MAC City/Community Ministries
Monthly Conference Call
December 18, 2008
TOPIC: Reflections on what God is doing in cities across the nation
HOSTS: Glenn Barth, GoodCities and Jarvis Ward, Mission America Coalition
Glenn welcomed callers as they joined the call.
Jarvis Ward added his welcome, and asked Harold Hendrick to lead in prayer.
Jarvis: Glenn and I have been hosting these calls for many years, with many guests. December is a little different, giving us an opportunity to sit around and talk with an informal format. We invite you to join us, even if for a short time, telling us about your journey this past year. How has God led you? Blessed you? Taught you? What didn’t work? But before we do that, we have a couple of announcements.
Glenn and I, along with Tom White and Phil Miglioratti serve as the Lead Team for CIR. You may have heard that 2009 will be a year of regional CIRS. Several already set. Bruce Jones, could you give us a 30-second promo?
Bruce Jones: We have a team of 10 leaders from Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, and the area. It may include the Mayor of one city. We'll have Glenn Barth working with us, and John Perkins as the lead speaker on the subject; "What does it take to take on a whole city for Christ?" We have brochures coming out in January. We’re excited about what God has done. It will be May 4-5 at the Liverpool Holiday Inn in the Syracuse area.
Jarvis: Several other regionals are being planned. You can keep up with schedules at www.cityreaching.com .
We are believing God for our newly updated website going live soon. If your city has a 1-2 minute video that you could email to us, we’d like to post y our video on our site so it would be seen on our home page, highlighting different cities. Please send that to us at info@cityreaching.com We’d like to consider putting it up.
The format today – what God has done in cityreaching this past year. My colleage in cityreaching, Glenn Barth, has a story to tell.
First, there was a promise to provide a free gift. Here’s what y ou will be given. I think it’s better than I first thought. Glenn, would you tell them? You’ll get to experience a chapter of it before it’s published.
Glenn: Merry Christmas, everyone. It’s great to be with you today. One thing has occurred to us re: cityreaching resouces through the years. We’ve been privileged to see what God has done through you. I am writing a book. I think it will be called GoodCities. One chapter looks at 6 stages of city transformation. As I’ve talked to many over the years, I’ve been asked if this is in writing. I have this chapter, about 20 pages double spaced. I’ll knock it down to single spaced. It outlines the 6 stages from (1) exploration, (2) formation, (3) operation, (4) breakthrough, (5) transformation and (6) replication You can email Carolyn at info@cityreaching.com to request it. I’ll send it to her today.
Jarvis: That book will be a blessing. There is something else we’re giving out today. Phil Miglioratti has produced a bookmark, "30 Days of Prayer for Your City." It’s a neat little tool. He will provide several of those to you. Send an email to info@cityreaching.com requesting the bookmark, and Phil will ship those off. If you haven’t gotten a copy of Pray Magazine, Phil is also willing to send a copy to you.
One last thing: How many of you are members of the Mission America Coalition? Raise your hand. Mission America is offering free membership in the Coalition. Go to www.cityreaching.com and click on the link there. The Membership fee has been waived. I strongly recommend that you enroll in the Coalition.
Glenn, I think it would be fitting for you to begin. A lot of things have happened to you this year. Didn’t you become Dr. Barth this year?
Glenn: Yes, May 31st, just a week after walking my daughter down the aisle and then performing the service.
Jarvis: Do you have one lesson that stands out from 2008 that you could share with us on the call?
Glenn: I would say this. The one thing that jumped off the charts to me is, I think we sometimes over estimate how much control a
cityreacher can have in a city. If we really want transformation, the city movement’s major task is to be a vision setter, helping others in the city see how their ministry fits into the whole process of trying to bring the city and culture more fully under God’s reign through the ways we pray into it, through ways God works. Our role is not to control ministry but to release thousands into ministry. We may not even know the phenomenal things God is doing in our cities. We want to be encouragers and vision-setters so people realize they aren’t just laying bricks but building a cathedral. This came up during my dissertation process. I came to realize that what we do at the core of cityreaching is build a covenant relationship for people who pray through, so many people are empowered through that vision to do all kinds of wonderful things God might lead them to do in their city.
Jarvis: Good words. Someone may want to comment on that, or just share your story. Brother Harold, would you share?
