You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘urban’ tag.
The vision for City Kids is simple – to visit under resourced sites and deliver a comprehensive gospel impact. We are faced with many questions in our calling, but it is in our search for the answer that we strive to spread the Gospel to all. Is God powerful enough to keep kids away from gangs? Does the Word of God still accomplish what it says in the current day & age? What if The Church at Durham took seriously its responsibility for taking the Gospel to city kids and youth? What if for 10 years a collaboration of churches and ministries comprehensively served the 10 most physically and spiritually needy communities of Durham? …my recent medical update from my wife!
John Blake’s Recent Medical News from his wife Carolyn:
Hello everyone. I wanted to thank you for your prayers and steadfast love for our family during this time. To bring you up to date, last week on February 9, John had his scheduled MRI imaging. When meeting with the oncology team later, the image was still indeterminate, possibly due to the 6 weeks of radiation, causing swelling and a cloudy image on the MRI picture. An indicator of the swelling has been John experiencing mild seizures and his speech somewhat worsened.
After meeting with the team, the approach now is to help settle the brain down and diminish the swelling. So… on Valentine’s Day we begin an every other week (up to 4 months) infusion through IV of a drug which has been proven to provide decreased swelling/irritation as well as help John feel and speak/understand better. All other therapies will continue as before, but our doctor is hopeful that this may give added relief to John during this time of recovery.
Praise God, John’s recent scan marker shows the tumor is a “good” one and responds great to chemo. Game plan is to begin a higher dose of chemo for 5 days, then 23 days off. What is determined there will give doctors an idea on whether we go through another year of every 1-2 months of MRI/recheck, or if the plan needs to be adjusted.
For the past 10 years (…more 2010-2021):
For the past 10 years CEF Durham, along with a select group of collaborating agencies, ministries, and churches, have addressed the spiritual, physical, and social needs of 10 Durham communities. During these 10 years, the number of communities actually increased to 14, of which were being served. There were many stories of individual lives transformed by the Gospel and tireless volunteers consistently caring for these children and their families.
A few collaborators and volunteers burned-out along the way, while most labored weekly, yearly, to see the spiritual atmosphere change from darkness to light in many homes and throughout the communities where they served. Most of the children born and raised in these communities never knew life without their Good News Club.
Today, we continue to engage some of the same communities and others where crime and evil still dominate life, even if intermediately. There is still spiritual darkness, an orphan/poverty mindset within these communities where kids are not expected to succeed. These are the communities where the words: at-risk, under-resourced, and marginalized are still experienced everyday by its residents. These are the communities where God has been rejected, yet screams out to be glorified! This is where the Lord desires that the residents welcome Him back — into their homes and into their communities.
Sponsor City Kids for Camps:
Camps for City Kids are held for 4 consecutive days during summer months and school holiday sessions. These camps emphasize putting God first in every aspect of play and life. Building solid athletic skills and strong Christian character during drills and team play are expected of every camper. Basketball, Soccer, and Tennis are regularly offered, but other sports like Wrestling, Baseball, Football, and Black-top Games have been held in the past. Sports camps, clinics, and tennis academies are typically held in the Spring, Summer, and Fall. Fitness and healthy lifestyles are emphasized during all sessions. Presidential Fitness standards will be the age/sex baseline goal for all campers before the end of each camp season. For further camp details and a current schedule: Visit Upcoming Events and/or Call John Blake at 919.630.9434 — Though we meet with the kids in a variety settings, all of these camps emphasize putting God first in every aspect of play and life.
“God’s Game Plan” https://gospeltokids.org/about-us/john-blakes-story/
Sponsor city kids for camp
$100 sponsors a city kid to attend a week of sports camp at a More Than Gold camp or academy. These campers then have an opportunity to earn a week of overnight camping outside the city in the mountains near Asheville. To make this happen for 1,000 local city kids, More Than Gold Fitness and Sportsreach has launched a “Sponsor City Kids” campaign. Youth and adult athletic teams, companies, individuals and civic organizations are asked to sponsor city kids throughout 2013. Over 350 city kids have attended various sports camps and 6 city kids will be attending overnight camp at Camp Good News this summer. Thanks for supporting this effort. 
