lukewhitmire.blogspot.com

youth bio 1.0

2011-10-27T14:33:00.001-05:00

The vision of Cross & Crown is to have indigenous people of the neighborhood be the leaders of Cross & Crown. The original vision for what is now Cross & Crown was revealed to a small group of people from a different neighborhood who felt called to move out of their circle of influence. Cross & Crown, as well as, Rock Island, continue to have significant leadership roles filled by non-indigenous individuals but over our 10 year existence more and more neighbors have began to fill leadership roles.

At Rock Island the same holds true. Ron and I both realize our responsibility with the youth of this neighborhood is not only in leading, advising and mentoring them but also to help them realize their potential in future leadership roles as we do our best to develop their passions and skills in ways that empower themselves and the people of THEIR neighborhood.

Bottom line: The future of Cross & Crown and Rock Island lies in the hands of the people of this neighborhood.

(the following has been done with permission and request (might I add, several requests) of Darvin)

Exhibit A: aka, Darvin

When we first meet Darvin 8 years ago he was just a wee lad at the age of 7. He was quiet, curious and sharp. Not much has changed for Darvin except that now he is starting to spread his social butterfly wings and is quite the conversationalist. He is still very sharp and is one of the more academically advanced students. (Don't get a big head, Darvin).

Over the course of our 8 year friendship with Darvin we have had plenty of opportunities to see him grow and mature in just about every aspect of his life. With the exception of one or two summer breaks Darvin has made an effort to come be apart of whatever is going on at Rock Island 2-3 times a week for almost 9 years!

Recentlty, Darvin has shown an interest in being apart of a fundraising experiment Ron and I started to dabble in a couple years ago. With the permission of those donating, we began posting items, such as, furniture and electronics on websites such as Craigslist and Ebay. Any sales made from these postings went directly into the "Rebuilding the Walls" program.

After much deliberation and planning we worked it out so that Darvin could take as much ownership in this venture as he wanted. Because he is of working age and we didn't want for him to have to choose between making money by getting a "real" job over choosing to hang out with two incredibly awesome, fun, hilarious, thought-provoking men (Ron and I) we decided to forge the two.

Now, Darvin works when he wants by helping pickup donations (when he can), taking all the pictures, uploading the pictures, describing the items and posting the ads online so that others can purchase them. He has seen reasonable success and now get's to make a little extra change (10% of whatever he sells) while also contributing to the betterment of his very own neighborhood. Not to mention, this, also, allows for him to continue spending some quality time with the two incredible men I mentioned earlier.

The way we, at Cross & Crown, look at it is that it's a win/win situation.

Earlier in this post I explained how the future of Cross & Crown and Rock Island is held by the men, women and youth of this neighborhood. We can't afford to lose young men and woman with the skills, knowledge and 'can-do' spirit that Darvin possesses. This little scenario is just one small scale example of how Darvin, even at the ripe age of 15, can begin contributing to the future existence and success of Cross & Crown as we strive to serve the people in this often overlooked area of Okc.

FYI, Darvin is briefly in this video at 0:07 seconds and, again, in the back ground at 2:00 and once more at 3:35 (in the white polo). This video is about 4 years ago which makes him 11 or 12 years old. He's going to love this old video : )

the answer to what you've been wondering

2011-09-08T14:16:00.004-05:00

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I go to a couple of different Walmarts here in the city and pickup food donations. It's a relatively new experiment for Walmart, in Oklahoma City anyway. It's pretty simple. Whatever meats, breads, fruits and vegetables the general public wont buy off the shelves anymore are given to us. You know, the soft fruits and meats that are 4-5 days away from 'expiring'. The foods that we affluent people won't have anything to do with anymore.

In months and years past this food that goes unbought at stores has been thrown away. Crazy. Perfectly good meat that still has several days until it 'expires' is thrown away because most people consider it too close to expiration date.

Well, not anymore. At least not at two locations. This food is now given to us at Cross & Crown in order to distribute throughout the neighborhood. At times it has been overwhelming. Some days we have been given 4-5 pallets of watermelon, nectarines and plums. Other days we have received over 1,500 lbs of frozen meats! Although it has become overwhelming at times the thought of all that food being thrown away three times a week is even more overwhelming. Overwhelming.....and frustrating.

I think if you were to ask the employees at Walmart what they thought about the whole process of donating the food they used to throw away they might tell you they wished they still threw away the food.

Here's why...

Now there's a lengthy process. Each department has to scan, organize and account for all their donations. Then the managers have to approve the donations. Then employees have to scan the donations out. It just makes for a lot more work. I get that part. Even though, I'm sure there was some type of process of accounting just throw the food away.

It's a business. Business' business is making money. Taking extra time by adding extra work without receiving extra pay isn't good business. That makes sense, too.

What doesn't make sense is waste. At least, not to me. I think throwing that extra food away is wasteful. Some don't.

For instance, Wanye (not his real name). Wayne works at Walmart and is always very helpful when we come to pickup donations. Wayne questions whether or not the donated food being given away for free is helpful or not.

Wayne asked/stated, "Does giving the food away for free not just enable people that aren't working to keep not working because you guys just give them stuff for free?"

"Shutup, stupid", I replied to Wayne. Not really.

It seemed like an honest question. Maybe one that he has spent a little time thinking about. Also, maybe a question that he had pretty well decided he knew the answer to but wanted to hear our point of view.

Pops (aka, Paul. aka, my dad) was with me this particular day. The question was directed toward him and so he went on to explain. He explained, like most of us who work at Cross & Crown have had to do from time to time, that the food we give people and families is incomplete. What we supply families with is a supplement.

Families get a box of food with a few cans of green beans, corn, a couple cans of pinto beans, fruit, some pasta noodles, rice and cereal to go along with 'expired' meat and borderline, non edible fruit and vegetables. And, they can do this once every two weeks. You think this enables people not to work?

Now, I'm not trying to be rude or sarcastic (because I know it's tough to tell the difference when you're just reading and when you can hear someone's tone in real life). I'm really not. But, that's just ignorant. According to Dictionary.com ignorant means, "lacking knowledge or information as to a particular subject or fact," or,"uniformed."
Therefore, in this particular instance, Wayne is ignorant.

That's not necessarily a bad thing though. I'm ignorant in a lot of matters. I'm, probably, ignorant in more areas of life then I'm actually....non-ignorant or wise. It just means he doesn't know any better or maybe he hasn't really thought intensely about the matter.

A family of 5 that receives a box of food containing the elements I mentioned earlier might be able to make 2-3 incomplete meals if they were to utilize every item within the box. So, the meals would look like this...

       Meal #1 - One can of green beans. One can of corn. One can of pineapples. Half a bag of rice. 1lb of ground beef (half of the meat given to them). One loaf of bread.

       Meal #2 - One can of green beans. One can of corn. One can of sliced peaches. Half a bag of rice. 1lb of ground beef (the other half of meat they received). One loaf of French bread.

       Meal #3 - One can of pinto beans. Pasta noodles (no sauce). 5 bananas. Lettuce (no dressing, croutons, sunflower seeds, tomatoes, ect. You know, all the good stuff). One bag of glazed muffins.

So there's three days worth of dinner for a family of five, assuming that they don't work and just live off of what we give them.

What are some of the first words that come to mind when you read this meal plan for the first couple days of the week for five people?

Tastey?

Filling?

Delectable?

No.
More like...
Incomplete.

Still hungry.

And, really? Bananas with pasta noodles and pinto beans?

You get the idea. People can't live off of the food we give them but it sure helps. It helps when they can save 7-8 bucks off their bill at the grocery store with the meat we give them. 3-4 dollars worth of bread. 10-15 dollars worth of canned goods. You all have been grocery shopping before. This stuff adds up but in no way would JUST these items be enough to sustain a family of 5 (and in most cases 5+).

So, if you ever have similar thoughts that Wayne had or wonder, "Hmmmm. Isn't giving people free food just enabling them to be society leeches and not to be contributors?", come find me at Cross & Crown and I'll give you a box of food to live off of for 2 weeks. At the end of the two weeks come back and we'll do it all over again. We'll see how that works for you.

(Oh, but don't forget to sign up on the food list at 8:00am, too. Be on time. No special favors : )

One of the reasons we supply food to those in need is to meet physical needs that, for whatever reason, have not and are not being meet. We believe this is important. It's important because, I think, Jesus thought it was important.

However, meeting physical needs is not our primary objective. Yes, clothes, food, shelter, education ect. are all crucial and necessary. Meeting these needs is critical for both those in need and those with the resources to do so.

It's no secret...the gospel is our primary objective.

Jesus is our primary objective.

The food, clothes, medical clinic, legal aid, whatever. These are all really great things but, if not for the message of Jesus, are nothing more than a temporary fix.

Food rots. Clothes are outgrown. Health deteriorates. The law, well, we all know how successful that has been lately.

Some people like to think of all the physical 'goods' that are offered as a "hook", if you will. A "hook", "bait", call it what you want. I guess those terms are fair since Jesus was in to making people 'fishers of men'. Whatever people want to call it, I tend to take a somewhat different approach. If meeting people's needs results in an opportunity to speak directly about Jesus, so be it. If talking directly about Jesus leads to an opportunity to meet someone's needs, even better.

I think, it is better said like this...
"We don't feed people to share the gospel. We do it because it is the gospel." - @hughhollowell

temporary mom

2011-08-11T14:33:00.000-05:00

Last week we had a group from Fort Worth, Texas come help out at Cross & Crown. Like most groups they had a plan. They had been in contact with Ron for some time and were assigned a list of tasks, projects and duties to complete while they were here.

Ron and Paul welcomed them into Oklahoma City on Sunday afternoon and gave them a run-down of Cross & Crown, Rock Island and the neighborhood. They were going to need to be well informed because they planned on staying inside the facilities overnight for the week. They were told the ins and outs of each of the buildings and given an overview of what their week would look like while helping out at the each location.

Each day the group had additonal activities for the neighborhood youth following their full schedule of projects throughout the day. Devotionals, times of worship and reflection, small group discussions, meals and games, this group did it all. They came. They saw. They conquered.

The group was tremendous but none of their scheduled, pre-planned projects were what impacted me the most. A scenerio came about while their group was here that would not have fully developed had their youth and leaders not been intentionally relational during their time in Okc. Completed projects, devotionals, sleeping in a rough neighborhood in hot, uncomfortable conditions is great and makes for really cool stories when you get home but building a relationship with a neighborhood kid who has little to no family and making a measureable impact in his real life circumstances is what's really helpful.

If you live in Okc or have school aged children that attend OKCPS you are aware that school started last week. Well, we had a student that just moved back to Okc after living in Michigan for several years. Again, like he did when he was in elementary school, some 6 years ago, he lives with his grandparents who live 4 houses down from Cross & Crown. His mom died when he was barely old enough to remember her. His dad is no where to be found. He has some extended family members who love and care for him but most times are unable to do a whole lot because they have children and families of their own and/or live in different cities.

Moving back to Okc the week before school started wasn't necessarily the most timely plan but it was, likely, the only plan because of dwindling opportunities in Michigan. So, here we are. The unlikely match of a eager, young man back from Michigan teamed up with a willing, available youth group from Texas.

The group began work early each morning and continued throughout the day until the evening hours. Meanwhile, our Michigan-migrant continued to be truant. His plan with some family members from another city to help him enroll in school didn't work out so I began piecing together as much information as I could to get him enrolled.

Tracking down immunization records from Michigan, faxes left and right, phone calls to advisors and counselors and a couple trips to the school with grandpa was all apart of the plan. I got the ball rolling on the process but I was quickly finding out that I wasn't going to be able to juggle this scenario on top of some other things that were going on that week.

In steps the available, observant Texan (I know, hard to imagine that Texans can be helpful). She told me she had been wondering, thinking and praying about this particular student all week. She told me she had talked to him a couple times about being "truant" but was never really confident that he understood the urgency concerning his status.

She had stayed up the night before praying and weeping over this student and his situation. A deceased mother. A non-existent father.

Thursday morning I set aside some responsibilities I had committed to for that morning and got ready to take the young man to enroll at school. As we were loading up to leave the Texan inquired what we were doing. I informed her that we were headed to enroll in school and she communicated an interest in tagging along. Turns out, I was just tagging along.

Quickly after arriving at the school with the young man and his spanish-speaking grandfather the helpful Texan and I noticed the rising anxiousness of the student. We both verbalized some observations we had made and tried our best to relieve as much stress as we could.

Flash-back 10-15 years ago when I was enrolling at school. It was me and mom. Or, it was me and dad. What happened was the two of us would go to school. I would sit there and answer 'yes' and 'no' when questions were directed at me. Mom would tell me what I needed to do, when I needed to do it. She filled out the paperwork. She answered all the tough questions. She calmed my nerves.

This is when availability meets opportunity...

After being bounced back and forth from a few different people at the school I was quickly coming to realize that my time and place in this scenario was over. I had done my part. My had completed my function in this particular situation. It was time for mom to take over. And, she did. And, it was awesome.

Five hours later, after lots of waiting in lines, talking with counselors and answering questions temporary mom and child had done it. He was now an official Okc student. She hugged, encouraged, taught and loved him. Just like good moms do. Her time was limited in Okc with this student but her investment is timeless.

Thanks, available, willing, observant, relational, mom.

"Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many...Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."

- 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 27

red & yellow, black & white

2011-07-30T17:11:00.000-05:00

Last week was my birthday.

Like most, I enjoy my birthday. I usually get some cool things. When I was younger I used to get the newest video games, the hottest basketball gear (ok, maybe I still got some OKC Thunder stuff this year) and other really sweet stuff.

Over the last several years I have been in a slow transition from getting gifts like the ones I mentioned above to more "adult" gifts. You know, tools, books, an occasional dress shirt or nicer, non-basketball shoes.

I'm not going to lie, it's probably time. I think my wife, Mackenzie, has had a large influence during this transition, which is a good thing. Otherwise I might still be having birthday cakes with Karl Malone and Chris Webber on them, instead of a cookie cake with "Happy Birthday" written on it.

This years birthday was great, like all, but had a little twist to it that birthdays in years past did not have.

The Friday before my birthday, which was Sunday, I was at the mission with one of our interns and seven of the neighborhood kids. We were doing what we do every Friday by going to two local Walmarts and picking up several hundred pounds of produce, frozen meats and breads.

We then continued with our normal activities by distributing these food donations throughout the neighborhood. Door to door we went and as we completed each block we continued to add more and more kids to the mix. By the end of our neighborhood, food distribution we had gathered well over fifteen kids and several more had come and gone. There was a curious mix of kids this morning.

Once we had successfully handed out all of the food throughout the neighborhood I told everyone helping that we had no additional donation pickups for the day and that we were done for the day.

So, I parked the van and trailer and headed over to Rock Island to lock it up for the day. Here's what I walked in to...

This was by far the best surprise birthday I have ever been given. The two girls pictured above (Jessica in the purple...errr, pink and Lizzy in the green, black and white) are primarily responsible for organizing this whole thing. They communicated with all the kids in the neighborhood, which I must say is a task in and of itself, and prepared this very special day for me with the help of some others.

I recently heard @ScottWilliams talk about church diversity, or, the lack thereof. He talked about how Sunday, the day most Americans meet for 'church', is the most segregated day of the week. He's right. We have our white churches, our black churches, our mexican churches and so on and so on.

He went on to give a very humorous, yet accurate, statement about today's church. He said the Kingdom of God looks more like the makeup of people in a Walmart and less like today's church. Kinda burns, huh?

Sometimes when people come to Cross & Crown they ask my dad where he goes to church. He tells them he's at church. They try rewording it another time. He knows what they're asking. They want to know where he attends on Sunday mornings. He goes on to explain how at Cross & Crown we do church every day. We meet together, we share together, we worship together and it seems like God continues to add to our gathering pretty consistently (Acts 2:44-47).

One of my favorite parts about doing church every day at Cross & Crown is that whether your red, yellow, black or white (or any other color or mixture of colors) we are what the Kingdom of God looks like as a community of believers.

When I look back at the pictures from my surprise party I think it gives me a very small glimpse of what that Kingdom will look like.

real. impact.

2011-07-16T00:49:00.001-05:00

This week I was gently reminded of a never changing truth about the work I am greatly privileged to be a part of at Cross & Crown.

This summer has been crazy. Crazy in a good way. Crazy in a, "wow, there's a whole lot of frickin' people here every day," sort of way.

We have seven interns this summer. We have had interns in the past but never more than two at one time. One of the interns is a college student. Two of the interns will be juniors in high school next year. Two of the interns will be freshmen in college next year. And, last, but certainly not least, two of the interns are college students and from the neighborhood. Which, we think, is pretty great.

One of my favorite characteristics of Cross & Crown is that it is a mission for the people of the neighborhood, run by people OF the neighborhood. The clothing room, food distribution, prayer room and some of the other larger functioning 'ministries' of Cross & Crown have been run by people of the neighborhood for several years but this summer is the first time Rock Island, primarily our elementary program, has been fortunate enough to have prior Rock Island graduates organize, coordinate and run a portion of our youth activities.

Along with the interns we have our normal gathering of youth from the neighborhood. There are a handful of the kiddos who get up bright and early every morning (well, early for a kid on summer break) to come and lend a helping hand packing boxes of food, organizing donations of clothes and clean laundry, amongst other things.

My point being, there's mucho activity and bodies every which way you turn.

If I'm not careful it's very easy for me to get caught up in all the activity. All the noise, all the motion, all the kids, all the seizing women falling on the stairs (yes, that happened this past week). There's plenty of "stuff" to do. Tasks to be done. There are continuous needs of people to be met. Legitimate needs. Never ending needs.

If I'm not careful I can loose focus of my primary objective. Very easily I concentrate my efforts on the task to be completed, the job to be done, the need to be met or the work to be done and less on the person with the need.

I think meeting the immediate need will satisfy the person. Maybe it will. For a short time. Until there's a new need.

Here was my reminder this week...

Yes, money, food, clothes, education, ect. these are all helpful items that are greatly needed. But, they aren't the single, most impactful thing we can offer.

I know what you're thinking. Offering relationship/friendship to someone is time consuming. You're right. It might even make you think that throwing some money at those in 'need' doesn't sound so bad after all because offering a relationship/friendship is a liiiiiiittle more of a commitment. That, also, is true.

Thinking something like this doesn't make you a bad person. It just makes you a shallow person. I'm kidding. Kinda.

All I'm saying is that, for me, sometimes I need a reminder of what's really impactful in changing someone's life and not just some short-term fix and this video did it for me.

God's 'unblessing'

2011-05-20T13:48:00.005-05:00

On a daily basis I have conversations, interactions and experiences with a wide range of individuals who are struggling. Struggling to survive. Struggling to provide. Struggling to find hope. Struggling to find worth. Struggling to make ends meet. Struggling to find God.

Half of my day is spent with people and families who need a helping hand. They come to get food. They come to get clothes. They come to see a doctor for $2.00 because they don't have medical insurance. Some don't have medical insurance because they don't have reputable enough jobs that offer that type of thing. Others don't have medical insurance because they don't have jobs. Some don't have jobs because they're lazy or maybe, just maybe, they can't get a job because they're 'illegal', you know, an 'alien' from, like, another country. How ridiculous, right? Who would come to a country illegally in hopes of bettering their families lives? I digress.

Why is their life like this?

Why are they struggling?

Why do I have a job and they don't?

Why does my wife have a great job that allows us to have medical insurance?

Why was I born in the "greatest nation" in the world?

Why was I born a white male in a middle-class family?

Then there is the homeless men and women. They come to eat. They come to get their clothes cleaned. Some come to shower. Some of them come for the Bible study. Some come to help out around the mission, to carry boxes, to take trash out, to unload donations. Some see the doctor. Some of them, not all, don't want to see the doctor because they don't want to be told to stop drinking, to stop smoking or to 'straighten up'. Some of them are just fine being homeless. Some are 'ok' with being 'dirty, smelly drunks'. Some of them desire something different, something better but just aren't capable of making it a reality.

Why are they homeless?

Why cant they stop?

Why do I always have clean clothes and a warm shower?

Why am I not an alcoholic?

The other half of my day is spent with youth. The kids come for a variety of reasons, also. Some come to talk. Some come to eat. Some come to play. Some come to help. Some come because they're bored. Some come because, believe it or not, they (kinda) like us. Some come because they don't want to have to go home. Some don't want to go home because home sucks. Home sucks because mom and dad are at home. Mom and dad (in most cases it's mom OR dad, not both) suck because mom and dad hit them. Getting hit sucks.

Why do their parents not care?

Why do their parents hit them?

Why did I have a good childhood?

Why was I born in to a stable, loving family?

How come my childhood was healthy?

Why did I have parents that encouraged me in school, disciplined me for my own good and who taught me how to be successful in life?

Why didn't my parents hit me?

********

Yeah, I understand and agree that there are scenarios and problems that people get themselves in to because they make bad decisions and bad decisions lead to consequences that you have to live with...but being born in to a crappy family with bad parents isn't one of them.

