Urban Onramps

To be crass, I like PRISM because they publish my articles.

But I love being associated with PRISM (I’m listed on the masthead as a contributing editor, I believe) because they love Jesus and are seeking to embody God’s desire for justice in the world. PRISM is the voice of Evangelicals for Social Action. I don’t agree with everything PRISM promotes. In fact, there was a recent issue of the weekly e-newsletter where I agreed with little. But PRISM is a space where one can have a civil, thoughtful exchange on a wide range of practical issues. And the discourse remains civil. How many places do you know like that? For example, though I openly embrace capitalism from my perch as an urban minister, my voice is heard and considered, and respectfully engaged.

Another reason I like PRISM is because Kristyn and the team come up with cool covers, like this one:

This is the cover of the September 05 issue where I had the cover story on “Surfacing Hispanic Leaders.” Here is the PDF of that article.

P.S. - I’m not writing this post at 413am PST, but rather at 715am EST. I’m waiting for my flight home from JFK to LAX.

I went back to my hotel room but couldn’t get too much done, because I had a lunch appointment at 11:30am. Met up with some folks from Mars Hill Church in G.R. Along for the ride was DJ Chuang. We ate Chick-Fil-A — MAN, THAT’S A GOOD SANDWICH. I wish we had Chick-Fil-A back in SoCal, btw. DJ and I went back to my hotel room and I checked out. I was late checking out, but they didn’t seem to mind. Headed back to a 2:30pm meeting, but ran into another co-conspirator. Together we conspired as we sat on the carpet. Ran into Bill Haley - man it was good to see that brother from DC. Jeremy Del Rio has been taking pictures all conference long, and he got some “networking” shots of me with some folks. I hope I don’t look like a space alien. Hung out at the TechMission booth - how cool is that? Andrew Sears ran the entire, 8-laptop cybercafe OFF HIS CELL PHONE. HE RAN A WHOLE CYBERCAFE, NETWORKED, OFF A CELL PHONE! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? I confess I didn’t think it would work well. But when we learned the Marriott wanted $7,000 for internet access, we were forced to consider “other options.” Ran into Randy Wallace from Appalachia - that man needs a blog! He told me things about Appalachian culture that I never imagined. Good, good stuff. Saw Angel Halstead and a good guy, Jeff Bass(?) from Emmanuel Gospel Center. When I went back outside the booth area I threw some quarters over the rail to the floor below, hoping to hit Eric Iverson. Well, not really hit him with quarters, but more to surprise him that money was falling out of the sky. Like manna from heaven. (This is what you do when you have been intensely paying attention to others for an extended period of time - you need a break.) Went downstairs, found DJ again, found Jeremy again, razzed some Phillies fans while we stood in line at Starbucks, saw Rick Sawyer from Miami, we plotted (CCDA Miami ‘08, anyone?) Saw Dean Cowles and Steve Park (Little Lights in DC, good man). Saw Charlotte again and DJ again and Jeremy again. Met Steven Ortiz from Philly, who does tech stuff for the Christian Community Health Fellowship - we are going to be friends. Saw Mary Erickson and her assistant at the hotel bar, trying to get their laptop online. I tried to help. It fixed itself, really. Reeled in Flo, who had gone with Caroline the summer intern to see The Liberty Bell. Flo and I plotted. Came in, got my bags, DJ and I got a cab, we came to this Starbucks near University of the Arts and now we are waiting to get picked up by his wife. I’m on my way to New York City, Bed-Stuy, to see my awesome in-laws. I miss my beautiful wife Kafi and my son Samuel and my bitty boo Micah.