Fitness challenge groups
Whether you’re an elite athlete, need to lose 20-50-100 lbs., or somewhere in between… I’ve set up 2 personal fitness sites to help you achieve your fitness and life goals. Message me here for advise, a plan, and free consultations. Visit doc John Blake’s Beachbody site where you can find and ask for resources to improve your health and fitness. I’m here and sites below to help your fitness experience via organized fitness challenge groups.
John ‘doc’ Blake’s passion and the focus of More Than Gold Fitness is to empower poor, disenfranchised, and at-risk city kids through biblical kingdom building of the body, mind, and spirit for sustained fitness and wellness throughout life.John Blake is the CEF Durham Director, More Than Gold founder, and a fitness coach with Team Beachbody where your healthy lifestyle can be fulfilled. Whether you’re looking to lose weight, get fit, or earn money by helping others, we can provide a solution. We help you achieve your goals using a combination of proven home fitness programs, easy-to-follow meal plans and nutrition advice, financial incentives, and a support system like no other.
Goals for kingdom building in under-resourced communities of Durham progress
We continued our work this summer in select under-resourced communities of Durham via 5-Day Clubs, tutoring, camps, and one-off neighborhood events. Through the efforts of local and out-of-state mission teams much kingdom building was accomplished as youth and adults served and taught in 7 of 10 target communities. Children and many of their families heard and saw the Gospel in action. McDougald Terrace, one of the target communities, which was not included above in the “7” is very close to the heart of CEF and one of its staff members, Dr. David Johnson.
Dr. David Johnson
These are David’s words recently shared with his church, Christ the King Moravian.
“Even before our Faith in Action project at Burton Elementary, I have felt God’s ‘nudging’ about getting involved with an ongoing ministry to kids in that area. The huge McDougald Terrace apartment area was the target for several outreach events over recent years [also this summer], and I really enjoyed being involved there. God has placed a real desire in my heart for an ongoing Good News Club® (GNC) for kids, and other ministries for youth and adults.
I’ve met several people with a desire to minister in this community. Some of these people wish to target adults and youth, and we do need more people committed to serve kids. However, I think there is a clear path now for starting to lay the foundations for a [sustainable] GNC for kids. This will involve exploring options for a meeting place, developing relationships by attending Residence Council meetings, and assembling a team of people with a commitment for serving weekly for at least a year…
Somehow I have both a spiritual sense that the time is close for this project, and a worldly sense that the details are starting to come together. Please pray that we would have success in arranging a GNC meeting site, and that the team would be formed soon!”
God has many people in this city
Harley, Blake, and Lopez team up for holistic discipleship at Hoover Rd Apts in Durham
Even with strong reports of ministry in these communities there are still ongoing challenges of poverty, orphan mindsets, and weak indigenous leadership where CEF ministers. However, several Durham communities have seen their resident leaders push against such challenges. CEF will feature some of these leaders from communities where God is blessing ministry efforts during a special dinner event on Sat. Oct. 1, 2011. Lou Brogden, Michael Harley, Christina Rice, and Sandy Underwood are a few of these leaders who will speak about the 10 Challenge and what is making a difference in the lives of kids, their families and their communities.
“City Project” summer interns help CEF and others
Traditionally, our summer missions team would have just returned from Christian Youth in Action® training and have begun 6-8 weeks of 5-Day Club® ministry at random sites across the Durham area. Urban workers from around the country would have already departed Durham surviving another urban boot camp. However, this summer a very strategic decision was made to focus on what God has put before us rather than for us to add to the plate He gave us.
What does this mean? It means, that CEF and its friends, who minister in Durham, are committed to all necessary strategies and tactics available to us for kingdom building. It means, our yearly calendar and schedules may not match God’s, so what should we do?
God’s Calendar for us in Durham
During the early summer God scheduled CEF staff and ministers to continue its work in 10 under-resourced communities of Durham where the indigenous are being discipled to lead the outreach. There are so many wonderful things happening through these efforts that, unfortunately, there is not enough space here to describe. God allowed me to recruit and engage others from Durham to attend the Duke Summer Institute where we grappled with current and historical issues in Durham as well as navigating a course of biblical reconciliation for our city. The PrayDurham initiative has taken me to the State Capitol in Raleigh, NC to meet with the NC Call to Prayer caucus. I will be meeting with leaders of PrayNewark in their city during early July to learn how they mobilized their city to pray through a street adoption strategy as we are doing in Durham.
