teenagers and toys

Teenagers got it goin' on! These teens from Big House Wednesday Night went shopping in their small groups tonight for the Christmas Store. As they generously opened their hearts and their pockets, these small groups brought in a mountain of toys that pushed us over our goal of collecting 2,000 gifts for Saturday's Christmas Store. Don't underestimate what God wants to do through the lives of teenagers to make a huge difference in our world! One thing's for sure...they made a huge difference here tonight!

gatekeeping

As I watch and listen and work around our community and around our church, I've been thinking a lot about the following notes on "gatekeeping" that I took at an Undoing Racism workshop I attended last February...

What is a gatekeeper? Someone who has access to information, opportunities, knowledge, resources. He/she tends the gate and determines what gets let in and what gets let out.

Generally, how have gatekeepers worked in our under-resourced communities? They often are the ones who define what is helpful. They tell the community what it needs. They control, analyze, write grants for, and define what the community needs. They measure, interpret, evaluate, often without getting permission or involvement of the community. They define the rules, hide the rules, define the needs so often that the community might not even know what it needs anymore or believe that they can make a difference in their own neighborhoods. Gatekeepers often make all the demands on the community, and the community often has little voice or power to make any demands on gatekeepers. Without mutuality, there's abuse. Problem solving and creativity get silenced. Healthy relationships and community does not get built.

However, an empowering, liberating gatekeeper will give tools to the community as he/she works WITH the community in defining their needs and creating solutions. The organizing piece is so critical for the gatekeeper. To create collective power...that's real power.

This is becoming an increasingly important filter for me as I consider what to get involved with, who is involved, and how I should participate.

more Christmas Store rationale...

"One-way mercy ministry, as kindhearted as the giver may be and as well intentioned, is an unmistakable form of put-down. On the other hand, everyone loves to engage in the process of exchange. Everyone loves to find a bargain. There is something life affirming when someone comes to the bargaining table with a resource to barter. The playing field is leveled. The eyeing of each other's commodity takes place from both sides of the bargaining table. Both sides have a choice; both sides weigh the worth of the other's commodity. A deal is struck and an exchange is made. And remarkably, both parties leave the encounter feeling like they have gained more value than they brought."

"The Kingdom reserves a special place for the poor and for those who show compassion toward the poor. But how we demonstrate our compassion has everything to do with whether or not the poor actually feel valued. This is very good news indeed to Kingdom-minded people who are also bargain hunters, entrepreneurs, wheeler-dealers and creative types who know the magic of exchange. Our is the unique opportunity to use our know-how and our creative energies to design methods of exchange that enable those with little as well as those with much to come to the table, participate in the excitement of making a deal and leave satisfied. With dignity."

- Bob Lupton, from his book Compassion, Justice, and the Christian Life

Jesus Storybook Bible

What an amazing Bible storybook. We are currently selling this Bible to families at church, and we plan to give one to each family that shops at the Christmas Store on December 10.

I decided to buy one, read through it over the next several days, and allow my reading to serve as a reminder to pray that God would...

*supernaturally prompt those who take home the Bible to open it and read it.

*prepare the hearts of the readers, children and adults alike, to receive His love and truth in Christ through this Bible.

*use this Bible to create a longing for Himself and spur people on to go deeper in their journey of faith.

I love, love the illustrations and the language of the Jesus Storybook Bible. Every story ties in to God's Big Love Story of rescuing His broken and sin-stained people through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus.

youth development learnings

Here are 3 key learnings we have discovered as we delve into the youth development component of Christian Community Development work:

1. Cross-cultural friendships/teams are important if we are ever going to break down racism.

2. A strong adult:child ratio is critical if we hope to actually get to "development" and not just "crowd control".

3. Students have more God-given ability than we often believe possible. We are learning that we need to learn and do hard things. Challenging students to higher level thinking, creativity, and action is producing some outstanding contributors as we join Jesus to create a more just community.

Last night was our fifth and final night for Youth Art Team's 3rd session. The students did some research on The Five Sullivan Brothers, and teams created a framework for the play that they are writing. I learned so much about The Five Sullivans who grew up in Waterloo, enlisted in the Navy together, and who died together in WWII when their ship, the U.S.S. Juneau, was bombed. My study group had fun learning about the brothers as boys. The brothers stuck close together, hung out by the banks of the Cedar River...hunting, fishing, and making a boat that capsized while they were trying it out. Their brave dog paddled over to save the youngest brother, Al, from drowning.

We also learned about "The Great Banana Heist." One day the boys skipped school with some friends, saw a railroad car full of bananas being unloaded at the Hoxie Fruit and Produce Co., climbed on in the boxcar, only to get locked in while the produce company employee called the truant officers and had them come find a boxcar full of boys who should have been in school.

The boys were also known to watch out for their neighborhood and help to keep it safe and strong. It was great to talk about how Jesus wants us to be good neighbors like that as well.

Christmas in Walnut '11

why a Christmas store?

We are in partnership with others this season to offer an alternative to a Christmas Adopt-a-Family program...The Christmas Store...where new gifts are donated and then sold at a 75-80% discount. Why?

"Something seems to go wrong when one with valued resources attempts to distribute them to others in need. The transactions, no matter how compassionate, seem to go sour in the gut of both giver and recipient. A subtle, unintentional message slips through: "You have nothing of worth that I desire in return." The giver remains protected by his one-up status while the recipient is exposed and vulnerable."

"Perhaps the deepest poverty of all is to have nothing of value to offer in exchange. Charity that fosters such poverty must be challenged. We know from forty years of failed social policy that welfare depletes self-esteem while honorable work produces dignity. We know that reciprocity builds mutual respect while one-way giving brews contempt."

-Robert Lupton, quotes from his book Compassion, Justice, and the Christian Life