Author: Christ's Children Ministries

So that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.  Ephesians 1:18-19

 

     I met one of my college friends for lunch recently.  He told me that day about the ways that his college experience is not what he thought it would be.  Some of the bumps in the road have come from choices he made and others have come from things out of his control, things he only found out after he was in the experience.  It was good to be with him and I was glad he could tell me about the disappointments.

 

     I spend time each week praying for, texting and talking with our friends who are away at college.  While they have had successes and times of triumph, there are also disappointments and struggles as things are not what was expected or hoped for.  Every one of our college friends has had to face difficulties or hardships along the way. 

 

     What I pray for each one of them, every week, is that they do not lose heart or believe that because things are hard, that God is not with them.  I pray that they will always know, that though they may have made a mistake or a decision they wish they could do over, there is nothing that cannot be redeemed in God’s great love and nothing that cannot be used by God to bring them forward into the life of grace and fullness that God has for them.

 

     Our world loves success stories and even in the church, we often hear those stories as celebrations of God’s presence and power.  However, I think we may do our kids a disservice by emphasizing the successful all the time if it gives the impression that God is most present when things are going well.  It’s almost like we forget that Joseph was an ex-con or Moses, a murderer, or King David, an adulterer.  God was right there when each of those men were at their low-point and his power and presence brought them through that to fulfill the plans God had for their lives.

 

     So, even as our dear ones cope with the hard things they may be discovering about the world and themselves, I pray that they will not lose hope in the God who is able to do more than they could ever ask or imagine.  Please join me in prayers for all our young people in college, that they would continue to follow hard after Jesus and turn to God for help and guidance and the strength that they need to face the challenges and work that they confront each day.  And that every day, whether it’s a happy-go-lucky day or a challenging one, they would be strengthened through the Holy Spirit to trust and believe in the One who is their hope and their light.

 

     We have been doing our house church for over 17 years now and after all this time our family has a rhythm on Sunday mornings. I wake up and pray and then head into the kitchen to start cooking and baking for our church lunch.  We never know exactly what each week will bring for numbers.  Some weeks we have a small group of eight or nine and other weeks we have twenty or more, but I have come to trust that we will always have enough for everyone and we always do.  Chris wakes up and begins to pray and put the finishing touches on his teaching for the day and then he heads out to drive around the city, picking up the kids who have asked to come to church that day.  Javan and Ezra sleep in a little, but then get up to clean the bathroom, shovel the walks and set up the chairs for our gathering.

     As we all do our various chores to prepare for church, I am also praying for those who will come and what the day will bring.  The thing about house church is that no one remains anonymous for long.  So, as the hour approaches I think about the hearts and souls that will be arriving and I know the burdens they carry…health issues, strained family relationships, struggles to make ends meet, deep grief over family members who were murdered, struggles with school or friends, abandonment, loneliness…When I think of the needs and hurts of those who come, I know I am inadequate to help. But I pray each week, that God would help me to provide what I am able to provide—a welcoming presence that says,” we are glad to see you, you belong here, we love you.”  I pray also that each and every one would meet God here in our little church as we sing and pray and read God’s word.  As we listen and learn and talk and laugh.  As we eat and tell stories from our week and play games and sit around together.  I know that Chris and I are inadequate to meet the needs of those who come, but I trust and believe that God is able to meet their needs and is able to be everything that they need.  Every week I pray that God would help our people to grow in grace and knowledge of God and in the power to love God and each other.

      Some days, I am tired and wish I didn’t have to get up and cook.  Some days, I am discouraged and feel like I don’t have any love or grace to spare and it’s easy to let somebody’s behavior or attitude lead me toward annoyance before love.  But, day after day, week after week, year after year, church goes on and God’s grace carries me and all the rest of our church family as well.  And lots of days, I actually know that I am among the most blessed of persons because I get to be part of it all.  Isn’t that really what all of us wish for: to be part of God’s community and work in the world, loving God and our fellows?

     I hope that all of you are also enjoying your part in God’s community and the love you are part of there.  We are ever grateful for the support and encouragement of the body of Christ who keeps us able to love and serve here in south Minneapolis.

We were out of town for Thanksgiving visiting Chris’s family in Texas, so last week when our little church came together, we were a little sorry to discover that one of our families had not had a special meal on Thanksgiving because they had decided they could only afford to cook one holiday meal and it would be for Christmas.  They were pretty matter-of-fact about it, as, obviously, they make choices like that all the time.

