Live Openly & Expansively

This morning, I took some time to reflect on yesterday and I have to be honest that I am a little sad and my heart is broken a bit. I am not sure if it should be, but at the present time it is and there was a scripture that came to mind. I am going to share that scripture with you and then I am going to share a little bit about what occurred, what I observed and what ticked me off. But, first, the scripture. Please read with fresh eyes:

Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don't squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us. God reminds us, I heard your call in the nick of time; The day you needed me, I was there to help.

Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped. Don't put it off; don't frustrate God's work by showing up late, throwing a question mark over everything we're doing. Our work as God's servants gets validated—or not—in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly . . . in hard times, tough times, bad times; when we're beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating; with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love; when we're telling the truth, and when God's showing his power; when we're doing our best setting things right; when we're praised, and when we're blamed; slandered, and honored; true to our word, though distrusted; ignored by the world, but recognized by God; terrifically alive, though rumored to be dead; beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die; immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, having it all.

Dear, dear Corinthians, I can't tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn't fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren't small, but you're living them in a small way. I'm speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!

Maybe my bolds interfered with you reading it freshly. But, the bold is what stood out to me and that I needed to scream.

Yesterday, we had our Guiding Coalition ( Board of Directors ) meetings on the Bridges out of Poverty. Overall, it was a very good meeting and the updates from the family meetings ( there have been 3 ) were fantastic. I cannot wait to be at the meeting tonight, meet the families going through the support system and hear their stories. From what I gathered, they have already taken big steps and that is just unbelievable and rockin' news.

The part that turned my stomach however was the report from the faith community and their lack of response in my opinion or the strings that they want to attach for them to be part of the partnership.

I really wish that we, as a faith community, would see this "program" as an opportunity to help 10 families who are willing to commit to make a change and get out of poverty. We are not asking a great commitment from you. But yet, you want to raise numerous yellow and red flags and you want your hands ( it seems ) in the program for interior motives which just makes me want to go ugh.

The aspect that I guess that makes my heart break is that as I look around the room and see all the folks working on this program and the bad taste that they are getting in their mouth about churches, Christianity and religion. That is sad.

There was a letter that was read/outline about why some of the churches are not willing to help. I have to say that I did not "react" to the letter too well. I asked the board if I could address the letter and comments that were given as a person who is a "paid-staff-person" in the faith community.

I may have given a 5 minute rant, I am not sure. There were numerous shaking of the head in agreement. Which is good and bad. The reason that it is bad, I wish there would have been stop sighs going up saying, "Jeff, no that is not how we see the faith community ...."

I am really not even sure how to put this feeling down, it is very odd. Also, I have been getting flack from some locals when I put things on my blog or facebook status about the faith community in our county.

We, I believe, are putting up walls that we do not need to be putting up and I am afraid that the walls that we are putting up are hurting our image in the community and to me that is sad. Let me "list my bold highlights"


please don't squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us.

Friends, God has given us a great life. Too many times, I think that we squander it away and we focus and put time & energies into things that do not really matter. I want to encourage you to take a look at your life and ask the question: am i squandering my life away?

People are watching us as we stay at our post

Folks are watching us and they are making decisions and determinations about Christianity, religion, church and spirituality based on what they see in you. I can tell you that there are a lot of people who are turning their nose to the church because how they see us reacting to community issues. I know that there are many that say, " but we are called to focus on .... " All I am saying is that people are watching; let us try to make sure that we are not the reason they do not want to give Jesus a chance.

I can't tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life.

I think that is still the case today but too many times we are in our gated fence, we do not live out the call to wide open spaces.

Your lives aren't small, but you're living them in a small way.

As Paul says, these are simple words and pretty straight-forward. Our lives are lived so small, so many times and that should just not be the case. With Christ living in us, our lives are large, live large.

Live openly and expansively!

I just want to close my eyes for a few minutes and dream. Dream what our lives would be like, what are friends lives would be like, what our churches would look like and what would happen in our communities if every Christ follower lived openly and expansively.

Community Working Together

I emailed Carolyn earlier this morning regarding the Guiding Coalition. The Guiding coalition is the "Board of Directors" for Bridges of Hope: Ending Poverty in Wayne County.

We, as a community, should be greatful that there are so many agencies that are partnering together to make this iniative a reality. Yes, we know that this is a HUGE GOAL and that it will not happen overnight.

However, we also know that one person, one agency or a goverment program is not going to make this happen.

Back to the email .....

