Arrionna's Influence

I am writing, because I must tell you living in florida away from this vibrant ministry I was a part of is tough, but I take notice of the testimonies I hear from my brothers and sisters who are still there leading the ministry.

I also must say that one of my most fond memories is that of Arrionna coming up to me,  a little girl of 8 years old then, who is probably 10 now,  but she said,  "I am so excited to be here,  I wish I could give to help this ministry." "Do you think if I give my bus fair in the offering plate that I would have used to get back home,  You could help me find an adult that I could trust to get me a ride home from church?  I love it here!"  This week I am praying for this family,  they are in a shelter in Adrian Michigan, and I know they miss their friends and family, and more importantly their church home.  I am thankful for God letting me be a part of their lives,  Cyerra, Torian and Arrionna, but i pray that loving folks will help them get back with those whom they love and love God with in their spiritual family.

God Bless them.  I still learn from youth who give me this kind of example of how to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  

God Bless You!
From a Gentle Giant Forerunner of Christ's Peace.

T-minus 5 months and Counting

You may have heard I'm leaving Detroit Hope, but may have heard some rumor about the reasons, frankly no matter how many times I say it, I think people think I am making the decision for reasons that are not valid, or they would rather have me in Detroit forever. Well folks. It is not about me. It never has. It is about God, and what God is doing up here. And what God has blessed and will continue to. I just want to set the record straight.

I have been on the ground, in some way, intern or pastor, for the better part of seven years. I worked in 2004 with John Atkinson, and there were some of the children from that summer camp program. The way I have measured this, I met David McCray when he was 14, and now he is 21. I have had 7 years influence on his life, and the many lives in the community thanks to the Grace of God letting me be apart of it. We have accomplished so much. Helping families, creating a culture of faith, education, confidence, and working through every struggle and every concern. We have also focused on building a body of Christ that has become a spiritual family that bares each others burdens and lifts up the Yo Buddies and the Me toos in good times and in bad to emphasize the fact that we can care and help each other.

Rachel and I knew that when Levi was born, it was the beginning of a countdown clock in our minds, that we were either 1800 miles from Rachels Family, or 1200 miles from our family. We began to think about Levi's relationship with family so far away, his schooling, his family life, and his extra curricular activities as well as family time with his parents. If Residence Life and Urban Church planting continued to run on the same time table, while he would be at school I would have the mornings off, but I would be working until after he is in bed, and so would Rachel. She just got hired in a new job at the University of Western Florida. We thought this job would come more in like the summer, but it came as early as December 1. Her Job has benefits such as spouse tuition benefit, and other perks that made this move to florida, close to her family, a blessing dropped in our lap.

This is just the beginning of the discussion, and I will continue with this discernment decision in the next post. My computer is dying.

Peace and Justice in a harsh neighborhood

On June 9^th we had a familiar bunch from Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri come to our aid at Detroit Hope. Twenty-Six Senior high came prepared, and not so prepared for an experience of their lifetimes. Their youth leader Dee Jones from Lamoni Heartland mission center was one of the youth leaders that raised me up through youth programs at Guthrie, Spec, IYF and other youth activities. Every year she would venture out taking youth to places all over the continental United States, and Canada in the name of mission and work camp, and she graced us with their last trip before her retirement. What a humbling, honoring gesture. Detroit Hope would not know what it was about to experience.

The first day, they traveled 12 hours. On a bus, crammed in there, 26 youth and 8 staff. They rested on Thursday, and we explained what they would face in the neighborhood, and some of our ministry history. Then we led them down to the church, and they worked all afternoon and evening. I had a list of Work projects to do, and in that first day, they accomplished like seventy to eighty percent of them.

On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, we left for Toronto, myself and all of these amazing people from out west. We went up and met J.W. Windland and he led these youth on a religious experience through his research and connections to 4 temples and holy places and talked to us about the respectful way to attend, and how to respond, and how to understand their beliefs more wholistically. It really brings about a peace and a mutual respect in the hearts of those who attended. Going to a Seek Temple, a Hindu Temple, a Buddhist Temple and a Islamic Mosque center for prayer.

When we got back, we made it for Sunday service, and the youth were so excited to attend and help that they worked between when we arrived and when we had church to prepare a barbeque and also be active in our service that night.

I must remark now about the work that they did from Monday through Wednesday Night. However I think a list would be more appropriate:

· They Cleaned the Windows

· Re-Planted our garden

· Weeded the Sidewalks

· Painted the Foyer

· Painted the Bathroom

· Took down a rotting shelf in the kitchen

· Planned and Carried out a Vacation Bible School

· Cleaned and straightened the Shed

· Moved Sports Equipment from the office to the shed.

· Cleaned the Food Pantry

· Cleaned the Clothing Closet

· Organized the Worship Center Shelves

· Cleaned the Boiler Room

· Organized and fixed up Classrooms for Usable Space

· Cleaned the bathrooms

· Painted the Basketball Goal Lines

· Painted a Mural about Joy, Hope, Love, and Peace.

· Painted inspirational sayings on the basketball lane.

· Removed tons of trash

· Deep Cleaned the stairs and hallways.

· Cleaned all windows,

· Transformed the Office into a Nursery / Cry Room.

· Trimmed bushes, cut down trees and overgrowth on the lawn

· Organized the craft closet

· Organized and cleaned the kitchen

· Had the idea to create a bike wrack for youth that come to church.

· Made it their Disciples Generous Response Moment Wednesday night and brought in $402.66 dollars.

Now those last two may sound like simple things, but just think about it. They did all this ministry, all these projects, and brought us all this peace, but then when a little girl from our congregation was crying. They heard her cries, caught her tears, and are making a difference for the future by caring so much and buying a locking bike wrack so no child needs to come to church fearful that they will miss their bike when they come out of the building after worshiping with us. They were creating a little bit of Zion here in our neighborhood. They had become invested in us in one week and had several testimonies of their experiences that I hope to get on our website soon at; http://www.detroithopecofchrist.org very soon. They brought us peace, and faught injustice with peaceful action. Yo Buddy for our Mission Trip group from Lamoni Heartland Missioncenter and Prairie Bluffs Mission center. Thank you to them, and thank you to you for supporting us as we stand to our feet as a congregation.

Mission Trip 2010 Lamoni Heartland/Prairie Bluffs Missioncenter

How They brought us both Peace and Justice.

Okay Folks, It has been a week or more, since the blogger went down, on the monday routine, and I have a lot to tell you about. Yes, it is Friday, not Monday, but I needed a day of rest from our mission trip to be able to get up and think about all the blessings that came into being in the short time that Lamoni Heartland and Prairie Bluffs Mission center Senior High group came to Detroit. I want you all to realize something. In 4 short workdays, with 3 to canada, and 2 to travel, these youth put up some amazing support of Detroit Hope Community of Christ. I must say they have left a lasting impression and will be sorely missed. They evoked a revival type spirit that inspired us, and gathered steam for a great summer to come in 2010. Here are just a few comments about the work projects:

Vacation Bible School - This was put on by every youth participating and Becky from the Council Bluffs Area. They did Studio Go, a resource produced by group or youth specialties, and it focused on Saying yes to God, Obeying, Leading, and Listening, like the bible heroes and heroines tell us. Over all they had great attendance that had to pick up steam, but by wednesday they had two hopping classes that rotated through theme class, crafts class, recreation, snack and a bible/music class. Overall, I thought it was amazing. And it was Detroit Hope's very first Vacation Bible School. Yo Buddy!

Painting The Foyer - I must mention this one first among the work projects. It was an amazing work that was led by Terry, Deb and many full and strong supporting cast Senior High. I wouldn't be suprised one bit to find that everyone in one way shape or form contributed to the job. They painted floor to ceiling, and the trim around every door, window and along the floor and ceiling moulding. Terry and Deb spent tireless time, energy and effort during the days, and during some lunch times working to get the job done. Yo Buddy!

I'll write more later, we are under a severe weather warning, hail hitting my window, I am getting off of the net.

Blogger decided to go down last week? I will write my blog today, just after I sleep and before biblestudy at Detroit Hope tomorrow. Thanks for your patience.

Second week of this new Spiritual Practice of Journaling 5-13-10

You guessed it, Im late in this post. I thought better late than never, and I also thought, I will get back onto mondays. I have had some interesting discussions this week, and we may be charted on a new direction here with Detroit Hope.

