Church in the Park

What a difference a year makes

2007-01-20T23:04:00.000-08:00

I think it's been exactly a year to the day since the first time I came out to Church in the Park. It's changed a lot since then; both it's format, and the people that come. The other day, I was for some reason brought back to that time. I don't know know if it was the weather, or something someone said, or something I saw, but it was an effect like when a particular perfume arouses strong memories of the one who wore it. God showed me amazing things then, and brought about totally unexpected changes in my life from that point on. In my reminiscing, I found myself longing for that time and discounting what citp is now. It's good to remember what God has done, but when that brought about feelings of discontent about where we are now, I realized I also need to remember that the way I think things should go is not the way God may want them to go. In the last couple months, attendance from both students and homeless has gone down. Somehow word got out among both parties that we weren't going out there anymore. We can't have any food at all anymore. We can't use the nice picnic tables by Miller Outdoor Theater anymore. There's been a couple times where we haven't found any homeless guys, and we ended having a bible study with a couple of students. In those times I felt despondent, and I realize I may be coming across in such a way in this post, but I know that no matter how much adversity we meet that God can still bring the time out there to His glory. No, we don't have 60 guys, a dozen students, and a full meal every week like we did a year ago; but it was never about all that in the first place. It was about coming together as the body of Christ. Every week--even this last week in the freezing rain--God is bringing a few together for fellowship and a bible study, and showing us that He is good and worthy of our praise. Yes, it's good to look back and see what God has done, but if in doing so we discourage ourselves and get into a funk concerning our present situation, we need to do as Paul did and "press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ." To think that we have peaked in our walk with God is not biblical, and sets a limit on God where there is none. God has much more in store.

Now, just to be clear, this is not a eulogy for citp. We are still going out there every week. I don't know how long we will continue. Church in the Park has always been a week to week deal. It's been in God's hands and will continue week to week for as long as He desires. With obligations for school increasing before my time at Rice ends, I will have to step down my involvement some, but I hope that other students will continue it. I have always felt a sense being accepted and belonging at citp; more so than I have at any church I have gone to on Sunday. I've told a few people that in a time when I got discouraged and thought citp was dead, it felt like I was going through a break-up. It may sound lame, but citp is very dear to me and an important part of my life as girls with whom I was in relationships with have been in the past. I pray that I don't try to force something that shouldn't be, but I see God working out there every week, and bringing people out there against all odds. One of the things that I think has kept people coming out is that we have been consistent in showing up every week since Chruch in the Park has started, whether there's rain, sleet or snow (I know it doesn't snow in Houston but we would still show up if it did). So come on out.

If you are a student, and would like to be involed, I encourage you to also come out to Church in the Park at Palmer. It meets at 8AM on Saturday at Palmer church. I realize it's tough to wake up on a Saturday morning, but if you really want to come and that's all that stopping you, set your phone on loud and I will call you repeatedly until you wake up. You can roll outside in your pjs 5 minutes before it starts, and I will even pick you up and drive you the whopping 300 feet over to the church. Don't worry about how you look. I show up every week groggy with bed head :) It would good to have more students for the fellowship time. The one on one time with these guys is invaluable. Conversations you think are meaningless can have a great affect. There was a time in my life when I almost walked away from God for what I thought would be for good, but before I did someone walked up to me, said hello, introduced herself, and wished me a good day. I was totally turned around by that; by someone just being kind when I really needed it. God can and will use you in wonderful ways you could never imagine. I have seen God do many great things at Church in the Park, and I know He can continue to do more. If He decides not to continue it, then so be it; we will see Him work elsewhere. If He does continue it though, I look forward to seeing what the next year brings.

-Sean

two things

2006-11-28T21:33:00.000-08:00

first:
dec. 9. mark your calendars. that saturday will be the first church service for the homeless community at palmer episcopal church. mark muller, a houstonian who has been going out to the park the past couple years to hang out with some of the homeless there, has felt a call to start up a church service geared toward the homeless community. he presented his idea to palmer, and they accepted his proposal not long ago. the Lord has really been orchestrating this; it's all falling into place.

i met mark a couple months ago through frank jones, a math prof at rice, who had heard about citp. mark has a great heart of compassion and obedience, and he is very commited to this new citpp (church in the park at palmer). the service will be at 8 am on saturdays and will consist of some worship, preaching, and prayer. there will be a small breakfast (like coffee and danishes) at the end. he's still looking for people to get involved in planning/playing instruments/helping out.

palmer is the ideal place for this. every homeless person in houston knows about the "waystation," which is what palmer calls its weekday morning breakfast for the homeless (it serves a couple hundred people every weekday). this is clearly not another breakfast on that scale, which will have to be made pretty clear up front, but that will be realized quickly.

perfect timing also. because:

second:
the park is kicking us out. it doesn't seem as if they should have the right to pick and choose who hangs out in the park, but they are pretty clear about not wanting us there. park rangers stopped by tonight and talked to sean and basically told him that no organizations can meet regularly in the park. they also said that the guy in charge of the park actually just doesn't want any homeless people at all near the park. (but it's a public park! for everyone, right?) anyway, we're meeting with that guy on thursday, hopefully, and we'll see what happens. the Lord will have to soften his heart if we are to continue having Bible study in the park, because it doesn't seem like this man will budge. it's definitely in the Lord's hands now, which is a good place to be. :)

we'll see where He takes it from here!

Blessings Abound

2006-11-01T21:44:00.000-08:00

The past 3 weeks have been going well. Last week we had the Christ the King Prebyterian church join us with some middle and high school students. They came out with us this past summer also. Emmett was the only homeless guy that was there last week, but it still went really well. The people from the church had to leave early and Emmett left right after the study so the group from Rice were the only ones left. We had an awesome time of prayer. It's an amazing blessing having such a wonderful group Christian friends on campus. I was a little concerned that Emmett was the only guy in the park to show up, but the body of Christ can glorfying God no matter who we have gathered.

This week Jason gave an excellent talk on consecration. It got me thinking about the majesty of God and the importance of honoring Him; things I sometimes brush off and take for granted. We had Robert, Dave and Emmett with us. Robert was planning on going back to work with the carnival, but that fell through. Both he and Robert felt very blessed by the fact that God had given them another day. It reminds me of the perspective I should have when I'm not feeling content with all the amazing things God has blessed me with that I don't deserve.

Something really cool happened while we were talking after. Robert was telling a story of how he was mean to a lady that was riding the ride he was controlling at a carnival. Where I think a lot of people would have laughed it off and said "oh well, crazy homeless guy", none of us did. Stephen and Kathleen told him in a gentle way that it wasn't right. He tried to justify it, but I think it got him thinking about his attitude. I saw in it a sincere love that those who participate in church in the park have for the guys out there. It was also refreshing to see Christians set apart from the world; to see them as the saints they are. God is faithful and is still doing amazing things in church in the park.

-Sean

God's still working in Hermann

2006-10-11T21:20:00.000-07:00

So the past three meetings in Hermann have gone really well. We show up and go through the park to round people up and we come across a lot of the same people every week. Most of them are happy to come to the study. Spider, Ali, Tony and Dave have been regular attenders. I mentioned faithfulness in my talk a couple weeks ago, and I was really convicted when I wasn't faithful to Tony. He made a simple request of me: can you get a blanket? I told him I would by the next week, and I didn't. I did eventually get him one, but it made me think of how willing I am to spend so much money on a pair of sunglasses, or insanely-high-thread-count sheets, or a drink at a bar, and I still found it difficult to stop by the store and get a $13 blanket. I not saying that we shouldn't have nice things, but its important to be faithful to someone who really needs something, and who you've committed to, before you think about all the stuff you want and don't necessarily need. It's a simple truth, but it can be forgotten, as was the case with me.

I've really enjoyed the time we spend just talking to the guys before and after the study. They don't feel obligated to be there because of food (not that everyone was like that before), but they want to be there for the company; because they see us as our friends. This past week it was just Erin, Jason and I out there and Dave asked about everyone else. He told me to let them know that he was thinking about then, and that he was keeping them in his prayers. He said he's been coming for almost a year and he likes to think of us as friends. He said it in a shy manner that showed his words were truly heartfelt. He was also very encouraging to me last week. I talked on Ephasians 1 and wondered if anyone got anything out of it. Kathleen told me that he said in the small groups that something I said made him think of all the ways God had blessed him in the past week. Knowing that God spoke at least one thing to one person assured me that our time out there was well worth it.

Please pray for Robert, who was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer.

This week Jason gave a great talk on Jeremiah 1; how God gave Jeremiah purpose and endowed him to live the life He expected him to live. I enjoyed watching the guys there get into it and relate to what was being said. I really liked hearing them all get into the song "This Little Light of Mine." We actually had more homeless there than students. I don't say this to emphasize the small number of students, but to underscore the number of guys we have coming after six weeks of not serving food. While small, we are a church, equipping the saints to go out and preach the Gospel, and live a life that glorifies God.

