Michael writes with wit, conviction and a wealth of knowledge and experience. Click on this link to read one of the most important and provocative essays he’s ever written, a three-part challenge to all of us who love Jesus and His Church - “The Coming Evangelical Collapse.”

We live in a time of great upheaval. But when everything’s falling apart, it’s also coming together.

As an added bonus, we’ll also have 15-20 area ministries joining us for an Outreach Fair to provide information and interaction about the great work they’re doing in San Antonio to minister to the least of these.

Tomorrow night - Sunday, March 1 - Dan will do a live interview at 8:00 p.m. on KSLR’s (630 AM) “Resistance Radio.” Be sure to listen in and invite others to do the same.

On Friday, March 6, Dan will be on KENS 5’s “Great Day SA” morning program, which starts at 9:00 a.m.

Also, Dan has appeard on the Today Show with Matt Lauer and Robert Schuller’s Hour of Power - both of those interview segments do a very good job of helping people understand what the movie is all about. Those are included in the links below.

We’re working on other media opportunities for Dan to spread the word about the event at BRCC next Saturday, March 7, but the greatest promotional tool we have is you!

Talk it up at church tomorrow, call your friends and work you networks - let’s show Dan that San Antonio is a city serious about being part of this national conversation about how the Body of Christ can be the hands and feet of Jesus - as well as his mouth - to the culture we live in.

Here are some helpful links -

Lord Save Us From Your Followers website -

http://lordsaveusthemovie.com

Lord Save Us From Your Followers YouTube channel -

http://www.youtube.com/user/lordsaveusthemovie

Today Show interview with Matt Lauer -

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/24047551#24047551

Hour of Power interview with Robert Schuller -

http://www.crystalcathedral.org/hour_of_power/index.php

To watch the entire movie online -

http://www.sermonspice.com/lsupreview

Look forward to seeing each of you next Saturday, March 7 @ 7:00 pm at Bandera Rd Community Church (9431 Bandera Rd).

Tim Adams
210.262.0342

As an added bonus, Dan Merchant, the writer/director/producer of Lord Save Us From Your Followers, will be with us that evening and have a Question & Answer time with the audience following the film. We’re anticipating that to be the first of many honest conversations within the Body of Christ and between believers and non-believers about how Christ Followers in San Antonio can make a difference in Jesus’ name for the sake of our city.

In addition to encouraging this much needed conversation, our goal is to provide the Body of Christ in San Antonio with practical hands-on oppotunities to work for the peace of our city in Jesus’ name. As great as it will be to gather people together, challenge them with the message of the film and engage them in a conversation with Dan, the greater purpose of our time together will be to learn how we can “be the change we want to see” in San Antonio.

As we gather that evening, we’ll also be joined by ministries from all over the San Antonio area that are involved in hands-on ministry in the urban and inner city areas of our city, serving the underserved and working in Jesus’ name to break the bonds of generational cycles of dependency and poverty.

If you are involved in such a ministry that wants to connect with the larger Body of Christ in San Antonio, please contact me so that we can reserve a space for you. Tables will be available for you to distribute information, sign up volunteers and spread the word about the Kingdom work you’re doing in San Antonio. The film and the conversation will present the challenge - your presence will provide the opportunity to connect talk with action.

For the past two years Corriente Ministries has been working with schools, churches and ministries all over San Antonio to help them find ways to connect, empower and transform their communities. But, even as diligent as we’ve been to learn about what’s going on in inner city and urban ministry in San Antonio, there are still many ministries, churches and individuals who are faithfully being the hands and feet of Jesus in our city that we haven’t met yet.

If you know of a ministry in San Antonio that could benefit from this kind of event, please have them contact me. There are many Christ Followers doing good things in our city and we want to use this opportunity to connect them with each other and with individual believers who are looking for a place to serve.

This will be a free event - there will not be any charge for admission or for having a table to connect people to your ministry. There will be an offering taken to cover Dan’s expenses and anything given above what Dan needs will be donated to Strong Foundation, a ministry serving families in transition on the Eastside.

So, spread the word. As Dan Merchant loves to say, “The conversation starts now!”

At 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 7 at BRCC, the conversation will move toward action to transform San Antonio. Looking forward to seeing everyone at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 7 at BRCC.

Tim Adams
u2wesley@yahoo.com
210.262.0342

Click on this link to go to the official Lord Save Us From Your Followers website.

