Thursday, January 29, 2009
To Multi-task or Not To Multi-task?
Thursday, December 18, 2008
No clever title . . .good thing there's pictures!
Last night was the Christmas Program and dinner at the Agape Center. Children's programs are the same everywhere - the kids aren't sure they really want to be there. Mary and Joseph were 2 tweens who definitely didn't want to be there! :-)
These are the 3 wise men - Montrell, Corey, and Kijuan. When they went to give their gifts to the baby Jesus they realized that they had forgotten them under their chairs. So they went clamoring (?) across the stage and over their chairs to get their gifts. The things that you try to rehearse away are always the best part of the show.
MarKayle and Porshe.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Shopping!
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Christmas Cultural Lesson #1
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
We are going to have a Black president!
Wow! America has elected a Black president! What an incredible moment in history! Whether you agree with Obama's politics or not, this moment is a triumph for social justice! It doesn't heal every wound or negate current and real racial injustices, but it is a large step forward for racial equality. Imagine the story of that 106-year-old woman who attended a segregated school and now voted for a Black president! Wow!
I didn't go to Grant Park. We talked about it but frankly I don't trust large crowds and we wouldn't have been in the area where Obama was at all - just in another whole section to the park watching ABC NEWS. So we watched the news on the couch. But look, I took a picture of Obama elected president! Wow.
As I was sitting on my couch watching the election I heard gun shots outside - twice in an hour! It's still a little surreal to me sometimes that I live and work in the inner-city. But something about watching the election with gunshots as the background noise was REAL surreal!
This reporter was interviewing people in the hood and there was this guy with Obama hats, t-shirts, pictures, socks (!), water bottles, etc. and she said "there's a very entrepreneurial spirit here tonight". Yeah - that's there every day! That guy walks in between traffic selling popcorn and water and umbrellas and roses and whatever else fits his fancy . . . it's always an "entrepreneurial spirit" down here. :-)
Then she asked a guy how his life would be different now that Obama is president. He looked at the reporter and said "Obama is a president for everyone. Black people, Europeans, old people, whatever you is. . ." Now, admittedly it would have been tough to identify her ethnicity with confidence, but really? "whatever you is"?!?!?!?! FUNNY! That's why you don't be handing your mic to just anyone. HA! I was crackin up!
Look, my bangs are swooping like I want them to. (mostly) And my eyes are greenish, also like I want them to. Did I tell you that when I got my Illinois license the man asked what color my eyes were and so I asked him if they could be green. He was like "usually people don't ask me what color their eyes are, but sure - if you want them to be green they can be green". So, if you ever have to give my description to the police because I get snatched or something, remember: I think my eyes are green!
More pictures of Jireh. Actually, people say they want some pictures on my blog that include me since they don't know any of the "my" kids. So this is a picture that I was in. :-)
This is Kent and he has clearly been practicing pool more than I have. The rest of these pictures are from the Agape Community Center in the south side neighborhood of Roseland. The Agape Center is a ministry of Here's Life Inner City, which is a division of Campus Crusade for Christ. Visit www.hlicchicago.org to learn more. They have many outreach programs for all ages and groups, but the one that I get to participate with is called Say Y.E.S.!, an after school program for 1st - 8th graders that offers hope through Bible teaching, alternative and positive activity options, tutoring, a safe location, and relationships with adult Christians. The Agape Center sends many children to camp each summer, and as my schedule allows I get to volunteer!
This is Shaquan. Many of the children at the Agape center need specific help with homework - and some positive one-on-one interaction. Here's another way that God is using my time in Idaho - it's not like you can't tutor kids unless you have a teaching degree, but there are things about it that clearly help. I get to teach Bible lessons during camp sessions as well - teaching the Word is definitely one of my favorite things to do! The goal of this game was to get the correct answer to multiplication questions and then "earn" the most money. I lost.
Diamond came to camp this summer. She's supposed to be working but mostly she's hoping I will take her picture. :-)
This is MarKayle and Keuan. Keuan is 7 and he accepted Christ yesterday as his Savior! He told me that he decided to go to heaven and when I asked him why he would get to go there he said "because Jesus died and I believe it!" Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or imagine . . . to Him be the glory!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
So much to say . . . so few to listen :-)
One of the things I am doing for my job is visiting Good News Clubs to help out and talk about camp. This Good News Club meets in a school on the west side. It was my first time being at a Good News Club since I was a kid. It was tons of fun (although a little hectic) and it's nice to be in various neighborhoods recruiting kids for camp. What we hope will happen is that kids will know who I am and be able to come to camp just because they know someone who will be there. We are also trying to get the leaders excited about camp so they will sign up their kids to come - it's hard to get the paperwork filled out and the kids to the bus stop and we need community partnerships for that to happen. I also been able to volunteer at Sunshine Gospel Ministries and the Agape Community Center. I definitely want to continue to look for these opportunities because it lets me spend times with kids. I have also been busy setting up meetings to talk with ministries and churches about sending their children to camp.
