Echoes and Moments

It's deep into Day 5 on my first of several large road trips I'll have to do in the process of gathering a team of committed supporters to fund the ministry I serve for next year. Above all, the great highlight has been the chance to reconnect with friends whom I would likely otherwise fall out of touch with. Some of these friends are married, some are engaged, and some have just taken the step of buying their own house. I do myself a disservice if I slip into comparison, or begin to heed the distracting voice that tempts me to ask, " What if? " Surely there are great sacrifices involved in depending on the generosity of others for your livelihood, but it brings me great joy to model a deep commitment to our relationships and an investment in a trust-based accountability partnership. My journeys have brought me from my burning hot posting in Sacramento through the Bay Area to Carmel, back into the furnace to my future home of Fresno, down to Los Angeles and out to w...

In the world of Urban ministry, we take our cues from the legacy of John Perkins and the Christian Community Development ( CCDA ) movement, spearheaded in the 1960s and brought to the urban centers of North America for decades of turning urban blight into blessing. Some common lingo we use are the "Three R's" of community development: Relocation, Redistribution, and Reconciliation. This last concept is one that warrants quite a bit of discussion, since it takes on an obviously spiritual dimension apart from the others, whose criteria can be discussed in the latest socio-political and economic terms. Reconciliation is the third leg of this essential recipe for long-term sustainable transformation in a community, and is surely needed as we still reel in the aftermath of racist incidents in our so-called "post-racial" society. While this myth shatters, it is important for me to look for the sources that lead to the conditions that affect many dimensions of ou...

If I were to place a disclaimer asterisk in front of what I'm writing about tonight, I'm afraid I couldn't capture the essence of what I'm saying in an abstract and detached way. No, tonight I am emotionally compromised, and I sense the well of anger rising within me, boiling with the scald of desperate pain within, a pain shared by millions now across our country. For the sake of our collective dignity, I must be frank. I've felt this way before on a few occasions. These are the times of grief, of shock, and tragedy. They can affect me in the most immediate and intimate sense, especially in the loss of a close friend (I've lost several to tragic accidents or violence through the years). Sometimes, however, I feel the hot tears well in my eyes simply by turning on the television, or listening to the radio. The last instance was in mid December 2012, when Adam Lanza cruelly murdered dozens in Newtown, Connecticut, sparking a national conversation on gun con...

Disclaimer: This week I might seem a bit heavy handed, but it's an important topic and one that I must discuss frankly in order to maintain my own integrity. Thanks for your graciousness.  Our culture has a problem. A big one. For all the technology, food, and information that we can acquire literally at our fingertips, a vast moral gulf has emerged between us and the developing world. Although such morality can't be quantified or tested in any empirical way, we have clues to help us out and sober our perspective on our global community. Generosity, measured by giving, is one such way that I get to see up close both the joy and sorrow of our condition. Now, rather than jump on the rock in the Areopagus and pontificate, or decry Mammon like others seem to relish, I'll simply share some of my encounters since becoming a missionary responsible for raising my own support. As someone utterly dependent on the generosity of others, I feel I'm somewhat qualified to comment. T...

The Return of the Prodigal Son might seem old hat to we 'professional' Christians. It's up there with the Sunday School classics as a favorite topic for Sunday sermons. And that is a shame that we brush it off so easily. Here Ram Sridharan (who recently became a friend) gives a powerful call to faith at this last year's Urbana Missions Conference, probably InterVarsity's greatest regular public endeavor. Hear the words from Luke spring to life with conviction and power, and remember why we run into the arms of the Father. Watch the video here.