The Good News in Cleveland

It is a hard thing to put a whole week of God at work into just a few paragraphs. The nerd in me wants you to know through all of this that "Aslan is on the move." That was the phrase C. S. Lewis used to communicate the energy, buzz, and anticipation of the Redeemer in a cold, dark world. I feel that kind of excitement when I saw Tyler understand and communicate the gospel completely last Thursday. Alfonzo comes to Man Time as an outspoken atheist and skeptic, but his deep questions led into to a long conversation which eventually captivated the group. We did a lot of drawing on easel pads, and it boiled down to the inadequacy of all religion and sufficiency of Jesus. Several of the kids we have the closest relationship with disappeared this week. Christian looked up to me so much and even called me "daddy." His biological father is long gone and step-father is an abuser. That's what led his mom to take his four full brothers and one full sister to run ...

I see the hurt in real life. Some of these kids have legitimately abusive home lives. Others are not definitely getting enough to eat or the right things to eat. Again, extremely few of them have a relationship with their fathers. We know twin girls who are responsible for an infant and toddler who were left with them by members of their extended family. And these teens all come to church without or, in some cases, in spite of their parents. This seems almost too ridiculous to be true for life minutes from eutopic suburbia, but this is real life. My heart is especially broken after seeing Alfonzo on West 65th Monday morning. Word on the street is that his step dad is beating his mom and the nine kids of the house... But there is nowhere for them to go. I believe that God and His ways are substantial, not therapeutic. Pray for Ja'juan, Ashley, and Mike, new believers in toxic environments. This is why we do Man Time every Thursday in the basement of West Bethel. The Biblical lit...

I lost my car key downtown last week. Scouring the streets, a woman approached me and mentioned seeing a homeless man throw something away at the coffee shop where I'd been earlier that morning. Rushing and digging through the trash, people around me chuckled. It was unbelievable how the right person came at just the right time and told me just where to look, the most unexpected place. God was looking out even in the little things. You wonder if His Spirit is not in the middle of something so critical as compelling lost souls to Jesus? All we do is tell them where to look. It is hard to believe that in the week since I last wrote, Mike has come to know that "Jesus is worth it" in his words. And the unbelievers around him have already noted the change. Matthew 13:45-46 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. When he found one priceless pearl, he went and sold everything he had, and bought it." The whole culture of worshi...

We make up a unique squad, those who are reaching out and discipling the teens from Herman. My friend Jesse has made a close connection with the guys we call "The Fellas." Dan, Mike, Brandon, Tysean, and little Theo are your typical punk kids in the hood. Also consistent with our personalities is my tendency to connect with the semi-crazy ones like Tyler, Sam, Chris, Jamar, and Christian. No offense guys if you are reading this, but you know I'm right. Meanwhile, Julia and Hannah do an amazing job with the teen ladies, but that is way above my pay grade. Maybe I will have the chance to share more of their stories in the future. We love these kids, and that is counter-cultural enough. Many of them go home to crazy sad situations. When we took them out to Camp Patmos in September, that was the furthest many had been away from the city. Cleveland is what they know. I think of Nautica especially who lives in fear in the East 30th Street projects. Others like Jazz and Tysean...

I spent my whole life hearing about how to do evangelism. We loaded the gun plenty of times, but nobody knew how to pull the trigger. And who would want to? It's dangerous. But because Jesus has changed my life through the gospel, I believe that He can and will do the same for others. So when the Holy Spirit talks, listen. All we did was show up. Jesse and I stumbled across Herman Park one Wednesday evening in the summer. Others from the Crew joined us. There are teens in Cleveland that I have known for months and years even, but there are still enemies of God today. No, this was different; God sent us to Herman to get what was His. Today we know more than twenty-five teens from Herman. Just being there are doing life with them, they have been impacted by what makes us different, who Jesus has formed in us, and why we even care. Now the ladies are meeting on Tuesdays, we are still having pick-up ball on Wednesdays, and Man Time is on Thursdays. So many have wanted to...