"So where was the church?"...thoughts from a conversation

Since Stephanie and I moved to our new home in a new community we have been asked many questions. Some of these questions have been: "How is the new home?", "How is the community?", "Have you met your neighbors", "Do you feel safe?"...etc.
This weekend while answering one of these questions I was then asked about the history of the community. This was because the current state of our community seemed so different than the community that we were currently in. It is so close in proximity, yet seems worlds apart. For my friend there was a huge disconnect because she has no relationships in the inner city. I am not saying this is wrong, this has just been her reality and the reality of many others that I talk to.

 I shared some of Ivanhoe's story: A community that once was thriving but has since suffered the loss of half its residents due to homes being demolished for a highway, the rise of drugs and crime, the closings of schools, redlining, poverty, etc. After sharing a brief history my friend asked a great question "So, where was the church?" She was right, where was the church? How could we allow our communities to get to this point? Good question, right?

To answer my friends questions I had two thoughts. First, as hard as it may seem for us looking back, the church was present. In inner city communities the African American church never left. It has been a force for good and a voice calling for justice for the poor and oppressed. It was a refuge and safe place during difficult times. My second thought was, sadly, many churches outside of these communities were either silent while all this was going on or ignorant of them because these issues didn't touch their communities. It's like the saying "Out of sight, out of mind.". 

My take away from my short conversation is that I can be guilty of looking back and asking the same question: "Where was the church?". Casting judgment on my brothers and sisters who were silent or who carried on in ignorance and ignored those who are close to God's heart. But the question that is harder to ask is "Where is the church today on issues of justice?" This is harder. It's easier to look back in judgment than it is to be concerned about the things that God cares about today. Things like poverty, sex trafficking, homelessness, fatherlessness, racism, discrimination, etc. I know these issues have always been and will be with us as long as there is sin in the world, but an overflow of the Spirit of God working in us should result in us engaging society and confronting the injustices around us.

I want to be clear, there are churches and organizations doing great work in this area. But we have to continue to ask God to help us love the way he would love those in our cities if he walked these streets. How would Jesus love my neighborhood if he were here? How would he love our city? How would he love our neighbors? How would he love you?...

My prayer is that we will be a generation that will not sit back, but will embrace our call to stand with the poor and distressed. Emptying ourselves, so that our God and King will be seen clearer. My fear for the church is that we are too easily distracted and can be influenced by the current consumer culture. This results in us keeping our physical distance from the poor and marginalized because they don't offer the things we think valuable. This is a lie. Again, not speaking about all churches, but the pursuit of power and recognition has distracted many from their true call.

So, where is the church?

"If you do away with the yoke of oppression, 
with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, 
then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday." 

"The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land 
and will strengthen your frame. 
You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."

"Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings." (Isaiah 58: 9-12)

Early Christmas Gift

So we have been in our new home for a month, and the reality of how we got here is starting to sink in. If you didn't hear, someone bought us a house in the Ivanhoe neighborhood (I wrote about it in my last blog post). We are settled in for the most part, and have had some friends and my parents come to stay with us. It's so awesome to have enough space for friends and family to stay with us at the same time!

We have met most of our neighbors and are really excited about the relationships that will be made in our community. There are good people here. Regardless of the negative things that are said or assumed about our community, there is good here and we are glad to join the work that is been done.

Our new home is definitely an undeserved gift that we will use for ministry in our community. We look forward to the conversations that we will have around our dinner table, the small groups in our living room, and the shelter that will be provided for children who need a safe place.This gift is a reminder for us on this Christmas season of how God gives good gifts to his children. So we thank God for our new home...and thank God for sending His Son, Jesus.

Have a great Christmas!

This is really happening!

God works in ways I don't understand. He has done just that in the past few months. After months of looking, waiting, and praying we have closed on a house in the Ivanhoe Neighborhood! We have a friend who has joined us on this journey, so we have been looking for two houses close to each other. She is excited about what God is doing, and we are so excited to have her join us!

