A New Season

Well, we're back from our travels afar. Wes spent some time with his parents; Aaron and Ben visited the Upton's in Panama; and I was graciously hosted for a couple weeks by my parents in Detroit. I can tell you it's good to be back though. We're looking to dig deeper over the coming semester, while we still have time before summer activities.

Last weekend we took a retreat as a community. We wanted to take a look at what God had done and spend some time learning to do a better job praying together. More importantly we attempted to press into the things that have emerged to shape this community of faith. It was good. A lot of fruit came from our time set apart - maybe more fruit than we even know yet. Now its time to press forward and pursue the opportunities that the Lord has provided for us in the last couple months. For this reason please keep us in your prayers. Pray for boldness. Pray for unconditional love to cover the house and all who enter here. Most of all, pray for the bondage of drugs to be broken from our hood. Now is the time. Its a new season, and there is no better example of a change in the winds than the all too important life that this day commemorates. This afternoon we met at the house with some of the kids and made signs for the annual Martin Luther King march.

Heading Out.

Conner and Allenia.

There was a really good turn out, and a good number of the folks from our neighborhood were there. The kids made some really good signs too. It was an incredible day! And this might not be a very big deal for some, but I just want to boast in the love of our kids for a moment.

Today Wes was explaining to six year old Bobby that if he couldn't share crackers with Allenia then he couldn't have any at all. We share everything in our house. It's either all of ours, or no one's. Bobby wanted his own pack of crackers, but when Allenia opened the crackers she took one and said: "Here Bobby, you can have some." to which I said "Thank you Allenia." "You're welcome," she said.

When love sprouts up in the heart and grows roots in situations like this, it is capable of moving mountains. Or, at least thats what I think. In honor of our brother Martin and his unwillingness to sacrifice the message of the gospel in the face of violent opposition, I will leave you with my favorite quote.

Shadow cannot drive out shadow. Only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate. Only Love can do that.

-Martin Luther King Jr.

That dream is still coming true.

God is Faithful

Well, it is Christmas Eve. The snow is falling outside my window, covering the world in white, and as I reflect on the events of the past week, I am astounded once again at the faithfulness of God. If you read our post Project Christmas, you may be wondering by now how the big Christmas Party for all the kids in our neighborhood went.

Paul reminds us in Ephesians that God is able to do more than we could ask or imagine. This was demonstrated to me once again this Christmas as God far surpassed my wildest expectations in pouring out his blessings and love on the beautiful people in the Stevenson neighborhood.

When we posted last, it was to issue a call for prayer and support of Flora's dream to provide presents to all the kids in the neighborhood. People had told her that dream was too big, but we were confident God would provide, as He always does. Not only did God provide, He poured out abundant blessings.

The garage after unpacking the load of toys from KLF!

We initially asked help to provide presents for 50-60 kids, but over the past two weeks, that number grew to well over 80. God was not surprised, and he provided in advance for every need. By the end of it all, each kid had several awesome gifts: there were bikes, Mp3 players, transformers, barbies, stuffed animals, basketballs, footballs.... you name it and God provided it.

Aaron and I returned from a trip to Dallas last Wednesday to begin the huge task of wrapping presents and getting ready for the party. We got into town at about noon on the 16th, which left us about 54 hours before the big party! We hit the ground running, spending most of the afternoon on Wednesday cleaning, organizing, and doing a little shopping. We already had many toys in the garage provided by our friends and family, and then on Wednesday night, we got the call from Rachel at Kingdom Life Fellowship (Aaron, Ben, and Josh's church home) that she was ready for us to come pick up the presents they had for us.

We didn't really know what to expect, but we knew we would be grateful for whatever God provided. Aaron was more than a little overwhelmed when he arrived to find enough toys to completely fill the pick up truck. There were several huge trash bags full of toys for boys and girls, plus even a few bikes for little girls!

