Halloween in Our Urban Neighborhood

Halloween is not my favorite holiday. But, it is one of my favorite things about living in Kansas City, Kansas. Our neighbors (not our Hispanic ones), go over the top with houses decorated, spooky music blaring into the street, and even live performances in their front yards. Kids come from all over our area and converge to trick-or-treat on 17th Street. It is a unique urban experience that you have to see to believe.

This year all the excitement produced some interesting opportunities among our Mission Adelante families. After meeting as a group at our home, parents and kids took to the streets together to enjoy a beautiful fall evening. Kids ran, asked for candy, sometimes remembered to say thank you, shook in their boots before sinister looking old homes, and had an overall great time being kids. Parents did their best to keep track of their black-clad, sugar-loaded offspring as they ran in and out of crowds of people (we even lost little Felipe Leyva for a while). After about an hour of chaos and over stimulus, the group returned to our home to count their booty and enjoy some dessert together.

Beyond all the hoopla, the highlight of the evening for me came when our group of Hispanic adults and kids stopped for a time at the Stetler home on 17th Street, where a clan of bewildered Bhutanese refugees had gathered to absorb this bizarre cultural experience. We were invited in and got to witness our Hispanic friends trying to interact for the first time with the Bhutanese refugees our ministry is beginning to befriend. As I observed Leticia making a great effort to converse with a Bhutanese lady, I noticed how similar they seemed. Their experience as immigrants unites them. And, I was struck by the fact that their only common language was English. Neither one could speak the native tongue of the other, so they were forced to communicate in English. From this first encounter I couldn't help but think down the road a ways and wonder if someday they would be worshiping Jesus together too.

In other news:

• Our Resource Center continues to be open each Saturday morning so that neighborhood families in need can choose the donated items that would be useful to them. Molly Merrick is among the various people that staff this avenue of outreach, and one of her favorite aspects of the ministry is blessing each family that comes through by praying for them individually.
• ESL volunteers are making a huge impact in students' lives this trimester by finding ways to spend time with them outside of class. One attended a birthday party while others have gone out to lunch or dinner together.

Prayer needs:

• We're taking advantage of the opportunity to talk to the LIT students about sexual purity in a two-part conversation. Please pray for God to grant discernment and wisdom to the adults as they educate and advise the pre-teens.
• The Missionary team will have a planning retreat this weekend to strategize and prepare for 2010. Please pray for God's guidance for the process.
• We'll have our November Worship Celebration this Sunday evening. Please pray for current students and their families to have the courage to come for the first time.
  

Current needs:

• Brown paper grocery sacks for the resource center. Volunteers: next time you buy groceries, why not ask for "paper" at the checkout and then bring the sacks with you the next time you come to the Mission?
• Diapers sizes 4 and 5. Even small packages and generic brands are appreciated!
• Two twin-size matresses to accompany bed frames that have already been donated.

Important upcoming dates:

• Thursday, November 26: Midterm break. Happy Thanksgiving!
• Monday, November 30 @ 6:30 p.m.: All Volunteer Meeting
  

First Steps for the Bhutanese Outreach Project

Last Tuesday evening it was raining and cold; the perfect night to launch a new ministry initiative! David Stetler and about 10 volunteers gathered for the first team meeting of the Bhutanese outreach project team. For those of you who haven't heard, Mission Adelante is launching a pilot outreach to Bhutanese refugees in our target neighborhood. This initiative will not only address the needs of another immigrant group in our area, but will also allow us to test the transferability of our ministry model to other peoples. Read More.

Volunteers from four different churches were present with at least one thing in common; a heart for the Bhutanese. Some have already had some experiences reaching out to them through ESL and other means. While others were there to learn more. This trimester they will focus on observing and learning Mission Adelante's core outreach programs with a plan to launch ESL and Kids programs in January.

In Other News:

• Jason will travel to Cincinnati tomorrow with staff from The Hope Center attend the annual Christian Community Development Association conference and glean lessons from other urban ministries around the U.S.
• Mission Adelante is saying, "goodbye" to volunteer Thiago deAgostino as he moves back to his native Brazil this week.
• We're thankful for a new Kids Adelante volunteer named Adam, who is focusing all of his attention on one of our most at-risk preteen boys.