For a "program and initiative" that is truly in the infancy stage, it is remarkable that these many programs, agencies, ministry and goverment support are at the table. Here is a list:

Americorps/VISTA
College of Wooster
Commercial Savings Bank
Crichtfield, Crichtfield, and Johnston
Department of Job and Family Services
First Presbyterian Church
Goodwill Industries of Wayne and Holmes Counites
Muddy Waters Cafe
Orrville Area Boys and Girls Club
Orrville Area United Way
Orrville City Schools
St. James Episcopal Church
Tri-County Educational Serice Center
United Way's InfoLink
United Way of Wayne and Holmes Counties
Viola Startzman Free Clinic
Wayne County Common Good
Wayne County Family and Children First Council
Wooster Area Interfaith Partnership
Wooster City Schools
Wooster Salvation Army
Zion Lutheran Church
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It is fantastic to see this occur. I have lived and ministered in numerous states and I have never seen a "grassroots" efferot like this occur in the name of accomplishing a great goal
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The next Coalition Meeting is on January 7th, so I will let you know more specifics laer.

200%

In the US, they say that a family needs to make 200% of the poverty guidelines to live a "sustainable" life. Our family makes $9,000 LESS a year then the 200%.
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The above is just for informational sake. I am not sure what the 200% and sustainable life really means, I will have to look into that more

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Over the next several weeks, I am going to make some posts dealing with poverty.

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Did you know that in our county ( county of 115,000 ) that we have 3,700 children who live in poverty (100% guideline or less) and have only a mom ?

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Did you know that in our (my) county that 1 out of 5 adults over the age of 25 does not have their hs diploma or a GED ?

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Did you know that 11,000+ people in our county live in poverty at the 100% rate ?

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Some of the blogging is going to come under the following guidelines:

ending poverty in our nation, in our lifetime (until it's gone)

Bridges of Hope

I am really looking forward to the organization that I am going to be partnering with in Wayne County. In the next few weeks, I will be sharing more news on the organization and what aspects that I will get to help out in.

To give a quick summary though, we are going to be attempting to build an extensive network of individuals, businesses, non-profit agencies and government agencies that will team up with families who are wanting to move out of poverty.

These families will have to make a significant commitment to wanting to end the vicious cycle that they are facing. This "program" has huge potential and I am really excited to be part of this new initiative.

This past week, I have been involved in two meetings that have been very beneficial in making sure that the success of the program will happen. The first meeting was where the Director of Bridges spoke to the Wooster Area of Interfaith Partnership (WAIP) and the second meeting was the Guiding Coalition Info Meeting. This meeting was designed for potential "board of directors".

The next key date for us as an organization will be December 17th. I look forward to that date and on/after that date, I should be able to share a lot more information.

Sufficient, Sustainable livelihood for all .....

We live in a world that is struggling. Poverty is up there as the #1 issue. Here is another post and ciew and document on the struggle that we find ourselves in ....

Our obligation and ongoing tensions

Based on this vantage point of faith, "sufficient, sustainable livelihood for all" is a benchmark for affirming, opposing, and seeking changes in economic life. Because of sin we fall short of these obligations in this world, but we live in light of God's promised future that ultimately there will be no hunger and injustice. This promise makes us restless with less than what God intends for the world. In economic matters, this draws attention to:

the scope of God's concern -- "for all,"
the means by which life is sustained -- "livelihood,"
what is needed -- "sufficiency," and
a long-term perspective -- "sustainability."

These criteria often are in tension with one another. What benefits people in one area, sector, or country may harm those elsewhere. What is sufficient in one context is not in another. What is economically sufficient is not necessarily sustainable.

There are difficult and complex trade-offs and ambiguities in the dynamic processes of economic life. As believers, we are both impelled by God's promises and confronted with the practical realities of economic life. We often must choose among competing claims, conscious of our incomplete knowledge, of the sin that clouds all human judgments and actions, and of the grace and forgiveness given by Christ.

Economic assumptions can conflict with what we as a church confess. Who we are in Christ places us in tension with priorities given to money, consumption, competition, and profit in our economic system.

While autonomy and self-sufficiency are highly valued in our society, as people of faith we confess that we depend on God and are interdependent with one another. Through these relationships we are nurtured, sustained, and held accountable.

While succeeding or making something of themselves is what matters to many in economic life, we confess that in Christ we are freely justified by grace through faith rather than by what we do.

While a market economy emphasizes what individuals want and are willing and able to buy, as people of faith we realize that what human beings want is not necessarily what they need for the sake of life.

While a market economy assumes people will act to maximize their own interests, we acknowledge that what is in our interest must be placed in the context of what is good for the neighbor.

While competitiveness is key to economic success, we recognize that intense competitiveness can destroy relationships and work against the reconciliation and cooperation God desires among people.