Some friends came over that night to help wrap, which we proceeded to do until 1 or 2 in the morning. The next day we got up early and spent the morning shopping for some specific wish lists that kids had given in letters to Santa. At about noon, Aaron and I started wrapping again. We were at it for most of the rest of the day with only a brief stop for dinner and another small shopping trip that evening. Our friend Cambria and her sister Morgan jumped in with both feet from Wednesday night on and were there helping us get ready pretty much every moment of every day. In this, perhaps more than anything else, I saw God's provision; we definitely could not have done it without them.

Cambria and Morgan. They were such a blessing!

In addition to getting presents wrapped, sorted, labeled, and organized into families, we also had to organize crafts and snacks for the party. For the Christmas party, there were several stations of crafts and games for the kids to enjoy. They could decorate Christmas cookies, make Christmas cards, play Christmas bingo, get their faces painted, or decorate a homemade Christmas ornament (good idea, Angel!).

The party was a huge success! I led some Christmas songs at the beginning for about 15 minutes. Kids eagerly got up on stage with me and helped lead Rudolph the Red-nosed reindeer, and we especially enjoyed singing Feliz Navidad. We even had a soloist. 15 year-old Olivia sang through the first verse of Silent Night a cappella, after which we all joined in.

Singing at the party. The woman in red is Flora, and the little girl with whom she is playing is my niece!

Olivia singing "Silent Night."

We then launched into craft/game time, which was basically 45 minutes of joyful chaos. It was a little crowded in the small church building, but nobody felt anything but joy as the mass of kids rushed the stage, eager to make crafts, eat cookies, or even get their faces painted.

Decorating Christmas ornaments.

Mmmmm...Christmas cookies!

What a smile!

Lee Jay painting Whitney's face.

After craft time, Aaron read aloud the Christmas narrative from Luke, and we began the crazy process of handing out the presents. There were hundreds of gifts, and it was not easy to get the right gifts to the right kids in a timely manner. It got pretty crazy at times, but by the end of the night, there were only a few kids who didn't end up with the presents prepared for them, and everybody had some great toys!

Aaron reading the Christmas story.

I think God accomplished some really important things at this party. He poured out His love on the kids, making each one of them feel special and valued. He provided us with opportunity to meet many more families from the neighborhood, people who we had been praying for and thinking about all week as we prepared presents and checked the list of names over and over. He put a renewed hope in Flora's heart for His plan for the Stevenson neighborhood and forged a special relationship between our community and her family.

This party got me especially excited for next year and the all the things God has in plan for the Allelon community and the Stevenson neighborhood. We have been viewed with a good deal of suspicion by folks in the neighborhood this semester. This, of course, was no obstacle to God, and we have been blown away by all He has done in us and through us over the course of just one short semester. Still, I am excited because after this party, we are familiar faces to many people in the neighborhood, and hopefully they were given a glimpse not only of how much God loves them, but how much we care for them also. I think this Christmas party was God's tool to open up many doors for new relationships!

There is much more that I could share, a million inspiring stories of how God's Spirit was evident in St. John's that night. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. We want to thank each and every one of you who prayed and supported us this Christmas. Thank you for listening to the Lord and being willing to give of yourself in order to spread His love. The point of everything we do as followers of Jesus is this: His kingdom come. His kingdom definitely broke through in a big way last Friday.

Allenia after opening one of her presents.

Project Christmas

Hey everybody, WE NEED YOUR HELP.

Let me tell you a story. This past Thursday, I was at the weekly neighborhood lunch hosted by Pastor Riley. I sat down for a while to visit with Flora, the assistant pastor over at St. John's Baptist, a small congregation in our neighborhood.

Flora is a very sweet lady, who, despite many hardships, continually allows herself to be poured out by God in service to her neighborhood (our neighborhood!). She especially has a heart for the kids in the neighborhood.

Over the week before this lunch, a few of our friends had already randomly dropped off some bags full of Christmas presents for kids in the neighborhood. We had been planning on getting presents for the 7-10 kids with whom we have become very close over the past few months, but as the presents began to accumulate, we started to get the funny feeling that, as usual, God had a plan for Christmas on Cockerell Dr. that far exceeded our wildest imaginings.

