Discipleship at In-n-Out

Rachel and I were feeling lazy last Saturday, neither of us wanting to cook or clean up afterwards so we decided to partake in a So Cal delicacy, In N Out.

After ordering,  Rachel and I sat down with our four kids at one of the concrete tables in the outdoor seating area to wait for our food.  As we were seated, I saw a homeless neighbor who used to be a regular in Bellflower, who I hadn't seen for at least a year.  He's in his early 40's but his dissheveled hair, stuffed into a beanie cap and weathered skin make him look much older.  I knew his face but it took me a few minutes to figure out what his name was.  Thankfully as we made eye contact the Holy Spirit reminded me of it just in time as he approached our table.  

"Hi Mike!" I greeted him.  "I haven't seen you around for a while,  you doing okay?"  

I could've answered that question on my own.  By the looks of him he's not doing well at all and he's been drinking.  In fact he's so intoxicated that he almost fell to the ground trying to take a seat at the table next to us. 

"Got any change?" he asks after making some unintelligible comments about his near-fall.  I can see that I must look familiar to him but the alcohol is clouding his memory.

"My name is Ryan, and I'm sorry Mike," I answer, "I have a policy that I just don't give out cash.  But I would love to buy you a burger.  You hungry?"  

At first he refuses but then comes around and says he'll take a burger. 

While we were waiting for our orders, I did my best to keep the small talk going.  We talked about football, cars, his youth growing up in Paramount and going to high school there.  My kids were silent... I wasn't watching them but I am sure they were wondering who this guy was and why he was sitting with us.

I could see that all of my questions and conversation was making Mike feel restless.  

"I gotta go walk this off a little bit." Mike uttered as he got up to walk around a bit.  

Again he almost stumbled to the ground before making his way down the sidewalk scratching his stomach and saying something to himself.  The girl at the table next to us tightened her grip on her purse as he stumbled past her table.   I caught myself dealing with a bit of fear too. "What's the worst thing that could happen?" I think.  "He's just a guy in need of some human interaction.  He's not going to get us.  We might feel uncomfortable, but that's okay."

The brief respite gave us an opportunity to talk with the kids about what an opportunity this was to love "Mr. Mike"  our neighbor.  

"Mr. Mike doesn't have a house." I told them.  "We get a chance to have dinner with him.  This is what Jesus would do guys.  This is good."  "This is good." I think, "this is discipleship in it's most impactful form..."

Mike came back and his table was now occupied, so we cleared a space for him at our small table.  Our food came first and so I offered him one of our trays of fries and my coke so he can eat right away.  I ask him if we can pray for him and he says, "Pray that I get my life back together..."  So we all pray, thanking God for our meal and for the opportunity to have a meal with this blessed neighbor. 

He says he doesn't want any fries so I reclaim my basket from in front of him but as I do he grabs a few fries and says "oh I just have a few."  His visibly dirty hands grab a four fries from the pile and I look at the rest of the fries with a bit of disgust.  "You should have the whole thing." I insist, feigning generosity to cover for my germphobic disdain. 

His burger finally came and we all settled in to eat.  I caught myself several times feeling uncomfortable about the situation, and wanting to finish quickly and not having much of an appetite for the food just minutes before I was craving.   

Over the course of our meal, while I struggled to move the conversation forward, my mind fluttered to many somewhat competing thoughts...  

I felt itchy thinking about his "germs" (he told us he has scabies) and way too righteous as the other customers watched our family.  

I looked at our fellow customers, narcissistically wondering if they were watching us, thinking about how "good" we were, or conversely how bad of parents we must be.  I am ashamed

I pictured God smiling on our tribe.  I imagined him smiling at our simple obedience and chuckling at my discomfort, the way a dad does when he knows his kids are learning a good life-lesson.  

I reflected on how we were experiencing the Holy Spirit empowering us to love someone who, like the lepers in Jesus' day, was outcast and isolated from the community.

As our dinner concluded and we parted ways, I notice myself marked by this ordained appointment with Mike.

I wonder... how can our family better love neighbors like Mike?  

Will we embrace people with germs and visible manifestations of brokenness like mental illness that makes them difficult to communicate with and prone to self-medication?

What would happen if you and I were SEEKING and making the most of opportunities like these that humanize the lonely outcasts living among us?  

What will God do in us when we engage in relationships, sharing a meal with a human friend, instead of taking the easier, cleaner route of giving a poor beggar our loose change in an attempt to assuage our guilt and so doing unintentionally feed their addiction?

My prayer for us is that God will make us more like him as he stretches us and crosses our paths with others.  I pray that he will give us His eyes to see our neighbors as He does.  Most of all I pray that He will give us the discipline and intention we need as a busy people to pay attention to the opportunities like these that come our way on a daily basis.  

Good news: A local group takes a break from Bible Study

This weekend I heard some pretty cool news.  A group of Christians decided to stop meeting to study the Bible together.

Let me explain before you call me a heretic.

A group of mature Christians in Bellflower who have been meeting for several years in order to study the word together started reading the prophets of the old testament and something changed for them.  They read the texts in Isaiah and Jeremiah that clearly show God's heart for the orphans and widows.  They heard his rebuke of the people of Israel for neglecting the poor while they religiously continued to worship God with thier mouths.  They were convicted.  Then they did something pretty cool... they decided to be not only hearers of the word but doers.  They opted for simple plain-faced obedience.

They decided instead of just studying about God's heart for the orphans, that they would ACTUALLY try loving orphans themselves.  Their group is made up of busy people (as most of us So. Californians are) and so in order to make space in their lives, they stopped meeting for Bible study.  In place of this study they've invested themselves in serving and loving youth in foster care, the orphans of our community.  Now they meet with foster care kids one night a week for games, fun and generally spending time loving them. 

Oh that God would multiply this obedience in our land!  What it might look like if God were to break my heart and yours for the orphans and widows of our community?

