On a beautiful Autumn morning, as I was riding from the motel to the church I was to speak at, I felt the urge to stop and visit with the people within the neighborhood, and those walking around the streets. Having the morning\u2019s message burning in my soul about experiencing a \u201cGenesis Work of recreation,\u201d the desire to hear their thoughts became too much to just pass up. It appeared the best thing to do was to affirm the felt need with facts. The community had changed racially and economically with most of the church members driving in from other communities. A beautiful facility filled with wonderful Christians, but disconnected to the reality of great need within the community that surrounded them. The Senior Pastor certainly desires to see the community transformed by the Grace of God, but it takes the entire body to function as the hands and feet of Jesus.<\/p>\n
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First, I encountered a gentleman in his 60\u2019s, alone and hesitant to talk to a stranger riding a Harley Davidson. Asking him, \u201cWhat kind of neighborhood is this?\u201d He quickly responded, \u201cA good neighborhood.\u201d Trying to end the visit, I asked him several questions to keep him engaged, then he finally said, \u201cLook, we need help. Killings happen, and no one even knows who it was that did the killing. Senseless killings. A church could help this neighborhood.\u201d The frustration and pain of living in a place of impending danger rose to the top and with that he departing stating, \u201cJust help our neighborhood, just help our neighborhood, just help our neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Next was an encounter with three men in a parking lot of a local convenience store, by keeping the conversation brief brought ease to the nerves and words flowing. The question was posed, \u201cWhat do you think a church can do to help this neighborhood?\u201d One of three men, Steve answered with an honest tact that birthed the wisdom that would soon follow, \u201cNow, I have a knowledge of what is right, but I am not saying that I am living right. A church should integrate.\u201d Pausing to reflect, I find it interesting that an African-American is talking to a white man about a predominately white church and the first thing mentioned is the topic of integration. Maybe integration of the church is a desire that all have, but are too fearful to mention or take action upon?<\/p>\n
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I then asked Steve, \u201cHow do we integrate?\u201d He stated, \u201cI think it would be good for them to go door to door and tell people they are welcome to attend the church. After taking a long drag off of his smoldering cigarette, he flipped the ashes into the parking lot and continued, \u201cYou see, most of the church people think that the work begins when people walk through the door, you know, but that\u2019s what is wrong! The church needs to come out here and talk to us. You know, most of the people put on their grave clothes, yeah that\u2019s right, they dress all up for death and go to church, then forget they were once like many of us out here. They are people who have forgotten what it was like when they could not seem to get out of their situation and condition they somehow ended up in. They talk down to you because they forget. If they want to speak to me, talk about how you overcame, because once, you were down here also.\u201d He finished his thought with, \u201cYou know, there are a lot of people giving food out, and that is good, you can never do enough of that.\u201d At the end of our visit, he introduced me to the two other men who had stood by listening-one was David, and the other an Army Vet of whom I thanked for serving our country. We parted after some small talk about my motorcycle journey of 1,500 miles to speak at the church later that morning.<\/p>\n
Thinking back over this conversation, the following important thoughts were brought to mind as I had listened to Steve share his heart:<\/p>\n
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Firing up the bike and roaring off with a new passion and desire to assist churches get outside the four walls and love people, he carried on with another day in life existing to just make it another day, and hoping to see the day when the local church body would invite him to hang out inside their beautiful building. During the sermon at church about God desiring to do a \u201cGenesis Week,\u201d I summarized even further that we are to listen to the people in the community around us, rather than appear we have all the answers. Go out of the way and intentionally become a part of their community and lives. Don\u2019t act like you care when you really don\u2019t, because they can see through that. Listen and become intentional about the community until you do care with a heart of love and true concern. This appeared to encourage some and enlighten others to grow, and even anger some for mentioning this topic at all-yet we overlook that aspect as we push our churches to become a true community through outreach in their neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
