September

Action Day- Early on a hot Saturday morning in Jacksonville, Florida, it may not be everyone's first choice to get up, put on some gloves, and pick up garbage on the streets. Sweat runs down your face and you begin to smell like that which you have picked up from the ground. After the streets begin to look cleaner, no doubt in the following months, there will begin to be sprinklings of trash in those very spots. What's the point? Why is this important? As my pastor would say when bringing forth questions to the congregation, "Glad you asked!"

Our Action Days at 2nd Mile have consisted of picking up trash, mowing lawns, cleaning up empty lots, weeding/planting/watering our nutritional garden, getting rid of waste that has been an eye-sore, all in the name of being a tangible presence of God's love in the Brentwood. As 2nd Mile focuses on leadership development, we've turned over our planning for Action Day to our high school students in our LEAD program. Not afraid to make suggestion and take ownership of this, our high schoolers pointed out specific areas, streets, and blocks where there was particular need for cleaning up.

This coming Saturday, I'm excited to encourage their leadership with my presence and help in order to love on Brentwood through getting a little dirty for his name's sake. How great it is to see young people desire great things for their community and put their ideas into action!

Open Court- At the end of September, we will be having our first ever Open Court at North Pearl Baptist Church! Open Court will be one Friday every month where anybody that wants to come and run some basketball games at the church may do so. This will be in the evening times and as we approach fall and winter, the light in the sky will fade. Pray that we find a solution for visibility (some sort of lighting system) to continue what we hope will build relationships and excitement in our neighborhood. Also pray that this become a safe place where people can have fun and experience the love of Christ, even on the basketball court.

I want to personally thank my friend Scott for donating some really cool basketballs and a couple chain basketball nets to the ministry. There are already kids saying, "Curry!" when they shoot that Steph Curry ball, hoping to match their shooting ability with the all-star's. These gifts are very timely additions to what we are anticipating to be a very fun opening night of Open Court. Thanks man.


Yoga- Starting in October, in an effort to contribute to the health and wellness of our community, Brentwood Yoga will begin. Having done a trial class with its instructor, I never realized the physicality and flexibility needed to do some of these stretches and moves. The instructor isn't into all that namaste stuff. She focuses on worshiping God with the physical bodies he has given us. It was a really cool experience and makes me want to take better care of this body that God gave me. Our body is not our own. We've received it from God, it was bought with a price and we should honor God with our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19).

Please pray for these three things coming up in our ministry. Already, there's been a lot of buzz amongst the students and families of our programs. A guy named Breon, who I met back in 2010 when he was 14 years old, walked down the street yesterday (now 22) excited to come to the church and run some basketball games. Pray that God would bring people who not only want to do these things, but need these things. I've seen God ignite drive and passion in our community through just a spark. Thank you for taking the time to read this blog.

My photogenic son (now 19 months)