This has been an eyeopening journey for us as we have gotten first hand experience of what families across the City must feel as they look for a homes in communities with hundreds of abandoned homes and vancant lots, but not enough resources (financial and relational) to be able to buy one.

So this is how it worked out for us: Since we are now becoming friends with the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Association, we were able to get connected to Habitat for Humanity who offered to sell two of their vacant homes (that were right next to each other) to us for a great price....a really great price. This was the relational connection for us. Though this was an awesome opportunity and a great deal, Stephanie and I still needed financial help to buy a home. This is where our friend who will be moving into the house next door saved the day! She has a friend who has been blessed financially, and he offered to buy both homes (one for us and one for our friend) and rehab them! Crazy!!! God is using his people to provide a home for us!

So thanks to the relational connection through the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Association with Habitat for Humanity, and the financial connection through a friend of a friend, we are on our way to making Ivanhoe our new home! Stay tuned for pics and updates on our progress as we begin our journey of making this community our new home.

Student or Teacher...?

Last week I began my journey as a new faculty member at Carver Bible College. Carver is a Bible college located in South Kansas City and was established as a school for African American church leaders as a result of segregation. Carver has trained some of Kansas City's well known leaders in the African American Church. One of those leaders is my good friend Dr. Antoine Richardson, who is now the president of Carver.

Before looking into this opportunity I had to answer the question: "Could this position help prepare me for a future church plant?" The answer is Yes! Yes because this would be my opportunity to be a student. A student of the history of the African American Church, a student of the culture, and a student of the leaders who have served in these churches who will be in my class each week.

As we concluded the class, one of my students stayed behind to share a little of his experience as a leader in his church. He shared his desire to see more small groups launched in his church that will empower the members to be on mission in their communities. As we talked, he affirmed me for taking this position because I bring a different perspective and he was confident that this would be a learning opportunity for us all.
The beautiful thing about all this is that my class has already become a place of mutual learning, so we are all the student and the teacher.

To learn more about Carver go to: http://carverbiblecollegekc.org/

Mind the Generation Gap

While we were in London this summer we traveled everywhere on the London Underground. On the platform of every underground station you can read the words "Mind the Gap". This is a reminder and a warning to pay attention as you get on and off the train. For those who don't see these words on the platform, there is a clear announcement from speakers that say "Mind the Gap". With all this warning people still trip and get injured because they don't listen to the warning signs.

Since coming back to Kansas City we have continued to build more relationships with the leaders of the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Association. We have also been asked to lead the Teen Council, which we are looking forward to. Good things are definitely happening, but there is something I am learning in the process. There is a generation gap between the leaders of the community and the youth. There seems to be a generation gap across so many areas...in communities, churches, and homes.

The question we have to answer is "How do we bridge this growing generation gap?" We cannot ignore or disregard our youth just because we don't understand their style, language, music, etc. I believe in the youth, and I believe they are a valuable asset to our communities. The media will continue to show negative images of black teens on the plaza, but I have been told by some of those very teens that they have no place to go in their own communities, and they don't feel like anyone is listening to them.

So here are a few questions for us all to ponder:

• What if the teens were not the problem?
• What if there were more safe places for young people to go?
• What could happen in our communities if we stopped focusing on the symptoms of deeper issues?
• What if we as adults took the time to listen to the youth and were role models for them to follow?
• What would it look like if the Church left its buildings and was a tangible expression of the Gospel in these communities?

There are people who are working hard to bridge the generation gap, but we need many more who will join this movement of raising the next generation of young leaders to be change agents within their communities.

Will we listen to the warning signs..."Mind the Gap".

Homes in the Hood

A few months ago I was eating breakfast with a friend at a restaurant in Kansas City's Midtown. While eating breakfast and catching up with my friend we began to have a conversation with our server, Meghan. Our conversation began with how long she had been working at the restaurant, then moved on to family. Finally we began to talk about the needs within her community. Meghan, her husband, and their two kids live in Ivanhoe. She asked the question "How can we be surrounded by so many empty houses in my neighborhood, and there are so many homeless people on the street ?" I thought this was a great question, but we had no answer to give her that morning. She was right, there are hundreds of abandoned homes in the urban core of Kansas City.