The easiest thing to do with 'poor people' or the homeless population is to say, "Yeah, well, if they would get a job or get off the pipe they could have the money they need to get off the streets and they wouldn't have to beg for money on the corner."

You don't know them. You don't know their story. You don't know their crappy parents that taught them nothing, that didn't care or love them and that didn't encourage them.

Then there's those criminals coming to the US illegally. Those darn scoundrels. They don't even have the decency to stay in their own country and work, they have to come to our country and take OUR jobs. Psssssh. Ridiculous, I tell you.

What do you know about being born in another country, scratching and scraping for every morsel of food you eat or sharing a room with 5 other family members in a dirt house with no water, cool air or bed to sleep on? If you're like me, not much.

So why?

For far to long I have prayed to God and thanked Him for all my 'blessings', like, being born in a great family, having good health and not having to worry about where my next meal would come from. The list goes on. I am so 'blessed', I thought. And, I am blessed, just not entirely how I have always thought.

If I'm 'blessed' because I was born in to a loving family with parents who cared for me when I was young what does that make the boy who was born in to a crack smoking, pill popping, no food on the table, no help with homework, no discipline, no care, broken home with parents who abused him?

Is that child 'un-blessed' by God?

Fast forward several years down the road and now that child who was born in to the crappy home life with no love, care or direction is now the homeless man on the street corner who we immediately label as a lazy, good for nothing thief.

Seems fair.

I refuse that idea.

I refuse the notion that my all-loving, all-powerful, all-knowing God would play favorites with His creation (Unless, we're going OT and we are speaking, strictly, in terms of the Israelites). The idea that my God, the God who holds time in His hands, the God that spoke the world and myself in to existence, would 'bless' me with a wonderful family and circumstances at birth and then in the same breath 'un-bless' another child by allowing he/she to be born in to a ridiculous scenario like the one I spoke of earlier is unacceptable.

"Well", you say, "What about God being sovereign?"

Don't get me wrong. I believe God is sovereign. I trust that God is sovereign.

What I don't trust is us. We are sinful. God gives us the ability to choose and more times than not we choose wrong. We act wrong. We treat others wrong. We do wrong. We have created a mess. Our mess has gotten out of hand and as a result this world is a mess.

********

Let's take a look at a conversation Jesus had with His disciples concerning a man who appeared to be 'unblessed' in terms of his physical state.

John 9:2 says this,

"His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Wow. Such compassion, right? The disciples communicate little concern for the man or his blindness but, rather, they are interested solely about the cause of his problem.

I can relate. I think a lot of us can. We see the beggar on the street corner with the sign that reads, "Hungry. Anything helps", and are initial thought isn't, "Hmmm, I wonder what he likes on his cheese burger....or if he even likes cheese on his burger....or if he even likes burgers."

No, our first thought is something, like, "What a good for nothing, lazy bum. I wonder how he got to where he is at now?" Or, something along those lines.

Then there are those who are somewhat compassionate who might even question how he got to where he is now. You might have genuine concern for the person and so you take the next step. Maybe, we think, if we can identify his problem we can formulate a solution. I don't think having this type of mindset is necessarily a bad thing but it sure doesn't seem to be the approach Jesus takes.

Jesus replies to his disciples in verse 3 with the following,

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him."

When the disciples approach the blind man they recognize a problem, the mans' blindness. Their assumption is that his problem had to have had an equation, a sequence of bad decisions, or in this case sins, that lead to his condition. In the disciples defense the Old Testament does mention a few times how the sin of one, such as a mother or father, would result in off-spring being punished (Hosea 4:6).

Jesus, on the other hand, does things a little differently. He explains how neither the man nor his parents are responsible for his condition, but, rather, his condition exists so that God's power and presence might be displayed, showcased or modeled. In other words, evidence of His works.

You know the rest of the story. Jesus does His thing. He spits in the dirt, rubs it in the dude's eyes and then tells him to go do a cannonball in the pool. Game over.

Too often we want an explanation, a reason or a formula when things go wrong. We want to know why a family member has cancer. We want to know why the tsunami. We want to know why good things happen to bad people and why bad things happen to good people.

Why?

Why?

Why?

********

If Jesus walked the earth, like He did back in the day, I think He might give us a similar answer that He gave the disciples in the story about the blind man. In other words, He might give us one of those often indirect, sometimes confusing, but always truth-filled parables.

You know, the answers that frustrate the dog out of you because you really just wanted a 'yes' or 'no' answer to your question but you end up getting a 'knock and the door shall be open; seek and ye shall find", response. Not always fun.

What I have come to think, learn and believe is that, maybe, just maybe, a lot of the questions we have about circumstances, worldly happenings, and the 'whys' in life might be more a result of a sinful world and less about God pouring down His punishment and wrath or lack of control over earthly happenings.

Again, God is sovereign. God is in control. God is love. His love gives us an opportunity to choose. An opportunity to choose means an opportunity to not choose. Not choosing results in sin and sin gives way to a whole nother world of existence. We live in a world of choice and sin. A sinful world is painful and unfair at times, most of the time.

With that being said, I don't think God chooses to 'bless' and 'un-bless' His children in many circumstances. Can and does God choose to bless His children? Absolutely.

There are countless stories and examples of God blessing people and nations throughout the Scriptures. Matthew 25:34-40 tells about God's blessing to those who treat others with love. Hebrews 12:5-11 and James 1:12 even speak about God's discipline being a blessing to those He loves and hardship being a form of blessing, in some cases. Then there's the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus goes against all normal thought processes and gives one of those 'first shall be last and last shall be first' talks by speaking about how the poor, meek and those who mourn are and will be blessed.

Blessings from God do exist but that doesn't mean that any and everything we deem as a 'blessing' from God is in fact a blessing from God. Maybe, rather than my circumstances being a 'blessing' from God I was just born in the right place at the right time. Whereas, the now homeless man who was born in to the less fortunate living circumstances wasn't born 'unblessed' but rather born in the wrong place at the wrong time. Neither circumstance a result of our own doing nor some type of 'blessed' nor 'unblessed' scenario.

I think this guy says it better...

"About a year ago, Tanya was walking back to the rooming house after having a fight with her boyfriend. It was late at night, and to get there, she had to cross Martin Luther King Blvd, which has five lanes.

Like I said, it was late at night, and on that section of MLK, the street light was burned out. And Tanya was wearing dark clothes.

The drunk driver never saw her. He hit her dead on, ran over her and drug her now dead body about 300 yards. He said later he thought he had hit a dog.

I preached her funeral, and I said the sort of things one says at a funeral, but inside I was screaming -

Why God? Why Tanya?

The church did not have any really good answers in that moment.

The reporter on the TV said Tanya was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Personally, I think that reporter was, in that moment, quite Jesus-like in her theology.

We like to see our prosperity, our good family, our happy lives, our full stomachs as signs of God’s favor, as evidence of our doing “the right things”.

- Hugh Hollowell

Wrong place. Wrong time.

Hugh goes on to tell, I think, another helpful story that I will end with...

Last spring, I was invited to a small group meeting a local college ministry puts on in order to talk about Love Wins, to see if any of them wanted to volunteer. I thought I was the main event, but they told me they had to do the Bible Study first.

The passage was the story of the rich young ruler, who comes to Jesus for advice, and then Jesus tells him to sell everything he has and to give it to the poor. The people in the small group were having a tough time with this.

After hearing that story read, a young guy in the room – richer than 80% of the planet, born the predominant race and the most privileged gender in the wealthiest country in the world – the very epitome of a rich young ruler to the majority of our planet – it was then that this kid said,”I think the important thing to keep in mind is to have a balanced view. After all, God gives us our possessions for a reason, and—”

It was then that I lost it.

“Hold on”, I said. “God didn’t give you your possessions. You have those things because you paid money for them. You had money to spend because you are employed. You are employed because you are well educated and look trustworthy to employers, both benefits of growing up white and male and inheriting a culture built on stolen land with the labor of enslaved people.”

You would have thought I drop kicked a kitten across the room.

Look – I have a congregant who lives in a car. And at night, when its 25 degrees and she is shivering and shaking and wanting to turn the car on for heat but knowing she does not have the money for gas – all the while crying out to God and praying for warmth… but no warmth comes.

So if you tell me that God has given this rich young ruler in that overheated living room his possessions while leaving my friend in the car to shiver, I call shenanigans. Because if that is true, then you are saying that God loves this kid more than he does my friend in her car. Or more than he does the 80% of the planet that lives on less than $10 a day.

You are not better than they are. You are just better off. "

To read Hugh's entire post on this subject click here.

This is the challenge we face now. We all know people or know of people that have awfully unfair circumstances. If you don't know them personally I bet you know someone who does know them personally. That person, family or group of people is your opportunity to get involved,

"...so that the works of God might be displayed in him."

Help Wanted

2011-03-26T19:23:00.002-06:00

On Tuesday, April 12th at 9:00 am we (and hopefully you) at Cross & Crown Mission will be distributing boxes of food and personal care items to 400 families. We are excited about this opportunity to team up with Feed the Children in a program called, "Americans Feeding Americans." You can check out some more details here.

We are in great need of volunteers for this event and are looking to get anywhere from 50-75 individuals to commit their time and energy.

Here is a list of a few other things that we are looking to get our hands on for this 3-4 hour event...

   * t-shirts! Because this event will involve several hundred individuals we would like to be able to identify those who are helping. So, we figured either everyone that is helping should wear the same shirt or everyone helping wear no shirt. Shirts won.

   * pallet jack & fork lift. Pretty self explanatory. There will be a bunch of food on pallets and so we need something to lift and move the pallets. We don't have one. We want one. Do you have one?

   *YOU! Again, we need 50-75 bodies to make this thing happen. On any given day at Cross & Crown we have somewhere between 15-20 volunteers. We need more than double this amount in order to make this thing happen.

We are, also, very excited about this event because it will take place in the parking lot of our newly acquired building at 1900 NW10th, the old Whittier school building. We are excited about this opportunity to meet and begin relationship with many new families in the neighborhood.

If you are interested in being apart of this effort in any form whether it be t-shirts, materials or your services please call 232-7696 and leave a message for Paul.

Spring Break 2011 Rock Island Style

2011-03-21T18:16:00.126-06:00

This past week the schools, teachers and students of Oklahoma City observed several days of Spring Break. During this time we at Cross and Crown closed down the food pantry, clothing room and other ministries in order to focus our attention on the kids.

Monday and Wednesday morning 15-20 kids from the neighborhood helped Ron and I pick up some food donations and then deliver the food throughout the neighborhood.

Similar to the week before, the kids organized fruits, vegetables, frozen meats, breads and other foods in 60-75 boxes each day and then traveled with us throughout the neighborhood going door to door to deliver each family a nice Spring Break food basket. The kids enjoyed themselves and the families were very appreciative. Everyone wins!

Following their hard work and help we cooked up some pizzas and snacks for the kids, hit the computers and video games for a couple hours and then called it a day.

Tuesday we gathered up 20 some odd kids and headed to go skating. We had a delicious meal at CiCi's Pizza and then hit the rink. The skating outing was a first time experience for some of the kids, as you can see from the pictures with most of the girls clinging to the side rails and walls.

Some of the kids walked away from the rink with bruises to remind them of SB2011 Rock Island style for days to come. There were kids falling and splattering all over the rink every time you turned around. It was awesome.

Below are some pictures and videos from our neighborhood food excursion and skating adventure.

Be warned: some of the videos may contain footage of ridiculous dance moves that should never be mimicked or attempted. Enjoy!

Loaves and fishes

2011-03-10T12:11:00.002-06:00

Wednesdays are normally reserved for the elementary kids at Rock Island but this Wednesday had a little different look.

Instead of the typical Wednesday look of video games, pizza and lots of noise Ron, Paul, myself and several of the junior high/high school Rock Island'ers picked up a couple thousand pounds of frozen meats, fruits, breads and potatoes.

We then distributed all of this goodness to neighbors throughout the neighborhood. Some we knew and others we met for the first time.

This one, relatively simple, act that we were able to do yesterday is one of my favorite occurrences at my job.

People getting food is great but that's not what I'm talking about.

One of my favorite aspects of my job is when the youth from Rock Island contribute and invest in THEIR neighborhood.

Even though they may not realize it or completely grasp the significance of it all, it's crucial that these kids learn and practice practical ways they can influence and make an impact in their community; both now and in the future.

One of the most crucial truths we have learned firsthand about impacting this neighborhood is that there must be indigenous leaders.

We can try to develop ideas, programs and ministries to help stabilize this community but long, lasting impact FOR THIS neighborhood will be performed by people OF THIS neighborhood.

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No school and some snowy fun

2011-03-05T16:39:00.000-06:00

Ron, myself and some of the boys from the neighborhood did some snow Olympics a few weeks back. Here are a few pictures displaying our work...
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Isaiah 61:4 in action

2011-01-28T12:29:00.001-06:00

"They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations." - Isaiah 61:4

As of January 25, 2011 Cross and Crown Mission is now the proud owner of the old Whittier Elementary School building located at 1900 NW10. It is a three story building with long hallways, big rooms and lots of space (basketball courts require a lot of space, hmmmm).

Below you can check out some very unprofessional, blurry pictures taken by myself with my camera phone. Paul closed on the building at 3:00 Tuesday afternoon and as soon as Ron and I got word of the news we quickly rounded up the Rock Island kids that wanted to check it out.

Most of the kids were excited to browse through the building because it has a old, vacant, haunted house feel to it. I can't blame them. It's old. It's rough. It has a lot....a lot of work to be done. As you can see from some of the pictures, we, along with the help of many partnering churches and individuals, have a lot of work to do.

There have been several individuals and, undoubtedly, will be more who will ask, suggest and question whether or not this building is worth the time, energy and investment to restore. And, I can't blame them. That's the same thing I, along with countless others, thought when the original, founding group laid eyes on the building that is now Cross and Crown.

Something I have learned during my time at Cross and Crown/Rock Island is that God has a special interest in restoring and transforming. In the Old Testament God restores people (Saul/Paul), nations (Israel) and even buildings (the Temple).

I happen to believe that God is still in the business of restoration. I've seen individuals restored from addictions and in relationships with others. I've seen homes and buildings restored and transformed through Christ-followers, his hands and feet, from this very neighborhood.

I would love for this building to be restored and completed in the next couple months. I would love for 400 people to come at the snap of a finger with cars full of money, shovels, paint, brooms and other tools to knock this project out asap. I also know that God's faithfulness and timing never fails. His word is good. And, because I know this, I know that I, that we, might have to wait.

"LORD, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God." - Psalm 38:15

"Since ancient times no one has heard,no ear has perceived,no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him." - Isaiah 64:4

But, until then, we will be doing the best we can to recruit professionals, located supplies and find bodies that want to get dirty. If interested or curious as to how you can help in any way you can contact us in one of the following ways.....

Phone - (405) 232-7696

or...

Email - crossandcrownmission@gmail.com

or...

leave a comment and/or contact information in the comment section of this blog.

Loaves and soup...and salad?

2011-01-27T15:55:00.010-06:00

On Thursday, February 10, 2011 Panera Bread on 15th and Bryant in Spring Creek Shopping Center will donate 10% of their sales to Cross and Crown Mission. So, between 5:00 and 8:00 pm grab you a couple sandwiches, some soup or a salad and, like, 25 cookies knowing that a portion of your purchase goes directly to Cross and Crown! See you there!

Long time no C

2011-01-20T14:30:00.000-06:00

Now...

...and then.

"C", as in, Cory.

We haven't seen this kid, now young man, in close to 3 or 4 years. Last time we saw him was when he and his family still lived across the street and a few doors down from Cross and Crown.

A lot has changed since the last time we saw Cory, both physically and maturity wise.

He has matured from the pesky, undersized, skate boarding, problem child we once knew to a nice looking, mild mannered, respectful, still skate boarding, young man.

Cory now lives in Missouri with the rest of his family but made it back to OKC for a couple weeks to spend some time with his long distance best friend who still lives in the neighborhood.

Cory initially planned to spend a couple weeks in the city over Christmas break but after a significant miscommunication between he and some of his extended family has been stranded here in the city.

Because Cory had some extra time on his hands while in the neighborhood we were privileged to visit with him several times. We talked about future goals, school (and how missing 2 weeks of school or more could definitely affect those goals), family and decision making.

There are two major realizations/confirmations I walked away with during our extended time with Cory.

First, I am genuinely optimistic for Cory. Even though Cory has a lot stacked against him and has some tough circumstances; he seems to be rising above those circumstances and staying, for the most part, on a straight path.

Second, after talking with Cory about both past and present we both laughed when we verbally confirmed that Cory is the only individual that I have baptized both spiritually and toilet-ually.

It's a long story, but, basically, back in the day Cory got a little carried away one day at Rock Island and when he got upset he ended up throwing nacho cheese all over Rock Island. Whenever I confronted him to clean it up he then responded by throwing the nacho cheese on me while cursedly refusing to clean up the rest. I then did what any good, Christ-like mentor, parental or fatherly figure would do and physically grabbed him and dumped his head and face in the toilet.

The old is gone and the new has come, right? Not exactly how it worked. But, if I remember correctly, he did clean up the nacho cheese after he dried his head off...

Anyways, Cory informed us this past Sunday that he had worked out a plan with his aunt who lives nearby to get him back home to Mizzouri.

So, until next time, Cory, we pray the best for you and anxiously await the next time you return to the neighborhood. We love you and God bless.

Now...

...and then.

Tis The Season

2010-12-10T10:21:00.000-06:00

There has been lots of activity at Cross and Crown during this Christmas season and if you're interested in being apart of all or some of what's left then here is how you can help...

1. Sunday Worship

This Sunday (December 12) we will be having our Christmas celebration. It starts at 6:00 with our meal followed by a time of worship at 6:30. Then, around 7:15 or so, following the worship, we will wrap up the night by giving away warm jackets/coats, beanies/toboggans, gloves, scarves and blankets to each family member or individual.

During this time we will, also, be keeping our eyes open for families with younger children to select a toy or present from a small selection of gifts that we have collected throughout the past year.

2. Food Pantry/Clothing Room

As usual, the food pantry and clothing room will be open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to the neighborhood and we are always excited to have some new volunteers helping and praying for the people that come with need for the day.

3. Rock Island

Historically, during the Christmas season Rock Island has done something memorable with and for the most consistent, regular attendees during the previous school semester. This year we're planning on the same.

In years past we have done gift exchanges (Dirty Santa), delivered gifts to families of Rock Island students and even had the old, traditional 'Christmas Party' with punch and cookies but this year we want to do something that we have, somewhat, gotten away from at Rock Island.

We want to get them out of their normal, comfortable setting of their neighborhood and experience, for some the first time, another part of Oklahoma City. It may seem, kinda, silly or insignificant to you or someone else reading this but what we have learned is anytime we can get the kids out of their routine, everyday environment we are able to see a whole different side of some of the kids.

This year we are teaming up with a small group of youth from a church in another part of the city for dinner and a movie. It's a youth group 'date', of sorts.

The plan is simple. Meet up with the other group. Go eat dinner. Talk. Laugh. Go to the movie. Throw popcorn. Get reprimanded. Laugh. ~~Get a few phone numbers during the movie.~~ Talk some more. Head back to Rock Island. Don't put on a seat-belt. Get reprimanded. Put on a seat-belt. Get back to Rock Island. Merry Christmas.

This year, instead of gifts, we want to give the kids an experience. A memory. We want to give them an opportunity to meet new people in a new environment. To strengthen friendships.

Recap

So there is how you can be apart of what's going on at Cross and Crown and Rock Island these last couple days and weeks before Christmas comes and goes.

Here's how you can serve:

Sunday night - Help serve food, pass out jackets, coats, mittens and scarves. Shop the gift area with kids and families. Help clean up.
Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday - Help in the prayer room by meeting and praying for families and individuals. Carrying food boxes for women or the elderly.

Here's what you can bring/give:

Jackets/coats, toboggans, gloves, scarfs and blankets.
Small gifts/toys for children on Sunday night.
Financial gifts towards the Rock Island dinner and movie. (We may be eating at McDonald's depending on what kind of money we can pull in before next Wednesday)

If interested in helping or contributing in any way please email me at lwhitmire1@gmail.com or just show up!

love thy neighbor

2010-12-03T12:24:00.001-06:00

I love my job.

Often times, when someone inquires about my job or what I do at my job, I express how much I enjoy doing what I do and how I am thankful to be in the position that I am but, also, how I wish my job didn't have to exist.

Without getting too much into the whole discussion of the role of the church and/or the Christian duty, I will offer a suggestion which is that if the church, Christians, body of believers or whatever you want to call Christ followers really stepped up to the plate and fulfilled their total calling then places like Cross and Crown and other ministries, para-churches, shelters, food pantries ect. wouldn't be necessary. But, in the meantime, I'm happy to be where I am.

One of my favorite experiences as a full-time, staff member at Cross and Crown is getting to observe people and relationships that develop between volunteers, staff members and those who come with some sort of need.

A recent encounter I was able to observe took me a while to completely process. The encounter was between a Hispanic women, Sequroh, who works in the clothing room at Cross and Crown on a daily basis and a homeless, African-American, schizophrenic man, Michael, who sleeps across the street from Cross and Crown.

Over the last couple of years Michael has been in and around Cross and Crown for several different reasons. Food, clothing, getting his laundry done, helping out around the mission by sweeping, carrying boxes and unloading food truck deliveries, Michael has done it all. Over the course of this time he has developed several significant relationships and, undoubtedly, left lasting impressions on others.

Naturally, because of his frequent visits and Sequroh's consistent presence in the clothing room, the two of them have built a friendship. A very unique, friendship.

A couple Sunday nights back, following our meal and worship, everyone wrapped up their duties and conversations and headed out the doors. This was the Sunday night that the temperature dropped significantly following several days of warm weather. As I headed out the door and began walking down the street towards my car I noticed another car that was slowly approaching me. It was dark outside and so I was unable to identify the car until it pulled up across the street from me, directly across from Cross and Crown.

"Crap." I thought to myself as my mind started revisiting all the movie scenes where the car drives up real slow and then everyone hits the pavement. "This could be bad."

Much to my delight, the car belonged to Sequroh. After staring at the car for a brief moment the window rolled down.

"Where is Michael?"- Sequroh asked.

"Huh?" - I replied. I wasn't completely sure who she was talking about.

"Michael. Where is Michael? It is very cold." - She said as she held up a large blanket.

"Oooooh. He should be under the stairs." - I told her once I realized who she was talking about.

Once I figured out that she was bringing a blanket for Michael because of the cold weather I jogged over to her car and repeated where I thought Michael might be.

She jumped out of her car, walked into the dark, quiet brush and repeatedly questioned, "Michael? Michael? Michael?"

Finally, following Sequroh's multiple attempts to find Michael, Michael woke up from a nap, of sorts, and acknowledged Sequroh. Sequroh quickly handed the blanket to Michael and in her broken English said,
'
"Michael, here is a blanket. It is cold. Here."

Michael took the blanket and Sequroh hustled to her car without any further conversation.

Sequroh and I exchanged good-byes and went our separate ways.

The rest of the night I couldn't help but smile and laugh to myself as I considered the irony of the whole occurrence. The norms that had been crushed. The social boundaries that had been crossed.

One one hand you have Sequroh. The small, Spanish speaking, Mexican-American women who, because of her origin of birth, is deemed an 'alien' in the place she has called home the majority of her life.

On the other hand you have Michael. A much taller, African-American, former college football quarterback, schizophrenic man who is labeled and treated as an 'alien' by most because he has no place to call home ( sound familiar? not bad company if I do say so myself).

What a perfect combination, right?

So, there are the two characters of the story. One lives in a house up the street from Cross and Crown and the other lives across the street without a home. Technically, they're neighbors. Without a doubt they're more neighor'ish than I am with my actual, physical, across the street and right next door, neighbors.

Whether or not Sequroh consciously thought about Jesus' command to "love your neighbor" doesn't really matter. She did it. She's doing it.

She didn't broadcast it over the internet. She didn't put up flyers. She didn't wait until she could round up some friends so that they would think highly of her good deed. She didn't have to have a committee discuss, vote and start up a ministry all in order to get up at night in the cold and drive down the street to give a homeless friend a blanket. She just did it.

She gets its.

That's why I love my job.

What's so funny?

2010-11-19T14:01:00.001-06:00

We take Christianity too serious.

Naturally, because 'church', as most of us know it, requires us to sit in a chair or pew for an extended amount of time, be quiet, listen to a person stand up front and speak, keep our hands to ourselves, sing whenever we are instructed to and pray with our eyes closed and hands crossed, we view Christianity as, somewhat of, a gentlemen's religion.

If you have ever attended a church service were an individual didn't follow the list of do's and don'ts, aka the norm, it was probably very apparent. You know, like when you invited the kid to church when you were younger and during the prayer he tries to trade pogs with you or blurts out during the initial silence at the beginning of a prayer, "Geeez, this silence is really awkward. I wonder if your parents will take us to Chucky Cheese for lunch."

If we're not careful, that's all Christianity becomes.

A habit.

A predictable, dry, uneventful habit.

The good news is that Christianity is more than what I just described. If you really buy in to the whole 'personal relationship' with God offer then you know that Christianity is anything but a dry, uneventful experience. How crazy of a thought it is to consider that the God of creation, the one who created you, me and everything that we know desires to know us in a personal way.

The main reason I am addressing the reality that Christianity is often taken or viewed as a very straight-forward, no fun, follow the rules experience is because I don't think this idea reflects accurately on our God.

Now, don't get me wrong. Silence out of respect, following rules, honoring God by doing what is right or bowing your head out of reverence are all good things. My point is that if this is all your know and what you deem as Christianity, you are missing something.

If Jesus/God is at the center of Christianity and Christianity is, as I described earlier, predictable, dry and uneventful then doesn't that make Jesus/God the same?

I strongly disagree.

Here's an example...

Two weeks ago the staff, volunteers and 40 some odd spanish Bible study students surprised Martha, a Cross and Crown board member and active, daily worker, for her birthday. The students were all circled up studying the good news as the rest of us charged in with a couple birthday cakes singing happy birthday.

After getting over her initial shock Martha finally calmed down long enough to say thank you, while chocking back tears. If you know Martha then you know that she takes any and every opportunity to turn the praise and honor back to God. Someone drops some cake on the ground? "Hey, thank you God for giving us paper towels and water to clean it up with." Someone breaks in to her house and steals her tv? Eeeh, no biggie. "Thank you, God, for at least giving me a home for someone to break in to. You get the idea."

So, Martha talked for a few minutes about how thankful she was to God for allowing her the opportunity to come to the neighborhood that Cross and Crown is located in and how the people of the neighborhood had allowed her to be family with them.

Next, several women from the neighborhood, mostly in spanish, stood up and expressed to Martha how thankful they were for her in their class, in the baby room at Cross and Crown and just her overall, general presence at the mission.

After everyone had been given an opportunity to express their thanks to and for Martha a women named Mary stood up. Mary walked over to Martha, grabbed her behind her head with one of her hands and looked directly at her. Martha did likewise and the two stood, nearly, face to face. Side note: Mary recently had a stroke and just recently began to walk again. She, also, has paralysis on one side of her body. So, the fact that she is even able to stand up, walk and place her hand on Martha is significant in itself.

What happens next is the part that made Ron and I stop and snicker to ourselves.

So, here we have Mary and Martha...

They are standing in the center of the room together, holding each other and Mary begins signing to Martha a song in spanish about how thankful she is for her.

Next, after she finishes signing she mentions that she has a gift for Martha. Mary reaches into her purse and pulls out some perfume...

Mary gives perfume to Martha...

^"1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ² Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. ³ Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume." - John 12:1-8

As the scenario unfolded right before us I turned around to look at Ron as he was leaning over towards me and he said, "What's she going to do next? Pour the perfume all over Martha's head?"

We laughed because we both were thinking the same thing. We were both thinking about the story I mentioned above.

Predictable, dry, uneventful God? I don't think so.

My God is pretty stinkin' funny.

Give us this day our daily bread...or cake...or crackers.

2010-11-04T17:34:00.023-06:00

I don't remember Ron and I making a conscious decision to involve food in a more direct way during the Rock Island after school 'gatherings' but, somehow, it happened. The last two or three weeks, for whatever reason, food has been the source of lots of laughter and enjoyment.

For example, video 1 was a contest we decided to institute in order to get rid of some birthday cakes that were so generously donated to us at Cross and Crown. We only had a few and so we cut one up so everyone could have a slice but then decided to distribute the other two cakes to the the two kids who won the contest. The contest was pretty simple. Whoever could eat their piece of cake the fastest without using their hands wins. Simple enough. Enjoy...

The next several videos document several of the kids failed attempts to eat 6 crackers within 60 seconds. Key word, FAILED. Not one of them could conquer the challenge but don't be so quick to judge. I bet you can't either!

Here's my favorite video. Check out the panic in his face and borderline cracker explosion that nearly occurrs only seconds in to the challenge. Needless to say, FAILED!

And, here are the rest of the FAILED attempts. In this one Junior decides he would rather have 60 seconds instead of 1 minute...hmmm

and the follow up...

and finally the "bow out"...

Get ready for next weeks challenge = "Eat as many expired corn-dogs in 30 minutes as you can!"

Post Chi-Town Observations

2010-09-23T17:15:00.002-05:00

A couple weeks back the staff attended the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) conference. Every year a new city hosts the 3-4 day event and this year Chicago was the location. This was my third time to attend the CCDA conference and it was much different than the first two.

The conference's mission is 'to inspire, train, and connect Christians who seek to bear witness to the Kingdom of God by reclaiming and restoring under-resourced communities.' In other words, they have classes, workshops, speakers and on-site ministry experiences that each of us are exposed to in order to encourage new ideas, build up and strengthen existing ministries, present examples and further utilize the blessings of "stuff" that we have in a manner that is pleasing to God.

This years conference differed from previous years, in that, the majority of the classes and workshops weren't all within the 4 walls of the hotel. Most of the classes were throughout the city of Chicago at different ministries, churches and parachurches. Because most of the classes were spread out all over Chicago if gave us each opportunities to experience the business and 'big city life' of a city that is much different than Oklahoma City, Dallas or any other larger city in the south that I have lived in or visited.

Here are my observations of Chicago and what I walked away dreaming about for Cross and Crown/Rock Island...

1. Chicago is very diverse. If you know me you know that I grew up in an all white community. In high school I went to an all white school and had all white friends, with the exception of a few (what up Lays and Mike if you ever read this!). But, growing up my brother and I played a sport that is predominantly saturated with African-American players. In high school we each had two black teammates and so we thought our team was 'diverse'. Several years later once we were in college playing basketball something incredible happened...my brother and I became the minority! 10 black guys, 4 white guys and 3 hispanics!?!?! We were such world changers! - Wrong.

   My time in Chicago helped me add to my ever evolving idea of what it means to be diverse. I used to think having a black or hispanic kid at school meant we were a 'multi-cultural' school. No. Then, I thought once I was the minority in a specific setting I had truely arrived at understanding and being accepting of other races. Still no. Even working everyday in an urban setting that has each and every race and color I still haven't come to really understand what it means to be "racism free". I still have my undeserving generalizations.

   Walking Chicago's streets made me picture heaven. It wasn't because of the cleanliness, the golden slated streets and definitely not the smell. It was because all the people walking the streets were so different. You know the song, "Red and yellow, black and white...they are precious...", you know it. It made me think of what heaven will be like when people from every tribe, language and nation will bow to the name that is above every name and confess “Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”

2. We, meaning the Cross and Crown staff, need to do a better job of giving volunteers more ownership of the things that occur on a day to day basis at Cross and Crown and Rock Island. Lots, probably most, of the 'ministries' that Cross and Crown has to offer the neighborhood are each set up in a way that a minimal, consistent commitment would be sufficient. The same goes for Rock Island.

   In the past I have always allowed the volunteer to determine their own level of ownership in what goes on at Cross and Crown or Rock Island. My personal thought process is that if someone wants to get involved... they will. I don't need to force anything on them and, honestly, I don't want to force anything on someone because the potential of them not following through is very likely. Especially with the kids that come to Rock Island, the last thing they need is another person to show up for a few days/weeks and then disappear never to show up again.

   With this being said, I still haven't figured out the perfect balance of not forcing something on someone but also allowing someone the freedom and opportunity to have personal ownership in the daily, weekly and yearly happenings that God has allowed us to be apart of at Cross and Crown.

3. I want a gym. Shocking, right? We've been talking about it for couple years now but after visiting a local neighborhood ministry in Chicago I really have the bug. They have a basketball gym, a fitness/workout facility and a medical clinic all in one. But, I mean, I'm agreeable. I would be happy with just the basketball gym and some extra space to put some of our current fitness equipment in.

   Just think....we could have youth basketball teams with coaches and players from the neighborhood, as well as, teams from outside the neighborhood to help support the financial needs of maintaining the gym. Have people that are into arts and dancing teaching kids from the neighborhood. Have practices, fitness classes.....sheeeeesh. You get the idea. If it's in Gods' plan, it will happen. (I just hope that it is and that it is within the near future.)

   So, there are a few of the top ideas/thoughts I walked away with this year at CCDA. I realize that my first point was more of just a self-realization but if the second point I made interests you and you want to get more plugged in and have some of that 'ownership' I was talking about; let me know.

   Or, if my third point/idea interests you and you want to build us a gym that would be cool too. No biggie :)

lwhitmire1@gmail.com

Oh, I figured I would throw this picture in of myself, pops, bro and bro-in-law fishing a couple weeks back in Colorado. I realize it has nothing to do with my blog post but I always enjoy reading people's blogs that have pics. I figured everyone else would too....maybe not.

Remember Michael?

2010-08-27T13:33:00.000-05:00

Remember this old post several months back? Well, Michael is still around and is up to his old tricks. That's a good thing, for the most part. Aside from his occasional jail time, mostly due to trespassing and sleeping on private property, we see Michael 3-4 times a week.

In my previous post about Michael I was happy to report that he had been sleeping indoors. But, due to some roommate differences he has been forced to sleep back on the streets. He doesn't act like it bothers him much.

So, rather then tell you about what Michael has been up to, I will show you. Enjoy.

Please, pay special attention to the old-school 'yes' or 'no' note cards. Reminds me of elementary school when you would pass the note across the class room to ask a friend a question and they would check the box and send it back. Vintage.

This one is my favorite...

"Did you know that some people just pray one day a week and that is on Sunday? They really don't know if it is a God and they really don't take the time to find-out. To me that is a very dangerous way to live a life." -

Wow! Probably a more accurate description of people across the U.S. and world then he realizes.

Michael would be the first to tell you that he has a sweet tooth...

There you have it. As humorous as some of Michael's cards may be, they are equally as up-lifting. You know how people ask and wonder how God speaks today in their lives? This is one way that God speaks to me. Through Michael.

College Bound

2010-08-14T09:24:00.002-05:00

Interested in helping a Rock Island graduate pursue their education at the next level? Well, here's your chance.

His name is Dillon Espinoza and he is a graduate of Dove Science Academy here in Oklahoma City (off of NW23 and Western). He played soccer during his time at Dove and is continuing his playing days at Hillsdale College in Moore, Oklahoma. Following the very first team tryout Dillion was asked to come back the following week to play again in front of more of the team and coaches. After he came back the following week and played, he was offered a position on the team! He is the son of a Cross and Crown employee from the community. He is the oldest of four kids and has been involved with Rock Island since he was about 12 or 13 years old.

He and his parents have applied/filed all their necessary paperwork in order to receive as much financial aid as possible and are now doing their best to tighten up the remaining funds needed. Bottom line, Dillion and his parents are several hundred dollars short of finalizing his schedule, getting his books and him being 100% enrolled for the first day of class.

To their delight they have been presented with program from Hillsdale that is called, "ChurchMatch", which is a church tuition assistance program. Basically, the idea is that the potential student would be plugged in to a local church/youth group and that church would then help sponsor the student as he/she goes to college. In return, Hillsdale would match whatever amount is given from the church up to $200.00, per semester.

So there's the opportunity. If you're interested in helping Dillion continue his soccer career and his education, please contact us at Cross and Crown/Rock Island in one of the following ways.

Call us at - (405) 232-7696 - please leave a message if you aren't able to get an answer.

or

Email us at - crossandcrownmission@gmail.com

or

You can leave your contact information as a comment on this blog and I will contact you asap.

Summer Update and Happenings

2010-07-29T13:10:00.000-05:00

Sooooo......turns out summer break for kiddos is almost done and spoken for and I must say that it has been quite a summer.

Like I said in a previous blog, whenever I haven't posted in a while it's not because there hasn't been much going on but, chances are, there has been so much going on that it makes it tough to know where to start or make time to blog. (Don't get me wrong. I am not saying I can't find time to blog because I am just too busy. I do have free time but I choose to use that free time doing other things.)

Rather than write a novel about each and every occurrence that has come and gone this summer at Rock Island and Cross and Crown I will list some of the highlights (or 'lowlights' depending on how you look at them)...

the Cross and Crown Ebay Store is going pretty hardcore right now. We have had big success selling name brand, used and unused clothing items and electronics (video games, cameras, computer items). We have also had some success selling furniture items locally on Craigslist and Ebay classified. If you are interested in more about this or have no idea what I am talking about, click here... Cross & Crown Ebay Store Info and check out our store here... Ebay Store

the Rock Island youth have gone on a few different trips, such as, swimming at a local donors home, several eating-out experiences, a pool-table delivery in the Arbuckle Mountains. Also, a few of the girls have been to the zoo, movies and Frontier City with a couple of our most reliable and consistent volunteers.

the two Cross and Crown interns have been a pleasure and big help to have around.

Thursday, Family Night's have been a great addition to our summer schedule. This summer Ron and I decided to make more of an effort to get to know the families and/or overseers of several of the kids that we are involved with on a daily basis. So far we have been able to get to meet and get to know parents, grand-parents, aunts/uncles and brothers and sisters. We have celebrated 2 birthdays. We have been eating some authentic, home-made Mexican food, such as the following: gorditas, cheese enchiladas, mole (check that out here... AAAHHH! ) and flautas, to name a few. We have also been able to pray over a former Rock Island youth who is now a young man that recently graduated from high-school. He has had a few soccer tryouts at Hillsdale College during our Thursday night gatherings but each tryout he has come to pray and be prayed for before he goes to his tryout.

There you have it. A very concise, condensed summary of the summer thus far. We only have three more weeks before Oklahoma City schools start but I am sure there are a few more significant events that are yet to happen.

God has been so evident to us this summer, even through some tougher times with both kids in the youth program and with happenings at Cross and Crown. He never ceases to amaze me with his incredible ability to know what we really need, even when we think we know what we need. He is always faithful.

what difference do it make, to you?

2010-06-24T16:39:00.001-05:00

I recently finished reading the book, "What Difference Do It Make", the sequel to, "Same Kind of Different as Me." A while back I wrote a real, professional-like, book review (sarcasm) on the first book. Here it is if you are interested in checking it out... Same Kind of Different as Me.

So, I thought it would be appropriate to do the same with the second book (because I know you are all dying to read what I think about it).

I have decided to share what impacted me the most from the book and then use the default, "You'll just have to read it to really know how awesome of a book it is", excuse. Because, it really is a great read.

The most impactful idea/thought that caught my attention from the book stems from one of the co-author's, Ron Hall, suggestions about how he thinks we (Christians/the Church) should approach ending homelessness. In response to most cities having some ten or fifteen year plan to end homelessness Ron says this,

"Don't get me wrong. I'm glad the problem of homelessness is on the government's radar. It's just that the problem of homelessness will never be solved by government. That's because government can put a roof over a man's head and food in his mouth and even give him a job. But government can neither love a man nor lovingly hold him accountable. The chronically homeless, whether homeless, whether homeless through tragic circumstance or through messes of their own making, have a whole constellation of inner issues that food, shelter, and a paycheck won't fix...The chronically homeless need love, compassion, accountability, and someone to come alongside them and hold then steady as they limp along the winding, pitted road to wholeness."

So, because Ron had been to several cities and observed their ten and fifteen year plans several years in to their effort with no real progress he began to ask himself two questions:

How many homeless are in the city?

and

How many churches are in the city?

What he discovered is that, in most cases, there are more churches than homeless. This is what lead him to the following idea...

"How about if your pastor or rabbi or priest or imam motivates his or her congregation to adopt one chronically homeless person. Each body of believers, whether it's fifty or a thousand strong, would assume collective responsibility for taking in one person and loving that person back into society.

Let's pretend for a moment that this person's name is Je and the body of believers is the First Baptist Church (FBC), a congregation of three hundred people. The first order of business would be, of course, to befriend Joe. Bless him with a few dollars, take him to coffee or maybe a meal here and there- always in pairs, in public, and never in a way that could physically endanger church members, of course. While some members of the church do this work of outreach, others could check Joe's background. In a church of three hundred, there are likely law enforcement and social services personnel who could make sure Joe is not too dangerous a character to take under the church's wing.

I want to be clear about this: loving people does not mean ignoring realities on the ground... remember what Jesus told His disciples when He sent them out to reach the lost: "Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves."

But there's another side to this safety issue--because while FBC is carefully gauging whether Joe is a safe person to be around, Joe is waiting to see whether FBC people are safe themselves. Will they catch and release him? Will FBC come on strong at first, then gradually slack off until Joe only sees them on holidays?

Homeless people are used to people who "help" with one hand and hold their noses with the other. They are used to catch-and-release friends, who feel warm and fuzzy and compassionate for a few days or weeks but then abandon their efforts when the going gets tough or when the busyness of their own lives takes over.

