Evidence of Love!

This past weekend, we, as a house, hosted another neighborhood gathering. This time it was a chili lunch with various desserts, hot chocolate, and coffee. As with our cookout in October, we were blown away by our God's faithfulness to provide, as well as by His work in bringing families together to eat a simple meal and enjoy the company of one another. As always, this was a beautiful experience, but this weekend I feel we began to see something different. We began to see the transforming power of God's love.

Since moving here and meeting the children, we have been trying to show them positive discipline, love that is generous and consistent, and a way of life that teaches them to share their possessions, gifts, time, and energy. We are also trying to encourage freedom in the expression of their hearts and minds, and their love for others. During the weekend, we saw a typically selfish thirteen-year-old teach another child that it is good to share his toys with the little girl who wants to play. We also saw non-expressive children become more expressive of their hearts and their appreciation by returning the phrase, "I've missed you," or through a sincere "Thank you for the meal."
The kids are also feeling welcome and comfortable in talking about past struggles, family issues, or problems at school. Most of them are alarmingly knowledgeable and surprisingly wise about life considering their ages. They are teaching us and blessing us.
God has also given us some incredible opportunities to tell these children about Jesus Christ as risen Lord, as Savior, as a tiny baby, as a teacher, as a miraculous healer, and as the slain Lamb.
We have also been able to talk with them about the importance and necessity of love. Friday, as I walked door-to-door through the neighborhood inviting people to our chili lunch, I was accompanied by Cory, a friend from work, and Jonathan and Darlene, two neighborhood children. As we approached one particular house, Darlene looked at me and said, "Oh, I don't like these people! They ran over my dog and just kept driving! They didn't even stop!" So I responded to her, "Well, we have to go to their house, invite them to come eat, be nice to them, and love them anyway, no matter what they did. Does that make sense to you?" Darlene just replied with a short but certain "No," so I said I'd explain later. When we finally returned home, I asked Darlene if she thought she knew why we have to love all people, and she replied, "Is it because of Jesus?" Amazed, I said, "Yes, we have to love people, even if they're mean to us, because Jesus loves us no matter what we do. Most people are mean because they haven't been shown love before. Love is very powerful; it's what changes people." Immediately Darlene replied with excitement, "Kinda like the Grinch?!" I said, "Yes! It's exactly like the Grinch! He was changed when he saw the love of the people of Who-ville!" So, as you can see, the children are brilliant, and they're teaching us all the time!
As we continue learning, know that we are also continually asking for your prayers. They are powerful, and we are seeing the results! Thank you so much! We are so grateful for the love we've been given, and we are rejoicing as God continues to reveal new evidence of His love!

A Late Thanksgiving Cookout

It is the second weekend after Thanksgiving, and our little North Avenue Community has much to be thankful for! Yesterday (Saturday, Dec. 6), we had our second big neighborhood cookout/gathering, and it was definitely as fruitful as the first. It consisted of: members of our house, some dear friends & acquaintances, neighborhood friends & families, hot chocolate & coffee, desserts & pastries, and 75+ servings of chili (which we ran out, and even had to make some more at the end).

Check it out!

Ray, our landlord, was so supportive in this endeavor. I believe that in his heart, he genuinely wants to see change happen and for God to move in individuals lives in this community. He not only donated money for supplies, but graciously allowed us to use his “Freedom Ministries” building across the street; and, to top it all off, he made an entire pot of his special homemade chili! WOW! We praise God and are thankful for him being supportive and involved with us in living out the Gospel passionately here in this community.

Here are some other pictures:

Thank you for taking the time to read, to care, and to pray for us as we try to flesh out the gospel in our lives today. We are currently in the process of dreaming up other practical/radical ways to share Christ's love with our neighborhood during the Christmas season.

It is another quiet Sunday afternoon here in North Rome. The occasional buzz of cars flying down our street, and the gentle autumn coolness coupled with the warm rays of sunlight, makes for a perfect Sabbath of relaxation, worship, and reflection on the blessings God has showered on us this past week.

We did in fact travel to Pennsylvania, and made it back with the exact number of people with which we left. We drove out of Chattanooga around 6pm last Friday, with eight of us packed into Dustin's family's Suburban. With little room inside the vehicle to pack all our sleeping bags, food, clothes, and cookware, we piled half of our possesions in flimsy plastic garbage bags provided for us by the kind people at Cracker Barrel. This, however, proved to be more dangerous than we anticipated. This picture was taken just before we loaded up the Tahoe and left town. And before we discovered how impossible it is for transparent plastic trash bags to withstand 70 mph winds on top of a Suburban.

