Week 1 of the two:fiftytwo After School Program is done and I'm excited to see in what ways God transforms these kids, their families, and us as well. As of right now, we have 11 kids, 5 from last year and 6 new kids. In case you are curious, the veteran kids are Diallo and Challah (brother, sister), Charity and Chassidy (sisters), and Alex. I feel that this year is going to be much more organized and on point (slang down here for on the right track or right on).
On Monday, I got to see the kids for the first time since last May. I was excited. I went with Marc to pick up 5 kids from Brentwood Elementary at 3. We pulled up to the pick-up area and Alex and Diallo yelled in excitement, "Mr. Andrew!" Huge smiles on their faces, they came in the big white van up to the passenger seat where I was and gave me a group hug. I missed those kids. It's these kids that I'm intentionally pouring my time and love into for this next school year. Since being back in Jacksonville, there has been more drive, more importance put on every situation, every encounter, every opportunity to speak, do, act, rest. It's hard to explain. It's like, if you think of the smell of oranges, you can imagine they smell good. Only when you actually smell an orange do your senses leap at the citrus scent.
A couple times a week, I walk to the basketball court in the morning and play a game called "31." It's a good exercise game when there's nobody else to play with at the court. I start the stopwatch and see how quickly I can make 10 layups, 10 free throws, 10 three-pointers, and 1 halfcourt shot. Sometimes I wonder what people walking by think of this white guy running with intent on the court, shooting with determination, all by himself. Yesterday, as I was walking back home (about 3-4 blocks away from the court), a nice white car playing loud music that sounded like it could have been on Soul Train drove past me, turned around, and put his window down. A little nervous about this guy approaching me in his car, I was asked, "You stay in that house right there?"
To my relief, wanting to be friendly, I replied, "That yellow house? Yep, I stay there."
"I saw you guys had mowed your lawn the other day with a push mower. Any time y'all want, you can borrow my lawn mower. It did a terrible job. I'm your neighbor Riley."
"Thanks man, I'm Andrew. Nice to meet you."
"Alright now, I'm your neighbor. Any time." He drove away and it felt good to hear someone from my block had our backs. When he reinforced that he was our neighbor, it was as if he was saying, "You don't need to struggle with a cheep mower when I'm two doors down and can share." That's one thing I love about the inner city culture. People are so much better at borrowing and sharing resources. I think many of us grow up in a culture where everyone needs their own car, their own computer, their own phone, their own rolling pin, their own whatever. It was cool to know that Riley was watching out for us "white folk" who are generally new to the neighborhood, or at least that street. It reminds me of living a life under our own strength, not relying on God as our soul/sole satisfaction. We got our own weak push-mowers and we struggle with them when God has the sufficient resources we need. Jesus once said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30).
This morning, the Young Adults Ministry at the church I go to was helping out 2nd Mile with some demolition on the building we hope to move into. We took out doorframes, metal cross bars, hanging electrical things, pipes, wires, glass windows, etc. We mostly worked on the second floor and I gotta tell ya, there's something satisfying about throwing a huge metal or wood piece with nails sticking out of it 20 feet down to the unexpecting ground below. I felt dangerous and helpful at the same time. Just a few more building blocks in the ministry's cathedral.
Just from the first week of school, I'm already getting to see some cool things with the new kids. Here's a list of them.
Mekhi and Ferrell (2nd grade boys)
Michaella and Tommieyah (3rd grade girls)
Laila (4th grade girl)
Kayla (5th grade girl)
I will hopefully in the coming weeks give you more details on who these kids are as I get to know them. They are pretty awesome.
One initiative we are trying to focus on more this year is building relationships with the entire families of these kids. Last year, we really only got to talk to parents when they picked their kids up from the program. This year, we are hoping once a month to plan some sort of get-together or something just to get to engage and have fun with the families.
Please pray:
-That relationships with the kids, the families, with our neighbors, with guys at the basketball courts would be built on the foundation of Christ's love for us and them rather than for only being friends.
-For Chassidy (3rd grade girl) who had a rough Thursday, had a difficult time handling herself. There's some deep hurting going on in that family, just not sure exactly what it is.
-That I'd be diligent with support raising as it has been difficult to do that due to wanting to go full-steam ahead into the school year and what I'm doing here.