Will FBC be faithful to tend their relationship with Joe? Will they keep his confidences as he confesses the hardship and/or wrongdoing that put him on the streets? Joe will be watching for the same thing very other human being watches for before committing to a potentially life-changing relationship: trustworthiness.

Once the relationship is established, is it possible that FBC could go the next step and get Joe off the streeets? Could he stay in a room at the church? Could FBC members chip in twenty dollars a month apiece to rent him a room elsewhere? What about food? Can the FBC women's ministry--of the men's group--stock the refrigerator wherever Joe is staying?

"Well," you might be saying, "none of this requires Joe to do anything, to accept any responsibility."

Exactly! What FBC is offering Joe is unconditional love. Part of real love is loving a person from dependence to independence. But if that is to come, it will come in time. What the Joes of the world need first is a taste of dignity, someone to love them enough to take a chance on them.

Is it possible that Joe will freeload for a while, take advantage of the situation, then split? It's not only possible, but likely, at least for a little while. The chronically homeless are often addicts, petty thieves, and practiced at the art of the small con. You don't survive on the streets by being an upright citizen.

But if Joe turns out to be unable to follow through on real change, that's fine too. FBC has done what God called it to do. Jesus said we will be judged by how we treat the hungry, the thirsty, the prisoner, the stranger. We are judged by our compassion, how we live our lives, not by how Joe ultimately lives his. God commands us to love, not to calculate the end game. It is only when Joe is loved without strings that he is set free to (eventually) turn a corner and voluntarily become accountable to those who have placed faith in him.

Moving on in the thirty-day plan, think of the no-cost resrouces available in a single church. Doctors who can provide medical care. Licensed counselors who can provide mental-health assistance. Teachers who can help Joe brush up his reading, writing, and math skills or help hiom study for the drivers license exam. Social service workers who can help Joe secure the essential documentation he needs and navigate intimidating places like the social-security office, county clerk, and the most terrifying place of all - the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Here's something else a community of faith can do that the government can't: give Joe a job. While I was walking the streets of Fort Worth, I ran into former chefs, construction workers, personnel managers, auto mechanics, executives, skilled military technicians, and stonemasons. Homelessness does not confine itself to the unskilled. In a single church, there are bound to be people who, if they can;t employ Joe directly, know someone who can. If there aren't, maybe Joe would be willing to do general maintenance of the church facility itself, paid for out of the church's mercy fund or by collective, specifically contributions of members.

If one person tried to take on Joe, the task would be daunting, overwhelming, as I can tell you from experience. But many hands make light work. And within each body of believers, there are endless caregiving possibilities, that unlike government programs, can be customized according to need. You see, in this case it really does take a village.

So far I haven't heard of any takers on my thirty-day plan. I chalk that up to two very human factors: excuses and fear. When I first started going to missions with Debbie (his wife), I was far too busy to go- in my own mind, that is. I had plenty of excuses not to go: teenagers to tend, art to sell, clients to schmooze, accounts to manage, and many, many toys that clearly needed use and maintenance. I only went with Debbie to be a good husband having been such a lousy one years before."

What a great idea, right? I think so but apparently it's not catching on very well.

Honestly, the more I think about it the less likely I think that it could really happen. But it seems really simple when you start doing the math...

I can think of ten churches in Oklahoma City off the top of my head in 20 seconds.

I can think of ten homeless men/women in Oklahoma City off the top of my head in 20 seconds.

Then consider the fact that anyone living in the Oklahoma City area or anyone that has been downtown can find a homeless person on just about any corner south of Penn Square Mall and north of Moore.

So, finding churches isn't a problem and finding a homeless person isn't an issue. So what's the problem?

I think the problem is that I can also think of ten excuses in 20 seconds a lot of churches/people give or are giving as to why it wouldn't work and, therefore, isn't happening.

As far as I have learned, which hasn't been very long, most people aren't willing to get involved with an idea like this one because of the business of life. I get that. For me, it's easy to say because it's my job. I'm down here consistently and it's part of my objective. But the idea of a whole church taking on a single person seems sooooo much more doable.

It's like a semi-famous, urban speaker Ron, Paul and I get a kick out of listening to says, "Loving poor people is a team sport." - Bart Campolo

Whether you think that comment is funny or offensive, he's right. It's just like the author, Ron Hall, said towards the end of the excerpt I quoted, "You see, in this case it really does take a village."

I don't know. Maybe it's just my lack of faith in the church as a whole. Don't get me wrong. I know there are numerous churches throughout Okc, as well as other cities, that are doing this very thing. I also recognize that there are numerous churches throughout Okc and other cities that I am not aware of that are doing this very thing.

I am just questioning why this sort of thing isn't happening more often or more consistently.

If God, through Jesus, spoke so often about the poor, how we ought to treat the poor and placed so much emphasis on the poor why aren't ideas/initiatives like this one considered more heavily?

Creative thinking

2010-05-31T12:27:00.010-05:00

So here's the deal...

As you may or may not know, Cross and Crown Mission has a clothing store that is apart of a ministry called, "Rebuilding the Walls". Through this ministry the money that is raised through the store (by way of clothing and other donated items that cost anywhere from .25 cents to 25.00 dollars) several individuals and families are supported. A few women and their families from the neighborhood are actually employed by the profits from the clothing store.

Each and every item that is in the clothing store comes by way of donation. For instance, there is an individual from the church that I attend who brings some donations that are collected throughout the weeks and brings them to us at Cross and Crown. We have one other church that has a donations closet where people from the church will bring donations from their home, workplace ect. on Sundays and Wednesdays and store them in a closet. Then, generally, every 2 or 3 weeks Ron and I will go in our 15 passenger van to pick up the donations at their location.

Once the items have been taken to the Cross and Crown store, several of the women and other volunteers sift through all the items and price things accordingly. Clothing items, yard supplies, Halloween costumes, diapers, older tv's, puppets....you name it, it's been donated. Most things that people donate are things that they have either decided aren't worth their time and effort to sell on their own or are of no value to them. But, what we have discovered is that once people have been educated on how their donations generate money for a ministry and/or project they tend to donate items that they otherwise wouldn't (i.e. electronics, appliances, nicer clothing items and other more valuable items).

The idea that we are trying to build off of is an idea that has come about due, partially, to the tougher economic times. As we all know, the economy has struggled and therefore people, rightfully, become much tighter with their money. They spend less and they give less. We, because of our 501(c)3 non-profit status, have also been greatly impacted by the stresses of the economy and people giving less. We have experienced a decline in moneys given but haven't necessarily seen as a great of a decline by way of item donations. Therefore, we have decided that we might have a greater opportunity to raise funds in the form of item donations.

The last couple months we have been experimenting with some of the more valuable donations, such as, electronics, new/unworn clothes and larger items that we physically don't have space for in the clothing room. For example, some of the items we have held back recently include a GPS, a digital picture frame, some computer networking items, a pool table and an air compressor. These are each examples of items that if we were to place in the clothing room, chances are, people from the neighborhood either wouldn't be willing to pay for or we are unwilling to price at their real value.

The experiment we have been working with is placing these types of items on Ebay and Craigslist. To this point we have started each and every item we have put on Ebay at .99 cents and let its' value determine itself. Recently we sold a collection of 10-12 bicycling t-shirts, some new and some used, on Ebay and made over $100.00. Whereas, if we would have sold them in the Cross and Crown store they would have each been sold for no more than $2.00 a piece meaning that we would have made no more than $20.00 total. And, the best part is, this money is then directly recycled back into, "Rebuilding the Walls', and, hopefully, will do well enough to fund some of the youth expenses at Rock Island.

The pool table that someone donated to us is not something that is generally donated to us. But, because they were familiar with how we sell things on Ebay and Craigslist and how the money received from the sale is to benefit a ministry, they were willing to donate the pool table.

To this point, we have collected 20-25 items through various donations that we have deemed valuable enough to sell online. Through this we have generated a few hundred dollars. The way we look at it is, that's a few hundred dollars less that someone has to give financially to Cross and Crown or that we, as staff, have to raise.

Below are pictures of a recent venture Ron, myself and 4 of the Rock Island youth took to Falls Creek in order to deliver the pool table that someone donated to us which we listed on Craigslist. We decided to use the opportunity as a work/play experience for the kids.

A group at Falls Creek found our listing online, offered to buy the table and then offered some additional funds if we were willing to deliver the table to them. We made enough money off of the sale to pay for all travel expenses and supplies, lunch and a future trip later on this summer.

   The Ebay/Craigslist experiment also has some long term potential for the kids. We think it serves as a great learning experience/skill-set for them if they choose to use it later on down the road.

   If you or someone you know is interested in hearing more about this new venture, please let us know. Also, if you or someone you know has an item or items they would like to contribute towards this cause, don't hesitate to contact us ( lwhitmire1@gmail.com or 232-7696). We even do pickups for large items!

   Here are a few pictures from our first big sale...

   8:00am Friday morning. Pool table secured and ready for delivery.

Two of the boys reaping the benefits of

their contributions towards the trip. TEDS!!!

Technically, what's in the to-go box is leftovers.

I might argue what's in the box is not fit for a human to eat

Summer Rock Island/youth schedule

2010-05-23T20:57:00.001-05:00

Yeah, you know what time it is...

Just relax and let Big Willie Style and Jazzy Jeff serenade you as they welcome in Summer 2010.

School is out and so is the new Rock Island summer schedule. Here it is...

Monday - 8:30-9:30 - Jr. High/High School Workout and Breakfast

10:30-1:00 - Jr. High/High School Volunteer @C&C

1:30-4:00 - Jr. High/High School Lunch and Hangout

Tuesday - 8:30-9:30 - Jr. High/High School Workout and Breakfast

10:30-1:00 - Jr. High/High School Volunteer @C&C

1:30-4:00 - Jr. High/High School Lunch and Ebay/Pickups

Wednesday - 8:30-9:30 - Jr. High/High School Workout and Breakfast

10:30-1:00 - Jr. High/High School Volunteer @C&C

1:30-4:00 - Lunch and Movie

Thursday - 6:00-8:00 - Family Meal/Hangout

Friday - 10:00-1:00 - Sports/Athletics at Park

So, if you're interested in hanging out with some of the youth of Rock Island this summer there's the days and times. Any and everyone welcome, well, almost anyone.

Cross and Crown will continue to have the same volunteer hours. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 10:15-1:00ish.

scattered thoughts

2010-05-17T19:34:00.000-05:00

Lately I have been struggling with some things. These issues involve several different aspects and I probably won't be able to address each of them. I'll just touch on a couple.

I generally shy away from most political arguments and let people say what they want to say about how great or how bad of a job the President is doing without putting up much resistance. Safe to say, there are things I like and things I strongly dislike about how our country and leaders are handling their very tough positions. I just opt for the 1 Timothy 2:1-4 approach because in the long run I really don't have much control or say in the matter, but I know the One who does.

The specific issue I have decided I can't handle to hear about anymore stems from the whole health-care policy. Yeah, I get it. People that aren't 'earning' their keep are getting assistance they don't 'deserve'. I mean, yeah, this goes against the 'American Dream' that America was founded upon; work hard, get what you deserve, aspire to wealth, success and fame by any means necessary. You get what you earn. Some Christians even say, "Hey, that's scriptural. 'You reap what you sow'". Well then, shoot, the Bible must be telling us to do away with the new health-care plan and everyone just get what they can afford. Everyone gets what they deserve, right? Risky. As one of my unnamed, college professors used to say, "If everyone got what they deserved we'd all be burnin' in hell."

Others argue that it's going to destroy the health-care system as a whole and the quality of care is going to decline. Very possible. In fact, I can't argue against this very probable result. I think it probably will too. Shoot, my wife is a nurse. Don't think I don't hear about this scenario regularly.

If you aren't a Christian or apart of some other type of religious oriented group or, I guess, even just a good person who cares about the well-being of other people, then yes, the idea of the working for your pay and then having an even larger portion of your pay taken away from you to provide care for a person who isn't working seems ridiculous, unfair, silly and can become frustrating. So, if you are a person I just described then this post will be of no interest to you and is a waste of your time...

If the thought of someone sitting at home all day, watching Jerry Springer and slamming down Budlight after Budlight while you are at work isn't frustrating enough, now you are having to help pay for that same person to get their ingrown fingernail surgery paid for because they can't pay for it themselves. WHAAAAAAAT?!?!?

This describes the guy who had his chances. He has his high-school education. He went to a few semesters of college but dropped out because it was too hard. He is in great health (except for being a little overweight from the couch-potatoe life style) and completely functional. He had a job a few times but decided getting up before 10:00 am was overrated. Then, he figured out how to work the system. He is milking all the government assistance programs like a pro. He even figured out a way to get Meals-on-Wheels to deliver to his house and he's only 38! Niiiiiiiice! I agree. Seems a little bit, kinda, somewhat, extremely foolish to have a cut of your income pay for this dudes medical bill just because you work hard and make a lot of money.

No where in all of God's inspired Word does it say anything about helping the lazy, leaching guy that opts out of work or earning his way. Trust me, I goggled it. In fact, I am sure a lot of you out there are clinging to 2 Thessalonians 3:10 during this time.

But I'm not even going to get into all the health care stuff (seems like I did already, huh?). Honestly, I'm just not qualified enough to get into all that goodness. But, what I will get in to is very similar. I would like to get in to the idea of the children of a person like I just described.

I want to unload on this subject a little bit because...I work with some of these kinds of kids. And, sometimes, often times, it can be super frustrating. They don't listen, they don't follow directions, they struggle interacting with the other kids and, if I'm not careful, I will express my frustration with their parents towards them.

So, here's the scenario. You have the fat, lazy, couch-potato guy who has chosen his own destiny and then he has a boy. The mom is out of the picture because the boy was really just a good time that turned into a baby. So now the boy grows up with a lazy, uninterested, leaching dad who teaches him nothing. Dad doesn't discipline him. He doesn't help him with homework because he doesn't enforce going to school unless he really just wants him out of the house during the day so that he can have sole possession of the tv. Dad doesn't feed him. So, when he does eat it's because he scavenged through the fridge and cabinets, through some junk together and choked it down. He runs the streets looking for any type of interaction from other people and hopefully it's another kid before an adult.

So, there the boy is. He has zero discipline. He has little education. He has no skills. He can't even carry on a general conversation because he doesn't attend school regularly and no one talks to him at home. He smells. He has no manners.

So what's to come of him? - I'll tell you what is to come of him...more times than not, he becomes his dad.

I'm a first hand example of this. Now, I am no where close to my father in terms of wisdom, knowledge, experience or faith. But, because of the life that he has lived (and is living), the things he taught me, the way he disciplined me, the way I observed him interact with people, the EXAMPLE he set has a lot to do with where I am today. My point, if I had a different dad growing up I would be in a different place than I am now.

I believe, the same holds true for the boy I have just described. Right now, though, he is the cute, innocent, dirty kid you see walking home from school or on the street who you have pity on because he's just a kid. He isn't to blame. He has parents that are to blame, right?

Based on the two people I just described, which one would you be more willing to give a portion of your income towards to help assist with medical care? Or other things, like, buying groceries, giving clothes or helping further education? Or what about intangible forms of help, like, building confidence, teaching discipline or spending an afternoon with just to be his friend?

Easy choice, the kid. Remember, the dad had his chance?

The boy, because of his environment, lack of teaching, lack of education ect, becomes his father. He models all he knows. 15-20 years down the line he becomes the lazy, couch-potato, governmental leach of a person his dad was. So now, his cuteness isn't there anymore because he has facial hair. The dirtiness that you once showed pity on now disgusts you because it has turned into b.o. His innocence is now replaced with life experiences that have tarnished him to become the disgusting, unapproachable guy that you drive past everyday on your way to work as he heads to the liquor store.

Here are a coupe questions I have:

Who decided that once you reach a certain age you are no longer 'helpable'?

Isn't the once innocent boy going to model the very actions, lifestyle, decision making ect. that his father modeled to him?

Some of you may be asking, "Oh, well, what about God?", "Where does God fit in to the picture?", "Don't you believe God can work a miracle in his life?".

Yes, I do. But what if the miracle involves us? What if the miracle is someone stepping up, going against the norm of what the world says is appropriate and being the catalyst to help jump start the miracle?

It's hard. I know. The whole reason I started this specific blog post is because I'm really bad at extending sympathy to all without knowing their specific life story. I assume. I assume that because someone sits at home all day, smokes, doesn't enforce their kid to go school and then wants a handout is because they're lazy. Yeah, there are people like this who know better, have been taught how to live and by their own choosing opt to get the handout rather than applying what they know is right. But what I am finding out is there are also a lot of people that don't know any better. They didn't have parents that taught them how to say, "Thank you", "No mam", "Please" and other 'common' courtesies.

What I am finding out is that sometimes that lazy guy is really just a grown up kid that doesn't know anything different.

So, I have to check myself. Consciously I have to consider my own life, my own upbringing. Isn't what I am doing, or a large portion of what I am doing, directly a result of me mirroring what my parents taught me? That's why parents teach, so their kids will know how to behave. The same can be expected from kids who haven't been taught. They don't/won't know 'how to behave'. And, just because they get older doesn't mean they will know anything different from when they were a neglected chid. They still don't know 'how to behave'.

I say all of this to say a few things...

The health care reform may suck now and may end up being a huge disaster but don't be the person who throws a fit about it all because people who haven't 'earned' their way are getting a hand out at your expense. Because, along with all the people who are taking advantage of the system, there are legitimate cases, men, women and children who can't or don't even have the tools to help themselves.

Be the person who disagrees with the health care reform because it isn't addressing the needs of the marginalized, the poor, the sick, the orphan or the widow in an appropriate manner. Not because your pocket book takes a hit.

Also, next time you begin to decide that the fat couch-potato guy is just being lazy, surprise everyone and find out their story. You might be the component God was waiting for to begin His miracle. You might be surprised.

what would you do?

2010-05-10T22:42:00.003-05:00

Today I left work confused.

The day started off relatively normal (which, I must confess, I am not exactly sure what normal is at the mission). We had a pretty full house but because we are still in the first third of the month we had a couple extra spots on the food/clothing list.

It was about 11:30 when a couple came in the doorway and made their way up the stairs. I didn't recognize them. I assumed they were new to Cross and Crown and so I did my best to explain how things worked. They said they were interested in getting some food and asked if we were a shelter. I told them some of the different things we were able to offer them but that we weren't able to offer much in the way of shelter.

They explained how they were from out of town. They came with a fair, got fired while in Oklahoma City and now were stranded. They said they could definitely use the food but shelter was their number one need.

Again, I explained that we weren't capable of housing individuals but the good news was that City Rescue Mission located downtown did a pretty good job of handling most housing/shelter needs. As I started to explain how to get to City Rescue they quickly interrupted and said that they had already been several times and had been turned away night after night because the shelter was full.

I found that a little bit peculier. First of all, City Rescue is a pretty large facility. They have mens, womens and family housing available. Secondly, most of the individuals we know and that come to Cross and Crown don't head down to City Rescue or any other shelter when it is as warm as it has been lately. Generally they head that way when it gets cold.

So, after things slowed down on the food panty end I made a phone call over to City Rescue to find out what the couple needed to do in order to get a bed for the night. The individual that I spoke with at City Rescue was very helpful and straight-forward. She told me they needed to be there by 7:00 p.m. and to have one form of i.d. Easy enough. I asked her about the shelter being full the last several nights and she informed me that they haven't had to turn anyone away in several weeks. Hmmm.

I reported back to the couple and told them what I had been told. Be there by 7:00. Have one form of i.d. I also told them the woman I spoke informed me that they hadn't run out of beds in weeks and that there were currently beds available.....

"Yeah, but we aren't separating", they quickly replied.

After some q & a I discovered that they had been offered beds but were unwilling to separate into the men's and women's dorms. They informed me how they had been married for less than 9 months and were unwilling to be apart. Even if that meant having to sleep on the streets? Yep. They both explained how they had one thing going and that was each other. Fair enough.

We talked for several more minutes and discussed some other options in the city. I directed them to some other agencies that offered meals during the day and they seemed content. I, in order to make sure they understood they had an opportunity but were choosing not to take advantage of it, rehashed their decision not to be apart for 7-8 hours in order to have a safe place to stay for the night. But, they stayed true to their decision to not be apart and ultimately decided the risk of being on the streets was not a big enough threat to split up for the night.

I get that they love each other. In all honesty, they were right, they didn't/don't have a whole lot going their way right now and so they have decided the one thing they do have going for them, each other, is too valuable to be without, even if it's only for a few hours.

I, personally, in their position, would opt for my wife and I to be apart for a few hours each night to be in a safe place, rather than the streets. I value my wife's safety in the long term and so I would choose to be apart at night, rather than together on the streets night after night. But, I can't knock them for wanting to stay together throughout their hard times. I might change my mind after having to be apart from her night after night. I don't know.

So here's my question. What would you do? Do you live on the streets with your spouse night after night? Or, do you split up each evening to sleep in a warm, safe place?

