I’m in the middle of the road. There are severed power lines
hanging from leaning posts, houses with broken boards over the windows, and
empty lots where such houses once stood. It’s quiet for a neighborhood – not
many people are here anymore. I’m looking directly in front of me at a concrete
barrier. “That’s the spot where the levee broke,” Pastor Johnson tells me when
he sees my eyes staring directly ahead.
hanging from leaning posts, houses with broken boards over the windows, and
empty lots where such houses once stood. It’s quiet for a neighborhood – not
many people are here anymore. I’m looking directly in front of me at a concrete
barrier. “That’s the spot where the levee broke,” Pastor Johnson tells me when
he sees my eyes staring directly ahead.
I’m one of four in an Escalade, riding around a neighborhood
I wouldn’t dare navigate on foot. As we drive by city commissioned parks and
public schools sprayed with graffiti, I listen to stories from one of the
ex-drug dealers in the back seat who is telling me that more people come to
this square mile of South Dallas to buy drugs than ‘any other hood in the city
because you can find anything under the sun here’.
I wouldn’t dare navigate on foot. As we drive by city commissioned parks and
public schools sprayed with graffiti, I listen to stories from one of the
ex-drug dealers in the back seat who is telling me that more people come to
this square mile of South Dallas to buy drugs than ‘any other hood in the city
because you can find anything under the sun here’.
Pastor Johnson and I have left the site of the new house the
Lord has blessed him with. Exactly two blocks from where the first levee in the
Ninth Ward broke. He has a vision to use this new home the Lord has blessed him
with, in an area that’s been known for nothing other than devastation, to house
missionaries coming to continue the rejuvenation of New Orleans. After we
finish a lunch of Po’boys and Cajun shrimp at a local spot under an overpass,
he tells me one of the most profound things I have heard in a while…
Lord has blessed him with. Exactly two blocks from where the first levee in the
Ninth Ward broke. He has a vision to use this new home the Lord has blessed him
with, in an area that’s been known for nothing other than devastation, to house
missionaries coming to continue the rejuvenation of New Orleans. After we
finish a lunch of Po’boys and Cajun shrimp at a local spot under an overpass,
he tells me one of the most profound things I have heard in a while…
“At the end of the day, it’s not about Katrina. It’s not about Obama- or Bush for
that matter. It’s not about black or white – it’s about bringing the Kingdom of
God here to earth. Do you know what color that looks like?”
that matter. It’s not about black or white – it’s about bringing the Kingdom of
God here to earth. Do you know what color that looks like?”
Two of the men in the Escalade I was riding around South
Dallas with were addicted to crack, heroin, and homeless less than eight
years ago. Today, they are two of the lead pastors at a church in Dallas that
is bearing phenomenal fruit. If you have kept up with recent blogs of mine you
have become familiar with the gap I have been called to stand in. On one side lie communities with a variety of devastating problems that cities all over the world face, on the other are thousands of anxious youth whose lives are about to be changed by stepping up to the plate to answer a call to serve others above themselves.
Dallas with were addicted to crack, heroin, and homeless less than eight
years ago. Today, they are two of the lead pastors at a church in Dallas that
is bearing phenomenal fruit. If you have kept up with recent blogs of mine you
have become familiar with the gap I have been called to stand in. On one side lie communities with a variety of devastating problems that cities all over the world face, on the other are thousands of anxious youth whose lives are about to be changed by stepping up to the plate to answer a call to serve others above themselves.
In the summer of 2012 youth from all over the U.S. are going to have the opportunity to meet people like Pastor Johnson and some of the
amazing pastors from South Dallas, and hear the life-changing, paradigm-shifting
testimonies God’s redemption stories have to tell. These are just two brief
excerpts of who the Lord has brought along my path as I continue to set up
several of the 13 ministry sites Adventures
Youth will be sending nearly 5,000 teens to this coming summer.
amazing pastors from South Dallas, and hear the life-changing, paradigm-shifting
testimonies God’s redemption stories have to tell. These are just two brief
excerpts of who the Lord has brought along my path as I continue to set up
several of the 13 ministry sites Adventures
Youth will be sending nearly 5,000 teens to this coming summer.
Please continue to join me in prayer as the Lord uses
myself, and my team to form connections with the right ministry partners at our
13 different locations. Your prayers for financial support as we enter an
incredibly busy year of setting up 13 different sites, recruiting and training
staff, and managing all 13 sites when summer comes are so appreciated. We
believe that the Lord has called us here for such a time as this. It has proven to be a wild couple of months so far, and I know we are nowhere near slowing down.
myself, and my team to form connections with the right ministry partners at our
13 different locations. Your prayers for financial support as we enter an
incredibly busy year of setting up 13 different sites, recruiting and training
staff, and managing all 13 sites when summer comes are so appreciated. We
believe that the Lord has called us here for such a time as this. It has proven to be a wild couple of months so far, and I know we are nowhere near slowing down.
