Celebrating 20 Years of Restoring Under-Resourced Communities

N.3 2010

M A G A Z I N E

NOEL’SNOTE

DEAR CCDA FAMILY,

My burden to see the church fully engaged in Kingdom ministry in under-resourced

communities has become more urgent in 2010. I long for Christ-followers to be

known for these commitments: INCARNATIONAL presence in poor neighbor-

hoods, the PROCLAMATION of the Good News and the FORMATION of indigenous dis-

ciples committed to CCD, the DEMONSTRATION of compassion wherever we encounter

pain and suffering, the RESTORATION and development of broken lives and unhealthy

communities through the re-investment of our time, talents and treasure, and through the

CONFRONTATION of injustice wherever we see it impacting the lives of our neighbors (incar-

national advocacy), be it through sin-full systems or in institutions that oppress the people

we love.

As I have shared at CCDA Cafés, at churches, and at various conferences and meetings

throughout the nation this year, I am more convinced than ever that today’s social, spiritual

and economic reality requires that we pursue all of these Biblical expressions of Kingdom

ministry with great zeal and patient perseverance.

This year, we celebrate 20 years of working to inspire, train, and connect Christians from a

variety of persuasions and denominations. I am so proud to say that we are united around

our efforts to love and serve alongside the poor in the name of Christ. We are thriving, and

becoming increasingly more diverse, as we all seek to learn from one another. CCDA’s

commitment to love and walk with each other regardless of different theologies or political

orientations is desperately needed in today’s polarized and divided society.

Finally, we are thrilled to celebrate the life and legacy of John and Vera Mae Perkins at our

2010 National Conference in Chicago. For more than 40 years, the church has been blessed

by their prophetic leadership, and for 20 years CCDA has been challenged and inspired by

John’s powerful Biblical teaching that will always be our foundation.

As a movement, our prayer is: “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in

heaven.” Thank you for giving your life to make this prayer a reality in under-resourced com-

munities throughout our nation and world!

For His Glory,

Noel Castellanos, CEO

EDITOR’SNOTE

As I prepared this 20th anniversary

issue of Restorer, I realized it was

also about 20 years ago that I en-

countered Dr. John Perkins. He came to our

little start-up church in Queens, New York

as a guest minister. It was a life-changing

time for many. Who would have thought I’d

stay close to this great ministry, CCDA, and

become the editor of a publication I had

wanted to develop since it was a black and

white newsletter? These days, CCDA has a

savvy and talented communications team.

We’ve come a long way, baby!

I hope you enjoy the journey into CCDA’s

beginnings in our retrospective “Back in

the Day,” and our look at what’s happening

now in “Our Journey to the Border,” “Rural

Justice” and “Yes, In My Backyard.” We’ll

get schooled on tomorrow’s issues today

via an update on CCDA’s Emerging Leaders

and gain some keen insight from CCDA’s

Asian leaders in our final feature, “Asian

Influence.” We hope this issue of Restorer

will be a keepsake for you, and that you’ll

see Jesus’ hands and feet on every page.

Blessed to be a blessing,

Pamela Toussaint

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR 2010 NATIONAL CONFERENCE MAJOR SPONSORS:

CCDA also thanks FIELDSTEAD & CO. & COVENANT FOUNDATION CINCINNATI for their generous support of the 2010 Conference.

Restorer is an annual publication of CCDA. For more information about CCDA membership or programs, visit ccda.org or contact us.

Street Address:1100 W Cermak Rd, Suite B414

Chicago, IL 60608

Mailing AddressP.O. Box 08094

Chicago, IL 60608

p: 312.733.0200f: 312.733.0202info@ccda.org

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**NEW FOR 2011!**

2011

IMMERSION: WEEK-LONG CCD CERTIFICATIONThis week-long Immersion consists of classes in all Eight Key Components of CCD. In addition, Bible studies will be led each morning by Dr. Perkins and site visits will be made to local Chicago CCD ministries. This unique opportunity is limited to the first 80 people who register.

DATES: April 3-8, 2011LOCATION: Chicago, ILUniversity Center Conference Chicago (Downtown Chicago)INSTRUCTORS INCLUDE: Wayne “Coach” Gordon, Barbara Williams-Skinner, Mary Nelson, Bob Lupton, Patty Prasada-Rao, and Noel Castellanos. COST: $695 member rate; $995 non-member rate (Includes: classes; books and materials; Sunday and Friday dinner meals; site visit transportation)LODGING: $275 economic room & board option available through CCDA at Hi-Chicago (all-inclusive except Mon-Thurs dinner meals); Alternative housing opportunities TBD; Local hotels can be reserved independently.REGISTRATION: Register online at ccdaregistration.org. * LIMITED TO 80 PARTICIPANTS ON A FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED BASIS.

INTENSIVES: 1-2 DAY INDIVIDUAL CLASSESPreviously called “Institutes,” these classes focus on particular aspects of CCD and are taught in a host ministry’s local context. Choose from 14 different classes taught by one or two seasoned CCD practitioners. To host an Intensive, please visit ccda.org/institute for more information. CCDA encourages local ownership by one or more sponsors.

Help your ministry get to the next level of CCD effectiveness by getting immersed in the Biblical philosophy of Christian Community Development (CCD). Veteran CCD practitioners from around the country will offer theological and practical instruction and training.

CCDA INSTITUTE

For two decades, CCDA has inspired, trained and connected Christians who are restoring under-resourced communities throughout the world. The annual National Conference, which began with 200 attendees, now attracts a faithful, multi-racial contingent of 2000-plus. In the words of Dr. John Perkins and friends, here’s how it all began…

About 50 were local people but the rest were from all over the nation.

Right away we felt that we had hit upon something whose time had come. I know a lot of that was hopefulness; we were hoping for an outreach and to a certain degree it has lived up to our expectations—CCDA rallies people together. And that’s how it was…

Our ministry has been an expression of justice. As a black man back then I decided to create this movement within evangelical circles—which a

lot of blacks wouldn’t do. I remember Ron Sider came out with Rich Chris-tians in an Age of Hunger at around the same time as my book, Let Justice Roll Down. His was giving a call to respond to injustice. He raised the question. Evangelicals had been very comfortable, and were not involved in social justice or civil rights issues. Liberals were the ones involved in those areas. But Ron’s book started them thinking by addressing their wealth. Up until the 1980’s, evangeli-cal Christians felt pretty wealthy. My book had impact because it wasn’t coming from a theological perspec-tive; I was an ordinary person.

MULTI-RACIAL ROOTSSince its start, CCDA has been a group mostly made up of African-Americans and Caucasians. More recently, we have seen a growing number of Hispanics join us and some Asians and Native Americans. I see these multi-racial ministry groups coming to the First Timer Reception at our conference

now, and I’m encouraged. As CCDA has become more diverse, one might think the Caucasians (still the majority in the United States) would shrink away, fearing they would lose power. Yet we have seen just the opposite. More whites than ever come. In fact, more and more people who are in the majority reach out to minorities. Honestly, I never thought I would see this day, but now I’m seeing it in reality. We represent the most multi-racial organization in the Christian evangelical community in America. And we did this without a structure that forced it to happen.

For those who are longing for it, CCDA gives people a place to come, and it gives the older evangelical person a place to find support. As a member of the urban commu-nity and a member of the Christian Com-munity Development Association, I beg y o u— s u b u r b a n i t e s

and all Christians—to join with me as we tackle some of the severe problems of [under-resourced communities]. If we can keep examining ourselves I think we have the possibility of a movement here.

a burden for the poor, and a commit-ment to the vision. They all expressed a strong desire for the formation of CCDA. —from the personal journal of Cynder Sinclair, DM, CCDA’s first administrator.

I was surprised and excited. We ex-changed stories and ideas. Quickly, we saw that our longings and dreams were similar. A few months later, we got together again and pretty soon we had something going.

LEADERSHIPForming a group from scratch is an interest-ing process, especially when members of that group are already leaders with followers. Nonetheless, CCDA needed a leader. I was set to be the chair-man of the board, and Lemuel (“Lem”) Tucker was going to be the president. We penciled in a date for our next meeting and were eager to see how this group would take shape.

There are always surprises along the way, and leaders have to adjust. For us, the surprise was a sad one. Lem Tucker got sick and he died between the first airport meeting in the early winter and second meeting that summer. Now who was going to lead CCDA? I said, “I’m not going to be the leader. I want to be the organizer.” Wayne Gordon had stepped out of the meeting room for a minute, and while he was gone I said, “Wayne’s going to be the presi-dent.” When he came back into the room, he was up for it. I think he was surprised. It was affirming for him. He did not have the notoriety then that he has now (laugh).

THE FIRST CCDA CONFERENCEWe decided we’d have a conference in Lawndale the year after we first met at the airport to form CCDA. The first conference had about 200 attendees.

“We had no money and we weren’t going to be rentin’ a big hotel when we didn’t have nothin.’”