Cinco de Mayo Celebration

2010-05-07T10:29:00.002-05:00

This past Wednesday at Cross and Crown we had a little party. We were celebrating Cinco de Mayo. If you have been to Cross and Crown before you are aware that a large percentage of the individuals we serve come from hispanic/latino families. Due to this fact we decided we would celebrate a day that many of across the United States already celebrate, but for different reasons. If you are unfamiliar with what Cinco de Mayo really is I suggest you check it out here - What is Cinco de Mayo?

We had a great time. We had pizza, chips, Oreos, cokes and margaritas! Check out the picture below of Clyde... despite the way it looks, I promise, it was only ice, water and the margarita mix, nothing else. We started off the celebration at 10:30 with several of the ladies from the neighborhood singing the Mexican national anthem, followed up by a time of prayer and then the festivities began.

It was a great time and I look forward to doing it again next year already. Enjoy the pics (all the good ones were from Ron's phone, thanks Ron) and sorry for the poor quality of video but at least you can hear it, right? Here's the video... Mexican National Anthem

ShareFest 2010

2010-05-03T14:21:00.001-05:00

The first three pictures are of the recently completed fence at the home of Clyde and Judy. They are a couple that are very familiar with the staff/volunteers at Cross and Crown. Clyde actually works Monday-Thursday at Cross and Crown and is a regular attendee at several other churches and ministries across the city. He is the self-proclaimed 'minister of song' and claims to know over 2,000 church songs/hymns.

The fence was a large portion of a project done by North Church headed up by a good man, @clintsmithxp . In addition to the fence they also did some major cleanup and dumpster work as apart of ShareFestOkc 2010. Check it out. Oh, the last picture is of their dog, Missy Poo.

Yikes, Missy Poo looks grumpy.

now hiring

2010-04-23T14:36:00.003-05:00

Position: Lawn Maintenance crew member
Hours: Thursday 8:00-3:00 (or anytime you have some free time)
Requirements: must know how to operate lawn mower, weed-eater, leaf blower ect.
Pay: none

Yes, this is a joke but it's also half-way serious. The joking portion is that we aren't really hiring anyone to cut, edge or keep up with the lawns on the properties Cross and Crown owns. The serious portion is that every spring and summer, whenever the grass and weeds start to sprout up, we have an additional responsibility to keep up with several lawns.

Ron and I are generally pretty capable of knocking out the yards at Cross and Crown, Rock Island and the apartments across from the mission. But, in the last couple years through the, "Rebuilding the Walls", program (which is currently on hold) we have acquired 4 new properties. As we all know, each property represents a front and back yard, which also represents a new opportunity! Also, we have several neighborhood friends, one which just happens to be a widow (James 1:27 anyone?), that either aren't physically capable of mowing or don't have the resources to cut their yard.

Especially during the summer, because many volunteers are either students or have children that are school age, there tends to be a increase in willingness and ability to help out at Cross and Crown and Rock Island. Well, if that's you or even if that isn't you but you still desire to help out join the Cross and Crown Lawn Maintenance Team, aka, C&C-LMT. This also serves as a great way to knock out required volunteer hours for students and/or those who have to do community service.

By the way, Thursday is not the only day we need this kind of help. If you or someone you know decided to help out with this need it can be done any day and any time of day. It's not restricted to just when we are cutting the lawns.

Email me at lwhitmire1@gmail.com or leave a comment on the blog if you're interested in helping or have questions.

Here's a picture of the C&C-LMT team leader, Clyde...

Rockin the goggles full throttle. Safety first.

Speaking of Clyde, I want to thank www.NorthChurch.tv and @clintsmithxp for their help during ShareFest this past weekend. They came, they saw and they conquered at Clyde's house on Saturday despite the rain. The did serious demo work, disassembled a struggling fence and are still in the works of completing a brand new fence for Clyde and his wife, Judy. I'll post pics as soon as the job is done. Thanks again for all the individuals that were apart of the effort.

Here are some additional pictures from Thursday morning breakfast with a couple of the Rock Island boys. They did some shopping in the clothing store at Cross and Crown and came up with these outfits...

Ron and I decided our favorite part was that the three of them were actually excited about being dressed up in nice pants, collared shirts and ties. We figured they would think it was funny to dress up and make it a joke but they actually were concerned about looking nice. As you can see from the bow tie...they looked real sharp. Oh yeah, the boy in the middle, he's wearing a snowman tie with a little speaker sewn into it that plays, "Frosty the Snowman". Real sharp.

catchy titles are alot tougher to come up with than it seems

2010-04-01T15:27:00.001-06:00

Like most, I go in and out of blogging from time to time. When I don't blog it doesn't mean there isn't much going on but, rather, it usually means there is too much going on. And, on the flip side, if I am blogging a lot it means one of two things...either there isn't much going on or I am forcing myself to blog because I know I won't later. (Is that confusing? That's even confusing to me as I re-read it.)

So, based on the happenings at Rock Island and Cross and Crown lately I haven't been blogging much. But, that won't stop me from showcasing this update. Here goes...

These two index cards are notes that our friend, "Mitchell", gave to Don at Cross and Crown this past Tuesday. The cards read, "Bro Don, I am writing you, this note or letter to let you know that I did not attend, Bible class, this Tuesday. I enjoyed it, last Tuesday, and I hope that I will do good because the guys that were in the study last wk. seems very ahead of me. I hope that I will be good enough and I hope I know enough to be a regular participate of the Bible class." - "Mitchell"

Mitchell came to the Bible class that Don teaches every Tuesday morning before the food pantry and clothing room open. He attended last week but, unfortunately, he wasn't able to make it this week. It is completely voluntary and is open to any and everyone interested in participating. Most studies include 8-12 individuals and the role call looks something like this...4+ homeless men/women, 1 widow, 1 mid-twenties orphan, 1 former stripper, 1 married couple, 1 middle-class man.

As you can read/see Mitchell is concerned that the other Bible study go-ers might be a little to far ahead for him to keep up. But, he wants and hopes that he can keep pace. I think Matthew 5:6 is appropriate here...

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."

give me a break, Spring Break, that is

2010-03-08T09:31:00.000-06:00

It's the week before Spring Break for Okc schools, so, you know what that means...Luke and Ron have started planning the schedule for Spring Break.

Here's what we have decided upon for next week...

Sunday 14th - Rock Island Hangout - 3:30-5:00

Monday 15th - Rock Island Hangout 10:00am - 12:00pm

Lunch and Movie Day 12:00pm - 2:00pm

Tuesday 16th - This day is still a little bit undecided. In years past we have tried to do some on-sight hangouts and time at Rock Island but have also discovered that if we spend too many days in a row inside with all the kids things tend to get a little...somewhat...kinda, ridiculous. Kids get rowdy, space becomes cramped, pizzas are thrown across the building and the next thing you know, someone ends up with a nacho cheese helmet.

Because of the potential chaos we usually take some sort of "field trip" or off campus trip to keep these things from occurring. Previous Spring Break trips have been funded by individuals who have expressed a specific interest in sponsoring off campus experiences. This year that has not happened. So, as of now we are planning a "park day". Football, basketball, lots of gatorade and other outside activities are what we have on the agenda if nothing else develops. Which isn't a bad thing.

Sunday 21st - Rock Island Hangout - 3:30-5:00

There you have it. The immaculate Rock Island Spring Break schedule of 2010. If you are interested in being apart of the festivities or giving towards food, travel or something else creative, please, don't hesitate to hit us up.

lwhitmire1@gmail.com

a hope for the future

2010-02-19T17:13:00.000-06:00

A young man named "Brian" has been hanging out with us at Cross and Crown as of late. Brian is younger then most of the men we see in his situation. Most of the men that live a life similar to Brian's, or that we are in relationship with, tend to be in their 40's and 50's. Brian is 23.

Personally, this is the first time I have been in relationship with someone, other than a jr. high or high school student, that has come seeking guidance, help and direction and has been younger than myself. This means two things: I am getting old (currently 26) and Brian is way too young to be in the situation that he is in.

I say that Brian is too young to be in the situation that he is in, but on the other hand, he shares the same struggle that countless other young men and women his age struggle with on a daily basis. He struggles with alcohol, he admits. He says that he got caught up with the wrong crowd early on and didn't do much in school. He jumped schools a few times and ended up dropping out. Rich, poor and somewhere in the middle families each have their fair share of children that battle addictions but fail to address these issues head on. I can't be sure of it, but Brian's family appears to have addressed it head on.

Brian is homeless. He, unlike many of the older individuals who struggle with addictions, talks to his family relatively often. He stays at the Salvation Army most nights, he tells me, and he has acquired a locker at the Municipal gym as a place to keep his few possessions. He is very like-able. He is pretty quiet. He's a kid.

He should be a senior in college or have just graduated. But he's not. He is on the streets. He made adult decisions while he was still a kid and now, daily, he deals with the consequences.

I think that's what scares me most. He is 3...4...5 years older than a lot of the kids I work with on a daily basis. Just thinking about some of the boys we have in our Rock Island group now and comparing tendencies they have to past mistakes Brian has made scares me.

I have hope for Brian. Honestly, a much greater hope for him than I do for a lot of the older men with his same problem. Is my increased hope for Brian fair? Maybe not. I guess it's his youthfulness (which I get a glimpse of when he plays video games after hours with us). Maybe it's because every time I am with Brian he is sober. He is able to suppress, to some extent, his addiction for certain amounts of time. Maybe it's because I know there is some Biblical/spiritual foundation instilled in him from his family who I met last week.

Maybe it's these things along with my belief in God's power to restore life to brokenness that gives me hope.

"The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and it it to the full" - Jesus

rock island lately

2010-01-29T13:23:00.002-06:00

The last several weeks, probably close to a month and a half, we haven't had many consistent "worker-outers". From when school started through the beginning of November we had anywhere between 2-7 kids come each Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning to workout, eat breakfast and get a ride to school. But, like I said, since November there hasn't been much turnout in the mornings.

That changed this week. During our meal and worship Sunday night two of the boys asked why we hadn't been doing the workouts lately...uuuuuhhhh, we informed them that we are at Cross and Crown each day of work at 8:00 whether they show up or not. They told us they couldn't handle the three day workout plan and we did what any good youth leader would do... we called them weaklings.

We believe we have devised a reasonable plan that now addresses both physical wellness, mixed in with a little bit of spiritual wellness. Workouts are Monday and Wednesdays followed by cereal and smoothie's for breakfast. Tuesdays we have temporarily deemed, "Pray and Play". From 8:00-8:30 the kids can get on the computers, turn on the t.v. and Ron and I make breakfast. This Tuesday we had sausage, biscuits and fruit juice. After the "play" we shut everything down, head upstairs, grab a seat and observe the "pray" aspect.

In years past we have gone through one of the gospels and observed a lot of what Jesus did during his life on earth but this time around we are focusing more on how to pray. The kids that have been around long enough know that prayer is the core of anything that we do. We are trying to get past the idea that you just pray to give thanks for a meal, prayer for a sick relative, pray that the hot girl at school will say "yes", ect.

When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray this is what He told them (according to our simplified version)...

"This is how you should pray: "Father, may your name be honored. May your Kingdom come soon. 3 Give us our food day by day. 4 And forgive us our sins – just as we forgive those who have sinned against us. And don't let us yield to temptation. " - Luke 11:2-4

We are breaking this prayer down and talking about what each sentence really means, in a practical way. This past week we talked about how we can honor God at school, at home, with our friends, with our families. Each of the kids stated a way they will try to honor God this week.

After, "Pray and Play", (yeah, we know the name is bad, we are open to suggestions) we loaded up and headed to school. Check out the top quote from the ride to school and top pic...

Top quote after one of the boys dropped the "N" word in a conversation...

Ron, "Would Martin Luther King call someone the 'n' word?"

Kid 1, "He's not my daddy."

Kid 2, "He did before he was one of those Christian men."

Fair enough.

Top picture... Cereal and milk in a bag

a hot mess

2010-01-22T11:02:00.000-06:00

I learned early in my job that the whole inner-city, working in the heart of the city or the "streets", as many would say, requires you to get dirty, from time to time. The primary focus of what we do at Cross and Crown and Rock Island is based on and through relationship. Anytime you are in relationship with someone and really pour into the relationship, things are bound to get messy. The more time you invest with an individual generally leads to deeper relationship, which results in the letting down of walls and/or being real with each other. Then things just get messy.

Well, let's just say this past Tuesday Israel, one of the Rock Island elementary students, and I really broke down some walls and got real with each other. Or, at least, he got real with me.

About fifteen minutes into a rowdy game of soccer with ten or so boys from the neighborhood, Israel and I found ourselves chasing after the soccer ball into the far corner of the backyard. As we were chasing after the ball I realized a couple things. First, Israel plays soccer on a daily basis and is hispanic (you do the math). Secondly, my team is losing, badly. And lastly, I outweigh Israel by 100 lbs. That's right, I big-body Israel.

So, as Israel stumbles to the ground he puts his hands down in order to brace his fall. Luckily, one of his hands lands securely into a very moist, soft area, which lightens his fall. Not so lucky was the fact that his cushioned fall was because the neighborhood dog had laid a hot one minutes prior to our game. Gripes.

After I got rid of Israel and left him in a poopy mess I carved my way through four or five other little munchkins and scored the winning goal. Not really, but I wanted to. Once I realized the reality of what had happened I helped Israel up, with his clean hand, of course, and I escorted him to the bathroom inside of Rock Island.

As we approached the bathroom door I felt a slap on my back...Uuuuuuuh, surely that was a "good game" slap on the back from one of the other kids who was acknowledging my total dominance of Israel...I turned around only to see Israel smiling ear to ear and asked, "Did you just smear dog poop on my back?".

"No', he said as he whipped into the bathroom.

He lied. He smeared poop on the back of my t-shirt. Awesome. The only good news was that it was approaching closing time so I only had to rock the poop shirt for five or ten more minutes before I could go across to Cross and Crowns' clothing room and change out of my diaper shirt.

See, I told you inner-city work was messy.

When I got home Mackenzie and I debriefed about how each of our days went and I told her she may have had to put up with alot of crap at work today but at least she didn't get crap put on her at work.

those poor, poor people

2010-01-06T18:51:00.000-06:00

A few weeks back I was talking with a man who comes regularly to Cross and Crown on Sunday evenings for a meal and the worship. I have known him for a few years but mostly in a superficial, friendly kind of way. He is generally pretty talkative but also a little rough around the edges. As he was eating and we were waiting for the worship to start he began to ask me about myself. He was curious how I was able to be up at Cross and Crown so often. He said it seemed like every time he was up there, I was too. I informed him the reason I seemed to always be around is because... I work at Cross and Crown. Funny how that works, right?

As we continue to chat another man from the neighborhood comes and sits in between us. He isn't eating. He is there strictly for the message he tells us. The first man and I continue our conversation and he begins to ask me about why I decided to work at Cross and Crown, why I would be interested in helping with the youth, why I wouldn't work somewhere else and has gone from a less inquisitive position and into more of a, somewhat, hostile questionaire.

While I experience the Spanish Inquisition with this man the worship begins. I do my best to motion to him that the worship is starting and we need to quiet down but he isn't phased and only tries to talk over the song that has begun. I finally had to tell him we would have to finish the conversation in a few minutes and so he gradually fades out. Just as I had turned to face the front of the sanctuary, where the band was playing, the man who was sitting in between the first man and I said,

"You know why he left, right? He left because the worship started and his spirit couldn't handle being around all the worship taking place."

"Huh?", I hesitantly responded.

He told me, "The man, the man you were talking to. He left because there was something evil in him. I heard him talking to you and trying to talk down to you. Once I heard the way he was talking to you, I started praying. I prayed he wouldn't be able to be handle the Spirit of God if there was something evil in him"

Then I noticed the first man was gone, just as this man was explaining to me. Wow, I thought. I knew when the first man was talking to me there was something that just wasn't right. Like I said, I have talked to him several times but mostly about the weather, sports, family....you know.

At the conclusion of the worship the second man and I talked for several minutes. I asked how many times he has been to the Sunday night meal and worship and he said he had been 3 or 4 times. I offered him a plate of food because he came a little late but he said he comes at that time intentionally because he comes for the "spiritual food" not the "physical food" (his words, not mine). He said he likes coming to Cross and Crown because the preacher (Paul) uses the Word. He teaches from scripture and opens the Bible and doesn't just preach, he said.

I told him about how Cross and Crown is open 4 days a week to the public for food, clothing, medical clinic ect. and Bible study. He said he wasn't in need of much of anything but he was always interested in a little Bible study. I told him when and where and he has been coming ever since.

The reason I tell this story is because we are in a neighborhood that lacks alot of physical things. The neighborhood and many of its' people aren't, for the most part, affluent enough to live without some help in one form or another. But, what this neighborhood doesn't lack is spiritual awareness. Some of the people in this neighborhood are more in tune spiritually and with God than any upper-class, well off individual that I know.

See, our tendency is to think that if you have money, food, clothes or stuff then you are blessed...if you are blessed then you know God, because He is blessing you. So if that's true, then if you don't have money, clothes, food ect, you clearly aren't blessed and therefore you don't know God, otherwise you wouldn't be without.

It's like I heard a speaker say recently, "Just because something or someone is successful doesn't automatically mean God's hand is on it." He was trying to communicate that just because a person is successful doesn't necessarily mean God is blessing that person. Satan has a say about earthly matters that God allows, at times. Just look at Job. My point, just because someone is rich doesn't mean it's always a result of God blessing them. And, just because a person is poor doesn't mean it's because God is not blessing them.

I'll end with something I read recently...

"Jesus, the King of kings, left behind every privilege, every honor, every trace of his glory and consented to be born in a cold, dank stable. He lived off the land, he was homeless, he may not have owned anything more than a change of clothing. If we shun the poor and claim to know Jesus, we are utterly deluded. He, himself, was one of them."

It's pretty incredible how much I have learned from these "poor" people.

Jesus rides in on a what?

2009-12-21T11:02:00.000-06:00

Last week, as the staff and volunteers gathered together to ask God's blessing on the day and give direction to where everyone would best be able to help, one of the women from the neighborhood asked if she could stay for the day and help. We said, "No, you need to go home there is no where for you to help." Just kidding. Her name is Martha and she has been coming to Cross and Crown for 5-6 years.

Initially she came for food, now she comes for Bible study and her "Let's Start Talking" class that uses the Bible as the main teaching tool. Ha ha, we got her. Just like ole Jesus did it back in the day...offer food or meet some other monetary need, then present the Good News and see what happens.

Anyway, following Martha's introduction to everyone that had never met her, Paul asked Martha to do her best to describe why she comes and what she does while she is at Cross and Crown. Martha went on to describe, in English, how she comes every Tuesday morning for Bible class and every Monday for LST class. Once she was comfortable, she asked Paul if it would be ok if she shared a story that happened early on in her ESL class with her teacher. Paul agreed and so she began her story.

Martha explained how she and her teacher had been studying in Matthew of Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem. She stressed to us that during this study she was still somewhat new to the English language. The teacher asked Martha to read the story and then do her best to re-tell the happenings back to him. She did and it went a little something like this...

Martha - "The people see Jesus coming and they lay palm branches down on the ground for Him. They worship Him and praise Him. Jesus comes riding in on a monkey."

Teacher - ".............Jesus comes riding in on what?"

Martha - "Jesus comes riding in on a monkey."

Teacher - "A donkey. Jesus rides in on a donkey."

Martha - "Yes, Jesus rides in on a monkey."

Teacher - "No, a donkey. Jesus rides in on a donkey. Donkey."

Everyone had a good laugh, including Martha.

(This picture is the closest thing I could find of Jesus on a monkey. If I remember correctly, isn't that the "thing" from the movie, "The Never Ending Story"?.)

Thanksgiving Thoughts

2009-11-24T21:51:00.000-06:00

This past Sunday evening my wife, Mackenzie, had a conversation with one of the Cross and Crown "fathers" that has been coming since day 1. We see him every Sunday for meal and worship, Monday for AA meeting, Tuesday for Bible study and sometimes on Wednesday, just to check in with us.

He is an alcoholic and has been since he was a teenager, having his first alcohol at the age of 12. He grew up in a small Oklahoma town and now lives on the streets of OKC, literally. He has a handful of places he sleeps at on a night to night bases and time to time is able to score the floor of a laundry room when it gets too cold. He is a loner but periodically will buddy up with someone else from the streets, mostly as form of protection and friendship. We have no idea how he is still alive. His body is brittle from the abuse, both physical and substance, he has endured over the years.

He is one of the kindest, most gentle, soft-hearted men I have ever known. He is funny and you can't have a conversation with him without him intentionally jabbing your feet with his cane. Every time he does it he thinks it's the funniest thing ever and he can't contain his laughter, which makes it that much funnier.