Thursday was a good day. I had a nice long chat with Bill Denzel with Gospel Light to start the day. Connected with Ronnie Harris for a “walking meeting” where we talked shop as we walked the streets around the hotel. Came back to facilitate a technology forum at 1115. For lunch I went back to my room, got videotaped by Jamal from TechMission, and didn’t eat anything, because I had a 1pm workshop on “Protest and Invest.” It went well. I shared the mic with Donna from ele:Vate. Then I saw Flo from Harambee. We ate chicken wings and caught up on Harambee stuff (I’ve been gone a lot in the past three weeks). Then I was scheduled to facilitate another discussion, emerging generations. Then at 4pm I had to check my computer, cuz I knew I was supposed to be somewhere… while I did that, ran into Jeremy White (formerly of the White House FBO), Lisa Harper (who just finished her master’s in human rights at Columbia, congrats), Chris Troy, and a whole raft of people from Grand Rapids (great town, great people). Then I remembered - I had early dinner with ele:Vate team members scheduled. Walked a couple of blocks to the restaurant. Ate some good food, saw Amy Sherman and also Brian Jenkins from Entrenuity. I checked out of dinner a tad early because I went and caught the SEPTA train out to Swarthmore. Dinner at Andy and Catherine Crouch’s house was serene. Their son is a baseball fan, so we rose and fell with the Phillies’ fortunes. Took the train back, got in at 10pm. Went to my room to drop off my computer bag (how I ended up lugging that thing around escapes me). Then went to the Emerging Leaders meetup in Noel’s room. Dude! Andrew Sears was there and described a festive, convivial atmosphere this way: “It’s like a college party, only no one is grinding in the corner and we’re not sloshing around make beer foam on the ground.” Marcus Thorne, Marcos Gamez, Eric Iverson, Shane Claiborne, Noel Castellanos, and a whole bunch of suchlike were therein. Larry Acosta came to the door and knocked. I opened it and told them we had reached our quota of Mexicans for this party. Ha! I got jokes. He came and I left with Gil from Miami. We talked shop. They’ve got great things going on at his Miami-area, Spanish-language dominant megachurch that has a majority of Colombians - not Mexicans, not Puerto Ricans, but Colombians - as its base.

Today I got up a little late for an 8am breakfast hangout with Harambee folks and Lake Avenue Church urban youth staff. But a good time was had by all. There was this cute, cute little baby at the table. She knew she was cute, too. Her parents are in for a challenge! Saw Charlotte Van Fleet at JP’s bible study. Talked. Plotted. Dreamed. And now I’ve got a doc I’ve got to send back home before I head to lunch with some good co-conspirators. Sometime this afternoon I’ll begin the trek home. Then no significant travel until late October.

so far: wayne gordon, john perkins, lula ballton, lisa cummins, noel castellanos, gordon murphy, vera mae perkins, johnathan perkins, louis carlo, alvin bibbs, andrew sears, marcus thorne, rob robinson, ron mcconico, jimmy dorrell, shane claiborne (who mentioned harambee in his book and we just got a volunteer because of that mention, yessss)

9/11 jumpers:

PRESIDENT KARZAI: Ma’am, before I go to remarks by my brother, President Musharraf, terrorism was hurting us way before Iraq or September 11th. The President mentioned some examples of it. These extremist forces were killing people in Afghanistan and around for years, closing schools, burning mosques, killing children, uprooting vineyards, with vine trees, grapes hanging on them, forcing populations to poverty and misery.

They came to America on September 11th, but they were attacking you before September 11th in other parts of the world. We are a witness in Afghanistan to what they are and how they can hurt. You are a witness in New York. Do you forget people jumping off the 80th floor or 70th floor when the planes hit them? Can you imagine what it will be for a man or a woman to jump off that high? Who did that? And where are they now? And how do we fight them, how do we get rid of them, other than going after them? Should we wait for them to come and kill us again? That’s why we need more action around the world, in Afghanistan and elsewhere, to get them defeated — extremism, their allies, terrorists and the like.

Here’s the video of this comment.

more links:

• Dante’s Inferno Test: I’m in purgatory
• Guru.com: Find a grant/proposal writer/editor
• One reason why illegal immigrants are staying longer: Navarrette explains how the price to cross the border went up
• The Integral Mission Blog: wholistic mission from Latin America. C. Rene Padilla, Brian McLaren and others
• Stutts University: The Oldest, The Richest, The Best
• Anglican Church Update: Global South Primates: “Time to take initial steps toward formation of “separate ecclesiastical structure in the USA” - in other words, they ain’t gonna take it any longer
• Wal-Mart to sell $4 generic drugs
• Gibson. Apocalypto: I’m looking forward to seeing this movie
• Sometimes sharing the whole truth isn’t easy
• How the Internet is changing denominations
• Urkel is not dead
• Would Martin Luther King, Jr. Really Have Been A Republican? Not as lunatic as it seems

I flew the overnighter last night to New York JFK. I arrived at 6am this morning. I took the AirTrain to the Howard Beach train, then caught the A train into Manhattan. Got off at Penn Station. Went to the Amtrak booth, bought a ticket, hopped the 810am train to Philly. Got to 30th Street Station at 940am. Took a cab to the downtown Marriott. Got to the CCDA board meeting in time for the 10am start. Met until 530pm with that board. Went and checked in to the hotel room. Went back to the main lobby to meet the CCDA board again. We went to dinner on the 51st floor of some building. Ate, met, listened to dignitaries, then got loose about 10:10pm. Walked back. Got into the room. Stared at the computer screen. Called home, talked at length to Samuel, then a bit to Kafi. It was a good day, but I’m just tired now. I’m about to fall into a deep, coma-like sleep…

I’m at Weinerschnitzel in Mission Viejo, off the 5 freeway. It’s me and Brandon Barnes from Harambee. We are doing a missions booth at Presbyterian Church of the Master. We got hungry. So we came over here. They give you one hour of free wifi with a purchase. It’s 955am. Brandon was dutiful and got a breakfast burrito. Me? I’ve got two chili dogs and fries and a Dr. Pepper. Life is good. I pulled up the laptop to create a new Harambee poster, “Evangelism and Discipleship at Harambee: The Way of Jesus Brings Life.”

My brother, Andrew, was quoted yesterday in this Burbank Leader newspaper article on bus ridership. Then his son (and my nephew) Andres is mentioned in the next to last paragraph of this article in today’s paper. Andres just started ninth grade at Burroughs High in Burbank (my alma mater) and he’s already running varsity cross country. He placed 20th at a meet in Arcada. I’m proud of my nephew.

“They” say that PRISM magazine’s web site will be updated and re-launched soon. But the site is still not up. So with the permission of the editor, here are PDFs of two articles from the recent issue.

Abner Ramos: Building The Bridge: A young Latino leader seeks the high (and hard) road to racial reconciliation

Glen Kinoshita: On Earth As It Is In Heaven: A conversation with Adam Edgerly and Ken Fong, pastors of churches that uphold racial reconciliation as a core value

Ramos and Kinoshita are two good men, and I’m proud to call them friends. Abner is an Intervarsity Christian Fellowship campus director for East Los Angeles College, and also works on the Intervarsity’s La Fe national Latino initiative. Glen is the director of multiethnic programs at Biola University. Kudos to Kristyn Komarnicki for reeling them in.

By the way, while I was in Canada I heard PRISM founder Ron Sider on his new book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience. One thing he said stuck with me: As it relates to our giving practices, Christians are disobedient. Disobedient. Of all of the critiques, barbs, jabs, and challenges regarding Christianity and wealth, that stuck for me. I also think it will preach. No one wants to think that they’ve been disobedient. A challenge on ideological grounds can be explained away. But a simple old “you are disobedient” sticks. It’s like telling someone, “You’re wrong” and leaving it at that. It sticks in your conscience. I think I’ve been disobedient in the area of giving, and it’s not a fact that I can blame on someone else or deflect toward some other, more pressing issue. No, I’ve been disobedient. And the remedy is to start being obedient.

Joshua: “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

Dude with sword: “Neither.”

(full text here. image by Derek Perkins)

Jesus is living water. But do you find yourself licking the cup, seeking to quench your thirst, rather than drinking the living water that’s inside the cup?