We’re enjoying breakthrough with several projects
God has also placed before us eight intelligent and committed interns from The City Project, a Campus Outreach effort of the Summit Church in Durham. They serve on 4 teams focused on 4 projects, which CEF, BlessDurham, and World Relief are engaging. They are helping us break new ground in ministry by (1) revamping our sports outreach—setting up camps and clinics for this summer thru next spring 2012, (2) reformatting and building our data bases for the blessdurham.org web site, which will impact PrayDurham and connecting the churches/ministries of Durham, (3) are doing research and development of a business plan for operating food and ice cream trucks for ministry to inner city communities and to refuges, and (4) joining the Butteflz team (Bible club/tutoring) to teach and administrate its summer programs. All have provided needed breakthrough this summer, which will propel us into 2012 on a solid foundation for sustainable ministry.
The traditional mission of CEF in the Durham area continues in mid-July and August with club ministry, sports camps, community block parties, and teachers being trained. What a great summer not being bullied by my own calendar and agenda.
HEADLINE for January 17, 2011
This year’s Martin Luther King Day of Service was very successful. 35 staff, volunteers, and residents worked together for the sake of others in the Cornwallis Rd Apt community of Durham, NC. CEF ministers there each week with Christina Rice and the Youth Life Foundation staff. The diverse gathering on Jan. 17th tackled several projects at the Youth Life Center based upon Dr. King’s question: “What are you doing for others?” Residents, like Jamar (below), were side-by-side working with teens from Kings Park International Church, students from NCCU, UNC, UVA, parents from the community, CEF staff and board members.
Jamar (lft) and John (rht) standing with many of the 35 volunteers after supper at the Youth Life Center
After successfully completing four of the five projects, the adults and children enjoyed a meal catered by Boston Market, then had a quiz game about Dr. Martin Luther King. Though muddy, cold, and tired, all felt good about the 3 hours together helping others and honoring the life of Dr. King. Aiden, who attended with his father, Stephen Ehmann (both seen in separate pictures below) said, “It was hard work but it was worth it to help other people.” I think Aiden really got it.
Aiden, Delrontay, and other kids organized and shelved books in the YLC library with the help of two local school teachers.
Stephen Ehmann helping a neighborhood child with their supper after removing old AC units, landscaping, and clean up at the Youth Life Center.
CEF encourages others to take part in next year’s MLK Day of Service. For the best results, interested groups should begin planning now. This is a wonderful way to engage and support our communities where city kids live. CEF is more than happy to partner with you. MLKDay.gov offers guidance and good ideas as you think forward to 2012.
UNC students serve in Durham before spring semester begins
A group of UNC students sacrificed their last few days of winter break to develop a heart for the city of Durham and serve with CEF in under resourced communities. RUF campus ministries, led by Daniel Mason, gave of their time, energy, and heart for 15 hours each day the week of Jan. 4-7. The group experienced a bus tour of Durham, tutored at the Youth Life Center, and helped kids at the Liberty St. Apts complete a photography project they began last March.
UNC student assisting child writing a caption for the photos he will submit to the kid's club project.
The students were usually divided into three teams, which participated in prayer walks, Good News Club flier distribution, and began service projects to be completed during the MLK Day of Service Jan. 17th. The 15 Tarheel students were able to meet, listen, and Q/A with community, business, and ministry leaders at Joe’s Diner in Old East Durham. The next day they meet leaders from World Relief, DurhamCares, Carpe Diem, and BlessDurham. After a full day and Good News Club® on Friday, the group reflected over their experiences with CEF staff at the Tobacco Road Cafe’.
This and other current information can be obtained at http://gospeltokids.org web site of the CEF Durham Area chapter.
Having fun touring 10 under resourced communities in Durham with UNC boot camp students via CEF.
A call for unselfish collaboration within the regional Church
This 4-part article has the essence of the following statements:
The citizens of our city like others have nurtured division and isolation, which resemble the words of the late Sen. Bobby Kennedy, “…men with whom we share a city, but not a community. Men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in a common effort…”
Yet, I will state, recently I’ve seen ordinary people doing extraordinary things empowered by Almighty God… reconciliation and biblical transformation is happening when ordinary people (called the Church or Body) work together in collaboration with each other and God.