Prayer needs:

• Please join us in sustained prayer for a kid named Eduardo who is struggling with a pattern of making detrimental choices.
• Pray for momentum for our volunteers and participants to continue strong over the mid-trimester hump.
• Pray for good health for our staff, volunteers, participants, and all families now that we're in the "cold and flu season."
• We're praising God for the favor he's given Megan McDermott with potential financial supporters and asking for him to give her more of the same as she continues to schedule meetings.

Current needs:

• Diapers sizes 3,4, and 5--any quantity--for distribution through our Resource Center.
• Winter clothes, i.e. long-sleeved tops and warm pants, for distribution through our Resource Center.
• A case of white copy paper for office use.

Fishing for Fishermen

Christ coined the phrase "fishers of men." The very encouragement he gave to his disciples was to cast out their nets, not for actual fish but for men. Too often, men come through our doors for only a trimester before work, sports, or other engagements steal them away from us. Therefore the relational window quickly closes right before our eyes. This past weekend we cast our relational nets out to men in our English classes and our church community.

Thanks to the help of one ESL volunteers, Mike Anderson, we planned a fishing trip to grab hold of these relationships and make the most of them. Fifteen men, kids, and volunteers jumped on a bus with us to a private fishing pond in Spring Hill. Our group spent the bulk of the day there fishing, eating, and enjoying conversation together. We rejoiced in the opportunity to connect with three men from our ESL classes and grow deeper with four men from our Adelante church community.

We literally cast the invitational net weekly to Hispanic men, women and children through serving, sharing life together, and holistic evangelism. However, there are few times that we can leave our neighborhood together and share life. Pray with us that this trip opens the doors for more opportunities to share Christ's story at work in us!

In other news:

• Alberto and Graciela are committed members of our faith community that are also on their way to becoming American citizens. Jason has begun studying with them weekly for their upcoming American history and civics exam.
• We have begun to include preteens and teens ages 12 and up in our home-based Bible studies. Until now they had been with the younger kids for our children's ministry. We're excited to see how their participation in the Bible Studies will impact the groups as a whole as well as them individually.
• Just three weeks into this academic year of Leaders In Training, a strong bond of friendship has formed among the 12 students chosen to participate.

Prayer needs:

• This Sunday evening our whole community will gather for a worship celebration at our facility. Please pray that the momentum we gathered during late summer will still be evident. Also, we'll invite the new class of ESL students to come, so pray that many will accept our invitation and come.
• We're concerned about two families in our faith community that have become involved in a business operated by a pyramid model. Please continue to pray that the demands of the business won't draw them away from fellowship with our community.

Current needs:

• Two flat screen computer monitors. One is for Megan, Kids Adelante Director, because her current monitor flickers off and back on every few seconds. The other is for use by the Leaders In Training students.
• A sofa and skillets for distribution to families in need through our resource center.
  

Sovereign Grace in the Lives of Immigrants

The "perseverance of the saints" is the phrase Theologians use to describe the sovereign power of God to preserve the faith of those who belong to Him, thus keeping their eternal salvation secure despite the many struggles and temptations they may experience in their lives. Many of us find great comfort in the truth that we are both drawn to God by His grace and kept in him by that same sovereign power. John 10: 27-29 affirm this truth.

²⁷"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; ²⁸and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹"My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

At times over the past few years I have been tempted to doubt God's preserving power in the lives of immigrants who we've seen stumble and fall and fade away after having received Christ. Their volatile lives, their difficulties, and their transient situation present significant barriers to consistency in the pursuit of Christ. But, time and time again my belief in the sovereignty of God's grace has been renewed as we've seen God bring them back around.