Sunday, following our meal and worship, one of his traveling buddies told Mackenzie to be praying for our friend, Steven (it's just easier to tell a story when people have names...so, like it or not, his name is Steven). He went on to tell her that Steven had been taken to the hospital and was experiencing some other issues, which he didn't go on to explain entirely. Based on our history with Steven we assumed he had either been beat up or was sick from dealing with the cold and harsh environment.

After some investigation and asking around Mackenzie discovered that Steven had been taken to the hospital because he had a seizure. He had a seizure because he tried to not drink for a day...

Some of Steven's family, who he doesn't speak to regularly, located and contacted him. He expressed an interest in spending Thanksgiving with them and so they made a deal with him. The deal was this...be sober and come to the family Thanksgiving meal.

His body couldn't handle it. To be honest, I was surprised he tried not to drink for a day. That's how absolutely trapped he is by alcohol. His life is a struggle and his struggle is his life. His body craves it and when he doesn't feed those cravings, his body responds by shutting down.

Needless to say, Mackenzie was heart-broken to hear about Steven and his predicament. The worst part being that she, as well as anyone else that knew about Steven's situation, had very little ability to influence his situation in a positive way. It's one of those scenarios when you say, "Wow, that's sad", and then you can't do anything about it. The good news is that we saw and talked to Steven when he came to Bible study today. He was in good spirits and was back to his regular joking self. I wish I could end the story on a positive note but the bad news is he probably won't be attending the family Thanksgiving, as far as I know. Maybe his family will decide to let him still come, or maybe just to eat, or maybe they will visit him instead of him going to them. I don't know. I guess all I can do is to ask you to consider this story, think about that person you know that may not have a family to spend Thanksgiving with this year and ask them to be apart of yours.

No Place Like Home

2009-10-29T18:21:00.000-06:00

Last week the Cross and Crown staff ran our normal schedule Monday and Tuesday but then closed up shop to head to Cincinnati Wednesday through Sunday. We attended the CCDA conference with much anticipation (http://www.ccda.org). Just like two years ago, we weren't disappointed.

I enjoy the CCDA conferences in large part because it is a gathering of people, ministries and Christ followers with similar intentions. Their main focuses are "community development" (that's the "CD" part), social justice and intentional relationships while reclaiming and restoring under-resourced communities.

After going two years ago and being blown away by the speakers and workshops I had high expectations this time around. This year was just as successful. The speakers were great (Shane Claiborne is always intriguing... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4TjXZNeBZ0 ) and the workshops had just as much practical application and ideas for youth that I could ask for. But, the biggest thing I took away from the four day conference was how relational Jesus was while He walked this earth.

One of the workshop teachers said, "No significant learning occurs unless there is significant relationship", and I think Jesus modeled this best. Jesus invested the majority of His time into twelve men, His disciples. It confirmed that no matter what kind, how many, how effective or ineffective the ministries are at Cross and Crown we are to be relationally focused, as Jesus was. The food panty, clothing room, medical clinic, youth activities at Rock Island, optometrist ect. are all hooks. Hooks to get us into relationship with the people in our neighborhood.

It puts a new twist of the scripture in Matthew 28:19-20, which says, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Disciples. Disciples. Not just believers, but disciples. Jesus had 12. He invested the majority of his time with these 12. I need to do the same. The One who spoke everything into existence choose 12 lives to invest in. I need to be relationally focused and intentional about spending time and energy with a specific few.

If you're ever interested in doing the same, come check us out.

Finding Jesus?

2009-10-11T13:11:00.000-05:00

Recently a family that is involved with Cross and Crown did something that was pretty respectable. It was also a very cool idea. One of their children was getting ready to celebrate a birthday and so, like most other kids, she wanted to have some sort of a birthday party. But, rather than have a pizza party, a pool party (probably too cold for that I guess, it is October...), sleep over...what other kinds of partys do kids have these days? A Finding Nemo party? You get the idea. Instead of doing a party with the intentions of receiving presents and celebrating a day about her, she wanted to have a party and someone else receive the gifts.

She and her parents contacted me and asked if there were a couple girls from the neighborhood that we were in relationship with that would enjoy going shoppping and out to eat. The following Tuesday at Rock Island during our elementary hang out time I talked to the two best candidates for the party and they overwhelmingly said that they would like to go.

This past Friday I went to the two girls houses and picked them up after school. We then went to Rock Island and anxiously waited for the birthday girl, her mom and ten or so other girls that were apart of the party. When the girls arrived they all piled out of the cars and came to meet and great the two other girls and then they were on their way. They went to the mall to shop for a couple outfits and to eat.

After it was all said and done and I heard all that happened during the party I realized I had witnessed a practical example of the scripture in Luke when Jesus says, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

Remember growing up and telling other kids in elementary school, "I'll invite you to my birthday party if you invite me to yours"? Let's be real, the biggest threat you could hurl at someone back in the day was, "IM NOT INVITING YOU TO MY BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!" Basically you invited certain kids to your party not necessarily because you wanted them to have fun, but rather to ensure yourself of a spot at their birthday, for your own good.

That wasn't this girls intentions. She knows there is not a very good chance she will receive a return on her birthday invitation to these girls. Whether or not she knows it, she did just like the scripture says. She extended an invitation to someone that won't be able to offer her the same type of invitation. She will not be repaid. Not on earth anyway. Rather, she will be blessed.

who needs J.C. Watts?

2009-09-23T19:53:00.000-05:00

"May I have a food basket please. I know that it is close to the holiday and I am sorry to be in the position to be like a nuisance or in yall's or the way. (Then he puts his social security number and birthday)."

"Luke, Brother Luke I tried to give you some kind of donation or to give some kind of tithing, but it just wont happen. Sorry please keep helping me, if you need washing powder let me know."

"Dear God, Thank you, Cross and Crown for the food that we eat. In the name of Jesus. Amen."

"Merry XMAS and a Happy New Year"

"Luke, See how beat up this card is!? Please Bless me with a deck!!"

"Luke, Is there anyone who will starch my clothes for me. I like the clothes that was given to me, and I want them to last me, long as possible"

"K.O.M.A. Prep player of the Week 1975...Jet Player of the Week by Jet Magazine 1977... MVP at Taft Stadium OKC Preview 1975"

"Luke, May I have the same on hot dogs and the peppered beef. I talk to brother Paul last week. And I am to get with you and him about the amount and the fixin of my food baskets"

"To: Luke, May I have a food basket with a can of ham, and a can of sardines (for sho)"

The following messages on each of these note cards have been collected over the last year and a half or so from one of my favorite friends downtown. His name is Michael and until recently he was homeless. Michael was an all-state football player (an alternate to Oklahoma's own J.C. Watts) at Star Spencer high school and briefly attended college at Arkansas Pine Bluff.Michael now lives in a home where he pays rent to a few others in exchange for a room. Michael is an interesting man.

I won't say much else about Michael's personal life but I don't think he would mind if I shared some of his cards with you. The first several months, close to a year, that I knew Michael he wouldn't speak but two words to me but would hand me a envelope full of note cards. Usually his requests were simple but had to be met to perfection or he became upset. Over time, I guess once a level of trust was built, Michael began to speak more and be a little more flexible with his requests.

He is a very thankful person but is often easily aggravated. Michael openly admits he is bi-polar and from time to time deals with other struggles. Michael is a funny man and has a pretty comical personality when he is in a good mood. We see Michael pretty much every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as, most Sundays.

Michael keeps a pretty tight schedule. Honestly, he probably has a more structured plan on a week to week basis than I do. In fact, I know he does. The messages above are some of my favorite messages Michael has given me over the course of time. My favorite is the one that he ends with, "fo show". Ha ha. But, I also enjoy the Christmas card he made this past year. I wasn't the only one to receive one. Every staff member and several volunteers also received Christmas index cards from Michael.

Enjoy.

Sunday night happenings

2009-09-08T18:57:00.001-05:00

Starting this Sunday evening Cross and Crown will be starting up with our Sunday night meal and worship for anyone interested. There will be people that walk in from the neighborhood and others who drive in from Edmond and other parts of Okc. All are welcome. It is a great time to meet, eat, worship and build relationship.

Also, anyone interested in helping out with some of the youth have an opportunity to do so before the meal and worship. Starting at 4:00pm Rock Island will be open and full of kids from the neighborhood who need some homework help or just want to chat. We have been broadcasting to the youth, elementary and jr. high kids in particular, that there will be individuals on Sunday nights who will help out with homework. There were also several kids who explained they generally had their homework done by Sunday evening but still wanted to be able to participate. We told these kids they could come and chat or help out with the younger kids.

Ron and I intentionally scheduled this time on a weekend so that individuals who aren't able to help out during the work week are given an opportunity to be apart of the action.

Ideally, an individual or couple would come down to Rock Island, meet a young man or young women, help them with their homework on a consistent basis, invite them to the meal and worship at Cross and Crown and then build from there. You know, a relationship.

So, there you have it. This Sunday...

4:00-6:00 - Tutoring/Mentoring Opportunity
6:00-6:30 - Meal
6:30-7:15ish - Worship

See you there.

wake up, get swole, go to school

2009-08-24T21:46:00.000-05:00

Today marked the first day of the 2009-2010 after school program at Rock Island. Scratch that, before school and after school program.

This year Ron and I have decided to switch things up a lil bit and offer a hour and a half or so of youth activities before school starts. Because our junior high'ers don't have to be to school until 9:30 we decided we would see what would happen if we offered a opportunity to workout, shower, be feed and get a ride to school. Today was the first day this opportunity was available.

At 8:00 this morning we had 4 takers.

Here's what the workout looked like...

Warm up:
25 jumping jacks
50 jump ropes
20 lunges with arms straight out

Workout:
3X15 - Military Press on BosuBall
3X15 - Roman Chair crunches
1X15 - Bench Press
1X15 - Bench Press on BosuBall instead of bench
1X15 - Pushups
3X15 - Medicine Ball Throws While Balancing on a Inflatable Frisbee
6X - Back and Forth on the Running Ladder

Cool Down:
25 Jumping Jacks or 50 Jump Ropes
20 Lunges

Next, the girls got the shower at Cross and Crown and the boys headed over to Rock Island to clean up. Followed by some delectable smoothies prepared by Ron and myself. I went with banana and Ron went with peach. The kids ended up mixing them. Who would have guessed?

After cleanup and smoothie time Ron was took the young'ins to school and then we got back to our normal grind (that's a good thing).

I tell you this for two reasons. Primarily, just to keep you informed. I like to assume you have some interest if you're reading this blog. But, I also want to extend an invitation. Anyone looking for a free gym membership/looking for some time to disciple kids/looking to workout with a couple youngsters or have 1v1 time with a kid in the morning this is your opportunity. We work out Monday and Wednesday mornings at 8:00 am, finish at 8:35-8:40 or so and then then kids clean up. So, for those of you who work downtown and don't have to be there until 9:00 or maybe don't work on a Monday or Wednesday, here is your chance. We also have showers!

If you are wanting to shed a few lb's here is some extra motivation...Following the completion of today's workout of the girls got on the scale and yelled, "I lost 4 lb's!!!"

The active, living God

2009-08-17T21:45:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago, following the conclusion of the school store, I witnessed a fulfilled dream...

It wasn't my dream. I was just blessed to be one of the people in the dream.

One of Cross and Crown's regular volunteers pulled me aside a few weeks ago and informed me that he had experienced a dream the night before that involved myself, Ron and a couple of the youth from Rock Island. In his dream he explained that he knew how many of the young people from the neighborhood came to Rock Island, the youth center, with the mindset of receiving something. In other words, to get something we had to offer. Whether they came for food, games, entertainment or something else, he understood that, like most other youth centers/youth groups, the kids came to receive something we had to offer them. As a side note, this isn't a bad thing. Kids that come to play games, eat our food or be entertained are really just falling into our trap! We really want them to find out about Jesus, but don't tell anyone.

Next, he talked about how he understood that Ron and I did a fair amount of pouring into the kids and how that can be draining, which I gave a strong, "Amen", to. He told us that there would be two of the youth that wouldn't just come to get, get, get....but that would bless both Ron and I and be a blessing to us. Two that would bless us. He went on to name one of the boys from our group, specifically, who was in the dream and was to play a key role. He also informed us that there was another young man in the dream who was also to play a prominent role. He said he was unable to identify who the other young man was and said it may not be any of the kids that currently were involved with us at Rock Island.

As he went on to describe the dream he told us that Ron and I would be praying with the kids in a group. He said that during the prayer the young man, whom he named, would be by my side or next to me. During the prayer both the young men he told us of were to bless us, to lift us up.

So, here we go.

A couple weeks back following the conclusion of Cross and Crown's school store, after being physically and mentally drained mostly because of youth overload, Ron and I decided to rally up the youth that were helping for the day. We told them that we would finish up the day by cleaning up, getting some snacks, praying and heading home. As we started to clean up a couple boys from a youth group in Edmond showed up to help out. They have been coming off and on over the course of the summer and have been a pleasure to be around. So, we cleaned, got snacks and the kids grabbed a seat so we could debrief and pray. After a couple minutes of talking about the weeks experiences we figured it was time to wrap up and ask God's blessing over the rest of the week and the upcoming school year.

I started the prayer and asked for God's covering for the upcoming school year and for blessings over each of the kids. Then before Ron finished up the prayer he left a gap for any of the youth to pray that felt led. Now, let me clarify something before I carry on with the story. 90% of the youth that come to Cross and Crown or Rock Island haven't been to "church". They haven't grown up in Christian homes, been instructed how to pray or been around people that pray on a regular basis like most of us have. What this means is they haven't developed ideas or "common prayer topics", I'll call them, to pray about....like traditional prayers, such as, "God, thank you for this day", "God, thank you for your blessings over...", "God, please bless this family with a sick relative...", or, "God, please be with me during this situation...". Which makes what I am about to say even more incredible.

The young man, who was identified by name and said to be sitting next to me or by my side, was doing just that. He was sitting directly next to me while all the other kids were spread out sporadically throughout the sanctuary. He then went on to say the following, "God thank you for the school store and the bookbags we were all able to get for school...Thank you for Luke and Ron and all their hard work and I ask for your blessings upon them and their families. I ask that your face shine upon then and bless them".............

I ask for your face to shine upon them? I ask you to bless them and their families? Wow. Quite possibly one of the biggest, largest blessings of a prayer, that I am aware of, that has ever been prayed for me. But, that's not the end. Next, after he had finished praying, one of the young men from the youth group in Edmond began to pray. He prayed a very similar prayer. He prayed for Ron and I and the work we were apart of at Rock Island with the kids. What a blessing.

Initially I didn't connect this event with the dream that had been described to me. Hello!!! The reason the man who had the dream couldn't identify the other young man who was going to pray for us is because he has never met or seen him. In his dream he just saw that there were going to be two young men. One he knew, the other he didn't.

I'm not sure when I finally realized that the dream that was to happen...just unravelled right in front of me. But, regardless of when it was that I finally figured it out, I definitely felt the power and presence of God.

I don't tell this story to make it sound like I am anything special, because I am not. I tell this story to be an encouragement to you who read this. Know that our God is the living and active God. He still does those "edgy", "old-testament", "why doesn't God still work like he used to" in the old days, things. God doesn't just want to be apart of our Sunday services and church get-togethers. He wants to be apart of every aspect of our lives. Be encouraged and know that if you desire to feel God's presence, He's ready. Ask.

Authentic Worship

2009-08-14T11:08:00.000-05:00

"Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker"
Psalms 95:6

This is a picture I was able to take of our friend, "Oakland", at Cross and Crown Wednesday. I wrote a blog about him several posts back. He calls us his "kinfolk" and swears that my dad is his brother, that I am Danny Ainge and that my brother is Chauncy Billups. We love him and he loves us. He knows the streets better than most, but more importantly, He knows Christ.

School Store Complete

2009-07-18T02:57:00.001-05:00

It's the first of August which means for those of us at Cross and Crown the annual school store was back in session. Every August, generally about 2 weeks before school starts, Cross and Crown distributes backpacks, pencils, rulers, paper, highlighters and everything else a student might need for the school year. We, as well as the families that came to receive backpacks, were pleasantly surprised to be blessed with some unexpected items to go along with the backpacks this year. A couple days before families came to get their backpacks, we were also given of hundreds of canned drinks, potato chips, cleaning wipes, stuffed animals and crocs.

School store is one of the most enjoyable weeks of the year at Cross and Crown. We, along with many volunteers, take a break from the more traditional setup that happens throughout most weeks and focus solely on the school store.

Check out some of the action...

J-O-B-S

2009-07-18T02:56:00.000-05:00

As of late there has been a growing desire for jobs amongst the youth of Rock Island. I know, huge surprise. During one of the toughest times in history for grown adults with developed educations to get jobs, now the 16 and 17 year old kids want them! With that being said, I understand that most managers/business owners might not be super amped to hire a high school student to work for them. I also know there are alot of jobs that many grown adults and educated people consider themselves "over-certified" to work or not suitable for their needs.

So, my proposal, my need, my question to you is...do you own a business, a company or some type of establishment that is in need of workers? The summer is over halfway gone and school will start back up in less then a month. Do you have a need for workers after 3, 4 or 5 o'clock once school is over?

Maybe you do. Maybe you don't. Or maybe you kinda do or could have a position but you're not interested in hiring a kid from the neighborhood we're in because he or she is too big of a risk... There are alot of people I know, and even more I am sure that I don't know, that say they wish we were open different hours or different days because with the hours we have now they can never come because it's during the work week. They want to come help at the mission and be apart of the ministry that is already planned and going, which is great. But...

What if... what if you could use your current business or workplace as your own ministry.......You could hire on younger people and/or adults, even risky ones, just for the sake of ministry! You could secretly try to mentor or teach kids work skills that they could use in their current job and maybe even in the future. No, maybe not. You might have to spend extra time with them or give them a bigger learning curve or walk them through things more than you would like. Plus, you don't want to mix work and ministry, that's just asking for a loss in sales or more of a hassle for you because it takes up your time. And, time is money, so, hiring a "risky" kid or some guy off the streets that seems shady is basically a loss of money...and it's just ministry and you can do ministry at church or maybe even a Saturday.

Ok, really bad idea by me. But, maybe if you think it is a bad idea too and want to consider it because you like bad ideas like me, let me know... lwhitmire@hotmail.com

Not your typical youth group

2009-07-07T22:20:00.000-05:00

I'm not really sure you can classify Rock Island as a youth group. Do a cluster of young people meet in a group at Rock island? Yes. Are we a traditional youth group? No.

Typically, for sake of time and explanation, anytime someone asks Ron or myself what we do or where we work we will explain that we work at Rock Island, a youth center, in downtown Oklahoma City with kids from the neighborhood. Generally we shy away from the term "youth group" because we don't function like most youth groups people are accustomed to. We don't meet on Sundays and Wednesdays. We don't meet at set times (even though we have set times just for some form of organization) each time we get together. We don't meet, eat, sing, listen to a devotional thought, hangout and then go back home. Nothing wrong with that, that's how I grew up doing youth group, but that's not what youth group looks like at Rock Island.

Here's what "youth group" looks like at Rock Island this summer. Meet 4, sometimes 5, times per week. Carry boxes of food for families that come for assistance for a few hours a day. Mow some lawns in the neighborhood. Play some video games. Have a weekly Bible study (currently in Luke 19). Paint some houses. Pickup donations from other churches in the Okc and Edmond areas. Eat lunch together, EVERYDAY! Go swimming. Watch movies at Rock Island. Workout in the gym. Play basketball. Move families and their furniture, appliance, beds and clothing to new homes. Work in the prayer room at Cross and Crown and pray for people (some of the students translate for other volunteers also, big help!). Unload 15,000 lbs of food cans, produce and drinks at Cross and Crown.

My point is Rock Island does "youth group" a little differently then most, differently then what I was brought up doing. We didn't originally plan it this way but that's the nature of where we work and the youth we are in relationship with on a daily basis. Ron and I have learned that in order to actually have an influence in these kids lives, we have to know them, we have to learn about them and we have to be in their business. And, we are. The best way we know how to do that is to spend as much time with them as possible and get into their lives as much as possible. Do Ron and I want to strangle some of the kids sometimes because we are with them constantly on a daily basis? Yessir, but that's part of the plan. Not strangling them but being with them long enough that they can be real with us and not hold back or put up a front.

This summer has definitely been a great time of relationship building and learning for everyone involved at Rock Island. We'll see what the rest of the summer has to offer.

Ft. Worth = Success

2009-06-16T21:34:00.000-05:00

We have been back from Ft. Worth for a few days now and I am still catching up on sleep. Good news is Ron and I had Friday and Saturday to recover, just in time for the official summer program to begin Monday. Regardless of the lack of sleep the trip was one to remember, a definite success. So many stories, lots of fun, plenty of work and a great start to the summer as we solidified several relationships with kids and built up some good steam for the next few months.

