So much has happened during 2022! In this season of thankfulness, I'm so thankful for the opportunities that have opened up over this past year. 

At Bakke Graduate University, we launched successful urban immersions in Amsterdam and Memphis during this past year. The urban immersions are truly transformational learning experiences for the students in BGU's masters and doctoral programs who attend the classes. Students are deeply immersed in BGU's eight transformational leadership perspectives, and they build connections with leaders from many different parts of the world. They learn using the city as a classroom. God is doing amazing things in Amsterdam and in Memphis, and now the leaders who attended those courses will transfer many of the principles learned during the on site components of those courses to their own context in their cities. 

Also at BGU, our Spanish and Korean programs started to expand. It's amazing to be able to offer courses in multiple languages. We truly have a world class faculty and e-learning team at BGU who are able to make all of this possible. We purchased a new learning management system at BGU to help us to expand our certificates and modulized content, and rolled out new course offerings in Leadership in the Arts and Peace and Conflict Mediation. A large group of leaders from Africa and Asia earned a certificate in Transformational Leadership that I taught, and another group of global leaders started a certificate in Giftedness that BGU has developed. All of these new programs add to the mission to train leaders serving in many different sectors of society throughout the urban world. 

At North Way Christian Community, I had the opportunity to lead urban immersion trips to Panama and Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The teams were amazing, and we learned a lot together about what God is doing in the world and where we can join the work of the Holy Spirit while serving under local leaders. Both of these trips will be offered again in 2023, and there is already a lot of interest at the church. Also, NWCC launched our first Ministry Hub in East Liberty. Implementing the Christian Community Development strategy, we took a great deal of time to listen to the community and collaborate with others who are already doing great work in East Liberty. I traveled with a team of leaders to Chicago to learn from what they're doing at Lawndale Community Church and at New Life Centers. I also traveled with a group of leaders to the CCDA National Conference in Charlotte to learn together about how we can be most effective in our community development work in Pittsburgh. In our research in East Liberty, we learned that there was a big need for places for teenagers to hang out after school so we launched an after school program for teens. It's going very well... and it's growing each week! We have some excellent leaders and volunteers in place. And, the teens seem to be really drawn to the STEAM curriculum that we've been implementing. The Ministry Hub is also active most days of the week with different community partners using the space, as well as small groups and Bible studies. 

Also at NWCC, the LAMP mentoring program continues to develop. It's been 17 years of partnering with public schools to provide mentors for students. Now, we're in three school districts and we're getting re-established in the schools coming out of Covid. Church and school partnerships are an excellent way to impact our city. Our partnership with House of Manna in Homewood has been a blessing this year. Hundreds of volunteers from Rooted groups and small groups have served at Urban Diversity Academies at House of Manna that I teach with Free Blackwell. We train on healthy ways to serve our city, and how to build relationships across racial and socioeconomic boundaries. Special events like the Harvest Party and the Imagine Conference were a big hit again this year. It's exciting to see the church remain committed to serving our city and rolling up our sleeves to take on the most significant issues that we're facing as a society. 

So, I have much to be thankful for this year at both BGU and NWCC. And, I'm expecting even bigger things in 2023. God is on the move, transforming cities through his Church, locally and globally.