-Sean

Emancipation

2006-10-06T14:03:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,
I wanted to write a bit about Emancipation. Right now, things seem to be in a bit of a decline. Fewer people are coming, and most of the ones who do just want to fight. However, here's my hope: other people are stepping up and not only taking leadership, but also questioning the norms and agreeing that there is something not entirely right about going someplace, eating, and then going back to our nice warm homes. I also received hope in hearing that people think of this act as a "spiritual discipline" (it's so true!) and that they are disquieted by it, too (I'm so glad I'm not going crazy here.). We're also going to start putting in something we haven't for awhile: prayer. You really need a spot off site to do this, and we're going to start praying at Taft afterwards, which is so good. I'm also going to put their names on this blog so they can write in, too.
Look forward to updates!
-Ziggy

Fresh perspective

2006-09-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy we changed formats.

I'll be honest, I thought that not serving dinner would be the death of Church in the Park. Instead, when I went last night, there was more life there than I've seen in a long time. This is a good example of why trusting God is better than trusting your instincts, as well as an amazing ressurection story (because I thought Citp was dead). Granted, we had to go looking for folks, but compared to transporting food and maintaining order, heck, that's no sacrifice at all. I also had a realization about the things I've been thinking about. People loved to ask me about the "justice" aspect of Church in the Park, which seems kind of a silly question to me. Who cares about the "justice" aspect if people are hungry? What's so "unjust" about dinner. However, last night cleared things up in my head.

I ran into Tom, and he was drunk. I have never in my life seen Tom drunk, and this was a little disconcerting. He asked if we could talk and I told him sure, and we talked about 20 feet from everyone (rules are rules). At first he thought I was angry, which of course couldn't have been further from the truth, and after I convinced him that wasn't the case and that Jesus saves him on belief, not works, he felt better. He told me quite a few things, about how he loves us, and how he thinks of us as his best friends. But then he told me something I didn't believe: that we were the first persons to "care" what his name was. Now, granted he wasn't in top form, but that hit me. What is the big deal with learning a name? Then I remembered:

Earlier that week, my boss and his boss took myself and my fellow service guys out to lunch. Driving back, there was a man asking for change at the corner. My boss' boss explained to us "youngin's" about the racket the man was doing, about how he was picked up and planted there by a guy in an SUV every morning. I asked what's the big deal, Charlie needed to get to work, too, and the intersection was a long way from anywhere good to sleep. Conversation went dead, and my boss turned to me and said, "Wait, you know that guy personally?"

And that's the justice of citp. What crime is so awful that you don't deserve to have your name known by anyone? What crime is so awful that you don't deserve to be known at all? God calls us all by name, and this is the great equalizer of humanity: that no one in God's Kingdom is so low that they do not deserve to have their name known by God. Isa 45:3 says "3 I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name. 4 For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me. " Jesus continuously told us about His name, and the power of it. To deny someone a name is to deny them the ability to become a son or daughter of God.

Cool, huh?

Tuesday was amazing, and I want to give props to Jason, I love watching him speak because he loves what he's speaking about so much that he lost in it. Good job guys, God has remade Church in the Park and you sat through the rebirth, and it is wonderful.

-Ziggy

thoughts from the summer

2006-09-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

here are some comments from the students of the center for student missions who came each week over the summer:

Ken and Sam - I thank you!

Wow! What commitment! Even when the police came to shut us down, they stayed positive and looked to the Lord for help. They are an amazing ministry and I hope it continues.

I met a couple people at church in the park that seriously humbled me.

Church at the Park made me happy to have so little in commone but yet have Jesus as a common ground. Thank you for all you do!

I got to share the gospel with this guy at church in the park. It was awesome. I'll never forget him.

Sam - you are awesome and incredibly strong. I love you and will keep praying for you. Good luck! God Bless!

You guys have a huge heart and a great idea to serve. Thank you.

Leader of Church in the Park - I think that this is a great program and it encouraged me to go back and talk to more people. Keep it up.

They allowed me to see a very inspiring vision on the homeless. I would like to thank them all. They really changed my view. I learned a new way to work with the homeless--in a good way.

"Love is not love till it's given away"--Tom Thanks, Tom!

praise the Lord for this partnership with CSM and for His grace over us this past summer and as we move into the new school year!

- sarah

Seeing the Power of God

2006-09-06T22:02:00.000-07:00

So this was our first time doing Church in the Park under the new format, where we no longer serve dinner, and have a more structured service. It was an awesome night. We went out and there was nobody by the tables we had been meeting at the last few weeks. We split up into three groups and wandered through the park to gather up any of the homeless we recongnized. My group didn't see anyone, and another group said they saw some, but they weren't interested in coming. But God didn't let the story end there. We were gathered back by the theater, and just as we were going to start the study with just Rice students, two guys walked up. Then three more. Then three more. That's more people we had in the last two weeks combined when we were bringing a full meal out for everyone. I was in a bible study the other day and someone talked about the power of God; how some people's first thought is the Red Sea being parted or fireballs coming down from the sky or Samson's super strength. What is even a greater marvel is His ability to raise us from the dead and glorify us and keep us in His presence for eternity. Given enough time, humans could probably figure out how to part a sea, but we will never be able raise people from the dead as He does. So what does this have to do with Church in the Park? Another thing we will never be able to do is speak to people's hearts to get them to want to know God more. Only His Spirit can do that, and bring people together in a park to worship God, and I am awed by it.

We sang several songs and had a study on wisdom. Judy played guitar and Stephen led the study out on Proverbs 3. Afterward, I prayed with Spider and Jerome, two guys I hadn't met before. They both randomly started talking to me about not worrying about the future and trusting God with it, which was something I really needed to hear. They really have no idea what's going to happen day to day, and it was really encouraging to hear how that they give every day to God. It was such a blessing to just talk with them; not pity or patronize them, but just be friends and fellowship with them.

After the prayer time we had snacks and talked. The food was definitely not a main focus, as we had hoped. Everyone saw it as just a snack. I talked to Scott, who just went out on the streets, and came to citp for the first time a couple weeks ago. He's having a lot of trouble with his mother-in-law and wife. Please pray for him. All the guys who came said they would be back next week. I forgot to mention it in last week's post, but Gary, who was drunk and depressed whenever he came, got a job in Austin. Praise God for that, and for the wonderful fellowship he brought together this week for His glory.

-Sean

Jesus in our midst

2006-08-30T20:31:00.000-07:00

It was another week of sandwiches and bananas. This was our last week serving dinner. I announced that to all the guys when we got there and they were all very gracious, and thankful for all they had received. I told them we would be having a bible study on Tuesdays for now on and many of them expressed interest. I'm excited for next week. Three people stayed for the study, and I'm grateful for that many. As we were passing out food, I noticed that people were taking off right away. I didn't realize it, but Dave told us that people leave because they want to sit on a bench or at a table because the grass was wet. It was also only Kathleen, Stephen and I passing out food so there was no one to talk to them after they got their food. After all the food was passed out, everyone except Dave left. I was really discouraged because I had a dream the night before that everyone left and we ended up just going home and not doing the bible study, and it looked like the dream was coming true. I walked around and found some guys near by and none of them were interested in joining us. But praise God, the dream didn't come true. Earl, a guy I hadn't met before, and Kris showed up, and with Dave we had a great study. Kris, who normally leaves before the bible study to catch the bus, arranged for his girlfriend to pick him up so he could stay. That made me so happy. I was optimistic about small numbers last week and in my unfounded anxiety, I forgot that. I should have remembered that God is bigger than some dream and that when he wants something to happen, it happens. Even had only Dave stayed, it would have been enough. If nobody stayed, Kathleen, Stephen, Jason, who came later, and I could have still had the study. Jesus said "when there are two or three gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them." And of course, he was faithful to His Word. I finished 1 Cor 10 this week and there were some good questions and discussion. We talked openly about some personal issues. It was very uplifting. Thank you Father God. Something new next week!

-Sean

A Little's Enough

2006-08-24T21:41:00.000-07:00

This was the second week in the spot by Miller Outdoor Theater. I think we had fewer people come for food and four stayed for the bible study. I was reluctant to admit it, but there is need for change due to the lower proportion of people staying for the study; hence the last blog post. In spite of the small numbers, this last week a little was enough. We had great fellowship and dicussion in our small group before and after the study. There was Scott, a newcomer, who just went out on the streets last week, and was very open about the situation that put him there. Ezekiel has also recently become homeless, but was very hopeful about finding a job. He said he knows people that could put him up, but he wanted to do it on his own. He told me how surprised and happy he was that college students would take the time to do what we do. Tony, while drunk, stayed quiet and attentive during the study. I pray the Lord spoke to him in that time. Then there was Ricky; that guy can eat. He came back for a bunch of sandwiches, but he gave some to a guy who came after all the sandwiches were gone. It touches me that when the most logical thing to do is look out for themselves, that they take care of each other, as God would have them do. I talked on 1 Cor 10, descibing how the Isaelites messed up and how we are meant to learn from their mistakes. After the study Ricky brought up the topic of fearing God while loving Him. I tried to relate the topic to how we love our parents while fearing them, and inadvertantly brought up a sore subject with him. He didn't have a good relationship with his father and had an unhealthy fear of him. I apologized to him later, and he was totally fine with it. It's encouraging to see that when every thing in the world may be against these guys, giving them every reason to be bitter, that they are still compassionate and forgiving. I experienced this last week also when Tony prayed for me about something that was getting me down.