We left Monday afternoon around noon and arrived several hours later in Ft. Worth, checked into our hotel and then headed to the home church for the week. When we arrived at the church we were greeted by a room full of teenagers from multiple youth groups throughout the Ft. Worth/Dallas area. After a short worship time we were divided into groups and given our assignments for the week. The Rock Island youth were broken into two different groups and teamed up with other youth groups that were also apart of the work project. Afterwords we enjoyed a great time and meal at Chilis. We then headed back to the hotel, got room assignments and then had some down time to discuss the plan for the week and talk about the theme for the work week, "Called".

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings and afternoons were all very similar. 7:00am wakeup, breakfast, paint and scrap, 12:00 lunch, paint and scrap some more and then clean up around 3:00 each day. For the most part the Rock Island youth did a pretty good job of staying on task. Of course we had the occasional paint fight and lack of interest but it all worked out and the kids got some great work done. After everyone had cleaned up we would make dinner plans. Tuesday night we ordered some pizza to be delivered to the hotel. Wednesday night we joined a youth group at their church and experienced their youth hangout (and ate pizza again). Thursday night was the big finale. We took the kids bowling and had a roommate bowling challenge. Each room would be a team and compete against the other rooms to determine who would choose where we were to eat that night. Well, my team got last, the girls got second and Ron's team won. They choose Razoos. Not bad.

Thursday night (more like Friday morning) was also the night of the epic "Ft. Worth Prank" that will go down in history as the most ridiculously planned, chaotic, yet very successful prank.

We then headed out early Friday morning and got back to OKC around 1:00pm. We had some great conversations with kids. Got to know alot more about some kids that we didn't know much about. The kids experienced being apart of a more traditional youth group. The kids shared the love of Christ. What more can you ask for?

Ft. Worth Work Camp

2009-06-01T09:53:00.000-05:00

We're going to Ft. Worth. Ten of our middle-school and high school students will be leaving for Ft. Worth this Monday, June 8th. There are a total of 8 boys, 2 girls, 2 male sponsors (Ron and myself) and 2 of our best female volunteer sponsors (Jenny and Mary).

While in Ft. Worth we will be combining our efforts with other youth ministries from the Metroplex in housing projects. We will be scrapping old paint, applying new paint and doing everything else in between. We are to meet early each morning with the other groups for breakfast and assignments and will work into the early evening each day. From there Ron and I envision campfire Bible studies and the singing of Kum Ba Ya... or something like that. Actually, we will have lots of swimming, PLENTY of showering, probably our fair share of farting (at least in the boys rooms) and time in each of the rooms for the studying of the Word.

Following the completion of our work on Thursday afternoon we will head back to the hotel to clean up and then we're off to a Rangers baseball game.

Wish us luck and please pray for our safety.

Summer on the horizon

2009-04-30T19:21:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe that school is coming to an end and summer is quickly approaching. Summer means new schedule and if this summer is anything like past summers, new faces at Rock Island. Ron and I recently completed the Rock Island daily schedule but still have a few holes to fill. Here's what it looks like so far...

Monday
1:30 High School Lunch
2:00 High School Movie Day
4:00 High School Workout

Tuesday
11:30-12:30 Elementary Craft Time
1:30 High School Lunch And Hangout
4:00 High School Workout

Wednesday
1:30 High School Lunch
3:00 High School Bible Study
4:00 High School Workout

Thursday
10:00 Elementary Hang Out
12:00 Lunch
1:30 High School Projects

We still are in the works of a possible athletic team, possibly basketball or soccer, and will also have the spontaneous weekend events that we will do our best to keep you updated about.

As far as camps go, we have opted out of the more traditional Oklahoma City camp appearance for our middle school and high school youth and have decided to take our efforts to another city, Dallas (Cleburne actually). The specifics are still being hammered out but it will have more of a work-project/fun trip look rather than a sleepless week, camp feel. Also, our elementary young'ins will continue their summer camp experience at camp Shiloh, located right here in Okc. We have signed up many of our kids already and have decided upon the camp dates of July 6th-10th. It is a day camp, 9-5:30, and offers the kids lots of outdoor games, crafts, animal experiences and....ok, just check out the link it does a better job of describing the camp ( http://www.shilohcamp.org/index2.htm ).

Along with summer comes more time with kids, along with more time with kids comes more activities, functions, organized and structured outings to keep them connected, involved and plugged in. Due to the increase in activity we also see an increase in the amount of funds we must have in order to keep up with all the summer's happenings. Our two biggest fund-eaters this summer will most definitely be sending the elementary kids to camp ($20 per camper X 15 campers = $300 ) and our jr. high/high school Texas trip (amount yet to be determined).

If you are interested in helping send even one student to camp this summer or are interested in helping fund the jr. high/school road trip, please email me and/or Ron or leave your contact info on my blog. Also, with all the extra activity going on we are always in need and desire volunteers to come check things out and get involved. If you have a special interest in anything in particular on the schedule feel free to contact one of us about that too.

lwhitmire@hotmail.com - Luke
ronwylercrawford@gmail.com - Ron

Wednesday Bible Study

2009-04-02T12:31:00.000-06:00

Wednesday Bible studies are still going strong. This past Wednesday we finished reading Luke 8. We reviewed each of the small stories as we read and let the youth determine which stories we would spend the most time discussing. The majority of our time was spent talking about the healing of the demon possessed man, Legion, and the sick women who had been bleeding for years.

Some of the questions we discussed were questions such as: Did the demons know Jesus? What happened to the demons when they fell of the cliff with the pigs? Do demons die? Where did demons come from? We also discussed what kind of lifestyle Legion might live. Where he lived. Who, if anyone, associated with him.

The bulk of our discussion was based around the women who had been bleeding for years and only desired to touch Jesus. Jesus told the women, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. God in peace." We asked the kids how they felt about this and why Jesus would allow this women to be instantly healed and at the same time was having a small girl wait to be healed until he could be present at her house. We discussed how Jesus, like in the stories, decided to instantaneously heal one person and decided to heal another person only after a short wait. Each person came to Jesus with a need and He answered/fulfilled their needs.

As we wrapped up our study and prepared to pray we challenged the kids to ask God for something they couldn't do on their own, something they needed Him to do, that only He could do. We stressed to the kids how the people in the story had REAL needs, not just wants, and how Jesus was true to answer their needs when He deemed necessary.

As we prayed some kids said a word, some kids said a phrase in order to tell God their need. We challenged the kids to keep lifting up the same need in prayer until God showed his power, whether a day, a week, a year or longer.

"God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful"

Bad call by me

2009-03-26T12:56:00.002-06:00

Turns out this was a bad idea by me. Shortly after posting my first blog about Oakland I continued to search for who might be my next "blog post". Not what I initially intended. So, rather then seek out relationships with people to blog about them I think it would be best to discontinue this theme. Plus, if someone is genuinely interested in the details about someone they'll come find out first hand.

Oakland

2009-02-19T18:18:00.001-06:00

My first "lifestory" that I am going to blog about is about a man I will refer to as, "Oakland". As you will discover, the name I give him has a little bit to do with his story.

Oakland is a black man in his early fifties. He's rough. He's honest. He's funny. He's intimidating. He's an alcoholic. He played college football at Langston. He was drafted by the Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders. Upon being drafted he was visited by Fred Biletnikoff, a former Raiders player, and given a large sum of money (Oakland claims it was $25,000). Once he flew out to California he partied, drank and wasted his money away. He never reported to training camp. Oakland is homeless and he's always late to sign in at Cross and Crown for food.

A couple of years ago I got into it with Oakland at the front door when I told him he was too late to get food for the day. I repetitively attempted to explain to him how it would be unfair for me to allow him to get food at 1:00 in the afternoon when 50 other people had been waiting in line at 9:00 in the morning to sign up for food and another 3-5 people arrived at 9:15 or so only to find out they were too late. So, how did he see it fit for him to get food and not all those other people that had been waiting several hours before him in the cold? It didn't matter. He was determined to get food that day (shoot, if i was in his position I probably wouldn't take no for an answer either). After several minutes of failing to get my point across Oakland and I came to an agreement and worked out a plan.

Ever since this instance Oakland and I have been on good terms. Nowadays any day Oakland comes we talk basketball. Oakland is a big Celtics fan (go figure, in all honesty though he was fan well before KG, Ray and Pierce). He is a Kobe hater, so I'm in good company. He always asks me about my basketball playing and how my games have been going. He tells me I look like Jeff Hornacek ( http://www.nba.com/media/history/jazz_hornacek_240.jpg) . I promise him I don't play like him. He calls everyone at the mission his kinfolk and says we're the only family he's got.

That's Oaklands' story.

same kind of difference as who?...you

2009-02-06T14:08:00.001-06:00

I just recently finished the book, "Same Kind of Difference as Me". If you haven't read the book, you should. If you have read the book then you know that it is a story about two very different men who cross paths and form a very unlikely friendship. One man, white, comes from a rich heritage and had never experienced need, whereas the other man, black, comes from a poverty stricken past and has never gone a day without lacking. After having met at a nearby mission the two begin their journey. Through the course of time they discover a common ground, Christ, and the rest is history.

One of the most memorable, if not the most memorable, aspects of this true story that struck me was the fact that Denver, the black man, who lived on the streets and ate at the mission had so much to offer, so much untapped potential that was just bottled up and waiting for someone to ignite within him. Luckily, with the encouragement of his wife, Ron, the white man, decides to pursue Denver and befriend him, promising not to "catch-and-release" him.

As you continue to read, Denver and Ron become closer and closer and slowly but surely Ron's wife's prophetic words come true as Denver realizes his inner desire to know Christ and to follow Christ's call in his life. Don't get me wrong, this isn't the "rich, white guy with the easy life goes and saves the poor, confused black man". Towards the beginning of the book as Ron tries to shed some of his "knowledge" and do his "Christian thing" at the mission by feeding meals and basically "punching his good Samaritan card" we quickly discover Ron is in for some life-altering discoveries, as well.

This is the hope and desire that I, along with others, have at Cross and Crown and Rock Island. I can't imagine what it would be like if individuals, such as Ron, would intentionally (whether it was their idea initially or not) pour into and befriend, actually become friends with, specific individuals or youth that visit Cross and Crown and Rock Island. Just like Denver, there are so many "untapped" individuals that live on the streets and live a lonely, unengaged lifestyle that starves for friendship, family and relationship. As I am writing this I can think of 5 men, by name, that fit this exact description. I can only begin to imagine how different their lives would be if someone was willing to step in and give them the encouragement and friendship they desire and need.

I know. I know that for every Denver there are 100 others that don't work out or don't develop into the incredible story we envisioned. People disappoint. God doesn't. You just have to decide if that 1 out of 100 success ratio is worth the risk, worth your time, worth your effort. Maybe it is, maybe it's not. Maybe you think they have had their chance. That's between you and God.

Over the next several blogs that I write I am going to do my best to highlight some individuals and their stories and/or backgrounds. Given my blogging history this could mean a couple weeks or a couple months. Maybe through some of these life stories and real facts about real people your heart or interest might be sparked and lead to come down and see if you can't meet and befriend your "Denver".

Bible Study update

2009-01-25T14:17:00.000-06:00

Every Bible Study at Rock Island is different. Like I wrote in a previous blog, the studies each seem to have a life of their own. Sometimes slow developing, often off course, but always successful. The only sure thing each Bible Study is that we will end in prayer. A few weeks ago Ron recorded the special on the news called, "Crystal Darkness". We watched it the following day at Bible Study and let the video determine the topic of conversation.

This particular study was smaller than usual. Generally there are 4-7 high schoolers there, this study had 3. Following the 30-35 minute video we opened it up for any general comments, questions or thoughts......nothing. No big surprise there, that's normal (especially with 3 kids). After a few seconds of no comments, questions or thoughts Ron, being the good man he is, took some initiative and talked about the realness of drugs, not just this drug, but of all drugs and the effects they have on both users and their families, friends and their sphere of influence. The kids were attentive, mostly nodding their heads in agreement, and one of them mentioned a life experience where they had a family member who used a certain drug and told how it made him feel, not too much talking, but some insight.

After this young man had shared a girl, the only in attendance that day, began to share about personal experience with drugs. She shared about her experimentation with all sorts of drugs and some of the effects it had both on her and her family. After a few minutes of sharing she began to cry when she had somewhat of a self-realization that she is still unsure of why she ever stopped using. She explained how she used mainly because her friends at the time were using, not knowing full well why she was and not having any real desire to use. As she continued to unfold her story and talk out loud her past actions, which seemed like the first time, she started to lose control. I believe that she was begining to question why she ever stopped. She considered herself lucky and explained how bad it made her feel, both then and now, in retrospect.

After a few more comments here and there by Ron and I we tried our best to wrap up the the discussion and ended it with a prayer.

During our most recent Bible Study, this past week, Ron and I decided that it was time to plug in to a specific book of the Bible. We choose Luke because, we agree, he does a good job with details and gives some stories about Jesus and his life that we think the youth would find interesting, which may then lead to questions.

So, we did just that. We began reading Luke and made it through chapter 2, I believe. We made it far enough to get to questions such as the following:

Why is so Jesus so important and why not Mary?
Why was Mary chosen to have Jesus and not Elizabeth?
Why was Jesus born of a virgin and it doesn't say whether John was or not?
Why are people singing? (good question)
Why are they circumcised?

as well as a few more.

One student volunteered to read and anytime one of the others had a question, wasn't sure about something we had read, or just wanted to make a general comment they would interrupt. Also, there were a few times that we would read over something and stop if no one had a question just to, more or less, recap. So, after we had finished reading and Ron and I did our best to address the questions and tried to get their input on their own questions, we decided to wrap things up with...you guessed it, a prayer. Regardless of what shape or form our Bible Study takes the young'ins know we will always pray.

This Wednesday we will tackle the next couple of chapters, 2-4, and see what happens.

pleasant Thanksgiving surprise

2008-12-04T08:27:00.000-06:00

This past Monday, following Thanksgiving break, I was presented with a pleasing update. It has to do with one of the men that frequently comes to Cross and Crown throughout the week. Let's call him Manny. Manny lives on the streets, openly admits he has schizophrenia, and may come off somewhat rough or "scary". Overtime we have developed a very unexpected relationship with Manny. Initially Manny was very pushy, rude, cursed at us on a regular basis, and threatened both staff members and individuals coming to receive assistance at Cross and Crown. I may be wrong, but I believe Manny has been the only person we have ever had to call the police on because he wouldn't leave the premises and was harassing people exiting the building.

Without going into every facet to explain the exponential growth we have made with Manny, believe me when I say, we've come a long way in our relationship with Manny. Daily visits and often bi-daily conversations with Manny have allowed us to learn much more about Manny than we ever could have imagined. Here's a few quick facts about Manny: All-State Football 1975, MVP at Taft Stadium OKC Preview 1975, played college football at Arkansas Pine Bluff, his father was in the Air Force, and he writes down his conversational thoughts on note cards and hands them to you when he wants to speak with you. The reason I give these facts is because these are the one's, I believe, he considers most significant based on the fact that once or twice a month he writes them down and hands them to me. He has requested that we laminate them for him.

So here's the news. Never once in the years we have known Manny has he every said anything about his family other than his dad was in the Air Force and anytime I would ask about brothers or sisters, he wouldn't say much. Monday, while Ron and I were turning on the heaters in front of Cross and Crown, Manny approached me and requested to sign the food/clothing list for the day, like he usually does every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I handed him the list and began some small talk. He had something else in mind.

"I sure did have a great Thanksgiving Holiday" - Manny
"Oh yeah? Where did you go eat on Thanksgiving? Did you head up to City Rescue or 10th and Penn?" -Myself
"Nah, I went to Golden Corral." - Manny
"...Reeeally? You decided to splurge, huh. How was it?" - Myself
"Nah, my brother and sister came and picked me up and took me Wednesday to Golden Corral. Then on Thursday we ate up at my other sister's house in Jones." - Manny

Come to find out, Manny has seven sisters! He also has one brother. He told me a while back he had a sister because he asked me to call her once, but seven? I told Manny I was unaware that he kept in contact with his brother and sisters and he informed me that he didn't. They tracked him down from another agency and then just went looking for him in an area that he is generally hanging out near. I thought that was pretty cool. After eating at Golden Corral on Wednesday and his sisters house on Thursday they also took him to do a little shopping. He was happy to inform me of some new additions to his wardrobe, as well as, some new index cards. Overall Manny was pretty happy with how his Holiday went, and I was happy to hear that he enjoyed some time with his siblings and pleasantly surprised that they would put in the time and effort to track him down. I'm glad they did.

not your typical Bible study

2008-11-13T13:13:00.000-06:00

Over the last four weeks at Rock Island we have been doing a "Bible study" every Wednesday. Originally Ron and I had planned to do them on Sunday nights following the meal and worship at Cross and Crown. But, because there is so much activity and so many people we decided to move them to Wednesday afternoons and see what kind of turnout we could get. Also, another reason we changed the day of the Bible study was because one particular young person involved at Rock Island requested that because of her work schedule and class schedule we do the studies on Wednesdays so that she could attend. It's tough to argue against that.

Wednesday has become my favorite day during the week because of the Bible study. Over the years, after lots of trial and error, we have come up with a relatively successful "Bible study" format that fits our attendees at Rock Island. If you have been to Rock Island and have spent a substantial amount of time with the kids that come you would agree that, for the most part, there is not much Biblical knowledge or alot of spiritual foundation. Again, for the most part. Because of this our Bible studies may seem a little atypical.

Because most of our junior high students don't get out of school until 3:50 a large majority of the kids at Bible study are of high school age. During our studies we try not to overwhelm the kids with an enormous amount of scripture or pound them with the Bible by giving them "do's" and "dont's". A large amount of these kids aren't even completely sold on the whole God and Jesus thing, so why would they care what the Bible has to say anyway? I can understand that. But, on the flip side of that Ron and I do believe what it says in Hebrews 4:12 (For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart) and that the power is in the Word itself and that just by reading scripture in the presence of them their minds and hearts can be transformed. So, that's what we do. We pick two or three scriptures, read them, break them down a little bit and then just see what they think about it. Sure, there are always times of silence or little feedback, but just when we begin to think that nothing is clicking one of the guys or girls will say something that triggers a conversation, which triggers a another comment, which then makes another kid think about a question about who Jesus is or how Jesus can He can be born of a virgin, which makes this kids ask this or that. Next thing you know, we have a room full of inner-city "tough guys" (and girls) talking about Jesus, God and everything else in between.

It may or may not sound like much, but that's pretty revolutionary for these kids and these streets. When everything around them at school, home and in this neighborhood is telling them to turn to drugs, gangs, girls, boyfriends, sex, money and everything else, they are in a group trying to piece together how Jesus can be both God and Jesus, figuring out and reading in scripture how all people came from Adam and Eve, researching on Google what Cain's wife name was and where she came from and so on.

Wednesday Bible studies have motivated me and pushed me to read more too. It gives me extra motivation to know that I'm not just reading for my own growth anymore, to some extent I read so that I can expand and encourage these kids on their spiritual journey.

I am excited and anxious to see what develops over the next several Wednesdays.

who needs quarters?

2008-10-09T22:29:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks ago we we, Mackenzie (my wife), Ron and I, ventured out on another point trip exploration. After last months experience of pushing a broke down car a few hundred feet into the Quail Springs Mall parking lot we decided if we were to have another car failure we would do it a little closer to home, Bricktown. This particular trip we decided to take the group to Earls BBQ and then head to Harkins Theatre for a movie.

We left Rock Island around 4:30 and headed to Earls. By the time we finished eating it was only 6:00 and our movie didn't start til 6:45. After a five minute walk from Earls to the theatre the youth quickly searched out the video game arcade. Generally while in the video game arcade you...play video games. I can recollect countless times when my family would go to movies together and have to waste 15-20 minutes in the lobby or arcade. My brother and I would relentlessly question our parents for quarters, quarters and more quarters and, generally, we always got enough quarters to keep us occupied until it was about time to head to our theatre. So, because of my history with the arcade room, I was expecting the kids to be rocking our world for money to help them pass the next 30-45 minutes. Nothing. Not once did any of the kids ask for money. As far as I could tell, two of the boys played a racing game and one of them spotted the other so they could race. On the other side of the arcade 3 or 4 of them were having a dance off on the DDR (dance dance revolution) dancing pad. The only time any of them really got upset or frustrated was when the preview for the game would go off or change. They even packed themselves into the little cutsie photo booth picture thing. You know, the ones that all the couples take pictures in and it takes like 8 different pictures of them doing different poses? Except, we used camera phones. Again, free.

My point is, these kids may be without alot of things...extra clothes, extra video game money, extra food at their houses, proper parenting (two parents for that matter) or alot of other excessive things that many people/kids consider normal, but at least these kids aren't brats. Big time point, huh? Nothing against kids that get quarters whenever they want from their parents, but because these kids don't get whatever they want, whenever they want it (and sometimes don't get what they need) they don't expect to be constantly entertained or always get what they want. They are a breath of fresh air for me and constantly remind me of how big of a brat I still am in my adult life.

After our video game arcade wait, our movie finally started and it was awesome. For some reason after being in the theatre for five minutes an older couple in front of us relocated towards the front of the theatre once we sat behind them....weird.