While economic reasoning assumes that resources are scarce relative to people's wants, we affirm that God promises a world where there is enough for everyone, if only we would learn how to use and share what God has given for the sake of all.

While economic growth often is considered an unconditional good, we insist that such growth must be evaluated by its direct, indirect, short-term, and long-term effects on the well-being of all creation and people, especially those who are poor.

When we pray in the Lord's Prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread," we place ourselves in tension with economic assumptions of our society. Rather than being self-sufficient, we need and depend on what God gives or provides through people, practices, and systems. "Daily bread" is not earned by efforts of individuals alone, but is made possible through a variety of relationships and institutions. God gives in ways that expand our notions of who "us" includes, from people close at hand to those around the globe. In stark contrast to those who seek unchecked accumulation and profit, our attention is drawn to those who are desperate for what will sustain their lives for just this day.


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Can we provide enough so that everyone can have sufficient livelihood ?

Criminilation of Homelessness

OVERVIEW OF THE NATIONAL PROBLEM

The housing and homelessness crisis in the United States has worsened with many cities reporting an increase in demands for emergency shelter. In 2007, ten of the 23 cities surveyed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors reported an increase in the number of households with children accessing shelters and transitional housing. Six of these 23 cities also reported an increase in the number of individuals accessing these services. Even while the requests for emergency shelter increase, cities do not have adequate shelter space to meet the need. In the 23 cities surveyed in the U.S. Conference of Mayors Hunger and Homelessness Survey for 2007, 12 cities noted that they had to turn people away because of a lack of capacity often or always.

The lack of available shelter space – a situation made worse by the Gulf Coast hurricanes - leaves many homeless persons with no choice but to struggle to survive on the streets of our cities. Over the course of the year, 3.5 million Americans will experience homelessness, and this number is only expected to increase in 2008due to the foreclosure crisis, increases in poverty, and a pattern of steady increases in family homelessness.

AN UNJUST RESPONSE TO THE PROBLEM

An unfortunate trend in cities around the country over the past 25 years has been to turn to the criminal justice system to respond to people living in public spaces. This trend includes measures that target homeless people by making it illegal to perform life-sustaining activities in public. These measures prohibit activities such as sleeping/camping, eating, sitting, and begging in public spaces, usually including criminal penalties for violation of these laws.

TYPES OF CRIMINALIZATION MEASURES

The criminalization of homelessness takes many forms, including:

Legislation that makes it illegal to sleep, sit, or store personal belongings in public spaces in cities where people are forced to live in public spaces;
Selective enforcement of more neutral laws, such as loitering or open container laws, against homeless persons.

Sweeps of city areas where homeless persons are living to drive them out of the area, frequently resulting in the destruction of those persons’ personal property, including important personal documents and medication; and laws that punish people for begging or panhandling to move poor or homeless persons out of a city or downtown area.

Criminalization Measures Have Increased

City ordinances frequently serve as a prominent tool to criminalize homelessness. Of the 224 cities surveyed for our report:

28% prohibit “camping” in particular public places in the city and 16% had city-wide prohibitions on “camping.”

27% prohibit sitting/lying in certain public places.

39% prohibit loitering in particular public areas and 16% prohibit loitering city-wide.

43% prohibit begging in particular public places; 45% prohibit aggressive panhandling and 21% have city-wide prohibitions on begging.

The trend of criminalizing homelessness appears to be growing. Of the 67 cities surveyed in both NCH and NLCHP’s last joint report in 2002 and in this report:

There is a 12% increase laws prohibiting begging in certain public places and an 18% increase in laws that prohibit aggressive panhandling.

There is a 14% increase in laws prohibiting sitting or lying in certain public spaces.

There is a 3% increase in laws prohibiting loitering, loafing, or vagrancy laws.
Another trend documented in the report is increased city efforts to target homeless persons indirectly by placing restrictions on providers serving food to poor and homeless persons in public spaces.

While cities are cracking down on homeless persons living in public spaces, according to the latest U.S. Conference of Mayors Hunger and Homelessness report, cities do not have adequate shelter to meet the need.

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Such a happy post and report, huh ?

Free Medical Clinic

A few times, I have mentioned that we have a free medical clinic in our community. The name of our clinic is called Viola Startzman Free Clinic . They do tremendous work and I applaud them for all the work that they do. I go up there about 3x a month and help them with filing their charts and shredding the meical papers that need to be destroyed. By me and other individuals going up there and doing that, it frees up the personel to focus on the patients and provide the care that they need.

Today, I had the opportunity to combine the Kids Care Club and the Free Clinic. Last month, I began a Kids Care Club in Wooster. They are a fantastic organization and I strongly encourage you to check them our.