Some Good news you should know about and pray for.

*David Shelton, one of our youth is graduating from Cody High School this spring. A big YO BUDDY! He is the first in my reconing that we have had that has finished high school outright since we have been here. Not inlcuding GED or Night School. This is a big splash over the damn that is our ignorance and injustice when it comes to our youth in our community in Northwest Detroit becoming educated to be at their greatest potential. Pray for David, his finals, and his continuing future.

*We have two World Service Corps Interns starting this summer, and they will bring a great deal of experience, gifts and talents to the Detroit Hope congregation. We will utilize these skills to provide a greater ministry to those we have not yet met, but it will also allow us to further provide pastoral care wherever our presence may reach to in this Detroit area.

*We have a Senior High Group from my home area being led by Delia Jones, Terry Jones, Julie Elliott from the areas of Lamoni Heartland Missioncenter, and Prarie Bluffs Missioncenter to come to Detroit Hope and help us out with some projects and ministry while experiencing and participating in this awesome ministry. They are also taking a trip to Toronto for a day or so, and taking a tour of the World Religions Ministries Center and then returning to Detroit Hope.

*We have a point system now that will allow our youth to attend Reunions, Camps and Spec. If you would like to contribute money to these hard-working, ministry-inspired youth so that they can go to camp please call Pastor Jacob at (313)515-8955.

*Pray for us, as we endevor to find new energy and spirit of mission, sent and called by God to be a blessing in this specific location. Our Team meets on sunday and we will discuss changing our worship week schedules, changing our times for community support and outreach, and re-powering our pistons for the great work that is about to come forth.

YO BUDDIES
We are praying for these Yo Buddies in which God is truly working in Detroit, and in our lives and our extended family of members and congregants lives, and we would like you to join in prayers of thanksgiving with us for them.
20 Basketballs for DH from Indiana and Claire and Henry
Dean and McCrays got a new stove and fridge with Cluster Support
New Computer - Bill Kline
David saw his Dad
Grandson Visit
Thank You's to a bunch of people
Mother's Day
Internship
Money Donations
Tutoring Program
Sunshine
1st Wedding at Detroit Hope in recent history.
Levi's First Birthday

ME TOOS
Mavis Kinney - Not doing well, possible psneumonia Dr. Not sure about diagnosis
Problems with Mom/Dad
Keisha (Vonnie's Mom) -Heart and Blood Pressure Problems
Jobs-For Roomates and All who are out of work.
Auntie is in the Hospital
Darryl Sick, Dimetrius Sick, Need to go to Doctor.
Mom in Hospital for Surgery
Rick's Family Member in Afghanistan
Teachers
Schools Closing in Detroit
Displaced or Dropped out Students
Saturday the 22nd Block party / Work Day to clean up the neighborhood parks.
Red Wings
Bill Kline Heart Problems
City of Detroit / Detroit School Problems
Mavis Kinney
Relationships in the Church
Teenage Deaths, and abandoned Houses Problems
Teenage Pregnancy
Jobs and Housing
Detroit Hope Internships
More Young People in the church
Mrs Parker, and that the Tutoring program will go better
Ms. Ruth, because we miss her, and her overtime is not paying for the hours she can't be with us.

Things Learned in Church Planting or Ministry to Hard Living People. For other church planters, missionaries, and laborers for God.

1. The Gospel (Good News of Jesus Christ) is not reserved just for us. The street slang would be The Gospel is not just about you. This has called me to a servant ministry. When I get all-celebratory about a victory in the church plant, some people feel that it is time for compliments. Sometimes, I will say, "give that glory to God, for without him we wouldn't have any of this." Well friends, I know that in our humanness, sometimes this wears on us, like we have a greater work to do, first it starts wearing on us, I remember comparing our church plant to others. Comparing myself to pastors of other plants. Sometimes for self-gratification and other times for condemnation. I think this is those times when we need a good 'Ol slice of humble pie. The very worst is when it sneaks up on you. You go on serving, serving, serving, and all of a sudden, smack, God reminds you that you are nothing without God. Maybe I have experienced something in an ironic way. Maybe in just a new direction with some flashy new ideas. I found myself here. I think to myself, well, what was so wrong about the old ideas, they worked? They were providing a good needed ministry. I tell you-"A ministry will come and a ministry will come to pass. It is not about us. And the really good God inspired ministries have successors, plans, A, B, and C, and when those don't work you should have remembered to pray first. Then start over with alpha A, alpha B, and alpha C. And don't get frustrated, God has ultimate patience, and we are just privileged to be included and be given grace into involved service. That reminds me, wasn't I doing a count down?

2. So since I mentioned it "We're just blessed to be a part of things." This is Gods work, not ours. The sooner we get this in our heads, the better off and humbly favored we may be. I think about all of the God inspired callings that must go out, un-answered and still left as raw potential. When we answer the call, God gives us a responsibility to seek God out for instructions. Pray. Pray. Pray. And that is my first tip to discernment. It is the only unifying factor to discernment practices, they all have something to do with petition and listening prayers. Or at least they should.

3. God won’t give us anything we can’t handle. I know this from experience, I have a testimony of losing my father, coming from farm country to Detroit, being offered drugs and inviting the same man to Church. Somehow, our strength, our courage and our patience can get us through anything if we only ask for help. Even through boring meetings because, to all you missionaries out there, you never know where you might find an opportunity to find a supporter to network with amongst you and find a great Ally for Gods mission.

4. A missionary pastor, church planter needs ultimate patience. Jesus needed time away from his flock to refill, so do you. Sometimes, it would be easy to get angry, lose patience, and blow off the handle. I have seen church planters get so upset they just tackled somebody they thought deserved it. We can get stressed out and burned out, and lose patience, but even Jesus needed a Sabbath away from Peter and the disciples constant questions. Many of us don’t know the answers. We need to have a fog of patience, do not be afraid to say, “I don’t know, let me ask a few people.” Or “Could you let me get back to you on this?” It works wonders, and please follows up with this. It will make you a better minister of pastoral care, but also a better disciple because you tended even the most trying congregants.

5. Find Your Sabbath. What is Sabbath? Well a good bible scholar might be able to tell you, but I think the great thing is, we are not defined a day. Some other denominations will say of course it is this certain day; it is the first day in the week. Others will say, the Sabbath day is the seventh day, the last day in the week. Well folks “News flash” God doesn’t work on our time, and the Mayan calendar we follow now was not in print in the Roman culture of Jesus day nor are we sure which day God Created first on. This could be debated forever. Go Jump, anyone that wants to sign up for this go right ahead. I was told by a great mentor that Sabbath is anything and any time that fills you up personally, emotionally, physically and most important spiritually. No I am not talking about one of those feeding house churches although some people attend congregations other than those they are ministering in to be “filled spiritually”. I am talking about a sacred time thing, a sacred activity, or a sacred practice. I know of quite a few people that get caught up in their ministry and all consumed by it until they can’t breathe or until they have re-scheduled their vacation three times. A good missionary leader needs to schedule it out, and have people hold them accountable to it. What kind of activities am I talking about? Those things that are usually associated with God given gifts or really positive childhood experiences. I know a church planter that when he gets burned out, he goes to like three movies one afternoon with popcorn and the works and just vegges until he has fully immersed himself in an alternative world. This may work for you. Another mentor of mine, takes one day out of his week for an easy going day, of getting up, having morning coffee, easy meals all day and a day filled with woodworking in his shop. Others seek nature. Some seek God to refill them in creation. Others fish, baiting worms to catch that big one. To have a great fish tale and to mark that great fishing hole of their list. I paint, draw and do anything artsy. There is something for me, like the woodworker in creating like God. We are after all created in God’s image, so why not rest, mind, body and soul, like God did on the seventh day. We just need to look into what perks our interest, and see if we get re-fueled in the process.