Cranium Craziness

2008-09-18T14:53:00.000-05:00

Now that summer has come and gone our Sunday night services here at Cross and Crown are back in session. In years past we have had a meal at 6:00 and worship to follow, usually around 6:30-6:45. Having a "church" service was never anything that Paul, the director of Cross and Crown, or anyone else that works here intended to have but rather it evolved because the people of the neighborhood, the people that come for the food, the clothes, the doctor voiced their desire to have a service Sunday nights. People would ask Paul and others at C&C, "Where do you go to church?", "What church do you go to?". " I want to go to church where you go to church". The people were asking these questions and making these statements not because they wanted to go to a church they might think is better or might have more to offer, but because they wanted to go to a church with someone they are in relationship with. Think about it, why do you think pastors, preachers, youth ministers, ect are always preaching and encouraging their members to invite a friend, invite your neighbor, invite your co-worker? We all know why, it's because all people are the same in that they desire relationship. There is a certain level of comfort when you go to a place, in this case church, and you know someone. The people wanted to go to a church where they were with someone they were comfortable enough with and because C&C is located in a building that used to be a church, why not use the building we are in? (Because relationship was the foundation on which the people were asking and inquiring about church, these questions and suggestions of church in our building didn't start coming until 2-2.5 years into C&C's existence. Over these 2-2.5 years is when the relationships were developed.)

This year on Sunday evenings Rock Island will also be beginning some activities. From 4:15-5:30 our junior high and high school aged kids are encouraged to take advantage of our fitness room located downstairs of C&C. During this time Ron, myself and a few occasional volunteers will take the youth through a series of workouts (let me know if your interested in helping with this). Then, following the meal and worship time, the youth meet at Rock Island for a time that we break into small groups and discuss, read scripture and talk about just about anything, and I mean anything. We have a couple volunteers that have also committed to help during this time and be small group leaders. We are excited about the potential that these groups have and look forward to what may come from them.

This past Sunday was our first trial run with the new Sunday night schedule. During the workout we had 8 or 9 kids and these same kids were the ones that stayed for the meal, worship and Rock Island events afterwards. Just like anytime we introduce something new to the Rock Island schedule it usually takes a few weeks for the kids to catch on and start attending. Generally the schedule travels by word of mouth and so we're anticipating a few more students to attend this Sunday. During our time Sunday at Rock Island we decided to use the time to let some of our volunteers get comfortable with the kids and vice-versa. So, we had 4X4 Halo, 4 computers blasting, some snacks and one very intense game of Cranium. After several clay creations, some blind-folded drawings of rocking chairs, pancakes, half-pipes and Elvis Presley we finished up what was a very competitive Cranium experience. We'll see what this Sunday has in store. Anyone interested in partaking in a workout, meal, worship time or Rock Island small group, feel free to attend this Sunday night.

elementary dayz

2008-09-04T14:55:00.000-05:00

Here's is one of our latest videos from an elementary day the last few days. For anyone interested, this video gives you a look into some of the younger kids perspectives about school, teachers names, grade ect. Also, in this video the kid I am checking in on had some homework to do that one of our high school kids was helping him do. Whenever the two of them got to a particular portion of the homework they ran into a small problem or issue. Once they got to this particular portion and the high school student realized there might be some explaining or help needed he came over to me, told me the situation and asked if I would finish the homework out with the younger kid. Because our high school friend wasn't exactly sure what to say, I decided to try to jump in and help, but, as you can see for yourself, I was also struggling with what I should say or ask.

It is kinda hard to hear alot of what is being said, but we arrive at a part of the homework that says, "When I grow up I want to be a __________ because_____________________________." So, the kids have to say what job or profession they want to have or be in when they grow up and tell why. Anyway, here's how it panned out, which I think was alright, it was just an interesting interaction and somewhat humorous situation because you never know what the kids (this one especially) are going to say. Take a look...

been a while...

2008-08-26T13:24:00.000-05:00

Needless to say, it has been a while since my last blog, but rather than tell you why just believe me when I tell you that this summer was crazy. Crazy awesome, though. We had alot of laughs and fun, some heartache and tough times, but God was very apparent and present with our youth this summer.

Since school started just a few days ago we began our "after-school hours youth ministry" just this week (yesterday). Generally during a transition period (summer to school, school to summer) alot of the faces that we see will change. Whether it be sports, different friends, homework or family related activities many of the kids will stop coming or be very inconsistent when they do come. But, on the other hand, alot of kids that we didn't see much of during the summer begin to make their way back to Rock Island once school starts. Yesterday was a prime example of that.

This school year Monday is officially our "Study Hall/Tutoring" opportunity for the week (although, in the past there have been a select few of the youth that come for help throughout the week). In the past we have split up the junior-high and high-school kids from the elementary students but because attendance isn't usually as high on homework day we have decided to combined the two. The experiment worked out pretty well yesterday as the younger kids did a pretty good job of not annoying the older kids. We did our best to make anyone from the neighborhood that came go home and get their homework if they didn't have it with them. Because some kids were dropped off and didn't have their homework we tracked down some multiplication workbooks and had them solve a few problems. With all of this being said, my favorite aspect of the day was when "Teddy" arrived. Teddy and his younger brother come any and everyday we are open, whether it's an elementary day or not. They are always dropped off. This day was no different.

As soon as Teddy and his brother came in I quickly noticed neither or them had their backpacks. Their mom had already driven off and so we were left with nothing. After some investigating Teddy informed me he had to read a story and then have a signature to confirm he had read. I began to search throughout Rock Island but was unable to find a single childrens book. After delaying a couple minutes I stumbled upon one of our easy to read new age interpretation Bibles. Perfect, I can have Teddy read some of Revelation. Not really. I gave Teddy story options. I asked him which story did he want to read, a story of a big fish swallowing a man named Jonah, a story of Noah and the ark and a bunch of water(he wasn't impressed) or the story of Daniel and a bunch of lions. Which do you think he chose? Daniel.

The story of Daniel, in Daniel, is relatively short. I mean it's only one chapter and maybe, I'm guessing, thirty or thirty five verses? Either way it wasn't terribly long. I forgot to factor in we were at a 3rd grade reading level and Teddy's primary language is Spanish, not English (which by the way you wouldn't be able to tell). It took about thirty minutes. It was well worth it though. After every five or six verses I would stop Teddy and ask him to tell me what he read. I was astonished at how well he could process the information he was reading. The fact that it took him 5 minutes to read five or six verses and could report back to me what he was reading was impressive enough. The thing that got me though was it seemed like he wasn't just reading and regurgitating the story to me. When he told me the story in his own words he phrased things in a way that made me feel like he was actually "getting it" and he would ask questions about Daniel and his position.

For instance in the story when it talks about how Daniel was thrown into the pit it says King Darius went back to his room didn't eat, sleep or have entertainment, Teddy said things like, "So the king and Daniel were pretty good friends, huh?", and I would ask Teddy why he thought that and he responded. "Well, why wouldn't the King go back and eat and do whatever he wants he is like the richest man alive." Teddy just seemed interested not only read, but to know what the story was trying to communicate. It was exciting, to say the least.

After several more minutes of reading and talking Teddy finished up the story, I signed his paper and he went on his way (for some pizza and halo). Instances like this are times and opportunities I look foward to this school year. I am anxious to see and be apart of God doing great things with and through our kids the next several months.

PS. Ron and I will be posting videos of some after school activities soon, as well as, a schedule, which may or may not change throughout the course of the year. Ron's site is www.ronstale.blogspot.com or you can just click the link to his page.

Enjoy

blog combo

2008-01-12T18:42:00.000-06:00

Ron, Chandy and I have decided to form a blog-treaty and combine each of our blogs. This will allow anyone that follows any of our blogs the opportunity to read on one site, rather than three. You can follow us at Chandy's site...

http://undergroundokc.blogspot.com/

Enjoy.

walk it out

2007-11-29T17:05:00.000-06:00

Some of you may be familiar with the song, "Walk it out", some of you may not. Regardless whether or not you know the song, hears the literal meaning of what it means to 'walk it out'.

Honestly, there is alot of buildup and sequence of events that lead up to this story, but I'll do my best to limit my wordiness.

Towards the beginning of the school year Ron, Chandy and I (through answered prayer and divine intervention) were asked if we would like to go to Taft Jr. High during the lunch period to participate in an activity called, "Impact". There are 3 different lunch sessions, one for each of the grades 6th, 7th and 8th. During each session we would go throughout the halls and lunchroom handing out passes to students who wanted free pizza and an opportunity to get out of the stinky lunchroom (no offense lunch ladies). During the mad scramble of kids fighting over pizza we would find a 10 or 15 minute gap for a small message to be delivered and offer prayer over the entire assembly, as well as to any individual wanting some 1v1 time. We were located in the gym during this time primarily because it was a large area and had seating for everyone in the bleachers. Because of our location I was able to meet one of the P.E. teachers, who also coaches the boys basketball team.

After a few weeks of talking to him and learning that he had to organize and select 12 kids from a group of 70 who were trying out I figured I would ask if he needed any help. He did.

Several weeks later, after tryout selections, morning practices and some bumps along the way, we have 9 players(due to grades and failure to attend practice) and are 4-0.

Two weeks ago after a home game one of our players, "Joe", asked me if I could give him a ride home. I gladly agreed. As we walked to my car I asked Joe were he lived. He informed me he lived on the northeast side of town, which seemed unusual because his school, Taft, is located on the northwest side of town. While driving to his house we had a good 20 minutes to chat. Joe was, to my surprise, relatively talkative. He informed me that his foster mom wasn't able to pick him up that night because she had some prior engagement. Which meant he would have to catch a ride home. He went on to tell me how he had been living with his foster mom for about three months now. Prior to living with his foster mom he, his two brothers and his mom lived in an apartment but were being evicted. A few days before he and his family could move into a new house their mom had "bought"(who knows the actual sequence of events and validity of the story)they had to find somewhere else to stay. Joe described their situation by saying that because they don't have any family or relatives in OKC they were "kinda homeless" or "on the streets" for a few days. I guess their family/mom has been in some trouble or has a history with DHS because once their case worker discovered this the kids were immediately taken from her(for good reason, as far as I'm concerned, but that's def. not my call).

Since that time, Joe and his two brothers have been living with their foster mom on the northeast side of town. Before dropping Joe off at his foster moms' house here is what I learned was his typical day.

5:30 - wake up, take a shower and get to bus stop by 6:00

6:00 - endure the city-bus stop and go experience until he arrives at the closest bus stop to Taft around 7:20-7:30 (usually closer to 7:30 because practice starts at 7:30 and he is usually late)

7:30-9:00 - basketball practice

9:00-3:35 - school

3:35-8:00 - on game day, take bus to game, watch girls game and maybe do some homework, play in guys game, then, take bus back to school and figure out a way to get home

I learned all of this two weeks ago. This past Monday we had a game on the southeast side of OKC. The guys' games start at 6 so I leave straight from work at 5 and meet the team at the game. After the game I asked Joe how he was getting home. He didn't seem very worried about it as he told me he was taking the bus. I figured that was a reasonable option as I got in my car. I thought to myself, he's taking the school bus back to school and then the city bus back to his foster mom's house. Or wait, maybe he is taking the school bus back to school and then his foster mom is picking him up at the school...

Turns out, Joe took the school bus back to school and then walked home.

He walked from northwest 23rd and Penn all the way to the northeast side of OKC, that's a couple miles east of I-35. That's a twenty minute drive. He did this at 9:00 at night, which means he probably didn't get home until, around, 10:45 or 11:00. He's in 8th grade.

After hashing out how we address this unbelievable occurrence and how to avoid it happening in the future, coach and I questioned Joe about it. The thing that got me the most about this whole event was that when we talked to Joe about it, he acted like it wasn't a big deal at all. Who knows how many times he has walked that same trip. There are so many things to consider, to question and thoughts that come to mind about this story, but the bottom line is, this shouldn't happen. Coach and I are going to do the best we can to make sure that it doesn't happen again.

breaking bread

2007-11-22T20:51:00.000-06:00

This past Sunday at our evening worship I was able to take communion with Matt. Paul, who generally gives a thought or talks about a scripture, asked several weeks back that we invite someone each week to take communion with each time we meet. It's a really cool thing to see small children take communion with their mom or dad, a neighborhood kid take communion with a homeless man from the streets or a married couple reflect on the life and sacrifice of Christ.

Matt usually sits towards the back. This night he was in the back on one knee for most of the service. I made eye contact with him and motioned towards the communion area. I prayed a short prayer of thanks and Matt followed it up with a pretty passionate request of forgiveness, thanks for provision and the church (Cross and Crown). Needless to say, it was a pretty awesome experience.

matt update part II

2007-11-14T13:47:00.000-06:00

So, Sunday night I was left pondering what in the world Matt was talking about or what kind of trouble he was about to get himself into. Monday, at the end of the busiest part of the day (11-1:30), I headed over to Rock Island to check out what was for lunch. No luck. Looks like another day of oven pizza, micro waved burrito or leftover food from Sunday night. As I made my way back over the Cross and Crown to see if anyone had any alternate plans I ran into none other than Matt. He looked bad.

After talking to him for several minutes I was finally able to figure out what his big meeting was all about. Just within the past couple hours he had talked to his old girlfriend/employee who he had been running around with back when he was into the business of soliciting women for cash. Matt has a relatively long history with this specific women. Pretty much ever since we have known him, we have known her. They have always been off and on, as far as "dating" goes (if you want to call it dating). One day they were together and everything was great, the next they hated each other and someone was wronging the other person in some fashion. Several months ago this girl he has been running around with for quite some time discovered she was pregnant. No real shock there. Based on the type of lifestyle/job that she has adopted, it really comes as no surprise that she has become pregnant. What did come as somewhat of a surprise was that Matt was/is the father of this child.

So, that's what his meeting was all about. He told this girl that she had to choose. She had to choose between him and the man she was currently with. This isn't the first time Matt has had to confront her with a similar decision, like I said, they were frequently together and apart. Although, because she was now carrying his baby there was some added frustration to her decision to be with the other man. Matt openly talks about just about any and everything he has done or is doing. He told me how he so badly wanted to head down the street, get the 'hook' up from one of his buddies and just shoot up so he didn't have to think about it. It wasn't to hard to inform him of the reality that hours later when it wore off he would still be faced with the some troubles. He agreed, but I still wasn't sure what he would do. He also talked about the possibility of just going and beating down the man his girl was now staying with. Again, no real solution.

After several minutes of discussing options to his predicament I kinda went off on him. I asked him several questions, like, "Why do you think your in this situation?", "How can you make this situation right?", "Is it even possible to make something good come from this?", "What good will come from her(the mother of his supposed child) getting back with you?". He responded by saying that he knows that everything he is in is a result of the life he has chosen or the choices he has made. He mentioned how he wants to be apart of this childs life (apparently this isn't the first time this has happened, but with a different women).

After talking to him a few more minutes we decided the best thing for him to do would be to check on a few jobs that might have work for him. He agreed with me that all he could do was give her an opportunity to be with him and let him be apart of the childs life but it was up to her from there to make her decision. He couldn't make that decision for her. Before I left to go back over to Rock Island we prayed together and asked that God would give him direction, opportunities to do right and the strength and power to choose to do the right thing when those opportunities were presented.

A couple hours later, as I was headed home, Matt was walking towards Cross and Crown, again. He was pretty pumped. He said he made a few calls and had some hours to work. He expressed his gratefulness for the advice and especially the prayer.

Matt isn't a novel or some short story I made up to write on my blog. He isn't some figurative character that came to my mind with fictional scenarios that I made up. This is a real person. This is his real life. Honestly I struggled with whether or not to write everything that I have about Matt. I don't want it to seem like I am exploiting him and his life just for the sake of a interesting blog post. But, I do want people to know about the realness of the people that live in this neighborhood. To alot of people who have never been to Cross and Crown I can understand how it may be easy to read one of these blogs and think, "Ahhh, that's so sad", and then think nothing else of it. So I say this just to clarify, these are real people, just like you and me who struggle with daily temptations, choices and thoughts. So, what I would like you to do is more than just think, "Oh, how sad". Pray for Matt. Pray for his job/work opportunities. Pray that he makes wise choices and decisions.

In the future I will continue to give updates on Matt and his whereabouts, but will probably not get as in depth as I did in these past two blogs.

update on "Matt"

2007-11-13T13:04:00.000-06:00

Over the last month or so I hadn't seen much of Matt. In the back of my mind I kinda assumed that he had fallen off the deep end and was just doing the best he could to avoid us seeing him around. That's how it works with many of the men and women we have been in relationship with in the past that have struggled with some type of addiction or sinful lifestyle. Because of this over the years we have been in and out of relationship with alot of people. I guess that's just human mentality that comes into play when some sin or some harmful behavior that you just can't shake keeps getting the best of you; you don't want to be around others who you think don't struggle with similar things, they might think less of you. Or in alot of cases people wont come back around because they themselves don't feel worthy or what they have done is just too heavy for others to handle.

With this being said, I have seen Matt four times of the last 2 weeks or so. Most recently this past Sunday and yesterday, Monday. The first time I saw Matt was around 2 weeks ago and he looked really good. Physically he looked much different. He had on a nice pair of jeans, a decent looking shirt and a new pair of work boats. His hair was freshly cut (still very long) and he smelled like he had bathed recently (don't get me wrong, I wasn't sniffing all up on him). To summarize, he looked like something was very different. Something was different. Matt had taken a job opportunity in Edmond and was working full time. Matt had/has several ties in the neighborhood and so I was kinda suspicious as to why he was back in the 'hood, when it seemed like he had everything going for him. He told me he was there just to wrap some things up (probably some good and some bad). After talking for only a few minutes (it was a Thursday night so we had 30-40 kids at Rock Island) I told Matt that I was happy for him and that I was happy to see him but really I would be alright if I didn't see him anytime soon. I explained to him that I loved the friendship that we have but in all honesty I would be ok if I never saw him again because that would mean that he was out of the neighborhood, working and back on his feet. As hardcore and street as Matt is and as big as bad.....butt as everyone knows that he is, Matt began to tear up as he thanked me for all the help and advice.

This past Sunday at our evening meal and worship Matt showed up a little late but was still able to grab something to eat. Again, I was surprised to see him and was a little disappointed/upset that he was back in the neighborhood. He didn't look like he did the last time I saw him. He looked like the rougher, street, "im going to pound your face in if you say something I don't like" Matt that I was more familiar with. Like always, I wasn't able to sit down and have a long drawn out talk with Matt but I talked to him long enough to know that he wasn't working in Edmond anymore and he was back in the neighborhood. He told me that something big was going down tomorrow (Monday) and he didn't know yet if it was good or bad. I had no idea what he was talking about doing. He told me he would come by tomorrow and let me know what happened. Yikes. I was just hoping he wouldn't come back the next day and be like, "Luke, I successfully terminated the person that I had a meeting with today." I really had no idea what to expect the next day.

I'm really not doing this on purpose, but its 2:15 and we are starting to get kids for our after school hangout so I will have to finish the rest of my update at a later date.

get big or go home

2007-11-10T10:15:00.000-06:00

During one of our recent youth meetings Ron, Chandy and I discussed how we need to do a better job of approaching the kids health/not so healthy lifestyles. After several minutes of thought we decided that pizza, tacos and lemonade weren't the top three blocks on the food pyramid (weird huh). It occurred to us that although we were providing a safe place for the kids, fun video games to play, a decent meal to eat, some spiritual guidance, and a place where the kids can talk/pray with us, we haven't done much about addressing the wellness of their physical bodies.

In Corinthians we are told to honor God with our bodies by fleeing from sexual immorality. Why shouldn't we also honor God with our bodies by treating it as if it is really what He says it is, the temple of the Holy Spirit. I think maybe Paul knew what he was talking about in Timothy when he said that physical training is of some good. How can you minister to others or give a helping hand to someone struggling with physical illness or physical troubles when you don't even take care of your own body?

Our resolution was that we need to take more seriously what we feed our kids and we need to stress physical activity more then have in the past, which isn't much. Next semester, after Christmas, we have decided to use one of our normal "hang-out" days as a study hall/workout day. Rather then feed pizza and coke and play video games we have allotted this time as homework and workout time. We will have plenty of homework available, but workout options are limited.

We have aspirations of providing the youth with a place to work out upstairs. We hope to have 3-4 cardio machines (treadmill, elliptical, ect.), a small collection of free weights(dumbbells) and a couple of weight machines. So, what we are hoping is that collectively, by way of donated equipment, machines and maybe even specifically allotted financial donations we can provide a place for the kids to improve their physical wellness.

If you have a machine, free weights or some other physically related piece of equipment (that is in decent, usable shape) you would like to donate we would be very pleased to put it to use. If you do donate something to the gym we can probably give you some type of discount or a free gym membership for a couple weeks. We'll work something out for you.

lwhitmire@hotmail.com
or email me for my phone #