Kids Care Club follows the very simple motto:

We believe that kids are empowered by their contribution to the world around them and that service is a natural way for young people to assert their positive qualities. By serving others, kids develop compassion and establish connections with people of diverse cultures and economic situations. Volunteering helps kids develop positive self-esteem and learn valuable life lessons.
Youth volunteering:

Promotes a healthy lifestyle and choices – Kids who volunteer are less likely to become involved in at-risk behaviors.

Enhances development – Volunteering heightens psychological, social and intellectual development and growth.

Teaches life skills – Volunteering stimulates skills needed for a productive adulthood, including responsibility for tasks. Children learn punctuality, cooperation, tolerance, problem solving and teamwork.

Improves the community – Kids have the opportunity to be resources and contributors to their communities.

Encourages a lifelong service ethic – Kids who volunteer early learn the importance of service and have a higher chance of continuing to volunteer later in life.

This month, our focus was Party Pals. We had our club meeting and we talked and learned about giving and we decided that we were going to throw a party and at the party we would collect gifts and those gifts would be used for the clinic. The more items that are donated to the clinic, the less they will have to buy and that frees up more money for patient care.

Here are some photos from the party and us at the car (loaded up) and in the clinic boardroom with the supplies that we donated to the clinic:













These are the nights that I love. Helping kids catch the spirit of volunteering and us doing something tangible that will make a difference in our community. My dream and vision is that we can do more ministry in this fashion.

We can make a difference in our community and we can tackle the big problems that our town face.

Poverty: Where is the Faith Community ?

Today, I went to a a meeting on homelessness. The meeting was entitled: Homelessness: It is here too!

For those of you who do not know me or my "home situation", I live in Wayne County, Ohio. We are a "small" county of about 125,000 and we are in the middle of "Amish Country". Our county is "very white", we are not diverse. 96.5% of our county are white.

Overall, individuals believe that with our median family income of $ 50,000 that we are a wealthy community that does not struggle with poverty and homelessness. Part of the deception is that the "homeless" in our county really do not have a face. They are "hidden" and not out in the opening.

This meeting was an eye opener for me. Here are some highlights and at the end, I will highlight why I asked the question and attempt to answer the question.

In Ohio

- 147,000 annually are homeless
- Rural Ohio has seen an increase of 300% since 1995
- $ 10.81 an hour is what is needed to have basic needs met
- 30% of homeless in Ohio have a mental illness
- 14.6% of homeless live in cars / abandoned buildings
- Younger women with education are the highest growing % of homeless

In our county, we only have 26 individual beds and 18 family units. There is a continuous waiting list to try to get people away from homelessness. Our metro housing has a waiting list of 700 !!!

The Wayne Metropolitan Housing Authority has 224 units of housing in eight different projects that were developed with funds provided by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Included in these projects are 120 units of housing designated for the elderly and/or disabled in high-rise buildings. Our family housing exhibits many of the features that new non-subsidized apartments have. Many of our public housing units have extra design features that make them most desirable.

The 'typical' wait could be over 18 months .......

Our town and county is experiencing "tent living". More and more individuals are pitching tents for their housing arrangements. The other area is community living where 10-15 individuals will be living in an apt. or small house.

Our children service folks were there and they shared their concern with their continue hardship on what the teens are doing when they reach the age of 18. A few individuals shared even a greater concern with the 14-18 year old population that is technically homeless ( no where to go - permanent home ).

After some speakers spoke on the issue, we got to listen to a forum from the following individuals: adult parole board, chief of police, inter-faith housing, every woman's house and the salvation army.

Each one of them gave statistics and stories that ripped my heart out. We, as a community, are failing in so many areas.

Switching Gears

In my opinion, noticeably missing from the 70+ individuals that were at the meeting was the faith community. Where were they ? Why were they not part of this conversation ? What was more important on their schedule then our county coming together to discuss poverty / homelessness in our community ?

I am not sure, but they were not at the meeting. A few of the churches were there and the ones that were there and represented were the "staples". Thank God for them.

One of our community speakers left us with a thought: the light at the end of the tunnel is not a train charging at us, it is instead, a light of hope.

We, as a community, can make a difference. We can solve the problem. We can end this vicious cycle of poverty and homelessness, but it will take all of us.

It was great to see some familiar faces today:

- people to people
- salvation army
- viola free medical clinic
- child services
- justice department
- interfaith housing community
- etc .....

What would have been nice was to see was the faith community. In a sense, it really saddens me. We, as churches, can easily combine our resources and knock this one out of the ballpark. It is not just about throwing money to them.

