Long Overdue Update

I think we are long overdue for an update.  I hope you all are well and enjoying the hot summer months.  We are hoping to close on our house on Monday and then expecting Caden to come within the next two weeks.  We have been enjoying our Adair Park (AP) neighborhood and neighbors.  I have been learning a lot about trusting God for everything and letting go of my desire to fix and control things.  He has also been teaching me much about love.  I thought I would share a few stories and insights to where our hearts have been this past week.

Our neighborhood desperately longs for lasting love.  From the dealers on the corners, the homeless on our streets and under our bridges, the women selling themselves, the kids riding their bikes around, the kids stealing from their neighbors, on and on and on.  We are all searching and longing for Christs everlasting love.  I can do nothing for our neighborhood but love them as Jesus loves me.

We feel ready to be the hands and feet of Gods ministry in AP.  I have realized that I have been going at things alone, and that is not God's intent for us in doing ministry - so I long to share with you our lives, stories of God moving in our neighbors, and our needs.  I know you guys are behind our ministry, sharing in the joys and burdens that we face.  That's why God put you in my life and called on you to join in His ministry in AP.

Tuesday night at about 10:15 there was a knock on the door.  A man named Curt is standing on our door with a sullen look on his face and hands on his head.  He says he needs someone to talk to.  He shares his grandmother has just died.  The matriarch of his family, the woman who taught him everything, the woman who raised him.  He wants to cry but his eyes wont let him.  Here's a little bit of a back story on how I've gotten to know Curt: He lives and has grown up in the neighborhood.  I first met him in one of the houses being renovated by the investor who owns our house.  A couple months ago I was in our front porch, we had just moved in, and he was walking by towards the blue store.  I holler at him to say hi and he stops.  He needs to talk.  His mom (who him and his girlfriend live with) called the cops in a drunk and belligerent rage.  She wanted him out of her house, but the cops said she needed to sober up and then make that decision.  Curt made the decision for her and decided at 30 years old it was time to move out.  He moved into one of the houses they had renovated and is for sale.  He has nothing.  I give him a hug, a toaster and some homemade jam.  I tell him I am here for him and he goes on his way. Last week I took him and his girlfriend to Walmart to find an air mattress and some other things.  I had some things to get myself anyways, and really didn't think I was doing anything spectacular, Curt thought otherwise.

Back to Tuesday night.  We talked for about 30 minutes about his grandmother, the anger and frustration he was feeling, and his battle scars, both physical and emotional, from the streets.  He tells me he is out of money, is trying to move to another house down the street, and has no food.  He asks for some food and I inform him we had tacos for dinner and I could make him a plate.  He accepts, says hes off to talk to his uncle, and will return for the food in a little bit.  I placed some things on the front porch including a crockpot (we have 2 for some reason) half hoping he takes the food and goes home without knocking on the door.  God has different, bigger plans.  11ish there is a knock at the door.  Curt has returned.  His eyes welling with tears, i step on to our front porch close the door and the flood gates open.  I am tightly hugging a 30 year old homeless man.  I am filled with the Truth that God loves this man in his brokenness and is calling him back towards himself.  We talked till around 1230.  He spilled his guts to me.  He shared with me all about his childhood, the ways he has made money on the streets (he calls the underground), and how he desires to rise above and escape the grip of the streets that are calling for his return.

I wont share the gory details, but he grew up in a churched home and has a lot of bible knowledge.  The streets have skewed some of the Truths of the Gospel, but we will talk through that.  Finally, before he left he said the most amazing thing to me.  He said "Adam you are my brother and I know you love me and care about me.  You drove me to Walmart and didnt let me give you gas money.  Nobody here has treated me the way you have."  I cleaned up his words a little bit, but the Truth came out.  Even through my weak, misguided attempts to do it on my own, God was working in the cracks.  Tonight he will be joining us for dinner.  I am excited to share our lives with our neighbors, even if there has to be a predinner talk about things we dont need to say, and words not to use in front of our youngest family members.

Pray for Curt, for his grieving, for that feeling in his heart to be set free, for our friendship to grow.

