One Day to Feed the World

Highway Tabernacle was in financial distress. Her members had courageously determined to undertake the needed renovations on an abandoned church building in North Philadelphia’s Nicetown neighborhood. Like many worthy endeavors, the project stalled for want of funds. Morale was low. Some of the things that happened during the summer and fall months are better forgotten. At several low points, I was questioning myself and the decision to encourage the congregation to get involved.

As usual, the autumn mail was filled with year-end requests for funding worthy missions. The local missions appealed for monies to provide homeless people with shelter and needy families Thanksgiving dinners. Friends asked for our help in providing study Bibles needed by church leaders in distant places. If water wells were dug, thousands in Africa would be spared from death by starvation. I was all too familiar with year-end efforts to finish the financial year in the black.

At one of our lowest points a written appeal came from a favorite mission, Convoy of Hope. Convoy delivers food, water and a variety of services in large community events. The key ingredient of each event is a n offer to pray with honored guests before they leave the event site with bags of groceries, offer recipients a haircut, family photo, help writing a resume, or share a variety of other gifts. The written request caught my eye because my brother-in-law, Hugh Duncan, trains workers to pray with guests at Convoy outreaches. A telephone call from a Convoy representative added urgency and explanation of "One Day to Feed the World." I promised the caller that I would present the need to the deacons but secretly believed that the church could do little to help.

The "One Day to Feed the World" opportunity was near the bottom of the agenda for the deacon meeting. I made a somewhat apologetic presentation pointing out the present financial challenges before the church. I may have even said, "How many times can we ask the people to give?" The turning point in the meeting, and in the life of the church came as a deacon, my son-in-law, said, "I think we ought to give the people an opportunity to give. If they are moved to give, they will and we will be blessed."　An explanation of "One Day to Feed the World" was shared in several services. The congregation was asked to give one day’s wages to Convoy so that the less fortunate would experience a taste of Jesus’ generosity. The offering was received and counted. I was shocked and pleased with the response.

Almost immediately the church’s financial distress was eased. Gifts flowed in for the renovation project. Unsolicited funds came from several sources. I had never witnessed anything like what happened after the special appeal and generous offering was received.

Highway Tabernacle is participating again this year. Resurrection Life Church, the congregation which is housed in the once abandoned building, will add its offerings. In retrospect, I ought to never have hesitated to present another need. God blesses generosity. Saint Paul wrote by the Spirit about the dynamic of Christian generosity.
"Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, yo u will abound in every good work. As it is written: "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever."
"Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God." – 2 Corinthians 9:6-11

And, I celebrate a word of wisdom delivered by the Spirit through my son-in-law! Otis courageously urged us to give people an opportunity to give. God met our need as we obeyed the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

Pat and I will be sharing a "One Day to Feed the World" offering again this year and recommend the ministry of Convoy of Hope! Please join us!

God Knows Before We Ask!

While renovating the building which now houses Resurrection Life Church, my routines included regularly reading through the pages of Craig’s List, an online classified ad site. By daily searching for needed materials, tools and services, over the course of several months we reduced the cost of renovations by purchasing surplus materials from contractors, lightly used tools, and manufacturers’ overruns.

One of the best Craig’s List experiences was the day we discovered over half of the needed interior doors. Our needs were unique, which makes this story even more remarkable. Because we planned to use part of the building as school classrooms some doors had to have "lights" (contractor’s language for windows), commercial grade closers, and codes required that a few had to be fire rated.

The listing caught my eye. "Interior commercial doors with hardware. Best offer." I called the listed number, the home office of Cento Fine Foods in West Deptford, New Jersey. I quickly learned that the doors matched our need and dared to ask, "What is the ‘best offer you have received?’" The answer, "None, yet." Since we didn’t have any money to offer, I suggested that Cento Fine Foods might benefit more by donating the doors and hardware than by selling them. Within a few minutes one of the owner-managers of the family foods business said, "Come and get them!"

