Whoa… Fast/Busy Week
Whoa… this week is blowing by fast and furious ’cause we have been busy developing new contacts, deepening already established relationships!
First of all I was blown away to see that we had 40 first time guest on Sunday… way to go renovation, love seeing friends and family bringing friends and family!
I did get a yr older this week (Monday)… if you would have told me when I was 18 that I would live till yr 46 and where I would be at age 46 I would have told you that you were nuts!
So grateful for the journey that God has and is taking me and my fam! I love Him and the journey!
We had the awesome privilege of having Noel Castellanos hang out with the renovation staff and Mark Cerbone and Toni Benjamin from Peace Wednesday morning. Noel is the CEO of CCDA (we are a member) and was in town to host a CCDA Cafe at the Buffalo CHristian Center Tuesday night. Noel is a great dude and had some great things to share with us as we continue down this path that God has called us to as it relates to really impacting the NW community and how we can do things (renovation/peace) together to have a greater impact than just supporting each others different events and experiences.
Noel has been a part of the Lawndale (Chicago) community for 21 years helping at the same time rise up a new generation of Kingdom Exposers as they serve and reach the urban centers of America. That would be like 2/3 of the population of Buffalo living in Riverside!
You can read and learn more about Lawndale Community Church and “Coach” Wayne Gordon who started in 1975…great story that is still being told…great inspiration for us!
A few take-aways from our conversation together…
- What do the people in NW Buffalo think we (renovation) care “most” about?
- The Church is the catalyst/fuel for CCDA principles to happen in a community
- Is what we are “selling” really Good News to this community?
- The mandate to love and serve the poor, the broken, the widow, the fatherless, the unprotected is the SAME for every Christ follower but how/where we do it will be different!
- Nehemiah called a percentage of “suburban dwellers” to come back into the city to help… not all but some…
- There are Neighborhood servant/leaders and Outside servant/leaders that is needed and both have a valuable role in the Kingdom of God!
- Model the SOLUTION of the FAMILY (in the hood) while helping people to develop the skills for having healthy families.