What would Bellflower look like if we took some of the time that we budget for weekly religious activity/spiritual education and spent it DOING what Jesus taught and modeled...

loving the "lepers" of our society,
the chronically homeless,
the drug addicted,
the mentally ill,
the financially broken
the lonely neighbors we are surrounded by but so often pass on the otherside on our way to our various church meetings to study about God's heart for them.  

The church is an under-tapped treasure-trove of love, skill, passion, time and action, that far too often gets silo-ed into Bible-education based busy-ness.  I believe that God wants us to take our Bible with us into the trenches, to go read our Bible and do what it says  where the hurting people live.  Then our orthopraxy (right living/obedience) will catch up with our orthodoxy (Right thinking/doctrine).

Let me be clear. I am not advocating that people should stop reading the Bible. I am not saying Bible Studies are bad. New Christians especially, need to read the Bible and read it regularly with other believers so that they can fully understand the message of grace and the gospel of God's Kingdom.  We have to know what the Bible says in order to be obedient to it.

What I am imploring is that we in the church would not spend more of our time studying about obedience than we do becoming obedient. 

God give us room in our schedules for obedience.

KCB Homework Club - Community Garden

Job training 301: Bless your enemies

When we started Good Soil Industries, KCB's landscaping social enterprise that provides on the job training for folks who were hard to hire,  we knew we would provide job training.  We knew we'd teach people how to mow lawns,  how to make resumes, and how to dress and prepare for interviews.

We didn't think we'd be teaching people about how to treat our enemies...

The Good Soil guys praying for our enemies.

Last week our crew returned to the van after caring for one of our customer's lawns to find that while they were focusing on their tasks some one had opened the back doors and stolen the weed whacker and hedge trimmer, $800 worth of critical equipment,  right from under their noses.  

This sort of theft isn't supposed to happen to good people doing a good thing, right?   

We were outraged at first but then we reflected a bit on what Jesus would do in this situation.  He would bless the thieves.   So as hard as it was for us to understand that teaching of Jesus,  Joel took the guys out to the truck and led them in prayer for the faceless, nameless enemies who took our stuff.  

As much as Good Soil is about job training, we also do some important LIFE training too.  We get the opportunity to demonstrate the upside down Kingdom of God, to our trainees who are so used to the abuse and "tit-for-tat" rules of the world.

Reflection on Engaging with our Homeless Neighbors

The following is a blog post from one of our KCB interns, Jessica. We are so proud of the way Jessica has immersed herself in the lives of our neighbors without addresses.

The value of community and relationships has been shown to me in the past month as an intern at Kingdom Causes. I knew God created us for relationships, but after spending several hours with our homeless neighbors I have realized how important it is for us to have relationships with all types of people - not just those who we have a lot in common. By spending time with those who have areas in their life that are different from ours, it challenges us to grow and expand our world view.

My time engaging with the homeless at Celebrate Recovery services and Saturday morning breakfasts at Calvary Bellflower Church have shown me so many wonderful qualities about each individual and their unique strengths. One of the women I have had the privilege to get to know is very thoughtful and starts each conversation by earnestly asking how someone’s day is. She is a young, beautiful woman, who may not have a home, offers so much to the rest of the homeless community and those with a home. She seeks out those who are sitting by themselves in the breakfast area, and isn’t afraid to leave her boyfriend to get to know another woman. There is also an older man, who usually has a quiet personality but when a conversation is something he is interested in brings out a big smile and laugh, with unique stories told about his life.

The culture that I have observed so far has been one that is very open and trusting of each other. Almost every individual actively interacts with one another and have formed close friendships, even to those who don’t live in the same park or riverbed that they do. They help each other find work and suggest places to stay when the weather gets bad, play card games together at almost every gathering or meal they attend and appreciate conversations with those who are willing to get out of their comfort zone and interact with them. I seemed to have done that so well that a few still question whether I am homeless or not!!

I have found that many find it difficult to look past the surface with a homeless individual, and in doing so neglect s to see the wonderful qualities that person has. The only difference between our homeless neighbors and us, is that we have an address. If people were to truly engage in conversations with those who do not have an address, many would be surprised to see how much we have in common. They are people full of life, despite their material losses. But how blessed are they that despite their hard circumstances, they are not lovers of money!! “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” (1 Timothy 6:10, ESV). They already have this positive characteristic, and we should all seek to see what other strengths they have to offer us!☺

Community, sorrow and joy

Sometimes the work of community can be a bit of a roller-coaster of emotions...

Last week my friend texted me to let me know he had heard that Kenny, one of our long-time friends who lived on the streets, had passed away.  My heart sank as the reality of this news set in.  Another life claimed by the brokenness of our world.

Kenny and Eric in 2006

Kenny was a good man.  He was quick to smile, to offer me a hug and always ready for a good conversation.  He was one of the first homeless neighbors I met and counted him as a friend.  

I am not sure how he died but I hope he wasn't alone.  I wonder if alcohol, the demon that often stripped him of his freedom eventually caught him and claimed his life.  I also wonder if his story  would have been different if we could have offered him a place to stay while he dealt with the relational poverty that caused his homelessness.  

What if we could have offered him a place to stay...

This week, by contrast, was full of rejoicing.   On Wednesday, I had the great joy and privilege of helping two of our chronically homeless neighbors move from the streets into their own apartments.  

Terry and Kim in his NEW apartment

Kim Barnette and Ricardo Nunez, KCB/OPHS staff members, advocated for these vets over several months, eventually connecting them with housing vouchers.  These two men, who would otherwise be struggling to be warm and safe on the streets, now have places of their own.  Bethany CRC and the Brethren Church of Bellflower stepped up and not only have they committed to help make their new places a homes, they've committed to embracing them and supporting them... COMMUNITY, something WE ALL NEED.

My prayer for them now is that from the safety and warmth of their homes they will be free to engage.  That they will grow in their relationships in community, with God and with themselves.  That's my prayer for you too...  for us all.