—Dr. John Perkins

1989 AIRPORT MEETINGS CCDA started as a longing in the hearts of just a few people. Most of us were already working in urban areas and were the only ministry in town, or at least it felt that way. Through the years, taking the good news to the poor, oppressed and needy had been a rather lonely mission. What faith-based efforts existed tended to look inward, because there were so few. One common longing we had was to take Christian Commu-nity Development public, so to speak—to make it more visible.

When a leader or group of leaders has a longing, they have to ask themselves the hard questions. We had to ask our-selves, “Is there a people out there who are thinking like we think? And who are those people?”

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We took a risk, and we sent out about 100 letters to people we knew who might be interested. We invited those folks to come to the airport in Chicago and spend a day together. Representa-tives from 37 groups showed up! It was quite a diverse gathering.

February 23, 1989: The CCDA meeting was excellent; 53 people attended and enthusiastically shared their ideas in a room with a capacity for 25. It was cozy but productive. Most people had never met each other before, but all shared a love for God,

REMEMBER THE PASTYOUR PEOPLE WILL REBUILD THE ANCIENT RUINS AND WILL RAISE UP THE AGE-OLD FOUNDATIONS…ISAIAH 58:12A

BACK IN THE DAY “Wayne Gordon provided

strong, Christ-centered, pastoral leadership to CCDA. During many

years while it lacked staff and resources, he worked tirelessly to

keep CCDA afloat.” —Noel Castellanos, CEO

Included in the above are excerpts from Follow Me To Freedom: Leading and Following as an Ordinary Radical by Shane Claiborne and John M. Perkins, (Regal, 2009) and from an interview with Dr. Perkins conducted by Restorer editor, Pamela Toussaint.

Dr. John M. Perkins is the founder of the Christian Community Development Association. His latest work is a memoir entitled, Love is the Final Fight, www.regalbooks.com.

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CCDA’S BEGINNINGS

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These pages profile just four of the vital ministries that have flourished alongside their leaders’ involvement in that first visionary “airport meeting” where CCDA was birthed. We honor their significant contributions to the movement of Christian Community Development over the past 20 years.

MINISTRYPROFILES DR. JOHN PERKINS

John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation and Development Jackson, MSVISION & MISSION

To see lives redeemed among the poor which will in turn redeem a whole community; to develop the lives of youth, leaders and underprivileged in our community and around the world by setting an example of God’s love.

BRIEF HISTORY

In 1960, Drs. John M. and Vera Mae Perkins began Mendenhall Ministries to help the poor in rural Mississippi meet their own needs. Seeking to show God’s love in action, their vision grew into a min-

istry known for providing progressive local leadership within the community, addressing poor housing, segre-gated education, lack of employment opportunities, and lack of capital. To this day Mendenhall Ministries offers childcare, legal assistance, youth development programs, the Mendenhall Bible Church, adult education, a coopera-tive farm, a thrift store, housing development, Genesis One School, a health center and a senior citizen facility.

In 1972, the Perkinses, along with two other families, moved to Jackson, Mississippi to focus on the needs of in-ner-city families. They founded Voice of Calvary Ministries (VOCM) there which assists urban families in housing de-

velopment, year-round youth programs, health care, and home ownership training programs. “In our West Jackson community there are more predatory busi-nesses—payday loans, liquor stores, and pawn shops—that prey on desperate and addicted people than there are positive ones that bring hope and change...” Mis-sissippi students have a one in four chance of dropping out of school. “By investing in our children’s creativity, education and character we know they will be the ones going to college and leading productive lives. We encour-age parents—especially single mothers—to continue to pursue careers, education and true relationships with Jesus. Strong families equal strong communities.”

In 1982, the Perkinses moved to Northwest Pasadena, a neighborhood which once had the highest daytime crime rates in California, and established the Harambee Chris-tian Family Center, serving a 12-block target area. A decade later, the Harambee Prepara-tory School was developed to respond to that community’s need for children of poverty-level homes to receive a quality academic ex-perience in a secure and loving environment.

In 1983, John and Vera Mae, along with a few friends and other supporters, established the John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation and Develop-ment, a 501(c)(3) corporation organized for the sole purpose of supporting their mission of advancing the principles of Christian Community Development and racial reconcilia-tion throughout the world.

While still in Pasadena, Dr. Perkins called together a group of national Christian leaders bound by the one significant commitment of expressing the love of Christ in America’s urban communities—not at arms length, but at the grass-roots level. This meeting in 1989 formed CCDA, which held its first annual conference in Chicago the next year. Since then, CCDA has grown into a network of more than 500 organizations across the world.

| Drs. Vera Mae and John Perkins |

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VISION & MISSION To reach the unchurched people of the community; to proclaim and live out Biblical Christianity; to raise up new generations of Christian leadership; to creatively meet the needs of people, striving to empower them along the way.

One of Wayne’s major goals has been developing a new gen-eration of leaders for North Lawndale. More than 200 young people have graduated from college with more than half returning to live and work in North Lawndale.

BRIEF HISTORY For more than 30 years of ministry “Coach” Wayne L. Gordon has played a key role in numerous community development initiatives. He is one of the founders of the Lawndale Christian Health Center, a healthcare ministry that sees between 120,000 and 150,000 patients per year. Wayne and his wife, Anne, along with some local high school students, founded the Lawndale Community Church (LCC), a non-denominational Christian church in 1978. Today, LCC has more than 800 worshipping families and Wayne continues as pastor. LCC was given a “Point of Light” award by President George Bush in 1989 and Chicago Magazine named Wayne one of the Chicagoans of the Year in 1995 for his commitment and creativity.

A graduate of Wheaton College, Coach was recently honored with the Alumnus of the Year for Distin-guished Service to Society 2010 award by the col-lege’s alumni association. He also attended North-ern Baptist Theological Seminary and received his D.Min. at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Wayne and his family moved to North Lawndale,

located on Chicago’s Westside, in 1975. At that time the area was the 15th poorest neighborhood in the U.S. Wayne became a teacher and coach at North Lawndale’s Farragut High School, and raised his three children there: Angela, a graduate of Taylor University who now lives and teaches in Lawndale; Andrew, a recent graduate of Baylor University and a trader with the Chicago Board of Trade, and Austin, a student at Azusa Pacific University. Wayne became the founding president of the Lawndale Christian Development Corporation in 1987, the arm of Lawndale Community Church that facilitates economic development, education and housing. LCDC has seven different housing ministries, and under Wayne’s leadership more than 400 units of aban-doned housing have been rehabbed, many of which are now owned by community residents.

Wayne has served as Chairman/President of CCDA for 20 years, bringing passionate pastoral leadership to the asso-ciation. He authored the popular and inspiring book Real Hope in Chicago which details the power of God working in a community in need. He has co-authored several other books and written numerous articles on God’s heart for the poor and Christian Community Development. His newest work, Who is my Neighbor? Lessons Learned from a Man Left for Dead, debuts in October 2010 from Regal Books. For more than 30 years Wayne Gordon has exempli-fied breaking down racial barriers to pave the way for Christ’s truth in the lives of all whom he encounters.

DR. WAYNE GORDON Lawndale Community Church Chicago, IL

VISION & MISSION Our mission is to create healthy places in the city where families f lourish and God’s shalom is present. With an emphasis on neighborhood leadership and a commitment to mixed-income housing development, our strategy yields both social and spiritual vitality as well as economic viability.

DR. ROBERT LUPTON Focused Community Strategies (FCS)Atlanta, GA

BRIEF HISTORY “The call that I first felt while serving in Vietnam eventually caused me to leave a budding business career and pursue a ministry with delinquent urban youth. It did not take long to figure out that if this work was to have lasting effect on troubled young lives, we would have to become involved with their families.” Family Consultation Service (original name) was formed in 1976 for that purpose. In time, however, it became apparent that their effectiveness would be limited unless FCS could find ways to change the environment that

impacted so negatively upon their neighbors every time they stepped out of the door. Thus, FCS Urban Ministries emerged into a Christian Community Development organization. A part of the original group of leaders at the “airport meeting” in 1989, Bob has also served on the board of CCDA for two decades. He is a veteran instructor in the CCDA Institute, a conference plenary speaker and is the author of many books, most recently Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life: Rethinking Ministry to the Poor.

FCS has blossomed over the years into a wholistic ministry with a broad range of services including youth programs, support for families and seniors, affordable housing via its Charis Community Housing arm, economic development, church planting and educational programs. None of these is particularly unique in itself; however, when focused on a single neighborhood with the aim of community transformation, the effects can be dramatic. When invited to partner with

a neglected neighborhood, FCS takes the lead in developing a comprehensive revitalization plan,

mobilizes needed expertise and resources to implement the plan, and recruits “strategic neighbors” to help re-neighbor the community with strong, committed new neighbor-leaders. The goal is to re-create a stable, mixed-income community that is safe, socially and spiritually healthy, and economically viable.

“Ultimately, we’re devoted to giving ourselves away for the sake of the whole. We’re rolling up our sleeves to participate in regenerating life around us, working ourselves out of work, and creating avenues for distressed neighborhoods to become self-sustainable. And, in the process, God is changing us.” FCS celebrates nearly four decades of learning in the heart of Atlanta, reweaving the fabric of urban communities by building upon neighborhood strength.