Arriving at a Philadelphia supermarket to pick up sturdier trash bags just as the sun was beginning to show on the horizon, we were energized with a newly awakened excitement for the weekend to come. And so we set into the city.

After some coffee at a local semi-open air market consisting of fresh meats, fish, cheese, coffee, cheese steaks, jellies, jams, and refreshments of all types, we let the caffiene pick up where the sunrise left off, and made our way down the streets of historic Philadelphia.

We visited the Liberty Bell, stopping to read through the exhibit and reflect liberty, freedom and independence. It is great to see where this country has come from in terms of independence, women's rights, African American and Native American civil rights. It reminds us, too, of how much further we must go, how we must each constantly remember the injustices and the chains that bind so many people in this country, and how we must strive to loosen those knots and discover new and effective ways to change bring liberty to all who seek it in their daily lives.

We wandered through LOVE park, and admired beautiful fountains and the historic skyline, trying to absorb as much as we could in the few hours we had remaining in the intricate city of Philadelphia.

One cannot visit Philadelphia and not partake in an authentic cheese steak lunch. So, we obliged this rule, and refueled our tiring bodies with steak, cheese, warms bread, onions and green peppers, and a plethora of other cheese steak toppings, from the market we visited earlier.

Soon we found ourselves driving around Kensington, PA, an area just outside of Philadelphia that is often neglected, overlooked, and forgotten by its more affluent neighbours in Pennsylvania. It is a rough part of the city, evidenced by everything from the bars on every home's window to the unsettling look on the residents' faces we saw. We were there, however, not by accident, but because we were looking for the Simple Way. A community of Christ followers who live together in this part of the city. Shane Claiborne is one of the six or so who live in this community home and his story and what he and the others are doing there has been some inspiration to us in this house, and in our daily lives. To live more simple, sacrificial, loving, and service-filled lives. They were not home, but to see their street, and their home, and the neighbourhood in which they invested their lives for the past decade was priceless and truly humbling and we were all glad to be able to be there.

To stay with our attempt at having a time-tabled schedule we drove out of Kensington and headed towards Eastern University, to arrive in time to watch a preview of the documentary Ordinary Radicals. The campus was beautiful. The low hanging branches with changing leaves, the grey stone buildings, the green grass over gentle hills throughout the small rural campus provided for an awesome visual attraction to this place.
We were a little late to see the video, but were in time to hear some from the Simple Way talk. One thing that stood out most to us during that time was when one girl from the Simple Way said, "Community can be the loneliest time of your life." She went on to quote Dietrich Bonhoeffer saying, "The person who's in love with their vision of community will destroy community. But the person who loves the people around them will create community everywhere they go." This quote echoed deep inside ourselves as we reflected on some of our own community centred ideas and visions, rather than individual relationship centred, based on love.

With Bonhoeffer's words fresh on our minds we departed Eastern University and headed towards Lancaster County - into the heart of Amish country.

We had reserved a camping spot for Saturday and Sunday night and wanted to arrive before dark to set up camp and get the fire going.

Our twelve man tent catered well to the sleeping needs of the eight of us, though some opted for a night directly under the stars - and in the freezing Pennsylvania autumn air.

A campfire-cooked breakfast of eggs scrambled in our cast iron skillet and leftover soup from the night before filled our stomachs, readying us for a Sunday in the heartland of Pennsylvania Amish. Without knowing what to expect, and having little to no previous dealings with Amish or Mennonite families within our group, we decided to find some Amish farms and attempt to meet and talk with whomever would be willing to sit with us, and help shed light on the fascinating lives of these people and their beliefs.

After the fourth house we approached, and getting no where with those we spoke with on the farms, we began to realize it is a difficult thing to break through the wall they have set up between themselves and those of non-Amish/Mennonite tradition. Most of the men we spoke to were not interested in having much conversation, and simply sent us on our way, some suggesting where we might buy some 'Amish goods', of which we were not necessarily interested.