6. Don’t be a hero. Well some of you comic book fans may remember this line from many a zombie movie, or western, maybe a marvel comic or two. I say it applies to church planting and hard living ministries because frankly we need checks and balances. We need teams. We need those people who push back, give us checks, like body-checking in basketball just to see where you are, defend you, and have your back when you need a friend, or a bail out of trouble. In teams you will never hear risk management breathing down your neck because you will always have a witness. Also, we get a big head sometimes and we get into trouble and get burned out or put out from some great ministry God would like us to do. (See all above lessons learned) I just know, like Moses, we could easily miss an opportunity for some God blessings, like “the promised land” if we think we are the deliverer and forget that God is. There is a reason that Jewish people focus on the stories in the Old Testament, because their heroes had been honored, and fell from honor and only by Grace we’re God’s people saved. Mostly I am telling you, the world is cutthroat, you need a friend, or team, realize you are not always or ever the leader, and thank them and give them due deserving pats on the back to save your volunteers.

I know I will have more later, let me just think of them and be re-inspired. Thank you.

God Bless us All.

I must say, I have been trying to keep on keeping on. I think people were a little concerned when I sent the less than 150 character status update up last thursday. I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you I am fine, and it was a healing experience. With healing experiences you find yourself in new territory. (Im sure some star trek fans could enter a quote here) But I am not going to do that. I realized today, that sometimes I need to just be still and let God. Sometimes I think God comes just in time and provides helps just enough. Over the course of my ministry, I have seen this along the road, and I feel that some of these times are when I grew the most as a minister, but also, grew the toughest skin and, equal to other times, when I was most vulnerable. I feel that I can not express how humbled I am lately, and it makes me look back at some times when God has taught us a thing or two in church planting here in detroit.

My Goal. To Post blog entries more often. Simply that, to let you know each testimony as it comes, so I will not have to wrack my brain to remember Gods works in our lives and the ministry God is allowing us to participate in here in Detroit.

Today, my entry will be a prayer. For Haiti.

Dearest Lord.

Today I ask, that you help these efforts come together to help Haiti. I know that the church, the community of christ has donated some oblation funds. I hope that our people decide to donate more. We have so many members who deal constantly with tragedy. I remember three years ago towards the last conference they were dealing with mud-slides and death, and I know many of the people live in tin-roof homes and the economy is lacking. Now they have to deal with loss of maybe what they hold most valuable, their families. God let them experience your shalom, your love, and your cleansing spirit as they heal. They could easily blame you for this natural disaster, but let them see the mercy and grace that comes with each bandaid, each worker, each rock moved, and re-settled. I ask that their hearts be bound back together, spare no time looking for each and every piece, and healed, made stronger, and give them hope. Love them let them feel found and loved, known and helped.

For now, I ask these things in your sons most holy name,

Amen.

These are some testimonies we are sharing in our buletins in michigan to draw attention to the dire need of the support from our 4 missioncenters, and the eventual one michigan missioncenter. I hope that on January 17th you can pray with us that the offerings collected may help secure and green our building to be more self sustaining for this congregation to out of its generosity, stand on its two feet. If you are in a congregation in michigan, ask your pastor about collecting a special offering for Detroit Hope on Racial Justice Day.

Help from Tough Places

We have a ministry in-between two rival gangs. Literally one resides and calls their home 7 mile, a mile and a half north, and the other, for which most of our members come from, resides a mile and a half south, the Brightmoor Gang. Our church sits in a kind of neutral territory. You can witness that fact because we do not have tags of either gang on our church or inside of it. The green space around the church is a stark contrast to all of the cement and blight of the rest of the area in northwest Detroit.

Over the years, we have had a number of young men come and take part in our organization. It has become a house of senior high men who grew up in 5 years, and now we see as young adult leaders of our ministry. One such individual was an enforcer in our neighborhood, and he would come around and check on his members and their siblings at our church. He kept his distance, but you could tell he was really getting involved in our program. One night he surprised us.

“Would you like for me to mix the cool-aid?” he asked.

The next week, he added laying out the plates for pizza, next, set up the chairs and wiped down tables, the next following week, he was cleaning up and reminding people they should be cleaning up their own messes. This was eliminating a huge stress to our ministry picking up after 70-80 congregants at our Wednesday night pizza church. Over the journey, in the last 8 months, great mentoring has happened between this young adult and Jeff Stoker. Because of the fostered relationship this young adult is calling our movement his church, and we are asking for his input and help in the formation and direction of this emerging congregation. We look for this man to become a leader not just for today but for some time to come.

Doodles on the Table

I was originally an artist. I went to Graceland University to follow my talents and dreams to be an art teacher. While there I was involved in the campus ministry program led by Blake Smith. His mentoring and direction let me get involved in missionary endeavors including a trip to Chattanooga and a World Service Corps Assignment to Detroit where I found my calling. Interesting how a calling by Jesus Christ will just seem to up and grab a person. I have been church planting at Detroit Hope for over 4 years, and we are currently in our fifth year working in this neighborhood. We have done great ministry, and been in some tough places, and it always is good to re-group and organize with field staff and others dealing with the ministry of the leading the church. One such time, our field staff were gathered at Bluewater Campground for some direction and discerning about our field goals and passions to discern what matters most as Christ has called us all in our most recent revelation. Stassi Cramm knows how sometimes a 4 day discussion and meetings can get long and lengthy, and one way she keeps our minds turning is to have butcher paper out on the table with goodie bags, and crayons. I was drawing on the table, as I like to do, sharing testimonies when they added to the discussion, and then went back to drawing. (The only way I multi-task well.) Anyway, I was drawing our church seal, with the sacraments all eight of them circled around, with our historic sites and the villages the Community of Christ ministers to around the world.

During one of our breaks, Eleanor West came up to me, looked over my shoulder and said “if you bring me a painting of that I will give you some donation to your Mission and your building projects.” Little did she know I would make her a 4 foot painting of it. It resides now in Boyne City congregation and they and this disciple made a great donation with the intent that it would help us and we could in turn share the message and mission of Christ through this artwork, Through other trips. I always have felt good about this friendship and it really is helping to reach our goal in the Give Hope to Detroit Hope campaign. This is where the inspiration came for the Artwork Sale at our mission conference and online at detroithopecofchrist.org.

Baptism Buddies

At Detroit Hope we have two 8 year olds. They have been coming for 2 years, almost three. This last year the first, Isaac Miller, turned 8 in January. Having had just took our pre-baptismal class we call new believers, this young man was excited to be baptized. So excited it was his Yo buddy at church and at school. Before this he began to witness to his school teacher about how Yo Buddies works at church and everyone shares the blessings that people are thankful to God for, and then the concerns that are lifted up in prayer as a part of the whole congregation praying for them. This was accepted by that teacher, and became something that they would share Yo buddies and Me Toos as a part of their “Show and Tell time” every day at school. Isaac is so passionate, that he would share these in the car on the way to church and home on the way to his home. The second one Arrionna turned 8 in June, on the 29^th in fact. She was just as excited, but dreaded the fact that Isaac one of her best friends would be baptized first with out her. But she didn’t tell anyone. Especially Isaac. Isaac, the spiritual person he is knew and wanted to share his baptism with someone else, and he asked me, “Could I wait to have my baptism with Arrionna?” I smiled, because I had been privy to that information Arrionna wasn’t sharing. I said great! And played it off and said, If you think you can wait that long. Then I told him to go tell Arrionna what he had decided to do. When he got there, I was standing back a bit, and could see over his shoulder to the surprised and amazed Arrionna who honestly looked like Christmas had come in late January.

When they were both baptized it was like we all gained a brother and a sister, thicker than blood into the Community of Christ at Detroit Hope. They are great disciples and additions to the body of Christ.

Detroit Hope Starts a Clothing Closet

Pastor Jacob Blakesley Reporting

In my first year at Detroit hope I had a lot of supporters from home. Lamoni was my home congregation, and the first Christmas was the first, and hardest Christmas I had faced as a minister. We had children coming in from off the street that had said their hats and gloves had been stolen at home. I believed them to an extent, but when I checked with the parents, they said yeah, we bought them this character hat, and it was so cool it was sought after. I said if we had a hat gloves and mitten drive this could support the community and its children.

That Christmas there was such an outpouring of hats gloves and mittens from congregations near and far in Michigan that every kid we knew could have had 5 sets of hats, gloves, and mittens. Because of this, we opened our clothing closet ministry. When Lamoni congregation got wind of this they felt called and inspired to fundraise for an over sized washer and dryer units. What A BLESSING!!! They were low energy but also they would continue to help us offer clean clothes out of our closet when sometimes we would receive clothes that have been sitting in a garage for 6 to 8 seasons they got dirty. That was the initial place it provided ministry.