Click on this link to see the reaction of the audience at a previous screening of Lord Save Us From Your Followers.

Click on this link to watch the entire movie online.

Click on this link to read a recent review that appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Click on this link to read my article in the Jan. 17 edition of the San Antonio Express-News about Urban Connection, a Corriente partner that is making an impact on the Westside of San Antonio.

Next Wednesday, Nov. 19 Corriente Ministries will be hosting a luncheon for Mission Year at 12:00 Noon in the Parish Hall at Christ Episcopal Church - 510 Belknap Pl. - one block north of San Antonio College. John Piercy, the Director of Development for Mission Year, will be coming from Chicago to present the Mission Year vision at the luncheon.

Mission Year was started in 1996 in Philadelphia by Bart Campolo on the simple idea of Christian young adults giving a year of their lives to Christian ministry in the inner cities of America’s urban centers. Twelve years later, Mission Year has 16 teams operating in 6 cities - Philadelphia, Camden NJ, Wilmington DE, Chicago, New Orleans and Atlanta.

Mission Year is a year long urban ministry program focused on Christian service and discipleship. They take teams of young people, place them in an area of need, and help them to serve people and create community. They are committed to the command of Jesus to “love God and love people,” by placing the needs of their neighbors first and developing committed disciples of Christ with a heart for the poor.

When I first began this conversation with John Piercy about 6 months ago, I was excited to learn that San Antonio was already on Mission Year’s wish list of cities they wanted to expand to. This is a God-given opportunity for churches and ministries in San Antonio to partner with Mission Year to expand the Kingdom of God in our city. A Mission Year presence in San Antonio will provide a pool of gifted, highly committed, high energy followers of Jesus Christ to work in and with urban ministry partners already established in some of the neediest and most underserved neighborhoods in San Antonio.

Working with Mission Year is a great example of the Corriente philosophy of developing strategic partnerships to do Kingdom work in San Antonio. Our simple mantra, “Don’t reinvent the wheel, connect the dots,” is more than just a slogan, it’s a core value that we seek to implement in every relationship we cultivate.

A Mission Year presence in San Antonio would be able to provide Corriente partners such as San Antonio Youth for Christ, Urban Connection and Agora Ministries with workers who will be more than just volunteers to work in programs, as important as that is. Mission Year volunteers will all spend a year following Jesus’ command to “Love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor as yourself.” By partnering with a local church, volunteering at a service site, and living in the neighborhoods where they serve, Mission Year Team Members effectively impact their communities while catching a deeper vision for what the Kingdom of God is like.

One of the most effective Mission Year groups in the country is in Atlanta, where they work very closely with Bob Lupton’s FCS Urban Ministries. When I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Lupton a few months ago, he had this to say about the impact Mission Year has made on his work in Atlanta:

Here in Atlanta we’ve had the advantage of having Mission Year as one of our partners. Many of the Mission Year kids, a good strong core of them, have decided to stay here in the city and they’ve been good leaders. Our current COO is a Mission Year grad. Finding a way to get younger people immersed in inner city/urban work will be a key to the long term success of this kind of ministry in any city.

Beyond just a one-year service commitment, Mission Year represents the opportunity for long-term sustainable transformational ministry in San Antonio neighborhoods, schools, ministries and churches that for too long have been overlooked, underserved and written off.

Please join us next Wednesday, November 19 at 12:00 Noon in the Parish Hall at Christ Episcopal Church as we hear from John and learn what it will take to bring Mission Year to San Antonio. This is a unique opportunity to learn more about Mission Year and how you, your ministry and your church can be a part of a new era in Urban Ministry in San Antonio.

Please RSVP by Monday, Nov. 17 to let me know you’ll be coming - and feel free to invite others from your church or place of ministry - especially any young adults who are college-aged or recent college graduates and who would be good candidates to be part of our first San Antonio Mission Year Team.

This is a free event an our lunch will be provided by Swede’s Restaurant - which guarantees it will be a physical and spiritual feast you won’t want to miss.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me at u2wesley@yahoo.com or on my cell at 210.262.0342.

Grace, Peace and Dirty Fingernails,

Tim Adams
210.262.0342

We always walk a fine line when we try to talk about politics and religion in the same conversation. Click on this link to read my latest attempt at walking that tightrope. And feel free to leave a comment here or at the Express-News website. Thanks for reading.