Hope you are blessed by this song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iG2wUL1vTY
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Walls
"I'm amazed at what John gets away with. I guess that's one of the fruits that come with age: You can say what you want and not have to waste time sugarcoating the truth. You can hear in his voice the sassiness of the prophets but also the gentleness of a grandfather. This is part of his charm and the covert innocence that has allowed him to affect and infect so much of our society without getting killed (so far). Many times, with a glisten in his eyes and a smirk on his face, I've heard him say things such as, 'We've got the best politicians...that money can buy.' And I remember that same prophetic smile on his face as we went to jail together-not in the civil rights protests decades past, but only a year ago when we were singing those old spirituals and praying the Lord's prayer outside the Capitol to decry a nation budget that turned the Beatitudes upside down as it blessed the rich and sent the poor away empty.
John cries out with the prophets, 'Let justice roll down,' and yet he will surprise you with his grace. I remember hearing one fellow share how he told John about his racist mother and, after listening intently, John said, 'Does your mother like blueberries? Let's go visit her.' And they did, fully armed with a bowl of berries. It is that sort of childlike love that our world is starving for. There is no doubt that we need justice to roll down like water; those words of the prophets drip from Perkin's tongue. And yet justice without grace still leaves us thirsty. Justice without reconciliation falls short of the gospel of Jesus. Love fills in the gaps of justice. John has lived for us what it looks like when justice and reconciliation kiss. After all, he did not just call for an end to the hate crimes of the Klu Klux Klan, but he became friends with a reborn Klansman."
I had the privilege of hearing John Perkins speak at a CCDA (a conference about Christian Community Development Association). When he speaks, no matter how mumbled or quiet, everyone listening hangs on to every word as inspired wisdom. I didn't know much about this 82 year old man from Mississippi, but his story must be powerful, seeing as he founded this association. I began reading his autobiography called When Justice Rolls Down and it has captivated me. Each chapter is a deeper look into his life, growing up on a plantation as a sharecropper, living with extended family, moving to California when he was 17. There's something very real about diving into someone's life, seeing life as they see it. I bet if any of the white plantation owners during that time could see life through a black man's eyes, seeing their own sin and how it affected the self-image of generations of African Americans, they'd wonder, "What in the world are we doing here with slavery? We and our ancestors made a terrible mistake that we're not addressing."
Last night, I watched The Lorax, a movie based on a Dr. Seuss book where a little fury orange creature with a mustache (The Lorax) speaks for the trees and tries to stop the Once-ler from cutting down all the trees to make thneeds (don't ask). Anyway, the movie begins in the future in Thneedville, an enclosed town with no real trees, few even remember what real trees are. A generation is functioning in a place that they think is great, not knowing that a great deforested land surrounds their isolated town of happiness. Near the end of the movie, a large construction vehicle knocked down one of the walls so that the towns people could see dark and dead stumps, scars from a past they didn't know. This realization brought fire to the town's desire to plant and plant and plant trees and trees and trees.
Are you familiar with the slave ships from centuries past where people from Africa were taken from their homes, loaded on a ship, and forced to work as slaves in America? Was that pleasing to God? Doubt it. Did we in 2012 have anything to do with those decisions? No. Are many of you living in your own isolated town of happiness, free of any knowledge of past mistakes that few were around to remember? I don't know. But it's a question too important to ignore. Are you?
John Perkins remembers his childhood on Mr. Bush's plantation, "Mr. Fred Bush. I remember that name well, because that name was just about the first words I ahd to learn--my first introduction to a segregated society. You see, who I was in those days was described only in terms of a dependent relationship to a white man.
Back then, if a black child was walking along the road or was in town on a Saturday, and he met an older white person, the white's first words would be, 'What place you on, boy?'
I had to know the answer. Because I wasn't anybody all by myself, or even by who my family was. I wasn't important in their eyes; only the person I was connected to. And it meant that my own name, John Perkins, had no significance; only the name of the man on whose land I lived. So right from the beginning, I learned the proper reply, 'Mr. Bush's place,' whenever someone asked me where I belonged."
This past week, I've been typing in the titles of so many childrens books, trying to find the reading levels so the kids in our program will more accurately be able to quickly find books that are at their skill level. We've also been pretty busy decorated the room, rearranging tables, chairs, and making posters for the walls. Here's a picture of current progress.
John cries out with the prophets, 'Let justice roll down,' and yet he will surprise you with his grace. I remember hearing one fellow share how he told John about his racist mother and, after listening intently, John said, 'Does your mother like blueberries? Let's go visit her.' And they did, fully armed with a bowl of berries. It is that sort of childlike love that our world is starving for. There is no doubt that we need justice to roll down like water; those words of the prophets drip from Perkin's tongue. And yet justice without grace still leaves us thirsty. Justice without reconciliation falls short of the gospel of Jesus. Love fills in the gaps of justice. John has lived for us what it looks like when justice and reconciliation kiss. After all, he did not just call for an end to the hate crimes of the Klu Klux Klan, but he became friends with a reborn Klansman."