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“MY ENTIRE MINISTRY [34 YEARS] I’VE BEEN TRYING TO

WAVE THE FLAG ABOUT THE EXISTENCE OF MULTIPLE

ETHNIC GROUPS THAT ALSO NEED THE REFORMED FAITH

AND SOLID BIBLICAL TEACHING, AND WHO HAVE A HUNGER

FOR IT...THERE’S A COUNTRY HERE THAT’S CHANGING, AND

WE HAVE TO RESPOND TO THOSE CHANGES.” —By Faith

magazine, PCA News

Randy Nabors is the pastor of New City Fellowship (NCF), a

congregation of the PCA. NCF is an inter-racial, cross-cultural

ministry that targets the African American community in the city

of Chattanooga. It has a current membership of about 450, with

about 800 in weekly attendance. NCF has intensive ministries in

the areas of mercy, and to urban children. It pursues racial justice

and reconciliation and seeks to Biblically worship God with joy.

New City’s history of mercy ministry includes Inner-City Ministries,

Inc., a widow’s ministry, Hope for Chattanooga, a faith based

economic community development corporation, and Urban Hope

Academy, a planned school, in addition to extensive charity and

relief interventions.

Randy, and his wife Joan, were both raised in Newark, NJ. Randy

has an M.Div. from Covenant Theological Seminary and is pursuing

D.Min. studies in the area of Urban Missions from Westminster

Theological Seminary. He has done ministry for Prison Fellowship

in the U.S. and in Africa, and has served as a missionary pastor

in Nairobi, Kenya. Randy helped create a permanent committee on

Mercy in his presbytery, serves as an appointed commissioner for

the Chattanooga Human Rights/Human Relations Commission, and

is the movement leader for Mission to North America’s Urban and

Mercy Network.

“I FIRST FELL IN LOVE WITH JOHN CHAPTER 4, THE STORY OF

THE SAMARITAN WOMAN, WHEN DR. JOHN PERKINS LED A

DEVOTIONAL BIBLE STUDY ON IT. AS I LISTENED TO PERKINS’S

EXPOSITION, I REALIZED THAT THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME I HAD

EVER HAD SOMEONE UNPACK THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL

ASPECTS OF THIS TEXT. I BEGAN TO SEE THAT IN ORDER TO

REACH PEOPLE WITH THE GOSPEL, LIKE JESUS, WE MUST

FIRST UNDERSTAND THEIR CONTEXT.” —from A Credible Witness:

Reflections on Power, Evangelism, and Race

Brenda Salter McNeil is called to the healing of people and the healing

of nations. She is a dynamic preacher, evangelist, and thought-

leader with more than 20 years of experience in the field of racial

and ethnic reconciliation. Brenda is the president and founder of

Salter McNeil & Associates, a Christian company that partners with

organizations to transform them into reconciling communities. Their

mission is to produce interculturally competent leaders on college

campuses, in churches, and in organizations around the world. They

accomplish this through a comprehensive, Biblically based process

that includes spiritual formation, diversity assessments, multiethnic

team development, skill building, and executive coaching.

Brenda’s written works include the books A Credible Witness:

Reflections on Power, Evangelism, and Race and (with coauthor

Rick Richardson) The Heart of Racial Justice: How Soul Change

Leads to Social Change, and articles for The African American

Pulpit and Christian Ethics Today.

She has earned an M.Div. from Rutgers University, and two

doctorates: a D.Min. from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a doctor

of humane letters from North Park University, where she currently

serves as a scholar in residence.

BRENDA SALTER MCNEIL

MARY NELSON Bethel New Life Chicago, ILVISION & MISSION To realize God’s vision of a restored society by empowering individuals, strengthening families, and building neighbor-hoods through community-driven, solution-oriented, and value-centered approaches; to empower the whole person, the whole family and the entire community, and to provide services for each neighbor at every level; to be known as the people who “rebuilt the walls, who restored the ruined houses, who let the oppressed go free.” (Isaiah 58:6-12)

BRIEF HISTORY The vision and commitment of Mary Nelson, founding President and CEO of Bethel New Life Inc., and David Nelson, former Pastor of Bethel Lu-theran Church, made the ministry a reality in 1979. It originated as a volunteer organization dedicated to providing affordable housing. “We soon found out even the most affordable housing isn’t affordable if you don’t have a job.” Celebrat-ing its 30th anniversary in 2010, Bethel New Life is a community development corporation working to revitalize Chicago’s primarily

African American West Garfield Park com-munity. One of the original group of leaders who attended the “airport meeting” in 1989, Mary has served on the board of CCDA for two decades.

Bethel succeeds in its work by the creation of livable-wage jobs, the rehabilitation of low-income, multi-family housing using energy-efficient designs, the development of community education and health care programs, and the cultivation of neigh-borhood improvement projects. By taking advantage of under-utilized community resources and emphasizing environmen-tally kind technologies, Bethel has helped convert a community suffering from an unemployment rate of 27% and a housing crisis in which 40% of its housing stock had disappeared, into a healthy, sustain-able place to live.

In 1984, the community organization expanded its mission to include job training and job creation. Bethel’s Employ-ment Services Center opened in 1984, and helps as many as 400 community residents every year find full-time employ-ment. Today, through its many programs that assist families and individuals, Bethel has brought more than $110 million into a credit-starved community, developed more than 1,000 new units of affordable housing, and placed more than 7,000 people in living-wage jobs.

Mary earned her PhD from Union Graduate School and has been awarded six honorary PhDs. In addition, she is director of Loyola University’s IPS Master’s in Social Justice and Community Development and is the author of CCDA’s Empowerment book, part of the Empowerment Toolkit.

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| Left to right: Mary Nelson with local pastors and former Chicago mayor, Tom Daley. |

| Left to right: Local banker, Mary Nelson, the mayor and alderman. |

JOAN AND RANDYNABORS

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When Kit Danley of Neighbor-hood Ministries in Phoenix, Arizona toured the Na-

tional Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati with fellow CCDA board member Mary Nelson during the 2009 CCDA conference, she couldn’t shake a feeling of recognition. “I know this story,” she said to Mary. “I live this story. I live it every day.”

Persecuted labor. Migrants traveling illegally at the cost of their own lives. Families torn apart. An underground network of helpers. A journey toward a hope that never fully materializes. Travelers who can never return to the land of their birth. This was the story of the fugitive slaves and of many im-migrants in Kit’s neighborhood.

Of course, undocumented immigrants do not arrive in the U.S. as slaves. No matter how great the pressure to leave home for new opportunities, they do come of their own accord. Integrity demands that we be careful about overdrawing our analogies. But more and more people in CCDA are beginning to recognize in the undocu-mented journey a kindred struggle—and a struggle that demands all of our engagement.

Back at the conference, Mary sug-gested to others on the CCDA board that they find a way to stand with Kit and her neighbors in Phoenix. Perhaps they could write a letter, or—“Couldn’t we have our January board meeting in Phoenix?” someone suggested.

And so it was agreed. Kit and her colleagues would host the board for a time of learning and witness. And members of the Evangelical Free Church of America board, who would also be holding meetings in Phoenix, would be invited to join.

THE BORDER TRIPOn Sunday, January 24, 2010, some 40 people boarded a bus in Phoenix to begin the two-hour trip to Tucson, where they met with the Roman Catholic bishop of the Tucson diocese and picked up speakers from the organization No Más Muertes (No More Deaths), [www.nomoredeaths.org] who would ride with them to the border town of Nogales.

JOURNEY TO THEBORDERCCDA LEADERS GET PERSONAL WITH

THE CHALLENGES OF IMMIGRATION REFORM

While the bus traveled through the desert, the speakers talked about their work aiding undocumented travelers. They explained, Kit recalled, that “it’s dangerous and controversial to try to keep people alive” as they cross the desert. “Who cares that you traveled all this way on foot so you could have a job folding laundry?”

At the border wall in Nogales, Seth Polley, a border missioner with the Episcopal diocese of Arizona, led the group in a liturgy. During the lament that followed, border patrol officials ordered the group away from the wall, and they resumed their service in a parking lot nearby. “This is serious business what we’re doing,” Kit said as she recounted the story.

When the service had con-cluded, the group walked easily into Mexico through the Nogales main gate—so easily that some wondered why they needed to bring a passport. On the Mexico side, participants reflected on their own immigrant backgrounds and their per-

sonal stories. Then they met a young woman called Cecilia.

Cecilia had tried to cross the border a few days

before. She and her companions

were caught in a torrential down-pour and almost drowned in a

flash flood. With an injured leg and foot, Cecilia was ap-prehended by border guards

and “dumped unceremoni-ously on the street” on

the Mexican side, as board member Glen Kehrein recalled the

story. Cecilia was now stranded and trying to decide: Should she walk 1,000 miles home? Her father had sent her north because the family has no money. He is a farmer, and no one has been buying his crops, and Cecilia’s younger siblings are hungry. Should she try to enter the U.S. again?

