It's only Halloween and all I can think about is XMAS.

Christmas is just around the corner which means..... SUPER OVERLOAD at Cross & Crown. In years past we have done a full out Christmas store where parents come in and shop for their kids. They get so many points per child to shop with. This year we have decided to get the community more involved so we are doing family adoption. I'm pumped.

Since we are doing family adoption, we are going a different route with the Rock Island youth kids. We are having a Christmas party for our 20 most involved kids at my house. At that party we are hoping to buy each of our kids a nice hoodie (which is all the rage and they will wear out in no time) and then we are putting a bunch of good gifts in the middle to play dirty santa( for example, DVD's, video games, CD's, clothes) . I think it will be so much fun. This is where the blog community can get involved. And this is also the part we have a hard time blogging about.

We are thinking of averaging it out to spend about 75-100 dollars on each kid. I know this is alot. But this is the big time of year we do gifts and we want it to be very special. We are asking families that if they would like to sponsor a kid or know of an organization/company that would like to write a big check for all 20 kids... please let me know ASAP. Whoever sponsors is promised some pretty amazing pictures and maybe even some video clips from the party. So, even if your bank account looks like mine...don't feel bad...just put the word out to your friends with money. Ha! Next blog will be lots of photos from our Halloween hangout time on Wednesday. Blessings all!

Oh P.S. If you are interested in sponsoring the Xmas bash... email me at chandy.stout@mac.com

Empowering, not enabling!

We are trying to light a fire under some of the people in the community.. and it might just work. I've learned more and more that if we are going to make a difference, we need to be about the work of empowering NOT enabling. I don't want to march into the neighborhood and start trying to change things. I want to build relationship with people and then when they come into a relationship with the Lord, they will be the one's doing the changing.

So we're preaching a new sermon to the kids at Rock Island. In the past it has been, "get an education and work hard so that you can get out of this neighborhood." Now the message is, "work hard to lead a change in this neighborhood right now".

Our newest idea to accomplish empowerment is our neighborhood advisory board. We are inviting different leaders from the neighborhood, both young and old, black, white and mexican to form a neighborhood association that Paul will lead. Together they will meet on a regular basis to address needs in the neighborhood. Can you imagine what it is going to look like to have a 25 year old ex-felon, a 40 year old single mom of 6 that doesn't speak English and a 15 year old middle school drop out leading a community out of poverty and danger to a picture of stability and family values? Only partnered together with the Holy Spirit could anyone accomplish this.

This past Thursday night I sat outside on the grass in front of the mission talking with one of the teenagers. It was beautiful outside and there was a nice breeze. I felt so much peace being able to sit there outside and talk about God in the middle of the hood. It was getting pretty late though and had been dark for about an hour. As I talked more and more with the 14 year old girl, she was pretty jumpy and always looking around. We'll call her Sheila. Sheila is usually very skiddish, she has been in and out of DHS custody her whole life as her parents have been in and out of prison. She exhibits all the text books signs of a child with a past of abuse and neglect. But, she has such a sweet, sweet spirit. I could tell that Sheila did not feel safe outside in that neighborhood and so I began to tell her about a dream I had for a day when there would be no more gangs, prostitutes or violence on that corner. After I told her of the dream I asked her, "What will you do if this neighborhood is totally transformed like I dream?" and she said, "I'll lay in the grass on this corner every night". So we prayed together and I prayed that there will come a day when I'll drive by and see Sheila laying in that patch of grass... then I'll know we've done our job.

Community.

The CCDA conference was great. I really did learn so much from it. One of the best things we learned was about how to be a community together with the people. We also learned how to empower people in the neighborhood to stand up, lead, and better their community. We don't need to do it for them. My fear has always been thatwe would come to a point where we would seem like white, middle class people who just want to come down here and hand out stuff, and not really get to know and do life with people. That fear is definitely NOT reality. Yesterday at work my eyes were opened to all the ways we are having the opporunity to live in community with our friends and family in the neighborhood , here are a few simple examples from just the past week:

+ Yesterday started off with a neighbor coming in and asking for a referral for a plumber. I know that sounds simple, but she could have asked anyone, instead she came down and knocked on our door to ask what we thought.

+ One of the middle school boys who has been having trouble in school came sprinting down the street to show us he got a B on his 9 weeks social studies test. We were so proud!

+ At least 15 different kids rang the doorbell to see if we would buy chocolate candy bars they are selling for a school fundraiser, now that is definitely neighborly.

+ One of the men in the neighborhood who didn't have to work because of the weather came down and took out all our trash.

+ A father and son in the neighborhood noticed the lawn needed to be mowed while we were at the conference and so they mowed our lawn.

+ The local middle school invited Ron, Luke and I to play in the parent/teacher volleyball game.

+ And then there was yesterday... It was about 5:25 and we were just about to close down the after school program for the day. Ron and Luke were out back playing basketball with some of the kids and I was downstairs when the front door flew open and a little 8 year old neighborhood girl stood in front of me screaming, covered in blood. I usually pride myself in being in control during chaos here, but I must admit I panicked a little. I grabbed the girl and sat her on the couch, once I saw the bone in her chin exposed I yelled for Luke and Ron from the back. She had been playing on the stairs in front of Cross and Crown when she fell face first from the top to the bottom. It wasn't as bad as we first thought, but she did end up getting quite a few stitches. From all that chaos, the thing that stuck out to me the most was the little boy she was with when she fell. They didn't go running to their mom in the house across the street. They came running to Rock Island. And I remember the little boy saying over and over, as his friend cried, "We didn't know where else to go"....... WOW....... I truly believe that is how the Lord leads people to us here at the mission. We aren't going to be bible beaters or require them to quote the sinners prayer and be baptized before we help. We are going to be here regardles... and when they are truly feeling that they have no where else to go, they WILL ring the doorbell. And we'll be right here waiting.

I feel so privileged to be able to serve the Lord in this way.

Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
Matthew 7:7

You can find me in St. Louey!

Man....this is good!

For those of you who don't know. Our entire staff is currently in St. Louis for the annual CCDA (Christian Community Development Association) conference. It's a life-changer. I mean, it is so great to get together with other brothers and sisters who are called to do urban community family all over the nation and world just like us. We have been here since Tuesday and I have sat and listened to some of the best speakers I've ever heard. I had the privilege of sitting in a 5 hour class on Tuesday with Shane Claiborne (author of Irresistible Revolution). He is a radical... and I love it. Today I sat in a workshop about the Christian approach to immigration issues.. and perhaps my favorite part is the bible studies every morning with Dr. John Perkins... he is so full of passion and wisdom. At 77 years old he still speaks with such power and conviction it shakes the room.

The worship is great, the people are great and the knowledge is great.... BUT.... I miss all my kiddos. I'm so excited to take what I've learned here back to them. One of the great things I have learned is the need for empowerment. I don't want to preach to my kids, I want to teach them to preach so that they can do it themselves. So that THEY can revive their neighborhood with the Lord....not me or Ron or Paul or whoever. There have been amazing quotes all week, but perhaps my favorite is this...

" Go to the people,
Live among them,
Learn from them,
Love them,
Start with what they know,
Build on what they have:
But of the best leaders,
When their task is done,
The people will remark
'We have done it ourselves' "

Unexpected Comment.

I was having a really REALLY crummy day today, nothing could go right... but then a little 7 year old boy said to me, "you look different today...very pretty"... and then he just walked away. My day was immediately brightened. Sometimes the Lord knows just what to send to turn my frown upside down.