Christmas Store Recap

I began working on our annual Christmas store this past September, in partnership with Rosewood Church. The Christmas store provides a way for less fortunate families to purchase Christmas gifts for their children. I held 5 neighborhood meetings in which I informed people of how one would go about registering, registered families, and provided them with final details for our Christmas store.

The concept of the Christmas store is beautiful; fortunate Bellflower residents donate gifts to our store; we price the donated gifts at a very low price (over 90% reduction). We then invite our registered neighbors to Christmas shop for their kids. For many of the families the gifts they purchased at our store will be all they can offer their kids. What’s so cool is that they parents are able to stand proud, knowing that what little they could present to their kids THEY purchased with their hard earned money.

I was a very busy, popular guy at our Kingdom Causes office! Every day I received calls regarding the Christmas store. I was beginning to feel overwhelmed with all the various phone calls, until I received a phone call that would encourage and motivate me to continue working hard.

“Hi I was told to call this number and ask for Edgar,” she said. “I was told there was a Christmas store and I was wondering if I could still register my three kids.” I was sad to inform the lady that the registration deadline had long past, but she was more than welcome to show up at the end and if we had any left over toys she would be more than welcome to purchase toys for her children. My answer seemed to carry the weight of gold, she was so thankful and excited at the possibility that she’d be able to shop for her kids.

I provided her with all the information needed. “Just to let you know we began registering people for our Christmas store in November,” I told her. “Those pre-registered are able to shop first before those that weren’t registered on time. I suggest next year you register early that way you’re guaranteed toys for your kids.”

“Thanks but we normally don’t do this, it’s just that my husband recently lost his job and if wasn’t for this we wouldn’t be able to give our kids anything for Christmas. Thank you so much, you don’t know how much this means to my husband and I.”

What a difference was being made in the lives of this and many families, I only wish I could catch a glimpse of the feelings and emotions that were going on in the hearts of the parents. What an awesome event to share in the restoration of our neighbor’s dignity! From the bottom of my heart I want to thank all those who donated toys and/or their time in making this event possible.

-Edgar Guzman, KCB Community Development Intern

(picture is of volunteer Christina McConnell of Child Evangelism Fellowship and the Bellflower Chamber of Commerce)

“…You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” – Mark 12:31

A home in time for the holidays...

One of the Case Workers in our Homeless Prevention and Rapid rehousing program shared this story with me today and I wanted to share it with you.  

Last week I met with an applicant for our Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP). He is a single parent and has been homeless with his 12 year old daughter for the past six months. After teaching at a nearby high school for four years, he was laid off last spring and was forced to move out of his apartment in Bellflower. Since then he has been staying wherever he can, sleeping in a different place almost every night. In the fall, he started as a substitute teacher at a charter school and has been working consistently all semester. However, it has been difficult at times for him to get to work and get his daughter to school because they don’t have a car.

As we sat in our meeting he shared with me the stress and worry that has been a constant part of his life for the past six months. He said it was difficult for him to explain to his daughter why they had to be moving around so much and why she might have to walk a long way to school on days when they didn’t have enough money to take the bus. He also shared about his passion for educating. He has been a high school teacher and basketball coach for many years and it was easy to see how much he loves what he does. We went over a budget together to figure out what amount of rent would be affordable for him in a normal month. He asked me if I thought he could be moved into a new place before the end of the week so he and his daughter could have their own place for Christmas. I told him that it would depend on whether he could find a place within his price range and getting approved quickly enough. On Monday he called me back. He had found a woman who was renting a room in her house and was willing to let him and his daughter move in as soon as possible.

I went yesterday to see the room and do an inspection on the house. It is in a nice neighborhood in Long Beach and was in great condition. My client was standing in the front yard waiting for me with a big smile on his face and he gave me a hug as soon as I walked up. He was ecstatic about the possibility of having a home for his daughter before Christmas. I spoke with the owner of the house as I was doing the inspection. She was very sweet and said that my client and his daughter would be able to share the living room, dining room, kitchen and refrigerator with her and her two daughters. My client was excited to hear that she has a daughter around the same age as his. After going over the lease agreement, I was able to give the owner of the house a check for the full amount of the deposit and the first month’s rent. As the property owner made copies in the other room I talked with my client. He said that he had just told his daughter a few weeks ago that they wouldn’t be able to have a Christmas this year because he wasn’t sure if they would have a place to stay. He started to cry as he told me how thankful he was for our program and that he would be able to have Christmas with his daughter in their new home. He was excited that the house already had Christmas lights up and a big tree in the living room. As I left yesterday I felt so blessed to be a part of my client’s story. He is a single father, an educator, a coach, and a person of peace and joy. Because of the HPRP program, he is now able to have a place to call home, just in time for the holidays. 

Power vs. Grace -- Reflections on helping Floyd get into detox

On Monday received a call from "Pink," one of our homeless neighbors who struggles with debilitating alcoholism that has put him on the streets for the last 10 years.  He had "reached bottom" and wanted help getting his life back.  I love calls like this one.  These are the moments we pray for and the desperate cries for help that I believe God hears and answers.

At KCB we don't have resources or capacity to help someone "dry-out," so we partner with a detox facility about 20 miles down the road.  The ride was a roller-coaster for him.  Wavering from extreme nausea at the thought of the hours of painful detox to come, to euphoria, singing along to his nick-name sake Pink Floyd playing on the radio; Pink was hopeful about the change he was seeking.

When we arrived at the facility we headed to the intake office where we were met by the three volunteer committee members who would be making the final decision on whether Pink would be allowed into their facility or not.  They sat him in a chair close to the window and emphatically opened it, letting the cold winter-evening air in. They then positioned themselves across the room, standing arms folded, clearly conducting some sort of assessment.  No words were exchanged at first, just awkward silence. Finding the cold too much to bear, Pink turned to close the window.