THE WITNESS IN PHOENIX—AND ELSEWHEREAfter a 90-minute wait on the Mexican side of the border gate, the group passed back into the U.S., then returned to Phoenix, watching the documentary Crossing Arizona [www.crossingaz.com] on the way. The ac-cumulating stories were moving board members to a new level of concern for undocumented immigrants. “Those

stories touched my heart,” said board member Bob Lupton. He spoke espe-cially of a picture of a woman, eight months pregnant, who had frozen to death while hiding in a gulley under some sagebrush. “That picture was penetrating,” he said. The pictures and stories “bring faces and names to the issue, which is very important.” Board member Craig Wong, who works with immigrants at Grace Urban Ministries in San Francisco, said that he learned more about “the physical realities of the fence and the border.” The border trip, he said, created “greater connec-tions between the issue and the people we love” back home.

At the CCDA board meeting the next day, those who had not gone on the Sunday border trip “didn’t get why we kept flipping the channel back to im-migrants,” Kit said. The board is now

discussing the problem with a new sense of urgency. “We have a punitive system that doesn’t take into account the fact that businesses and people in middle-class homes are using undocu-mented workers who are not protected from abuse,” said board chair Barbara Williams-Skinner in an interview. Board member Glen Kehrein drew a connection with the civil rights move-ment: “We settled the civil rights issue legally in the 1960s and have been struggling with putting it into practice since then,” Kehrein continued, “but you have to be a citizen to benefit from those changes. These immigrants have no recourse at all.”

Resonance with the civil rights strug-gle came through clearly during the

“Day of Education, Witness, and Action on Immigra-tion” on Tuesday, January 26. The day began with Biblical training sessions at First Institutional Baptist Church, where Phoenix civil rights leader Warren H. Stewart is pastor. Teach-ers included 2010 CCDA conference keynote Daniel

Carroll, an Old Testament theologian from Denver Seminary and author of Christians at the Border. He discussed Biblical themes of the stranger, the sojourner, and the alien living in the land; and civil rights historian Troy Jackson challenged the audience about evangelicals’ absence from the civil rights movement.

At lunchtime, participants visited the homes of immigrant families who shared stories of their experiences. A time of prayer and public service followed, with additional rallies held in Chicago, Denver, Memphis, Miami and California.

“We’ve been helping people to be their own advocates,” Kit explained. “Without these immigrant stories we’re just smarter, but with these stories we’re changed.”

“This is a long battle, and I won’t be here to see it end, but I wish my grandchildren would say, ‘Granddaddy was there to deal with the great justice issue of our time.’”

—Dr. John Perkins

REJOICEIN THE PRESENTYOU WILL BE CALLED REPAIRER OF BROKEN WALLS…ISAIAH 58:12B

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CCDA’S EMERGING LEADERS JOIN IMMIGRATION ‘JOURNEY’

CCDA is learning, and CCDA is acting. Since the weekend of the January board meeting in Phoenix, when board members traveled to the border of Mexico, learned from activists and im-migrants and their families, and held a rally in support of comprehensive im-migration reform, the association has been stepping up advocacy efforts.

As an association of neighborhood-based ministries around the country, CCDA has something unique to offer to reform efforts. In a position statement, the CCDA board acknowledges that “as a movement, we may never reach con-sensus on specific policy implementation,” but agrees that, “Kingdom servants must not stop at awareness but must move forward in a unified struggle toward the alleviation of injus-tice.” Noel Castellanos (CCDA CEO) empha-sizes that that struggle must include a call for a pathway to citizenship for the 12 million undocumented immigrants who are already in the U.S.

Noel, himself the grandson of Mexican immigrants, traveled to Phoenix in April to join with local community and faith leaders in calling for Governor Jan Brewer to veto SB 1070. She signed it instead. The following Sunday, Pastor Warren Stewart of Institutional Baptist Church in Phoenix, a leader of the effort to restore the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday in Arizona, and whose church hosted CCDA’s “Day of Education, Witness, and Action on Immigration” in January, organized a

This is changing as more and more people in congregations are affected by immigration crackdowns, and as young people see their undocumented peers shut out of opportunities. Esper-anza’s congregation has lost 15 percent of its members to deportation or relo-cation to avoid immigration authori-ties. She emphasizes the importance of activating networks of influence. One young man is persistently asking her what he can do, so she’s “giving him stuff to read, and he’s putting it on Facebook. He has influence on his own peers. It multiplies.”

CCDA advisory board member Craig Wong stressed providing a “counternarrative to the prevailing political narrative” about undoc-umented immigrants. “I believe the Sonora desert urges us to clarify the distinction

between God’s dream and the Ameri-can dream. The trail of death across the border cannot be understood apart from a national appetite that is sated at the expense of others, particularly our southern neighbors. Lacking theo-logical clarity, our CCD efforts run the risk of settling for mere redistribution of the pie (or whatever crumbs may drop from the top), rather than the prophetic voice and embodiment of Christ’s Kingdom, made possible when we repent from our idolatries, whether of self or nation-state.”

As executive director of Grace Urban Ministries in San Francisco, Craig and his organization host and par-

CCDA ACTION ON IMMIGRATION REFORM

rally at his church to protest the new law. When addressing “illegal immi-gration,” he pointed out in an interview legality and justice do not always line up. “Slavery at one time was legal, but it certainly was unjust. Undocumented workers who earn money here and send money back to their families are being paid by people who are breaking the law, whether knowingly or unknow-ingly,” he notes. “Consequently, in essence, we are all breaking the law—the undocumented workers and those of us who benefit from their working here illegally.”

CCDA members are active in immi-grant neighborhoods throughout the United States, providing services, de-veloping communities, and advocating for just immigration laws.

Esperanza Martinez, director of the Family Life Center in Miami and a member of the first Cohort of the CCDA Emerging Leaders Initiative, is exercising quiet but persistent influence, meeting with pastors and other leaders in the city to talk about how they can work for immigration reform. Esperanza finds that “people think we should have immigration reform, but they haven’t made it an issue with their congregations.”

ticipate in the San Francisco Interfaith Coalition on Immigration. “It’s hard to argue data versus data,” he explains. But we can say: “We need each other. We need people who are different from ourselves, and immigrants contribute to the wholeness of our society, rather than taking away from it.” Congrega-tions in the San Francisco coalition are supporting families affected by immigration enforcement, accompa-nying them to hearings, and providing material support—while “making the actions public so the rest of the public can see.”

The coalition is also meeting with local Immigration and Customs Enforce-ment (ICE) officials to address the most egregious enforcement practices, and is working to restore San Francisco’s sanctuary ordinance so all residents of the city can access services and receive due process in the legal system.

Michelle Warren, community liaison at Open Door Ministries in Denver, is also a member of CCDA’s first Emerg-ing Leaders Initiative Cohort designed to develop the next generation of CCD leaders. In January, she organized a satellite rally in Denver in conjunc-tion with CCDA’s “Day of Education, Witness, and Action on Immigra-tion,” one of five such rallies around the country that were led by Cohort members. After that rally some urban leaders in Denver began organizing to advocate for comprehensive immigra-tion reform at the federal level. They’ve held forums with evangelical pastors and business leaders and asked them to sign on to a position statement that the group will present to legislators.

Back in Phoenix, youth pastor Ian Danley of Neighborhood Ministries laments: “We are exhausted. We feel under attack. We feel like we aren’t

welcome in the community. People are trying to leave, but they don’t have anywhere to go. They tell us: ‘We don’t know anyone in Vegas or New Mexico. We think about going to Mexico, but my grandma says it’s not really good there either, and my kids don’t really speak Spanish.’”

But Ian also sees reason to hope. “Young people are exercising leader-ship like never before. They’re sleeping nights at the Capitol in protest of the new law; they’re phone banking to get people out to meetings. They’re just really, really working hard.” This is Arizona’s next generation of political leaders. Ian is convinced that what humans have intended for evil, God will use for good.

Excerpted from articles written by editor Meg Cox in the 2010 March and May eRestorer.

ESPERANZA MARTINEZ MIAMI—“What changes legislation is not just events that appeal to emotion, but action based on personal conviction—action that results when someone realizes, ‘I know this is wrong as a child of God, and I cannot just stand by.’”

CRAIG WONGSAN FRANCISCO—“Most people in the U.S. don’t realize how inhumane the current system is, that people are being stripped of due process and that families are being torn apart. We think it’s horrible for other countries to have militarized police raiding workplaces and homes, but that’s what we’re becoming.”

MICHELLE WARRENDENVER—“What happened in January was the beginning of aware-ness, but kingdom service can’t stop at awareness. There has to be some forward action even if you don’t know what that action is going to look like. You start a movement from nothing... then people join along the way.”

“Our advocacy is incarnational advocacy. It comes out of our

relationships with the people we work with in the neighborhoods

we’re trying to transform.” —Noel Castellanos, CCDA CEO

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Resistance to blacks moving into white communities preceded a wholesale exodus often referred to as “white flight,” and resulted in the transformation of most major cities. Today, the largest demographic shift has been Hispanic...but the city is no longer the only port of entry.