I had the privilege of hearing John Perkins speak at a CCDA (a conference about Christian Community Development Association). When he speaks, no matter how mumbled or quiet, everyone listening hangs on to every word as inspired wisdom. I didn't know much about this 82 year old man from Mississippi, but his story must be powerful, seeing as he founded this association. I began reading his autobiography called When Justice Rolls Down and it has captivated me. Each chapter is a deeper look into his life, growing up on a plantation as a sharecropper, living with extended family, moving to California when he was 17. There's something very real about diving into someone's life, seeing life as they see it. I bet if any of the white plantation owners during that time could see life through a black man's eyes, seeing their own sin and how it affected the self-image of generations of African Americans, they'd wonder, "What in the world are we doing here with slavery? We and our ancestors made a terrible mistake that we're not addressing."
Last night, I watched The Lorax, a movie based on a Dr. Seuss book where a little fury orange creature with a mustache (The Lorax) speaks for the trees and tries to stop the Once-ler from cutting down all the trees to make thneeds (don't ask). Anyway, the movie begins in the future in Thneedville, an enclosed town with no real trees, few even remember what real trees are. A generation is functioning in a place that they think is great, not knowing that a great deforested land surrounds their isolated town of happiness. Near the end of the movie, a large construction vehicle knocked down one of the walls so that the towns people could see dark and dead stumps, scars from a past they didn't know. This realization brought fire to the town's desire to plant and plant and plant trees and trees and trees.
Are you familiar with the slave ships from centuries past where people from Africa were taken from their homes, loaded on a ship, and forced to work as slaves in America? Was that pleasing to God? Doubt it. Did we in 2012 have anything to do with those decisions? No. Are many of you living in your own isolated town of happiness, free of any knowledge of past mistakes that few were around to remember? I don't know. But it's a question too important to ignore. Are you?
John Perkins remembers his childhood on Mr. Bush's plantation, "Mr. Fred Bush. I remember that name well, because that name was just about the first words I ahd to learn--my first introduction to a segregated society. You see, who I was in those days was described only in terms of a dependent relationship to a white man.
Back then, if a black child was walking along the road or was in town on a Saturday, and he met an older white person, the white's first words would be, 'What place you on, boy?'
I had to know the answer. Because I wasn't anybody all by myself, or even by who my family was. I wasn't important in their eyes; only the person I was connected to. And it meant that my own name, John Perkins, had no significance; only the name of the man on whose land I lived. So right from the beginning, I learned the proper reply, 'Mr. Bush's place,' whenever someone asked me where I belonged."
This past week, I've been typing in the titles of so many childrens books, trying to find the reading levels so the kids in our program will more accurately be able to quickly find books that are at their skill level. We've also been pretty busy decorated the room, rearranging tables, chairs, and making posters for the walls. Here's a picture of current progress.
Please pray:
-This week at the after school program goes well and that we look to God for strength and patience.
-Our staff team and volunteers are able to connect and work together as a unit.
-For God to reveal the things that might be outside of your comfort zone, your walls that you may have set up.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Back in J'Ville
In the movie Avatar, the main character in the movie is a paraplegic Marine named Jake Sully who is recruited to live among the native people of the planet in order to learn about a power source that the humans hope to take control of. To be disguised in an Avatar body, Jake Sully lays down in a chamber that puts him to sleep and activate a tall blue body. While Jake's human and handicapped body goes to sleep, his Avatar body wakes up and is able to move and run in ways that Jake could only dream of. Among the other Avatars, Jake begins to learn about this strange people and their ways of living. When it becomes time for the Avatars to sleep, Jake's Avatar sleeps but then his human body wakes up. As Jake learns more and more about the Avatars, he begins to love it and desires less to complete his mission to help destroy these people. He begins to believe that his human life feels like the dream instead of his reality.
My Responsibilities
A year ago, my jobs consisted of planning rec time (games every day), being at the program every day, and teaching the Bible lessons. This year, my tasks include planning rec time again, coordinating the Fun Friday activities (science experiments, field trips, cultures, dance, music, art, special guests, etc.), and constructing a better system for all the books for reading time. It's a lot of work but I'm actually super pumped to plan and do busy work (weird that these things have become fun for me).