Feeling refreshed and blessed on this Sunday evening,<\/p>\n
-Gary Burd<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On a beautiful Autumn morning, as I was riding from the motel to the church I was to speak at, I felt the urge to stop and visit with the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,4],"tags":[151,150],"class_list":{"0":"post-574","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-evusa","8":"category-m25","9":"tag-genesiswork","10":"tag-streetwisdom","11":"entry"},"title_es":"La sabidur\u00eda de la calle","content_es":"En una hermosa ma\u00f1ana de oto\u00f1o, como lo estaba montando desde el motel a la iglesia a la que fue a hablar en, me sent\u00ed la necesidad de parar y visitar a las personas dentro de la vecindad, y aquellos que caminan por las calles. Tener el mensaje de la ma\u00f1ana se quema en mi alma de experimentar una "G\u00e9nesis trabajo de reconstrucci\u00f3n," el deseo de escuchar sus pensamientos se convirti\u00f3 en demasiado para pasar justo arriba. Al parecer, la mejor cosa que hacer era afirmar la necesidad sentida con hechos. La comunidad hab\u00eda cambiado racial y econ\u00f3micamente con la mayor\u00eda de los miembros de la iglesia en la conducci\u00f3n de otras comunidades. Un precioso hotel lleno de cristianos maravillosos, pero desconectado de la realidad de la gran necesidad dentro de la comunidad que los rodeaba. El pastor principal, sin duda desea ver a la comunidad transformada por la gracia de Dios, pero se necesita todo el cuerpo para funcionar como las manos y los pies de Jes\u00fas. En primer lugar, me encontr\u00e9 con un se\u00f1or de unos 60, por s\u00ed solos y reacios a hablar con un desconocido que monta una Harley Davidson. pregunt\u00e1ndole, "\u00bfQu\u00e9 tipo de barrio es esto?" \u00c9l respondi\u00f3 r\u00e1pidamente, "Un buen vecindario." Tratar de terminar la visita, le pregunt\u00e9 varias preguntas para mantenerlo ocupado, entonces \u00e9l finalmente dijo: "Mira, necesitamos ayuda. Homicidios ocurren, y nadie sabe qui\u00e9n fue el que cometi\u00f3 el crimen. matanzas sin sentido. Una iglesia podr\u00eda ayudar a este barrio. "La frustraci\u00f3n y el dolor de vivir en un lugar de peligro inminente subi\u00f3 a la cima y con el que salir diciendo:" S\u00f3lo ayuda a nuestro barrio, s\u00f3lo ayuda a nuestro barrio, s\u00f3lo ayuda a nuestro vecindario. "El siguiente fue un encuentro con tres hombres en un estacionamiento de una tienda de conveniencia, manteniendo la breve conversaci\u00f3n llev\u00f3 a aliviar los nervios y las palabras fluyen. Se plante\u00f3 la pregunta, "\u00bfQu\u00e9 te parece una iglesia puede hacer para ayudar a este barrio?" Uno de los tres hombres, Steve respondi\u00f3 con un tacto honesta que dio a luz a la sabidur\u00eda que pronto seguir\u00eda, "Ahora, tengo un conocimiento de lo que es derecho, pero no estoy diciendo que estoy viviendo derecha. Una iglesia debe integrar. "Haciendo una pausa para reflexionar, me parece interesante que un afroamericano est\u00e1 hablando con un hombre blanco de una iglesia predominantemente blanca y el primero que se menciona es el tema de la integraci\u00f3n. Tal vez la integraci\u00f3n de la iglesia es un deseo que todos tienen, pero son demasiado miedo de hablar o tomar acci\u00f3n sobre? Entonces le pregunt\u00e9 a Steve, "\u00bfC\u00f3mo integrar?" Dijo: "Creo que ser\u00eda bueno para ellos ir de puerta en puerta y le dicen a la gente que son bienvenidos a asistir a la iglesia. Despu\u00e9s de tomar una larga calada de su cigarrillo encendido, que pas\u00f3 las cenizas en el estacionamiento y continu\u00f3: "Usted ve, la mayor\u00eda de las personas de la iglesia piensan que el trabajo comienza cuando la gente camina por la puerta, ya sabes, pero eso es lo que es \u00a1incorrecto! La iglesia tiene que venir aqu\u00ed y hablar con nosotros. Ya sabes, la mayor\u00eda de las personas ponen en sus ropas graves, s\u00ed es cierto, que se visten todo para la muerte y van a la iglesia, y luego se olvidan de que fueron una vez como muchos de nosotros aqu\u00ed. Son personas que han olvidado lo que era cuando parec\u00eda que no pod\u00edan salir de su situaci\u00f3n y la condici\u00f3n de alguna manera terminaron en. Ellos hablan a usted porque se olvidan. Si quieren hablar conmigo, hablar sobre c\u00f3mo se sobrepuso, porque una vez, estabas aqu\u00ed abajo tambi\u00e9n. "\u00c9l termin\u00f3 su pensamiento con:" Usted sabe, hay mucha gente que da la comida a cabo, y que es bueno, Nunca puede hacer m\u00e1s de eso. "al final de nuestra visita, me present\u00f3 a los otros dos hombres que hab\u00edan estado escuchando uno era David, y el otro un veterinario del ej\u00e9rcito de los cuales yo di las gracias por servir a nuestro pa\u00eds. Nos separamos despu\u00e9s de una breve charla acerca de mi viaje en motocicleta de 1.500 millas a hablar en la iglesia m\u00e1s tarde esa ma\u00f1ana. Pensando en esta conversaci\u00f3n, los siguientes pensamientos importantes fueron llevados a la mente como lo hab\u00eda escuchado a Steve compartir su coraz\u00f3n: