From Cleveland

The past 10 days or so have been tiring and trying, but the work has been rewarding on many different levels. First, our work with City of Hope has uncovered several promising leads. Through our survey work, we have come into contact with some individuals who show potential to be community leaders. As perceived by the community, the area's prevalent needs include abandoned houses, a sense of community, and positive activities for the kids. Next, we plan to follow up with our contacts and work out details of partnering to begin joint church-community programs that will aid these needs. The process will be lengthy and difficult, but we are trusting in God's faithfulness and power. Of course, the goal is twofold: to help the community and to develop relationships by which to share the gospel. Please pray that we will have wisdom, insight, and creativity in developing successful outreach programs, and pray that God's word will penetrate the community and bring souls to salvation.

Personally, the biggest concern I have right now is transferring leadership of the outreach project from us summer missionaries to the believers at City of Hope. We are only here another month or so, and we have other projects besides community research and follow-up that we need to take care of. If the City of Hope members do not take up where we leave off, then our work's impact will be minuscule. Pray specifically that God will raise a group of passionate leaders who will claim as their own the vision of branching out of City of Hope's walls. Among the congregation, there are those who have the potential, those who have the knowledge, and those who have the excitement. Now they need to put one foot in front of the other. Hopefully, we'll get to meet with some of the up and coming leaders of the church Saturday or Sunday to teach them about survey work and out-of-the-box ministry. I trust the Spirit to work in them and guide them, shaping the vision into what He would have it be. To do that, I simply pray that our brothers and sisters will be open, obedient, and resilient.

We've had some fun the past couple of weeks, too. I went to Cedar Point (one of the world's best theme parks) a week ago today, and I found out what it was like going from 0 to 120 MPH in three seconds. Think drag racing with an open cockpit. SO MUCH FUN. :)

Blessings, all. Continue to pray for opportunities, boldness, and perseverance.    

The Week's Tidings

Today, conducting missional research finally became a reality. After three weeks of planning, training, side projects, and false starts and delays, we were able to begin survey work and door-to-door flyer distribution for City of Hope Church. We're working with Pastor Ben Curry, and we are excited to get out into the community and let our presence and mission be known.

City of Hope is in the Hough ward of Cleveland. First, the team (Now officially consisting of me, Daniel, Chris, and Ben Curry) put together a demographic report taken from census information. Then we explored and prayerwalked the area, met with Ben, made a target map, and began discussing ways for City of Hope to reach the needs and be set apart from the MANY "traditional" churches in the area. 

There is a plethora of "high" churches in the Hough community. Catholics, Lutherans, Seventh Day Adventist, Independent Baptists, etc. have a very strong presence, but the lostness and brokenness of Hough continues to increase. Something's wrong with this picture. Therefore, City of Hope has to find a way to show Christ to people in a way that is uniquely set apart from other churches. We believe that the answer is to be seen not as a church, to be seen not as "Christians" at all. We have to be Christ-followers. The "Christians" in the area are seen as the old-timers stuck in tradition who would rather complain about how the community has gone to the pits than invite their neighbor over for coffee. We have to get out IN the community, make our faces known, be actively striving to meet their needs and show them that Jesus really does love them. By just being there we're making a statement. Several native believers here have told us that this community's biggest need is for people to talk. By being different, by living our lives in a loving way, we can show that there is something about Jesus that has power. We can show that Jesus saves and Jesus causes change. 

City of Hope meets in a former Lutheran church building with a school building attached to the side. They hope to reopen the school as a Christian charter school because Hough's lack of education is appalling. The ripple affect of educational deficiency is made evident by the unemployment, poverty, substance abuse, and violence of the ward. By opening an affordable (hopefully free if they raise enough funds), quality school and providing free tutors and mentors, City of Hope desires to begin tangibly improving the community's quality of life.      