When our volunteers began sorting through the donation, we discovered that we had more than half of what we needed. The doors even swung in the right direction! Doors of equal quality retailed for more than $125, the hydraulic closers cost more than $100 and the metal jambs were equally expensive. The added cost of the "lights" was an additional $75 value. Each of the 20 openings that Cento Foods doors and hardware filled would have cost more than $400 each, or $8,000!

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he said, "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him." Matthew 6:5-8

Through the more than 45 years of our pastoral vocation, we have been formed by fervent, simple prayers offered by people who eagerly desired that the Name of our God be glorified. When Highway Tabernacle walked through the months of challenging renovations, multiple breaking and entering episodes, municipal red tape, and faith-testing uncertainty, the congregation’s prayers were heard all the way into heaven! And the God to whom we prayed answered as surely and as powerfully as He answered Elijah when he contested with the prophets of Baal.

Friday Night Missionary Services

In September 1962, I was a 18-year-old freshman at Central Bible College in Springfield, MO. The school had a tradition of lighting a bonfire on the ball field for an outdoor service the first Friday night students were on campus. I don’t remember too many details of the evening except that a missionary evangelist, Reverend Otis Keener, spoke and students were challenged to give their best effort during the academic year.

Reverend Keener issued a challenge which proved life-changing. He said, "You will attend chapel Monday through Friday because it is required and attendance will be taken. However, the Friday evening Campus Missionary Fellowship service is voluntary. If you attend the missionary services, your life will be changed." At the conclusion of Reverend Keener’s message students were asked to make commitments to the Lord concerning the school year. I determined to attend every Friday missionary service when I was on campus, and I kept the promise for four years.

Each Friday night I heard of human need. I learned about creative strategies employed by missionaries from many countries, all continents, and subcontinents. The appeal nearly always included a need for workers, I took the short walk from my seat to altar every Friday evening and told the Lord of Harvest I was available and would gladly go to Africa, Europe, South America and . . . no place was too distant or too demanding. My senior year Pat Kolas Wegner was my every Friday night date. Pat and I learned to say, "Yes!" rhythmically and happily. Friday nights were the occasions when Jesus used others to open my eyes to a world we didn’t know existed. He whetted our appetite for meaningful service to people who needed Him. The Holy Spirit formed our spirits and set the trajectory for our life and vocation during those hours when we learned from missionaries and lingered at the altar.

Otis Keener passed away several years ago without learning how God used him to change the course of my life. As a result of a short paragraph embedded in his message to a student body on a warm September evening, on a small college ball field, I and others were forever changed.

Last week, October 31, we marked the 25^th anniversary of receiving an invitation to plant churches in the large cities of Northeast. Our missionary experience overseas lasted only a few weeks in Africa and Europe, but learning to say "Yes!" prepared us for the most satisfying vocation. Pat and I had begun to learn how to say "Yes" 50 years ago. The years have flown by. Evenings with the Lord of Harvest and key spokesmen He assigned for the meetings are still lively memories.

Friends

Pat and I recently attended our alma mater’s homecoming and anniversary event. As we reinforced friendships with worship services and playful fellowship for several days, one classmate mentioned that we first met 50 years ago as teenage freshmen. Each wondered, "How did the time pass so quickly?"

Since we returned home, I have been wondering, "How have we maintained friendships when we see each other so infrequently?" We meet a few of our friends at biennial church conventions. Others live near family and we enjoy the luxury sharing an occasional cup of coffee. None live within 100 miles.

Since returning home I have been stirred by the J. Wilbur Chapman song, "Our Great Savior." (I am fond of Chapman because of his association with Philadelphia.) The first verse and refrain say:
Jesus! What a Friend for sinners!
Jesus! Lover of my soul;
Friends may fail me, foes assail me,
He, my Savior, makes me whole.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Hallelujah! What a Friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end. The Book of Proverbs says, "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." (18:24) I believe God makes enduring friendships possible as reminders that He is the One who never fails in His role, no matter how often we may falter in keeping our part of the relationship alive and well.