"Don't close that window. You stink!", said Bill* roughly.
"Excuse me?" Pink retorted, not sure that he had heard his accuser correctly.
"People who don't pay attention to their hygiene tend to have a smell about them." Bill explained, "the window helps the rest of us get some cross-ventilation."

This made Pink justifiably upset and I sat awkwardly silent.  Was this really happening?  After that awkward and unwelcoming opening, Bill led in with...

"So, what do you want?  Why are you here?"
Pink, still ruffled by the rude opening, responded with, "Well, I want to get cleaned up and then get back out there."
"Wrong answer.  That's not what we do here.  You may as well leave right now. You're wasting our time."
"Oh Pink!  What were you thinking?"  I thought to myself.  I knew he didn't really mean what he said, he just has a tough time imagining a future for himself.  He's used to thinking ahead only as far as his next drink.

When Bill's retort sets in, it makes Pink justifiably angry and he stands to drunkenly defend himself but it's already too late, the committee has deemed him a "waste of time".

As we walk back to the car for our long ride home I called Kim, our Homeless Outreach Coordinator, to share the bad news with her.

"Wait a few minutes" she said, "let me call them and see what I can do."

God has done an amazing work of restoration in Kim's own life and she can talk to former addicts in a way that I simply cannot.  So Pink and I wait.  We wait. We pray.  He yells a few curses at the house off in the distance and I silently harbor cynical thoughts about former addicts.

And then Kim calls back.  She's made a way where there was no way... they'll take him, IF he'll apologize.

"Can you do that?" I asked Pink. "Do you want to get better so bad that you will apologize even when the other guy is in the wrong?  Can you forgive him?"
"I think so." Pink humbly responded, demonstrating the depth of his desire to change.
"Let's go... God help us!" I pray as we head back into the office.

The good news is that they did take him in and he is on the way to becoming healthy.  More good news is that God answered his cry for help and provided and advocate by way of his servant, Kim, who was uniquely able to minister justice and mercy because of God's transformation in her.

Upon reflection, I've realized a few things.  I realize that I sat in silence while the powerful intake volunteer, the one who held the keys to Pink's first step, treated him with disrespect and disdain.  I was silent in the face of oppression.  Lord, help me be prepared so that the next time I witness injustice I will stand up and defend the oppressed immediately.  Then after thinking about it further, I recognized myself in Bill, the powerful intake volunteer.  Working with broken people daily has created in me a fair amount of unhealthy cynicism.  Some days I forget to have faith and hope that God can change people.  Some days I sit in the seat of judgement, dolling out mercy at my own whim and based on my past experiences with others.

So, I pray that God will be merciful with ME.  I pray that he will create in me a heart of flesh and not a heart of stone and that I will extend to others (the oppressed and the oppressors) the same mercy and grace God has shown me.

*name changed

GSI's beginning

Driving with an employee to our 12th lawn care property of the day in a freshly washed Chevy Astro Van with sprawling decals promoting “Good Soil Industries”, I couldn’t help but smile remembering how far we’ve come in the last three years.

Good Soil began with a question at our homeless outreach breakfast, “what if, in addition to showing up for a pancake breakfast, our homeless neighbors could show up for a day work?” So with naïve ambition and a vision of what could be, we began working to make that vision a reality. We bought a 1989 Chevy family van complete with wood-paneling and shag carpet. We received donated yard equipment that our well-intentioned donors hadn’t used since shag carpet was cool, and convinced six friends to let us do their gardening.
Our journey began humbly. There wasn’t enough money to pay for employees, so Ryan and later myself began mowing lawns alone. One of my first days on the job, I was driving along making a left turn onto Artesia Blvd from Palo Verde, when the edger rolled across the gas-stained carpet into the side door and the entire door came off and landed in the intersection, creating a yard sale of the Good Soil equipment and the wood-paneled door.

We knew if Good Soil were to take hold of the vision, it needed to mature from this Mickey Mouse beginning. Soon after, God began opening doors of opportunity and through the generosity of God’s people we acquired a truck, new equipment, and a larger route.
I love to look back and remember where we’ve come from; to see how God has remained faithful in bringing His vision to reality. We’re still in the middle of our humble beginnings and there are still moments when the doors seem to come off, but the past reminds me that God has an adventure for us and He has been good.

Together we helped 35 people stay off the streets last month!

I am again so blessed to report that thanks to the direct investment of Calvary Bellflower and First Bellflower CRC we've been able to tangibly bless several families in our community this month that would have been homeless during the holidays.

Thanks again brothers and sisters... let's keep working together to love our neighbors at the point of their need!

Here's one of their stories:

C. V. – Bellflower Neighbor

Last month, a woman came into the Community Center in desperate need of housing. This woman had been in a domestic violence relationship for the past three years. As of a year ago, she was able to gain the strength to leave this relationship, which in turn left her homeless. When she left this relationship she lost all of her belongings including her home, furniture, clothes, her car and some of her family and friends. All she has had for the past year are the clothes on her back. Sadly, she would sleep in friends’ cars, motels and on park benches. Fortunately, we were able to house this woman locally. Our Program would not have been able to help this individual get off the streets and into a safe place to live without the finical assistance and prayers that we have received from Bell One and Calvary Baptist. Now that this individual is stably housed, she is able to focus on healing from the pain she has endured during her lifetime. She has attending bible study and support groups through local churches and is excited to gain a network of safe friends in the Bellflower community.

Myths of the Social Enterprise

One of the biggest investors in the social enterprise movement spreading across the non-profit world is a group called REDF. As experts in the field, they put together a list of the top 5 myths encountered for social enterprises. If you have 5 minutes, here are lessons anyone considering social entrepreneurship should read.

5 Myths of Social Enterprises
http://www.fastcompany.com/social/myths.html

You probably noticed one main theme: the mission, not the money, is the driver of a social enterprise.

