A Growing Intolerance

I'm a member, along with my wife, of New Life Church of God in Christ on Oakwood where Bishop Edward T. Cook is the Pastor. Along the back of the sanctuary is a large banner. It reads; Deliberate Mediocrity is a Sin.

This banner sums up the attitude our Pastor and the members of New Life have when it comes to pew sitting as a vocation. The banner is across the back of the Sanctuary so we can all read it on our way to our respective mission fields;

Deliberate Mediocrity is a Sin!

Personally, I believe there is a divine intolerance within the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Whether it’s Jesus making a whip and driving out distractions from intended purpose or Jesus’ healing of a crippled woman on the Sabbath and being threatened for doing so. He was intolerant towards any evil that resulted in people being threatened, abused or ignored.

While we live in a society that preaches tolerance as an antidote to hatred and discrimination - and well we should. We also realize of course, that tolerance is a double edge sword in that you cannot be tolerant of a particular thing, without being intolerant of its opposite.

And so I hope you've come to your own divine intolerance to the injustices around you. That you've grown your own resistant strain toward mediocrity. When all around you may suggest a conservative approach, remember that to observe Christs' teachings and follow His model of living results in a passionate focus that is unrelenting and without so much of a flinch, during times of distress

Intolerant of the darkness,
Dan

It's a Shame!

Connecting Point, here in Toledo, has closed its doors to hundreds of troubled youth and the families who depended on them. This, after decades of service in our communities. Though I've not read of a public reason offered by the organization, I've already begun to hear the excuses which for the most part have been blaming the economy and the financial uncertain times in which we all live.

I believe we are not only accountable for what we say, but also for what we don't say.

So let me say it; shame on you, the leaders of Connection Point. Your apparent irresponsibility and negligence have caused this closure.

You were a primary preventative service to many people - you helped keep young men and women off the streets and prevented them from ending up in one of our facilities. You provided outreach for young men and women staying at our Monroe Street or Sparrow's Nest facilities in an effort to connect them with other services

Now what?

The sad, and I'm sure unintended consequence from your perspective, is the reality that now, more than likely, Cherry Street and others like us, will be the burden bearers of your failure as we take in the inevitable flow of humanity you could have prevented.

A word of caution.

For those leaders in the social service arena who are watching the closure of Connecting Point - take a lesson. This didn't happen in a vacuum and it certainly didn't happen over night. For many of you there is still time to right your course, diversify your thinking and behavior and provide leadership to the community so we can all have a different outcome; changed lives, changed communities and ultimately a changed city.

You matter,

Dan

Black History Month

Let us pause on the first day of February; Black History Month, to recognize and celebrate the hopeful present and bright future where all people are honored and life is sacred.

On February 4th, 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a sermon entitled 'The Drum Major Instinct' to the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. This is one of my favorite speeches by Dr. King, second only to his speech as he received the Nobel Peace Prize. In the Drum Major Instinct sermon, and nearing the end, Dr. King recites an old poem;

If I can help somebody as I pass along
If I can cheer somebody he’s traveling wrong
Then my living will not be in vain
If I can do my duty as a Christian ought
If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought
If I can spread the message as the master taught
Then my living will not be in vain

And not more than two weeks ago, our Nations 44th President, Barack Obama took the oath of office of the President of the United States - our nations first black President. Nearing the end of his Inaugural Address he said;

"So let us mark this day with remembrance of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At the moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words to be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America: In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

With Hope and Virtue,
Dan

Biblical Rescue Intensives for February 09

First Alliance Church
2201 Monroe Street
Toledo, Ohio
43624

February 19-21

Thursday 6-9 p.m.

Friday 6-9 p.m.

Saturday 8-4

We are pleased to accept the kind invitation from Pastor Keith Sholl to bring the Biblical Rescue Intensive to First Alliance. Pastor Keith has graciously offered to open this Intensive to the entire community.

If you would like to register for the February Intensive, please contact Ashely Hall at ahall@cherrystreetmission.org or 419-242-5141. Registration deadline will be Monday, Febrary 16th.