YES, IN MY BACKYARDTHE BROWNING OF THE ‘BURBS

The push and pull of human movement has been a constant reality in this country and

particularly in our urban centers. Past legal constraints designed to limit the opportunities have been lifted. A suc-cession of Fair Housing Laws and Pres-idential Executive Orders beginning in the 1960s reduced active segregation by offering minorities some measure of recourse against housing discrimi-nation. Blacks and Hispanics began to experience housing choices denied to previous generations. Economic and social advancement meant that more and more minorities could now follow the same path as other Ameri-cans. Middle-class minorities began to migrate out of the cities, leaving larger and larger concentrations of what so-ciologists began to call the permanent underclass.

URBAN DEVELOPMENT The highest concentration of the un-derclass was in large public housing projects. But those communities are disappearing and displacing most of their residents. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), under heavy criticism for ware-

housing people in socially irresponsi-ble housing conditions, declared large-scale low-income housing projects to be abject failures and encouraged local housing authorities to tear down housing projects. By the end of 2009, all fifty-three of Chicago’s public housing high-rises will be gone, uprooting forty thousand people.1 “Mixed housing,” a blend of subsidized and market-rate housing, became the Federal housing strategy. However, far fewer units were constructed for low-income residents than were displaced.

Over the past few years Congress has eliminated several important rights held by public housing residents. For instance, there used to be a law that for every public housing unit demolished, another unit had to be built. This was known as the one-for-one replacement housing requirement and was repealed by the 1995 Rescission Act. On the Section 8 side, tenants were tradition-ally entitled to renew their leases so long as they complied with them. Now, however, Section 8 landlords may evict tenants without cause at the end of their lease terms. Some protections remain, but in many areas Congress

is ceding policy-making authority to local PHAs.2

The reduction of public housing units pushed the poor to find housing else-where. However, with affordable units at a premium and almost none being created in the cities, a predictable out-migration of minorities is the result. Where are they going? Everywhere—from the cities of moderate size, to older suburban communities and even into small towns where older, smaller housing is moderately afford-able. Old patterns of white flight seem to persist even when property values are not threatened.

Other market forces are fueling this out-migration as well. Gentrification (the return of people of means to the city) took root in the 1970s with the emergence of a new breed of city dwell-ers—the yuppies, many of whom were also DINKs (double income, no kids). First seen as an aberration, gentrifi-cation has become a movement that grew in the ’80s and took off in the ’90s. Today nearly every major city is experiencing redevelopment of inner-city communities.

Chicago, always proud of its vibrant downtown, did not rest upon its laurels; rather it fueled the movement

by making its “Loop” (downtown) more inviting. City inducements

have spawned hundreds of new ea-teries, shops, and even museums

and theaters that make down-town Chicago one of the most

attractive cities for urban resi-dents. Much of this new develop-

ment ventures into low-income communities where properties can

be purchased cheaply, rehabbed into modern residences, and “flipped” for a handsome profit. Displaced rental residents and low-income owners who cannot afford property tax increases are joining the pursuit of af-fordable housing outside the city.

IMPACT OF CURRENT IMMIGRATION TRENDSThe largest demographic shift has, obviously, been the growth of the Hispanic population. Large gateway cities continue to attract immigrant numbers into their inner cities as they have for generations, but the city is no longer the only port of entry.

The great Latino gateways—Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and Chicago—will continue to house massive concentrations of Hispanics. The great mainstays may be seeing a continued influx of new arrivals and a simultaneous outflow of Latinos leaving in search of better jobs, housing, and quality of life in other destinations... Accordingly, more and more Latinos will be flocking to the suburbs in the coming decades.3

Hispanics (and other immigrant groups) are no longer following the standard path of previous generations.Immigrants are as likely to relocate to a small town or suburb as to a large city center.

Many of us are caught unaware today. A long-time resident walks into the local Wal-Mart and is shocked by the

racial diversity. Most white people react with visceral discomfort and begin to question their future. “Can I be comfortable here anymore?” or “Is this still my neighborhood?” While overt racism has certainly been reduced, this discomfort is the same basis that has always fueled white flight.

DOES CHRIST MAKE A DIFFERENCE?While the previous description has been quite clinical, I have experienced racial change up front and personally.

While I was beginning to study the dy-namics I have described, God called my wife and me to move into the racially changing Austin community on Chi-cago’s West Side in 1973. White exodus was in full bloom with 75 percent of the homes for sale. It seemed to us that the “salt and light” impact of the body of Christ had been missing from the equation. What position did Christians take when they attended the meetings of the local “improvement committee” and heard the vile racial attacks? Did it make any difference whatsoever that Christians lived in those communi-ties? Was their perspective any differ-ent from that of their neighbors? Were they hearing sermons that would bring Christ’s perspective?

In short, the resounding answer to these questions is no. Not one of the twenty-seven evangelical churches survived the racial change in my area.

Are the 1960s and 1970s ancient history, or might the church and its parishioners learn from our past? Anecdotal information provides con-tradictory evidence. One church in my denomination recently moved for the fourth time—twice in Chicago, then to a south Chicago suburb, and finally to Indiana! Yet another church—a megachurch locating in an inner-ring,

ethnically changing suburb of Min-neapolis—has done the opposite. The highly respected senior pastor has made it his mission (and led the church to adopt the same) to understand how to become a relevant faith community welcoming and serving the newly ar-riving neighbors.

Another sign of hope is that emerging postmodern church leaders, while some of their theology has been ques-tioned, have a clear upside advantage in this arena. They are much less

shackled by overt historic racism. Multicultural-ism, racial reconciliation, and diversity are finding expression in the crea-tion of “New Wineskin” churches and networks of churches encouraging

the body of Christ to reflect the world we are to reach.

But this chapter of the church amidst demographic change is just now being written. You and I have the great op-portunity to contribute to it by learn-ing from the realities and mistakes of the past.

Excerpted with permission from “The Times, They Are a-Changing: The Subur-banization of Poverty” by Glen Kehrein, in A Heart for the Community (Chicago: Moody Bible Institute, 2009).

How does “worldly” talk about property values square with “spiritual” talk of loving

your neighbor?

3. Alan Berube, Bruce Katz, and Robert E. Lang, Redefining Urban and Suburban America: Evidence from Census 2000 (New York: Brookings Institutional Press, 2005), 200.

1. “Tearing Down Cabrini-Green,” 60 Minutes, CBS (Chicago, Ill.), 23 July 2003.; 2. http://www.housing forall.org/PHA_ plan.htm.

GLEN KEHREIN, along with his wife, Lonni, and family, have lived on Chicago’s West Side since the early 1970s when they founded Circle Urban Ministries / (www.circleurban.org). Glen’s other liter-ary contributions can be found in Restoring Communities at Risk, A Heart for the City, and Breaking Down Walls.

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RURAL JUSTICEPRACTITIONERS SHARE INS AND OUTS OF DOING CCD IN RURAL AMERICA

Q: Tell us about Pettigrew Heights, where Summit House is located. It is the first of fourteen neighbor-hoods targeted by the city of Sioux Falls for nurturing and revitaliza-tion. Thirty-five percent of Pettigrew Heights is Native American, African and Latino. We have some gang ac-tivity, drug traffic, and prostitution. There is a high percentage of renters and tenants, so that’s one reason for the high mobility. Some Native Ameri-can students will show up at school for two months, then disappear back to the reservation to work, then return for another two months.

Q: What’s different about practicing CCD in a rural area or small town?People think we don’t have the same problems as in a large urban city, but we do. We don’t always have the resources

to collect the people that are passion-ate about CCD. I grew up on a farm in Minnesota and spent most of my career in rural areas. We have people there who are restless. They know there are challenges, but don’t now how to meet them. I have a heart for that. We want to prepare those people to discover the solutions to their own challenges. Some of the churches in the wealthier suburbs here have an inter-est in Pettigrew Heights. We’re asking them to take some of what they learn here and see what justice looks like in the ‘burbs. Spiritual and emotional poverty exists there too.

Q: How did the Sioux Falls Seminary get involved in practicing CCD?I was originally inspired toward Chris-tian Community Development by Dr. Jay Moon, a professor at our seminary’s

Intercultural Studies program. He spent nine years in Africa planting churches. The Summit House grew out of his imagination. Lowell MST el-ementary school in Pettigrew Heights (400 students) is the only math, science and technology school in the city. We ran a summer agriculture program there through a seminary graduate who has a background in that field, and then started doing ‘urban agricul-ture’ using a teaching garden. The local Kiwanis club provided flower beds and a greenhouse is soon going in. It has bred a sense of ownership in both students and parents who showed up just to see what was going on; conver-sations ensued.

The school is considering a full year curriculum in urban agriculture now. Members of the local PTA, local

In this Restorer interview, we ask two rural CCD practitioners, Rev. Tim Olsen of Sioux Falls Seminary in South Dakota and Pat Vander Pol of Justice for All ministry in Rock Valley, Iowa, about their style of living out the “3 R’s” of CCDA in their local areas.

REV. TIM OLSENSIOUX FALLS SEMINARY AND SUMMIT HOUSE, SOUTH DAKOTA

government, a liberal arts college, city government officials, and others came together to have this conversa-tion called the Urban Agriculture Task Force. Other schools want an urban garden at their facility.

