Grant Skeldon and Edwin Robinson are two emerging generation leaders in Dallas who are working to engage folks in their late teens and early twenties in a gospel movement. Their shared goal is city transformation. Grant serves as the director of Initiative: a network of young Christians supporting a local church movement that is a part of the umbrella leadership of Unite. Initiative seeks to “connect passions, expose needs, and empower young Christians to transform Dallas with the gospel through their gifting.” There are approximately 4,800 churches in Dallas. Grant and the 24 member staff of Initiative are dreaming big. They hope to engage many young Christians from these churches in their monthly citywide meetings. (Grant and Rebbecca Walls, Executive Director of Unite are pictured on the left.)
With Grant in the 4.5 minute video below is Edwin Robinson, the Young Adults and Singles Pastor at Concord Church. They are connecting to Christian young adults with an emphasis on strengthening their various giftings and callings. Initiative is not only young, but multicultural. Their April 28th meeting will focus on Creatives: For the City and Gospel and is being held at Concord Church in South Dallas where there is a concentration of Black and Hispanic young adults. This meeting engages one of several channels of influence that emarging leaders are engaged with for community transformation. Grant and Edwin discuss Initiative and their commitment to multicultural partnerships through Initiative in the following video.
Earlier this week, March 31-April 1, I had the privilege of leading the South Central GoodCities Leadership Gathering. This year it was an all Texas affair held at Antioch Community Church in Waco. We had city teams represented from Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Waco. One of the great joys for me was that over half of the leaders there were in their twenties and thirties and they were eager to learn and grow in their abilities to build effective, purposeful coalitions in their cities.
In the next few posts, I plan to highlight several of these younger leaders with videos so that others can get a sense of what is important to them and learn why they are involved in city movements. Below is a three minute video of Josh Lawson, Director of Community Engagement for Antioch Community Church.
Jimmy Siebert, the Sr. Pastor at Antioch, realized that with his plate already filled with responsibilities at the church and around the world, he needed help in connecting with other community leaders of churches, in nonprofits, government, and marketplace. Josh has a great collaborative heart and wants to see a purposeful John 17 unity between Christians in Waco so that the gospel is expressed holistically. In this clip, Josh talks about the growing fellowship of church leaders. Together they are providing mentors to the public schools in Waco at the Superintendent’s request.
I recently spent two days with Evangelical and Roman Catholic leaders in Phoenix to explore ways that Evangelicals and Catholics could express their oneness in Christ for the good of their city. Mateo Calisi, President of the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Communities and Fellowships, and his friend Giovanni Traettino, Leader of the Christian Community of Caserta came to Phoenix from Italy at the invitation of Joseph Tosini (see 3 minute video below.) At a Friday evening worship service on February 21, hosted by Living Streams Church, an encouraging letter from Pope Francis was read by Bishop Thomas Olmsted of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix.
Pope Francis wrote, “I hope this meeting will draw down the Lord’s blessings so that we can perservere along the path to unity. We who have received the one baptism long for full communion; this is a grace of the Lord that we must fervently implore.” These are hopeful words and bode well for the unity of Christ’s church for the good of every city where this occurs.
Auxillary Bishop Eduardo Nevares shared a vision that 20,000 Catholics and Evangelicals will have a public worship service on Pentecost 2015 as an expression of church unity. That will be a sight to behold.
Ben Sanders and his wife Sarah serve as Co-Directors of the Campus Christian Center (3C) at ASU in Tempe, AZ. The Campus Chrisian Center is a large converted 1920’s era house that 3C is leasing from the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church denomination. 3C also has a book store across the parking lot that served as their on campus office until they began leasing this new larger facility about a year ago.
Today, the two buildings represent a significant resource for seven ministries and churches that work closely with 3C as a Christian witness and worshiping presence on the Arizona State University campus. Ben and Sarah have a clear Christian focus both in their campus ministry and in the community. They have spent their lives seeking the purposeful unity of the church in Tempe and Phoenix. (See 4 minute interview video below).