Dan

The Parent

2009 is the Year of The Parent!

As we launch into the deep of community transformation, let us be mindful that a reduction of homelessness, or any other community ill, will require us to gather ourselves together like never before and with focused, sustained and combined effort strengthen the roots of parents and family.

However, around these vital roots are the entanglements of poverty, illiteracy and spiritual deformity. These entanglements have a strangle hold on the stability of the home and are feeding the repetitiveness of incarceration and homelessness like never before in our history.

We can see this stranglehold on the family, as each spring seems to reveal new batches of young people on our streets. The young men are standing idle on our corners and too many of the young women are finding ways to sustain their living through prostitution.

These are our sons and daughters – something must be done, and it must be done quickly.

I have been asked several times; "Why should Cherry Street focus on, or participate in, parent initiatives?"

For us the answer is quite simple – the data Cherry Street has gathered has led us to conclude that the disenfranchisement of parents has lead to the break down of the family which continues to be the primary contributor to homelessness.

For 62 years we have seen the effect of brokenness in the home and the realities of both the brokenness in men and women along with the restoration of them, have taught us valuable lessons and keen insights that life transformation must also be a preventative measure, rather than just a cure.

Parents are the very head waters of our society – what flows from those headwaters and how it flows through the tributaries of our communities determine whether we have a high productive community or a high risk community.

One hundred percent of the men and women arriving at our doors come from somewhere – more than the home, more than the family. Our men and women come from parents.

If there is to be lasting and enduring change within our neighborhoods and communities, our plans must include our utmost and valiant effort to reach the parent.

In it together,

Dan

Because of you - lives are transformed

They spoke the Lord's word to the jailer and everyone in his home. At that hour of the night, the jailer washed Paul and Silas' wounds. The jailer and his entire family were baptized immediately.
Acts 16: 32,33

More than likely, you’re familiar with the above chapter and verse from the book of Acts. It’s the story of two friends, Paul and Silas being imprisoned for openly sharing their faith. While in prison they sang songs and praised God and the place where they were being held shook violently setting them free. The jailer, was so astonished Paul and Silas had not run away, decided to take them home.

The greatest thing for me in this account of Paul and Silas is that the whole jailer’s family experienced life transformation. All because two guys decided not to let their circumstances dictate their belief or their behavior.

To the hundreds of men, women and families arriving at one of our doors each day – you, our loving friends, are a lot like Paul and Silas. Despite the economic realities and the circumstances of your life – you give and have given your time, talent and treasure.

Because of you, lives are transformed - like Larry.

Larry is one of the men being served in our Ready For Life Program and is learning to read and write for the first time in his life - how? A volunteer! Someone just like you who decided to matter to someone who matters. Imagine the joy of Larry's son, who is fighting in Iraq, receiving a letter from his Dad recently - amazing!

I hope you will see God at work through your hands and heart as you continue to reach into the lives of the guests of Cherry Street Mission Ministries.

To volunteer you may contact Roz Goodwin at rgoodwin@cherrystreetmission.org or call our main switchboard at 419-242-5141.

See you at the Mission,
Dan

It's a New Year!

This will be Cherry Street's 62nd. year of service to the many communities of Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan. I'm so very grateful to God for everyone who comprises the ministries of Cherry Street; from our guests to our donors it is truly a blessing to serve.

With the new year it will be easy to think there will be new challenges - in fact there won't be new challenges as much as there will be old challenges on new faces. The old challenges are as ageless as time - you know them as well as I do.

The new faces? That's another issue all together.

The faces are younger in that the median age of homeless men and women in the U.S. has dropped from the mid 50's to the mid 30's in the last ten years, are more generational in that homeless men now may be sharing the same shelter with their adult children, and the younger faces involve more children - much more children.

The solutions will require an ever increasing sophistication in services to those who come to us in need AND an equal eye toward prevention - understanding that an ounce of prevention is still worth a pound of cure.

Yes - 2009 will be an exciting year.

Join me,
Dan