Short intro to Youth With A Mission

Post by YWAM.

Local News from YWAM Modesto!

Aaron here with a quick update (500 words or less!) on what’s happening here in Modesto with your local Youth With A Mission team.


First, I’m very excited to see my favorite musical discovery of 2013 coming to perform right here in Modesto! Bradford Loomis (www.bradfordloomis.com) is an incredible artist and performer, and he’ll be with us for a very special evening around the fire bowl. Think of it as an intimate house concert, without the house. Weather permitting, we’ll be enjoying hot chocolate and snacks around a fire while Bradford shares his music. There is no set price or suggested donation for the concert, so feel free to come out and give as you’re able to support Bradford in his musical vocation.  The concert is this Wednesday (3/19) at 6:30pm at New Hope Church, 300 Trask Lane in Modesto.





Some of you may know that I, Aaron, am the administrator for a website and Facebook community called Bearded Gospel Men (www.beardedgospelmen.net). This is a fun page dedicated to the joys of bearding. But it’s also about the “gospel” part too! With that in mind, we have organized the first Bearded Gospel Men “Beards In Action” outreach. Two friends I have come to know through this online community will be joining us for a week of learning and outreach with the street community of Modesto March 30 - April 6.



One of the men joining us is an awesome guy named Josh Seehorn. Last Saturday, Josh completed an almost year-long journey along the American Discovery Trail, hiking from the Pacific Ocean in California to the Atlantic in Delaware. Josh is an engaging communicator with a great sense of humor who shares his stories with churches, schools and college groups all over the country. His journey has been remarkable, and he is looking to help offset the costs of his nationwide trip with speaking engagements. If you would like Josh to come share with your group, drop us a line. He’ll be with us here in Modesto until April 15.



On Saturday, April 5, we will be participating in the annual Love Modesto event, when people from all over the city “engage in a variety of projects, including offering food to the hungry, visiting convalescent homes, donating blood, building a house with Habitat for Humanity, and working in city parks and schools, among other opportunities.” Since we’ll have the ‘Beards In Action’ crew with us, we’ll be blessing the homeless community down at Caesar Chavez Park. If you’d like to get involved with this event in some way, visit their website at www.lovemodesto.com.



And that, dear friends, is your update from YWAM Modesto, in just 463 words!

Some Pictures from the 9th Street Cafe Christmas Party

This past Monday we had our 9th Street Cafe Christmas Party with our normal coffee bar set up for the street community on South 9th. But we also brought...

Santa! All the folks loved hanging out with him.

There was a table to color ornaments for our 9th Street Christmas...

tree! Yes, that's right, we had a tree and it was beautiful. We decorated it together with all our friends and guests.

There was food

Folks

Music

And fun

And even a sock monkey (?)

There were clothes, presents for kids, extra food and plenty to go around. A great night on 9th Street! Thanks to all our friends who made it all possible.

Peter Warren shares at New Hope church in Modesto

Peter Warren, one of the directors at Youth With A Mission in Denver, came for a visit and shared with the New Hope congregation on September 22. Listen at our new podcast site or you can download for later...

YWAM Modesto podcast

A surprise visit

Last week, we had a guest staying with us that we did not expect. I received an email that started our "I don't really know how to start this email but..."  It was from Justin Kantonen, a man in the first week of a months long adventure. He took off last Sunday and is driving across the country in search of what God is doing in the world.

I met with Justin and we discovered together that he ended up in Modesto quite by accident. He thought we were another YWAM ministry in another part of California. But it became a happy accident as we spent the rest of the week together. Justin rolled along with me through my week.

On Wednesdays, I meet together with area pastors to pray for our city and Justin came along. After sharing Justin's story, they all gathered around him to pray a blessing for his journey.

Then, Justin was with me for the live stream and taping of the local podcast I co-host. He shows up there too for a little blurb about his trip (around the 9 minute mark) here... http://vibrantcommunities.org/ministering-to-teen-parentstheresa-hellstrom

He joined us for our community Bible study on 9th Street on Thursday, and stayed to be at the 9th Street cafe on Friday. He was truly a blessing to have in our community for the week. So if you see a young guy in a Bronco somewhere on the highway in the next year, welcome him. He is a treat to have around.

