Learning from At-risk Youth

Over the past couple of weeks I've been reviewing all of the interviews that I completed with at-risk young people in Pittsburgh and Honduras for my dissertation. The kids all have a story to tell, and it is a story that needs to be heard by the people in mainstream society who choose to ignore the kids. Many of the youth I talked to told me about the many obstacles in their lives that they have had to overcome, including poverty, abuse, dysfunctional schools, broken families, drugs, gangs, crimes, and isolation. They opened up about their hopes and dreams for the future. I have seen first hand how God is able to intervene in the lives of hurting people in order to redeem them. The stories of the young people I have interviewed have been full of heartbreak and hope, failures and forgiveness, set backs and resilience. I have learned so much from the tough kids I've spent time with over the years. God has given me eyes to see the beauty that comes when the smaller, painful stories being lived out by troubled youth find their place in God's Story. Transformation is a process, and there are many ups and downs in working with high risk youth. Still, the risks are well worth the rewards associated with how God has been able to teach me. Sometimes the streets are the best classrooms, and people suffering through the struggles of poverty are the best teachers in the school of life. I know a doctoral dissertation is supposed to be about me sharing information with the world, but thus far my dissertation has been much more about what God is showing me through the eyes of people who are close to God but rejected by mainstream society.

Black Friday

Black Friday breaks my heart. God has given me the privilege of becoming very close to many friends and neighbors struggling through the grind of deep, urban poverty. I often wish Christians in America with access to resources would demonstrate as much passion to steward those resources (time, money, and talent) on behalf of God with people in need as they do on themselves and their families. We disobey God when we ignore the needs of the poor so that we can have more stuff (even if that stuff comes at a "great" price on Black Friday). God calls all Christians to be radicals for the sake of advancing the Kingdom of God. Black Friday looks to me like radical behavior that lines up really well with the world's standards. A $1,000 flat screen TV is more than the average annual income of two-thirds of the people living on this planet. I don't think God is pleased with us selling out to the world.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm spending the day on the West Coast with my family soaking up the sun. We are visiting some good friends that we made when we lived in California. God has really blessed our family this year, and we have much to be thankful for. My wife, Julie, is an amazing woman who loves me well and is an incredible mother. I am so thankful for my daughters, Kyra and Sierra, who bring so much joy and meaning to life. God has blessed us with the opportunity to launch a new church and remain involved in the transformational work that is going on through LAMP. I am a much different person today than I was three years ago when I started the Doctor of Ministry program at Bakke Graduate University, and the courses I've taken this year in California, Honduras, and New York have be life changing. I am so thankful for the DMin program! I love living in Homewood, and I am thankful for the many neighbors and friends who have taught me so much while living in the city. I am thankful for so many other things... my church, colleagues, friends, and much more. Still, at the end of the day I am most thankful for my relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. God has given me an amazing calling in life that brings me tremendous joy on a daily basis. I honestly cannot wait to see what God has in store for us in the year to come.

Generous and Wise Giving

During the holiday season many Americans give generously to a wide variety of causes. Americans make up 4 percent of the world's population, yet we use of 50 percent of the world's resources. From that perspective, it makes sense that we would want to give away a portion of what we have. My challenge to people this year is to make sure that we are giving to organizations that are truly working toward transformation. Sadly, many nonprofit organizations start out wanting to help people and they end up in the business of raising money to retain jobs for people doing work that is not really working to empower the people being served. I see this all the time in my work with at-risk youth. Most money that is intended to help children living in urban poverty actually never makes its way to the kids. It gets used up by the adults in power who live outside the community before it ever makes its way to the kids. If the resources do make their way to the kids in need, it often gets used on programs that do not lead to a process of transformation in the lives of the kids. That's just an example, but my point is that as Christians in America we are responsible for how we steward our money, time, and influence. It's important that before we give to any cause, we investigate that cause or organization to make sure that they are being accountable to deliver on the mission of the transforming the lives of the people being served. We need to give generously, and we also need to give wisely.