That day as I listened to Flora pour out her dreams about Christmas for the 40-50 kids in the neighborhood, it became clear to me that God had already been working in advance to allow us to support Flora in this divine dream. She wants to share the love of Jesus with all these kids just like we do. Plus, she actually knows many of the kids, kids who we are still longing to meet!

Flora has been trying to put on Christmas for all these kids for a few years now, but she hasn't been able to get enough presents or money to buy presents to really do it the way she wants for all the kids, and a lot of times the presents that are donated are just the junk that people don't want anymore, which provides kids with junk but not a whole lot of the Creator's love. People have been telling her that she is dreaming too big, that she shouldn't bite off more than she can chew.

When I heard her say that, I told her with full confidence that God would provide the presents for every kid this year because He is able to do far more than we could ever ask or imagine. And what is more, He loves to pour out good gifts on His children. I told Flora that we couldn't dream too big for God, and that the four of us would join her in her dream.

God will provide. He always does, and every time He does, we are blown away by the immensity of His love and faithfulness.

If there is one thing I have been learning over the past few weeks, it is that we are called to be the answers to our prayers. We often pray for people and find that God is calling us to be His hands and feet and to be the answers to our prayers. Josh, Aaron, Ben, and I are ready to do whatever God asks of us in order to show the perfect love of Jesus Christ to every kid in the neighborhood. We want to ask if you would be willing to join us in becoming the answer to this prayer.

If you want to help, here is what you can do:

1. Pray that these presents won't just be more stuff for the kids, but that they will be tools for showing them how much God loves them.

2. If you are in Abilene, go out and buy a 1, 2....10 presents and bring them to us (unwrapped) at 465 Cockerell Dr., Abilene, TX 79601. Just call before you come or if you need more info about what to buy (214-206-7708).

3. If you do not live in Abilene, but would like to be involved, you might consider donating some money to help us get presents. Perhaps we could even have a community shopping trip with Flora (who knows a greater number of the kids) or with some of the kids we know really well so that we can all experience together the joy of shopping and buying presents for others. You could send a check made out to Josh Love to the address above (in #2) or you could call the phone number above to work out some other way of donating.

We are thanking God in advance for all your prayer and support. Praise God who is bringing in His kingdom in the Allelon community, the Stevenson neighborhood, and around the world!

Street Corner Preacher

Many people we meet at Allelon remind me of a song by Amos Lee, Street Corner Preacher

When I walked through the doors, all I could focus on were my throbbing forearms screaming from the wall I just pretended to rock climbing. It didn't take long before the people and circumstances in our house quieted my selfish whining.

Before I could think another thought, I was instructed to rummage through my phone in search of a local pastor's number who is known for working with homeless, hurting, people. Through a series of phone calls, we were able to leave a message.

In the midst of all this, Kendrick needed a ride to Dollar General to pick up some dog food. On went my shirt, and out the door we marched.

When we got back, our new friend Jo Jo had hopped in a much coveted shower. His paper sack with protruding bottle neck (Steel Reserve) took its own much needed rest near the couch. Wes and Moo Moo had hustled over to Walmart to pick up a new set of clothes. (Wes doesn't know this yet, but he is going to fill in his part of the story here. Thanks Wes!) There was a slightly awkward gap when Jo Jo finished his shower when Wes and Moo Moo had not yet returned with the wardrobe. So in nothing but a towel, Jo Jo started hollering about his bottle, excessively thanking his hosts, and cheering about how sweet a shower was.

While Wes warmed up some left over sloppy joes (irony at its best), Josh filtered through the pile of our cleanest clothes to find Jo Jo a fresh shirt to wear. By now Jo Jo had plopped into the recliner and the housemates started munching. But not Jo Jo.