Q: ‘Listening’ is a key CCDA compo-nent for community empowerment. You mention in the video on your website that the students living at Summit House don’t come to Petti-grew Heights with answers, but with questions. Tell us about that.We often talk about how to build mutual trust and respect. Our Summit house students do this well. When we went to the elementary school, I told them, ‘We just want to listen.’ One woman said, ‘Thank you. Everyone else wants to come in and ‘fix’ us.’ I’m the middle class white guy who ‘has all the answers,’ so I had to unlearn that mindset, too. We just want to help them discover the resources that are already in the community. We are asking, ‘How does this lend itself to entrepreneurship and other opportunities?’ We want to give it away and have the community take it over.

Q: How has the experience impacted the seminary students?Many came thinking they would get a masters degree and then work in local church leadership. Now that they’ve experienced Christian Com-

munity Development, they’re not so sure. We believe that the best CCD is church-based, but I think we have a whole generation of twenty and thirty-somethings who aren’t satisfied with sitting in a pew or a chair on a Sunday morning for ‘an event.’ They read the gospel and want to know, ‘How can we do that?’ ‘How can we look at both the spiritual and physical aspects of a human being?’ CCD brings a wholistic view to this. As a seminary we asked ourselves, ‘Can we be the place that bridges the gap by providing students that have the heart of a missionary, the soul of a theologian and the hands and feet of a community organizer?’

Q: Last year was your first CCDA Na-tional Conference; what impacted you the most? The workshops on Empowerment are really the ones that impact all areas of CCD, so for me it was an ‘Aha!’ moment attending Mary Nelson’s presentation. One student, a young woman, went to an affordable housing workshop and

began to understand the concept of jubilee. She announced, ‘Now I know what God is calling me to do!’ Her thesis will now revolve around the

Summit House offers ten students at Sioux Falls Seminary in South

Dakota the opportunity to receive a first-hand urban minis-try experience in the restoration of rural Pettigrew Heights [pop. 4,000]. Rev. Tim Olsen has been the enthusiastic director of Summit House for the past year. Seminary students live and learn together at the House while they serve the felt-needs in the neighborhood. Sioux Falls is one of few seminaries that offers a masters degree program in Christian Community Development: www.sfseminary.edu. Tim will host a CCDA Institute in Sioux Falls, October 1-2, 2010. For more info, visit ccda.org/institute.

“Longtime residents and homeowners who raised children here are ‘watching’ us... We had to prove first that we could

be trusted…”—Rev. Tim Olsen

BY CHRIS LIKE (Digital Communications Manager, CCDA)

“I had a chance to see the awakening of a community. CCDA sent me to an Institute taught by board members Delia Caderno and Bob Lupton in Augusta, Georgia. The 90 attendees who gathered at Saint Luke’s United Methodist Church were concerned community-members, local pastors and local businesspeople. Delia is a community organizer from Miami. Her day-long class, which I attended, focused on listening to the neighborhood and viewing it through the lens of its assets. People from various backgrounds debated the merits of established community fixtures and expressed budding plans to engage their neighbors. Each attendee brought his or her own set of concerns and goals for their neighborhood, and Delia delicately balanced those concerns with the larger community picture. She showed the group how to distinguish between the expressed needs of their community, and their own perceptions of those needs. The group left with a specific set of actionable goals and a greater understanding of how to map a community’s assets. One enthusiastic attendee noted, “We arrived here as strangers, but we left a coalition.”

concepts she learned in that workshop. Also, having a booth at the conference

promoting our semi-nary gave me a chance to interact with other practitioners, find out where they see gaps in their own training, and discuss how we might fill them. For me to see

people of different ages, experiences and cultures at the conference all in conversation, was a sign and a fore-taste of the Kingdom of God.

AUGUSTA ADVANCES: CCDA INSTITUTE

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Q: What’s different about practicing CCD in a rural community? Lack of resources is the biggest thing. Other organizations and ministries can tap into foundations and other funding sources in the city. But we have only recently found a place where we can submit grant requests. Also, there aren’t pockets of depressed areas like there are in the inner cities. A person can live in a house here for years and go to work every day, but until you get to know their situation you wouldn’t see the need. It’s not easily identifiable.

Q: I read that the state of Iowa has substantially lower unemployment than the rest of the nation. What’s happening socio-economically in northwest Iowa? I think many people in our area have kept their jobs but have had their hours cut down. Many people are ‘under-employed’ rather than unemployed, but this still hurts their ability to keep going. Tradition-ally, this has been a community based on agriculture, with a strong base in steel manufacturing. The family farm is kind of dying because of the markets, so more kids are going to college and finding jobs in the cities. In the last ten to twelve years, there has been a large influx of Hispanics

who work the agricultural jobs no one else wants, as well as jobs in the steel plants, and they establish roots and homes here. We also have a number of Sudanese immigrants, many of whom work in the meat packing plants. The first generation of immigrants are very close to achieving middle class status and some have become involved as volunteers with JFA.

Q: What does a commitment to reconciliation look like there? Reconciliation in our community is getting to know our neighbors, bring-ing about understanding between cultures, finding out that we both have things to offer each other. There are some beautiful Christian leaders emerging in the Hispanic community here and they are making inroads in breaking down barriers. We do Bible

studies and Bible schools that are intentionally integrated. Not, ‘this is the week for the Spanish Bible school, and this is the week for the English Bible school.’ I was with one Mom who was arrested for not having the proper documents. It was awesome to see

how people in the community rallied around her, wrote letters on her behalf, and attended hearings with her.

Q: In general, where are Christians in terms of embracing CCD princi-ples there? We need to get people here [practi-tioners] to the next level. There’s a lot of charity going on. We have to move their thinking to start looking at sys-temic issues. I buy CDs and tapes from CCDA conferences and share them with churches. Some are excited, and some are like, ‘That’s nice. Thanks for coming.’ God really showed me that this work is about advancing His Kingdom more than it is about anything I’m going to accomplish. So we’ll send vol-unteers out to serve at ministries, but we want them to come home from the experience saying, ‘I see the beginning

of the big picture, and I want more,’ not just, ‘I’ve hammered nails.’ The CCDA Cafés are great because they are places to come together, and it adds credibility to the issue.

Q: You’ve attended many CCDA Na-tional Conferences; what impacted you most? I really sensed a corner-turning with CCDA last year, seeing the number of young people there, and their excite-ment. At JFA, we’re also very com-mitted to working with colleges and hopefully high schools too, and getting some students to CCDA conferences. I’m really excited about the CCDA In-stitute that will be hosted in our area in October. [Visit ccda.org/institutes for more information.]

Interviews for this section conducted by Pamela Toussaint.

Justice for All ministry coordinator Pat Vander Pol first heard about CCDA back in the 1980’s when John Perkins spoke at a college in her area. “We were going to rescue the world

when we first went to JP’s ministry in Mississippi,” she remembers. JFA gathers Christians from different denominations to share their time, resources and skills for the benefit of the poor in rural Iowa and surrounding areas. The ministry is located in Rock Valley, a town of 4,000, and also runs a warehouse that supplies quality food, clothing, toys, furniture and appliances to many ministries in Iowa for distribu-tion and sale through thrift stores. www.jfa-nwiowa.org/Ministries.

PAT VANDER POLJUSTICE FOR ALL MINISTRIES (JFA), IOWA

“A person can live in a house here for years and go to work every day, but until you get to know

their situation you wouldn’t see the need. It’s not easily identifiable.” —Pat Vander Pol

“WHEN I FIRST STARTED MY MINISTRY, I SAT DOWN WITH NINE

BLACK PASTORS IN DETROIT. THEY SAID, ‘WE UNDERSTAND

YOU HAVE WHITE PEOPLE IN YOUR CHURCH.’ I SAID, ‘YES.’

THEY TOLD ME, ‘ALL NINE OF OUR MINISTRIES ARE COMMITTED

TO SEEING YOUR CHURCH FAIL. BECAUSE THE LAST THING WE

NEED IS ANOTHER UNCLE TOM BRINGING WHITE PEOPLE BACK

TO DETROIT.’ I WENT BACK TO MY CONGREGATION AND TOLD

THEM [EXUBERANTLY] ‘PEOPLE HATE US! WE HAVE FINALLY

ARRIVED!’” —from a chapel talk at Anderson University in Indiana

Harvey Carey is the Founder and Senior Pastor of the Citadel of

Faith Covenant Church in Detroit, Michigan, known as the fastest-

growing multicultural church in the region. He is a dynamic speaker

whose inspiring leadership and vision for urban renewal unites

people across boundaries of race, age, class and culture.

A graduate of Trinity International University, Pastor Carey served

for nearly twenty years as the Youth and Assistant Pastor of the

Salem Baptist Church of Chicago, where he developed a nationally-

emulated teen ministry model that reached thousands of inner-city

youth in Chicago and in urban areas across the nation.

Carey’s international speaking ministry continues to change lives

with the transforming truth of God’s Word. He is a skilled commu-

nicator known for his ability to speak to any audience with passion,

clarity and authority.

