vision

For the approaching traveler, Seattle offers its lush green hills, chillingly deep blue waters, and its audience of mountains as an extended hand of welcome. Dinner conversation of foghorns and wind gusts scampering across Puget Sound surround the steps of barges and sailboats into a wide, open, and darkening sea. The city revels in creation, and in return goes to great lengths to preserve its sweet and inherent beauty. And thus, the scene, though insufficient, is set.

Our residence for the week was the educational space and sanctuary of Emerald City Bible Fellowship in Kent. They graciously allowed us to use the facilities in their building as a place of rest so we would have the energy to sustain us each day. Here’s Life introduced us to the city through a scavenger hunt which gave us a glimpse of things we may experience as someone who is homeless. In this time, three of my friends and I were able to pray with and buy a meal for a man named Mo as well as give a needed blanket to a shivering African woman spectator to the sparse pedestrian traffic of a Sunday afternoon. We also met a man saved by Jesus named Evan as he graced Pioneer Square with his acoustic guitar and voice, singing songs that sounded like Seattle. That night, pastor Harvey shared ECBF’s vision for the city of Kent with us and a group from the Navigators. This is where God started showing me His vision for Seattle.

The next three days had a rough pattern to them. In the morning, we assembled ‘bundles of love’ (a term not endorsed by anyone else, but it seems fitting) for homeless men and women which included a blanket, scarf, hygiene products, gloves, and a hat. We also painted over the graffiti on a building which has in days past been a gas station, a strip club, and used by other businesses, but stands on the grounds of a future center of hope for the homeless population of Kent. The building will be torn down, but must be maintained to respect the city’s demands before the new building projects can go underway. In a few years on that very ground there will be a church attended by homeless people, surrounded by shops whose employees will be formerly homeless, and when the day is over they will walk up the stairs to their new apartment over the place where they work. Not handouts, no food stamps, but a new life as a productive member of society. Vision. In the afternoons we spent time at after-school programs. I served at the only program (put on by Harambee Church, Harambee meaning “moving together forward” in Swahili) that focused on high schoolers. Here I met 16-year old christians who were starting a club to build relationships with the goal of sharing the gospel. I met men and women who were trying to learn how they can be a part of change in their community by spending their afternoons with rebellious adolescents, building into their lives, and providing a consistency that they may not know anywhere else. I got ’shown up’ on the drums by guys six years younger than me who have been playing almost twice as long as I have. I learned that I need to listen and observe before I speak out about how ministry needs to be done in a culture and place that is foreign to me. I was blessed to serve alongside my brothers and sisters here during the week.

Each night held a different activity for our team. On Monday night, we drove around downtown Seattle in a converted school bus called The Prison Bus (referencing Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:36, “…I was in prison and you came to me.”), with the aforementioned ‘bundles of love’ handing them out to any homeless person we saw. My brothers, sisters, and I had the opportunity to give away what little food we had and share the gospel, praying with some of the men and women we met that God would help them out of their condition and that they would know Him personally as their Lord and Savior. It was beautiful. Tuesday night, we rested with our dear friends and sisters Natalie and Maggie from Denton. Natalie moved to Seattle this year and we were deeply encouraged to hear how God has been providing for her and working through her already. We sang songs, laughed, ate hummus, and were refreshed by the company and fellowship of one another. ‘Twas certainly a beautiful night. Wednesday night we visited a church whose pastor was homeless not even ten years ago. There were testimonies about a man’s responsible handling of his first paycheck in over a decade, a man seeing his children for the first time in two years, and a woman who was five months clean of heroin and praising God for every one of those days. We sang worship to God, encouraged one another, and cried alongside men and women who have known more thorough physical and emotional pain than most of us have or will in our lives. They pray for one another weekly and sing at the top of their lungs to the God who saved them from their sin and their former selves, who gives them what they need with every new day. It was amazing to see the fruits of ministry to the homeless and destitute, the life that He brings them into. This is the God that we serve! He is the God of second, third, and eightieth chances. He brings us to our knees to show us how awesome He is, how He deserves our very lives, and the unsurpassed joy that comes with abandoning our sin to follow Him and be used by Him. The world gives up on ‘lost causes’. The Lord takes them and uses them to shame the proud for His glory. Vision.

Two-thirds of the year, Seattle dons its ocean like a shawl as if to mask the problems that lay embedded within from onlookers. However, inside this city – where roughly 1% of the population is homeless and there are more dogs than children (and also more dogs than christians) – God is pursuing the lost through His church. Certainly there are problems within the church regarding doctrine, discipleship, and other more complicated issues; and yes, with time I pray that those will be addressed, just as I pray that the error within me is properly confronted and purged. Despite these things, we are still brothers and sisters saved by the same God and there is much to learn from their example. They are showing the love of Christ through serving the poor, giving shelter to those who have none, and inspiring youth to ask questions about their culture and their future.  They are building housing and creating jobs for the homeless. They are committed to drug rehabilitation for the vast numbers of citizens who suffer from substance abuse. There is belief in the power of Christ to redeem lives NOW, and in this life. Repentance. Rebirth. Regeneration.

It was a privilege to serve alongside Here’s Life Inner City and the various churches and organizations laboring for the sake of the gospel message in Seattle. The Lord taught me so much about the unity that He provides within the church, beyond the more minor issues of doctrine and the way that we “do church” at DBC.  Ministry will take on new forms in different cultures, and needs to be contextualized for the resident culture. God repairs what is broken and gives life to what is dead. He is patient. He is love. If we are to show the world their need for Him, we must do so in love. To my supporters, both in prayer and in finances, I give you my deepest thanks. God changed my heart and the way I see Him on this trip, and I pray that you will find joy in His service and rest in His goodness with each new morning. Our God is good, our God is love.