Additionally in the Michigan job crisis we have found that landlords, renters, and evictions have become more swift and fierce, and some of our members have been evicted in cold weather, rain storms, dumping belongings into the mud puddles and pot holes on the curbs. These washers have cleaned what remaining belonging they had, and the clothing closet helped people get back on their feet when they were restored in their living situation.

This is one way Detroit Hope is outreaching and living for the call of God into our community. If you have ever wondered why clothing closets were so much work, or if it was worth the effort, get out and listen to the needs of our dire, desperate communities. They are in needing of the healing, restoring and reconciling nature of the Community of Christ, and we need to care enough or ask God to empower us to do a great task to let others know we are Christians by our love.

Stewardship at it’s Best

Pastor Jacob Reporting

In our campaign towards repairing our building and making it less of a burden on the mission center and the rest of Michigan when we move to one united mission center, it has always been a goal at Detroit Hope to make our ministry more financially responsible. One day Jeff Stoker, a seventy and our financial officer at Detroit Hope, affectionately called by the kids at the church “Pastor Jeff” was looking at the bills we cover locally. One of which is the water bill. He was looking at how much we were spending, at it was over 500 dollars a month, with usage rates under 40 dollars. This did not sit right. He went down town, sat at the DTE offices, and met with one of their representatives. When he got done, the lady he talked to told him that the remainder of 460 dollars a month, it was going down the drain literally. It was accounting for our street drain in our parking lot at they were charging us for the water from the snow and the hard winter we had. I must admit we prayed when we found out the bill was so high. We also informed Dena DeVormer and Deb Crowley of the bill and they prayed for it. One Day we were setting down with Paragon Management Director Margaret Davy and Outreach Services Director Bishop Tom Jeffers, and they both suggested that because they’re renting the parking lot from the church they should cover the water that runs off of the parking lot eliminating that bill from our books. Because it felt like such a blessing, we asked if one of the items on our list, the leaky basement, could be the first project we start. Rick Mac Gregor and our World Service Corps volunteers remove the tile, clean up the basement, painted everything with dry-lock, and made the space useable for ministry again. Without these savings and your generosity this miracle wouldn’t have happened. If this project did not occur the inspectors from the county and the city could have come in and said our basement was moldy, wet and a health hazard, but now, this space is a blessing and our cleanest slate to have ministry restored in our building. Thank You!

Pizza Church Receives back Blessings

Wednesday night is Pizza Church. If you want to go find out more about this please go to http://www.detroithopecofchrist.org and click on videos to find more in depth about this. But anyway, we buy pizza, lots of pizza. We feed our congregation each Wednesday after our seekers service. We flip back and forth on who we buy our pizza from either Prince’s Pizza or Little Cesar’s. The local manager at Prince’s Pizza really likes us because he is a leader in the community and his family owns and operates their business. One year, his brothers got together and decided our church would be the recipient of their local charity project. Jeff and I walked in to order 10 five-dollar pizzas and they said, “hey, come around back and get these turkeys for your ministry.” On the way out, even though they are not Christians they said “may God bless you and your ministry, your doing well for this community.” Upon getting back to the church with the turkeys we didn’t have enough room in our freezers for all of them. Jeff and I looked at our congregation and realized we could think of 10 adults and there families we could give these turkeys to. One of the women told me this would be a struggle for her because her oven wasn’t working. Then two others approached and said the same thing. How would we help these situations? Jeff suggested to myself and the three that we roast them in our turkey roaster right at the church then when they were done cut all the meat up and place it in quart bags and give the cooked meat to them. Each of the three was happy with two quart bags of turkey each and they insisted we give the leftovers to others in the congregation. This blessing really stretched! We are constantly thinking at Detroit Hope about how we can take what we’re given and help God’s people.

We Share becomes Who Me?

Some of you may remember Terrence Hall. He was the short gentleman that got up in front of the large missionary crowd gathered in Mount Pleasant for the weekend in March or April. You would not know it because I was late because of a flat tire, and we spent the night at the church, and then after opening ceremonies on Saturday, and the set up of our display, but Terrence, quiet Terrence answered the call to share his testimony in front of all kinds of people so that I could go provide courtroom ministry for another member of our congregation in another part of the state. From what I hear, from my wife and others, Terrence felt the spirit, faught his fears, and shared courageously what this church has done for him and why he shares the good news of Jesus Christ. We are so proud of him because since this step forward that he took in his faith and confidence, he has decided to do singing solos, and lead the choir at our peacemakers camp during the summer. Terrence is an emerging disciple in the Community of Christ, and with your continued support we can continue to cultivate young adult leaders from our youth programs into being tomorrows oaks of righteousness that will do greater ministry than we are now providing for them.

Heading up to northern great lakes mission center conference. I hope that all goes well. Please Pray for our journey and time together. Thanks

Having World Service Corps Volunteers here this summer is helping me to flash back, and remember 2004 when Shannon and I ventured to detroit.  Here is a web log she posted,  but some good old stories from the past. 

Wednesday, 9 June 2004

midway through week 1 in Detroit

First of all I have to ask for prayers, this week I have been battling what is either a head cold or an unexpected allergic reaction to something in the environment here. I am hoping it's a cold that will go away soon and not allergies that will last all summer.

This has been a good week so far, busy, but good. The best part has been just hanging out with the kids who come and hang out at the church in the afternoons. During the year they were mostly working on homework, but now that school is nearly out, we get to play games and talk, which is nice. Today we played dodgeball in the sanctuary - which I'm sure would make some folks cringe, but we had a blast. We had the rap music blaring and the kids know not to throw or kick the ball too hard. Yesterday was blazing hot (if anything is going to kill me here, it will be the humidity) so we decided to go buy some water balloons and have a big water fight - which was tons of fun. It is amazing how quickly children come to trust. It is sad to know that they come from some very difficult homes and a tough neighbourhood (when we drove two of the kids home last night, John (my host) didn't stop at any cross streets because it isn't safe to stop at corners at night) and are in a system that has betrayed them. The teachers have even told them not to go to school this week because they won't be doing anything important. Many of them will have to go to summer school. I have been amazed at how small some of these kids are - a child I would have thought was around 9 or 10 is actually 14 - growth stunted as a result of poor nutrition. It is great that John has the church open for them in the afternoons - otherwise they would have no place to go but home where they would be alone since their parents have to work.

Tonight Jacob (my partner), John and I went to a congregation in the suburbs for their Wednesday night potluck and bible study. How great it is to have church family who welcomed us with open arms, not because they knew us personally but because they knew us as brothers and sisters from the Community of Christ. That is the feeling I want for these kids - to know that they have a family in Christ that will always love them, always welcome them, and always try to feed them, be that physical or spiritual food. 

Wednesday, 23 June 2004

some pictures

Last Sunday John was preaching and wanted to have a powerpoint presentation with pictures of the kids and neighbourhood, so we drove around on Wednesday and took some pictures or the neighbourhood and downtown Detroit.

The pictures were inspired by Isaiah 61:1-4;

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me;

he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,

to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners;

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn;

to provide for those who mourn in Zion--to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.

They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, to display his glory.

They shall build up the ancient ruins,

they shall raise up the former devastations;

they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.

This is the church where we spend most of our days. It is in a primarily residential neighbourhood, not what I had originally pictured, but it is definitely impoverished, as you'll see in some of the other pictures.

This is about 1 block away from the church, there are so many houses like this.

Many of the houses, even though they don't look habitable, actually have someone living in them. This happens a lot in this neighbourhood, there will be a row of houses that look fine, and then a pile of rubble, a hole or an empty lot where a house used to be.

This was taken closer to the downtown area, it is crazy the conditions people live in.

This is downtown Detroit - it looks more like a war zone than a city where people live.

Here is a window in the church sanctuary. It is broken because of a bullet. (don't worry, we weren't there when it happened)

Here is John with some of our kids. They call him Pastor John or sometimes even Dad, since many of them don't have fathers. The kids think of the group that meets at the church as a family, which is an awesome way to build community.