Mission Statement
This summer, the staff members spent hours in brainstorming, meetings, and prayer to come up with a clearer and excitement new mission statement. We are seeking to see the gospel renew lives and communitites so they are transformed in every way. In every way. Not just helping the kids get better grades, but building relationships with all people and organizations, seeking to be a blessing and share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I feel as though I hit the ground running since Sunday. Had three straight days of meetings and planning. Spent most of the day today walking up and down flights of stairs with a bunch of boxes possibly more heavy than my body should handle. No more Green House. I think the bank is going to buy it out. Memories are still there but life's momentum is still rolling. In this new world, I'm ready to be an active part of it.
I've lived in Wisconsin for most of my life. How I was raised, who I've made friends, what I've learned, all Wisconsin. When I came to Jacksonville in the summer of 2010, it felt like a dream. Who are these people? What can I learn from them? Wisconsin, my family, and my friends I'm familiar with. When I began learning about poverty in downtown Milwaukee, this new world I never knew before, I began a journey of transitioning my heart to this place of underprivilege and neglect.
Last Sunday, I arrived in Jacksonville to begin my staff job with 2nd Mile Ministries. I had a whole 45 minutes to put my bag in my room, take a 30 minute nap, then rushed to my first ministry meeting of the year. Although it was already a long and tiring day, I was revved up for all that was said. 2nd Mile has been busy this summer with planning and loving on the Brentwood neighborhood. I apologize if the rest of the blog kind of spills out and makes a mess but I wanted to at least keep you updated on progress.
Church
2nd Mile Ministries has been praying and seeking to plant a church in the Brentwood community. Last year, they secured a pastor who is willing to lead this new church with his wife along side him. We don't have a building for the church yet, but that's okay "the church" is a group of people, not a building. Starting on Aug. 28th, there will be weekly Bible studies at Marc's house (where I'm living this year) for anyone that'd like to come. Diallo and Challah's mom (two kids in our two:fiftytwo After School Program) heard about the Bible study and quickly stated, "Y'all are inviting me. I need me some Jesus in my life. What color is the pastor?" She is a character. Definitely never boring around her. In case you'd like to know, the pastor is black.
Staff
As you might've heard from my mouth this summer, I will be on staff along with two other full-time staff members. Something I found out at our meeting last Sunday is that there will also be two part-time staff members joining this year! Dani, a former intern who does alot of work with designing our website, editing videos, and so so much more. Deirdree, a substitute teacher in the Brentwood neighborhood who was a huge help last year volunteering and helping us inexperienced teachers know better ways to teach and discipline kids.
Kids
We had 10 students last year at our program and I'm pumped to get to see them again. I've been told a few of our kids may not be back this year because they've either moved or switched schools. Please pray that they would be safe and continue to grow in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God and man. (Luke 2:52) Also, pray that God would lead us to the right students and families to recruit new students for the program.
Building
The church where our after school program is held owns a two-story building next door that since spring break has had a lot of work done on it. I took this picture today as Marc, Ernest (friend from the neighborhood), and I moved so many boxes and furniture out of the Green House and into this building and the church office for storage. You can see that when it rains, the roof leaks, electric things are hanging from the ceiling, pipes are coming up from the ground. It still has a lot of work to do but it sure has come a long way. If you want to see more pictures of it's progress this summer, check out http://www.2ndmile-jax.com/photos/building-progress-walls-coming-down/.
My Responsibilities
A year ago, my jobs consisted of planning rec time (games every day), being at the program every day, and teaching the Bible lessons. This year, my tasks include planning rec time again, coordinating the Fun Friday activities (science experiments, field trips, cultures, dance, music, art, special guests, etc.), and constructing a better system for all the books for reading time. It's a lot of work but I'm actually super pumped to plan and do busy work (weird that these things have become fun for me).
Mission Statement
This summer, the staff members spent hours in brainstorming, meetings, and prayer to come up with a clearer and excitement new mission statement. We are seeking to see the gospel renew lives and communitites so they are transformed in every way. In every way. Not just helping the kids get better grades, but building relationships with all people and organizations, seeking to be a blessing and share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I feel as though I hit the ground running since Sunday. Had three straight days of meetings and planning. Spent most of the day today walking up and down flights of stairs with a bunch of boxes possibly more heavy than my body should handle. No more Green House. I think the bank is going to buy it out. Memories are still there but life's momentum is still rolling. In this new world, I'm ready to be an active part of it.
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