After the study, Stephen announced the changes that are going to take effect the week after next. Ricky was like, "Oh, so it'll be more focused on fellowship, like we had tonight. Sounds good." Pray that there is a similar reaction among the others.

A guy who I have seen over the past few months, Khris, gave Sarah a picture he drew of her standing next to a guy eating a sandwich with Jesus standing behind them. Putting Jesus in that picture had a big effect on me. It helped me to focus on the fact that this is all about Him. I admit to sometimes losing that focus. Praise God for doing so much through a simple, loving act. He also expressed to me his sincere appreciation of us coming out every week, which was encouraging. I along with Khris have received such incredible blessings since going to church in the park, and I pray that both homeless and students continue to receive those blessings every week.

-Sean

changes

2006-08-22T07:09:00.000-07:00

Church in the Park has some problems. Recently we’ve been stopped by police uneasy about the large numbers congregating. Even though our numbers are growing, the number of those who stay for the Bible study has remained steady, so that the proportion of those who join us in worship, scripture study, and prayer is decreasing. In addition, not everyone is content that the liability for the safety of the food we serve is borne by the kind Rice servery staff, and not ourselves. Finally, several of us believe that while we hoped to establish a community of Christians among the homeless of Hermann Park, what we actually have is the roots of a soup kitchen, which, in my experience, has been the very opposite of a community.
Therefore, after prayer and discussion, we have decided to stop serving a general dinner and to direct interested people to the ministries that already take care of that need. We will continue to meet together in worship and prayer, though. Since we know that many of the people who come may not eat very often, we would like to offer a fellowship meal after the service, both to take care of our neighbors, and also to create an opportunity to get to know our brothers and sisters better by eating with them. By doing this, we hope to both live within our resources better, and also to achieve our desire of living in Christian fellowship with the homeless community who live just beyond our hedges.

- stephen

church in the (other side of the) park

2006-08-09T08:52:00.000-07:00

never again will i lead a group of strangers into the unknown. i had no idea where the "chinese pavillion" (which i was later told is called a japanese pagoda) was, and the only two people who knew how to get there had to drive the food over to that parking lot. i started walking the csm group in that general direction, hoping to see the others or a pavillion in the distance. we ended up walking twice as much, taking the "scenic" route. i could tell the adult chaperones lost all faith in me. that's ok though; we've never been extremely organized. we're a group of college students who want to love God and love people, so i hope they saw that at least.

we made a ton of sandwiches and bags of cookies and bananas. man, i'm loving this no-clean-up business. so much easier to pass out and eat, although it's not as good as some homemade jambalaya. that's ok, too; i don't want this to be a food kitchen. i don't want homeless to come just for the good food. i want that to be secondary to the fellowship and learning about the Lord.

the area of the park where we were was pretty beautiful. near the hill of miller outdoor theatre and one of the ponds, there was a field and a number of picnic tables and benches. a few of the homeless were very frustrated about the change of location. of course, it's difficult to let everyone know about the change, but we ended up sending a couple people to the old location 3 times to round up whoever was waiting for us. that was hard for me. especially hearing jeff rant. he's been coming pretty much all summer, and usually puts on a good face for us. he seems to be my buddy every week, but this time he had no kind words. darrell and eric (a new guy i think) encouraged me a lot. they're really good guys. they both have jobs, but looking for something better. looking for apartments. eric is supporting his wife (they're now separated, but his wife and kids stay in his house) and kids, but he wants a better job that he's more qualified for. darrell has been coming off and on for a while and has a job, but needs a cheap place to live that's close. it was good to talk and pray with them. they're both motivated and seem to be solid in their faith, both of which are hard to find on the streets.

gary stayed for the Bible study this week. he's either very drunk or very high every week, but he put on a pretty good face this time. he clearly has a rough time on the streets and needs a lot of prayer.

the night ended much better than it began. the light was dim, so the Bible study was relatively short. i read Psalm 28 a couple times out loud, and we just had discussion about trust in God. joel led worship. this was his last week; he's moving back to toronto for college next week. we'll miss him; he's been very solid this summer. he sang a goodbye/benediction at the end to a hymn that he rewrote the music for: "God be with you til we meet again." it was really beautiful. that gift is such a blessing from the Lord.

next tuesday, there's a job fair at george r. brown convention center, so a number of the homeless are planning to go. please pray for them as they look for a job to get back on their feet. pray for good decisions so that they will be able to keep the jobs and save money for the future.

i was later told that a policeman drove through the nearby parking lot with a spotlight during the Bible study. he didn't stop to talk to us. :) praise the Lord for His blessings and protection!

next week: who knows?

How to legally serve food to people in Houston

2006-08-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,
God gave us another week, and man am I happy that's over. I think He finally cleared everything up around 2pm just to remind me that it's Him, not me.

Anyways, here's what Sarah (my wife) discovered because she's awesome.

1. How to get around a health permit- A health permit is not needed if the event is private in nature. A private event can be verified by the presence of a guest list and paper invitations. If people not on the guest list take food, you are now serving food, and that doesn't look good. Documentation is the key, and if you have these records, there isn't much anyone can charge you with. Also, "There is a big difference between serving food from a pan and giving someone half your sandwich."

2. Park regulations- Hermann Park is open for the enjoyment of the public. Palivions are first given to those who have reserved them, and if they are not reserved they are first come first serve. Same with picnic tables, no matter what the size of the group, as long as there are no entertainment devices such as moonwalks, rides, etc. The picnic tables cannot be reserved and are avalible on a first come first serve basis.

3. Have the names and phone numbers of who you talked to, when, and what about. This protects you retroactively in case the law changes.

This being said, let's read between the lines. Although you are protected, you still may get a ticket, and you'll simply appear in court, say who told you what, produce the guest list and you're golden. Also, as the lady at Palmer told me, the parks department and the police are not going to make things easy. Finally, we are in an open spot right now, and it might be a good idea to move somewhere not so in view of the entire world.

In addition, Palmer is interested in helping us out. We can't use their parking lot anymore (that was a one week deal), but they want to help us and have us help them. Lisa S, the woman in charge, has said we bring some new skills and a new outlook to the table, one that could work to both parties' advantage. Palmer apparently is having its own troubles and have responded by forming very close relationships with the park police and parks department, as well as joining other organizations to make things more efficient. Perhaps placing ourselves in that larger community would be prudent.

Basically, I don't know where we're headed with this. I have a few ideas, but in the end God is going to push us where He has planned, and we'll be serving there. I'm happy things have happened the way they were, because it brought out my anger and allowed God to heal me, and it's giving us yet another ressurection story to add to our lists.

God bless y'all,
Ziggy

church in the parking lot...

2006-07-31T21:17:00.000-07:00

palmer let us use their parking lot tonight. :) ziggy talked to them this afternoon, and they want to talk about maybe working with us in the future. they have the waystation there, which serves breakfast every weekday to a few hundred (i think) homeless people. they really have an awesome heart for the homeless community, so it might be good to connect with them more. we'll see this week probably.

tonight went well; we pretty much had exactly enough food. only a couple late-comers didn't get a sandwich. we had a Bible study on Psalm 27. that chapter has pretty much carried me through this past week. :)

sam got back from georgia. his family isn't exactly there for him much, but his daughter is supposed to come to houston this friday to go to a doctor appointment with him. he thinks he'll find out this friday when his surgery will be. he was still smiling through all of this, and even sang before prayer tonight.

i like ivory a lot. i could just sit with him for a while in silence, with an occasional few words every now and then. it's pretty comforting.

man, the Lord is good. how would we ever get through a week without Him and His grace?

i think citp will have a couple more weeks of this transition period. tonight was really good, but i'm eager to see what will come in the next few weeks. i'm excited about possibly working with palmer, or at the very least talking with them and gaining some of their wisdom from working with the homeless.

prayer is still so needed.

from jen

2006-07-28T10:07:00.000-07:00

On Monday night, while the police were dealing with Sarah and the others, the rest of us simply began to pray. Obviously the ministry was under attack and prayer is our most powerful weapon in any situation. The most inspirational and encouraging part of the prayer were the words of a few of the homeless men. They thanked the Lord for the peace and love always present at Church in the Park. They said they could actually feel the presence of the Lord when we are there week after week. They also mentioned that we need to trust and know that this ministry belongs to God and it will be taken care of. We need to submit to all form of authority and this situation is no exception. After they shared all of this, I was filled with a peace that nothing can destroy the work of the Lord. Instead, we should rejoice in trials because in our weakness the Lord reveals His power. I was so thankful for the homeless men who prayed and lifted our spirits with their faith.

