Encountering God in the City - October 13th

I'm excited to lead an event called Encountering God in the City at North Way East End on Saturday, October 13th from 9am to noon. Many Christians are stepping up to serve marginalized people in their communities. With so many people serving, it's important to examine whether or not we are being effective at service that leads to a process of transformation for ourselves and the people impacted by these efforts. I'll be facilitating a discussion on the following topics:

• How can Christians help people in need without causing harm?
• The basics of urban ministry and Christian community development
• Understanding cross-cultural ministry
• The differences between compassion and justice
• Onramps to personal and community transformation
• Effectively advocating for orphans, widows, and other people marginalized by society

To sign up for this event, please email Jacque Speed at jacques@northway.org. The North Way East End ministry center is located at 5947 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206. I am looking forward to learning and growing together.

Living and Leading with Integrity

My friend, Pastor Freedom Blackwell, preached at North Way this weekend on the subject of integrity. The issue of integrity is huge for followers of Jesus Christ. Many people claiming to be Christians in America behave very hypocritically, and we lose our credibility with people when our actions fail to line up with our words. Integrity is an important issue for pastors. I cannot lead people to go where I am unwilling to go. As a leader, my actions need to line up with my words. I need to be the same person in the streets as I am in the pulpit on Sunday mornings. If God calls me to lead people in an intimate, transformational relationship with Jesus, then I had better be living in an intimate, transformational relationship with Jesus myself. When I ask people to build relationships with people across cultures, racially and socioeconomically, then I had better be pursuing those types of relationships as an example to others. If God asks me to minister with people in powerful places and in marginalized places, then I had better be found spending a lot of time with people in both. Pastors and leaders set ourselves up for failure when our lifestyles do not align with the radical, countercultural message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, before I challenge the congregation with anything, I need to be challenging myself to be a better follower of Jesus. My family is watching, my friends are watching, my neighbors are watching, and my enemies are watching. Will I be a man of integrity before the Lord? That is indeed my challenge each and every day that God chooses to give me life. I cannot do it on my own strength... only through Christ.

God's Inescapable Love

One of my favorite things about being a pastor is watching people experience transformation through being in a relationship with Christ. In the city, these signs of transformation are magnified because so many different kinds of people live in the city. Many of these different kinds of people attend the church I happen to lead, so I get to see first hand how God is able to change hearts and move throughout all kinds of unique life situations. Our church has been reaching out to many people in our urban neighborhood, and although transformation is a process, the hearts of both the people serving and the people who are receiving kindness are being slowly changed by the love of Christ. Marriages are being restored. Sinful habits and addictions are being given over to the healing that can only come through the Lord. The people who are attending church in the East End on Sunday mornings are really giving themselves away to community with each other and to neighbors throughout the course of the week. Honestly, it is so amazing the watch God work across cultures and through all kinds of different life stages. God will stop at nothing to pursue the billions of people that he has wonderfully created, including me. As God pursues others, God also pursues me with his inescapable love. My heart is constantly being transformed by the relationship that I have with Jesus. It is truly remarkable.

A Great Start to the Week

This week is off to a great start. Over 200 adults and 30 children gathered for worship at North Way East End on Sunday. More than statistics, these followers of Jesus are growing in relationship with Jesus, in relationship with one another in community, and in relationships with people outside the walls of the church throughout the East End of the city. As a pastor, it is so exciting to be a part of something incredible that God is doing. We are a part of God's mission to reach the city, and God deserves all of the glory for the life changing ministry that is taking place. We are reaching the city. The word is getting out that we are a group of followers of Jesus Christ that are serious about living out God's mission across cultural, racial, socioeconomic, and neighborhood boundaries. God is calling us forth into his profound plans to tranform hearts and minds for the sake of advancing the kingdom of God. God is doing an amazing work in the East End of Pittsburgh.

A Good Start to the Fall Ministry Season

This fall season of ministry is off to an incredible start. We had a great Sunday worship service at North Way East End this past weekend where people are experiencing life change, they're connecting in meaningful community with one another, and they're making a difference in the city through service and prayer. Many new LAMP mentors are starting relationships with young people in Homewood, and the school is very excited to receive the support, especially in light of the results of the PSSA test scores that came out recently. We are fortunate as a church to be able to partner with the local public schools. God has been opening up doors for me and my family to minister with all kinds of people throughout the East End. I am just so excited about everything that God is doing. God deserves ALL of the credit and ALL of the glory for every part of the ministry in the city. I am looking forward to what's next!

About God, or About Me?

