Category: South Central

Good enough

A few weeks ago, Doug and I had the privilege of attending an event hosted by Northwest Neighbors that celebrated ten years of their ministry in Northwest Pasadena. As an organization, they do significant work in the lives of youth in their community, ranging from tutoring and mentoring to leadership development and discipleship. They are… Continue reading Good enough

Ghetto no more

A few things have struck me recently about the changing identity of “urban” as it is used to describe America’s inner cities. As an “urban” minister, this word holds great weight and is filled with meaning for me in terms of the kinds of communities I feel called to: things like under-resourced, underprivileged, multi-ethnic, immigrant,… Continue reading Ghetto no more

One more

Saturday night, our phone rang and it was my sister on the line: “Can you guys turn on the T.V. and see if they are reporting anything about our neighborhood right now?” She was calling from her van where she was parked in front of her house, with two kids and a carload of groceries… Continue reading One more

“The kind people easily dismiss…”

For all of the jokes and smiles our little phone-line bullet has provided the past two days, I find myself occasionally glancing over at the little lump of metal and shuddering. I have fought back the visual memories of standing in my Chicago apartment bathroom helping one of the young men who had been one… Continue reading “The kind people easily dismiss…”

What next?

It has not been a great week so far. In fact, it’s really not been a great month, and I was just telling a friend that the verse in scripture that talks about how God will not give us more than we can bear must assume that, because of what Jesus did on the cross,… Continue reading What next?

Holy Week

Our first year living here, there was a homicide on our street on Easter Sunday. I remember sitting on our little second story porch watching detectives work the crime scene, and the coroner arrive to remove the body. The victim was shot and killed while sitting in his car, and no one we spoke with… Continue reading Holy Week

Forsaken

This morning I received an email from our Senior Lead Officer about the spike in gang violence this past week. A conflict between the Rolling 20’s (the gang that runs our street and the blocks north of us) and the Rolling 30’s (recently named one of L.A.’s “Top Ten Most Dangerous Gangs”) who control the… Continue reading Forsaken

In the world

Yesterday we went to the little park by our house. Mercy’s God-sister, Jessica, is here with us helping out for the week, and it was great to have the ability to get out of the house and to go outside and play. When we arrived at the park, we were greeted by the noise of… Continue reading In the world