Chapman included foes in his poem and we may have had a few. I simply cannot remember them. What I find most remarkable is that Pat and I have been blessed with friends who have not failed. Their names are ordinary: Bob, Judy, Carley, Barbara, Jim, Rick, Abe, Patty, Nilli and James. Other friends are younger than our children: David and Laura, Edwin and Liz, Johnnie and Jennie. Life is richer, sweeter, happier because God gave us extraordinary friends with some rather ordinary names.

Play to win!

Occasionally even good teams will play to not lose rather than playing to win. The telltale signs are subtle. It may be noticed in the tenseness on the players’ faces, the tentativeness with which they play their positions or the slumping posture of key members. Confidence is reinforced with many successful repetitions but can be smashed with one bad pitch or failed catch.

Israel’s troops, King Saul and David’s brothers played hypothetical war games, asking each other, "What would happen to us if we took on Goliath?" They were approaching war with a "How do we not lose?" attitude. David boldly said, "Let’s see what God will do!"

The ten who spied out the Promise Land with Joshua and Caleb concluded that a thorough beating was inevitable should anyone dare to do battle with the people living there. Joshua and Caleb’s shoulders still were unbent, their gait was sure, and their eyes clear as they went into battles at Jericho, Ai and beyond.

Like numberless men and women before him, Daniel dared to defy the king who captured and held him as a prisoner of war. The hero of faith surely knew what the consequences would be if he lost weight or became sick while refusing the king’s smorgasbord. Those who play not to lose lose their competitive edge, and slouch their way toward the ordinary.

My friend and mentor, Owen Carr, once arrested me with a question. I had an opportunity before me and was beginning to amble about slouch shouldered and beaten. Brother Carr asked, "What keeps you from pursuing your dream?" I shrugged, "We can’t afford it." Brother Carr’s response was life changing. "If God wants it done, He can afford it!" Once I learned to ask the right question, the answers allowed me to play to win!

Why write?

Why do I write? Whom do I hope will read what I write? In short, by writing I hope to speak to issues I deem important from my grave. I write primarily for my children and grandchildren and am pleased when anyone else looks over my shoulder, or on my children’s iPad or computer monitor. Being an old Neanderthal who prefers paper and ink symbols bound into books, I too am learning from those who speak from their graves.

Most of the time I am merely hoping that others will consider issues and ideas I raise to be worthy of consideration and conversation. On occasion I have written items to put forward an outrageous idea, a gross overstatement, or a preposterous hypothesis just to stimulate thinking. I believe change always begins with an idea, a consideration of the possibility of a better way.

I remember reading about a pastor proudly reported to his church during the congregation’s annual business meeting, "This past year I knocked on over 500 doors welcoming the residents of the home to attend our church!" When the meeting chairman asked, "Are there any questions for the pastor about his report?" one person asked, "How many came to church?" "None," the pastor replied. The follow up question was, "What will you do this year to stimulate growth in the church?" "I’ll call on 1000 families!"

Huh? Dig a deeper rut? Flog away in ineffectiveness?

The writer of the Book of Hebrews cites an expectation of "better things," (chapter 6) for his (or her) readers. Later, the writer celebrates Jesus’ "superior ministry" and "better covenant" (Chapter 7) and "better sacrifice" (chapter 11). In light of the charges and counter charges of political candidates, I am doubly thrilled that I am a citizen of a "better country" (chapter 11).

I value your responses, reactions, agreement and uneasiness with my probing around the comforts of ordinary thinking. New ideas excite me and I fancy myself to be a pyromaniac who determines to light fires of redemptive change in as many followers of Jesus as possible.