Also, we have been praying for a pregnant 15 year old girl that we have been working with for years now, and trying to figure out how we can best help her.  God has been leading us, and is calling us to take her into our home for a few weeks while we have an extra bedroom (until our other new roommate moved in).  Yes, it seems crazy.  We will be having our second baby within a week, closing on our house, and starting to get the ministry rolling.  For us it seems crazier for her to stay in a home where she is not wanted.  Her mother is done with her.  She is hard headed and tough to talk with, but Gods timing is perfect.  We have been blessed with the opportunity to teach, first hand, a pregnant 15 year old how to care for and raise her child.  We would love to see her give her boy up for adoption, but that is not necessarily how God is writing her story.  Please join us in praying for her.  Pray for God to give her wisdom and maturity to make difficult decisions about her life and her unborn baby's life.  Pray for our patience with her and our opportunity to teach her to raise a child that will not just survive but flourish.

Pray for our family.  That we would let God lead in our ministry and life, trust him with everything, and love on our neighbors with the love of Jesus.  For Becca and Caden's health during his birth, and a quick recovery.

Thank you so much for your prayers, love, and encouragement.  You are all an encouragement to me and stretch me in my walk with God.  I would truly love to join you in praying for things in your life, so shoot me an email, text, or phone call.

Love you guys!

Adam

Welcome to Blueprint 58

The past week few weeks, months even, have been a roller-coaster for us. With lots of exciting changes and shifts on the horizon, we have been seeking the Lord, spending a lot of time in prayer, doing research, talking to those who are much wiser than us, and trying really hard to be patient. You probably already know that we are in the process of purchasing a house in the “hood.” We have discovered through the process of working with families in the inner-city over the past few years that the depth of their needs, and the heart of the problems plaguing our city, are much deeper and harder to overcome than can be transformed without a drastic shift. The decision to move into the hood was/is a multifaceted one that rests on a variety of factors. Our goal is to reweave the fabric of urban community by building upon existing neighborhood strength. We truly believe that when focused on a single neighborhood with the aim of community transformation, the effects can be dramatic. “Living the gospel means desiring for your neighbor and your neighbor’s family that which you desire for yourself and your family. Living the gospel means bettering the quality of other people’s lives spiritually, physically, socially, and emotionally as you better your own. Living the gospel means sharing in the suffering and pain of others” (CCDA).

With this move comes a shift in the way we see ourselves doing ministry. And so it is with much excitement, fear, trepidation, and anticipation (because aren’t our emotions always a little complicated?) that we announce our decision to leave Vision Atlanta and start our own 501c3, called Blueprint 58. Our goal in what we’re doing with Blueprint 58 is identical to what it was at Vision Atlanta: to start a mentoring program. Some of the implementation will look a little different since we are working from within the neighborhood to transform it. We’ve changed some of our philosophies of ministry as we have experienced first-hand the depth of need and the tangles of darkness which have taken root in the city. With Atlanta being the #1 city in the nation for sex trafficking, and our new neighborhood specifically being labeled the 22nd most dangerous neighborhood in the nation, we recognize that we will have to implement a ministry that is sensitive to these needs and holistic in its approach. We firmly believe that transformation best occurs in the context of relationship, and that’s why mentoring is the foundation of our program.

Starting our own ministry puts us in an entirely different position than we were with Vision Atlanta. Although we were responsible for raising our salary at Vision Atlanta, we still had the organization to fall back on to provide us a paycheck if our support-raising efforts ever fell short. With Blueprint 58, on the other hand, our income is solely based on the amount of support we are able to raise. That said, we would love for you to prayerfully consider continuing to support us through Blueprint 58. We are a 501c3, and you will still receive a statement of your giving for tax purposes at the end of the year. Also, if you would consider either increasing your support, or offering a one-time gift to help us meet our budget of $65,000 for the first year of ministry, we would really appreciate it. PLEASE feel free to contact us with any questions you might have regarding the ministry’s structure, budget, goals, board, etc. We love talking about what we’re doing and would love to fill in any gaps in the information we have provided for you. In addition, if there is anyone else you feel might be interested in the work we are doing, or who should be a part of our support team, please let us know and we would love to talk to them too.

Thank you so much for your continual love and support and encouragement. We genuinely could not do what we are doing without you guys. We are continually blown away by the way you allow yourselves to be used by the Lord to provide for our ministry and transform the inner-city.

Thank-you from the bottom of our hearts,