-jen

the cops finally came :)

2006-07-25T22:57:00.000-07:00

we expected this sooner or later. we have been going to hermann park for over a year now every single week to hang out with a growing homeless community there. this would be stopped eventually. a public space like that can't be a permanent place for such a ministry.

so, last night, a couple policemen showed up toward the end of dinner. they pulled me aside and asked for my health permit (to serve food in a public area), and of course we don't have one. i explained our situation, and how ziggy had talked a while ago to the health commisioner. she had told us that if this was considered a "private party," aka everyone has an invitation, then we'd be ok. of course, we have been very inconsistent with the invitations, so we didn't have them last night. the cops were very skeptical about that one, as i would be if i were them. it's clearly an attempt to bend the rules. i totally understand their position: crime has gone up in the area as more homeless are hanging out there, families wouldn't want their kids playing on a jungle gym with random guys sitting around, some of these guys are dangerous, we don't have a permit, etc. they have gotten a few complaints, so last night's visit was to inform us that we needed to either get citp okayed by the proper authorities or get a health permit. else, no more hermann park dinners for us. they were pretty reasonable: didn't give us any tickets, although they could've dished 'em out, and they suggested some people to talk to.

they asked me how long we've been doing this, and they were shocked to find out that we went out there every week for over a year. they said they had never noticed a large group of people in the evenings every week. wow! our group is pretty hard to miss. i think God blinded them to our group; how else would we have lasted so long in one place? again, He provides often without or before us seeing the need.

so, what now? to be honest, i'm very excited. there are so many possibilities! God could go anywhere with this! i really have very little idea what next monday will look like. that's so nice. to rest in His power. this is His! this is His heart, and we follow His heart. He will be the strength in our weakness, and the wisdom in our uncertainty and foolishness. this week will be full of prayer; please join us in lifting it up to Him. i pray simply that His will is done. i want whatever it takes for Him to be glorified through this. i want Him to open the doors that we should step through and shower us with wisdom and discernment in these coming decisions. i don't want to have one thought about citp that is selfish, lazy, or man-centered. i'm excited to be a part of what He's doing!

over the past year+, many relationships have developed. many homeless have come and gone, some have stayed, a few have gotten off the streets. last night, one of our group from rice, in a moment of intense frustration after the cops left, asked me "why are we even doing this???" after he said this, we turned around, and all the other students and homeless were standing in a circle together, praying over what was going on. "that's why."

those conversations are worth so much. those friendships. that encouragement. the spreading of His love. even simple obedience to His words, "feed my lambs." coming together as one body of Christ glorifies Him, and that is worth everything.

to be honest, i'd be a little disappointed if citp stayed the same after all this. i don't want to go back to the same routine. i think we were growing comfortable. that was a good comfort for a while, but change is refreshing. change allows God to take this wherever He wants it, rather than us growing in a false confidence in our own ability to carry it out every week. at the very least, this will be a wake up call. ideally, this will be a time of intense obedience and love for our Lord as we step out in faith. that's how this all started last year, right? stepping out. obeying His call to share with and love others. spreading His Word. all for His glory!

right now, i don't know what the next step will be. i had expected to be anxious and nervous, but i'm not at all. a couple minutes after i started talking to the police last night, i just felt a peace and confidence in Him swell over me. this is all His. not mine, not yours. we are simply a part of what He is doing. it's exciting.

please pray this week. first and foremost: that He is glorified through this situation.

some verses that came to mind (perhaps a little paraphrased in the sleepy fog of my mind): "Thy will be done." "So far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men." "Love each other, just as I love you." "seek first His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." "be anxious for nothing, but in prayer and petition, submit your requests to God." "follow Me." col. 1:9-12 col. 4:3-6 "if you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you."

sarah

perception

2006-07-18T15:21:00.000-07:00

I experienced the most harrowing moment I've ever had at a Church in the Park last Friday. We were playing a game of softball with a few kids, mostly under 13, when out of nowhere, two other kids, both at least 15, walk up and one of them starts beating the daylights out of a kid we were playing softball with. One punch, and then he was on the ground, and then he started stomping him. Nick and I ran up and yelled stop, but the other kid stepped forward with a lock in his hand and says "don't break it up." I didn't know what to do, and I don't think Nick did either. Finally, I yelled "enough" and Nick jumped on the kid, and the two who did the beating walked off. The kid who had been beat up sniffed, wiped his nose, and say"I'm going to get my gun" and walked off. He didn't have a gun, I'm sure of that, but what else could you do to save face? Nick followed the others off and called the police, and I assessed the situation. That is to say, I wandered around helplessly. What had just happened? Why didn't we know what to do?

This made me realize I was starting to treat Emancipation as a safe zone, an area where God protected everyone and didn't let the real world in. In reality, there is no such place. Emancipation is a gang hangout, and as such it is more dangerous than Hermann. I'm not sure quite what to think about this. Joel provided me a story about a guy being stabbed in the kidney who would have died had he not had his Bible there, but that really doesn't make me feel better. I guess God's decided to shelter us thus far, but now, between my new job search and the stress everywhere else, I'm wondering if I should be doing this. It's God who's keeping me there, though, so for now, I'm staying.

Hermann makes me think about this, too. We should have been stopped by the cops a long time ago, we should have run out of money, we should never have support. The last group through Hermann was the Korean Church of Dallas, and I really loved being back at Hermann with the CSM. Alot of anger came out that night, but I was also crying. I love being there, I love seeing people see Jesus so close. I really love Church in the Park, and I hope that came out.

Next week is going to be crazy, we'll have a group of 28 on top of the CSM and the homeless. Time to head back to the kitchen!

fruit salad

2006-07-10T23:11:00.000-07:00

we always seem to have leftover fruit salad. it's beautiful! that's like my favorite part of every meal.

if anyone is wondering why i was crying at one point during dinner: a homeless guy came up to me and asked me if he had to get in line behind everyone who was in line for seconds. basically, i told him that we had plenty of food, but that i would go with him to ask them if he could go in front of them. he kind of blew up at me and said it was my job to take care of it, not his, etc, etc, and walked off in a huff. i'm a pretty emotional person, so even when i reasoned with myself that he wasn't all there mentally, that i shouldn't worry about it, that i shouldn't take it personally against me or citp, etc . . . .i still cried. it just got me. my tear ducts have a mind of their own sometimes, so i just had to wait it out. it did hurt. not his words really, but perhaps just the fact that he was so unhappy and alone and capable of such harsh words. pop came up to me and encouraged me a lot. he knew that guy from the palmer waystation, and told me not to worry about it. he knew something like that would happen when he saw the guy walking up to me. it was good to know that a few of them in particular were looking out for me and cared. that meant a lot. the few college students who saw what happened were really good, too. man, situations like that, even though they're not a big deal, really remind me of the compassion out at hermann park. that compassion and fellowship are the Lord's.

sean and samantha haven't been here the past two weeks. sam is having prostate cancer surgery soon, but he wasn't sure when the last time i talked to him. he wasn't there today. raymond wasn't there. i talked to a guy (sorry, i forgot his name, ziggy) who came for the first time since way back last year, pre-ziggy and sarah's wedding. he said he remembered praying for their marriage during the Bible study. that was cool. tj and julius were first-timers last week, but this was the first time i talked to them. both so solid in Christ. julius takled quite a bit during the Bible study discussion, and he was very grounded in the Word and speaking with authority and wisdom. they'll be back next week. tony always seemed confident in what he believed in the past. yeah, he had and has struggles and strongholds, but he was always so optimistic. tonight was the first time that i heard him talk about his struggle with faith and following Christ. he said he knows for sure that there's a God, but has trouble going further than that. man. he plainly admitted his alcoholism and recognized his need for Christ and expressed his desire to really be a true follower. we prayed over him, but he needs a lot more prayer.

frustrated

2006-07-03T11:43:00.000-07:00

palmer doesn't let the homeless sleep on church property anymore. for good reason. some of them were urinating and defecating on the building. gah. way to show your thanks to those who share a roof and food, following Christ's commandment to love people. i asked pop about it today, expecting him to be frustrated or angry or disappointed like me, but he still had a smile on his face. he and a couple others found a shack a few streets away where they can sleep "as long as they want," he said with a grin. they had to wake up at 4ish at palmer. i guess the situation isn't too bad, but it's still hard for me to swallow that some of them treated palmer like that. some smoked crack over there too. i don't think they ever got caught. gah.

this made me think of what we're doing over there, what impact this actually makes, what God has actually done out at the park, etc. there will always be people who take advantage of others; i'm resigned to that fact. i'm also resigned to the fact that some homeless are content where they are and not wanting or willing to change their lifestyle, either for themselves or for Christ. i can't change that; only the Holy Spirit can, so it's in His hands. when that happens, we'll be out there to love Him and them. there are also those who truly seek Christ. we can see His love in their eyes and actions. they are our brothers and sisters. this is all worth it, if for no other reason than to obey our Lord.

sean and samantha came back. they were around last summer; actually, sean was around waiting for samantha to get out of prison. they left in the fall and were back in hermann park last week. it was really encouraging to see them still together, that their relationship is still strong and that they have goals. sean still brags about how he's been declared dead 15ish times; whether that's true or not, he makes me smile and i was glad to see them again. reminded me of last summer. seems like forever ago, yet it wasn't very different then.

time to bake some cookies. :)

Emancipation update

2006-06-30T08:41:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Last week at Emancipation I saw something kinnda cool: less than an hour after a rainstorm, and I do mean hard downpour washed out roads rainstorm, Emancipation Park was still FULL of people. We played softball with two kids, did the Mentos in diet coke thing to illustrate the Holy Spirit (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, go to the store RIGHT NOW and buy a package of Mentos and a 2-L of Diet coke, and drop the Mentos into the Diet Coke), and well, kinda goofed off. It amazed me that this park is so central to everything in that community, and kinda made me think back to all the times we were at the park and God showed up. Pap Jack (not Zack, my bad) is well, and misses Saba, Linda is bringing her grandchildren to us to meet, and people still put their beers away when we come up (one of these weeks I'm coming beer in hand, I'm sick of this idea that beer=not holy).

