Gardening
After quite a bit of praying and talking - and after a lot of helpful pushing from our Development Director - we have taken our first steps toward creating a vibrant community garden. The two raised beds (with another one likely on the way) were made by a volunteer from a sister church, out of lumber donated to us by a third party, which had been collected and unloaded by friends from a partner organization. And, since being dropped off, these beds have been tended for the past couple of weeks by a lovely young neighbor couple we met earlier in the month. These neighbors, former UD students who came to this area originally from India, have thrown themselves wholeheartedly into the work here. In 90+ degree heat they dug holes in the earth into which we set the beds. They’ve come mid-week and joined the clothes-sorting team in its work, and they’ve been with us for every Sunday service since our prayer walk team first met them out on the street! (Way to go prayer-walk team!)
The blue picnic table you see in the first image to the right of the beds was donated by a businessman we know and was transported here by one of our stewards. We’ve already seen a lot of people using it in the hot July weather! It’s certainly a nice place to sit after working in the yard. One day we would love to have many dozen of beds, not just on this property, but on an abandoned parcel nearby we’ve been eyeing for a while now. We imagine giving the beds, soil, water, and even seeds to needy neighbors who can then grow some produce to help supplement their grocery supply. It would be a great way to connect with and bless our neighbors!
Weeding
Part of gardening is weeding. Difficult and ugly things will try to take root in the midst of the good seed God sews. We’ve had to deal with plenty of weeds recently. We had someone (we think we know who) try, repeatedly, to break into our garage. They mangled the doorknob so badly on their first attempt that we replaced it with a second deadbolt. A church member drove up while they were attempting to break in a few days later using a too-small crowbar. The would-be burglar ran off, leaving the little crowbar jammed in the door.
We also had a person break into the church, get their hands on a copy of the main door key, and start selling access to the building during off hours to other street people. Two different homeless friends brought this information to us, which allowed us to act quickly. We changed the master locks and replaced everyone’s keys! (This was, as you can imagine, a stressful situation for us!)
We’ve also had to deal with folks trying to conduct drug deals on the property (and even inside, during our Friday events). We’ve had drunk or high or mentally ill people yelling at or threatening others on our property. And we’re always dealing with people in the midst of grave need and deep dysfunction.
These situations are weeds - not the people stuck in them! And we have been careful, in addressing these problems, not to pull up the wheat with the chaff. So, despite all these problems, we’ve also been blessed with a lot of fruit.
Harvest
Among the fruits harvested is the progress made on the garage pantry. It’s been slower than we like, with phase 1 still not quite done. But donated shelves have brought us closer than ever and only a few wall panels remain to be hung. We have hit an electrical problem that will require a roughly $5000 upgrade… and we’re currently praying for provision along that front!
More generally, the growth of our Friday ministries has continued at a pace that has taken our breath away. This four minute video is a tour of our weekly community service bazaar just after we opened to the public but before the real rush began. I encourage you to watch if you’re at all interested - there is so much going on here!
Since our last newsletter we’ve also hosted an overnight ministry retreat for our leaders and core volunteers at a lovely nearby Catholic retreat center. We have continued to relish having men in addiction recovery use the building daily as a hub for their recovery activities. And the eleven people currently in our membership class make me excited about the future of our church!
Ways to Help
If you’re inclined to help us out, there’s a few ways for you to do that!
1) Come and volunteer. We need to organize and clean various spaces, sort and rack clothing, pick up garbage around the building, fix broken things on the premises, hang wall panels in the garage and so much more!
2) Donate funds. We simply could not do everything we do if we did not have people willing to give generously to us from beyond our congregation. Just go to the giving page on our website to give online.
3) Pray! There are moments when it seems the enemy is throwing everything he’s got at us… and I think we’re still here 13 years into the effort because so many people have been so faithful in praying for us. Thank you, if you are one of those people, for your prayers!
4) Come and join us! This neighborhood and this church need people willing to settle here, make this their home, and share their lives with us as we engage in the work of restoring these streets in the name of Jesus. It’s a long, slow work; one which will take generations to see through… but it has begun and you can be a part of it!
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Thanks for caring enough to read all the way to this point! That alone means the world to us. God bless you!