 

Posted by shanneranner at 12:26 PM PDT

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update

Last week was busy busy busy. John, Jacob and I have been working hard and we actually have already made an impact up here. There was going to be a grant that is not available now, and instead of going ahead with an underfunded, secular peace camp we met with the mission centre president, Jerry Van Rossom on the 17th and talked to him about this idea we came up with for 3 1 week vacation Bible schools for three age groups. 1st through 5th grade the first week, 6th through 8th grade the third week and senior high in between. This idea came the day we had to tell our neighbourhood kids that their church, pastor john and Jacob & I would be used by someone else all summer (most of the neighbourhood kids are too old for the camp). I have never seen such sad faces. We realised that alienating them that way would ruin all of the hard work John has done so far. Jerry agreed with us about the underfunding, and now we have a manageable task for the summer and we will be able to share Christ with these kids. Also, our Bible school won't be all day, which gives us the opportunity to do ministry in the afternoons and evenings, and maintain pizza church, with our staple food: little caesars ready made pizzas. $5.00 for a large, always pepperoni or cheese, seemingly the cheapest food in michigan by our estimation.

 

I was happy to see the Pistons win the NBA championship, it is fun to be in a winning city, and it is good to see an often sad, depressed city get excited about something. We were even happier that there were no riots - proving to the world that Detroit can behave itself.

 

Another exciting thing about our new plan for the summer is that we will get to go to Flint reunion, a mainly young adult reunion at Bluewater campground our last week here. John stays with the director of the camp, Doyle Rice, and he has already recruited Jacob and I to help out. It should be a good time, a nice way to finish up our time here.

 

Posted by shanneranner at 11:40 AM PDT

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Wednesday, 16 June 2004

adrenaline hangover

Yesterday we went to Cedar Point - "Roller Coaster Capital of the US". It was a lot of fun for me, I love adrenaline highs, so the coasters were AWESOME. We went on one where your legs dangle, one where you stand up, and one that used to be the tallest (the line for the tallest one was too long). But today I kind of have an adrenaline hangover, it's exhausting going on those things.

 

The sad thing though was that Jacob couldn't go on most of the rides because he is too tall. The kids we took had a blast though, it was fun to hang out with them for the day.

 

Posted by shanneranner at 1:01 PM PDT

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Monday, 14 June 2004

monday monday...

Today Bruce & Helen gave us a ride to the church. Our first day alone at the church, just Jacob and I and the kids. I'm not sure what route we took to get there exactly - but it wasn't the route John takes when we go with him. Today we avoided the run-down stores and buildings and stuck to residential streets instead. I guess it's easier to pretend the poverty and hardship don't exist when you can't see it. However, I know that I am guilty of ignoring those problems in my own city too. At least by driving alongs Hastings in Vancouver, one can't ignore the problems that are there. Isn't that supposed to be an important step in recovery - admitting there is a problem?

 

Today I found myself withing that I could promise these kids a bright future... there are a lot of things I wish I could promise them - like food and clothes and safety. I know too well, though, that many of them are headed for a future filled with institutions that will continue to take advantage of them. What I can do now is minister to them and with them through an institution that won't take advantage of them.

 

We played 'Trouble' for awhile today, me and some of the kids. We have no pieces for the game, though, so we used lego pieces instead. Thankfully the die is built into that bubble thing in the middle, so we didn't need to go looking for that. My favourite line was from the boy who kept talking about getting his pieces back to his "crib" - i.e. the home safe area. It was pretty funny.

 

The neighbourhood around the church is called "Hope Park", so John is thinking of calling the congregation "Living Hope Community of Christ" (or something close to that) which I think is a great name. If the church can provide children and adults at least with a sense of hope, then that is great. True, other needs must be met as well. Churches should not only cater to the spiritual needs of members, but to the physical needs as well. How is someone supposed to sit through a church service if they didn't have any breakfast and know they won't have any lunch? Churches also need to be prophetic - challenging the institutions that oppress the people the church works with. It is easy to identify these roles... it is much harder to fulfill them.

 

By the way, you can leave comments on here if you like, and you can email me... I noticed that homesickness was tapping me on the shoulder the other night, and I'm trying to ignore it by keeping in touch with some familiar souls.

 

Posted by shanneranner at 4:20 PM PDT

Updated: Monday, 14 June 2004 4:24 PM PDT

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Friday, 11 June 2004

an entertaining email

This is an email Jacob & I wrote the other day to the other volunteers in our program after they sent us emails about their trips through London, Victoria Falls and Australia. I hope you find it entertaining, it covers some stuff I'm too lazy to type out again - it's much easier to cut and paste! There are a couple of jabs at our fellow volunteers in more far-off places. For those of you who don't know, my partner Jacob is 7 feet tall - that might help you understand some of this...

 

 

June 10, 2004 4:48:59 PM

'Sup folks!

Jacob & Shannon here, relaxin' in the air conditioned computer lab in what has fast become "our" church. While many of you were visiting exotic destinations such as London, we had already:

-discovered that Subway is twice the price in Michigan than in Iowa and Missouri

-watched game 7 of the Stanley Cup final

-ate pizza and watched the Pistons game at the church on the big screen (after jerry-rigging a coathanger antenna through two vcrs to get the signal to the projector)

-while taking some kids home we drove through a neighbourhood where we learned that it's not safe to stop at cross streets

-played dodgeball in the sanctuary while listening to rap and hip hop music

-been repeatedly stuffed with food by our host family: this morning it was non-stop pancakes and sausages. Bruce (one of our hosts) is constantly concerned that "a big guy like Jacob" isn't getting enough to eat.

-had a water balloon fight with the neighbourhood kids (which ended in a bucket of water being dumped over "Pastor John's" head)

-went to potluck and bible study at Troy Oaks congregation

-Jacob is rediscovering his lego building talent with the kids and planning out the mural he's going to get the kids to paint on the church during the summer day camp

-Shannon hoping her stuffy nose is a cold that will end soon and not allergies that will last all summer

-We have scared our hosts - not realising that the phone we were using is about three feet from their heads as they sleep, or not sleep since "it's been ten years since we've had voices like that after midnight in our house!"

There are plenty of adventures ahead of us, next week we're going to Cedar Point amusment park - roller coaster capital of the USA - with some of the kids. and these are just a few snapshots after only three days of being here. Jacob's getting his birth certificate from home so we don't have to hide him in the trunk when we go up to Canada (not that we would actually do that...) to visit.

We could write forever, but that's all for now. It's time to send this email off and go back to following our calling to help build a christ-centered community here.

Blessing on your ministries too, friends, wherever you are around the world.

Love,

Jacob & Shannon

aka the G's who are down in the 'hood in D-Town

aka Grizzly Bear and Sha-nay-nay

 

ps if anyone needs a cheeseburger, let us know and we'll try to Fed-Ex it to you - John said he missed those when he was in the Phillippines. Or, we can just eat one for you and then email you about it.

 

Saturday, 3 July 2004

thursday report

Thursday was great, we had a good time painting and playing dodgeball with the brand new ball we bought. We played by the rules from the movie, which meant a longer game because in the movie, if you catch the ball, not only is the person who threw the ball out, but the team that caught the ball gets to bring one player back in who was out. We had lots of fun with that. Here are some pictures from our adventures on Thursday:


Then the ball popped, which was not fun. But, there are funny pictures:


After dodgeball we made some music again. The kids are so funny. This one kid, Dave, is very particular about everyone starting together on his beat, it's great. Here are some pictures:


The mural is coming along well, Jacob's doing a great job, and the kids are having fun helping out with it. It was so hot on Thursday, however, that we couldn't work for too long. Here is the in-progress mural:

Then, on Friday we went up to Bluewater campground to hang out with some friends and to pick up our kids who were there all week. The grounds are nice, with a beautiful view of Lake Huron. Last night we watched the moon rise, it was spectacular. I took a couple of pictures at the lake during the day:


The kids made masks at camp. John made one too and someone painted it to look like his actual face. It is very creepy. From the picture, it's hard to tell that it's a mask.

I think that is all for now, that's all the pictures I have. I'm getting better at remembering to bring a camera along with me.

 

Posted by shanneranner at 6:49 PM PDT

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Wednesday, 30 June 2004

sabbath wednesday

today we took a sabbath because we were exhausted and knew that we would have a hectic few days ahead of us. Weekends aren't exactly relaxing when you're doing ministry. So we went to Spiderman 2, which was tons of fun. It's a great story that even had some positive messages: sometimes you have to sacrifice some of your dreams in order to do the right thing.