One thing I don't like about Emancipation is it's not as dynamic as Hermann, but then again, it's not supposed to be dynamic. Right?

Also, I've been thinking recently about public spaces. A man e-mailed me and asked how to do a CitP thing in a rural location, and I have to admit he got me there. Can you set up in front of a store? Where is an area like Emancipation or Hermann in the suburbs? or is the mega church the suburban way to go?

a few names and faces

2006-06-19T23:38:00.000-07:00

it rained a lot in houston today--even flooded in some areas. the pavillions are still roped off because of rabid bats, and the park is super muddy with a high chance of rain, so we decide to eat at palmer tonight, in the parking lot under an awning. the security guard was really nice about it, and it turned out pretty nice. not many mosquitos; just a drizzle off and on; plenty of food; lots of good company. speaking of, tom showed up! this tom got a job at igloo a while back but now works for the academy warehouse, where his hours are 5pm to 1am. man. he got tonight off because they reached their goal, so he came to visit us! he has been such an encouragement to many of us throughout our time at citp. he's a solid Christian with sound wisdom and a good heart and warm hugs. he also loves to read and inspired us to start a little library in the blue box that we carry over every week, although he was the only one who ever really used it. he read the count of monte cristo in two days; i think the unabridged les miserables took about a week. he obviously doesn't have as much time for reading since he has a job, but he still makes time for it. he just turned 63 a few weeks ago.

sam has pre-op today for his prostate cancer surgery coming up. they'll have to pull a couple teeth and do a couple more tests before his surgery that was set for the 26th, so it might be pushed back a couple days.

jeff, a really tall lanky guy, got some kind of bite on his foot, so it's swollen and hard to walk on. he made an appointment for thursday. he also said something was wrong with his neck that he was going to get checked out.

pop (randy) goes to a Bible study on tuesday nights by the fountain at the corner of hermann park at fannin and mcgregor at about 7 with some people from new life church. he's from sierra leon, where his kids still live, so he spent father's day alone out here, but he's one of the most cheerful guys i've met. go check out the Bible study if you have a free tuesday night.

marie definitely has some killer maternal traits. she's constantly buzzing around, offering people tortillas or cleaning up the pans or spraying someone with bug spray. she has a sweet heart and is so willing to offer up her thoughts to the group. she's such a blessing; it's hard to think that i met her only a few weeks ago.

those are a few who came to mind as i'm writing this in the wee hours of the morning. it was nice to have a change of scenery from hermann to palmer; i like having things mixed up every now and then. this was kathleen's last monday before leaving for her 6-week STiM mission trip to oakland, cali. six weeks. we're gonna miss her.

challenge of the night: pray to the Lord through the night some time. talking doesn't last very long; learn to listen to Him. learn to feel His embrace and be loved by Him.

sarah

Answered prayers...

2006-06-16T08:53:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all,
Sarah, thanks for keeping the blog going. I hope to drop by and visit you Monday.
So, I read Brother Andrew's God's Smuggler and was struck by his dedication to pray and letting God take care of things and having faith that when you did need something, you got it. So, I said to myself, why not give it a try. At Emancipation last week, all we have was a wok full of fried rice, some sandwiches, and the biggest crowd we've ever had. We were stuck, there was no way that many people were being fed. But, I prayed, and then Jeese shows up with, of all things, a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter. You can fed lots of people with those! Also, My little brother started college and was having a tough time, but I prayed and...things are better. I had one of those "well, it says it in the Bible" moments, but hey, God rocks.

Also, lately, I've notcied I kinda feel out of reality for a bit. You know, those times when you just move through the motions, on autopilot, when all you really want is for everybody to leave you alone. Because of this, I feel I might have let Church in the Park suffer a bit because I haven't been loving it. Really, that's what this is all about is love. If you don't love doing this, if it's veiwed as just feeding, then the whole thing becomes an excersize in futility. I see why John hits on it again and again in John 1, love is the only thing that matters.

Love y'all, keep it up.
-Ziggy

PS- The article I wrote for Relevant is online at http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life_article.php?id=7217
Hooray! I hope this glorifies God!

mmm select-a-size...

2006-06-11T20:04:00.000-07:00

i have a mountain of paper towels in my room. it's beautiful. it's less than half of the total we got from the vbs at west u baptist. :) they delivered five huge trash bags full of paper towels, napkins, paper plates, cups, and utensils. beautiful.

the pavillions at hermann park are closed off. they were testing the bats for rabies and got a couple positives. this happened a couple times last year, too, so we just have the Bible study at the playground. deja vu. i really like it.

summer!

2006-06-05T22:10:00.000-07:00

our first monday citp of the summer is done! it went really well; i love having csm back. the pavillion is closed again because of the bats. i remember this happening last summer a couple times, so it just spices things up a bit. there were still probably 30 or 40 homeless who came out tonight, which surprised me a bit since we switched days and all. i thought our numbers would drop a lot more. worked out well with the large group of csmers, about 20 or so, middle-school and college age. it was a really cool group; i'm still not used to being the frontman, so it was a little intimidating having all these little faces looking to me for instruction.

to update ziggy's last post: iv has chosen to move their large group to fridays for sure, so citp will move days. we wouldn't be able to survive (well, maybe survive, but not well-nourished) if we stayed on fridays. we'll decide which day for next year at the end of the summer, i think. yeah, i was angry at first, mostly about iv not giving us at least a heads-up and preferably a discussion about their large group moving, since it has such a big impact on us, but, all in all, i think this will be good for citp. change is good; it encourages growth and thought. we shouldn't necessarily stick with what we have simply because it's worked ok in the past. we should be continually in prayer about what citp should look like and how to glorify God better through it. we've talked about going "wider and deeper" with this--i think this transition into summer is pushing us deeper.

ziggy is going to focus on emancipation park and the dinners and Bible studies there on fridays, so he won't be able to come much to hermann park. i gotta say, i was a little disappointed when he asked me what i thought because i had been looking forward to having him back for the summer, but he's needed over there. i'm glad kathleen is here over the summer since she couldn't last year; she's a rock of encouragement and sincerity. for the summer, hermann is going strong, and ziggy being gone is simply challenging us more than if he came back. that would be too easy--too comfortable. this way, hermann will continue to change, and the growth of leadership is a big part of that. i think that in each phase of hermann park, during summers and semesters, new people will come in and start picking up responsibilities of those who will leave soon, and those who will leave soon will pass along any wisdom they have picked up along the way. it's pretty beautiful. man, this is all still so young. the first pot of beans was brought to the homeless only a little over a year ago. actually, it is only because of God that we lasted this long. and only through His grace and provision will we continue.

sarah

Cuz sometimes the way you're doing things just ain't good enough

2006-05-12T09:17:00.000-07:00

So, I was a bit surprised when I heard this, but the folks at Hermann told us that it was more degrading to self serve (because people were "competing" for the food) than to have someone serve them. This opens up a door for us: what else have we always taken for granted that was fine that, in reality, is not good?
Here's the thing with Hermann, we've hit "equilibrium", as a chemist would say. We're not growing or shrinking, and we're really not doing anything outside the framework of what was done a year ago, with exceptions. And honestly, this a bad state to be in. Last night, we also heard IV was moving to Fridays, which means we're going to have to switch our night or loose mmost of our regulars. Sarah W was angry about this, and that surprised me. Weren't we just a bunch of college students kinda blowing in the breeze, reacting to the spirit? But she was right, we're not something that should be ignored so easily. What strikes me about this is we've done what we sent out to do, we've gone wider and deeper, but neither one looked like we thought it would. Emancipation and Lovefeast both look totally different from Hermann and each other, and Hermann has become a church, not a mission. In short, everything we thought when we started is not applicible anymore. The other thing that struck me is how much we've grown. Steven, Sarah, and Kathleen are pastors now, and a fourth person, Jason, is on the way, and we now run a church. I'm now a bit of an overseer and vision caster for 3 Citps, with the potential for a fourth avalible. And there are people who love this, love the people, so much that I believe if God were to call them out and send them they would all start new Citp's whereever they went.
This could honest go places, and man am I excited.
-Ziggy

The house always wins

2006-05-02T11:35:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,
Last Friday was so cool, Johnny Brown showed us around 3rd ward, and showed us the boxing gym, this really neat club, project row houses, and then bought us dinner at a little place that turned Jeese and I's unprepared insides to mush. But MAN was it good. He also told us about how he makes all these rounds to various people and places in the jails, the neighborhoods, and all over Houston. This guy is a machine...

Summer's coming, so sooner or later we'll have to organize in such a way that either Hermann or Emancipation can do without me. We'll see how this goes.

-Ziggy

Emancipated!