Mario and Veronica are a great example of this. Nearly three years ago now they received Christ during one of our home-based Bible studies, but difficulties of every kind have frequently caused them to disappear for long periods of time from their involvement in Mission Adelante. This week I am thinking back over the past four months and am in awe at the way God has been working in their lives. Their consistent participation and pursuit of Christ has been at an unprecedented level despite a host of challenges they have faced during this time. Just when I had written them off, God brought them back around with a renewed authenticity and commitment to following Him.

If you are wondering what to pray for Mission Adelante this week, please pray for the sovereign keeping power of God to reign in the lives of the immigrants we're reaching.

In other news:

• An average of 60 kids have come to the first two Thursday evening Kids Adelante outreach Bible studies of the fall trimester, which makes for a very strong start.
• Thirteen adult students have already memorized a short version of the story of Adam and Eve in English during the first two weeks of the level 2 ESL class. Bible stories are great material for language learning!
• About 110 mostly brand new pairs of soccer cleats and other athletic shoes were donated to Mission Adelante after being collected at a youth soccer league drive led by Shawn Alexander. We'll distribute them to neighborhood kids who participate in our annual soccer camp next summer.

Prayer needs:

• We're concerned about two families in our faith community that have become involved in a business operated by a pyramid model. Please join us in praying that the demands of the business won't draw them away from fellowship with our community.
• Please pray for Megan McDermott to carve out the time to continue cultivating relationships with several kids that have become disconnected from Kids Adelante.
• The men in our faith community and ESL program have been invited to a fishing event this Saturday. This is the first time for an outreach event specifically targeted to attract men to our community. Please pray for God to allow them to connect well with one another and desire to plug into our faith community.

Current needs:

• Two flat screen computer monitors. One is for Megan, Kids Adelante Director, because her current monitor flickers off and back on every few seconds. The other is for use by the Leaders In Training students.
• Skillets, diapers sizes 3-5, and baby wipes for distribution through our Resource Center.
  

Leaders In Training Lift-off!

A new class of "Leaders In Training" began the ministry year last Monday at Mission Adelante in our much anticipated LIT launch. Several returning students along with a handful of new ones will be joining us three days a week for tutoring, spiritual mentoring, and character development. This intensive leadership development group is designed to invest heavily in the students who demonstrate the most diligence and character as potential leaders among their peers.

We have observed that immigrant kids in our urban neighborhood are playing against the odds. By the time they reach middle school most of them have been recruited by gangs or have friends who are in them. Our goal is the raise up a group of kids from an early age who love God, have strong Christian character, and who can influence their peers for good rather than succumb the peer pressure that's all around them. It's a tall order, but we know that God is all powerful and can use our investment to change their lives and help them beat the odds.

Please pray with us for the new class of LIT students. Pray for a strong start and a solid commitment. You are sure to hear more about them individually and as a group over the next several months.

In other news:

• Dave Stetler and three volunteers hosted five Bhutanese refugees for their first English class in our facility this afternoon. We're excited to watch their first steps toward becoming a holistic ministry to the Bhutanese population in Kansas City! (For more on the topic, see the following post!)
  
• Last week was Launch Week for our fall trimester! Twenty-four adults enrolled for the ESL Level 1 class, and we have high hopes for all the summer ESL students to return for upper level classes this fall.
• Kids Adelante had a huge group-59 kids on Thursday night for the trimester launch.
  
• Saturday morning, September 12, about 25 kids and a few parents marched with Megan McDermott and other staff and volunteers in the Central Avenue parade. It turned out to be a great way to reconnect with many past students and acquaintances who were spectators along the parade route.
• Sam Masters, a missionary in Cordoba, Argentina and our summer intern, Becky Masters', dad preached at our worship celebration on Sunday, September 13. Our community really enjoyed having him and his wife as guests and hearing Sam's message.

Prayer needs:

• Please pray for all the new folks who are becoming involved in our programs for the first time this fall to come with an openness to God.
• Pray for relational unity among the members of our faith community.
• Please pray for God to provide a few more Kids Adelante volunteers to kick-off the trimester fully staffed.
• Pray for Dave & Holly Stetler as they focus on building their volunteer team and raising funds for the Bhutanese Outreach Project.

Current needs:

• Two flat screen computer monitors