During the two hours I spent with Ben touring their facilities, I met the leaders of a new church plant who were holding their first service ever in 3C that evening, two young women from the Gila River Indian Community who had come to see a Christian Movie premier release, and Ben Joseph, who for twenty years has been doing ministry among the many international students at the University.
The President’s Interfaith and Community Campus Challenge
In 2011, President Obama announced The President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge, which offered students and community leaders the opportunity to work and serve their community together. Ben and Sarah took the opportunity to bring students of faith together with students of good will to serve in a variety of initiatives that would benefit Tempe and Phoenix and to gain exposure to the significant work of the Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnership centers in each of the thirteen federal departments where they exist.
So far, this has given Ben and the University opportunities to work on issues of sustainability with leaders from the EPA. They are taking a leadership role in the Global Institute of Sustainability Festival in February which will be held on campus. A representative from the EPA Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships Center will participate in this event.
3C has also tapped into the Department of Education’s initiative “Together for Tomorrow.” This initiative encourages churches and faith-based organizations to partner with schools in a variety of ways that includes tutoring and mentoring.
Ben encourages students to step into the front lines of fighting poverty and homelessness. Eleven small groups of students and faculty are working with the Open Table to come alongside the homeless and the poor.
These shared initiatives that fall under The President’s Interfaith and Community Campus Challenge are engaging community and campus in what Ben calls, “Shared Solutions for the Common Good.” Here’s a short (3:45 minutes) video where Ben tells about this important work that contributes to community transformation.
Last week, I visited with Gary Kinnaman during my visit to Phoenix, AZ as a part of preparing for our GoodCities Leadership Gathering February 18-20 at Christ’s Church in the Valley. Gary and I stayed up late one evening talking about how ministry is often painful even when it is going well.
At one point, Gary said, “I’ve never been persecuted by a Muslim, an Atheist, a Mormon (I live in a largely Mormon community), but I have had lots of pain in the church.” Immediately I knew that Gary and I had walked a similar path as a pastors and leaders. If we’re honest with ourselves, we each know that the leadership journey involves betrayal and brokeness. (Video clip of Gary Kinnaman on next page).
The Apostle Paul Experienced Betrayal and Brokeness, yet Offered Grace
Gary opened his Bible and shared with me that we’re not the first church leaders to experience betrayal and brokeness. In 2 Timothy 4:7-17, the Apostle Paul tells of his experiences with betrayal, brokeness, and loneliness in pursing his calling. Even in his brokeness he offered grace for those who had hurt and abandoned him.
Gary was speaking to my heart and I would guess that for many who are in church leadership or leading a city movement, a gospel movement that involves deep collaboration and purposeful christian unity, his words will touch a deep part within you as well.
With this in mind, I captured a few minutes of what Gary was sharing on video. Take a look at this seven minute piece. You’re not alone.
In the last year, church and public school partnerships have really taken off in cities all over the U.S. With the creation of the documentary Undivided (www.beundivided.com) that tells the story of the five year old partnership between Southlake Church and Roosevelt High School in Portland, OR, both churches and underperforming public schools seem to have caught the bug.
During my recent trip to Phoenix, I interviewed Billy Thrall, the Director of CityServe Arizona. He brought the topic up in my interview with him and I excerpted the video clip for your interest. It’s one more way that church leadership is creating unlikely partnerships that contribute to city transformation.
Grant Skeldon and Edwin Robinson are two emerging generation leaders in Dallas who are working to engage folks in their late teens and early twenties in a gospel movement. Their shared goal is city transformation. Grant serves as the director of Initiative: a network of young Christians supporting a local church movement that is a part of the umbrella leadership of Unite. Initiative seeks to “connect passions, expose needs, and empower young Christians to transform Dallas with the gospel through their gifting.” There are approximately 4,800 churches in Dallas. Grant and the 24 member staff of Initiative are dreaming big. They hope to engage many young Christians from these churches in their monthly citywide meetings. (Grant and Rebbecca Walls, Executive Director of Unite are pictured on the left.)
Earlier this week, March 31-April 1, I had the privilege of leading the South Central GoodCities Leadership Gathering. This year it was an all Texas affair held at