The Tension in Cities

I enjoyed a great night of community building at the East End launch team meeting last night. We shared food together, built relationships, prayed, and planned for some logistics with the new North Way campus. It is such a joy to be a part of the body of Christ! As a pastor, I love to see people connecting with one another and serving together as part of God's mission to reach the world. The city presents many challenges, but also many opportunities. I met with several elders this morning for prayer walking in East Liberty, and we all seemed to sense the magnified signs of hope and signs of need that the urban environment presents. We picked up trash as we walked and prayed. A homeless man joined us to pray for a little while. We walked past thriving businesses and abandoned businesses. There is no better place for followers of Jesus to be than right smack in the middle of the tension that is present in complex urban environments. I am so thankful to be a part of launching this church!

Launch Team Meeting Tonight

Tonight I'm looking forward to another meeting of the North Way East End launch team at the Myles Dental offices located at 715 N. Highland Ave in East Liberty. We are really starting to pick up momentum for the new North Way location! We'll share dinner together to build relationships, I'll share a little bit about the vision for the campus, we'll split up into groups of volunteers who will be serving in different areas in the East End, and then we'll spend some time out in the community getting to know our neighbors and praying for the community. It's so amazing to see all of this come together. God is doing big things in Pittsburgh!

Reaching Social Orphans in Complex Urban Environments

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to lead a break out session at the OrphanCare Expo in Pittsburgh. The event gathers together many organizations and individuals from all over Western Pennsylvania to organize around the ways that the body of Christ can work together to reach orphans and at-risk children locally and globally. My break out session was entitled, "Reaching Social Orphans in Complex Urban Environments." We defined what it means to be a social orphan, we talked about the importance of Christians engaging in complex urban environments, and then we discussed some suggestions for what followers of Jesus can do to make a difference with these types of children locally and globally. These are some of my suggestions:

Be incarnational. Just like Jesus entered into our human context, modern followers of Jesus should go to where the kids are and spend time with them in their context building relationships. Ministry does not happen in antiseptic conditions. We need to go into neighborhoods, into schools, and into many different kinds of places in order to be able to connect with kids.

Build relationships, not programs. 90 percent of people living in cities come to Christ through relationships instead of programs. Relationships are crucial to reaching people in complex urban environments. Before anyone starts a program, they should have tons of relationships with the kids they are trying to serve.

Focus on developmental relationships instead of prescriptive relationships. We need to build assets in high risk youth instead of focusing on fixing their problems. Building developmental assets leads to resilience and empowerment.

Learn from the kids. Transformation goes both ways. Adults working with kids should be good listeners, willing to learn from the kids they are serving. This goes a long way toward effectiveness and contextualization.

Consider living in the city. Most of the world's population lives in cities, and followers of Jesus can be very effective at reaching kids when they live in the city. In my opinion, Christians should be running into the arms of the city instead of running away from the city.

Focus on transformation instead of transaction. Many organizations aimed at reaching social orphans and high risk youth start out with intentions of helping kids, but they end up fundraising and existing so that adults can hold on to their jobs. Organizations focused on transforming the lives of at-risk youth should eventually work themselves out of existence because they are so effective at empowering the young people where they are serving.

Build partnerships. Urban issues are complex, and Christians should work together to come up with complex solutions. No one church or one organization can possibly be effective at reaching at-risk kids alone. We must partner and creatively work together.

Be an advocate. Compassion is the low hanging fruit for evangelical Christians. We line up to give things to help people in need, but few of us do the hard work of focusing on why kids end up being social orphans in the first place. People like lawyers, politicians, and real estate developers can do great harm or great good depending on how much of an advocate they are for people who are impacted by their work. Christians should advocate for justice in addition to being compassionate.

Overcome the jungle mentality. Some people are called to go oversees to jungles to reach hurting children, but most of us have social orphans living right in our own cities in America. Go global, but let's not lose sight of the hurting young people in our own neighborhoods.

Overcome fear. I know many Christians in America who are afraid to get involved in helping kids in our cities because of fear. We are obsessed with safety in America. I believe that God is calling us to much more than complacency or being paralyzed by fear. Followers of Jesus can make a huge impact in the lives of many at-risk youth if we would simply take the first step to go beyond our comfort zones.