 

I appreciate the comments people have been leaving for me, and I think I should clarify something for a lot of you. Your comment won't appear right away when you post it because I have to approve the comments first. When you post a comment, I get an email letting me know someone has left a comment, then I can choose whether or not it appears, that way I don't have any weird people I don't know leaving random comments.

 

Tomorrow is game day at the church and we are going to go out and buy a new ball so we can play dodge ball - the kid who owned the ball we used before took it home, so we thought we should get our own. I think we're going to try playing using the rules from the movie Dodgeball (if you haven't seen it, wait and rent it, it was funny, but not quite worth the admission price). In the movie, if you catch the ball, not only is the thrower from the other team out, but the team that caught it gets to bring back in a player who is out. Jacob and I are hoping it will make for a lengthier game with more chances for kids to participate.

 

Dodgeball in the sanctuary = fun times.

 

Posted by shanneranner at 6:26 PM PDT

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Tuesday, 29 June 2004

a kinda sorta bible school

So no one showed up for Bible school yesterday morning, which was a bit of a downer. But, we got some spraypainting done as the base coat for the mural Jacob is painting on the side of the church.

We kind of looked like hoodlums with our yellow rags to keep us from inhaling too much paint, but no one noticed us.

The kids showed up after summer school got out at 12:30, and we played elbow tag for awhile, since it was a big hit last week. I took some pictures because they were having so much fun.

After that we fed them cookies and lemonade, here are a couple of the really little ones who are really cute. This first little guy just liked to lick the icing out of the cookie and then wouldn't eat the rest. He was cracking us up. The little girl didn't want her picture taken at first (I have one of her hiding under a table), but then she decided to strike a pose.

Then we shooed them out to try to decide what to do for the rest of the week. We decided to do activities in the afternoons - one activity per day - and if they want to be at the church they can participate, otherwise, they can go home. We really don't want to encourage them to just hang around doing nothing at the church. So today we worked on the mural with the kids - it looks phenomenal already, Jacob has done an awesome job, he is a great artist. I will take some pictures of it later this week. We also had the littler ones do some sidewalk chalk to brighten up the area.

We used the Bible lesson we were going to teach yesterday at the bible school for pizza church this evening, which worked out well. Psalm 100 was the scripture we looked at and we talked about how you need lots of instruments to make a band, and you need lots of people to stick together and do God's work. Jacob had an awesome object lesson with a rock and some twine that showed the twine was stronger fused together than spread apart.

After a bunch of the kids left, a group of boys stuck around and started their own little music group, with two playing heart and soul on the piano and the rest drumming beats in the sanctuary with whatever they could find. I brought in the rhythym instruments we'd used for the bible lesson and we had a little band going, it was a ton of fun.

This week may not be shaping up the way we thought it would, but God works in mysterious ways and we are trying to let the Spirit move us in ways that will touch the lives of these children and build community in their neighbourhood. Coming together to do art, to study the Bible, to eat and to make music is a great place to start.

 

Posted by shanneranner at 4:28 PM PDT

Updated: Tuesday, 29 June 2004 4:47 PM PDT

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Saturday, 26 June 2004

Farenheit 9/11

Today I went and saw the new Michael Moore movie, "Fahrenheit 9/11". It is a very good movie - go see it! I cried through the part of it where they talked about and showed film of Flint, Michigan. It looked just like the neighbourhood we are working in here in Detroit. The movie talked about how many poor people have little choice but to join the military, then look what happens to them. It's as if the poor are disposable members of society whose sole purpose is to ensure that the lives of the rich and powerful remain as comfortable as possible. The movie showed how following the trails of money reveals just how inbred and corrupt not only the U.S. government is, but many of the multinational companies who fund the U.S. government and pour money into the U.S. and global economies. The reason to attack Iraq, as many people know, had little to do with terrorism and much to do with greedy folk who want Iraq's oil.

 

I know that the sensationalism of the movie was intended to rile me up, and it did just that, and I'm glad. It reminded me of part of the reason we are working with these kids - we want them to have options other than going off to get killed in a pointless war. We want to deal with their immediate problems but also begin to address and realise the institutionalized oppression that maintains the stratification of our society. This is not the way God wants the world to be. Anger at the way things are is a good thing when that anger is productive, when that anger sways votes and creates responsible citizens who are willing to take action to change the world. Too many people are complacently comfortable in their little gated communities. It is that complacency that ends up breeding generations of apathetic, ignorant people who continue to oppress the last, lost, labeled, least members of society.

 

Go see this movie. Go see what could happen to my kids here in Detroit. Go see how greed can truly be sinful when it kills innocent people. Then remind yourself of whose side God is on - those last lost labeled least.

 

Posted by shanneranner at 2:28 PM PDT

Updated: Saturday, 26 June 2004 2:31 PM PDT

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Thursday, 24 June 2004

O Canada

We spent Monday and Tuesday of this week in Canada, which was a nice escape for a bit. On Monday we visited Point Pelee national park, and I stood at the most southern point of mainland in Canada. I also listened to the waves crashing on the lake shore and was slightly homesick for the ocean. We visited John's parents and sister Karen, who were great hosts. It was nice to just relax and read. I finished the first of my three books I have to read for school: "Hard Living People and Mainstream Christians" by Tex Sample. It is a great book that had tons of practical advice and insight for the kind of work John is doing here. On our way back "home" to Detroit, I got a little teary-eyed due to being a bit homesick.

 

We had a great pizza church on Tuesday night, we brought out a bunch of Bibles and taught the kids how to look up verses, and challenged them to memorize the order of the first four books of the New Testament - an easy task for the older ones, but challenging for the young ones. Thursdays are going to be game night at 4pm for the summer, and today went well for Jacob and I (John couldn't be there). We played elbow tag, and the kids had a blast. I had a good time watching them laugh and laugh. We gave out flyers and forms for our Bible school, and took a pile of flyers to the community centre across the street. This was a big step for Jacob and I! Today was the first time we've walked off the church grounds (and not driven off), and we went by ourselves. It really is safe there during the day, but I was too scared to go door-to-door handing out flyers, so we decided the community centre was enough.

 

For the Canadians out there, a friend sent me this link which is kind of cool: http://www.politicswatch.com/VoteSelectorQuiz2004.html You take a quiz and it tells you which party you should vote for. Probably not a perfect way to decide how to vote, but an interesting quiz to take nonetheless.

 

Posted by shanneranner at 12:33 PM PDT

Updated: Thursday, 24 June 2004 7:46 PM PD

 

Tuesday, 20 July 2004

what a day

These past two days have been exhausting. Yesterday was both emotionally and physically exhausting. We arrived Monday morning to find a huge mess had been left behind by one of the groups that uses the church on Sundays. There were dirty dishes all over the kitchen; food scraps on the sink, counter and floor; sticky, dirty floors; our craft supplies used; mess everywhere. I was so frustrated and upset that I cried. I worked so hard last week to keep that kitchen clean so I could cook good meals for our kids every day, and all that hard work had been ruined. In a way I felt personally attacked, it hurts to see hard work disregarded that way.

 

Bruce and Helen came to help us out, which was a wonderful blessing. I could tell that it was hard for them to see their old church in such disarray. We also have two other Michigan girls helping us out this week - we miss John C, Jordan and Linda, but they will be back next week. It was good yesterday to have lots of hands helping out. I was so upset about the messy church that I really needed to get out of the church and get some air. So when we needed to get water (I have probably neglected to mention that the tap water in that neighbourhood has often been muddy, so we only give our kids bottled water, or water that we cart over to the church from Bruce & Helen's), I volunteered to go. I had a good cry and a good pray in the car on my way to the store, and was able to calm down. It is frustrating because we are really only here to observe and help, not to question the system or petition for change. That means we're not supposed to contact the Mission Center (the next level up of church governance) to make suggestions about problems. We have to call John, who is at camp, and get him to contact the MC. For me, a person used to trying my hardest to make positive change happen, the process can be frustrating.

 

Once the kids arrived, though, my spirits immediately lifted. I had a couple of them help me put together the newspaper while Helen cooked lunch. It was fun to see their work come out on paper, and I am so incredibly proud of them. We had new kids come, which is always exciting, and everyone was very well behaved.

 

Today was a good day, though very hot and tiring. Tuesdays are pizza church and we are there longer than usual. My body is aching this evening, probably from tiredness and because I am on my feet nearly all day - cooking, cleaning, and supervising in the computer lab. We have shopping to do for tomorrow's lunch, but I have a feeling we will be doing it tomorrow morning and not tonight.