2006-04-12T17:43:00.000-07:00

Well, this last Friday, Emancipation officially took off. We had a fantastic Bible study, and Willy stole the show with his comments about how we are "to become God's Children" Fantastic. It doesn't look like Hermann, it doesn't feel like Hermann, it's officially Emancipation, and Jesus is there. Thank you Jesus! There's so much more hope in Emancipation, and I love how it's starting to become a refuge for men to, well, be men. Johnny Brown comes to hang out and brings Chris, the homeless woman he's taking care of, to eat with us. Mike can come and be weird and have people listen to him. Willy is, well, Willy. I like this park!

It's not perfect, like the drug addict we had telling Lauren and I we didn't know anything, but hey, that's missions...

I also want to write about Sam. He called his son, and his son basically asked him "why do you wait until you're sick to call us? Why be in our lives now?" Sarah's told me she thinks he's given up hope, and I can't help but wonder, is she right (please God, no)? We ate lunch, we went out to wash the car (and I paid him for it) and we went to see King Kong (awful, but fun) and the whole time I couldn't bring myself to think "this man is dying." Sarah came home and started crying, and after a while, I did too. I wasn't ready for this, I have never been ready for this. All this time, I thought I could keep Church in the Park at arm's length, and it wouldn't affect me. I couldn't leave my apartment, I can't look Sam in the eye. I love him so much, and I just don't know if I can be with him while he dies. Even worse, he thinks of me as a pastor, and in some way, as long as I'm the only one going to that group, I am. I'm not strong enough to be a pastor. I'm barely strong enough to be a friend. Still, if bringing a man to a movie and laughing and joking with him during the whole thing so he can forget he was sick for a few hours was right, maybe I was doing God's will. I feel like I was being used by God this Saturday, but it hurt so much.

Jesus, you asked us to eat of you. I guess I wasn't aware it would cost this much of me.

Another incedent this last weekend (like I said, God used Sarah and I)- a friend saw a homeless man outside Taft, and long story short, no one would give him the money he asked for, and when she tried to give it to him, she was told not to. Daniel was there, too, and we agreed that something needed to be done to make Ecclesia more approachable to the people who lived around Taft, homeless, shelter poor, and yuppies, and we are asking the elders to consider starting a "Church in the Park" like event at Taft. Serve breakfast before service, and maybe give rides or buy clothes or food if people need it. What I'm liking about this is that Daniel's kinda taking the lead right now, so I get to relax (sorta). Have everyone bring food from breakfast. Let's see how it goes.

OK, Sarah was sick today, so I'm going to go call her and make sure she's ok. See y'all Friday!

PS-We're considering communion at Hermann for Easter. Sarah, Stephen, and Kathleen are meeting tommorrow to discuss it. Pray for us!
-Ziggy

Jesus never promised us life would be fair, but come on...

2006-04-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,
So, I'm going to stop promising I'm going to post more often....

2 things to relay here. The first is I'm back from Seattle, a city where God's creation stares at you from all directions and it is amazing (example: Mt. Rainer towers over the city from the south, and it is HUGE!!! Take a look).

Sarah and I are thinking of moving there, but in the meantime, I saw something that kinda confused me. I met a homeless man selling newspapers called Real Change, for a dollar. I bought one, and here's what bugs me: You buy the paper for a dollar, and the homeless man bought it for $.35. The paper is about 12 pages long, and is chock full of ads, and half the articles are by guest writers. Contrast this to the Houston Press, which I get for free, and has on average 60 pages, and the Houston Chronicle, cost .35, which has at least 200 pages. Would someone explain to me how this helps anyone? Except the guy printing it, of course. While I like how it forces me to at least look a homeless person in the eye at least once a day, why would I buy the paper except to support the homeless? And if I'm trying to support the homeless, why would I want to fund someone's paper? This is just exploitation, and I'm really surprised to see so many anarchist sites supporting this paper.

Also, Sam's back. Sam was my best friend over last summer, the guy who I could always talk to and count on for help, and he got a good job, and left the park. He's back, and he's broken his hip and he has prostate cancer. What the hell? I know God doesn't promise us that if we believe in him we'll make money, but I feel almost betrayed. Sam worked hard, did all the right things, helped a woman who'd been raped, protected people, believed and prayed to God, and now he's crippled and dying. I'm so angry I almost don't want to deal with it. How could God let things get so bad? How is this justice? Is God trying to tell Sam that the earthly life sucks and to await heaven? He was already doing that! Is Jesus trying to lead others to Himself using Sam? Then why slow him down, Sam's a great minister!

At Mars Hill Seminary in Seattle they told us we all had a story that we were living, one that was being written all the time from before we were born. What I can't understand is why God would make the story so long. Phillipians 2 says that it is God's nature to humble Himself to interact with us so He would be exhaulted, and I wonder if as children of God if the same is not expected of us. I wonder if any of us have it in us to submit to death on a cross for others, or if the right thing is to simply await Jesus coming to free us. The story is long, and I guess we shouldn't look to far to the future without considering the present and our task at hand. I'm going to pray for Sam now, please pray, too.

5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

It is because Jesus is in the form of God that He did want he did, not despite. Why else would the lord of all creation interact with us.

I know that in my heart, so why can't I connect it to Sam?

Body works

2006-03-16T06:22:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, we met Bobby, a jogger (he said he jogs everywhere) who called himself an evangelist and wants help us start Bible studies. And what a guy he was, he came to Ecclesia and wants to drop by our small group. He and Pappa Zach are like the Tom and Eli in Emancipation, people we can trust and serve as a building block of community, a friend who can link us to the surrounding community and take away the awkwardness. This could really work!

Oh yeah, we're doing Luke 5 this week, and talkiing about how everything we do is in response to God, not God in responce to us. Pray for us.
-Z

Oh what a difference acceptance makes

2006-02-25T18:57:00.000-08:00

On our last trip to Emancipation, we had dinner under the pavilion, and 4 people joined us. Two left before we got their names, both on the way to Humble, and one man woke up off the cold concrete where he was sleeping, sat down with us, and then went back to sleep. The last person, a woman named Nikita, didn't want to join us, but asked us to bring her food (she stayed wrapped up in blankets they whole night). We did, and later we asked if she wanted a cookie and Jason brought her enough cookies to make a girl scout troop rich. Here's the thing that interested me the most: she told Lauren that she didn't want to eat dinner with us because she "Had bad BO"

This kinda shocked me. Lots of the homeless we've worked with had terrible BO. Horrid in some cases. This has never made a difference before, why should it now? That got me thinking: why is it that men in Hermann Park couldn't care less about how they looked or smelled, but people in Emancipation do?

I got to thinking about this. Hermann Park is a major park in Houston. Picnicers will often share leftover food with the homeless. In addition, Palmer Episcopal Church shares food with the homeless every weekday. The homeless there just aren't afraid of people.

Contrast that to Emancipation Park. The only other group that ever feeds in the park (besides us) is a church group that comes once a year. There is no Palmer, there are few picnicers. It is off the beaten path. It is surrounded by houses. The people there have deliberately decided not to go to Hermann. In Hermann Park we are a spectical. In Emancipation, we are an anomoly.

I'm bringing Nikita soap and shampoo tommorrow and asking her if she wanted to join us next week. I refuse to let BO stand between Jesus and acceptance.

Ugh, need to update...

2006-02-08T08:25:00.000-08:00

Hey y'all,
Wow, too long since last post, better get crackin'...

OK, so Emancipation is off to a good start, we need to get the prayer and Bible study thing figured out, but it's not like we get prayer or the Bible 100% figured out ANYWAY so all things considered, we're in good shape.

Here's the thing about Emancipation that gets me: most of the people we eat with aren't homeless. Many are, but not most. In fact, they have homes in the area and they walk out, grab something, some stay, some don't. Now even though these people have homes, they still don't have money for food, and due to rising property taxes they are also in the process of losing their homes. So a good meal every Friday is a big help, and it does show God's love. I'm starting to wonder if this is even a homeless thing at all, about whether if you had a meal every week in a park at any place at all if God would bless it. Granted, Jesus said to invite the poor, the maimed, and the blind, so maybe taking Church in the Park out to, say, River Oaks is a bad idea, but what about the other wards? The Heights? Out near Sharpstown? So maybe that's taking things too far, after all, these work as long as people can walk to them (and Sharpstown is in the BOONEYS!!!), but I digress, need to focus on more immediate concerns.

I wonder, when Jesus told the diciples to "do this in memory of me", was He refering to eating the bread and wine, or the sharing the food? Just a thought....

In the meantime, it's really cold outside, and we're out of blankets. We need to collect more. In addition, we need to have some changes at Emancipation, and that's that the best location to eat, a pavilion on the east side, has been totally overlooked until now. Also, how do we re-introduce the Bible studies and prayer? Finally, how do you really love people who have homes? One of the guys got kinda mad at me because I wouldn't give him .50 for a lighter, and this was after I bought him cigerettes. What's going on? Anyways, pray for us and for Hermann. Oh, one last thing, Kathleen got some very bring lanterns, which are perfect for light and for any future CitP.