Click on this link to read a short article I wrote for the San Antonio Express-News. It was in this past Saturday’s (August 16) Religion Section.

At the bottom of the article is a Comments Section. Feel free to add your comments there - reader feedback will encourage the Express-News to feature more writing of this kind. But please, no comments about my mug shot that’s featured rather prominently.

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Tim Adams

But, the neighborhood where my mom put down her roots is a very different place today than what it was 44 years ago. When I was growing up there, I don’t remember anyone who rented rather than owned their home – it’s always been a working class neighborhood, but during my formative years it was a stable and secure place to live.

Today the neighborhood is probably one third to one half renters – very few of the families that had kids who were my peers are still around and transience has become one of the defining characteristics of what was once a modest but solid neighborhood.

Back in the day my friends and I did engage in some occasional pranks that usually involved water balloons or eggs. But today there are the constant reminders of gang activity - the paved drainage ditch that divides her street and the street signs and yard fences in the area are regular targets for tagging – one of the ways gangs stake a claim to their turf.

A few weeks ago, my mom asked me to take a look at a spot on the side of her house where the paint was flaking off – she’d just had the house painted a little over a year ago, so that sort of wear seemed to be premature.

When I went over to look at the area she was concerned about, I wasn’t sure what to make of it, at first glance. The paint was coming off, but it was in small spots sprayed in a circular pattern and confined to a small area near one of the front windows. As I looked closer I could see small silver bb’s embedded in the spots on the siding where the paint was coming off.

Then I realized what had happened - my mom’s house had been hit by a shotgun blast, most likely fired from a passing car.

When I called the police the first officer who arrived confirmed my suspicions. A report was taken and later a crime scene team arrived to take photographs. As the team was doing its work I had a long conversation with one of the officers who stated they’d been closely monitoring the steady rise in gang activity in my mom’s neighborhood.

But, I’m not going to try to talk my mom into moving to a “safer” neighborhood – she values her independence and my older sister and I have had those conversations before and we know she’s happy where she is.

But, I’ll admit, my motives for wanting her to stay are also somewhat selfish. A big reason why I wouldn’t want my mom to move is that I don’t want to lose a great next door neighbor.

For the past three years my family and I have lived in the same neighborhood where I grew up. We own the house next door to mom, the house built by Norm Hastings, who was my Little League Baseball coach when I was in the fourth grade. There were five kids in the Hastings family and Norm added a second story to the house to accommodate his large clan, which makes it a great fit for our four kids.

Rare is the weekend night that we don’t have at least one and often two extra kids spending the night, testing their skills on Guitar Hero or Rock Band into the early morning hours or working on a script for a new video to upload to YouTube.

I like the fact that kids like to come to our house. When you live in a rough neighborhood, it’s important to have places to go that are safe – and fun.

But, regardless of where you live, there are choices to be made. I can’t tell you how many times people who live in more affluent, often gated communities, have confessed to me that they worry that they’re raising their kids in a cocoon – an artificial world of homogeneity and Stepford-esque conformity.

I tell them they should be concerned because not only is such an environment out of step with reality today, it will be even more of an aberration by the time our children reach our age.

By the year 2015, white people like me will no longer be in the majority in the State of Texas. By the middle of this century, that will be true of the entire U.S. population. Before the middle of the third decade of this century, the economy of China will be larger than that of the U.S. There are already more internet users in China than in the U.S.

The Christian Church will continue to shrink in Europe and North America while at the same time continuing its exponential growth in Africa, Latin America and Asia. The face and flavor of World Christianity is going to change in dramatic ways that will expose the ethnocentric biases that have too often been taken for granted – but had little or nothing to do with the Gospel.

Oh the times, they are a changin – and if Jesus were here today (physically), I just don’t think he’d be trying to run away from these realities. I don’t think he’d be very interested in churches that are little more than lifestyle enclaves – regardless of how big they are. I don’t believe that he would be impressed by a church or ministry that grew by taking the path of least resistance, or that could only measure its growth in numbers of bodies and the size of its budget.

We are moving into a time in history when the long overlooked - the last - will truly be first – and those who have been first for so long will be moving further down the line.

And if the Church of Jesus Christ doesn’t repent and truly become the new humanity that God intended it to be, where faith in Christ Jesus is what makes each of you equal with each other, whether you are a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a man or a woman (Galatians 3:28 CEV), then I do not believe that the ultimate outcome of such a demographic shift will be achieved with justice for everyone involved.

The Church’s obedience to its calling to be a house of prayer for all people will determine the course of history. We have gone down the path of comfort and conformity toward Babel, but God is calling us to the difficulty and diversity of Pentecost.

If we will take the road less traveled, it will make all the difference.

A few days after our time together, Dr. Lupton agreed to do a follow-up interview over the phone, a portion of which I’ve transcribed for you here.

Most of the questions are related to the concept of “reneighboring” or “return flight,” a Christian Community Development principle pioneered by Dr. Lupton in Atlanta which has become one of the core values of urban ministres all over America.

If you haven’t already done so, get a copy of Dr. Lupton’s book Return Flight - it’s a great follow-up to Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life, which we reviewed here a few weeks ago. Both books are essential resources for developing an approach to urban ministry that is true to the Holistic Gospel of the Kingdom proclaimed by Jesus.

The questions I asked Dr. Lupton are in bold print and his answers follow in italics.

How did you first come up with the concept of Return Flight?

About 20 years ago there was a discussion among Atlanta foundation leaders involved in community development – back then community development was a buzzword and everyone was using community development in their proposals, but they weren’t really changing anything they were doing, they were just calling it community development in order to be in vogue.

Sort of like changing labels on an empty bottle?

Yeah, sort of like a merry-go-round where all the horses are painted a different color – you’re pretty sure you’ve seen them come around before – so there’s really nothing new.

So, I decided to write up a white paper on what my understanding of what community development really is. The group of foundation leaders liked that idea, so I wrote a paper on that theme and it led to a series of discussions, which generated more material. Before long, I had almost enough material to do a book, so I did some more research and used some of my Urban Perspectives that covered similar ideas, put it all together and got it published.

It’s been 15 years since Return Flight was first published. Where would you say that concept is today, in terms of how it’s been fleshed out in your ministry in Atlanta?

When I wrote Return Flight, moving back into the city was still a fairly new concept – it wasn’t normative in any sense – there were just a few urban pioneers and some high risk people following that path. But, over the years we’ve demonstrated some good mixed-income models and developed a subdivision that modeled it and helped to develop the first HOPE VI project in Atlanta, really before HOPE VI was HOPE VI. The idea of moving back into the inner city gradually started to gain momentum and became a fairly normative strategy used here in Atlanta and in other major cities all over the country. Now it’s not a strange thing to do.

What’s the profile of a person who would be a candidate for Return Flight?

It’s easiest for young singles and young couples who don’t have kids, preferably young professionals. When they have kids, of course issues arise about where to send the kids to school, but return flighters can be some of the best allies for school reform and really turning around a neighborhood.

Is there any particular strategy that you’ve used to find people who are good candidates to relocate to an inner city/urban context?

Here in Atlanta we’ve had the advantage of having Mission Year as one of our partners. Many of the Mission Year kids, a good strong core of them, have decided to stay here in the city and they’ve been good leaders. Our current COO is a Mission Year grad. Finding a way to get younger people immersed in inner city/urban work will be a key to the long term success of this kind of ministry in any city.

What role can people who don’t live in the community play in this kind of strategy – people who don’t relocate but still feel a sense of call to be involved?

Those are all the connected people who have abilities, networks and resources that are needed to turn a community around – real estate developers, bankers, attorneys – people who are in real estate and real estate-related professions are essential partners in the transformation of a community. They don’t have to live there, but if they’re willing to focus some of their attention, energy and investments on the identified community, it can make a huge difference – you can’t get along without them.

So it isn’t necessary for people to be hit with a lot of white guilt if they don’t move back? You’re saying that even without moving back some people can still make a significant contribution to the revitalization of inner-city/urban areas?

Absolutely. But no one should be ruled out as a candidate for relocation – for example, we’ve had some wonderful Empty Nesters who have made some significant contributions. When people ask me if I’m suggesting that they should move back into the city, my question to them is, “What’s your adventure level? Are you a high adventure person?” This kind of ministry is where you find Kingdom adventurers. But, if they’re not, we still need their talents to help those who are on the front lines.

What sort of intentional support network do you have in place for people who make the decision to relocate?

When folks move in, we encourage them to live in close proximity to each other. Having good neighbors, people who watch each other’s houses, watch each other’s kids, have barbeques together – that gives a level of security, fellowship and mutual support that is crucial – especially for people who have never lived in an urban environment before. It’s very important for people not to be isolated.