Reading, Writing and Arithmetic are Spiritual

From my daughter Candace’s pen I was reminded of the following.
"HOW IMPORTANT IS EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION? VERY!
"In 2008-09, just 48% of Philadelphia school children could read at grade level. 31% of those children are tested Below Basic, the lowest level. Philadelphia's high school graduation rate is 57%. (from PhilaCares.org)
"What can WE do?! We can provide quality early childhood education! Quality early education cuts the number of students placed in special education by 50%, and increases high school graduation rates by as much as 31%!!! (from americaspromise.org)"
Ten years ago Spring Garden Academy was established in part because of the alarming condition of the Philadelphia education system. Our discovery of functional illiteracy of high school graduates alarmed us as we considered the future of the church. It didn’t take long to realize that people coming to our altar and trusting Jesus to save them were waking up the next day unable to read the Bible given to them with strong encouragement to read. Applying for employment or a driver’s license is a huge hurdle for someone who doesn’t read. Checkbooks are written in indecipherable code for those lacking basic math skills. How does one negotiate a road trip when road signs are unclear gibberish?

While vacationing recently, I read a book by Cardinal Fulton J. Sheen who served as archbishop of New York decades ago. One of the many pungent lines that challenged me read, "For the church that does not reproduce, that is not missionary, is weaving its own shroud."¹ A "one size fits all" theory of ministry leads to colossal failure if the failure proof plan assumes everyone is academically prepared to complete lessons and in places where common societal achievements are affirmed.

Saturday afternoon I will chair a meeting of the Spring Garden Academy board of directors. We will wrestle with the usual challenges of relating to finance, personnel and property. And we will pray and dream together as we refine our passion and consider the worthiness of the mission on which we have embarked. We will discuss the findings of "Begin to Read."
"The harsh reality that 2/3 of all students who cannot read proficiently by the end of the 4^th grade will end up in jail or on welfare.
"85 percent of all juveniles who interface with the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate.
"More than 60 percent of all prison inmates are functionally illiterate.
"Penal institution records show that inmates have a 16% chance of returning to prison if they receive literacy help, as opposed to 70% who receive no help. This equates to taxpayer costs of $25,000 per year per inmate and nearly double that amount for juvenile offenders. Illiteracy and crime are closely related. The Department of Justice states, ‘The link between academic failure and delinquency, violence, and crime is welded to reading failure.’ Over 70% of inmates in America's prisons cannot read above a fourth grade level."²

Begin to Read’s website (http://www.begintoread.com/research/literacystatistics.html) adds the following sobering statistics.
Literacy is learned. Illiteracy is passed along by parents who cannot read or write.
One child in four grows up not knowing how to read.
43% of adults at Level 1 literacy skills live in poverty compared to only 4% of those at Level 5.
3 out of 4 food stamp recipients perform in the lowest 2 literacy levels
90% of welfare recipients are high school dropouts
16 to 19-year-old girls at the poverty level and below, with below average skills, are 6 times more likely to have out-of-wedlock children than their reading counterparts.
Low literary costs $73 million per year in terms of direct health care costs. A recent study by Pfizer put the cost much higher.
Highway Tabernacle leaders have established "The Next Generation" ministry, an intense discipleship program which acknowledges the unique challenges of making competent followers of Jesus from among those with deficits in reading, writing and basic math skills. The circumstances are spiritual and require spiritual people to act!

The initial apparent success of The Next Generation is indicated in a socially, emotionally, and academically "at risk" youth who participated the last two summers is thriving in Ground Zero Master’s Commission. Another is attending a fine Christian college. Two young ladies are scheduled to graduate from high school and are dreaming of a college education.

Why do I repeatedly address the issues mentioned? It is my passion! It is my personal conviction that until urban young people are prepared for life and ministry in the city, the urban church will continue to struggle. We must equip the next generation of Christians now, beginning at the earliest possible age. Those who have been blessed, as I have been, with a great education and familial support, must minister to those following us now and who lead others later. We must be people of an unwavering commitment, those who make sacrificial investments. The effectiveness of the urban church making disciples until Jesus returns is being determined in part by those addressing daunting educational challenges today.