Classical music, freezing cold, and of course, hot dogs.

Feb 26, God N’ Dogs - Our Humble Attempt to Change the World

    To set the tone and allow you into my head a bit, not that anybody would want to be there, I am listening to Arvo Part’s Magnificat as I write this.

          I wrote a couple weeks ago about how cold of a night we had. Last night, Feb 26th, was much colder! The cold made for a short night out on the street, mostly because it was so cold that we only had about 30 folks show up to the feed. However, those who did make it out received a special treat! I made chilli from the deer that our friends from Sharron Springs gave us! We served it with cheese in a cup or as a great topping for the hot dogs! Even with the small turnout, we ran out of chili.

 

          Some old friends were out to see us last night. One is a guy that has been a part of our outreach for many years. Seeing him stirred up a lot of old memories and also a lot of emotion. He was intoxicated last night after 5 months or so of sobriety. There is no judgement here, and there never should be. Only sadness and hurt. Alcoholism has plagued our friend much of his life and our team has witnessed the back and forth struggle that he has gone through. The system has helped in detox and even placement off of the streets, but where the system fails him is in the lack of community surrounding him to give that vital support and stability that is needed in every addicts life to maintain sobriety.

 

I am excited to be working with Rock and Roll because that is a main goal of building this community. We want to surround people with what a government or any other kind of system cannot provide. We want to build what the church has failed to do in many respects. A place where people can live life together. I am happy that for the first time in the 7 years I have done street outreach, I am with folks and have a plan to offer real physical solutions to many of the problems that we face on the streets. I am a believer that in offering and working towards the restoration of human dignity to the “least of these”, we are pointing folks towards the Living Bread.

 

By now, most people I come in contact with know that I am involved in street outreach. So I do not hear all of the condescending and harsh talk about the homeless and less fortunate in our community. I do, however, remember where I came from. The preconceptions that I held and those of the crowd with which I ran. Thanks to the internet and local media, I also read a steady stream of the misconceptions and judgements. These things sadden me, and when it comes to the “christian” community, it angers me at the same time. Our american society has labeled everyone. If you are successful, you are a winner. If you are not successful, you are a loser. Even if no one has said so much, that title is still carried if you are on the margins of society. In medieval europe they had a different term that was used for those on the fringes of society. It was “unfortunates”. They recognized in that term that it usually isn’t the individual’s fault for their standing in society. Hard workers and people with great ideas often times fail because of reasons outside of their control. I know that this is an oversimplification, but I believe it is a mindset and language that we must spread.

 

I am going to leave you with this quote from the aforementioned composer:

 

“There is a good rule in spiritual life, which we all forget continually, that you must see more of your own sins than other people’s.(...) So I think everyone must say to himself, ‘We must change our thinking.’ We cannot see what is in the heart of another person. Maybe he is a holy man, and I can see only that he is wearing a wrong jacket.”

Feb 12 - Dogs, Care Bags and Confrontation.

On Feb 12, a bitterly cold Thursday night,  the group from Colonial Heights came out to serve with us. Outside of the nipping cold, it was a great night! The numbers were smaller than previous weeks. However, at the risk of sounding redundant, it was very cold. Perhaps the numbers seemed to be even fewer since the group From C.H. was so large. Regardless, 40+ folks were served food and even more benefitted from the clothing and care bags that were handed out! Even more exciting, the ending prayer was a great experience. Some of the homeless community joined right in with the circle. Donald shared about how he longed for a reunion with his wife Tosha. Several people prayed for the intentions of the night, then another homeless friend of ours asked for us to close with the Lord’s Prayer, in unison. This kind of organic, Spirit lead and filled communion with each other is the type of gathering that I have always hoped for. Please pray that we can continue to cultivate hearts, minds and bodies for Christ; that our simple hot dogs can be an avenue for pointing to True Bread.

Cameron Combs, the youth leader at Colonial Heights, had a small run in with one of our good friends out on the street, Anthony. The funny thing is that Cameron didn’t even realize he had a “Run in” or incident of any kind. (Enter “LOLz” into the text here.)  Anthony came to me upset and calling into question the heart of Cameron.
“He is a pastor and I need a place to stay. He said he won’t put me up in a hotel.” said Anthony.
Anthony, who was intoxicated, is a good friend whom I have known for several years.
I spoke to him and said: “man, I have been out here for years and I have never gotten you a room. Why are you being so hard on Cameron?”
By the end of the night Anthony was apologizing to Cameron and Cameron didn’t even know why Anthony was apologizing.