Some homes have been torn down leaving vacant lots, resulting in overgrown bushes, areas of the city seeming abandoned, void of life and hope. Our new friend Meghan is currently renting a house in the Ivanhoe community. I asked her if she would stay in the area if she could buy her own home. She said yes. She would be willing to stay and invest in the community. She also said she would like to see more locally owned stores. Again, I agreed with her, but that is a conversation for another blog post.

 There are many abandoned homes that the city desires to get off their hands for a low cost. The reality that a person from this community could afford to buy, then pay to fix it up to be livable is unlikely. This is the challenge Stephanie and I see as we look for a home in this community. Not only do we have to have all the relational networks in place to get the home, we must also show that we have all the financial means to pay for a complete renovation of a house. I do see the importance of this process, but I also have more understanding of how a hard working mother like Meghan would struggle to own her own home in a city with hundreds of vacant houses.

In Kansas City there is hope for families like Meghan's who want to own their own home. As we continue this journey of looking for a home in the Ivanhoe community we are learning more and more about organizations that try to help families get to the point where they can own their own home. This is a good thing, but there are lots of other families who don't have the relational connections or financial resources.

After walking away from our talk with Meghan I couldn't help but wonder how a new church plant in that community could play a role in helping people own their own homes?

I guess we will have to wait and see.

Home away from Home

Last month I had the opportunity to go back to my homeland of London, England. I was so excited to be back home because I had not been back in over three years. I have missed my family and the big city so much! But even more than that, I was excited to be back and show Stephanie where I grew up, and how London has so much more to offer than the stereotypes seen on TV here in the US. Which get on my nerves...just sayin'. To answer a few of the questions I get asked: Yes, there are black people in London. No,  I'm not African American, and yes we have "hoods". How do I know?...well... because I'm black, both of my parents are Jamaican, and I didn't grow up in the suburbs. OK..I'm done venting.

We spent two weeks walking the streets, talking to the people, and seeing the sights of this beautiful city. Honestly, having Stephanie with me allowed me to see my city in a completely different light. London is a melting pot of culture and diversity, which I always knew, but I was able to see how God has been working in the city over hundreds of years, and now there are churches being planted. In the midst of London's rich diversity and culture, God is doing a new thing. We met with a church planter who is starting a new church in Brixton, which is the same area that I grew up. Brixton, once known for its large Jamaican population and high crime is now a thriving community. As someone who knew these streets when people thought nothing good came out of this community, it is awesome see that the church is also engaged in building the community.


On Sundays we worshiped at my home church which is made up of English, Filipino, and Jamaican families. This was refreshing and very different to my church experience in the U.S where the churches I have been in have been almost all white or all black. This is not to say that there are not diverse churches in America, but from my limited time in Kansas City the church is still working through the issues of race. Not that my home church is perfect, but It was a reminder that people of different cultures can come together on a Sunday morning because of a mutual love for Jesus.

Stephanie and I celebrated our second anniversary while we were in London, and to celebrate our family put together a reception for us. It was awesome! I had family and friends I hadn't seen in a long time come out and show us love. It was a great time of celebration and vision casting as I shared how Stephanie and I met, and how we feel called to start new churches in under resourced communities. Family and friends blessed us with words of encouragement and affirmation.

Coming back to Kansas City I had to wrestle with mixed emotions. Emotions of feeling homesick, but also a renewed sense of self because I had spent time with "my people". It is easy for me to get so focused on the work we are doing here in Kansas City, but going home was a reminder that God is working to change hearts across the world. The Kingdom of God reaches far beyond our participation in the movement. Thank God for those moments of realizing the reality of it all. That thought makes it easier to be used by God here in Kansas City, which is my home away from home.