Despite our efforts to get Jo Jo to eat, he instead heeded our fervent requests to receive the shirts we had placed beside him. With tears and a quivering voice he indeed was at loss for words, but only for a moment as he traded his inhibition for a pulpit where the sermon began. Stories of other homeless friends, associates, enemies, preachers, 5-0, among others. That gritty smile gleaned reciprocity from our trim faces. With a concerted effort from all of us, Moo Moo included, Jo Jo eventually whipped up his plate off the floor where he'd forgotten about it and tackled the mound of beans, chips, and sloppy joe piled high on a plastic neon orange dish fit for royalty (thanks JB), or at least I think that might have been what the Prince of Peace would've eaten from.


Between his admitted 19 public intoxication charges, tussles with other homeless characters, shaming encounters with pastors, and (I imagine along the way) upsetting spats with ignorant passer-bys and highway drivers, pieces of Jo Jo have been cut away. But this night, Joe received his dignity back. "Nobody lis'ns to me. Y'know. I try ta tell'em, but day juss don't lis'n to me." Little did he know, he couldn't have asked for a more captive audience. Our eyes and ears were fixed to his every story, sermon, and request - though he'd tell you "[he] didn't ask for none of this." Which I suppose he didn't technically verbally inquire. But when Wes started playing that music, with Jo Jo as the only audience, you could see the unprotected self-worth make a liberating leap past the hard leathery exterior.

Enter The Gambler. What an appropriate song and title for the situation, for Jo Jo had indeed learned the hard way how to know when to hold 'em, fold 'em, when to walk away and when (and from who) to run. But he'd learned how to take a hit, too. I don't know what made him decide to come back to meet Josh that day but it was divine, indeed.

As for me, one of the most entertaining parts of the evening was Jo Jo's introduction of Trigger, his imaginary horse during Wes' rendition of "You Are My Sunshine". But perhaps the most noteworthy remains the hug he gave when he left It is forever impressed into my memory. Even as I come back to edit this parable, my heart pounds a deeper thump. Full of genuine appreciation, connection, and unabashed affection, we started with a simple obligatory embrace. But to my relief, that was not enough for him. His only hidden requirement for the extent of the evening was a willingness to receive his warm, shirt-clutching hug.


Below I've included some other quotes and highlighted a couple other moments from the evening with our new friend:

In response to Moo Moo's comment regarding walking:
"See these old legs I got, these old man legs - they walked 93 miles from Oklahoma to Snyder, TX. ... I walked it. Ain't nobody gonna pick you up on the highway. I slept beside railroad tracks, all dang parks. If I can walk my 52 year old ass, shee-it. you can walk too." (often followed by a rhetorical "you hear me?")

Taking a breath from preaching to take a swig:
"Old Jo Jo might drink some beer, but he can do some preachin' too. For real boy, shee-it. Let me tell you, bubba."

In conversation with Josh about some other homeless men:
"I think I know him... I know who you talking about. He's a good friend of mine. I think so. What he in for, PI? You get 4 hours 'n yer out."

Talking about Kenny Rogers -
"He married that girl... I'm'nna tell you right quick, quick now. [snaps fingers] What was her name..?" [staring into the ceiling as if the answer were printed there in tiny letters at a funny angle]
Then for some added flavor, when "I Walk the Line" twanged across those strings, Jo Jo didn't hesitate to take lead on vocals; that old boy belted it with the best of them.

The First Supper

By now, whether he wants to or not, Aaron has decided to become a carpenter upon finishing school. Or at least that's what we say around the community. Its a good vocation - Jesus was a carpenter after all. What better way to serve, and well really our house hold? So much love can go into the work of carpentry, so much intention, so much passion, and in the end, so much communion.




After we prayed - and we pray like this a lot: "Lord we sure would like to build a picknick table," Aaron went for a walk in the woods behind our house. As he almost always does, the Lord provided in an amazing and peculiar way. Aaron happened upon a junk pile with really nice two by fours and many other things necessary for building our table. When he came back from the woods with... the wood, we weren't surprised - more I would say we were gratefully caught off guard. We have come to expect things like this but God never ceases to amaze us!