Well, you might want to make sure his name is Justin and he's on a trip to see what God is up across the country. Then welcome him.

You can follow his journey at his blog  http://journeyswithjustin.com/

Chris

Chiasmus and the story of YWAM Modesto

Thanks to Aaron Alford who helped me make this a little more readable.

Have you ever heard of a "chiasmus"? Me either until recently. Read as key-AS-mus, it’s a neat structure to look for in literature and whatnot.

From Wikipedia...

“The elements of simple chiasmus are often labelled in the form A B B A, where the letters correspond to grammar, words, or meaning. For example John F. Kennedy said ‘Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.’

“The ancient Hebrew and Greek texts of the Old and New Testaments are rich in chiasmus. Many of these have become lost in translation, but hundreds of others remain. The following example [is] indented to show the parallel structure of the text.

A "But many that are first

B shall be last;

B1 and the last

A1 shall be first." Jesus (Bible: Matthew 19:30.)”

It’s a circle-y way to reveal truth through a proverb or story.

While talking about this with John, my friend and former YWAM Modestan, we discovered that the story of our community and work here in Modesto is a chiasmus! We said “Oooooh!” a lot as we were working this out.  Our chiasmus is an A-B-C-D-C-B-A form.

A - In 2001, Amie and I moved to Modesto to begin developing ministry as YWAMers with New Hope Church and our friends Josiah and Ang in a neighborhood near the church building. They had already begun to share bread and friendship in the notorious Prescott Estates apartments in north Modesto. The month we moved here, the city shut down the very neighborhood we had come to serve and everyone was evicted. I began looking for ways we could help those who had become homeless from this event. Due to other unforeseen circumstances, Josiah left vocational ministry to find other employment.

B - A year or so later, my good friend (and YWAMer) Aaron felt a call to come and join our little team that was looking to be a support and a voice for the homeless community in Modesto.

C - A year or so after that, the Sustar family from Ohio also felt a call to join with us to create something new together. We dreamed a lot and tried a lot! When the Sustars joined us, that’s when our regional Youth With A Mission leadership decided that we had become an official YWAM location.  In 2006, we officially incorporated as YWAM Modesto.

D - John and Rhiannon Rosenbaum had both (before they were married) volunteered with our outreach to the poor and homeless. They each decided to do a Discipleship Training School and after they were married they joined our staff. It was in this time that God gave us a clear word that he wanted to make us a “creative, compassionate community” that would reflect who he is to the city around us. This is when we reframed what our team was about. We no longer sought only to be a help to the poor and homeless, but our dream was to be a light to whoever we came to be with. So, to this day, we seek to build friendships with the poor, the church, the young and with Jesus and look for creative ways to get all of these friends together.

D1 - It soon became evident that both John and Rhiannon’s passion was for school and learning. They left us to pursue these.

C1 - In our years together, we began taking trips to Thailand. Our friend Rich had shared at New Hope about the then almost unheard of issue of human trafficking. It has since become quite the hot topic in ministry circles. When we heard what was happening, our hearts responded, and we had to go. The Sustars started to make trips to Thailand more and more. They fell in love with the Burmese hill tribes escaping over the Thai/Burmese border. After a few of these trips it became clear that the Sustars would be moving on.

B1 - Aaron and I drove to Los Angeles almost three years ago to get advice from a lawyer about his visa. He told us that Aaron would have to go home to Canada for at least a year. This has been the longest year on record, having lasted for almost three! We’re still trying to figure the visa issue out.

A1 - New Hope Church has moved to another neighborhood. We’ve had several people make attempts to join with us that just never seemed to get off the ground. The Sustars came back to Modesto for a minute but needed to leave again to help family in a time of illness (with the Burmese still capturing their hearts). Aaron has been able to travel, visit here some, write and be a wandering friend to the poor in spirit all around the world. The Rosenbaums are out of state and plugging away at school, studying philosophy and art. And we Whitlers are still here.  We are all still friends, wherever we are, which is what we wanted all this to be about anyway.

