Our Place Housing Solutions

This past Sunday, Our Place Housing Solutions officially got off the ground. This new "daughter organization" will serve as a Community Housing Development Organization seeking housing justice for our neighbors in Bellflower. Our hope is that this organization will be a leading force in preserving and creating new affordable housing that impacts individuals and empowers and strengthens neighborhoods and communities. Stay tuned for exciting news from this team!

A un-expected worker

I get a phone call the other day from a guy with a British accent and it goes something like this,
"Hey, i've been buying coffee and donuts for this homeless lady every morning. She is hunched over, about 60 and speaks clearly and considerately. I just keep thinking to myself that something should be done for this lady. Someone in this Country should be able to help her. I went to three different Churches and they said that they don't help homeless people. I tracked you down because I saw in the Bellflower paper that some award was given to a guy for helping homeless people. I tried to get a hold of him but couldn't. Is there anything you can do to help me?"
I was kinda shocked and blown away at this phone call. This guy who isn't even a believer calls me with a concern for someone in his community that seems to be in need. I smiled grew on my face once I began to think about the variety of people that God uses to bring about his Kingdom.
We've talked in Bible Study about the idea that no one can enter or even see the Kingdom unless they are born again. This guy is doing Kingdom work and he doesn't even realize it.
I've met with this guy and the homeless lady and we are taking steps towards bringing peace into her life. I hope and pray that God would use me to impact this guys perspective on life and why we do what we do!
I thank Calvary Baptist Church for giving this guy my number. While thier staff doesn't directly serve the Homeless population, they do a great job of listening and praying with people and then referring them to others.

Kelty Enters rehab

Our Journey with Nick goes back two years ago when we met him on the Riverbed near a Park we would have Church at. He was an "irish man"; rugged and foul in all his ways but sweet at the core.

Fast forward to about 6 months ago when he re-surfaced to Bellflowers streets and alley ways. He would join us every saturday for Breakfast and we would see him on Tuesdays.

I had helped out a friend of his and so his friend wanted me to help him out. We took him to a detox in Costa Mesa and visited him there. This is a detox facility for people cutting Alcohol cold Turkey. When we arrived for intake that day, a guy was being carted off in the Ambulence for having seizures (typical detox symptom).

He was there for the full 10 days and then went to Beacon Mission in San Pedro. This place is sweet. Old and creaky, yet super clean and organized.

He'll be there for 1 year without any outside contact. I wish we could go see him but we can't. He's in good hands.

We prayed before he went in. He was looking for a "new life".

Kelty: We pray that God cures you friend and that you can gain new eyes so you can see and enter the Kingdom.

Kingdom Cause Volunteer recognized in Bellflower

This article appeared in the Bellflower Citizen in August. Corwin Schenk won the "We are Bellflower" nomination.

Homeless Helper
Named ‘We Are
Bellflower’ Honoree

Corwin Schenk has a wife, two kids and eight grandchildren to keep him
busy. Yet every week, he still makes time to volunteer his help to Bellflower's homeless community. To recognize his service, the City has named Corwin this month's "We Are Bellflower"
honoree. Corwin, a resident of Bellflower for the past 37 years, has
logged more than 240 hours helping the homeless this year.
Corwin visits different "homeless camps" every Tuesday and wakes up at 6:30 a.m.
each Saturday to take homeless individuals to Calvary Baptist Church for breakfast
and a shower. Corwin, a Deacon at Bethany Christian Reformed Church, has a relationship with Teen Challenge, a Christian-based rehabilitation program in Lynwood, and helps promote a community meal that many homeless people frequent. He also regularly helps the
homeless by making phone calls, charging dead batteries, budgeting and giving car rides to those in need.

Proclaiming freedom for the prisoners of addictions

Last Tuesday, as is our routine, the volunteers prayed together for our friends and neighbors who are homeless before we hit the streets to share lunches and conversation with them.

Pulling into the parking lot of the vacant strip mall, we had little idea of what we would encounter. We'd suspected that the heroin traffic has been increasing in this area and more and more of our neighbors here seemed to be getting involved with it. I hadn't encountered someone in the throws of heroin withdrawl before. But as "Tom" approached me, I knew he was experiencing extreme symptoms of withdrawl. Our team has some history with Tom and he recognized us as Christians. His body was twitching as he walked up to me and immediately asked me to pray for him. He openly confessed that he was sick and addicted to heroin. So I laid my hands on his shoulders, and he put his on mine and we prayed.

We prayed for forgiveness of sins, we prayed that God would release him from this addiction, we prayed that any spirits that had attached to him during his drug use would leave in Jesus name. When we finished praying he was still twitching. He began a scattered monologue on his past with the church, as a minister and singer. He yelled at a few of his companions who owed him $5, threatening them with violence if they didnt pay up soon. I was scared and wondered if God could really get a hold of this guy. I wondered, is Tom responsible for his recovery now? I know the official party line for social work is that he is. But how is it that we expect someone so dependant on a chemical that his soul is buried under addiction to make daily phone calls to the detox in order to stay on thier 2 week waiting list and get help?

In Luke 4: 18-19, Jesus says "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Sometimes we wonder if what we are doing is really gospel work. If we don't disciple people in a program are we really doing God's work? The simple act of proclamation, while it often doesn't result in immediate transformation in an individual or nieghborhood, is obedience and therefore success. I struggle some times because I don't see immediate change for our neighbors like Tom. But when I reflect on my own journey with God, and the ongoing nature of my own sanctification process I recognize that God's time frame is different than ours.

May this year be the year of the Lord's favor for Tom.

School Year Officially Starts... Sanity Returns

This summer was crazy busy. At times I felt like we took on too many events, but in the end it was worth it. Between the neighborhood soccer games, VBS, bread sales, and hang outs we made good connections with our neighbors. One of the coolest things that came out of our events is a group of high school students that meets once a week to come up with plans to help their neighborhood. I know good things will come from this group of talented youth.

As great as the summer was, I couldn't wait for school to start again. There's something very appealing to a routine. In the summer, every day was different. Kids would show up at random times making it difficult to keep a schedule. I'm not complaining, though. I have a great job.

Last Thursday was the first day back to school. I pulled out my lawn chair and sat in the front yard like I did last year, except for this time I knew almost all of the faces passing by. It was a good feeling.

Definitions of Success

Eric and I have been talking about success this week. What does it mean for us to be successful in our work with the homeless? Has the Homeless Task Force been successful this year? Have we been successful even if no one has gotten off of the streets lately because of our efforts?

The answer is a resounding "yes"! Here is what we have seen God doing in our midst. We are seeing more Christians from Bellflower intentionally building relationships with our homeless neighbors. Every week we are witnessing the truth of the Gospel, that God has reaches out to us in the midst of our brokenness, calling us away from paths of destruction into relationship with him. He has divinely mobilized his people in Bellflower to be his hands and feet to these our homeless neighbors that he loves. That is success.