Anyways we built a table, and the next night we ate on it.

It seats twelve and that's how many people came for dinner that night...




Praise the Lord

Pumpkin Carving Party!

Early last week, our realtor, Dave Dalzell, dropped off 8 pumpkins with a note saying, "Have fun carving some pumpkins with the neighborhood kids." Thanks, Dave, for those words and those pumpkins! They sat on our patio for a few days, and every time we passed them, our dream for how to use them expanded. I guess the Lord really wanted us to do a pumpkin carving party, because a few days after receiving the pumpkins, we received a box full of food for the kiddos - party food like oatmeal cream pies and capri suns. Then Josh talked to Jim, a guy from his church who owns a farm down in Buffalo Gap, who invited us to bring the kids down to his farm. The Lord throws way better parties than we do, so when we saw him putting this one together, we got pretty excited.

The only thing left to get together was the guests. Our plan was to walk around the neighborhood with Kendrick and Denise the night before to tell kids about it, but dinner ran late, and it was dark before we got to it. I was pretty bummed about this, thinking that all the other stuff the Lord had prepared was going to go to waste and that the party would be a failure. So I went out to the park in the middle of our hood and just turned it over to the Lord. He showed me an image of us just standing outside our house watching a wall of kids coming towards us. So I felt at peace about it as I went to bed on Friday.

On Saturday morning, we went down to Kendrick's house at around 9 o'clock. We had told everyone who we had gotten a chance to talk to that we would meet at our house at 10am to carpool down to the farm, so we figured we would try to meet up with Kendrick a little before that to go around and tell some more kids. We knocked at his door repeatedly, but there was no answer. We just kind of stood there, not really knowing what to do. I was thinking of the comforting image from the Lord the night before, so when Josh said, "Man, let's just pray that the Lord brings some kids," I was definitely on board. So we stopped right where we were on the street near Allelon house and prayed. When we got back, Angel was at our house waiting for us! We told her about the party, and she went home to get her nine year old, Jerrod. That's one kid! A few minutes after that, we found Kendrick; and within 30 minutes we were piling 7 kids and several of us into a few cars to head down to the farm!

That day was filled with so much joy! The Lord put the whole thing together, from the pumpkins to the food to the farm to the kids. We just got to enjoy His spirit being poured out on all of us as we rested in His true life.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the outing:

I'm helping Jerrod and Allenia while Aaron and Kim help Bobby.

Stephanie, Allenia, and Poon pet Mr. Jim's baby donkey.

Bobby was hungry!

So were Stephanie and Tarneshia!

Stephanie looking precious.

A little ornithophobic. Luckily Candace was there!

Possibly my favorite photo ever. If you've never seen joy before, this is what it looks like.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Word

In the middle of our house we have an old sliding glass door. When the living room got extended it never got removed, so now we have what looks like a big aquarium on one side of our house. This is the room where we have the piano and all the guitars. For this reason we do a lot of our house praising in there. Also because the window is seethrough we bought some markers a couple of months ago, so that people could write prayers and encouragments on it. People in the house wrote things like: "May Jesus be Praised" "Love is supreme" "Your love never fails it never gives up it never gives out on me." but over the course of the last month the kids have been writing things as well. The other day we were looking at the things they have written, and we just feel blown away. So here's the word of the lord from Cockerell Dr:

He loves us

- Moo Moo


He Loves us and he will always love us in the house of the lord

- Allenia


Jesus loves you

-Allenia


Only love comes to the house of the lord, if not dont think about coming to the house of the lord. Amen.

- Moo Moo


Allenia loves Jesus and he love us too

- Allenia


Denise Love you all and Jesus do too.

- Denise


Only God can wake you up if you need to, dont ever make plans if you believe that Jesus lives in your house

- Moo Moo


Thank you lord for your living word. Amen.