Finally, due to some other unforeseen circumstances, Josiah is now back in leadership at New Hope and we are partnering together to work in our congregation’s neighborhood and on South 9th Street. It took 12 years, but we are working with Josiah and New Hope to reach a neighborhood and the 9th Street community with friendship and God’s love with a whole gaggle of other friends we’ve made along the way.

Of course, this is a super-simplification of the story. There has been much heartache, confrontation, silliness, belly laughs, songs, stories, travel, danger, fear, joy, frustration, Mexican food, prayer, grace, anger, misunderstanding and love. We have lost our way. We have seen things wrongly. We have surprised ourselves. We know a lot about bread. 

And maybe that’s what it really all comes back to...bread. Day old bread and friendship started all of this. Bread in the park, bread on the street, bread in boxes, bread to share. We used to give bread to a man named Bob in a motel on 9th Street. That same man, now free and being healed, hands me a little cube of bread every Sunday that frees and heals me.  We break it together because Jesus broke bread. We give it, we receive it, we share it, we eat it. Our little creative, compassionate community has always shared bread. The Creative, Compassionate Community, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, shares with us so we can share with others. And there’s always been plenty to go around.

Thanks for being a part of our story.

Homeward Bound - by Chris

We met Arley about 9 years ago and, to be honest, I didn’t have much charity for him at the beginning. Aaron was the one that pushed me to get to know him. He was always drunk in the park and the worst kind of drunk at that. He was pitiful. He cried and said he was sorry way too much and I just didn’t think he was worth a lot of our time. I didn’t have patience for him. He seemed beyond hope. I was wrong.

Friendship and consistency and love worked it’s way into Arley’s heart. He opened up to all of it. He opened his heart to Jesus. He sobered up. He began to reach out in love to others and became a real, regular part of our life. He came to 9th Street with us every week. He came to Bible study. We played dominoes, shared lunch and laughed a lot. He was also grouchy, gruff and grumbly. He was doing the best he could with what he was given. He was one of the most resourceful people I have ever known.

He lived in a little shanty he built in his sister’s backyard called the Hobo Shack. It was every 12 year old boy’s dream and over the years it got some great upgrades. First was the hobo wash machine, then came the hobo fridge and finally, this year, the hobo AC! He had a TV, DVD player, stereo (always playing country) and pictures of his friends on the wall.

This past Superbowl Sunday, he called right as the game was starting to ask for a ride to the hospital. I knew it was bad. Arley hated doctors and didn’t like to be fused over in any way. He was in for 10 days. They discovered multiple inoperable blood clots in his abdomen. The only thing they could do was try to keep his blood thin enough to travel around them and hopefully they would absorb back into his body. Since that time in the hospital, Arley had just not been his same self. He never quite felt up to anything. 

Arley passed away two weeks ago and it’s just still so hard to wrap my mind around. He was my good friend and I really miss him. He really has left a big hole in my life.

We had taken Arley to lunch countless times. Especially memorable were the annual birthday trips in May to Hometown Buffet, his favorite place. He loved to surprise us with the weird combinations he’d bring back to the table.

Aaron and I got to spend a last day with Arley a few weeks ago. He had come into a little money and wanted to take us out to Hometown, his treat! He also had us back to the Hobo Shack for a movie. It was about as perfect a last day as we could have hoped for. And to think, I almost passed it up to “get some stuff done”!

In Genesis, it says that Abraham died happy and at a ripe, old age. And that is, I’m sure, all of our wish. But it doesn’t always happen that way. So many in my life have died way too young. Arley was only 61. But I do know this, sometime on July 3rd this year, Arley died into happiness. The weight he struggled with from his past life rolled off his shoulders and he stood up in Light and now knows even as he is known. No more dim glass for him. Now, he sees face to face.