There is lament, a plea, and hope for contemporary renewal — radical, but authentic faith within the Church as I state in part 3 and 4:
I see emerging a generation and community who thrives on social relationships and longs for authentic experiences with God… What if, as Jesus prayed, we ministered together as a unified Church — poor with affluent, mega with storefront, older believers with younger… ?
These are the ordinary people doing extraordinary things who are also saying, Enough is enough! Stop the bleeding. “Stop dividing the Body… severing its limbs and discarding some of its body parts…”
Final edition: Part 4 with entire article for your convenience
Don’t you hate it when a good working relationship with someone falls apart? It seemed so right and possessed so much potential. There were extraordinary moments of success. You may have experienced an extremely difficult time when you supported each other. There was a unique bond. However, life’s circumstances or a mindset change divided you and destroyed what could have been.
Part 1 – A Current Reflection
Now at 56, I’m often reminded of significant relationships that were cut short. I also think of current friendships that have enormous potential for doing great things together. I ask myself, How did I fail in the past? What could I have done differently? How can I foster sustainable relationships today? I believe these are some of the same questions the Church should be asking itself today on its mission.
Some of the answers or at least a few thoughts to get the discussion started can be found in the words of a current friend, Chris Rice, “A divided world needs people with vision, spiritual maturity and daily skills integral to reconciliation. The church needs fresh resources – a mix of biblical vision, skills in social and historical analysis, and practical gifts of spirituality and social leadership – in order to pursue reconciliation in real places, from congregations to communities.”
People and reconciliation are key words in Chris Rice’s statement. But no person, organization, or church congregation is equipped to supply the needed resources described. Ordinary people can do extraordinary things empowered by Almighty God. Thus, reconciliation and biblical transformation happens when ordinary people work together in collaboration with each other and God. Even if our friends say it in different ways, the essence of these words is what everyone wants to see happen in our city… people working together to solve our mutual problems.
Part 2 – A Past Reality
Unfortunately, history of the Church and our society reveals a different story. Sen. Bobby Kennedy eloquently stated this reality about people, relationships, and violence in America during a 1968 speech only a few weeks before his assassination:
“…We learn at the last to look at our brothers as alien. Alien men with whom we share a city, but not a community. Men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in a common effort. We learn to share only a common fear, only a common desire to retreat from each other, only a common impulse to meet disagreement with force. Our lives on this planet are too short, the work to be done too great… to let this spirit flourish any longer in this land of ours…”
I agree with Kennedy and others who lament over the relational abandonment of our society. Bluntly, it means divided, separate, or indifferent we will fall, but the Gospel gives hope that together we can stand. What would it look like… what blessing awaits the Church if it were to live together in unity (Psalm 133) and functions as each part does its work (Ephesians 4:16)?
As another friend and author, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, recently quoted a 9th century Benedictine monk, “We must always be on the lookout for Christ’s twofold coming, the one when he comes day after day to stir our consciences, and the other when we shall have to give an account of everything we have done. He comes to us now in order that his future coming may find us prepared.” Will the Church, which includes every Christian and every congregation, heed these reminders and follow the countless examples of what it means to live and minister in a divided world? Yes, we must remember the reality of our past if we’re to progress going forward. Where do I see this happening?
I see emerging a generation and community who thrives on social relationships and longs for authentic experiences with God. This is an expanding population of radical and revolutionary Christians willing to live and minister in this simple way — as Jesus taught and modeled. A correction has begun in their hearts and a plea for action is upon many of their lips. Will this restoration impact the Church? Will their cry be heard in our city?
Part 3 – A Future Restoration
Therefore, It’s because of this reality and our history that I’ve asked the Church a series of questions over the past two years: What if the Church at Durham took seriously its responsibility for taking the Gospel to city kids and their families? What if for 10 years a collaboration of churches and ministries comprehensively served the most physically and spiritually needy or under-resourced communities in Durham?
And by the way, these are the communities with no voice − where crime and evil have dominated life for way too long − where kids are not expected to succeed and adults are viewed with little value in solving its own problems.