We ate lunch at a small country eatery on the corner of some street in downtown Intercourse, PA, and enjoyed chicken sandwiches, soups, salads, and rejuvenating coffee.
Our second night at the camp ground was one of peaceful reflection, song, and discussion about the day behind us. Soup cooked over a propane burner and fresh spread peanut butter sandwiches completed our final dinner at the grounds, and the rest of the night was spent snuggly in our sleeping bags attempting to stay warm.

Monday we headed to Washington, DC - the United States capitol. Arriving around 5pm, we hurried ourselves from the upscale hotel we exploited for a much needed bathroom break, and followed a tourist map to find some monuments.

We made our way by the Capitol building, up to the national monument, and stopped into the Smithsonian Museum of American History to use the bathroom. By this time the sun had long set, and it was time for us to make our way to Herndon, VA where Laurel, one of our aunts, was expecting us for dinner at her home, and where she also offered us a place to stay for the night.

Sweet potato soufflé, cooked ham, crescent rolls, fruit salad, fresh lettuce, and warm chocolate cake and ice cream made for a perfect meal in the most hospitable of places. Dustin and Raven celebrated their one-year anniversary that day (yay, Tommeys!), so they enjoyed the evening away from the group, to have some quality husband-wife time, while we were able to send quality time visiting with our wonderful host, her daughter, and her husband.

Laurel scrambled a skillet full of eggs and ham, baked fresh blueberry muffins, and brewed hot black coffee all for us in the morning before we had to leave. Eternally grateful for her hospitality, we said our goodbyes and headed back to Georgia.
Before we reached Georgia, however, we stopped in to visit Mr. Yoder, a former Old Order Amish gentleman who now is part of a Mennonite community in Northern Tennessee. We stopped by his store a couple miles off the interstate on a recommendation by Erin Miller's father, Roy, to have a short chat with him about Mennonites and Amish and their way of life. Even though, we soon found out, he had been driving all night the previous evening, he was more than willing to talk with us, share with us, let us ask questions and look around his shop which closed five minutes before we arrived.
After purchasing some ham, cheese, jellies, and jerky, thanking the kind man for his time, help, hospitality and love, we loaded back into our Tahoe and made the final push into Chattanooga, Tennessee, and then on southward back to Rome. We will have to talk more about our overall impressions of the trip next time. But it was definitely a blessing to be a part of.

Yes, the trip was one of the blessings God has allowed us to enjoy in His presence, but we also were blessed to harvest some of our first vegetables this week. Radishes and spinach!

Our radishes are sprouting and producing healthy bright read roots which we chopped up this week with fresh spinach plucked from our two rows of spinach, also producing healthy, dark green leaves, delicious with tomato-basil vinaigrette dressing and a handful of radishes.

Soon we will have green onions, carrots, and hopefully the cabbage will continue to grow strong and yield us salad worthy leaves of which we can enjoy this winter.

Another blessing this week was our community cookout we organized in our front yard Saturday afternoon. The previous week a few of us went into the neighbourhood from house to house meeting families and children and inviting them to come enjoy hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled chicken and chips. The reception of this invitation was very positive and we were able to meet so many people we had not earlier known.

Saturday evening around 5:30 a trickle of neighbours began streaming down the street and up to our front yard. With hamburgers on the grill and lemonade chilled in our five gallon cooler, we began welcoming neighbours young and old to our home. Close to twenty children showed up, and that many or more adults also came by to eat, drink, and fellowship with one another.

We were not too sure how the cookout would turn out, but it could not have gone better. We even were able to bring plates of food to a couple of elderly in the neighbourhood who could not leave their homes.
We are slowly getting to know more and more of the people with whom we live in this neighbourhood, and it is exciting. We now have growing relationships with individuals for whom we can continue to pray, as we begin to discover the things they need prayer for most. We are beginning to see more of what the needs of the neighbourhood are and where we might be able to do some small part to ease someone's burden.

It is still difficult to live together and not be doing specific things that can be measured by worldly standards. We have no statistic sheet of goals and accomplishments hanging in our dining room to rate our success. We have no huge plans, but only to love God and people hugely, and let God do big things through that love. And that is sometimes difficult for our human minds to understand. We want results. We want evidence. We want immediate tangible impact. But we must understand that God does not always work that way.
I began this on Sunday afternoon, I am closing on Thursday. Oops.
Thank you so much for being a part of us by reading and praying. God bless you.

Yeah raddishes!

