Rock Rhythms

The ice storm, for reasons nearly unrelated to the ice storm, kept me out of internet access...

The Rock is… a hard place to describe. Maybe I can give you a sense by describing Monday, February 2, 2009 to you.

I came in about 8:15, after dropping the boys off at school. I came in to the smell of strong coffee, the sounds of the Gaither Vocal Band; Leo was getting the day started. He met me with a friendly, “They’ll let anyone in here nowadays.”

I grabbed a quick bite to eat and Ica and I went to God’s Pantry to pick up our Food Bank order. We loaded it up on the bus. Then Melissa showed up and we grabbed 35 10lb bags of potatoes—for free!

When we got back to the church, we had staff meeting while halving the bags of potatoes to give out that evening. As we divided the potatoes and culled the bad ones (very few—thanks for cold weather!), we discussed the week’s ministries. The staff meetings are our time to touch base, keep abreast of each others’ work. After Susan Rogers led us through some streamlining of our meetings a little more than a year ago, we have worked hard to talk only to the things that impact us all. Other issues that arise get dealt with by the individuals involved. I didn’t know you could get so much done in a food pantry.

I met with a young man, Blake Brodien. Brodien is hard-core. He not only moved into the neighborhood, he moved into a tough place. He has a ministry just living where he does. He is committed to the youth. I asked him to preach, so I could see if he was ready for “prime time.” He rocked it, and now we’ll begin the work of the discipline of preaching—regular, consistent preaching.

I picked up the boys from the bus stop; we went to McDonald’s for a snack.

Got back to the church, began to get ready for the Monday night crowd. Some of them were already there, and there’s a lot of conversation and some informal counseling that happens in the hallway. We’re trying to create a family for the people who have not had and/or do not have a family. Over the long haul, there’s hardly anything better for that than prayer; not just the prayers themselves. When people pray, when they speak out their requests, when they hear what others are praying for week after week, knowing and sympathy grow.

It has also been important in the service to take prayer requests, to let people speak their concerns. For a group of people who are so often powerless and voiceless in life, just taking a prayer request and returning it to God is important. We see a lot of prayers for families, a lot of prayers for people dying early, in poor health. Ica ministered to a very young man who is afraid an oral cancer has returned. His mother died of it, his first bout was at 16. He’s under a weight.

Randy and Hobbs— two unlikely friends. Randy is a short, stocky black man, and Hobbs is a very tall rangy white man. They have been “traveling buddies” for over 10 years, on the streets, camping out. They first came about a month ago, and Randy asked for prayer for him and Hobbs. When it came time to pray, I pleaded that they would lay down the bottle and turn to Jesus. I did not want to pray that; I was afraid it would alienate them. But I felt compelled. At dinner, Randy said, “I heard your prayer. I’ll think about it. I appreciate it.” When I processed my fear about alienating him with a pointed prayer, Melissa McDonald said, “he knows you care. Anyone who has cared enough in his life to say something has is long gone or has stopped saying anything.”

Well, Randy had a sad story—Hobbs stepped into a hole and broke his leg bad. Randy is kind of lonely and maybe a bit scared of the streets.

Doug got jumped on the way to church. Doug is the fellow who has the mind of an 8 year old. Some of the guys were really upset that anyone would do such a thing, and a negative side of the “fellowship” developing is that there are some guys who will beat the tar out of someone. Once again, our motto, “The Rock—we got your back.”

I know there are a lot of stories to tell… I wish each one of us could share the things we’re seeing and hearing and saying.