Juggling jobs

These have been some crazy days!  Once again, I haven't posted regularly, but I have been super busy.  I started as the director of Geneva Center's Summer Camp Program, but I am also active in the community ministry work on Friday evenings and Saturdays and a little Sunday.  I've been preaching every week mainly at Memorial Presbyterian in South Bend so there's also the additional homiletic endeavor.  Whew!

I have got to say, though, that Geneva Center is a great experience.  When high school aged kids talk about being closer to God, something good is happening.  When grade school school kids quietly sit to do Bible study and talk about parables, we are building God's kingdom.  I went into this year a little doubtful about the general principle of camp, but my experiences this month have convicted me about the value of the camp experience.

I'm continuing work in the far northwest of South Bend and there are several blooming opportunities for partnership.  Most recently, Sonnyvilla contacted me about enlisting Memorial and or Westminster to do some grandparent mentorship.  The garden is growing, but we are hurting for watter.  Shauna is generously tossing water on my parched little plot while I'm in Rochester.  I thought I had some pictures I could share, but they're stuck on another computer.  TAP struggles with leadership issues and I am hoping that they can soldier on until I return to lead some things in mid-July.

Finally, I have had the privilege to preach several times for Memorial Presbyterian.  This community of faith is working through their leadership issues and discerning what will best suit them.  It is an honor to be a part of this conversation and witness the Presbyterian process in action.  I am preaching almost every Sunday at one place or another and that's good 'cause I like preaching.

I have a lot to keep in the air right now and I'm beginning to tire, but there are so many opportunities to glorify God and build the kingdom.

Party Time

Garden Party-Celebrating Accomplishment

A lot has happened since I last blogged.  Actually, that's usually the case. I underestimated the amount of soil that we would need to fill the garden beds as well as the ease with which we could get that dirt.  I found myself looking at having to purchase the dirt and pay for delivery, but God led me to Concrete and Asphalt Recycling on Lathrop Street.  These folks were kind enough to give us the dirt for the cost of transport.  Two tri-axled dump trucks!  Over 40 tons of dirt.

 The next difficulty came when considering how to move this dirt from the piles into the beds.  We had a couple wheelbarrows and some willing folks-no problem.  Patrick, Rosemary, Jerry, the Stuckwich family and I worked on this for a few days.

There was a lot of dirt there.  

In spite of the help, this was just too big a process.  I checked around and had no friends with a bobcat.  Renting a bobcat was out of the question due to the cost.  

Again, God intervened.  When Melissa and I were out passing out flyers I noticed several trucks, including one with a bobcat on it.  There was a neighbor building a garage and Temple Concrete was doing the work.  Working on this project I have been amazed at how generous people have been.  I took the opportunity to chat with Tim and tell him what we were doing just a couple blocks away.  He was willing to bring his excavator by and, for a small price, make short work of the dirt piles.  What an incredible time and effort saver this was.  We would probably still be shoveling.

The dirt piles were gone, the soil was distributed and the garden was just about ready to be planted.  It was time for a celebration!  Thanks to Kelly and Sidney, who were major organizers of the gala, we provided dogs, chips and drinks for approximately 50 people.  Patrick was a great chef and Hands Across the Keys gave us some background music.  The party was a success on a day that was cold and rainy, surpassing my expectations.  What a great feeling to see this project moving forward.

The ultimate goal of the garden is to build community and a neighborhood association.  Associations usually happen when there are problems and issues, but the neighborhood around Memorial Presbyterian is a good one.  I think the rallying cry for the association is one of assisting our neighbors.  We want people to come into the area and it's my hope that the neighbors can teach new folks how to be a good neighbor.  We support each other and the association gives us another forum to do that.

[This is the second time I have written the blog as I deleted the first effort right before posting.  Please forgive terse sentences as they reflect my frustration.]

The House Issue

Been having a lot of meetings lately about the vacant and abandoned housing issue.  It could be that it's just me, but it seems as if there is an agenda for the city its task force.  It bothers me that the task force meetings that are "open to the public" aren't advertised and they aren't being completely forthcoming with their data.

I think this is a great opportunity for Transforming Action through Power  to step up and make this an issue.  To that end I have attended a couple meetings of the city and Wendy is helping with that.  We are lacking information regarding the location of the abandoned houses and what the city's ultimate agenda is, but we are moving forward.

To appropriately address this issue we are going to have to build community and neighborhood resources.  Each house or group of houses is specific to the location and there are different needs for each locale.  The only way a response can be formulated is on a case-by-case basis, which is in direct opposition to what Wendy calls the city's data driven model.