Harold Hendrick, St. Louis: I have admired what I have seen as I’ve attended some of the cityreaching and Mission America Coalition meetings. What a cadre of people God has raised up who work “across the lines.” There is little ego – they are looking to see who they can include. They are cross-racial, social, cultural, economic, denominational. So that’s what I see in your leadership, and what we try to emulate here in St. Louis. It’s been hard to pull together. Yet, I just emailed to you a remarkable flow of events that God ahs arranged in St. Louis that were not humanly coordinated. It’s remarkable. God is at work in St. Louis. I have the opportunity to do part-time radio, and have a chance to promote a lot of ministries to pull things together.
Jarvis: Paul Hoy has plans for a regional round table. Glenn, could you give a quick summary about Ohio?
Glenn: Ohio has been interested in having a regional CIR. w hen leaders there first came together, they said, "we don’t need just another
meeting, but if it will move cityreaching forward in our cities, let’s plan a meeting now; let’s come together and pray. So about 15 leaders are coming together for a day of prayer, asking what God wants in their state and cities. I think it’s a wise move. They are not ready to jump into a meeting. We should never have meetings for meeting’s sake. I sense that God is in it. There are some different visions about what needs to happen in Ohio.
I have a question for the group: I mentioned the stages of city reaching (1) exploration, (2) formation, (3) operation, (4) breakthrough, (5) transformation and (6) replicatio. As you look back on 2008, what break-throughs did you experience in 2008, where God did something beyond your expectation?
Alan Doswald, Fresno, CA. First I want to ask what cities these 6 stages are based on? I’d like to contact them . I’ve been looking for cities that are well into transformation.
Glenn: Let me mention quickly, I shouldn’t get too far ahead of things. I think the main thing we’ve seen thus far is about 165 cities who have reached the operation stage. Every city has seen some kind of breakthrough where they have seen God do something beyond what they expected. Transformation happens when there is breakthrough after breakthrough, when God does things beyond our expectations. I’m not sure we’ve seen that yet. We’re praying toward that. It’s important that we give testimony and give God glory for what He is doing. God wants to provide breakthroughs in our city. Go ahead and tell us about Fresno.
Alan Doswald, Fresno: Two years ago I was asked to speak at a rescue mission in Cleveland, OH. During my talk I realized our city won’t be transformed until our church is transformed, ourward-focused, other-focused. Until then, you will only change the members of the club. We came back and developed a covenant community that prays, casts vision, and helps others meet their role. We called it the A-
Team, the Advance Team. One of our pastors thought that was too prideful, so we call it the B-Team -- The A-Team is God Almighty. We are just are backup. We are a group of pastors and leaders who meet monthly, seeking the Lord. All those pastors have to do prayer care share to be leaders in the group. So I’m hopeful that this will be an ever expanding vision, mobilizing churches. For our own health we need to reach out. What I’ve heard so far is very helpful.
Glenn: Are your going to call it the Breakthrough Team?
Alan: Some can’t come to meetings, so we call them the B+ team.
Bruce Jones, Cental NY: I started on the vision for my own city, and then through Mission America, the Lord connected me to other cities. Jarvis, do you remember that when I was at the Mission America meetings I asked how to approach the African American community.? I didn’t do it. God did it! That’s my testimony. I was sitting in a restaurant on a Sunday afternoon in my Sunday best. I often see others likewise, and ask “Did you go to church today?” I was about to leave when in walks an African American in a white shirt and tie. His wife had a beautiful outfit and hat. So I asked them. He said he was a pastor. He asked who I was. Within 2 minutes I was asked to preach in his church. God did that. I got a favorable response. Then I was asked to speak at the Thanksgiving service with the African American community. I was the only white on the platform. They want to start a church in the suburbs. I learned that he’s the senior statesman in the African American community. Now he is part of the team to plan this (regional) CIR. In addition, God led me to a man who may run for Mayor. I had nothing to do with these things, but it reminds me that God does work, and we want to give Him the praise.