What would you consider to be universal – principles or methods that you’ve developed that could be used anywhere – and, what do you consider to be unique to your ministry context in Atlanta?

Nothing that we’re doing in terms of programs or activities are particularly unique – there are people in every city doing those same kinds of things. I think if there is something unique about what we’re doing in Atlanta it’s that we focus all of our programs and efforts on one limited neighborhood. So as to get high impact, to be able to get some real significant traction, to attract money and resources around that neighborhood so that we can see measureable results. We currently have an evaluation team from one of the major universities in Atlanta doing a longitudinal study to measure impact and change in the community where we’re working. The fact that we’re so focused on one community makes our work a fairly comprehensive approach in that location, as opposed to more traditional programs that work with kids, families or seniors from all over the city.

Sort of like injecting an antibody into an infected area in the hope of making the whole body healthy?

Yes – that’s a good analogy.

You’ve become a big advocate for mixed-income communities, as opposed to traditional strategies for creating affordable housing for low-income people. How did you determine the mixed-income approach was the way to go?

In the beginning, we did what most housing ministries do – get a whole lot of cheap land in a concentrated area and ramp up the effort to produce as many housing units as we can. That approach made for good marketing and good PR – and it created a lot of activity in a community, which is very helpful.

But, give that about five years and you’ll start to see those houses deteriorate, the small kids grow into teenagers and often start to get involved in a lot of the bad behaviors still prevalent in the streets that surround the newer houses. Over a period of time, you realize that homeownership is in itself, not sufficient to bring a neighborhood up or to bring a house up in a deteriorating neighborhood.

Essentially, we were reconcentrating the poor, thinking that homeownership would cause them and the surrounding community to rise. It did not. The deteriorating community pulled down the houses and their property values. Also, the pathology in the community infected the families that became homeowners. Consequently, we ended up not doing the poor much of a favor.

We realized that when you bring middle-income people into the neighborhood or when they move in on their own, they bring with them the values, pride in homeownership and other positive traits that can counteract the deterioration and cause the tide to rise. They also tended to be the ones who would be more proactive about maintenance and improvement in the community – they were more likely to organize, to create action to get street lights fixed, pot holes filled and all the other things you have to do to keep a community on the rise.

Over time, our strategy became not just to create affordable housing for low-income people, but to secure places for the poor in reviving communities and we came to realize that the greatest way to elevate the poor was for them to have achieving neighbors on either side of them.

Do you think it’s important for achieving neighbors to be an ethnic or racial match for their poorer neighbors?

I don’t think that’s as important as the motivation of the neighbors. If the middle-income neighbors moving in have a vision for the community, then it doesn’t make too much difference. The biggest hurdles that have to be overcome are the class barriers. A middle-class black family that moves in next door to a poor black family will have class barriers between them and their neighbors. The class barrier is the biggest hurdle to overcome and it always has to be worked at.

When you target an area for development, how do you engage the people already living in that community?

Before we do any kind of building, our strategy is to develop a comprehensive neighborhood plan with the neighbors already living in the community – through the neighborhood association, the civic league or whoever’s operating there – to put together a block-by-block plan of what they want to see happen in their community. That plan will include architectural designs, income ratios and other elements so that the plan is of the community. There should be no surprises – what we develop is based on the plan the community has designed together. Once you have that blueprint, then it’s a matter of implementation.

So, those of us interested in Christian Community Development shouldn’t see gentrification as the enemy?

We want gentrification. In order for a community to be healthy, you have to have middle-income folks moving back in to attract businesses and the other amenities they expect. But, as Christian Community Developers, we’re advocates for gentrification with justice.

It all goes back to having a holistic approach, doesn’t it?

It certainly does. You can’t just look at one house or even one street – you need a plan and a vision for redeveloping an entire community. Without that sort of holistic approach, your plan will be short-sighted and not have much effect, in the long run. But, the ministry doing the development work and the community must be clear that this sort of venture is a partnership – one can’t be completely subordinate to the other – both sides have to understand that in a partnership there are contingencies and that each side has equal shares and responsibilities. When you structure a plan for redevelopment, you’ve got to reserve within yourself or your organization the capacity to deliver on what your commitments are.

For more information about Dr. Lupton and FCS Urban Ministries, including how to order his books and sign up for his monthly newsletter, click on this link.