“I’m gonna kill your mom” said the spray-painted van across the street from our inner city mission site.

Welcome to the mission field! Where a house of God had once ministered to the hearts and minds of this south-east side neighborhood, evil and degradation had crept in and set up housekeeping along with mice, spiders and mold. Overgrown bushes hid vandals and illicit behavior from parents and police and we were there to reclaim the church from drug dealers, prostitutes and the ravages of misuse.

The “we” was the dynamic duo of my son Ted and myself. Ted works full time and goes to law school at night. I was thrilled that he was willing to use his very limited vacation days to work with me, so we signed up to do what ever needed to be done to help during the summer mission week organized by Faith Hope & Love.

I had met Merlin Gonzales of Faith Hope & Love several years ago and always thought that his organization’s concept, A Mission Trip in Your Own Back Yard, seemed like a really good idea—helping people right in your own city or area is a concept that is a mirror of much of New Testament ministry.

We received instructions that we were to be part of a team that would rehab a vacant church, located at 1634 E. Minnesota Street. The plan is to reincorporate the site into relationship with the community and eventually to plant a new church within its walls.

When we showed up last Monday morning, we joined a youth group that had arrived the night before from WellSpring Church in Pendleton, Indiana. The first person Ted and I met was our team leader, Facundo “Fac” Cortez, who introduced us to WellSpring’s Pastor Lynn Furrow. We met the others. Then, assignments were handed out, and it became obvious very quickly that Fac and Pastor Lynn lead by example, working tirelessly and supporting our team with true servant hearts.

Ted and I immediately felt the love that our team members showed not only each other but to us as well. Although they had spent Sunday night sleeping on the floor in the parsonage in 90+ degree heat and no air conditioning, there were no complaints only joking references to the situation.

Although the church building had been vacant for two-and-a-half years, it has good bones. It’s a solid brick building, but the property was totally overgrown with bushes and weeds, soffits needed to be repaired and windows replaced. The building was full of useless, badly damaged and soiled chairs, couches, broken office equipment, old books and the basement was tainted with mold.

There was obviously too much to do. The WellSpring people thought so. We thought so. But we dug in and soon had cleaned out the office that connected the parsonage to the church. The furniture was incredibly heavy, but the group effort made short work of the project, and Ted and I moved on to the assignment we had requested, outside landscaping. (Note: At the time of our request, we didn’t know how hot it was going to be.) But the work continued. And when we ran out of dumpster space, we called for help and another magically appeared. When extra effort was needed on a job, extra people showed up just in time. It happened over and over again. We could see that God was orchestrating our work and promoting our progress.

In every mission adventure, Christians set out to make a difference for others, to gain a global perspective, to reboot their faith and try to be the hands and feet of Christ, Ted and I were no different. And as others have experienced time and time again, we ended up being discipled to, being initiated into God’s Kingdom as active participants and, most importantly, experiencing how it feels to love like God loves.

We were instructed not to walk outside the fenced area alone. The painted van parked across the street from the church was an ominous reminder of the sadness and danger that lurked in the area. Despite this, a few afternoons the young people did venture out into the community with their youth pastor to pray over the area, to distribute invitations to a Wednesday night block party and to deliver food. They were greeted cheerfully by people telling them how much they appreciated what we were doing, others praying for them and people offering time and money to help.

Over the five days our Anderson/Indianapolis/Pendleton team of 20 was joined each day by others from Evansville, Baltimore (MD) and Springfield (IL). Although the temperature was over 90 degrees every day, and our group, totaling 118 people, had never worked together before, God orchestrated our efforts beautifully.

The next steps to engage the community include starting a food pantry in the building and handing out school supplies. And because they are here in our own back yard, we can continue to be a part of the development of this special place.

Our faith took us into this community. The love of Christ surrounded us, and when Wednesday night rolled around, 250 African American, Hispanic and white neighbors shared food and prayer together with our teams and gave impetus to the plan to reclaim this property for God.

Blessings,
Jim