A Place that Has to be Believed to be Seen

Abundance is our future

admin — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 14:02:18 +0000

…and yet, human relationships do not scale. Dunbar’s number suggests one person can only have meaningful relationships with a couple hundred others. Embrace your neighbor while embracing the brilliant possibilities of the insanely networked world ahead of us.

Them is us – a word to the church

admin — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:37:29 +0000

We’re the city. We’re the culture. We’re the problem.
You’re a participant. How could you possibly be the solution?
Brilliant words on incarnation.

Philly Painting

admin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:10:41 +0000

Quotable: “If I’m cleaning up a room, I just want to get a corner clean. If I can get a corner clean, it gives me some inspiration to get the rest done.”

I’m so in love with this project. Putting G-town on the map!

Field of Dreams – More Than Baseball

admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:13:55 +0000

With a star-studded celebration on Friday, we opened the new baseball field in Hunting Park. More significant, however, was Saturday and Sunday. Driving through the park, I saw families picnicking, children playing on the new playgrounds, and, yes, still some of the drinking and carrying on that our park used to be known for. But the increase in positive activities is undeniable and that’s what matters.

Ryan Howard hopes that kids will fall in love with baseball and he has definitely helped make that possible. For most, however, baseball will not be their ticket to prosperity. Hopefully, it will be no one’s ticket out. This baseball field is about restoring a community so that it will be a place where people want to raise their children, make their mark on the world, and live in peace with their neighbors. That’s the dream. This baseball field gets us one step closer. Many thanks to all who helped build it.

Alive Inside – Restoration

admin — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 03:42:40 +0000

Do you believe in restoration of people and places? We have to learn to nurture life where disease appears victorious.

“But somewhere there’s a single streak of green inside it… hiding down below, a spark’s asleep inside it, waiting for the right time to be seen.” – Dickon in The Secret Garden

Empire and Neighborhood

admin — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:30:09 +0000

Walter Brueggemann sounds/looks a little bit like a crazy old man, but he’s hitting on some big ideas here. He also references my favorite book by two of my favorite authors, The Abundant Community by John McKnight and Peter Block. I’ve spent the last 15 years trying to apply the ideas I’ve learned from McKnight and he has joined with Peter Block to write arguably the best book on building community, period.

Empire & Neighborhood from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.

What Susan Said

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:28:16 +0000

My good friend and neighbor Susan Post is Executive Director at Esperanza Health Center and she recently gave a wonderful speech at the Christian Community Health Fellowship. She does a great job of breaking down a Christian view of a neighborhood. You should watch it. It gets really good at about the 12 minute mark of the second video.

Bonus: Rich Mullins – “What Susan Said”

Poets of the Ordinary

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 04:08:43 +0000

From Missional: Joining God in the Neighborhood, by Alan J. Roxburgh:

The poet is one who listens to the stories that lie beneath the stories people tell and gives voice to the music beneath their words. The poet is the one who, in such listening, offers ways in which people can connect this music to a larger movement, to a bigger story.

For a long time, I have shared stories of what God is doing in Hunting Park. I took a break from blogging for a couple of years, but now I’m back. Let the music begin.

Coming soon…

admin — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:53:02 +0000