But here, we live with the vacuum that he leaves behind. I had lunch with Arley almost every Friday for 7 years. We can feel his absence at the 9th Street Cafe. His domino table sits empty. There is no stopping at Madera Ave to pick him up. There is no happy dread of what is going to come out of his mouth when he gets in the van. He’s just gone.

At some point, Jimmy read that one of the origin stories of the word “Hobo” is that it came from the words “homeward bound.” So, Arley is no longer a Hobo. We are the hobos. We’re on our way to the happiness he’s found. And I can’t wait to share it with him.

Read Aaron's beautiful piece about Arley at his site HERE.

"An act of kindness restores the soul"

We've been meeting with a small group on South 9th Street in Modesto for almost a year now.  We started out at Shiva's motel which burned down and we moved on to the 9th Street doughnut shop for the last little bit.  We have gone through the gospel of John and now are making our way through St. Paul's letter to the Romans.

The last few weeks, we have found the doughnut shop to be closed, so in true 9th Street Cafe style, we just pulled chairs out of the van and met right on the street.  Here lately we've been piling everyone in the van and taking them up to Wendy's for a frosty.

A few weeks ago we looked at Romans 10 and saw Paul's devotion to his people.  How he ached for his countrymen to come to know Jesus.  So much so that he admits he was willing to be left out in order to see them come in.  So the question was, there on the doorstep of the doughnut shop, how might you be able to bring good news to the people around you today?  And the sidewalk congregation gave some great answers...

• Love
• Show up
• Don't try to do something great, do simple acts of kindness
• Serve

"An act of kindness restores the soul" - Ron

Let's show up to love and serve today.

More Canadians in Modesto!

Just over a week ago, we hosted a team of leaders from Global Youth Volunteer Network, an international organization of students and others who seek education and connection with people involved in justice issues around the world.  Every year, we get a leadership training team from universities across Canada.  This year's team sought to understand our city and hear the voice of the homeless here.

Homemade cookies and coffee at the library

They had a beautiful, hospitable idea on a colder rainy day last week to bake oatmeal cookies, make coffee and take it to the library where many homeless people go to get out of the rain.  It was awesome to watch them spend time with the community, work with them to solve problems (we got kicked off of the actual library property) and create ways to learn from and share with them.  They put up 3 poster boards with questions for people to weigh in on.

Community is: sharing, helping each other, "it's always good for God to show that He loves us", connection/friendship, inclusive, everyone, "full of good people that need to not give up better our people...coming to make this place a better place to live.  To be in peace and live the right way, that's what God puts us here for", giving a hand to those you don't know yet.

What I would like to see in Modesto: Homelessness to end, nobody deserves it, more live music, "I'm pretty happy with my Modesto", less mannequins and more bikes (?!) and more Canadians, me(not), People with more things to do with their spare time so they have no time to think or do any bad, more prayer.

Faith is: Committing to something you believe is truth, whatever you want it to be, hope & love, love & peace, keeping on, tied to hospitality, Leaving it up to God to give you what you want because you love what you see and can't live without it.  It's too beautiful to leave, "I believe in God and also believe that people who feed people in need are people of God. So, from my heart, God bless everyone of you boyz and girls. That's what's up, from Jaime".

A few girls on this team helped one of the guys sign up for an email address at a job search organization.  We just received word that he got a call back from one of his applications and was scheduled for an orientation for a new job.  Friendship changes the world!

Making Lemonade for 9th Street

BBQ on 9th

Surprise YWAMers!

Last week, after a chance meeting of a newer youth worker in our city, I learned that there was a team in town from Youth with a Mission in Pichilemu, Chile.  They were here all last week!  Because YWAM works through relationships and not protocol, this team was here through a connection between the team leader and this youth pastor...they had no idea there was a YWAM Modesto (a thing I am getting used to - ha!).  So after a few phone calls, we had the great surprise of having a guest YWAM team at the 9th Street Cafe last Friday.  And they were a great group, doing all the things a good YWAM team does...

