All In A Week's Service

At the beginning of each week, the Departments of Cherry Street Mission Ministries report their previous weeks statistics. We then publish an internal memo to all the staff called; "The Hot Sheet".

Cherry Street Mission Ministries humbly stands behind it's 60 year record of being the only service to the Least, Last and Lost of our communities that NEVER closes it's doors. Thanks to God, and to you, the Light of Jesus Christ burns bright in the darkness for so many of your fellow citizens.

THANK YOU!

Hot Sheet For July 15-21, 2007

Men’s Ministries
Total number of overnight stays for the week: 764
Nightly census averages
Bunk Room – 67
3rd Floor/Ready for Life – 16
Mats – 18
Foyer – 9
Average nightly census: 110

Women’s Ministries
Total number of overnight stays for the week: 277
Nightly census averages
Emergency Shelter – 28
Ready for Life – 12
Average nightly census: 40

Food Services
Total number of meals served for the week: 5286
Madison (includes Sparrow’s Nest)
Breakfast – 1152
Lunch – 1262
Dinner – 1469
Good Samaritan
Breakfast – 663
Dinner – 740
Daily meal averages
Breakfast – 259
Lunch – 180
Dinner – 316
Average daily meals served: 755

Community Services
Total pounds of donated clothing: 2809
Volunteers oriented: 4
Total volunteer hours (community service dept): 299
Number of families who received furniture/household items: 9
Number of people served with clothing: 66

Walking on the Other Side of The Road [part two]

Last week I posted the parable of the Good Samaritan found in Luke chapter 10. [you may want to read last week's post first]

I wrote;

Why are we prone to be selective when it comes to deciding who we will help and when? Is it fear? Is it lack of concern, or compassion? Is it spiritual or social blindness? Is it a blatant or subtle prejudice? Is it a lack of justice, or mercy? Is it a clear disregard for anyone other than yourself .. selfishness?

Actually, while many of these traits or tendencies are present in many people, for those of you who 'get' this parable - you already know it's none of these things. But .. there is something, isn't there? There is something inside you that makes you walk on the other side of people's problems just like the Levite and Priest in Jesus' parable.

If it's not lack of love, compassion, justice or mercy - then what is it?

Skill and competence!

The fact is, we're found walking on the other side of the road because we have concluded we don't know what else to do. Oh we want to help, and in the past we've tried to help but we've also consistently failed or felt like a failure because what we tried either wasn't enough or didn't work.

If this is a reality - and for far too many it is - then your only other recourse is to keep walking.

The Good Samaritan had both skill and competence. He had a donkey, wine, oil and cash resources and he was prepared to use them because he knew how to use them.

At Cherry Street Mission Ministries we call this Rescue Competence and Biblical Skill.

Rescue Competence causes you to walk on the side of trouble. For too long we've been told as a church to stay out of trouble. Concerned with purity, wholeness and sanctification we no longer know how to demonstrate in tangible ways these very attributes of God in us. We've become and sadly remain, 'temple dwellers' - unable to effect change and insert Christ into the trouble of the battered and broken people living all around us.

Regarding the battered and broken, if you continue to think it's the lack of love, mercy or compassion that keeps you walking on the other side of the road - then you are doomed to it. Because God's work in you is complete - He didn't give you a little bit of anything. So if you continue to pursue more, you'll never find it.

Add to your love, mercy and compassion Rescue Competence and Biblical Skill and you'll quickly see just how powerful God really is when you and He walk on the side of trouble.

If you're interested in being equipped in Rescue Competence a Rescue Class is available as an eight week course or as a three day Rescue Intensive. Call my assistant Maren Kurtz for more details at 419-242-5141 ex. 225.

Dan Rogers

Walking on the Other Side of The Road

Luke 10:29-37
But he, willing to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor?
And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said to him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor to him that fell among the thieves?
And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus to him, Go, and do thou likewise.