 

I'm off to change laundry loads.

 

Posted by shanneranner at 5:22 PM PDT

Updated: Tuesday, 20 July 2004 7:44 PM PDT

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Sunday, 18 July 2004

last sunday

Today I'm not at church for various reasons. It is actually nice to have a morning by myself in an empty house, I need time like this to reflect and think. I was thinking about last Sunday and decided to copy out my journal entry from last Sunday night into here, because the story of Sunday is a good one. Some background info: Highland Park is the poorest, most dangerous area of Detroit. Holk is an independent minister who has his own church called "Word of Power", one congregation of which meets in our building. The one time I met Holk, he reminded me of a used car salesman, very sleazy. So here is the story...

 

 

 

July 11, 2004

 

Snapshot: Highland Park area, strip mall, very few stores, right in the middle of the mall is a neon sign: "Army Recruitment Center"

 

We went to church at Highland park, a good speaker again. We eat lunch, change clothes, and head over to the church. We're waiting in the lobby for Dave, Le-Le and Dalila when Pastor James - Holk's minister - comes out of the sanctuary and invites Jacob and I in. We say we're just waiting for our kids, but, not wanting to be rude, we go in. There are three kids who are no older than 10, one teenager, and one older fellow who we find out later is 83 and a deacon. The kids and James finish up a song they're singing, and James says "We have a minister in our midst today, and she don't know it, but she's gonna bring us the word today. So come on up here!" I don't remember protesting at all, I felt like I was being challenged, like I, John's church, and the Community of Christ were being put to the test, so I stepped up. I asked if they were looking at a particular scripture, he said no, so I went with the lectionary that day - the story of the Good Samaritan. I'd heard it preached earlier that day and John had done the story for our "Gettin' Real with Jesus" time with our kids earlier in the week, so it was fresh in my mind. I told the story instead of reading it, being sure to bring in the lawyer's question to Jesus: "Who is my neighbour?" I made the story repetitive and built up the tension - the advantage of telling and not reading. I engaged all six of the people in the congregation, I couldn't tell what James thought since he was behind me. I talked about everyone being our neighbour, and Jesus calling on us to go and do the same. I talked about how Jesus calls us to love our enemies, not just the easy people to love. And I talked about how we are called to act on our love; not just talk about loving people, but actually do things to show our love. Mr. Deacon even gave me some "Amen!"s and I distinctly remember applause when I was done, which felt weird.

 

Now that was a step out in faith.

 

James commended me for "really gettin' to the point" of the scripture. I'm just grateful God gave me the words to say, because it definitely wasn't all me up there. James kept complimenting me after the service on my ability to keep the kids engaged. (there were only three of them, it wasn't that hard) When he spoke after me in the service, he didn't even engage me, forget the fidgety kids he kept getting mad at. Afterward he wouldn't take the kids to see Spiderman 2 because one of them had misbehaved. I was not impressed with him at all. I did love talking to the 83 year old deacon though, he was great, really sweet, very funny, humble with a huge, genuine smile that lit up his face - a totally different vibe than from James. I guess this today was partially God saying "Shannon, when you pull out the seminary card," (which I did in a conversation with James on Monday) "I'm going to hold you accountable for it." Serves me right for opening my big arrogant mouth to proudly say that I'm a seminary student.

 

 

Back to July 18th

 

That was definitely a Sunday I will remember for a long time. I want to say thank you to all of you who are reading this who sent me notes from BC reunion, I got them in the mail yesterday and they made my day, I really appreciate your thoughtfulness. I missed you too very much and missed being at reunion. I'm really looking forward to spending a week a Samish for Kimtah when I get back.

 

Posted by shanneranner at 9:22 AM PDT

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Saturday, 17 July 2004

catching up

I've been very lazy about updating this past week. With only three of us working at the church is has been very tiring. Jacob, John Corn and I had a great week though. Other than a fight on Monday that resulted in everyone being sent home, the kids were great. We really feel like they've learned to trust us and we've learned to trust them. I was lucky enough to be the one who cooked lunch every day, well, maybe not so lucky. It's always hit or misss for how many kids will show up for lunch. We always seem to have enough food to go around though, and these kids aren't too picky.

All week during craft time we split the kids into two groups and had half do a craft and the other half work on our camp newspaper in the computer lab. The kids did some awesome work, and hopefully, the next time I post to this blog, I will also post a link to an online version of the paper, so you can read it. The kids did some great work and I am very proud of them.

This week the mural has been finished. It grew in the past 2 weeks.

Here is Jacob finishing up, with Teara directing of course. Here is a preliminary picture of the finished mural, better pictures will come soon:The other exciting thing this week was that we took them all on a field trip yesterday to Flint to a children's farm and a water park on a lake. They had a great time.

All of the kids got to feed the animals, which was fun for them. It is interesting to think that kids who live in a dangerous neighbourhood like ours by the church, could be scared of some goats and donkeys. There was a brand new baby donkey at the farm:


One of our girls decided it would be a good idea to braid the hair of one of the donkeys so it would have a "real pimpin' doo"

Here is the whole group. The tour guide didn't do a fabulous job of taking the picture, but it's not too bad. We certainly were not expecting 24 kids to show up for the trip (we take anyone who shows up with a permission form), but we managed just fine and they were very well behaved.


Here is a bunch of our kids posing on a tractor.


We ran out of bread for sandwiches at lunch, but the kids didn't seem to mind. Everyone had something to eat, even if it was cheese wrapped up in a few slices of ham. Thank goodness we had bought exactly 24 bottles of water.

My camera batteries died when we got to the water park and beach, so I didn't get any pictures there. That was great though, all of the kids ended up playing in the water and in the sand at the lake, the water park wasn't as exciting as the lake I guess. I had fun watching them. The concession stand had exactly 24 jumbo freezies in the freezer, so we bought them out and gave them to our kids.
It was a really great day and I am so glad we went. A lot of the kids slept the whole way home, they were so tired, and we slept well that night too.

 

Posted by shanneranner at 11:59 AM PDT

Updated: Saturday, 17 July 2004 4:19 PM PDT

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Thursday, 8 July 2004

exciting week

This week has been exciting. We have three new people helping us out who have been a great source of new energy. We have a planned-out afternoon camp that is going very well so far. Lots of progress has been made on the mural, and it looks like they will be doing a mural inside the church as well because we have lots more time for painting.


Here is Dave painting:

 
Here are Trina and Jacob painting:

 And a picture of me! Finally! You can see that I am being good and reading my Bible.

 Here are some pictures from crafts class:

 Here are some of the guys showing off their fancy beadwork that they were very proud of:        Posted by shanneranner at 6:56 AM PDT

Updated: Thursday, 8 July 2004 6:18 PM PDT

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Sunday, 4 July 2004

4th of july fun

Today we went to Highland Park, the most dangerous and run-down neighbourhood in Detroit (our neighbourhood isn't the only bad one), for church. The neighbourhood is so run down that there are places where there are no street signs. The service was great. The congregation's building there is also the Community of Christ African American Ministries Centre. I heard the best sermon so far in my time here this summer, I felt like it was speaking to me personally where I'm at. It was both challenging and inspirational. It was a good place for our first communion service (since this is the first first Sunday of the month we've been here for) of our time in Detroit. Yesterday also marked the end of week 4, which means we are halfway through our time here, which is kind of sad.

 

 

We had a little 4th of July party at the church in the afternoon. We bought lots of hot dogs and sausages and served them up to our kids and to a few adults passing through. I took some great pictures of the cookout, but the memory card they were on is corrupt, so I don't have them, which is sad. I do have a few pictures from another camera though. After eating, John and the two girls that went to camp led everyone in a few campfire songs:We also had some flav-o-ice freezies that we gave out for dessert. An older fellow from the Restoration Towers senior's home next door to the church came by, and for some reason I love this picture of him eating his freezie:

After we ate, since it was Pastor John's first time back since we started our little Heart and Soul band, we had to play for him, and fun times were had:


Our little Dancing Queen, Brittany:


To cap off a great 4th of July, Jacob and I took John to see Fahrenheit 9/11, which we didn't mind seeing for a second time. We thought it was a very patriotic thing to do. I had a revelation afterwards when we were talking about Michael Moore. John said something about the fact that it's silly that people say Michael Moore isn't patriotic, it's obvious he loves his country. I said that criticizing your country shows you care enough about it, you love your country enough, that you want it to be the best it possibly can be.