Later that day, I was pondering that and remembering an exchange I had with someone days before who inquired about our ministry.  I had mentioned that it can be a hard season, when people are often reminded they can’t keep up with the material pace of our holidays.  That person quickly reminded me of food shelves and holiday gift resources we might wish to direct people to…

As I thought more about it, I realized that the holidays aren’t any harder for many of my friends, than any other time of the year. They are still struggling to make ends meet, pay for gas to get to work or come to church, buy food and clothes for their kids, pay rent, etc.  And they, and their kids, are pretty accustomed to not having extra or putting off  celebrations or presents.  It is the rest of us who don’t like to think of that at the holidays because it reminds us of the inequity and unfairness in the world and why some children have far so many advantages and some begin deep in the hole before they are even born.  It is a little harder to enjoy Christmas with all our celebrations and packages if we are actually remembering those who are left out.

But I am so grateful that I get to be uncomfortable so much of the time, because I think it reminds me of real Christmas—that awesome splendor became a human baby in everyday blankets laid in a feeding trough.  And for what purpose?

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19

We have a Savior who came for justice and healing and freedom.  Not a band-aid for the holidays, but for always.  And I see, too, that the poor surely includes me.  I need freedom and the eyes to see and favor so that I can live for righteousness and freedom and justice and wholeness.

These are the gifts of Jesus and they come with a cost: they ask for a willingness to surrender security and careful plans and all my own schemes to make it.  And to instead, go ahead and pick up my cross, trusting God for the grace to carry it and follow.

We pray that God will bless you in this holiday season with a deeper and richer knowledge and experience of God’s own self.

She gave birth to a son, her firstborn.  She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel. (Luke 2:6b-7 The Message)

All this energy issues from Christ:  God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever.  He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. (Ephesians 1:20-21 The Message)

Do you ever just sit in a chair for an hour pondering the immensity of how these two verses describe the same One?  Today instead of working through the list of things I am supposed to do, that is what I am doing.  It feels more necessary than breathing.

I am at this stage of life when I can be assailed by the greatest doubts—about my life, about the choices I have made, wondering if I will have what I need when I need it for the people I love, wondering if I have not listened well and maybe really squandered the gifts that were mine to give. Worrying.  Or wondering. Will I have enough?  Will my life be enough? Have I messed it all up?

I curl up in my chair and contemplate these verses.  The One who is in charge of it all, who has the final word on everything is the same One who was wrapped in a plain old blanket and laid in a feeding trough.

That feeding trough could not possibly have been an accident.  I hold that as I think of recent events that reminded me how some children come home to deluxe car seats and rolls-royce, 4-wheel drive strollers and beautiful wardrobes of fashion-matchy outfits, while others ride crowded in the backseats of broken down cars driven across town before the sun rises to drop a father off at work. 

The God of galaxies and governments and POWER is so much easier to want to follow than the One of poverty.  Low birth. Descendency. Emptying.

When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took the status of a slave, became human!  Having become human, he stayed human.  It was an incredibly humbling process. (Philippians 2:6 The Message)

The throne came by way of everyday blankets and feeding troughs.  So maybe being stuck with my humanity, my poverty, my mistakes and messes isn’t such a bad deal.  Because the real gift of Christmas, is that because Jesus is enough and because emptiness was enough, then I am enough.

Jesus is enough.

In that, I marvel and rejoice.  And claim for all who are poor like me.

 

I know what it’s like to put off things we need or scrape toward a payment due date, but really, the financial uncertainty that many of our friends live with is just plain terrible.  Life for the working poor in America is a carefully constructed tower of cards and just one card slipping will bring the whole house down.   Recently, one of our families had a car that broke down.  The car that they didn’t have money to repair set in motion an almost unbelievable string of calamities great and small, causing fear, anger, heartache, tears and the crushing of faith and hope in a God who loves and cares.

Continue reading “November 2013” →

“Going to basketball practice today#feeling excited…”

This was a tweet from one of the kids on our basketball team.  It was nice to see the boys getting excited about basketball starting up again.  It takes so much work and effort to put our teams together.  To be honest, when basketball season begins I inwardly groan because it automatically means a lot of time spent in the car for me.  I spend so much time driving and picking up kids, usually in rush hour traffic.  And in the winter I often find myself in the middle of a snowstorm driving down narrow streets which may or may not have been plowed.  And no matter how often I tell them to be ready at a certain time it seems I’m always waiting in the car for someone.