They came to serve the 9th street community with smiles, music and laughter.  And they spoke Spanish to cafe regulars that I am not able to talk to.

They supported people with prayer

They learned how to play dominoes from Arley (and he beat them badly)

They learned the important Modesto cultural lesson of Taco Trucks

They really, really enjoyed the important Modesto cultural lesson of Taco Trucks

And later that night, our family attended an outreach service they did in a West side ministry center, where they performed dramas and gave testimonies of God's work in their lives.

It was a nice surprise to have them with us an now they're off to do much of the same in San Diego and  on into Mexico before they head home.

Joy, Advent 2012 - Aaron Alford

This is a message delivered this past Sunday for New Hope Christian Fellowship by Aaron.  You can listen right here with the media player or download the message to listen to later at our audio site HERE.

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Welcoming the Stranger

“Often, often walks the Christ in a strangers clothes” - an old Celtic proverb

The concept of hospitality is one of Youth With A Mission’s 18 foundational values.  Among YWAMers (Youth With A Mission...um...ers), when you say the word “hospitality”, a specific picture comes to mind.  Hospitality is that place or department that looks after visitors to your property.  At most YWAM locations, at least the ones with buildings, there is someone looking after “hospitality”.  A room or three where guests can stay for a few days free of charge or for a suggested donation.

My family was recently the recipient of YWAM hospitality down in Los Angeles while we visited the Disney Park and we had a great experience.  We stayed in a comfortable 3 rooms with access to bathrooms and a small kitchen.  We were welcome at community meals (although our first day there was “base fasting day” :), there were nice gift baskets in our rooms with goodies and good conversation with other guests.  It was a full time for the hospitality department and a good time for us.

While very nice, if this is our only expression of hospitality as a mission, then we are missing something.  I have been thinking about this word a lot.  If I could sum up our calling in one word, our calling as a YWAM community, our calling as a family (the Whitlers) and even the special gifting of the local congregation I am a part of, it would be the word hospitality,

From the Merriam-Webster dictionary...

hos·pi·ta·ble adjective

a : given to generous and cordial reception of guests

b : promising or suggesting generous and cordial welcome

c : offering a pleasant or sustaining environment

In our worship service on Sunday, one of our elders spoke from Matthew 25, the story of the separation of the sheep and the goats.  While Mark was speaking, it hit me that all of the ministries to Jesus, feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, giving clothes to the needy, welcoming the stranger, visiting the sick and the prisoner, they are all expressions of hospitality.  This is what life is about...welcome, food, drink, sharing, visiting, listening.

Hospitality this way assumes a growing relationship.  In these few things that Jesus mentions, there is a progression of intimacy.  It starts out with the sharing of very basic needs like food and clothes and moves to time, visiting and bringing strangers into your home.  There are tricky and uncomfortable aspects to all of this.  How do I remain hospitable without becoming an enabler?  How do I protect my family from danger?  How can I walk out hospitality in a “balanced” way?

A wise friend once told me that it’s best to replace the word “balance” with “tension.”  That’s where we live, in tension between a challenging thought and the status quo.  And Jesus doesn’t seem to offer any help here as to how to walk it out.  Maybe because he wants us to wrestle with these uncomfortable concepts.

We generally respond to this kind of thing by relying on programs.  We support the mission who takes in the homeless, we do canned food drives, we organize service projects (insert the obligatory “none of those things are bad” comment here).  But without real connection to people, these things only go as far as they physically can.

“If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.” 1 Cor 13:3

Like any friendship, our response to strangers and those in need can develop over time but this assumes that we stay long enough for that relationship to grow.  There are men that we have gotten to know through our calling in the city that have horrible pasts but some are part of our life and family and love to be around my kids today because we actually know them for who they are now, not for what they have done in the past.  This took time and some very uncomfortable situations but that’s what relationship is all about.