I received a note from one of our participants yesterday, “Hey Joel I just wanted to let you know I appreciate the chance that you have given me, and I won’t let you down”. This is from a man who has shown up early every day, done everything I asked, and done it with a smile. I couldn't have been more proud of the work he has been doing. But these are the opportunities the marketplace too often misses because he hasn't passed the standard background check.

So as you consider if social entrepreneurship is right for you, realize that the road may be more difficult than advertised, but the payout comes with a much deeper and satisfying reward.

Two local churches help 25 homeless families in October: A few of their stories

Bell One

Last month, Bell One and Calvary Church in Bellflower committed $100,000 ($10K from Calvary and $90K from BellOne) in bridge funding to ensure that our homeless prevention work can continue despite funding complications for our grant from the State of California.  This past month, their investment helped us to keep 17 families from becoming homeless and helped move 8 families into housing from the streets.

Here are the stories of a few of those families: 

C.B. – Lakewood Neighbor

The client is 8 months pregnant and her husband has been incarcerated for last 6 months.  She is a single mother of 2 and soon to be 3.  She is part-time employed and receiving government assistance for her children.

The client called at the beginning of October and explained that she was homeless and had spent a night out on the streets with her children.  Her mother took her in for a few weeks until the landlord took notice of the overcrowded unit and warned the client’s mother that she was breaching the lease by having more people than indicated on the lease living in the unit.  The property manager threatened to evict the client’s mother if she didn’t move out.

Calvary Church

With the help of our program, and the churches' investment, she and her children were able to find a unit that she could afford. With her limited income, she didn’t have enough for the move in costs so the program provided the family with the move in assistance and now she and her 2 children are housed in a sustainable environment.  Case Managers are currently working with her to budget for when she has the baby and to help her sustain her place until she is ready to go back to work.  We are estimating this neighbor will need help for about 2-3 months.

O.T. – Lakewood Neighbor

The client is currently caring for her two siblings.  She is working full-time at a phone store and is not earning enough of an income to fully sustain herself and her siblings.  When she enrolled in the program, she had gotten behind on her rent and was on the verge of becoming homeless.  The program has helped her for 3 months and during that time, she found employment that provided higher pay and now her household is sustainable.  She requires no more financial assistance.

K.P – Bellflower Neighbor

Thanks to the help from the churches', the homeless prevention program was able to assist a homeless woman with a home to call her own. This woman became homeless when she was kicked out of her prior residence due to the inability to pay her rent. She was homeless in Bellflower for the past seven months sleeping in her car and showering at friend’s houses when available. Although she works full-time, she was not able to save enough funds to afford the move-in costs for an apartment. With the efforts of both the churches and the homeless prevention program, we were able to house this woman in an apartment in Bellflower. The total move-in costs Security Deposit and first month’s rent came to $1,875. Without the churches’ investment the program would not have been able to finically assist with this woman’s situation. She is now able to have a place to shower, prepare meals and most importantly she mentioned a place to lay her head at night. 

Bringing it to the Table

Food has this magical property. I’m convinced of it. Somehow it can make the most different of people come together in community. Jesus used this tactic, and I consider Him to be quite smart. Well, I got to enjoy the magic of a meal recently when I went over to a Bellflower neighbor’s home. Every Tuesday, Adam and I head over to Bellflower Manor to hang out with a couple of really great women who are interested in impoving their English. Adam and I aren’t professional teachers, by any means, but we enjoy working through the English books with our “students.” I was so honored when one of the individuals in our class, named Hue, invited all of us over to her home for Vietnamese food. Of course we immediately said YES!

We ate some of the most delicious Vietnamese food I’d ever had. Actually, I don’t know that I had ever had Vietnamese food, but man was it good. I now know why it was so good – she spent the entire day preparing it! We asked about her techniques and she explained how she would start hours before and prepare different portions of the meal at different times, just so that it would all come out just right. I felt so blessed that she took such care and pride in the meal that she was preparing for us. Well the food was great, but the company was greater. While at lunch all together, we shared about the different traditions that we all have, being that we came from a variety of countries and customs. Hue even took the time to show us her Vietnamese calendar and inform Adam and I of what animal sign we would be considered in that culture! This was actually the first time I had been inside a Bellflower neighbor’s home, being that I am not from around here, and I felt so incredibly welcomed. It was truly such a privilege to get to spend time with amazing people, eat delicious food that I had never tried before, and have quality conversations. I left that afternoon feeling so full, in more ways than one.

Bellflower Counts: We Count our Homeless Because our Homeless Count

As I think back on this past weekend, I’m not quite sure where to begin. How do I write just one little blog post that does justice to all of the incredible stories I was told these past couple days by our homeless neighbors? I got the privilege of being involved with Bellflower Counts this weekend, and I can’t think of many other times where I have felt more content than during this event. Bellflower Counts was what I was working towards all summer, as a Kingdom Causes intern. I think that, prior to the actual event, my thoughts were consumed by the logistics of making Bellflower Counts happen (Did we collect enough donations? Will we have enough volunteers? Are all of our volunteer packets put together?). However, once Bellflower Counts actually arrived, the only thing that was important was the people. Our homeless neighbors. I spent consecutive 4am mornings on the streets of Bellflower, interacting with homeless Bellflower residents and finding out what exactly their health and housing needs are. Although I had a survey full of questions to guide my conversation with the neighbors, we never entirely stuck to just the survey. Somehow, I always found myself engulfed by a life story that was being shared with me. Nearly every homeless neighbor that I interacted with was more than willing to stop what s/he was doing to talk to me about life. Conversation flowed so simply, and each time it happened, my heart would get a little sadder. My heart would get sadder because it’s always so evident to me, when involved with the homeless population, that this group is so heavily marginalized and not many people stop to talk to them. The minute someone takes a second to genuinely ask, “How is your day?” endless amounts of conversation come pouring out. Granted, not every person responds in the same way, but in my interactions, this so often seems to be the case. I feel so filled after this weekend because I got to spend time in good conversation with our homeless neighbors. I also leave feeling very hopeful that the Bellflower Counts survey results will put us onto a path of housing some of the most amazing individuals I’ve ever met, who truly are interested in being housed.

My prayer for the neighbors I got to spend time with this weekend…
"Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh."

Luke 6:20-21

Although I am disappointed that Bella Art Fest had to be cancelled this year, I learned an important lesson about Christian Community Development through it. One of the main ideas in CCD is the importance of a program’s relevance to the community. The biggest carnival of an event can happen, but if it is irrelevant to what the community is concerned about or interested in, then it is useless. It is important to read the signs of what a community is saying that it needs support for at any given time. Members of the community will come out to support and be involved with an event they think is important to their community, but they will not be motivated to be involved with something that seems unimportant in the community.

Another thing I learned that just because something has been relevant in the past does not mean that it will always be relevant. The soul of a city is constantly changing and will not have the same support needs from one year to the next. This is why it is important for me, as a supporter of the community, to observe and inquire into the needs of the community. It is also important for those in the community to speak up and be heard! For the action of CCD to be effective, it must be a joint effort between the community and the supporters of the community. If a project is not a joint effort, then it probably is not relevant.

This is why I am happy to be working on another event for the city of Bellflower, The Bellflower Youth Art Gallery, featuring art from young artists at Bellflower High and Middle School. The art and artist for the Bellflower Blvd. mural will be selected from the art displayed at the Gallery. This event is definitely relevant because a lot of young citizens of Bellflower are involved with the Gallery. Many are excited about the repainting of the mural as well. See you there!
- Natalie

GSI elevator speech

The elevator speech: the daunting 30 second pitch for you or your product, told to anyone who makes semi-prolonged eye contact. While awkward, the “elevator speech” is an effective tool to explain what your product is and how it is value-adding. We’ll skip the stuffy elevator, but this is Good Soil Industries:

“Good Soil Industries (GSI) is a social enterprise that helps low-income individuals work their way out of poverty. Local residents receive job acquisition and retention training, goal setting and accountability, financial planning, and life coaching. GSI also employs hard-to-hire neighbors, in hopes of systematically reducing homelessness and dependency on financial assistance. The participants receive transitional job opportunities lasting between 3 and 6 months through GSI Landscape Services, which provides landscape maintenance for commercial and residential properties. As a result of the job training and current work history, 90% of program participants have graduated from the program and found steady, full-time employment.”

We encourage you to share our story, and we hope this elevator speech gives you words to share it clearly.

Can we end homelessness in Bellflower?

Have you ever seen a homeless neighbor on the side of the road and given a buck or two?  Or maybe you've gone so far as giving them some food but were left wondering if it really did any good? 

I have been working with our homeless neighbors for over a decade and I have had some of that same feeling.  I feel good about doing something, but I also feel a bit like the little good I've done is a "drop in the bucket", or worse that my well-intentioned help in someway contributed to the difficulties for these neighbors by enabling someone to stay in their current condition.

I have learned that any effort to end homelessness in Bellflower is going to be complex and must involve change and shalom at personal, legislative and systemic levels. 


That's why I am so excited about what God has been doing in our little corner of creation lately with regard to our homeless neighbors.  This month KCB is leading Bellflower Counts, a united effort involving the City, County, State and even National groups to end homelessness.  

This month we're working to organize over 50 volunteers to identify Bellflower’s most vulnerable chronic homeless individuals over the course of 3 days using something called the Vulnerability Index.  After we complete the surveys, we'll work hard to find supportive housing for the 12 neighbors we identify as most vulnerable, and most likely to die on the streets if not housed.


Our hope is that over the next year, we will be able to pair these 12 neighbors with local small groups or churches who will lovingly support them as they transition to being housed.  Some of the support could be helping to furnish their new places, including them in group outings or events, and generally praying for and checking in on these newly housed neighbors.

This effort fits with our ongoing goal of mobilizing the church to love our homeless neighbors together.  It's a part of a complex solution to complexities that homelessness brings in the lives of Bellflower neighbors living on the streets.  Contact Kim at kimb@kingdomcauses.org to find out how you can get involved!

"I just do what God tells me to do." --Timothy the street evangelist

When a couple of our case managers came in this morning and told me there was a "young guy on the corner with a sign" I immediately thought that he might be someone in need of housing or some sort of help.  So I headed out the door and casually approached the young man I assumed was in need of a good samaritan.  

As I approached I could see his sign wasn't an appeal for charity, but a hand written note on a piece of scratch paper encouraging people to seek Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  I found out that his name was Timothy and that he has some variety of intellectual disability.  He was standing there on the corner while his mom worked out at Curves, telling people that Jesus loved them.

I asked him why he decided to do this and he responded simply, "I just do what God tells me to do."

What a beautiful thing.  What a challenge to me. What is God telling me to do today?  Where and with whom does God want me to share the good news of Jesus today?  Oh that you and I would be more like Timothy today, and do what God tells us to do.

"As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”  Luke 6

Dear Bellflower

Dear Bellflower,

Before I started my internship at Kingdom Causes Bellflower, I wanted to understand the legal rights of undocumented immigrants in the community. I asked a lot of questions regarding what the organization could do to help address some of the struggles and needs of these individuals and their families. For my independent research, I contacted a professor by the name of Hiroshi Motomura who works as an immigration law professor at UCLA Law School. He suggested that I read his book Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States and so the past month has been a really eye-opening experience to the historically varying ways that immigrants are viewed in the United States. The book did not digress into the topic of undocumented immigrants, but it helped me to understand that with the hardships that legal residents have in obtaining a citizenship, it is that much harder for an illegal resident to obtain rights by naturalizing as US citizens. Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done legally to help an undocumented immigrant, but it really challenged me to continue my future studies in order to bring about an awareness of the moral and ethical situations that revolve around the everyday life of illegal residents. Overall, my time at Kingdom Causes Bellflower has been a true blessing in that I have ultimately realized that it is through the guidance of the Word and of the Holy Spirit that will enable me to be effective in all my future undertakings. Thank you for having me on board and blessing me through this experience, Bellflower!

Love,

Eun

Community Walk

During my last community walk, I was able to sit and pray for the City of Bellflower and the works that God has been doing through the neighbors, volunteers, and leaders in this community. I felt really blessed thinking about how God provided Ryan with a vision of Kingdom Causes and how much this organization has progressed since the start of it. I also felt blessed to see the staff members sharing and committing towards the vision of transforming the community of Bellflower by connecting relationships, addressing the needs of the community, and utilizing the many assets that are found within it. I thought about how many of the staff members are living within the city and actively engaging in relationships with neighbors and churches all around. It's been a huge blessing for me to see them living in the kind of love that really reflects and glorifies God. It's so amazing to see God working through the homelessness prevention efforts, Good Soil Industries, Homework Club, Art Class, Soccer Class, and all the various programs that the organization continues to pursue. I will be praying that God can continually use the hearts and talents of KCB staff and volunteers so that He can move through the city of Bellflower!

-Eun Cho

A Different Outlook

The past three weeks, Eun and I have been putting together an art class every Tuesdays and Thursdays for some of our neighborhood children. As the last art class is rolling in, I have been reflecting about the passage in Mark 9: 35. When I was in India last summer at an HIV/AIDS orphanage doing VBS and other such activities with the children, one of the lessons God opened my eyes to was that very passage. It was so hard for me to accept some of the circumstances that those children came from but God stopped me and humbled me. He was noticing that I was beginning to serve these children out of love that derived from sympathy and pity rather than love that derived from the powerful and unconditional love of God. He reminded me of this passage as it says, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." Also he brought me to this passage in Mark 9:14-15, which says, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." God was allowing me a chance to look at it in a different perspective. He showed me that I should also receive Christ like a child with desperation and in incompetence, clinging to the one who gives me the living water. Since then, I have looked at children in such a vastly different way. Instead of seeing them as dependent and having much to learn, I try to see them the way God sees them.

While reading "Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life" by Robert Lupton, he briefly goes over this same topic. However, he adds to this point an even more profound perspective. He says that many times we tend to get lost in this "servant" position and he "saw help becoming control or care become commercialized (p.66)." Lupton saw that over time people stopped seeing this servanthood as following as Christ did, but instead they started using this idea for their causes to "conquer, rule and dominate others in Christ's name (p.65)." But Lupton brings up John 15: 15, "No longer do I call you servant, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father, I have made known to you." Christ, as always, brings me back to His backward ministry. First, He shows that to be first I must be last of all. Then, He shows me that to serve, I must first be a friend. This shifted the core of even our art class. Instead of seeing this as an opportunity to give to these children an art lesson, or to serve them; I am called to simply be their friend - "free to give and receive help from each other (p.67)." These children are valuable and precious in God's eyes and I have so much to learn and receive from their incompetent, dependent, longing, and dependent spirits.

-Madison Hur

Certifications Build Resumes and Confidence

The job market is more competitive now than most of us have ever seen. I saw a job posting on craigslist the other day, here were the qualifications:

• Bi-lingual (Togalog and English)

• 8 years industry experience

• Excellent communication skills with management

• Lift 75 lbs.

• 3 industry specific certifications

Hourly pay for this job: $8.50

As California's rate of unemployment remains at levels not seen since 1940 (12%), the job market has become hyper-competitive. Employers are able to ask for extensive experience and pay entry-level wages.
But these are the times; and the times call for us to compete. The jobs are becoming more difficult to find, but there are still positions that employers need filled. If we can prove that we add value to a company, we can find work. Its time to add certifications, related volunteer experience, unpaid internships, and any other profession-building experience to our resume.

That's why Kingdom Causes Bellflower and Good Soil Industries are working with Long Beach City College to bring a forklift certification, supply-logistics and OSHA general safety certification to our office. We look forward to sharing more as details come together, but we are working hard to make sure our community is prepared to compete!

90706

As I sat in front of my laptop screen typing away the numbers "90706" over and over again, His spirit spoke gently to me a thought. "Oh how he must truly love his children in this city." An event called "Unite" was held at the Bellflower town center on Tuesday night for 5 weeks in the month of July. I was asked to gather volunteers to run the booths at the event for registration, food, and t-shirts, etc. After the 5 week event, the tall stack of registration cards told me that there was close to 500 people who had attended all throughout the weeks. As I transferred the registration information onto a database on my laptop, I noticed that I rarely found myself typing addresses that were from outside of Bellflower. I'm still not quite sure why that stood out to me, or why it even came as a shock because it was an event as a target mainly to our neighbors in Bellflower. But one thing I know is that it reminded me of a passage in the New Testament when Jesus fed the 5,000 on the mountainside...

Since interning at KCB, I have been privileged to be exposed to God's Kingdom that is powerfully moving in the city of Bellflower. And especially through Unite, I have seen God use several churches to put on an amazing night where neighbors can come hear God's words. Just as a crowd came toward Jesus on the mountainside, I believe that God has brought the hundreds of our Bellflower neighbors to call them to his feet. However, just like Philip's lack of faith as he asked Jesus, "Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite," I showed the same lack of faith when I ran into some difficulty of gathering volunteers. The first week, I was worried and stressed that I was not going to have enough help. But of course at the face of my weak faith, God provided just enough volunteers at just the right time. And as the weeks went by, he brought people on board that I didn't even know were coming to help! Even with the food on the first Tuesday of the guest speaker, I was worried the whole night that we might run out of it and we wouldn't be able to feed everyone. To my complete and utter amazement, the pizza ran out as the last couple people strolled past. It couldn't have been more perfect. God called his people, fed everyone, sat them all down in time for the pastor to speak. Talk about a miracle happening right here in the center of Bellflower.