But ironically, these are my most intensive times with the kids, while I’m in the car with them.  I hear them tell each other stories about the day.  I see how they interact with each other.  Somehow I’m inconspicuous as an adult when I’m driving them places.  We have lots of fun and laughs and many heart to heart conversations about life.  This year the boys are always talking about their “girlfriends” and who likes who.  It’s a great opportunity for me to chime in with my thoughts about girls and relationships.  I know that if I’m prayed up, it is time that may have eternal significance.  I’ve witnessed to many young people while picking them up or dropping them off home.

Our teams are designed to allow kids to play and have fun and experience playing on a sports team.  Typically I start with a group of fifth graders and track with them each year through the eighth grade.  This year I have seventh and eighth graders so these kids have been with us already for three or four years.  Although once in a while we may have a really good team or a few outstanding players, the kids we get are not kids who typically go on to competitive high school sports.  They are boys who need something positive and fun to do in their spare time.  It’s hard to imagine, but an innocent activity like going to the park to play basketball can be fraught with danger and risk.  Just last night while leaving the gym the air rang with gunshots nearby and soon police squad cars were patrolling the streets with their spotlights on.

It really is a critical time during which they mature from little boys to teenaged young men, experiencing the advent of puberty and all the physical, emotional and social changes attendant.  Through our teams we create positive community with supportive peers and adults.    It’s a crucial alternative to hanging out on the streets.  Game days are times for the whole family to come out to support the team.  Being involved in basketball gives our youth easy access to relationship with me, Lisa and other positive adults.  Our players have opportunities to go to camp and are exposed to the gospel in a variety of ways.

It’s about so much more than basketball.  To me, it’s a season of pouring myself out in a variety of intensive ways in order to be there in that moment when they are open and ready to hear about Christ and to receive Him.  So, I’m going to basketball practice today…  and I’m feeling very excited.  Thank you for your support of this ministry through your prayers and gifts.

     It was a good summer in so many ways.  We sent a happy van full to Kids Across America in June.  That is always such a neat camp where there are so many young leaders who are hip and cool AND really excited about life with Jesus.  It is such a good things for kids to get to be part of.  The culture of their daily lives and our American culture, in general, is so jaded and consumerist and focused on so much that is not of lasting value, that it is really special to be immersed in a week of culture that is totally focused on things of eternal value.

 

     Chris devoted quite a bit of time to loving kids through sports this spring/summer, coaching an additional aau season after our regular season concluded, so that a number of kids would get another chance to play ball before the inevitable narrowing that happens as the boys move into high school and opportunities become more limited except for the most talented.  He also put together another Christ’s Children track team.  It is hard to manage the track meets to fit in around camps and other things.  But, as some of you know, the old track runner who competed through college, gets a lot of satisfaction out of bringing kids into a love of the sport.  And, it is often wondrous to see the kids self-esteem grow as they practice and compete and feel the power of being good at something.

 

     Our Manhood Camp was a special time for our family with Ezra being in his last year as a camper and Javan serving as a leader.  That camp is always a highlight of every year when Chris focuses on the theme, a quote from the deceased, but still remembered urban leader Tom Skinner, “It takes God to be a Black man!”  In our society today, there are so many models of manhood to observe, but few that bear emulation.  It is a good time for the young men to be together and to really dialogue about what it means to be a man, a Black man, in our culture and society.  This camp also, always includes the Underground Railroad Reenactment.  We can gather with young men from two, ten, fifteen years ago and stories are always told about their experience of this at camp.

 

     We had a surprise near the end of July when Owen, a young man in his mid-twenties, stopped by when he was in town.  He told us of his job promotion, his family’s move to South Dakota, showed us pictures of his children.  But most of all, he said he stopped by to say thank you because he wanted us to know that, though he hasn’t always kept in touch, his time with us was very significant to him in surviving the perils and pitfalls of growing up in challenging circumstances.  He is trying to live a life that pleases God as a young husband and father and wanted us to know.  Wasn’t that nice?  Things like that don’t happen every day.