In this parable and in an attempt to explain what 'neighbor' meant, Jesus uses the Priest and the Levite as an example of what a 'neighbor' is not - clearly a neighbor, which is defined as; "The one who is the nearest" does NOT walk around the problems of others.

Ever wonder about this?

Why??

Why are we prone to be selective when it comes to deciding who we will help and when? Is it fear? Is it lack of concern, or compassion? Is it spiritual or social blindness? Is it a blatant or subtle prejudice? Is it a lack of justice, or mercy? Is it a clear disregard for anyone other than yourself .. selfishness?

Unfortunately, many people I talk to about this parable believe that their selectivity is because they don't love God enough, or don't love their fellow man enough.

Experience tells me it's none of these things!

Oh, don't get me wrong, ALL of these things may be present in different measure and forms. But I'm talking to those of you who 'get' this parable. You understand what Jesus is talking about, and you know what's required of you as a follower of Him. And yet your frustration is realized in the fact that you do not consistently do what you believe.

Next week - I'll share with you why.

Dan Rogers

The Obvious

Recently while teaching a Rescue Class at New Life Church of God in Christ on Oakwood in Toledo's urban core, I drew a box on the flip chart and inside the box wrote the letters BS and said to the class, "Everyone is full of this".

Belief System!

Our Belief System is created by three predominant components; History, Experience and Environment. Our Belief System is our paradigm - it's not a 'seeing is believing' thing as much as it's a 'seeing what I believe' thing. Our Belief System determines how we see life. For example if you believe all homeless men are alcoholics and lazy that's the way you see homeless men. However, when you come to Cherry Street Mission Ministries and have a tour of one or all of our ministry sites and interact with actual homeless men you realize that not all homeless men are drunk and lazy.

What happened? Your Belief System was challenged and you begin to experience a Paradigm Shift in the way you think.

It is in fact our Belief System that creates our Culture. For example, if you grew up in a home where both parents were alcoholics, you grew up in a culture of drinking. That Culture of drinking in your home was there because a Belief System not only created it, but supported it. If you grew up and became an alcoholic, it is largely because the presence of a hidden Belief System created a very visible Culture of drinking.

It is our Culture that becomes the obvious of our lives. Our Culture always creates the 'obvious'. Unfortunately for many who desire to effect change in the lives of those we care for, it is only the 'Obvious' that we end up caring about. If someone is an alcoholic we want them to stop drinking [the obvious]. We then become frustrated because they remain unresponsive to our logic and ultimately we begin to give up on them all together.

If you want to effect change in the culture of a person or a community, you must first deal with their Belief System. You must care more for the person [Belief System], than what the person is doing [Culture].

What do you think?

Dan Rogers

Happy Anniversary!!

This month Cherry Street Mission Ministries turned 60 years old!

We began our ministry on June 14, 1947. Jesse and Bertha Fleck who were, by their own admission in a letter dated June 17, 1951, had lived in relative comfort most of their lives not feeling as though they had done much for God. Having decided to live out the balance of their lives serving God by serving others, they and a handful of friends began to serve food to men on skid row a few nights a week. Their first building was on Cherry Street and before too long they were serving meals every night of the week. By the first anniversary of Cherry Street Mission, they were putting men up in a nearby motel so they wouldn't have to sleep on the streets.

On June 29, 1949 they bought several cots and put them up in the back room behind where they served meals - there wasn't money enough for mattresses, so the men slept on cardboard on top of the springs of the cot.

The rest, as we say, is history. 60 years later, from our humble beginnings on Cherry Street we now serve more than 700 meals a day, shelter on average 180 men and women each night, and serve the community through five different ministry sites.

Today, June 30 2007, we celebrated our anniversary with a community picnic. I'm not sure how many people came out to help us celebrate, but we served hamburgers and hot dogs four hours straight with no gap in the serving line. What a great picnic it was, Tom Clappsaddle from the Toledo Gospel Rescue Mission brought his 'weenie wagon' and cooked up the hot dogs all day long, while dancers from Foundation Stone Christian Center worshipped God in style. Then there was a drummer and dance corp that entertained and excited the crowd and of course a few members of our staff sang and gave testimony to God's greatness.