Our raddishes are almost ready to be picked! As for the other vegetables, they are trying their hardest, so hopefully soon we will harvest some carrots and spinach. Shortly after that we will have some cabbage and green onions. The broccolli,though, has yet to sprout even a modest leaf from their now dry mound of weed infested earth. No, we are not holding our breath for broccoli stew this winter.

It is almost two months since the first night all seven of us slept in the house. We have been able to maintain a daily food budget of about $1.75 per person. That includes our breakfast, lunch,and dinner. Our problem now is the power bill. During our weekly house meeting Sunday, we discussed ways to cut back on power usage. We now are more conscious than ever to unplug everyappliance when it is not inuse. We make sure to turn off all lights in every unoccupied room. Upstairs, as the eveings and mornings are becoming increasingly cooler, we continue to raise the thermostat teperature, so the air does not run constantly - and let the cooler winds blow through open windows. We are hoping that these little things will help reduce our power bill to a more afforable and manageable level, and help us be better stewards.

It is not easy living amidst seven people, and often times it is even eight or nine people as friends, relatives, significant others, are always stoping by or spending the weekend. Living in this house is different than other, maybe more common 'communal' living situations, for example, dorm apartments, because there is a sense of shared accountability and understanding of intentionality in our mission here. Compromise and selflessness are ideason which my mind must constantly reflect. And we are learning daily what it means to be intentional.
Oudvin moved in to our house on Sunday the 28th of September. He now lives on the upstairs 'male floor'. With several applications filled out and turned in to numerous businesses in Rome, we are praying for his soon employment. We are also looking and praying for a place into which he can move, so he can begin to live his life.

Please continue to pray with us as we strive to be united in one Spirit, that is the Holy Spirit, which we pray will be our guide day in and day out. We need more discipline. We need more intentionality. We need more passion. More faith. Please continue to pray for our neighbours, who continue to wrestle with addiction, abuse, and loneliness.

Last week we were blessed to encounter some children from this neighbourhood. Pray with us as we seek the best way to relate to these seven to thirteen year olds, and aswe strive to provide them with a safe and loving environment where they can spend time doing homework, playing horseshoes or football, or just eating dinner. It is not always easy to change the plans or the schedule thatwe have set out for ourseleves when we hear an enthusisatic knock at the door. Pray with us as we strive for strength and wisdom and a Christ-like attitude towards these children and their lives.

In one week we will be in Pennsylvania. We have decided to take a road trip north to visit Amish country, to see the way they live as a people set apart from the wordly society that surrounds us all. We also hopeto visit Eastern University, a school where one of us is planning on attending next fall, and hopefully see the movie 'Ordinary Radicals'. Check them out at ordinaryradicals.org We will be leaving Friday afternoon once we all have finished work or school, and plan on returning Tuesday evening. Pray for us on this trip, that we will be safe, careful, full of discernment and intentionality in everythingwe do.

Again there is much to say, but little room or time, and I feel that if I do not end this here and post it, it will be another month before anything is posted. Thanks for reading, but thank you more for praying. God bless!

Learning to Grow...Together

As best I know how, I would like to try to update & communicate our current community status.

It's Sunday evening, September 14th.  We have had a great day today.  It started out with a bang as we experienced fellowship & participation in the Spirit (aka "koinonia") with Erin Miller's parents' church in Rockmart, GA.  They invited us to come down and visit and share our lives and our spontaneous Spirit-led worship with them.  Without knowing what to expect, I think that it was received well on both sides.  Sharing, openness, & vulnerability were present; along with sharpening, challenging, & spurring one another on by means of the Scriptures.  It was our first experience together in a group or church outside our usual home setting.  We are deeply grateful for Erin's family & the church body that they are a part of for being so kind and humble to allow a bunch of early 20's "crazies" to come and help "lead" a Sunday morning gathering that they do.

Over the last couple of weeks we have become more regular and routine in our schedules.  We each have regular jobs now!  We have been volunteering in the community more - at the 5th Avenue Nursing Home on various days & at the Mountain Top Experience Ministry in South Rome as often as possible.  Our eating plan/food regiment is also getting pretty regular.  We try to have a simple breakfast and coffee each morning at 7a.m...it's usually more like 7:30 though.  For dinner, we cook every night except Wednesdays, when we eat at 2nd Avenue Baptist Church for free and study the book of Acts with all of the adults of the Church.  Marty, the pastor, is both incredibly intelligent & loving - keys to being a good leader in a church.