 

     Unfortunately, the enjoyment of that unexpected grace was overshadowed days later by the loss that inevitably takes over all thoughts of summer.  Our beloved Jereau, aged thirty, husband, father and friend to us and our ministry since the age of ten, died by suicide at the end of July.  Only after it was too late, did we come to know that mental illness had overtaken him.  Our hearts are broken and we wish he had been willing to let us know the depth of his struggle and despair.  The despair that comes with clinical depression is not a moral or spiritual shortcoming, but an illness that needs treatment, help and compassion, just like any other.

     So, as fall begins, we press on and we grieve.  I started to cry on Sunday when I called out the number of Jereau’s song and I could hear his voice interjecting, “I AM someBODY!”  We know that he, a child of the most high King, is indeed, safe with Jesus.  We sure do appreciate your prayers.

 

We’ve lost many kids over the years through gang and gun violence.    However, our recent loss was one I never would’ve envisioned…  Our friend Jereau, at the age of thirty, took his own life.  Jereau was a good man with a strong, vibrant faith.  We didn’t know, but he had been struggling for some time with severe depression.  In spite of all the good things in his life, it was hard for him to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  He was suffering from the deep pain that can come with mental illness and he hid it from all of us. 

 

Jereau had beaten the odds.  At thirty, he had outlived what I call, the “young black man’s curse”.  It remains true today, that by the age of twenty-five, out of every four black boys growing up in inner city neighborhoods like this one, one has been killed, one has been in prison and one has been on drugs.  Jereau was the one who survived to become a man.  He grew up in poverty, in a gang infested neighborhood.  He was surrounded by negative and criminal influences in his community, school and family.  Nevertheless, he avoided trouble and chose positive paths and people for his life, graduating from high school and maturing to adulthood.  I pointed to him often as a person for young boys in our ministry to emulate.

 

Tragically, this didn’t have to happen.  His wife recognized that he was ill and needed help and took appropriate measures but the authorities she turned to did not heed her concerns about his mental health and failed to take the necessary precautions.  In a moment of despair, Jereau took his life.  I was the last person to spend time with him. 

 

I’ll miss him dearly.  He’d been with us since he was ten years old.  I know he’s with the Lord.  He was a model to me of the gentle strength of Black manhood.  He was committed to his family.  When his child was born with kidney failure and needed round the clock care, Jereau dropped everything to stay by his side day and night.  Whenever he showed up at our house or came to church, he lit up the room with his jocular presence.  He was a great role model and mentor to the boys in our ministry.  I remember, when we went to Mexico on a mission trip, that he once took the shirt off his back and gave it to a street kid who admired it.  He helped me often working with kids at camp or with basketball.  He was a good friend.  He loved the Lord.  I’ll miss him dearly, but he’s still with us.  In the Lord, he’s still with us and in Christ our family will be reunited again. 

 

I got the news about Jereau on the first night of Manhood Camp.  I was deeply shocked and the grief was overwhelming.  My prevailing thought at the time was, “What’s the use?  If something like this could happen to Jereau, something could happen to any one of the kids I’d ministered to over the years.  Who knows what could  happen to one of the fifteen boys who are with me now?  What I do doesn’t make one bit of difference.”  But the Lord spoke to me…  not in words, but in images of memory, of people who had passed through this ministry and our lives, some who have passed on and some who are still with us.  And when I came back to camp and the boys surrounded me, I felt that same burning desire, that unrelenting drive, that divine call instilled in me…  to love, to help, to serve, despite the personal cost.  It is all worth it… if we can bring just one into the Kingdom.

“I love you coach!”  A group of us were walking out of my house about to go to practice when Jay spoke up.  “I love you too Jay” I replied… but Jay wasn’t finished.  “Coach, I sure do appreciate you, you do a lot for us.”  I’m thinking, Wow… it’s nice to be appreciated, I never get this kind of affirmation from kids.  “Thanks man, I appreciate you appreciating me.”  Then he says, “Seriously coach!  You pick us up after school, get us for practice, do things with us, take us to camp…  no other coach does that for us.  I love you coach and I appreciate all you do for us.”  Now I’m speechless…  I don’t know what to say.  So I just say, “Thanks.”