For a long time now, God has been breaking my heart for the things that break his heart in this world. For some reason, God seems to open my eyes to injustices around me and he often calls me to act and speak up prophetically. Sometimes I do a decent job of maintaining self control and grace in communicating what God puts on my heart, and sometimes my passion gets the best of me. It's as if I must speak up, and I must take risks and go all in when God calls me to do something... regardless of how the outcome might impact me. In my calling as a pastor in the city, I experience many of lifes ups and downs. God oftens asks me to do difficult things and say difficult words even if these things come with a cost. Often the cost seems to be personal, with me spending myself on behalf of others. Often, the cost impacts my family, my friendships, or my relationships with people at the church or in my neighborhood.

What God has been showing me recently is that sometimes I get it right, and I speak the prophetic words that God puts on my heart at just the right time. Or, I go into a dangerous situation at just the right time, and God is glorified. All of my words and actions should glorify God. However, sometimes I get it wrong. I say the wrong things at the wrong times. I do the wrong things at the wrong times. I make the ministry about me and my agenda instead of about God and God's agenda to redeem the world. I sin. And this is life on the front lines that God has called me to. Tremendous break throughs and tremendous pain. Giving God the glory, and then turning around and mistakenly giving myself the glory. Obedience and disobedience. Self control and sin. Passion unleashed, and pride unleashed.

Thankfully, God is quick to forgive me because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross for me. And, thankfully, the people I live with, develop friendships with, and serve God with are very forgiving and understanding of the intensity of the calling that God has given me. My prayer is that God would continue to refine me as an urban ministry practitioner, and that I would become better and better at dying to my self so that God might me glorified. I pray that God would give me discernment to know when to advocate passionately against the profound injustices that happen in my own city, right in my own neighborhood. I pray that God would continue to transform me into a better man, a better husband, a better father, a better friend, a better pastor, and a better leader. I hope I get better at loving and giving grace, and that I become more bold in speaking prophetically on behalf of people who are oppressed and marginalized in this world. I pray most of all that I can be a better follower of Jesus.

An Intense Week of Urban Ministry

Being a pastor in the city and living in the city definitely make for an interesting life. Every day when I wake up, I never know what to expect. Relationships are important to me, so life is unpredictable because relationships are unpredictable. Also, the city is unpredictable. The injustices of this world are always right in front of me, and the joys of this world are always right in front of me. By choosing to live in the area where I work and lead, I enter fully into the pain of brokenness and the full enjoyment of experiencing the light of God overcoming darkness. Each new day in the city is thick with anticipation. It is not a comfortable calling, or a safe calling, or a "normal" lifestyle by any stretch of the imagination. But is a good calling, filled with the profound purpose of joining God's mission to go into hard places to reach the lost and redeem every part of the city.

This past week is a good example of life as a pastor in the city. My family served lunch to the staff at the local elementary school in order to kick off another year of school-based mentoring. We've had a whole bunch of neighborhood kids from Homewood in and out of our house. Some joined us for dinner. Some went to a local waterpark with us. Many kids stopped by to see us for an after school snack. We found out that one of the teenager's we've been working with for several years was arrested and placed in the juvenile detention center. Another teenager we know stopped by to visit us right after he was released from placement, and he accidentally fried my wife's macbook by spilling lemonade all over it. I spent most of yesterday with one of my mentees who was supposed to be in school, but instead the school district messed up his paperwork and they couldn't figure out which high school he was supposed to be attending. He is at risk to drop out of school now, so I'm advocating for him against the injustices of the educational system. A couple days ago I confronted a motorcycle rider who was causing problems in the parking lot next to our house. At 4am last night I confronted an Allied Waste truck driver who was illegally collecting trash in the middle of the night (I'm sure he was intimidated by me in my PJs with my bed head). This week I also went to several meetings involving the church, including a marketing meeting, a budget meeting, and performance appraisals. I preached a sermon. I rode go karts with a bunch of mentees. I played Nerf dart tag in the ministry center. I met with the church elders. I walked the streets of the inner city where I interacted with all kinds of different people. I prayed a lot. I helped a single mom with finding a car. I spent a lot of time with my wife and daughters. It was an intense week, but it was worth every second.

The kingdom of God is advancing in the East End of the city of Pittsburgh. The urban, cross-cultural church that God has called me to lead is growing. The LAMP mentoring program is going strong, and the lives of some of the most high risk youth in Homewood are being dramatically impacted and transformed. My family is enjoying being a part of an urban adventure where we join God's mission to transform the city. We build relationships. We love our neighbors. We fight against injustices. This is life in the inner city. Bring on another week!