It is about spending time with them, it is about mentoring them, it is about listening to their stories, it is about providing life coping skills, it is about helping them navigate the muddy waters of the systems that are out there.

I think this is why I am excited about the Circles Initiative that is coming our way. It will be a partnership to help those on the fringes.

Then, as a big challenge .... if we (each church in the county) adopted one homeless family, there would currently be no homelessness in our community.

To those in the community that are providing free medical care, free counseling, free job skills, providing transportation for them to get to work, providing transitional housing and more .... THANK YOU.

To us in the churches, let us do something. Let's get off our butts and make a difference in our community. Maybe we can get together and have a meeting about how we are going to help the faithful rentals who are getting evicted because their landlords are going in foreclosure instead of deciding how we are going to spend $ 5 million dollars on new buildings ......

I am out

Global Poverty

I think that I may be challenged to go to the following conference and see how this may help our church, our community and our oureach.




Bottom-Up Approaches to Global Poverty: Appropriate Technology, social Entrepreneurship and the Church


The way that Christians respond to those most in need is a sign of God's presence. But the mission of the church does not move in one direction-from West to East, first to third world, or affluence to poverty. Nor is it controlled from a central location or organization. Located in every province of every country, the church is situated to react to the needs of the poor in an especially powerful way-from the bottom up.

Prompted by God's call to meet the needs of the poor, marginalized, and oppressed, Christians can respond sensitively and productively to poverty though faith-inspired practices of appropriate technology and social entrepreneurship. The former draws on a community's existing talents and resources to produce technology that is simple, inexpensive, easily maintained, culturally acceptable, and responsive to genuine human needs. The latter finds alternative approaches to corporate structures that provide opportunities to improve the physical and social conditions of the poor.

Instead of rivals at cross purposes, these three forces-local church, appropriate technology, and social entrepreneurship-hold enormous promise when they converge, for they have the potential to create genuine social change and express Christian faith and witness.

Ending Poverty in America

Ending Poverty, Not Just Addressing it

It is imperative to stop shrinking our ideas around the agenda to end poverty. Martin Luther King, Jr. did not advocate the elimination of some portion of racism. He asked the nation to eliminate all racism. Gandhi did not want to reduce the British control of India. He wanted India to be completely free. The United States and its allies did not want some of Nazi Germany to go away. We wanted to dismantle the Third Reich all together. Shouldn’t we view the problem of poverty in the same way? It is time for us Americans to put our full talents and resources to bear on the specific goal of eradicating poverty. With widespread commitment to this large and long-term vision, new, innovative strategies will emerge that address the question of why poverty exists and what must be done if this great country is to one day end it.

We, as a nation, can end it. It will not be easy but we can do it. There is one ministry out there that I think has the right approach. I need to be more adamant about partnering with them and bringing povery to an end in our town.

More Later.

Parable by Nouwen

Once there was a people who surveyed the resources of the world and said to each other: "How can we be sure that we will have enough in the hard times? We want to survive whatever happens. Let us start collecting food, materials and knowledge so that we are safe and secure when a crisis occurs."

So, they started hoarding, so much and so eagerly that other people protested and said: "You have much more than you need, while we do not have enough to survive. Give us part of your wealth!" But the fearful hoarders said: "No, no, we need to keep this in case of an emergency, in case things go bad for us, too, in case our lives are threatened." But the others said: "We are dying now, please give us food and materials and knowledge to survive. We can't wait ... we need it now!"

Then the faithful hoarders became ever more fearful since they became afraid the poor and hungry would attack them. So, they said to one another: "Let us build walls around our wealth so that no stranger can take it from us." They started erecting walls so high that they could not even see anymore whether there were enemies outside the walls or not.! As their fear increased they told each other: "Our enemies have become so numerous that they may be able to tear down our walls. Our walls are not strong enough to keep them away. We need to put bombs on top of the walls so that nobody will dare to even come close to us."

But instead of feeling safe and secure behind their armed walls they found thmselves trapped in the prison they had built with their own fear. They even became afraid of their own bombs, wondering if they might harm themselves more than their enemy. And gradually, they realized their fear of death had brought them close to it.

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I think that there is a great lesson for us to learn. I think that we need to really try to learn and live the motto: what can I offer. We need to continue to examine the world around us and see what we can offer the world.

We have a world that is crumbling around us. We can make a difference. Yes, it will be ugly at times. Yes, it can and will be difficult at times. But, we can make a difference. Yes, it may cost us some of our time and some of our possesions.

Are we willing to step out of our comfort zone ?
Are we willing to give instead of take ?
Are we willing to see the hurting around us ?
Are we willing to reach out and help those in need ?

Will you take the necessary step ?