Jay became a Christian a year ago on one of our summer outings.  I’ve known him since he was ten, as a volunteer in his fifth grade class.  For the last four years we’ve hung out, playing basketball and other stuff.  Last summer he gave his life to Christ.  What you might find funny is that he never comes to church.  I invite him regularly but he is often busy on the weekends.  And this is why what we do is unique.  You see, I’m always pastoring.  We have church at our house on Sundays, and our attendance ranges from five to twenty on any given Sunday… But during the week I’m at school, at the gym, at the park, on the block, even in your house… and I’m always Pastor Chris.  Some call me coach, some call me Mr. Chris, some say “momma who’s that man?”  But I’m always Pastor Chris.  My goal and prayer is to do what my name Christopher implies, to bring Christ.  So even though Jay doesn’t come to church, church comes to him about three times a week;  or rather, Christ comes to him.  I see more than fifty kids a week this way, not to mention their families.

Jay has an effusive, engaging personality.  He stays off the streets and avoids the trouble that plagues a lot of African American boys here by being involved in positive pursuits:  family, school, sports.  He plays on my basketball team.  After he became a Christian he asked if he could invite some of his friends to play ball.  I said yeah and through him I now have a half dozen new unchurched teenage boys on my team.  And they don’t know it, but they’re at church too.  We are about done with our spring season and when we are finished we will have a retreat where they will learn more about the gospel.  They will have a chance to give their lives to Christ.  I fully anticipate that most of them, if not all, will do so.  Not because of my ministerial talents, but because that’s what God does.  I’ve seen Him do it over and over and over again in this ministry.  Many of our kids grow to be adults leading satisfied lives.  Tragically, some do not.  But anyone who participates in our ministry comes into contact with the gospel.

This summer we will have basketball, track, retreats, camps and other activities.  Our kids have an opportunity to do fun and enriching activities, they cultivate relationships with positive adults, and they hear the gospel of Christ.  A typical summer experience for one of our youth involves at least one camp experience, church on Sundays and many outings.  This costs us about $350 per youth.  We are asking you to pray and consider supporting our ministry this summer.  Every little bit helps.  Thanks for participating in this ministry with us through your prayers and gifts.

The Lord bless you and your family this summer…

 

Bless the Lord, O my soul.  O Lord my God, you are very great.  Psalm 104:1

 

      I love Jesus.  There is such fullness of life that comes from living into our inheritance as children of God.  I hope my life brings glory to God.  I know that a life that lifts up Jesus is what I most desire.  I felt that call when I was young and I feel it more deeply now that I am not so young anymore.

     It is hard to believe that we are in the twentieth year of Christ’s Children Ministries.  We certainly aren’t much of an organization.  We don’t have a building or a passenger van.  We don’t have a staff or offices and only through the persistence of friends have a website and Facebook page.  Compared to many organizations, our footprint is small.    Over the past number of years, when finances have been lean and costs for things like insurances and gas and rentals and the general cost of living for our family keep rising, we have had reason to carefully listen to discern if God was asking us to stay the course.  It would indeed be a blessing if we grew better at fund raising.  And we are not good networkers either.  We certainly wouldn’t win any prizes as a non-profit success story.  I, not infrequently, watch and pray and listen to discern if there is something else we should be doing.  

     That listening has led to me adding in spiritual direction as one of the things I give my time to.  But that shift has been an adding on or expanding, not a turn away from the work of Christ’s Children.  And what is this work God continues to call us to do?  For some reason, God brings to us, children who might be overlooked or in the margin—the kid who isn’t making it in school, the one whose dad died through gun violence, the child whose parent is alcoholic or unstable. The families who have somehow ended up in our circle after the horrendous loss of an innocent child.  And the kid who walked away as a teenager who came around again.  We do what we can to shepherd them as they live life in Christ.  We try to love and serve and teach and model what it looks like to live a life that is surrendered and entrusted to God.

     Last month, we heard from one of our college guys.  He was asking for help with some rent money as he was working on some new ways to make it through, but was in a short spot.  His parents couldn’t help, so we got a call.  Sometimes when we get these requests, we aren’t able to help because we don’t have the funds and we don’t cosign on loans.  But, this was a request for a loan of $300.  We could do that. I could hear the surprise and gratefulness echoing from the phone in Chris’s hand  after I heard him say, “We don’t want you to try to pay it back. We are glad to help because we have it to give ”(Followed by a longer exhortation to keep seeking and following Jesus. J)  How happy we are to be able to be that place to fall back upon that all children (even grown-up ones) need at times.

     The world can be a hard place for many children without privileges many take for granted.  But God has called us to be here to love some of those children and to do all that we can to help them know their identities as children of God.  We wouldn’t have made it to this twentieth year without the body of Christ who faithfully supports us.  Thank you for your gifts.  May you find your joy in Jesus.