Two unfortunate circumstances occurred this week. One, someone broke into the church and stole the copper plumbing. The day after getting that fixed, the former Bishop of the Lutheran church came back and took all of the sanctuary's chairs, a good deal of its can lighting, and some mic stands. Since City of Hope launched several months ago, the Bishop has allowed Ben and his congregation to use the chairs. However, just after we get the chairs rearranged and comfortably adjusted to the space, the Bishop changes his mind. It's just one more attack by the enemy to frustrate City of Hope's work. But God wins. Always.  

We'll get new chairs in a couple of weeks, thanks to a blessing coming from NAMB. On a positive note, we surveyed several streets and made some really good contacts. Several people said that they wanted to come on Sunday, and several others were eager to meet with Ben over a cup of coffee to discuss City of Hope's vision and purpose. It's exciting to see God working already. There will be ups and downs, I'm sure. God has a purpose for all things, though, and even the downs teach us something about Him. We must praise Him in all things, and in all things trust and obey. There is no other way.        

A little Rest

Sometimes a little rest goes an awful long way.

After a week of slaving over VBS, walking my feet off, and helping cook for a short-term team of 85, I have been absolutely exhausted. On top of it all, my allergies have been killing me. Today, though, Kevin gave us an off-day... rest is a beautiful thing. I slept in, played some card games, and went hiking in Cuyahoga National Park. I am thankful for the time to relax.

Tomorrow, my team (Daniel, Chris, and I) meets with Ben Currie (our church-planter) to go over the survey and hopefully finally get to begin the research we've been training for. Although we've been involved in mission work and outreach, the actual church planting research process has been very stop-and-go. Once again, I've been reminded that God's timing is radically different from my own. Praise God that He is in control!

In other news, some of my best friends from NGU have reached their places of service for the summer. I now know people serving Christ in Israel, West Africa, Mexico, Ireland, Southeast Asia. Please keep all of us in your prayers. Especially pray for boldness. If we are to do God's work, willingness to speak/obey is imperative. It always has been. And so it always will be.      

Excuses?

It has been a long, tiring week. Missions work is anything but easy. I'm learning much, though, and loving pretty well every minute of it. Warning for any future missionaries: wherever you go, take a good pair of walking shoes. A REALLY good pair of walking shoes.

Wednesday, our team prayer-walked and invited communities to Gateway West's VBS/blockparty. It took hours... Very long hours. My partner, Will, (here on a five day mission trip) was great. He kept up with me with ease, talked with boldness, and didn't complain about the heat and sun. He offered no excuses... Even though he was crippled. For 5.5 hours, Will rolled his wheelchair along the asphalt and up driveways, even pulling himself onto porches when needed. He didn't look at what he lacked (properly working legs); he focused on what he did have: a relationship with Christ and the chance to serve. He took no excuses. Love doesn't let excuses hinder action, and joy can be found in all things when we count our blessings rather than dwell on our circumstances. Thank God for people like Will, and for giving us all the chance to learn from each other. 

Just a thought

A quick thought that danced around in my head today:

All followers of Christ are meant to enjoy their relationship with God and work to expand His kingdom. Many people see preachers and missionaries as super-warriors who play the most direct role in God's service. That's not true. The most direct role in God's kingdom is found in every follower's heart. To fulfill our purpose, we start by growing in faith of, love with, obedience to, and relationship with Christ. From there, we follow God in our every day lives by putting into practice whatever He lays on our hearts. 

Cleveland Highlight (mobile)

This is a very quick post-a teaser almost-done from my phone. Today, we went to a Bhutanese church. The passion and energy of the worship, the friendliness of the people, and the exotic nature of the language were spiritually refreshing. As a worshiper, I was overjoyed; as a guest, I was humbled; and as a linguist, I was captivated. Their love for us reminded me of the unbiased nature of God's love. No matter how tall you are, the color of your skin, or the language of your speech, if your are God's child, you are family. If we American believers would learn to love as excitedly and unreservedly as our Bhutanese brothers, our world would be a drastically different place.