A Belated Happy Canada Day and a Happy 4th of July. Go find a way to make your country even better.

 

Posted by shanneranner at 12:01 AM PDT

Updated: Sunday, 18 July 2004 9:28 AM PDT

Sunday, 1 August 2004

the last Detroit entry

Since I leave tomorrow morning, I thought it would be fitting to write one last entry before I go. The final week here was a lot of ups and downs. The kids are really getting at each other, which I think is partially just what all kids go through when they are spending more time together during the summer than they usually would during the school year. We had a good Sunday at Bluewater a week ago. It was the start of Flint reunion, and I had the chance to visit with some Graceland folks. There were lots of young adults there, which is very inspiring, it's good to know that the church cares about young adults. It was a day of good conversation and good worship, which were things I was in need of. The worship service was in a tent overlooking Lake Huron, which was a fabulous setting for a service.

 

It was good to have John C, Linda and Jordan back at the church for the week, the five of us made a really good team. We had lots of fun with the kids, in spite of some crazy times. Wednesday morning John and I went shopping for supplies, sending two avid shoppers (I haven't been an avid shopper until recently, and now I can't get enough) out with a wallet full of money can be dangerous, but we didn't spend too much. We got back to find Linda in a kitchen disaster - burger grease everywhere from cooking cheap, fatty hamburgers on the griddle. So I left right away to buy two industrial sized jugs of de-greaser from a food-service store. Linda and I sprayed down the entire kitchen. We threw away the vertical blinds, which were disgusting from years and years of greasy cooking. The floor was even covered in grease, so we were slipping and sliding all over the place. We shut down that area of the church and the kids did craft time outside - tie-dying t-shirts. All we could do was laugh really, poor linda was covered in grease herself from being in the kitchen while the burgers were cooking. Thankfully she was able to rescue the chocolate cake that Helen made for us earlier in the week. Several times I had chocolate cake for breakfast last week, shhh, don't tell my mom;)

 

In the past two weeks Jacob painted another awesome mural, around the corner from the first one. This one is of Jesus:

 

 


A guy from this area came by with some games and lego to donate on Tuesday, which was awesome. I think Jacob & Jordan had just as much fun with the lego as the kids did:

 

 


And here's John playing twister with DJ:

 

 


And little John and Ariane playing a game:

 

 


On Thursday, which was our last day with the kids, we had a big water fight and grill-out party. Jacob and I had fun buying water toys and filling over 100 water balloons on Wednesday night. It was great because John A. was able to be there too. We had our cookout first, which was fun. Here is Linda cooking some corn:

 

 


And here is Jordan chatting with a hungry passer-by (we don't turn anyone away when they ask for food):

 

 


We bought some face paint too, and Dave wanted a tiger face:

 

 

 

 

 


And Britney wanted a poodle face:

 

 


There was a slip and slide:

 

 


Everyone looking up to see where the water balloons are coming from...

 

 


...from John, John, and Jordan on the roof:

 

 


the kids either had to trapse through the kitchen to fill their buckets and guns:

 

 


or bravely try to fill them from the hose, which John was in charge of, which meant the risk of having the hose aimed at them:

 

 




A fun time was had by all. We sent the kids home to dry off and put on dry clothes, and then they came right back to play games and work on the newspaper. To end off the day, instead of our bible lesson time, Jacob and I were presented with great big cards that the kids made for us, and we each said a few last words. John bought us ice cream cake as a send-off, which we of course had with the kids. When it was time to leave, we all took a picture in front of the mural:

 

 


It has been a summer of ups and downs, good and bad days. I am so sad to have to leave these kids, they have become very important to me. I do miss home though, and the people there. Being away definitely helps me appreciate what I have even more. The lessons I have learned this summer will be with me forever, and I have only just begun to process everything that has happened. I am sure that telling my stories when I'm back home will be a lesson as well. I can't wait to share with all of you, face to face, and not just through this blog!

 

Posted by shanneranner at 2:07 PM PDT

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Friday, 23 July 2004

how do you spell pon?

Amazingly enough, today there is actually a cool breeze blowing and so I sat outside to write this out by hand and am now typing it in.

It was almost unbearably hot these past two weeks, especially since I spent a lot of my time in the kitchen with the hot stove and oven. I was proud of myself because last week I bravely lit the oven for the first time. It's a gas oven and you have to light it using a flame. So we bought one of those long-handled lighters and I lit it. I am now an old pro and had no trouble lighting it to keep the quesadillas warm that I made for lunch on Wednesday. I think my body has adjusted to the heat though, because this week I haven't noticed it as much. The humidity is really gross - I don't like breathing thick air when it gets really humid. For all you Mommy types reading this, yes I am drinking lots of water, I even caved in to the trend and bought a cheap, purple, Eddie Bauer knockoff of a Nalgene bottle at Target this week. We keep a big cooler filled with water for the kids all the time to make sure they stay hydrated.

 

We did a week-long pillow making project for crafts this week. The kids decorated fabric using puff paints and then made pillows by cutting a fringe and then knotting it to make seams. It worked ok for some, but others couldn't do it so we bought a cheap little sewing machine (the kind you see on tv) at Target to finish the pillows. Of course, as you would expect from a $25 device, about halfway through the afternoon it would only work by plugging and unplugging it instead of pressing the pedal, and the little hand-held sticher that came with it died as well. I still haven't decided whether or not we should take it back. I am sure all you sewing geniuses out there who are reading this wish you could help! Next week for crafts we'll be tie-dying t-shirts, which should be lots of fun and is a bit easier than pillows.

 

Today I am resting, which is nice. I could have gone up to Bluewater campground with Bruce, Helen and Jacob, but I decided to stay here and rest instead. I want Jacob to be able to spend time with his girlfriend Rachel (who is at that camp this week as a Graceland University Representative) without me hanging around. There isn't anyone up there right now who I know so I would just be following Bruce & Helen around. Besides, like I've said before, I'm the type of person who needs lots of processing time on my own. Jacob and I also need time apart - lately we've been bickering like brother and sister quite a bit.

 

Yesterday was a special treat - Troy, a good friend of both Jacob and I from Graceland, came to visit us at the church, hang out for the evening, and stay the night here at Bruce & Helen's before heading out of town today. He also taught our "Gettin' Real With Jesus" time in the afternoon at the church:

 

 


He likened the story of Jesus falling asleep in the boat to a Detroit Pistons basketball player falling asleep in the locker room, it was a good story and the kids were very engaged.
I had a good talk with Troy about my time here, he is a good person to reflect with, and it was a much more beneficial conversation than my midterm evaluation was. It was fun to remember our time in university and remember things like the fact that Troy and I are both so competitive that he actually suggested we keep score while we watched Jeopardy and I seriously considered the idea. We didn't keep score, although Helen keeps insisting that I should go on the show since I'm always calling out answers when we watch. We got hooked this summer on watching the Mormon guy, Ken, who has been the returning Jeopardy champion for pretty much the entire summer. We keep making jokes about the bishop back in Salt Lake gleefully keeping a running tally of how much the Mormon church's 10% cut of Ken's winnings is growing each night.

Yesterday the kids finished up their stuff for this week's newspaper (I am still struggling to upload last week's paper to the web, I really want you all to see it!). I have had a really good time working with them in the computer lab:


Some days I feel more like a teacher, especially when I keep getting asked things like Keiron did the other day:
"Shannon! How do you spell pon?"
"What?"
"HOW DO YOU SPELL PON?!"
"What do you mean?"
"You know, like 'once a pon a time'"
"OOhhh!"
And I try to stick with my usual rule for computer teaching: I will tell people how to do something, step by step, but I won't do it for them. It works most of the time, except for the long days when I've been asked umpteen times where the paint program is. I am so happy that they are getting the opportunity to just spend time on the computers and increase their comfort level. I even don't mind if they play games - I just don't tell them that when they play the "Mavis Beacon Typing Tutor" games, they're actually increasing their typing skills. hee hee hee.

 

Posted by shanneranner at 3:56 PM PDT

Updated: Friday, 23 July 2004 4:02 PM PDT