Will they Make it?

A little boy with a Lakers jersey stands with his sister at his home at the edge of the Pulang Lupa garbage dump. He's looking at the church that has been planted there. It has started some modest income generation projects to provide an alternative to scavenging. Will he have options not available to his father? To some extent this question will be answered by the degree to which the church chooses a wholistic gospel over a privatized spirituality that cares more about heaven than it does about the seeking the shalom of God for his earth. With this little church on the dump site, so far, so good. A sign of hope for these little ones.

Not God's normal

The morning here in Manila was spent hearing from a leader on social entrepreneurship for slum communities, and then from Corrie deBoer on Appreciative Inquiry. After that we went to the Pataya Dump site to tour the government facility that displaced scavengers and then to the site of the Pataya Christian Church that is led by a bi-vocational pastor who runs a few businesses to employ scavengers. We saw scavengers standing waste deep in foul water "washing" plastic bags to be sold to recyclers. We saw an urban pig farm attached to the church with pigs that feed on the garbage of the site. We saw one of the pre-schools that Corrie planted. Signs of hope in dramatic circumstances. Those circumstances can be overwhelming, and I know they brought insight and conviction. We meditated on the fact that thousands of children know no other reality. They and their families understand this as normal. But this is not God's normal; his shalom plan for their lives and community is beyond their dreams.

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From Fearful Streets to Holy Sweets

These girls are living the conversion that the biblical character Onesimus did, as he learned that he was indeed not useless, as his world was telling him. These young women, victims of unspeakable things in their families and eventually the streets, are now safe, happy and growing confident in Christ in the Onesimo ministry home on Manila. Their healing is well under way. Our students were so moved by the whole model, which includes education, vocational training, counseling, and discipleship.

Signs of God in the Botocan Slum

BGU Student Eva Chow and her colleagues in our Manila course study an incarnational ministry of another BGU student Aaron Smith and his wife Emma in the Botocan slum. The church they lead above their home has doubled in size in the last year, amazingly with mostly men coming to Christ. They are sponsoring educational options for the community as well. This community is seeing the shalom of God established little by little. Our students are seeing their shalom vision grow.

BGU Students Reach Out in Red Light District

It seems almost fashionable these days to talk about the evils of sexual trafficking. It's another to spend the evening seeking out it's victims, standing in front of massage parlors praying, interceding for teenagers who pass us trying to catch our eye. We accompanied Samaritana, a ministry to women caught in prostitution in Manila founded by Jonathan Nambu, a BGU grad. It is an evening that few will forget, and it is our prayer that it catalyzes similar work in the cutie of our students.

Can God Grow Larger?

Update from Manila: How does one's God grow larger than we have perceived him? By interacting with how he is experienced in a context radically different from our own. When the Filipino experience meets the Korean/America experience, and the Ethiopian leader listens in, and the Indian leader synthesizes what is being said, and the leader from Hong Kong say "here's how that works in my setting." All I can say is WOW!

Fair in Fresno to Soaked in Seattle to Manila Meltdown

My temperature capacities are being sorely tested this week. May God be in the extremes.

Ready to work

My friend Orlando Tapia has graduated from Hope Now for Youth and is ready to work. He is 20, has his driver's license, and a great attitude. He gives attention to detail and is a careful worker. He's a great volunteer too. Got a job lead for him?

Now that's a Kiss

Pucker up baby!

From Ethiopia to Fresno to Serve & Learn

The world thinks the world of Fresno. Yared, a pastor at a large church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia will join others from around the U.S this week in a class that seeks to activate community development in cities in the name of Christ. Why would an Ethiopian come all the way here? Wake up Fresno. The world is paying attention to what happens here.

Vigil for Sunny

Sunny was beaten to death last week in our neighborhood. He was 15 years old. Today we stood on the spot and said that it belongs to the Lord and no one else. And we prayed that we would be agents of God's shalom. We repented of our neglect of youth in the community. And we reaffirmed our vision of a neighborhood of peace. Oh God, let Sunny's death not be in vain.

Thar she blows!

Dinner view from Moonstone Beach

Lovely meal at the Sea Chest in San Simeon last night . Now walking together on the Bluff Trail.

Who is this woman I married?

The artist emerges. Who knew that this creative spark was just waiting to flare?

Perfect weather to start our 31 2/3 anniversary/Valentines Day stay at the Claremont

32 years later we return to the Claremont Hotel where we spent the first night of our honeymoon

Dr. Joyce Aryee, CEO Ghana Chamber of Mines addresses BGU students

Students from 21 nations listen to this amazing woman on God's redemptive purpose for business, and equipping God's people to fulfill their unique purpose on earth.

21 leaders, 12 nations, one grateful Randy

Sodom Songs, Gomorrah Glory

That there is currently a place on earth called Sodom and Gomorrah, and that the residents named it that themselves is amazing enough. But the fact that there is now a fledgling church planted in its midst where the love of God is pronounced and a better life is detailed is beyond beautiful. Residents emerge from shacks and makeshift storefronts, walk down narrow alleys filled with the rubble of cast-off materials now made useful, and pick their way around the labyrinth of a community compressed and over rivulets of human waste to a little room where "What a Mighty God We Serve" is being sung. The Community Restoration Fellowship is in worship of a God big enough to lift this community to a new place. Started by two graduate students a year ago, this fellowship of 55 adults and 44 children from this mega slum of 50,000 has been threatened, moved several times, and struggles to create a sustainable ministry in a complex ministry environment.

As I sat with my students soaking this miracle in, I looked out the door and saw a community that has migrated here to survive, but that is living in the grips of the vice so epitomized by its name. Prostitution and crime are rampant, illiteracy and chaos oppress families, and the grinding rhythms and routines required to stay alive dominate each waking moment. They look in pensively, hearing the music, wondering if the song that is sung about the might and love of God is for them.

But this place is not condemned to the same fate as the first Sodom and Gomorrah. There is a redeemer, and through his people this place of sweat and labor and permanent transition can become new. What will the new name be? "They shall be called, 'The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord' and you shall be called 'Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.'" (Isa 61:12)

Street child to culinary artist

Presbyterian Vocational Training Institute in Accra, Ghana. Could the church do this in Fresno?

It can if ...

Can two weeks in Ghana change the world? It can if students return to their cities in Asia, North America and multiple nations in Africa with a biblical foundation and agenda for transformation in the name of Christ, and a set of models they can contextualize. Pray for us, please!

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Can two weeks in Ghana change the world?

Vision for Fresno

Vision for Fresno

Mayor Ashley Swearengin addressed the No Name Fellowship yesterday, calling this Christ centered civic leadership movement to invest in the upgrade in education of Fresno's 40,000 unemployed. Her message was biblically insightful, passionate, and fill of hope. I am proud to have her as my mayor.

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