And we are by no means experts.  I have been the recipient of heartbreaking hospitality and thoughtfulness that has taught me and challenged me and humbled me.  My friends Dave and Liz pour their life and money and time out for others in so many beautiful ways that it’s hard to pick an example.  I have wonderfully hospitable family and friends in our congregation and in YWAM and in the many beautiful communities I have been able to visit around the world.  One of the finest moments of my life was being extravagantly served music, water and bananas by the students of a small Christian school in a Burmese refugee camp in Thailand.  I don’t deserve such grace.

And that’s the point, isn’t it?  We welcome the stranger because we ourselves have been welcomed to a table so bountiful that it makes no sense to keep it all to ourselves.  There’s no way we’ll use up all this grace.  There’s plenty to go around.

And hospitality must start right where we live.  What good is my welcome of strangers if I don't let my family and friends in?  How can I serve the poor if I don't serve my wife, children and friends?  There are many opportunities to welcome others in all throughout our day.

So give a cup of cold water or a hot cup of coffee but then, stay and listen.  You can’t be busy and hospitable.  We have to fight our culture and slow down.  And as we welcome others, the stranger in us is welcomed too.

Welcome to 9th Street! by Stella

This is our 9th Street outreach cafe as interpreted by Stella. She wrote this herself, folks...

Welcome to 9th Street! from Chris Whitler on Vimeo.

Woman of the Ghetto CD release!

If you're in Modesto, you've probably heard how Dellanora Green, a formerly homeless woman, was banned from singing in downtown Modesto a few months back (if not, you can read more about that HERE). Well, the community responded. Some folks started a petition, it was talked about in the press and around town and the Peer Recovery Art Project (http://www.peerrecoveryartproject.org) stepped up and help Dellanora produce a CD that can be sold in the gallery on J Street!

This past Wednesday was the release party at the gallery and it was a lot of fun.  Dellenora, the queen of the event, was so happy, surrounded by folks that love her and have been blessed by her powerful voice filling up our streets.  She signed CDs for fans that the gallery was selling as well as shirts bearing her likeness.

CDs are available now and feature Dellanora singing just as she does on the streets of the city.  All the songs are a cappella, powerful, vulnerable and raw, much like the woman herself.

Do yourself a favor and go down to check out the Peer Recovery Art Project Gallery in a beautiful studio on J Street downtown.  It's a wonderful addition to our city.  An pick up one of Dellanora's CDs.  They are $20 and the profits go right to Dellanora herself.

Amie, Chris and Dellanora :)

Fire at Shiva's Motel

 Wednesday night there was a fire at Shiva's Motel on South 9th Street. This is the place where we have been trying to connect with people in one way or another for 8 or more years. 7 people lost the very little that they own including our friends James and Cheryl. Everyone is ok but they have lost clothes and all their personal belongings. There is a mother and a 3 year old girl. And a few others that I do not know personally.


 When we arrived Thursday afternoon to have our weekly Bible study at the Shiva, the team we partner with from Christian Challenge had been there a while already. And local ministries were already engaged. A congregation committed to bring dinner down for the motel residents and our friends were rushing off to the store to buy some sandwich fixins so folks could have a lunch.


 
We carried on with the Bible study and were able to join in prayer with the community





 The local Gospel Mission stepped up to provide some clothes for the people who have lost their things in the fire. It was great to watch people, motivated by compassion, respond in love to an emergency. 


Good things can happen when we work together.

Pray for the weak

 For years, a disturbed man has protested downtown here in Modesto. His claims are unclear but he has been quite upset. Many, including our team, have tried to talk to him, hear his story or offer him help. I'm sure he's also had his fair share of detractors. He has refused help or conversation and is obviously dealing with debilitating mental health issues.


 He is sometimes outside a church building we've been invited to use for hosting teams. Jimmy and I have been there working on music lately too. Every time I see Ramon, I am confronted with feelings of helplessness. When we pass him, the only thing I've known to do is pray for mercy.


 Recently, he took his protest up a notch by ceasing to eat. He has gotten so thin and frail. And I got to witness this week a mercy this man has needed for a long time. Leaving the church, I saw that the police had finally intervened as he was a threat to himself and public safety. You can read the articles about this in our local paper HERE.