Spoke with Ryan Yazel today who told me about the down sides of simply tearing the house down.  The lot across from his house has become a dumping ground for the community.  Because of the location there is little to be done to remedy the situation.  Clearly, response to the abandoned houses needs to be on an individual basis based on neighborhood input.

Another Busy Week

I finally got over to Richard and Lisa's to check out their new place.  I helped them move last week and had seen this place, but this was the first chance I had to really check it out.  This week the weather was great and they were all outside enjoying the spring.  As I expected, they are the neighborhood hang out.

The New Crib

These were some of my best hook-ups by the church and they moved.  The new place is really nice and I got the grand tour.  Darryl has like a bachelor pad upstairs.  Pete said the only thing he needs now is a woman.  These are really good people and care about their neighborhood.  A good resource.

The awesome garden crew

We got the garden beds done.  The crew showed up and did the work-impressive.  It was a good afternoon to do all this.   Fortunately, Valerie brought her guy, Max.  The good thing was that Max had a grinder to cut the rebar.  I had a jig saw, but it just didn't have enough guts to cut the rebar.  We had to hand saw some of the timbers and Patrick was amazing!  Patrick sawed through those timbers like they were butter.  Anyway, we got the beds done.  We're a little short on rebar, but I picked it up this week and there's some dirt piles that I think we can use to fill a small bed.

I had a meeting with Josiah this week and he told me about how he had a handle on a dump truck.  Thank God.  I checked out dirt prices and I didn't know how we were going to fill the beds.  Now we have a truck and can get the free compost from the city.  God is so good!

I am really loving doing this community ministry and the challenge is figuring out how I can keep doing it.  I might be able to get something out of the presbytery and I have been talking with a guy who would like me to do a program thing.  I pray God works this so I can keep doing what I'm doing for the next several years.

Spring is Springing

I haven't posted for awhile, but no good excuse.  I just let the blog slip.  On the other hand, I've been pretty active in the last weeks. 

Moving Day

The weather is changing here in Northwest Indiana.  It's the oddest thing to have a few inches of snow one day and 60 degrees the next.  There are a lot of people taking advantage of the return of nicer weather, though.  Richard, Lisa and Daryl sold their house and I helped them move last week on a day between the frigid temperatures.  I'm sorry to lose them from the neighborhood around the church, but they are staying in South Bend and give me the opportunity to make some more connections in another neighborhood.

The INSPIRE Grant is all in place (God bless the NRC), signed and waiting so the garden is on the list.  I ordered the lumber to build the beds and the group is all coming out Saturday afternoon to build.  We should be able to put those together in short order, but don't have dirt to fill them.  The city won't have compost until mid-April and I think we need to get the beds established before that date.  I'm hoping Chuck can help me out with some top-soil at little to no cost, but at least we'll have the beds.  There is a lot of enthusiasm for the garden and I look forward to it being a productive experience.  It seems as if there is a neighborhood association slowly emerging from the garden group which makes me happy as that is the ultimate goal.

I worked for months to put together an initiative on vacant and abandoned houses to draw together congregations and nonprofits from all over the city.  I think, with the help of Fr. John, Wendy and Gene, that we have something to roll out and I look forward to bringing that to the table on Tuesday at the Clergy Caucus.  Basically, we're going to put it back on the congregations to voice their issues and alternatives which will then be brought back to the larger group and then on to the mayor's task force. 

I'm doing a lot of other things, but this blog post is too long already.  I'll post again next week.  Remember Listening Training at Niles Pres. this Saturday 9-11.

Little Victories

I got a phone call this week.  In an of itself a phone call isn't a big deal, but what was a big deal was who made the call.  I got a call from a woman in the community who had some theological type questions.  I had met her and she kept my card, which is how she got my number.  To me this was really awesome because it demonstrates to me that I was able to make some sort of impact, and a pastoral impact, on the neighborhood.  No, I suppose a phone call isn't a big deal, but this was a little victory for me.

With the cold weather I haven't been in the streets too much.  I have been able to visit people in their homes.  This is another little victory.  People invite me in and ask me to stay.  I've had some pretty bad coffee, but I've had some pretty deep conversations with people.  This is really fantastic as I haven't been at this too terrible long and I've been able to make these relationships.

The community development organization that I've been working with is starting to come together.  I spent some time researching this vacant and abandoned housing situation, contacting code enforcement and looking at options.  I met last night with the president of TAP and he asked me to head up this initiative.  We both thing this issue will provide a rallying point for the group and stimulate the organization.  This will be a quick and easy victory upon which we can capitalize to build momentum for larger and longer term issues like education.

God is using me in this ministry.  I was pretty impatient in the beginning, but I'm beginning to see fruit from my labors and that is fulfilling.  I'm also looking ahead to see how this effort can be sustained.