Community 4:12

Christmas Hand-up

 The past few weeks have been a bustle of activity as we prepared for 3 Christmas Gift Marts this year . . . one in Joliet and two in East Aurora.  Here's a summary of how things went:

• Over 14,000 toys: 3,600 toys for the Joliet Gift Mart + 10,500 toys for the Aurora Gift Marts = Christmas for thousands of children!
• 1,500 Volunteers:  300 volunteers in Joliet; 1,200 volunteers in Aurora. It took every one of you to pull off these events!
• Over 3,000 People Attended Marts:  750 people attended the Joliet Mart; 1,750 people attended the Aurora Mart at Bardwell and 1,000 at the Aurora Mart at Brady.  Thousands of happy people who experienced the love of Christ this Christmas!
• Over 120 Partnering Organizations:  Churches--Orchard Valley Community Church, Good Shepherd Lutheran, Wheatland Salem United Methodist, Hope Tabernacle, Warehouse and others.  Schools--countless elementary, middle, and high schools sponsored toy drives.  Businesses--Walmart, Starbucks, Caribbou, Crate and Barrell, Coke, Hub Group, and many, many others.  It is this kind of unity that makes God smile!
• $20,074 Raised for Schools:  $4,349 for AO Marshall and Park Elementary Schools in Joliet.  $15,725 for Bardwell, Brady, Rollins, and Beaupre Elementary Schools in East Aurora.  All to support school improvement initiatives that limited school budgets won't support!

My pre-event challenge to the volunteers this year was to use the event as a chance to look for the richness, beauty, and blessing in the people attending the Gift Marts, rather than looking at their physical poverty, which is what we so often focus on.  I really want us all to embrace an idea I heard recently that everyone is rich, and everyone is poor.  We just need to retrain ourselves to look for the wealth, not the poverty. 

My son reminded me of that this year when we were collecting toys for the Gift Marts.  He didn't like how we referred to the children in East Aurora as poor.  These are his friends we were talking about, and he does not see their poverty.  To him they are kids that share life with him, that he has fun with, and that endure the same pre-adolescent challenges that he does.  He knows that many of them do have financial challenges, but that is not how he identifies them or thinks about them.  I am thinking that God probably looks at them more like Erik does, and that's how I want to look at them, too. 

Pre-launch Strategy

We have been working in East Aurora for 6 years now.  We are about to host our 7th annual Christmas Gift Mart.  We are working in some capacity with 8 schools in District 131--doing tutoring, youth mentoring, parent mentoring, art clubs, and community events. We have had office space in the community for over a year where we run Tae Kwon Do two nights/week, Kids City for 1st - 15th graders one night/week, and StuCo for 6th - 12th graders one night/week.  All of this has been laying the groundwork for bringing a bilingual, multi-cultural Community Christian Church campus to the community.  That campus will finally open on January 10, 2010. 

Typically when we launch a campus, we send thousands of postcards to the community, and that has proven to be pretty effective.  We aren't sure that strategy will work as well in this community.  So, we will be sending some postcards to a limited geographic area, but the primary promotional strategy is to sponsor community events in the space where we will hold church.  We have over 100 kids that are part of our Kids City and StuCo programs, but we had not met most of their parents.  So, we invited them all to a Thanksgiving Dinner in November.  We had 180 people that joined us for dinner!  Last night, we hosted a Las Posadas, a Mexican Christmas party.  We had over 200 people that joined us for food, mariachis, pinatas, and fun.  And then on New Year's Eve, we will host two Hispanic bands--one from Texas, one from Chicago--for a big concert to ring in the New Year.  A week later we will launch our campus. 

We have met so many wonderful people through these events and many have inquired about the church we will launch.  It will be very different from anything most of them have experienced.  Will they come?  We'll find out on January 10th or 17th or 24th or maybe not until March or July.  But, I am convinced that this relational approach to preparing for the launch is a perfect strategy for this community.  And it sure is a lot of fun!

Parents United in Action

Meet the 2009 - 2010 Parent Mentors.  We have 40 of them this year (up from 23 last year), working at 6 different schools in District 131.  For a very small annual stipend of $1,000, these women will serve 10 hours/week at their children's schools as teacher's assistants.   We know from previous years that these women will become school leaders over the next nine months, and their self-confidence will blossom.  Some will be motivated to go back to school to get their GEDs or learn English or computer skills.  And all will be deeply loved and appreciated by the kids and teachers they work with day after day.

Decision: Distraction

I've had many people asking about my decision regarding applying for the School Board since I wrote the last post.  So, here is the letter I shared with my C412 Leader Team that explains my decision:

Thank you all so much for your prayers as I have worked through the decision whether or not to apply for the open School Board position.

I have decided not to apply.

There were many factors and conversations that went into my decision, but one of the most significant was a re-reading of Andy Stanley’s book, “Visioneering.”  Over the past week, I have been reminded of my original calling---to be a voice for the poor within the church and to unite people around a mission of restoring under-resourced communities.  Neither of those things do I believe will be best served by me pursuing a School Board position.  

Stanley has a section about “distraction,” and talks about how the biggest distractions to accomplishing a vision are often the biggest opportunities.  After 2 ½ hours at a Board meeting last night, I am more convinced that the influence/authority gained by being on the Board would not outweigh the distractions (and potential detriment to some of our work).

I know that there will be some who are disappointed with my decision, but I believe our influence and authority must continue to come from our good works in the community, and not from any position I might hold.

So, as Nehemiah might say, “Let’s get back to building the wall!”

Opportunity or Distraction?