There were games, face painting, inflatables for the kids, great music and a chance for everyone to connect and have a good time.

I thank God every time I think about the humility of the Flecks and the tremendous risk they took and sacrifice they made just so someone had a place to eat and sleep.

Jesse and Bertha passed on their Heritage and have honored us with the responsibility to live the Legacy of service!

Dan Rogers

Compassion and Rescue

This is our Monroe Street Facility on the corner of Monroe and 17th Street in the Uptown District of Toledo, Ohio. The first and third floors comprise our 165 bed unit for men in both our transitional and program services. The second floor houses our administration offices and conference facilities.

The men who arrive here each day represent a wide range of problems; ex-felons, addicts, mental health, physical health, no families, jobless, no high school diploma and the list goes on. But all of these men share something in common beyond the fact they're all homeless - none of their problems began today.

Ask yourself this question; "How long would it take me to become homeless if I started working on it right now?" Would it take a week, a month .. a year? While the time it takes a homeless person to reach one of the facilities of Cherry Street Mission Ministries, is going to vary from person to person, the reality is you have to imagine how many family and friends you will need to cycle through until there literally is no where else to go.

Think of it this way, how many moms, dads, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas, friends, co-workers and friends of friends told you that you were no longer welcome in their home? That's how long it takes to become homeless - for some it's a matter of months, and for others the reality of homelessness has taken years.

This is what I mean when I say, Cherry Street Mission Ministries is a downstream ministry - we are the receiver of the many who have been floating ever-so steadily down the river of humanity for some time. Can you see that they've all come from another place?? A place way upstream of where they are now.

Compassion for the least, last and lost must begin with rescue! Rescue is defined by going after the upstream of a person's life - and here's the kicker for most would be or wanna be rescuers, you must be willing to put aside the downstream realities of a person's life first. In other words, if a person is an alcoholic you will put that aside to discover what cataclysmic event occurred in his or her life for the purpose of rescue.

More on this in July - stay tuned!

Dan Rogers

The Upstream / Downstream way of looking at things

Nearly 24 months ago, a good friend of Cherry Street Mission Ministries asked me a thought provoking question; "Dan, what is Cherry Street's responsibility to the church?" As odd as it seems now - at the time I had never thought about it.

But my what a personal and organizational quest we've been on since then.

If you've read any of the past posts, you've seen me briefly talk about the upstream and downstream model. Let me explain further. The next time you're near a blank piece of paper, a chalk board or a white board, draw a straight line from left to right ... now step back and look at it for a moment.

Looking at the start of the line on the far left, call that the upstream. The far right, or the end of the line is the downstream. Now, mark an X on the line, just before it ends [to the right] - that's Cherry Street Mission Ministries. We are a downstream ministry, receiving the human condition flowing down the river. We're a receiver ministry.

As you may know God has made us, as His hands to those in need, very good at what we do. For 60 years we have been receiving the stream of people flowing to one of our ministry sites and for 60 years through rescue and restoration, we've been able to return them to their families and communities. This is what we refer to as downstream service.

Now, please look once again at the line you've drawn ... mark an X at the beginning of the line - that's the church. Using the upstream / downstream model, what my friend was asking me nearly two years ago was; "Dan what responsibility does the downstream have to the upstream? As it turns out, quite a bit.

Perhaps the most asked question at Cherry Street Mission Ministries of those on our tours, is; "Can we end poverty and homelessness?" The only way to get your hands around the answer is to use this model of thinking.

Think about this for a moment; Immediate downstream problems can be solved with downstream solutions but systemic downstream problems can only be solved with upstream solutions.

We'll develop this model over the course of the next several posts. If you would like to join in the conversation, you can post your comments or email me your thoughts.

Dan Rogers