As we begin this week, we are already looking forward to a few things that are on the radar.  Tomorrow night, Tim Martin - Executive Director of Building Better Communities in New Orleans - will be staying with us.  He is speaking at Shorter College this week for "Christian Focus Week" - which we are calling "Metanoia Week" this year.  (Metanoia is the Greek word that we translate into English as "Repent".  BUT, the original meaning has more of a connotation of "Change your whole way of thinking and living").

Anyways, another big thing this week will be the moving in of our friend Oudvin.  We will be trying to help O. get on his feet, get a job, and find a place to live over the next 2-4 weeks.  Currently, Oudvin is still living with our friend Will Givens, who has graciously tried to help O. for the last 3 months.  Oudvin was a Shorter grad last year, and is originally from Liberia, Africa.  With God's abundant grace & our faithful obedience to God in prayer (& driving him around), Oudvin shouldn't have too hard of a time finding a job...unless the economy is just really that bad right now!

A few small things: Rome First Methodist gave us an old upright piano this weekend.  We call it the "tiger" piano because of the exotic wood that it's made of.  The garden is growing pretty good.  The radishes are growing like crazy!  The cabbage, carrots, onions, & spinach are starting to sprout up.  We need to weed it & take good care of it as it comes closer to harvesting.

I can sincerely say that living together is a growing experience.  We each have our ways about ourselves that are a bit different or quirky.  But, there is a deep sense of respect and appreciation for one another and our own ideas.  Here's the thing...this group was born out of a kindred spirit for, I think, 2 things: 1. a passion for seeing restoration and revitalization in people's lives in the Church and the World as a whole; and 2. a discontentment in experiencing & observing the lack of transparency and genuineness in the church.  We are trying to be intentional in the way we share our lives together every day - it may not seem like such a big thing, but it really feels that way for us.

Lastly, a thought that has been present throughout the writing of this entire blog.  I hope and pray that nothing that has been said has even a twinge of presumptuousness about the way we have decided to live.  If anything, I hope that all of the blessings and gifts and joys and the struggles that we have described, all point to the greatness & gloriousness of our God & Savior Jesus Christ.  If seen rightly, He is the source of all true blessings.  He is the giver of all good gifts.  He IS joy.  And he is especially our guide in living & struggling through this life on earth.

Settling in

It is Thursday morning, and we have just finished planting cabbage, carrots, broccoli, spinach, and later today we will plant onions to complete our fall garden.

August is coming to an end, and this opportunity we have been blessed with this year is just beginning. We are all about moved into our new home, with a few scattered odds and ends lining the first floor hallway. The past week has been one of nailing, hanging, rearranging, organizing, lifting, shifting, and sharing the joy of settling into this community together.

There are seven of us here, Andy McKenzie, Brent Harrison, Dustin Tommey, Erin Miller, Erin Potter, Peter Faile, and Raven Tommey (married to Dustin). We are not definite on what the future holds for the next eleven months, but are excited for the opportunities we will have as a community living together. God has been faithful in bringing each and everyone of us together in our own unique ways. God continually showers us with love that we cannot begin to return in portion, but we pray that we will be able to love each other as he compels us, so much that our love overflows into the community in which we live, and that He may be glorified through that love.

Attempting to live simpler lives together, sharing transportation, food, rent, and financial accountability, we hope to become better stewards of the blessings God bestows on us daily.

Prayer is powerful, we would appreciate your prayers during this time of settling into our new home. Join us as we pray to be of one Spirit in our decision process; we pray for discernment and wisdom; we pray for opportunities in this community in which we can become directly involved; we pray for discipline; we pray for loving hearts, humble and serving.

Join us as we pray for those in this community; the couple down the street who fight constantly over drugs and unfaithfulness; the young men who walk by our house everyday to visit the 'hobo village' where they partake in addictive, self destructive behaviour; the lady and her four young boys who catch the bus outside our home every morning, amidst her harsh words rebuking her children for their every action; the abusive mother further down the street, with daughters in wheelchairs and babies that feel only the touch of a human hand when they are slapped across the shoulder.

This blog is not meant to advertise anything we are attempting to do here, but rather provide an avenue by which others may partake in the small things we are attempting to do with great love. Seven of us live in this house, but so many more are a part of us and the Christ-centered community of hopeful servants, and we want you to be connected with us.
We do appreciate your prayers. May God bless you.