Committed to providing real solutions for distressed communities,

Pastor Carey is Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Central

Detroit Christian Community Development Corporation, a non-profit

providing social services, housing and enrichment activities for

youth and children.

Pastor Carey resides in Central Detroit with his wife, Nancy and

daughter, Tiffany.

HARVEY CAREY“IMMIGRATION IS NEITHER A NEW PHENOMENON NOR A

RECENT POLITICAL CONCERN. IT HAS BEEN A TOPIC OF

NATIONAL INTEREST SINCE THE COLONIAL ERA. YET ANOTHER

IMPORTANT DIMENSION MUST BE ADDRESSED BY THOSE WHO

CLAIM TO BE CHRISTIANS…HOW ARE THE NEWLY ARRIVED

HISPANICS AFFECTING THE LANDSCAPE OF THE CHRISTIAN

FAITH IN THE UNITED STATES? HOW MIGHT THE PRESENCE OF

MILLIONS OF HISPANIC CHRISTIANS...INFORM ONE’S POSITION

VIS A VIS IMMIGRATION?” —from Christians at the Border:

Immigration, the Church, and the Bible

M. Daniel Carroll Rodas, who celebrates his heritage from both

Guatemala and the United States, is a professor of Old Testament

at Denver Seminary. He serves on the international editorial

boards of Religion and Theology (South Africa) and DavarLogos

(Argentina), is a contributing editor to Prism magazine, and is an

editorial consultant for Perspectivas (a publication of the Hispanic

Theological Initiative) and Ex Auditu. He is a board member of the

National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

Prior to his appointment to Denver Seminary, Daniel was a professor

of Old Testament and ethics and the director of graduate studies at

El Seminario Teológico Centroamericano in Guatemala City, where

he remains an adjunct professor. He also maintains connections to

Latin American theological education through his participation in

the accreditation commission of AETAL (Asociación Evangélica de

Educación Teológica en América Latina).

Daniel is the author of Contexts for Amos: Prophetic Poetics in Latin

American Perspective and editor of Theory and Practice in Old

Testament Ethics and other books. His latest work, Christians at the

Border, a biblical-theological orientation to Hispanic immigration,

was recently translated into Spanish.

Daniel earned a Ph.D. from the University of Sheffield, England, and

a Th.M. from Dallas Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Joan,

have two adult sons, Matthew and Adam.

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“The goal of our Emerging Leaders Initiative (ELI) is to inspire, train and connect the next generation of CCDA leaders to the founding fathers and mothers of the association,” says CCDA board member and vice-chair, Dr. Luis Carlo, who assists with the ELI curriculum. “This is not just a passing of the torch but also learning how to carry the torch,” adds John Liotti, another board member and architect of the ELI. The first Cohort in 2009 consisted of 18 ethnically diverse leaders who journeyed together for eighteen months of learning and exposure to older leaders of CCDA. The second ELI Cohort of under-40 aged leaders began this summer.

The first task of the 2009 Cohort was to retreat in Jackson, Mississippi with CCDA founder, Dr. Perkins, and association president, Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner. In the same way God exhorted the Israelite leaders to tell the children of His goodness, Dr. Perkins shared precious memories of God’s faithfulness and provision. “As we rode in the van Dr. Perkins would say, ‘Here’s the truck stop where me and my friends were the first Blacks to be served a meal,’ and, ‘Here’s where I

heard the Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech played on the radio.’” Dr. Perkins also showed the group the school his kids integrated and the courthouse where he was tried. “It was so real,” notes Liotti. “Most of us weren’t around during the civil rights movement. As a Caucasian, walking on that hallowed ground connected my head understanding to my heart.”

Dr. Williams-Skinner shared about the importance of prayer as the true way

to change things. “She taught us that in order to accomplish our goal it must be bathed in prayer, personally and corporately,” says Liotti. “It’s easy for me to do stuff because it’s

NEW COHORT STARTS THIS SUMMER

RE-IMAGINETHE FUTUREYOU WILL BE CALLED…RESTORER OF STREETS WITH DWELLINGS. ISAIAH 58:12C

my life calling. The question is, ‘Do I want to do that under my own power or the power of the Holy Spirit?’”

At the group’s second retreat in Santa Cruz, California, the Cohort enjoyed time with Coach and Ann Gordon, Luis and Elsa Carlo, and Noel and Marianne Castellanos. The CCDA leadership ministered to the group the way that parents would, passing on a legacy to their older children. “This is where they broke down the theologi-cal concepts of CCDA’s philoso-phy,” recalls Liotti. “We all recognized how important the torch is, and how much we need the Holy Spirit’s power to walk in that legacy.”

The conversation moved to a discus-sion of marriage and singlehood. “We talked a lot about the call of a single person to be a CCDA leader and what the implications of that are,” recalls Liotti, noting that singles are often asked to live a “much more unbalanced

life” because of their unmarried status. “The couples took away the burden that singles have in this work.” The un-married members of the Cohort made the point that they weren’t waiting for mates to fulfill their lives. One Cohort member noted, “We’re not ‘less called’ because we’re single.”

The group met in Cincinnati just before

the 2009 CCDA conference in October to debrief about the program and plan the next year’s Cohort. They decided to have one more retreat in February in Chicago to do a hands-on exami-nation of three CCDA organizations. The Cohort visited a small, a medium, and a large CCD ministry, including a trip to Lawndale Community Church. Members took notes on the different organizational structures as well as the challenges and victories over the

“This new generation is ‘post-racial’ and technologically savvy.

We need their strength now!” —Dr. John Perkins

“These aren’t novices in the movement…they are leaders of

leaders.” —John Liotti, emerging leader and CCDA board member

years. “We wanted to get a feel for the different stages of CCD organizations,” says Liotti.

Those chosen for the 2010 ELI Cohort officially began their two year journey this summer with a retreat in Califor-nia, and will meet informally at the CCDA conference in September. “One request was to have more time to-

gether,” says Liotti, who noted that the 2009 group “talked” a lot via Facebook, and held conference calls and prayer meetings by phone between retreats. “By the time relationships got es-

tablished, it was over.” The new group will also retreat in Jackson, follow up with an East Coast retreat, and end with a trip to Chicago in 2012. Begin-ning in 2011, ELI will run two different Cohort “tracks” simultaneously, in order to include more leaders in this important training process.

Based on an interview by Pamela Toussaint with John Liotti and Dr. John Perkins.

“MOBILIZING THE CHURCH TO RESTORE UNDER-RESOURCED COMMUNITIES”

CCDA Regional Conferences provide opportunities in your area of the country for inspiration, encouragement, training, and new relationships with people who are involved in similar types of ministry. The CCDA Regional Conference brings a taste of the National Conference to different regions around the country. Learn and share with each other out of your own local experiences of Christian Community Development.

The CCDA Regional Conference will be coming to...

CHATTANOOGA, TN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIALife Pacific College

COLUMBUS, OH BUFFALO, NY

November 12 & 13, 2010 February 11 & 12, 2011 March 4 & 5, 2011 April 29 & 30, 2011

WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH...EMERGING CCDA LEADERS

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| Susie (Kook) Gamez, emcee at our National Conference in Miami. |

For the past 12 National Conferences, CCDA advisory board member Craig Wong has faithfully hosted a small networking event to gather Asians of every ethnicity. Last year, an unprecedented fifty attendees participated. “There was tremendous enthusiasm, and a great expectation of what could be.” We caught up with Craig and new CCDA board members Patty Prasada-Rao and Soong-Chan Rah (above, left) to get their insights on this growing and vital constituency and discuss the future of Asian partnership and participation in CCDA.

ASIAN INFLUENCE IN CCDAON THE VERGE

Craig: After last year’s event, I sent out a post-roundtable survey and asked a number of questions, including: ‘What is your immigration history? How did you get invited to the CCDA National Conference and why did you come?’ Of the sixty percent that have responded so far, eighty-one percent were born here [in the U.S.]. About half came to the conference via the spon-sorship or suggestion of their church or parachurch leader. The average age of attendees was 23-29, so it was mostly college age, and post-college. There were also a high number in the 30-39 age group. The reason most came was for inspiration/vision, then networking/instruction, and friend-ship/people, in that order. I think this reflects that this was only their first or second time attending.

Soong-Chan: Sure, you’re excited and you come to the conference and get a lot of information. Some of it is brand new for people, so they are soaking it up. But about the third year you attend you may hit a wall where you need the networking and the relationship build-ing that can be ongoing throughout the year, rather than just sitting hearing speakers once a year. We also need to be inclusive of the wider range of Asian ethnicities, and help older attendees network with younger attendees, maybe through internship opportuni-ties. For the long term, the developing and building of deeper relationships is critical. We haven’t told Asians: ‘This is what it means to be part of the CCDA movement.’ This is the transi-tion we’ve had difficulty making.

Craig: The majority of Asians come to the conference as part of their college campus association or parachurch ministry, such as InterVarsity, Campus Crusade, and Navigators, or organiza-tions like Mission Year, which have a fairly high Asian participation rate. These are also ministries that have an interest in urban engagement.