In Him,
Ziggy

God is good

2006-01-20T20:31:00.000-08:00

so this was the first citp at hermann with ziggy officially gone. i was scared when he first told me he was leaving to start a new one. God's peace and guidance and strength are pretty awesome though. He definitely carried us through this week. He multiplied our food so that there was exactly enough for everyone, prevented a couple fights from breaking out, blessed our conversations and prayer times, and once again humbled and encouraged us. i'm still rather overwhelmed at how He provides each week and is so patient with us even when we're scared or arrogant or whatever. this week once again reaffirmed what we say so often: citp is God's, and we don't know what we're doing most of the time. it's so much easier to trust God when we embrace our weaknesses and admit our inabilities. so yeah, God is good.

Starting new, spreading out

2006-01-13T14:17:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,
Tonight is my last night in Hermann Park for awhile, because the Ecclesia volunteers and myself are going to start a new one at Emancipation Park in the 3rd Ward.

Those of y'all who have known me for awhile know I've been wanting to do this a long time. Why now Well until now, this was me:

God finally gave me my cue. And this whole time has been preparation I've badly needed.

Here are the lessons I've learned, looking back:
1. Someone to lead is importent. But even more importent is someone who supports you quietly, praying for you the whole time. This person is the person who you fall back on when you feel unsure, trust when they offer a new direction, and who believes in you when you have just screwed up. And no, you can't combine the two roles into one person. That person who leads and is willing to stand up front and lead is on the edge and, if they are absolutely sure of what they are doing, they are either too stupid to realize how troubling the whole situation is or has too little heart to care if God's there or not, all they care about are themselves. Prayer and contact with God are the most importent parts, and without that quiet person who prays before they act, the whole event is a waste of time.

2. Spirit+body. Someone who only does physical things for people with no spirit involved is no good. Someone who prays alot but offers no physical help is no good either. A body with no spirit is a corspe. A spirit with no body is a ghost. I have no idea what those people who drop off food and then leave get from their experience, and I wouldn't be surprised if they stopped doing it after awhile. Likewise, those who simply pray must stop and wonder sometimes why they do anything, and though their faith is strong, they miss so much by walking by Jesus on the street.

3. God takes care of things. We have never missed a meeting where someone showed up, because there was always enough people. We never ran short of food. God provides.

4. This world is beautiful. People are caring and loving

5. This world is awful. People send other people to live on the street.

6. Both are equally true. Both are also equally true if you replace "this world is" with "I am"

God Bless you all.

Family

2006-01-02T12:09:00.000-08:00

This last Friday, my family came for the first time. And it was really, really akward. My sentence structure needs to be varied.

Anyways, my family came for the first time last Friday, and it shook me more than I expected. First of all, they aren't as hardcore Christian as I am, which is not bad, but therte were some things that were very weird. Like praying in front of them, weird, and I think they were weirded out, too. When my mom asked "Why do you pray for that long when you know there are people waiting to be fed over there?", the fact that she asked the question, to me, means that she probably wouldn't understand the answer. How could I explain that since God provided all, prayer was the only thing you could do, that the whole event was a prayer in itself. There is more prayer at a Church in the Park meeting than in a church service for just that reason, the event is about interacting with God. At that point, I had steeled myself for the worst, thinking "well, that's it, this is going to be weird all night. If they thought that was weird, wait til they meet Tony. This is going to be the kind of they they keep quiet about around me but will be talked about at length around friends and family."

Thankfully, I didn't give my family enough credit. After crossing the street and getting our food, we talked with Tom, Eli, and Tony, and things improved. My mom and Dad really liked Tom and Eli, and even though Ben didn't talk much, he seemed to like it. Of course, I didn't expect him to talk much because that's just how he is, but what impressed me was that he really listened and, in a way, understood.
The Bible study was small, which gave us a chance to have a bit of a discussion. Here's a question I'm left with: should the disciples have been more faithful because they had seen the miracles, or are they on the same page as us because we see miracles every day and ignore them?

Our prayer at the end was short, and then we went home. I was happy to see that my family did get something from Church in the Park, and I was very impressed that Ben asked me what I needed, and seemed to understand when I said "Bibles." I'm not sure what they believe, I don't think I ever will be, but I'd like to think they saw Jesus there, too.

Happy Birthday, Jesus.

2005-12-20T06:52:00.001-08:00

Hey Everyone,
So, in addition to being a Church in the Park message board, this is also Ziggy's place to write thoughts, and you know what, I'm cool with that. I'm going to write some thoughts I've been dealing with lately. This should not mean that other people shouldn't post about the park and their lives, it just means I'm going to take this oppertunity to comment. But first, what's going on in the park:

3 big things are happening this week, first of all, the lovely Sarah Wulf will be bringing her vision group down to do the service, which is great because they're a awsome bunch of men and women, plus they are all hardcore. Shout out to Steven, Trevor, Henry, Chase, Jenny, and all the rest.
Number two is that, for the first time, a church as a whole is really starting to participate. 4 people from Ecclesia came last week, including one young woman named Sloan whose mother waited in the car for 1 and a half hours for her to finish. By the way, by "young woman" I mean she's 24, married, and a teacher. Some people see the park once and think it's a nice thing these kids are doing and never think about it again, but this group sees what anyone reading this blog probably either understands or wonders what we see. Jesus really is there.
Number three is that this is the "Christmas feast" Friday. CSM gave us a $500 gift card to Sam's, and Sarah W and I agreed that with that it God gave us that much money to buy food for such a short period of time (it costs about $75 to feed that many people on rice and beans, and with everyone bringing a little something it helps. Also, Janurary 11 we get food from Rice again, and that's only 3 Fridays away).

In addition, I've been thinking about 2 songs that for some reason speak to me, along with one verse. The first is that new Goo Goo Dolls song (I know, that's so high school) but one line in it speaks to me everytime I walk to the park (tonight's the night the world begins again).

The second one is "Dear you" by Monday Morning. Here's the thing, the lyrics at times seem over dramatic and over written, but when you latch on the music, they don't. Still, the some lines are great:

Is there truth becoming
Away from me
I fear the flames consuming
Could it be I abandoned your side?
When all required was a Word
Dear You Dear You

Chorus:
How could I leave
How could I try
To hide from you what burns inside
The change I've lived
The Love that cried
The part of me that died that night

Well you could be
The undoing of me
I can sleep
Awake at the thought
Of you knowing
Something showing
Truth amidst the lies
Disguise and compromise
And I scream…
Dear You Dear You

Chorus:

Could you see
How much that you mean to me
I'm sorry
I let you slip away
From all that you could be
Why didn't I say
Dear You Dear You

Chorus:

This debt I can't repay
Your memory won't fade
It haunts me everyday
How I walked away

check it out: http://www.purevolume.com/mondaymorning

I don't have anyway to close. I thought I had a conclusion, but I don't. Things seem so incomplete, and I know that while we rest today or have fun tommorrow or work the next day, we'll continue to have ups and downs, days when we feel we've got life figured out and days when everything falls apart, days we lie and days we're honest, and days love and days we hate. To be perfect again means either to be back in Eden, but Eden is gone and locked forever, or that Jesus came, in which case there is not more tears. But as I see it, we're outside shivering, and the only thing that stands between us and the harsh world full of the sin we must fight so hard not to add to is the covering God gave us, whether animal skins or Jesus' sacrifice.

I love being a part of fighting the world!

Love y'all,
Ziggy

Last night, blessings

2005-12-10T15:59:00.000-08:00

Hey y'all,
I talked to my little brother today, and he pointed out that alot of blogs are either depressing or preachy. I'm going to try something radical, a positive blog.

So, until last night I was worried. The semester was ending, and I thought we'd be short on help with no one to carry things on over winter break because no one from Ecclesia had come. Then, on Thursday, miracles started. Sarah got a call from a woman who lives in a condo in a really nice part of town offering us wool coats, and we found out she was friends with Rebekah and had been praying for us this whole time. We got two wool coats.
The next day, my officemate, Chuck, gave us 5 sweaters. This is a pretty good haul, but then when I arrived to pray with the group after a really tough day of work and forgetting my preaching notes, there were 8 BAGS of blankets. Sweet! We had so many that we decided to announce that we had them before the service. On the way over, Jim told me his church had been praying for us, too. On top of that, 6 people from Ecclesia showed up, and all of them volunteered to bring food next week. We had a good dinner, decent sermon, and a good pray time. Finally, we handed out the blankets and coats etc and we had stuff left over after giving stuff to at least 15 or 20 people.
I was telling Sarah that I felt like when we're up, we're really up, and this is proof of that. It's like God doesn't want us to go away, and the fact that we've nearly gone a year is amazing. It would have been so easy at any time for us to vanish, for Rice students to loose interest, for me to say it's too hard, for the police to say no more, or for the situation to become too dangerous, but we haven't seen that. So we haven't expanded, so what? We are at a new depth in unifying the church, as now people past college are coming. Who knows where this will lead?

Thank you, Father, for providing, thank you Holy Spirit, for never letting us quit, and thank you Jesus for giving us a reason and inviting us into God's kingdom and family.

Christmas break

2005-12-05T12:38:00.000-08:00

so i talked to my small group, called vision, a few days ago, and they're eager to step back in over break to come to church in the park. most are coming home mid-next week, so we'll cook for next friday. we can still get food from the serveries this friday.

vision is really excited about coming together again over break. i've tried to keep them updated on church in the park and what's been going on, and i got a pretty excited response when i asked about doing citp over break, as if i didn't even have to ask. :)

i love u guys, and God is awesome.