Mario Loyola is a blogger at The Corner. Here’s the start of one of his posts this morning:

Listen, Infidels [Mario Loyola]
I hope the clerics in Pakistan are holding their breath while we quickly remove the Pope in obedience to their commands. It won’t take but a moment. Meanwhile I understand that they have responded favorably to my own demand, namely that they immediately revise the Islamic female dress code, which in its current form is deeply offensive to Latinos and all that we hold dear.

I take that as his attempt to bring a little levity to the situation.

more headlines:

• Indonesian Christians executed (via Persecuted Infidels in Indonesia)
• Noam Chomsky is #1 at Amazon after Hugo Chavez held his book up at the UN. PLUS: Hugo Chavez, one-man Axis of Crazy.
• CDC backs HIV test for all between 13 and 64
• Last chance for Fitzmas about to fade away: Fitzgerald given way out of Libby CIA leak case: Judge says he can dismiss case if classified secrets will be revealed
• Schwarzeneggar gives up Hummers
• Outnumbered and short of food, British troops win six-day battle with Taliban
• India’s Cash-for-Fatwa Scandal
• From the “What is the world coming to?” department: Russians are urged to take the afternoon off, go home and make a baby. This situation can be directly attributed to Russia’s pro-abortion policies, but I’ll leave that commentary to others.
• Noam Chomsky: A Scholar Is Alive, Actually, and Hungry for Debate
• Very interesting piece in StrategyPage (ht instapundit):

Iraqi Tribes Turn on al Qaeda

September 22, 2006: Coalition forces in Iraq have suddenly received the manpower equivalent of three light infantry divisions. They did not suffer any repercussions in domestic politics as a result, and now have a huge edge over al-Qaeda in al-Anbar province. How did this happen? Tribal leaders in the largely Sunni province on the Syrian border got together and signed an agreement to raise a tribal force of 30,000 fighters to take on foreign fighters and terrorists.

These leaders have thrown in with the central government in Baghdad. This is a decisive blow to al Qaeda, which has been desperately trying to fight off an Iraqi government that is getting stronger by the week. Not only are the 30,000 fighters going to provide more manpower, but these tribal fighters know the province much better than American troops – or the foreign fighters fighting for al Qaeda. Also, this represents just over 80 percent of the tribes in al-Anbar province now backing the government.

The biggest gain for the coalition is that they will now have forces on their side that know the terrain in al Anbar province. This is a very big deal in a campaign against the terrorists. When a force knows the terrain, it can make life miserable for its enemies. Just ask any Army unit that has gone through the National Training Center at Fort Irwin. The OPFOR (Opposing Force) has fought there for so long that they know all the good ambush sites. Units coming there for a training session don’t have that knowledge – and they pay the price in the exercises held there.

This is just one sign that the tide is turning in favor of the coalition in Iraq. Many of the Sunni leaders have decided that the Shia-dominated Iraqi government is not going away any time soon, nor is the democratic process. As such, the tribal leaders have now decided that it is better to be on their good side rather than to be seen as uncooperative. Constant Arab casualties in al Qaeda attacks – and al Qaeda’s desire for a caliphate – have not helped matters any, either.

On the other hand, by signing up with the government, these tribal leaders will hasten the construction of government services, and gain something else just as valuable – the government’s gratitude. In essence, the tribal leaders have slowly been won over by a combination of coalition perseverance and al Qaeda strategic ineptness.

This agreement, if it holds, is a win for the United States, which is looking for measurable progress….

I’m getting to know Pastor Ronnie Harris.

My friend Vince Gonzales from Dallas wrote today to say:

Hey Rudy,

It’s your old friend Vince Gonzales. I saw your book on lulu and wanted to congradulate you on it. You inspired me to finish mine and get it published. Check it our at http://www.lulu.com/pastor15. I hope you, the family, and the ministry are doing well!

This is great. I’ve known Vince since the mid-90s. He pastors this bilingual church in Dallas. Here’s his bio and a photo of him with his lovely wife. And here’s his book, Beyond The Border: How the Church must respond to immigration reform

Congratulations, Vince.

McDonald’s Considers Round-The-Clock Breakfast

I’ll have a McGriddle and a 6 piece McNuggets, with Orange drink. Extra bbq sauce.