Soong-Chan: Younger folks showing up doesn’t surprise me. The first gen-eration Asian has a lot of other things going on, working with the first and second generation and their issues and concerns. Yet first generation immigrants need help moving from a mission field mindset to a missional mindset. It’s essential for them to be at CCDA so they don’t slip back into that former mindset.

Craig: The survey also asked, ‘In engaging the Asian community, how sensitive has CCDA been?’ Most said we had a poor cultural knowledge of, and sensitivity to, Asians. (Twenty-five percent said ‘good’). We also got mostly ‘poor’ ratings in terms of reaching out to Asian constituents to attend the CCDA National Conference. Many responded ‘good’ or ‘fair’ to the question of valuing Asian contributions to the CCDA dialogue.

Patty: Attendees noted they felt much of CCDA’s work has been around black–white issues. Interestingly, the culture of the Bible is more similar to Asian culture than western culture, which helps in understanding Scripture and the context of scriptural principles. At the same time, in America we’ve often been outsiders so we understand that feeling and perspective.

Soong-Chan: Multi-ethnic congrega-tions and ministries sending Asians to the conference is good. They will be open to CCDA. Our association’s historic commitment to racial recon-ciliation will be an attractive track record, and seen as a good example to follow. This could be a major way to draw Asian pastors with multi-ethnic congregations, a key constituency.

Craig: Only in the last 10 years have we seen significant growth in Latino participation in CCDA. The movement has also been focused in the South (started in Mississippi), the Midwest (founded in Chicago) and mid-Amer-ica. The majority of Asians live on the coasts. Many Asians didn’t feel CCDA was relevant. Greater attention given to Asian church development in social justice ministry would help us have a heart for this. Our challenges have to do with Asian identity: ‘born here’ and ‘immigrated here.’ Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Southeast Asian and South Asian—every experience is very dif-ferent. We want to invite the larger

CCDA community into the breadth of our stories.

Patty: Because of Asian cultures’ deep respect for authority, sometimes our

voices are not heard at the table. There is also a culture of mistrust in some inner city neighborhoods between African Americans and Asians. For many young people, CCD work may not be their parents’ dream for their child. They’d rather they become doctors, lawyers, engineers.  Some experience resistance from families for fully en-gaging in the ‘3 R’s’ of CCD.

Soong-Chan: We’re also used to re-ceiving our Christian education in the context of the white evangelical world. At most large evangelical gatherings (such as Billy Graham, Rick Warren, or Bill Hybel events), Asians are almost always the second largest group of at-tendees, next to whites. John Perkins provides a critical alternative to that paradigm. Also, as we get a broader cross-section into CCDA, including upper middle class Asians and recent struggling immigrants, this will only enrich the conversations and help the movement. We need to begin hearing from a wider range of Asian voices, not just ‘the Asian voice.’

Craig: I’d like to see more workshops led by Asians at the conference; not just about Asian issues, but the bigger topics in CCD kingdom work. A plenary session on Asian culture will help the broader CCDA community understand the issues, and see how heterogeneous the Asian community is.

Soong-Chan: I want to see the gather-ing continue and deepen, affirming the

“In America we’ve often been outsiders... We are neither black

nor white [but] have greater entrée into both communities.

We are ‘bridge people.’” —Patty Prasada-Rao

CCD work that’s already being done [in the Asian community]. There are first generation Asians doing the work of CCD but don’t even know the CCDA language.

Patty: Opportunities where we can connect with other Asians, and with those working with Asians, are great. Many Asians are connected back to their home coun-tries and the work of CCD is so important there (like in my home country of India).  We would like to

know that our voices are being heard and our input valued. We need help to see what our role in CCDA can be.

Compiled and edited by Pamela Toussaint from interviews conducted with Craig Wong, Soong-Chan Rah and Patty Prasada-Rao in 2010.

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“AMERICA IS A NATION THAT HAS BEEN CONSTANTLY

REJUVENATED BY IMMIGRANTS. FOR CENTURIES THEY HAVE

ADDED NEW NOTES TO THE AMERICAN SONG. THERE IS NOW

A CRITICAL MASS OF MUSLIMS IN AMERICA. MOST ESTIMATES

PUT THE TOTAL POPULATION OF MUSLIMS IN AMERICA AT SIX

MILLION, ABOUT THE SAME AS THE NUMBER OF JEWS AND

ALMOST TRIPLE THE NUMBER OF EPISCOPALIANS. WHAT

NOTES WILL ISLAM CONTRIBUTE TO THE AMERICAN SONG?”

—from Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle

for the Soul of a Generation

Named by US News & World Report as one of America’s Best

Leaders of 2009, Eboo Patel is the founder and executive director of

Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based institution building the global

interfaith youth movement. He is a member of President Obama’s

Advisory Council of the White House Office of Faith-Based and

Neighborhood Partnerships and serves on the Religious Advisory

Committee of the Council on Foreign Relations, the board of the

Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the National Committee

of the Aga Khan Foundation USA. Eboo has spoken at the TED

Conference, the Clinton Global Initiative, and the Nobel Peace Prize

Forum, and at universities around the world.

Eboo is a Young Global Leader in the World Economic Forum and as

an Ashoka Fellow is part of a select group of social entrepreneurs

whose ideas are changing the world. Named one of ten young

Muslim visionaries shaping Islam in America by Islamica Magazine,

Eboo was also chosen by Harvard’s Kennedy School Review as one

of five future policy leaders to watch.

Author of the award-winning book Acts of Faith, Eboo Patel is also

a regular contributor to the Washington Post, National Public Radio,

and CNN. He has written for the Chicago Tribune, the Review of

Faith and International Affairs, and the Sunday Times of India.

Eboo Patel holds a Ph.D. in the sociology of religion from Oxford

University, where he studied on a Rhodes scholarship.

EBOO PATEL“WE CARE FOR THE LAND. THE LAND CARES FOR US. AND WE

CARE FOR EACH OTHER. SURE, WE HAVE TO MAKE MONEY

OR WE’D HAVE TO SHUT THE DOORS, BUT PROFIT ISN’T OUR

MAIN MOTIVE. IT BECOMES THE BY-PRODUCT OF TREATING

PEOPLE WITH DIGNITY, RESPECT, AND MUTUALITY…WE ALL

HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY IN CREATING A COMMUNITY OF PEOPLE

WHO CARE FOR A BUSINESS THAT THEN CARES FOR THEM.

WE BELIEVE THAT IF WE EVER STOPPED DOING THAT, WE

WOULD IMPLODE.” —Entrepreneurs Cheryl and Ralph Broetje

donate 100% of the proceeds from their cherry crop each year to

charitable organizations.

Cheryl Broetje and her husband, Ralph, own and operate Broetje

Orchards, an apple growing, packing, and shipping business they

founded in the southeastern part of Washington state. Broetje

Orchards’ mission statement declares that it is “a quality fruit

company bearing fruit, fruit that will last.” Its products carry the label

“First Fruits of Washington.”

The Broetje’s are the parents of nine children, three biological and

six who are East Indian by birth. They live in the community of Vista

Hermosa, together with many of the Latino immigrant families who

work with them.

In 1986 Cheryl founded the Center For Sharing, a faith-based

nonprofit that houses a servant-leadership school in Pasco,

Washington. The Center for Sharing helps to equip laypeople to

explore, discover, and put into practice God’s call on their lives in

ways that serve the specific needs of others. The Broetjes have

established 25 other programs in the areas of housing, medical

care, and youth ministries, including the Jubilee Youth Ranch, a

residential community that currently serves teen boys looking for

new beginnings.

CHERYL BROETJE

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP–for individuals who desire to identify with and support CCDA and participate in the opportunities provided by CCDA but are not a part of an organization that is a CCDA member. ORGANIZATIONAL MEMBERSHIP–for organizations who desire to align themselves with the philosophy of Christian Community Development and who desire their people to participate in the opportunities provided by CCDA through membership.* This category includes Colleges & Universities, Denominations, and National Ministries.

BECOME A MEMBER OR RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP WITH CCDA

MEMBERSHIP is for any individual or organization that desires to be identified with CCDA and advance the movement of Christian Community Development (CCD). As a member you are saying:

I want to connect with like-minded Christians from diverse ethnic, economical, political, and denominational backgrounds who are passionate about loving the poor, doing justice, and restoring under-resourced communities.I want to help create and participate in opportunities that train others in the philosophy and practices of Christian Community Development.I want to participate in and help promote events that inspire this movement to accomplish the vision of “seeing wholistically restored communities with Christians fully engaged in the process of transformation.”

CATEGORIES OF MEMBERSHIP

I encourage you to identify yourself with this movement of God’s people by becoming a member of CCDA. I also encourage you to become an ambassador for this movement by introducing your friends to this philosophy of ministry we call Christian Community Development.”– NOEL CASTELLANOS, CCDA CEO

For more info, visit ccda.org/membership or call Dave Clark 312.733.0200

JOIN THE MOVEMENT!

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CHRISTIANCOMMUNITYDEVELOPMENTASSOCIATION

INDY2011National Conference

OCT 12-16