What if peculiar doctrines of Scripture and Christian service in the community no long brought name-recognition or spiritual arrogance? What if the Church set aside its differences and used its diverse strengths for compassionate and intelligent ministry to our city? What if, as Jesus prayed, we ministered together as a unified Church — poor with affluent, mega with storefront, older believers with younger, etc? These questions scream out for answers from each person as well as from the congregations that make up the regional Church at Durham.
Part 4 – A Lament, Plea, and Hope
Durham needs those willing to enter the pain and suffering of its people… those with a vision, which has been turned into a passion of service unto the Lord. These are the ordinary people doing extraordinary things who are also saying, Enough is enough! Stop the bleeding. Chris Heuertz stated in a 2010 sermon while in Durham, “Stop dividing the Body… severing its limbs and discarding some of its body parts as if they were insignificant or unimportant.”
A Lament for the Church
Oh Lord the bleeding has gone on for way too long.
I repent of my disobedience and contributing to the
lack of unity within the Body. Forgive me oh God!
Your arm is not short nor weak to fulfill Your prayer
that we will be one as You and Your Father are One.
Oh Lord, so many do not believe in You because they
see the Church divided and separated from humanity.
Oh Lord, cleanse us of this great sin. Bring us together.
Create in us a pure heart and unify our actions oh Lord that we may join You in the work we are called to do. Bring glory to Yourself as we glorify You in our unified expressions of the Gospel: justice, mercy, and humility.
A Plea for Action
Lamentation, restlessness, and a plea for action from the Church typically expresses radical Christians. We have an authentic faith, but need a developing community to facilitate authentic or biblical expressions of the Gospel. In possessing the greatest truth, we must show the greatest love, the heart of Christ, to accurately express the Gospel in words and deeds. This is the greatest proof, which the Church and our city needs. The proof that God really did …so love the world… that God’s plans are …not to harm you, but plans to give you hope and a future. Our city will clearly understand this when it sees the Church believing, loving, and working together collaboratively with Christ-centered unity as it engages the culture of our city. This is the proof Durham needs to welcome Christ as God of our city.
Community-based kingdom building and collaborative ministry were clear in the New Testament where 39 of 40 explicit powers of the Holy Spirit were displayed in local communities. All but 2-3 miracles of Christ were done in the community marketplace where people lived… not in worship gatherings or meetings. The proof of God through the Church is expressed in communities.
This proof is diminished if the Church is divided and segregated into non-collaborative congregations. However, the Church is strongest and biblical when it collaboratively builds Christian community within local communities of our city. There are several local initiatives gaining traction which show the greatest proof in Durham.
A Present Hope
When times are tough and a biblical response is needed, the Bible says, “…but the people who do know their God shall be strong, and do great exploits.” Daniel 11:32 Hope is present in Durham. God’s people are initiating and sustaining many Gospel-centered efforts. Here are some examples of the most collaborative initiatives building Christian community and hope in our city.
Pray for Durham is an initiative to have every street prayed over everyday by hundreds of concerned Christians for spiritual air supremacy over the city. Durham Ministers in Prayer and Transformation Durham are meeting weekly and focus their prayer on Durham and not personal needs. CEF, Reality Ministries, Urban Hope, and the Youth Life Foundation are working with children and youth in schools and neighborhoods daily. Bull City Outreach ministers to the homeless and hungry; Frontlinez Ministries holds monthly block parties; and JusticeMatters, a Christian non-profit, provides pro-bono legal services to those living within the same communities where the above ministries serve.
In addition, ABCD is an emerging group of intermediary Christian community developers, which empowers community assets while providing a supportive learning environment, resources, and tools to those who transform communities. The last two examples of hope are using a web-based approach to uniquely connect the regional Church and the city to each other and opportunities to serve its fellow-man. DurhamCares is helping our city love its neighbors and engage in serving each other, building relationships across cultural boundaries, and transforming our community through committed involvement. Bless Durham exists to be a communication hub for the Body of Christ and bless Durham through the strategic coordination of efforts and relationships within our community.
Many of these church, marketplace, and non-profit ministers are part of an urban network, which meets regularly to seek diverse ways of collaboration in ministry and share its resources for the development of Christian communities in Durham over the next 10 years. The Church working together will stand… develop many initiatives like these, and do even greater exploits.
John Blake shares his "Heart for City Kids" 