George Ordway, Fresno: I love what Glenn just said. When we were meeting informally earlier this year, we almost reached the burning bush experience and connections that needed to happen. We’ve gained experience through some of those things, have ways and means to handle some things, but we started to step into another dimension when we said we wanted to reach the whole city and we wanted God to do it. Jim Overholt, Alan and I had a holy moment in Jim’s office. It was like a paradigm - change – from "I am the only one who can do this" to "watch Him do this." We engaged in a different way. Instead of coming at it from a ministry direction , we said, "God, you are the only one who can do this." It’s been organic, basic, a new thing; a new freshness is happening. We thank the Lord for that. And in Boston, I thank God for Mission America, what you guys are doing., so we continue to learn. Whenever we go to larger events or these conference calls each month, it expands and helps develop that God process. I’m so thankful that God is raising up city reachers so we can be supported in this adventure.
Second; I really saw breakthrough in a group of Hispanics that I work with. It was an exteremely significant breakthrough. I dodn’t speak Spanish. But there is a bond, a covenant, a connection that was made. We’ve been able to do things together. I was amazed at how quickly God united the Hispanic Church together.
Glenn: God doing it - another discovery for me. When it comes to social relationships and the city movement, family is the strongest force; the next group might be within a church, but the larger the focus or social group you are trying to mobilize, the weaker that becomes. We like to think that city movements are strong. I would say they are resilient, but we need to recognize that the weakness of city movements is actually a strength. Paul said God uses our weakness to reveal the strength of the cross. When they crucified the rebel Jesus they opened salvation for all. There is a certain weakness about a city movement in that it’s not working at the personal level that a church might work on, but at the vision level. Trust relationships come from this mega vision down to “what am I going to do to serve Jesus Christ?”
Tom White, Corvallis, OR: (LC2C Coach for Tuscaloosa, AL) There has been a breakthrough in the Tuscaloosa Prayer Network. They have been working for years. Then in March, the Mayor, after a personal crisis (divorce) while sitting in church, had a vision and burden to intentionally invest in the worst neighborhoods of Tuscaloosa. With that prompting, he saw it was beyond him, and looked to the faith community. They started the Faith Initiative. After 15 years offaithful prayer, these strategic relationships came, sort of a grace window. I think after we labor over a long season, remain faithful, the Lord releases his grace in a city. It’s black and white leaders walking together, captains and leaders for each neighborhood, teams with a black and a white leader for each neighborhood. I’ve been excited looking over their shoulders. I would call that breakthrough.
Glenn: Talk about things being out of our control. Here’s a man going through a divorce, and you wonder if anything good can come out of it, and then he gives his life back to the Lord.
Tom: He invited pastors to come in and lead Bible studies in every department. Remember, that’s the South. That wouldn’t happen in the Pacific Northwest. In that culture it seems to be acceptable.
Joe Walsh, Sacramento: Just wanted to share a couple of things. For the last several years, I’ve been involved with Martin Luther King
Celebration Committee here in Sacramento. It puts together a worship time on the Sunday before MLK Day. Out of that committee
has grown a great mixed group of guys, African Americans, Hispanic, pastors, myself, and a couple of others in city ministries. Out of
that has come a God thing. We decided to move together as a group to get involved with 40 Days of Love with Rick Warren. It will start next September. We’re laying the foundation for it through monthly prayer groups beginning in Feb. It comes out of the MLK launching celebration, and will lead up to September. This is a tremendous thing for Sacramento. We’ve never done anything like this outside of a large crusade. My part is to mobilize prayer for the entire time throughout the city. I can say we don’t have any agenda outside of loving our city. If you are familiar with the 40 Days of Love, "If a church ain’t lovin itself, it can’t love the city." Rick Warren is coming to Sacramento to help us launch small groups in homes to help us love our city. I can see God’s hand networking it all together.
Harold Hendrick, St. Louis: We are blessed with ministry events through the year. Franklin Graham is coming on Aug. 2 for what they call Rock the River event, focusing on young people. The breakthrough we had was a luncheon for a broad cross-section of church, college ministry leaders, black and white. I’d never seen that much unity and enthusiasm in my 30 years here.
Ron McConico, Minneapolis. Some of the things I’ve been watching is a prayer movement in one of most depressed areas, north Minneapolis. That’s the bad neighborhood. There has been a lot of prayer concern, local pastors getting together. This summer God led me to do a week of fasting before an event on a playground, watching people come together to pray. There was an abandoned school ground. I stared spraying weeds on that ground. At the end of week, they were brown and dead, but still there. Prayer is like the poison - it kills them, but it takes hands to pull them . Now the community wants to do a Global Day of Prayer around Minneapolis, and then 90 days of blessing, when they come in and put their hands to pulling the weeds.