It's difficult to know what to do for the mentally ill who are alone (by choice or not) and living in poverty. I often feel helpless on 9th Street.


 I remember hearing a pastor talk about prayer once. How we see it as a last resort after we do what we know how to do. We pray when our abilities come to an end. He likened someone saying "Well, I can't do much but I can pray" to saying "Well, I don't have a slingshot but I do have this inter-continental ballistic missile".


 Please, let's pray for Ramon. Pray for Cheryl on South 9th Street and Debbie and Cherelle and John and Catherine and Sonja and Arlene and whenever you encounter the poor and mentally ill where ever you are. Listen, be a friend, make eye contact, love, feed and most of all, pray, "Our Father.."

The Value of Improvisation

While not an official foundational value of YWAM, "Improvisation" should be on the list. At YWAM Modesto, for instance, we can't afford to rent a building for an outreach cafe, so we just make one up on the street.

And usually, our improvisations include that white van back there. It was miraculously provided for us a few years back and, while it's had it's moments on the side of the road...

...it usually comes through in a pinch. I think of the rare repairs as "rental fees." But this week, the YWAM van really outdid itself. You see, Jimmy and I are both song writers. Jimmy is using part of this season to finish a recording project of his music and has encouraged/pushed me (Chris) to do the same. With a little creativity and some good software, you can do some pretty cool stuff. Our puzzle in this project has been where to find recording space as we really can't afford studio time. We've had an open invite from a congregation downtown to use their building and so we've been there a bit but we've really struggled to find a proper space to record the drums. We needed a smaller, enclosed space where we wouldn't disturb families, neighbors or church office workers. Enter YWAM Modesto's new drum studio!

What? Me? Pose?! Never!

We'll keep you posted. Some good music is coming soon to a CD or MP3 download near you courtesy of a little creativity, improvisation and a certain white van.

All we need

For the past several years, we (YWAM Modesto and some partnering agencies) have been picking up day old bread and pastries from a local grocery store.  This has been a great resource for us as it has given us a touch point with which to meet people.  This pick up has served recovery homes, a drop in center, a couple of community food pantries, multiple congregations, bread lines and our own little 9th Street Cafe.

Sometimes there's been little and sometimes there's been a lot but we've tried to be faithful to pick it up and not let this resource, that would otherwise be thrown away, go to waste.  This has been a topic of some discussion for our team.  Is taking food to people enabling poor choices?  Are we just another bread line in the eyes of the people we serve and are trying to get to know?  Do they know that we value friendship more than free food?  Is the cost of picking it up worth what folks get out of it?

We have chosen to keep picking the bread up as it truly does bless the South 9th Street community.  We have done our best to let people know that the Cafe we set up most Fridays is about more than the food.  We seek to understand.  We want to listen.  We want friendship.  And we want to bring things that will refresh, ease the hardship of life and be a source of comfort.

We've even made a popular game out of the "too hard for human consumption" bagels.  Who doesn't like a good old fashioned game of bagel toss?

This past week, the option to pick this bread up came to an end and I must admit, I was nervous about how our Cafe friends would take the absence of free bread and pastries.  I wondered if coffee and us would be enough.  My fears were quite unfounded.

First of all, we had plenty of things to share today.  I thought I'd help a little by making up a simple pot of hot oatmeal to serve with brown sugar and raisins from our pantry.

It doesn't look very appetizing there in the pot but let me tell you, it was good and people ate it up!  A few friends donated some clothes for us to give out...

And other friends brought about 5 boxes of bread and homemade brownies and muffins to share!

As it turned out, no one missed a thing.  I was reminded of a line from a song off the soundtrack to "The Prince of Egypt" that says, "When all you have is nothing, there's a lot to go around."  Everyone brought something from home to share and there was more than enough for all.  There were full bellies, happy conversations, prayers offered, needs met and friendship in abundance.  And if the time comes when all that's in the van is us, that'll be enough too.