Sitting here and reflecting on the past couple of weeks, I am simply in awe of Him. I am amazed at how powerfully God is moving and how desperately He is pursuing after his people in the 90706. I feel like Philip all the more as I reflect, mistakenly thinking that I must use my own efforts, planning, and coordinating to work for God's Kingdom. How easily I forget that God already has everything in control.

-Madison Hur

A prophetic moment... will the church respond?

Kingdom Causes and Our Place Housing Solutions have been working together for the past two years to administer a $3.1 million effort called the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Rehousing Program.  This program has allowed us to help our neighbors who are facing homelessness due to job loss or temporary crisis by providing coaching and care (a.k.a. case management), and just-in-time rental assistance so that families won't have to go homeless.

This effort has been extremely successful.

We've already helped over 200 families all while utilizing only 1/2 of the amount of funding (twice as many as the State and HUD were expecting for the whole 3 years). Not only have we helped hundreds of families, we have been able to leverage support from local Christians who have shared their home furnishings and their time and labor to move families into more stable and affordable living situations.

I truly believe God is honored by our co-laboring to care for the hurting in our community.

That said, we are facing an incredible challenge related to this program that I believe is an opportunity for God's people to step up and to fight injustice and lay down our lives for our hurting neighbors.  Let me explain.

Since 2009, we had been receiving quarterly advances for the program from the State of California allowing us to administer $1.2 million to serve these needy families.  In July, the State surprised us by changing the contract, informing us that it would be changing the way that the program is funded, changing its regulations effectively requiring us to identify a monthly “line of credit” of at least $150,000 in order to keep the program running and assisting families.

Without this line of credit, the program will end and 200 families will end up homeless and potentially on the doorsteps of our churches.  

This is a prophetic moment, a moment for the churches of God, some of whom have "surplus" funds,  to “invest the talents” he has entrusted us with for over 10-fold kingdom return on investment, loving our neighbors, the least amongst us by preventing them from reaching homelessness.  

Pray with me that God opens the hearts of his people and that we respond with a generosity that demonstrates our faith in God.

What Can the Church Body Do?

In the last few pages of Compassion, Justice, and the Christian Life by Robert D. Lupton, he talks about a "church-based community development" (131) that involves the importance of the role of the church body to get involved, take action, listen to and love the community. I started to think about how vital it is for the church body to have strong faith and connection to God because it is through our faith and trust in God's ability to move through a community that we will start seeing needs being met, broken spirits restored, and communities rejuvenated. I was reading a passage in scripture which reads:

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us"

-Ephesians 3:20

These words reflect the very idea that God works within us and because a church body is composed of individuals who have an identity in God, the church should embody such a large quantity of power and work that God can do through it. However I feel that in what I see, the church does not fully reflect the massive works that God can do but I do see the massive potential we have towards community development and rectifying social injustices.

This idea was confirmed when I visited MIKA in Costa Mesa a couple weeks ago and spoke to a woman who has submitted herself to the work that God has called her to do which happened to be the social issues that surround undocumented workers. She discussed how a couple churches in her community decided to take a stand on immigration reform (despite risking losing church members who may be against it) and how the involvement of the church as a strong moral voice was such an important move. After reflecting on these things, I see the church as a crucial moral impetus for all good changes not because the church itself has power to change situations but because of the work God can do through it.

As individuals, I challenge you to recognize that God's power works within us and within our churches! I challenge you to see that we are a powerful force for rectifying wrongs and calling for change! In addressing the needs of community development and social injustices that surround our modern world, I urge you to maintain strong faith through prayer, obedience to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and trust in the work that God could do in us (as individuals and as a church body).

-Eun Cho

Learning the Hard Way

Well, I wanted to write a blog last week about some of the things I have been learning in my internship, but I couldn’t nail down one specific topic that I could focus on. To be honest, the event from the past week that kept popping up in my mind was one that wasn’t enjoyable. I kept thinking back to a difficult meeting I had with a community partner.

As I help plan the Bellflower Counts homeless registry week, part of my job is to connect with community partners, in order to gain support and recruit volunteers. Everything seemed to be going well with this particular community partner, prior to the actual meeting. I had spoken with the office multiple times, scheduled a meeting time, and was feeling confident that the outcome of this meeting would be a successful one.The point of the meeting was to tell the community partner about how we are taking part in the 100k Homes Campaign, which is aiming to house 100,000 of the most vulnerably homeless individuals in the nation. With our Bellflower Counts project, we are coming alongside this goal, beginning by identifying and housing 12 of the most vulnerably homeless within our city of Bellflower.

Going into this meeting, I assumed that the person on the receiving end would undoubtedly agree with our mission and think that we were conducting this project in the correct way. But, what I forgot, was that each person is entirely different from the next and possesses his/her own thoughts and methods. How narrow-minded was I to assume that everyone would possess my same way of thinking and approach to this issue? I got incredibly frustrated in the meeting, because the listener was not receptive like I had expected. I was caught off guard, and tried, with all my might, to make my message as clear and explanatory as possible, but it was of little use. I left feeling upset and disappointed, and my supervisor felt similarly. However, what she said to me was, “We should practice delivering our message to each other. We can ask each other the hard questions, and learn to answer them.” Although we were upset with how this meeting went, and I was stunned that someone would not agree with my way of helping the homeless, we learned a lot in this process.

I was reminded to take into consideration other people’s point-of-views and life paths. Just because I approach social justice from a certain way, doesn’t mean that my way is the only way. This trial reminded me of the book of James in the Bible. He begins chapter 1 by saying this:

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4)

James is someone who understood the value of trials. I’m reminded by him that it is within these trials that I learn most and develop perseverance. I won’t give up on helping the homeless, just because someone disagreed with me. At the same time, I’ll aim to consider other ways of approaching my cause. I’m still learning how to live life, how to be a good follower of Christ, how to be a good social worker, and how to be a good intern here at Kingdom Causes. I’ll take all the help I can get, even if it means learning the hard way.

-Bianca