Glenn: Ron faded out. Glenn said Ron is working in youth ministry training. He founded a partnership, and is helping fund and place
qualified youth ministries in local churches in north Minneapolis. It has been exciting, opening doors in an area plagued by gangs.
Jay Richmond, Albany, NY: There is a prayer group in Schnectady. About 15 different ministries have been praying together. At the beginning of last year, they were invited to come into a high school and a middle school to be community mentors during lunch hours. They specifically asked for Monday, which seemed to be a high tension day in the schools. The Superintendent of Schools mentioned that there will come a time when there will be a problem; someone will get upset with pastors coming in to the school. But that’s what we have attorneys for. We will fight them. He’s asked this group to provide community mentors for the schools in the city, seeing them as a valuable resource. One day they came to the middle school, and the faculty applauded as the mentors came in. You have a public school calling on the church of the community saying, “We need your help.” The school district provides training. It’s an amazing thing for the church to be there for the city.
Glenn: Schools are realizing how important it is for the faith community to come alongside. We have great motivation to help our schools. A rcent study here in Minneapolis showed that it takes three adults who are not part of your family to help kids develop in a healthy way. I don’t want to end the call on a down note, but would like to hear how city movements are helping in the many struggles resulting from the down-turn in the economy.
Alan Doswald, Fresno: We work in the central valley here, a farming area. We were in a meeting with a group reaching out to
rural communities, asking, “Do you plan to tweak your ministry to have people not just come to a luncheon, but during this special time, have your people go out to them to help people who are hurting, before they comite suicide?" We have a new mayor who is an even stronger Christian than the last one, and a Congressman who is a committed Christian. We are looking at a possible late spring conference called Hope – Caring Connections. Include the Congressman, the Mayor, and a business leader who will speak about a time when they had difficulty in their lives and how God helped them through it, not trusting money. It’s in embryonic stage, but might gather people together Might provide tables with consumer credit help, job counseling
Carlos Ortiz, NYC: Our movment Concerts of Prayer Greater New York stretches back to 1991. It is quite a large movement, with 2500
churches that pray in unity. Pray New York organizes prayer walks in all the zip codes in the city in June. So one of our real values is the power of prayer. You’ve heard that before from Mac Pier, head of our ministry. I’ve seen that the real link to the things we are discussing is prayer. This last yeaw\r we’ve birthed New York City Leadership Center, created around 3 pillars: 1. churches and agencies, 2. emerging youth (including schools) and 3. marketplace leaders. Rick Warren was here in September helping us develop this. We had 250 churches working together on showing love, developing groups in these 3 areas. The key thing we have found is, we can’t do everything, but we can convenant and collaborate. Bill Hybels Leadership Summit, Review – Where are our people spiritually? Where should we allocate spiritual resources? We are partnering with Rick Warren and Tim Keller, getting movement to foster church planting. Over 100 have been planted.
Last, a key thing. I don’t think churches may understand how to adequately equip and minister to their people in this economic crisis. We need to strip things down. We hope we are in a place to dialog with and encourage churches in how and what to minister (prayer is key) to bring their communities to a better place. There is fear. I was just at a Wall St. meeting. It’s being felt by investment guys. Back when 2001 happened, we were here, and felt the pain of 9-11. We set out to heal the city. Now we’re in agreement on serving a city in need. It is a needy city. We want to help churches know what to say and how to heal their communities.
Jarvis: We thank all of you who participated in the call, whether you spoke or listened. Be on the lookout for the new website. There are efforts around the country that we are now aware of. Pastors and marketplace leaders are coming together to reach their city. Let them know about cityreaching resources. Share emails. Tell others, and encourage the church.
We have these calls every third Thursday. Jan 15 will be our next call. Look for an announcement on our website and by email. Remember the free chapter from Glenn’s book, and the bookmark from Phil Miglioratti, and the free MAC membership. Send those requests to info@cityreaching.com .
Pray for us as we seek a slate of speakers that would be a blessing to cityreaching efforts
Carolyn was asked to close in prayer.