Unity

2005-11-21T10:40:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,
So, I talked with Chad last night, and he wants us to let Ecclesia know about what we're doing, have them come down and visit, then partner with us to either start new churches in the park or help the current one. In addition, I know we'll have at least one person from Ecclesia (a woman named Saba) join us Dec. 2 and Chad will join us that same week or the week after!

So I was writing notes for meeting with Chad, and this came out. It brought me out of my funk, so I thought I'd put it on here.

I don't know what I'm doing.

OK, start from the beginning, what do I want?
-I want to bring together the broken parts of the Church, those who have been pushed away by social pressure, to become united as Paul writes in Ephesians 4:3-5. This is not about blankets, this is not about food, this is not about needs, this is about Jesus.

So, how do we do this?
-The same way Jesus did, by eating together. Let's face it, eating together does something between people, as Paul Preadeau wrote, "The breakup of families today may be due to the lack of eating together." And like it or not, you connect more with someone when the bowls run out and you are forced to split an aluminium pan than you do when you pass them a ready made plate over a counter.

If it's all about eating, why have the Bible study and prayer?
-To grow together, then to change the world together. A fellowship that does not do things once its united isn't much good to anyone.

Isn't this dangerous?
-Yes, but more so for the unredeemed parts of our world.

Why stop there, why not go on and do more?
- What we do shouldn't be viewed as an end, just as going to church on Sundays or small group Wednesdays is not an end. It is a beginning. From here, it seems to me the next step is to go out and do things with this unity, and also to go within all the members of our group and find deeper faith ourselves. We have created a starting place, now we'll wait on God to tell us where to go next.

Something else I've thought about: the way things have been going lately, I have a tendency to treat Church in the Park as a program. But it's not, it's anything but. It's so easy to get caught up in the idea that you're doing something, and if that thing is not done, then terrible things will happen, but that's not really how community works at all. Communities form, sometimes with no reason at all (I still can't remember why Daniel and I became friends), and then, you just fall in love with something about it. With the joking, the smiles, the firm handshakes. With the way Ivory never talks but is the best listener around, or the way that Sam sang, or how Robert calls you a square without any bad feeling behind it. It's so tempting to fall into a mode of "things have to get done" when in reality, they don't. Jesus' love seemed to be most present in an atmosphere of sharing, talking, and joking, and I'm sorry that I've made this into somthing that has to get done. I'm going to miss everyone this Friday, and I look forward to the rest.

PS I invite everyone to share an experience on this page. There's too much on how to do things and not enough on why.

Enough blankets= OK

2005-11-13T19:00:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,
Just an example of a lesson learned, we brought plenty of blankets Friday, and there was no incident. By the way, on a side note, there was maybe half of the people we normally see, and our Bible study was small. It allowed us to have a discussion as opposed to a preaching (which I like better), but I can't help but wonder if I was too harsh last week. I don't know, I feel lost about this whole idea now. Should we go national? Was this a mistake? Pastor Clint was pumped about Rice Temple establishing a new one, and I think the spot is great. I saw the location tonight while Food not Bombs was there, and it seemed to be a great set up. I want to go when Patrick is there.

Pray for me guys, I don't know why, I just feel kinda down, like I'm missing the point...

-Ziggy

wheeee

2005-11-04T14:16:00.000-08:00

ziggy, you're just doing an awesome job posting . . . you cover pretty much everything. i talked to matt pulley, the university pastor at touch family church, and he gave me the names of a couple guys to talk to who are in charge of outside church stuff. i'll go on sunday and chat with them. matt said he would email me their email addresses so i can give them a heads-up about church in the park before sunday. if any of you can come with me on sunday or want to email them or give me tips or ideas i need to be sure to remember, etc., let me know.

sarah :)

Where we're going

2005-11-04T10:54:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,
Update on spreading Church in the Park in Houston:
1. Pastor Clint from Rice Temple Baptist wants his church to be the next one to host a church in the park. We're currently trying to find a new location to plant him in, and we meet with him Tuesday at 6.
2. Pastor Chad from Ecclesia wants to meet with us and add us in as a line item in the budget. Still cool, as we are running short of Bibles right now.
3. Howard Griffin, college and singles pastor at First Presbyterian, likes our idea and wants to come out in Janurary, however his group is mostly football players and with the season going on right now, they just aren't avalible. Still cool, as we don't have time to start 10 new church in the parks.
4. No sound from West U (although contacting Dr. Tour was not intelligent. Maybe I'll contact the missions pastor. Lesson 2, don't contact a non-pastor...). I'm thinking First Baptist might be the next place to go, as it is both close to the Metrorail and close to downtown.

As for a plan, we're still working on how to spread these things. My current idea goes as follows:
1. Invite people to see our group in the park
2. Evaluate their resources and
3. help them build their own.

Geez, and I just finished writing a sermon on how God and step by step plans don't mix.

Somebody else post! And not one of you advertising people. Please, I'm getting lonely here....

Ideals and Rules

2005-10-31T15:28:00.000-08:00

Hehehe, this blog thing is so much more fun than working!

Seriously, I thought of one more thing to write down that would be useful to get peoples' comments on. As much as I loathe the idea of creating a "Mission Statement", there are a few ideals that I feel should be expressed. Feel free to add or subtract from this list (you're all administrators, so you can edit my posts. Daniel edited my last post, and it looks much better)

1. C in the P is not a service project, as we contribute nothing and do not serve. Rather, we are homeless who are sharing the food, time, and Bibles that God has given us with those whom God has asked us to share with. Thus, we don't serve food behind a counter, we eat with those whom we share with. Jesus did not serve the last supper then stand back while everyone else ate, and we should follow His example.

2. We are a "church" as in members of the body of Christ, as opposed to a church with pastors, elders, deacons, etc.

3. We are actively looking for Jesus, as He promised in Matthew 25:40. We don't know what we will find.

4. Spirit with nothing physical is a ghost; a physical body with no spirit is a corpse. To be a living being, we must include the Holy Spirit in our physical service, and we do that with prayer before and during the activity. We have traditionally had 30 minutes of prayer minimum before leaving, along with a time of prayer with the homeless.

5. We are going into these people's home, and we are the guests. We thus must act like guests, not like we own the place.

What do y'all think?

By the way, Daniel also suggested three categories: a personal testamonies section, a lessons learned section, and a how to (get Bibles, get food, etc) section. Any ideas on how to do this?

Also, we meet at 6:30 in front of Hanzen college at Rice University. If anyone wants to stop by and join us, call me at 713-202-8541.

Finally, the rules:

1. We are guests in these folks home. If there is an ediquette question, just ask yourself, would I do this in someone else's home?

2. Stay in groups of 3 or more with at least one guy per group. The reasoning for this is simple, there is safety in numbers and guys act differently when there are other guys around.

3. Don't give away cash. Anything needed can be bought and brought in later or given.

All or nothing

2005-10-31T10:39:00.000-08:00

Hmm, I guess I should post first to show what I mean:
Last Friday we went to the Park and brought blankets to hand out. Immediately everyone who needed a blanket tryed to get one, a situation which is chaos at best (including one man who held on to one and refused to let go until everyone was staring at him), and I figured the best thing to do would be to go around and ask who had spares to see who had blankets and who didn't. Needless to say, that didn't work because as soon as one person walked up and took a blanket and them wlked off, things went nuts. The incendent cumulated with one man chasing another through the pavilion with a red hot stick and them shouting at each other.
The good side of this is I saw lots of people get up to defend us when the fight broke out. After that, the Bible study went well.
Lessons learned here:
1. Don't bring blankets unless you have enough for everyone. Yes, you could wait until the Bible study to announce you have them and keep them in the car, but then people are encouraged to lie about their faith just to get a blanket, and I'd rather have everyone feel no need to hide anything or to "fake faith" to get things. Also, I don't want to make the people who get a blanket targets for violence. These are all the more importent in areas that are colder.
2. Don't have someone guard something. If someone will threaten violence to get a blanket, I don't want to put people at risk standing between a blanket and desperate man.
3. Lessons already learned should stay learned. We had a similar incident when we started back in March (was it March?). We brought 5 blankets under the bridge to sit on, and immediately everyone and their mother got up to get one, some in a way that made me really nervous.

We talked about Mark 1 and acknowledgement. I want to acknowledge now that it was God's grace that no one was hurt, that we were fed, and that Church in the Park has existed now for 10 months. Kathleen and I talked, and we agree that this last year, time seems to have past one Friday at a time. For me that's also because Sarah and I hang out on the weekends.

The other event that happened this weekend was Kathleen, Sara and I sat down and discussed where Church in the Park was going. We agreed that we wanted to go "wider and deeper"; wider in that we wanted to spread church in the park to new areas, and deeper in that we wanted to get deeper in Christ, partially by giving the homeless a bigger role. So, this week, I'm contacting local churches to see if they want to start a new church in the park in Houston.

Welcome!

2005-10-31T10:22:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,
This is the official blog site of Church in the Park-Hermann Park. The idea behind this site is to allow different churches in the parks to communicate, share ideas, and tell what ways God is working through all of our groups.

I look forward to seeing what's going on with everyone, so let's start posting!

In Him,
Ziggy