I have a big decision I need to make in the next week or so.  I've been wrestling with it for the past two weeks, and am still waiting for God to give me that neon sign telling me what to do.  The group pictured here is the current District 131 Board of Education.  One of the members recently resigned, and so the Board needs to appoint a replacement.  I have been asked by several members of the administration to consider applying for the position.  This opportunity has been presented to me before, and I always felt that it was not the right thing for me to do.  But, for whatever reason, this time, I don't feel at peace about turning away so quickly.  So, I have spent the past couple of weeks praying, talking to principals, district staff, the retiring Board member, community members, and my team trying to discern whether this is an opportunity God is putting before me "at such at time as this," or if it is a tempting distraction that could hinder/impede the work we are doing in the community.  I have come up with a long list of reasons why I should not pursue it, and an equally long list of reasons why I should.  I haven't struggled with a decision this much since we grappled through the whole "do we relocate to East Aurora or not" dilemma.  In the end, God did give me great peace about moving.  But, I didn't have a deadline I was up against, so I had the time to wait for God's direction.  This time, I do have a deadline.  I am praying that God will give me peace about one direction or the other before the deadline.  But, if He doesn't, should the default be to take the risk or not?  I'm going to choose to believe that He will make it clear . . .but I must seek Him and wait.  Neither of which is easy for me to do!  

"The Poor" Serving the Poor

I spent the past two days at East Aurora High School at a mobile Feed My Starving Children food-packing event.  Great organization that provides meals for starving children around the world.  East Aurora HS implemented a brand-new service graduation requirement this year for incoming freshmen, and they wanted to kick it off with a huge service event.  Unfortunately, it costs about $17,000 to bring an event like this to a school/church . . . not a price an under-resourced school district can support.  So often the kids in this community are the recipients of service, so a few of us thought it would be great to help give them an opportunity to serve the "poorest of the poor."  So, four Naperville churches pooled resources to sponsor this two day event.  It was a fantastic experience.  658 volunteers (mostly high school students) packed 102,600 meals that will feed 281 children a nutritious meal a day for one year.  I thought the Beacon news did a great job of capturing the event.  Click here to read it.  

Kids Hope USA

I spent the past 2 days with our new Kids Hope Director, Carolynn Fulford, being inspired and empowered to run a Kids Hope USA mentoring program.  Started in 1995, this faith-based, school-based mentoring program now operates in 27 states with over 470 programs.  Their philosophy?  One church partners with one school and each mentor works with one child for one hour/week during the school year.  We heard story after story of life change and impact that results from this program.  Here's my favorite . . .

Noami seemed strangely lethargic during the entire hour. Normally talkative and eager to interact with her mentor, this first grader said fewer than five words today. "It's time for you to go back to class, Naomi," said her mentor as the hour came to an end. "I hope you enjoyed our time together." Noami's response was surprising. "May I go vomit?" she asked. "What?! Have you had to throw up this entire hour" Why didn't you tell me that you had to use the bathroom?"  "Because," said Naomi, "I don't want to miss even one minute of my time with you."

CCC has been working with Brady Elementary in East Aurora for six years, but this will be the first time we have done this kind of 1-1 mentoring.  I'm excited for the life change that is going to happen this year . . . in Brady kids and in CCC volunteers who serve as mentors.  If you'd like to learn more about how to become one of those mentors, let me know! 

VBS Highlights

We sponsored our first VBS in East Aurora this week at the Lighthouse.  Terrific week all the way around, but here were some particular highlights for me . . .

• Watching Josie take an idea/vision and make it happen.  She came to me last spring and asked if she could do this, and with her right-hand arm, Betty, created the entire VBS experience. They did a phenomenal job.
• Seeing so many new volunteers---especially the junior high and high school students who got up early every morning to come love on these kids.
• Seeing such a multi-racial group of kids from Aurora, Naperville, and Oswego making friends and playing together.
• Hearing Kristen, Lisa, and Kathy make Jesus come alive for these kids.
• Meeting parents of kids we've been driving to church for months for the very first time, and seeing them smile as their kids sang about Jesus' love.  

Coming to School Ready to Learn

As we have for the past several years, we want to help low-income students in East Aurora start the year off ready to learn by helping them get all the school supplies they need.  This year we would like to sponsor all 500 students who receive free/reduced lunch.  Want to help?! Instead of getting a long list of supplies that you need to go out and buy and try to cram into a paper bag, all you have to do is tell us you would like to sponsor a child (or two or three) and we pre-order supply kits. We will still sell them for a fraction of the cost to Brady parents, so the school will earn money as they have in the past.

For $25 you can sponsor a child who will then get all the supplies they need to be prepared at school. For those of you who have purchased supplies in the past, you know that is a great bargain compared to the $40 - $50 some of the grade level kits cost if you buy all the items individually.

If you'd like to sponsor any children, just click HERE to make a donation online or email Ron Kelso at ronkelso@sbcglobal.net.  In the fall, you will receive the name(s) of the children you have sponsored so you can write them a back to school greeting.

East Aurora Art Camp

Thanks to CCC's School for the Arts, we are offering a week long Art Camp at the Lighthouse this week.  I really had no idea what kind of turn-out to expect.  We sent flyers home through the schools before school let out and advertised through our Tuesday night kids' program, but we charged $5/child and offered no transportation, so I knew that would limit attendance significantly.  I really thought we might be lucky to get 10 kids.  But, tonight, 30 showed up!  We had 4 different projects they could pick from, and they will spend the week working on their craft and then we will showcase them for the parents on Friday evening.  All of the teachers are volunteering their time and most of the supplies were donated, but the kids could choose between painting, beading, basket making, and making a bird house.  Cartooning and drawing are optional activities for later in the week.  Parents seemed very appreciative of this opportunity for their children, and the kids were all so engaged and excited.  I can't wait to see how proud the kids are to show off their completed projects on Friday!