God is so good to give me more babies here! Her parents are joining the full-time Beechpoint staff right now too. Aaron is going to be the Program Coordinator. Marissa is also joining the full-time staff as the Food Service Coordinator. Pray for them as they are in the midst of support raising. It's been so nice to go through this transition alongside some other people who are giving their lives to missionary work. It's also nice to be joining the staff at the same time as 2 other young people. Camp is growing and changing in so many ways and it's exciting to be aligned with it. Aaron is a visionary and definitely has faith to see how things could be - I love just sitting around and dreaming with him about camp in 20 years!
This is Partners in Discipleship (PID) Central in Allegan. They get together once a week and take turns doing the lessons individually with the leaders. I got to help out while I in Michigan. I go to camp once a month for staff meetings and events. There are 50 kids in the discipleship program and 30 mentors. Some of the kids have been in the program for 5 years! Pray for mentors in Chicago and Michigan so that waiting children can begin the program with partners. This is Jabari and Jabri's extended family. They invited me to go on a wonderful outing to a place in Indiana where they had statues of Jesus from the Last Supper to the Ascension. It was beautiful and moving and powerful. It was also nice to see the family and meet a couple of new family members. The kids were really impacted by seeing the statues as well. We spent about 2 hours walking through the exhibit and then went to the Golden Corral. Look how good God is! I used to go to the Golden Corral with my Boise family and now, not only did I get to spend the day with a great family, but we went to the Golden Corral of all places. God loves me!
This is Jireh. She is Jabari and Jabri's little sister and she wants her picture to be taken too! She is about to be three and just the sweetest little girl! Her mama would want to watch me to be sure I don't just up and leave with Jireh. :-)
This is me, Tavaris, Tamyra, and Tavontay at the zoo. These kids are in PID but they don't have a mentor - they have to do the lessons by themselves and then mail them into camp. So I picked them to spend the day at the zoo. Chicago has a free zoo - how cool is that? They were so good and they played in the leaves for an hour. It's fun to watch them just be kids. I love when I get to be with kids and families. Building relationships takes time but it's definitely fun time! Thanks for reading!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Partners in Discipleship
this is my friend iesha. she's been at camp for the past 2 summers and so far we have gotten to see each other every couple of weeks. we are about to start a Bible study together that i am really excited about. last week she introduced me to baba's flavored lemonades. when you come visit i will take you - it's good stuff! courtney and katy. . . i might even like it more than a sno cone.
partners in discipleship (PID) is the beechpoint-developed follow-up program that i am working to connect kids to. i am also working to strengthen partnerships with urban ministries and churches. i've had lots of opportunities to interact with child evangelism fellowship staff and teachers and will be visiting good news clubs to help those children come to camp. the kids i mentor in PID are jabari (12) and jabri (10). get used to seeing pictures of them! this is jabari.
jabri and jabari at the park. pray for jabri that she will work hard in school even when it is difficult. pray that she will continue to be excited about God. pray that jabari will continue to desire to learn about God and that God will give me wisdom as i teach him. pray that God will raise up Christian adults who want to mentor children in a one-on-one setting and that He will bring me into contacts for this purpose. pray that children from the city will be connected to camp in a long-term way and that camp will have a generational impact in the city.
i've decided that while i am driving around i am going to start taking pictures of churches because many of their names are interesting to me. i'm going to make a portfolio of interesting church fronts/signs as a way to keep myself from being frustrated with all this driving. if this church google's itself it may not be happy to find itself on my blog under "interesting" - but since it's my first "sword of the Spirit church" i took its picture.
okay, now this one is funny and you can tell them that i said so. this is the "golden angel missionary baptist church". i took this picture out of my backseat window while sitting at a red light because i don't really understand the sentence under the name. first, what is "that"? second, why are we asking if Jesus is bigger? third, this is why you have someone proof read. real funny.