It was a entertaining thing for me to watch unfold. I barely know Cameron.I think I can safely say that it is in his heart to serve and love folks as Jesus did. The thing about the streets, especially in this bible belt state, is that there is no shortage of Christian folks who come out and serve for a night. The homeless are well acclimated to such short term come and go ministry. I am not saying anything negative about serving once a month, hell, I only serve once a week. These things are needed and are a great blessing to folks on the street, as well as to me in my little outreach. What I am saying, and some thanks are due to Breakfast Bob for helping bring these thoughts into focus, is that the homeless know the stereotyped weekend warrior Christian who will be there just for today. So the homeless push the server until they hear “No,” a word that is very, very important in street outreach. Cameron was gracious in his decline, and his testimony was not tarnished in any way with Anthony or anyone else. This is just part of reaching out on the street.

To be remembered in prayer this week:

1. One of our homeless friends, who has asked to remain nameless, is have bypass surgery on March 15th.
2. Jennifer Dowling is having hip problems and needs physical therapy.
3. Our friend Kenny broke his ankle.
4. Sandy’s father is in need of a kidney transplant.
5. Donald wishes to be reunited with his wife Tausha.

Please pray for healing and provision for our friends on the streets.

Jan 29th - the re opening of our little hot dog tailgate

God N' Dogs. Our humble efforts to help change the world.
Thursday, January 29th, 2015

The theme of the night seemed to be "Kingdom work". It's a phrase that First United Methodist Church used when we were first talking about partnering with them to do this feed. Tonight, being the first night at First UMC and the first night with Let's Rock&Roll and Change the World, really left me with a great collaborative feel to our work and efforts for unity amongst Christ's Body.

We came, we saw, we fed, we prayed and we played. 65 Oscar Meyer all beef hot dogs were served to around 35 people. Kimber, from Rock and Roll, brought out clothes and grocery items and passed them out to many others. Approximately 75 individuals came through the parking lot behind at First UMC on the corner of 3rd and Topeka.

We had live music and corn hole games! It really was a great time on this mild January evening. New friends were made and old friends came. It was a great time!

The first night was very successful night and we are excited to see this ministry grow and our new partnerships blossom!

Thank you so much to everyone who donated and especially to those who came out and experiences Jesus with us!

http://www.letsrockandrollandchangetheworld.org/



Feb 6 - I am posting some older posts.

GOD N’ DOGS: Our Humble Attempt to Change the World.

Doug and Jim are working away, serving up the hot dogs!

    Despite the cold, it was a great thursday out on the streets of Wichita! Relationships have always been a theme of our outreach, and this week has been a exciting week of relationship building. Bob and Kimber got to come out this week, as well as my old friend Ben Coon! Also, Cheryl George dropped off some awesome coats for us to give out! We served out 80 dogs to around 45 people who came to hang out with us! Kyle, Ben and I are in the pic below, just met Kyle last night, played some corn hole and goofed around!  

    I also love the pics because we are at the First UMC, and the catholic cathedral is in the background. It is a good depiction of the “Kingdom work” I wrote about last week, and every day seems to be more and more like this. Next week, Feb 12, Cameron Combs and his group from Colonial Heights Assemblies of God will be joining us! Then on Feb 19, Gracepoint Foundations will be coming out! All different churches and different people coming together to try and change the world!

We had a interesting little hitch, Adam, a member of First UMC staff, came out and met us. He didn’t know that we were supposed to be there, but he was really cool about it. Hopefully that will be cleared up for next week, and the rest of the year!

First Post

 

God N’ Dogs is the street outreach sect of Let’s Rock and Roll and Change the World. The hot dog tailgate party that we throw every week is the avenue that Doug, Jim and I have been using to try and glorify God and bring His “kingdom come” to this world. In God’s kingdom it is said that the lion will lay with the lamb,  so we make an effort to bring together some opposites in a harmonious way. Such as bringing middle class to be with the poor and trying to eliminate separations. There will be no barriers between us when we serve. No tables to stand behind and no isolated groups of people who came to serve but are circled up speaking amongst themselves. In fact, I would like to eliminate any idea of service at all, and create an environment and space that is simply for hanging out. Relationships do not usually  form in the forced and awkward manner that accompanies the idea of ministry or service. It has been my experience that real relationships come about organically.

I am excited to have this outdoor space that we can use each Thursday night so that we can build consistency and trust here. I think of it, as Mark Scandrette put it in the book “Practicing the Way of Jesus”, a Jesus dojo (a dojo is the practice used for martial arts development) or a space to actively and practically apply the practice of living life as Jesus lived. I am excited to have these partnerships with other christians so we can show to the homeless and to the world this idea of trying to realize, and hopefully one day fully realizing, God’s Kingdom come on earth, as it is in heaven.  

All of that said, this blog will consist of updates about God N’ Dogs. However, it will not just be numbers and name dropping. This outreach is a personal and relational experience for me. I want each and every night out on the street to be just that for our group and folks our group come in contact with. We want to build relationships. Real relationships. We want to point to the Father as Jesus pointed to the Father; Loving our neighbor as ourselves.

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