some pictures
Last Sunday John was preaching and wanted to have a powerpoint presentation with pictures of the kids and neighbourhood, so we drove around on Wednesday and took some pictures or the neighbourhood and downtown Detroit.
The pictures were inspired by Isaiah 61:1-4;

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to provide for those who mourn in Zion--to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, to display his glory.
They shall build up the ancient ruins,
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.


This is the church where we spend most of our days. It is in a primarily residential neighbourhood, not what I had originally pictured, but it is definitely impoverished, as you'll see in some of the other pictures.

















This is about 1 block away from the church, there are so many houses like this.



















Many of the houses, even though they don't look habitable, actually have someone living in them.



















This happens a lot in this neighbourhood, there will be a row of houses that look fine, and then a pile of rubble, a hole or an empty lot where a house used to be.



















This was taken closer to the downtown area, it is crazy the conditions people live in.



















This is downtown Detroit - it looks more like a war zone than a city where people live.



















Here is a window in the church sanctuary. It is broken because of a bullet. (don't worry, we weren't there when it happened)

























Here is John with some of our kids. They call him Pastor John or sometimes even Dad, since many of them don't have fathers. The kids think of the group that meets at the church as a family, which is an awesome way to build community.

update
Last week was busy busy busy. John, Jacob and I have been working hard and we actually have already made an impact up here. There was going to be a grant that is not available now, and instead of going ahead with an underfunded, secular peace camp we met with the mission centre president, Jerry Van Rossom on the 17th and talked to him about this idea we came up with for 3 1 week vacation Bible schools for three age groups. 1st through 5th grade the first week, 6th through 8th grade the third week and senior high in between. This idea came the day we had to tell our neighbourhood kids that their church, pastor john and Jacob & I would be used by someone else all summer (most of the neighbourhood kids are too old for the camp). I have never seen such sad faces. We realised that alienating them that way would ruin all of the hard work John has done so far. Jerry agreed with us about the underfunding, and now we have a manageable task for the summer and we will be able to share Christ with these kids. Also, our Bible school won't be all day, which gives us the opportunity to do ministry in the afternoons and evenings, and maintain pizza church, with our staple food: little caesars ready made pizzas. $5.00 for a large, always pepperoni or cheese, seemingly the cheapest food in michigan by our estimation.

I was happy to see the Pistons win the NBA championship, it is fun to be in a winning city, and it is good to see an often sad, depressed city get excited about something. We were even happier that there were no riots - proving to the world that Detroit can behave itself.

Another exciting thing about our new plan for the summer is that we will get to go to Flint reunion, a mainly young adult reunion at Bluewater campground our last week here. John stays with the director of the camp, Doyle Rice, and he has already recruited Jacob and I to help out. It should be a good time, a nice way to finish up our time here.

adrenaline hangover
Yesterday we went to Cedar Point - "Roller Coaster Capital of the US". It was a lot of fun for me, I love adrenaline highs, so the coasters were AWESOME. We went on one where your legs dangle, one where you stand up, and one that used to be the tallest (the line for the tallest one was too long). But today I kind of have an adrenaline hangover, it's exhausting going on those things.

The sad thing though was that Jacob couldn't go on most of the rides because he is too tall. The kids we took had a blast though, it was fun to hang out with them for the day.

monday monday...
Today Bruce & Helen gave us a ride to the church. Our first day alone at the church, just Jacob and I and the kids. I'm not sure what route we took to get there exactly - but it wasn't the route John takes when we go with him. Today we avoided the run-down stores and buildings and stuck to residential streets instead. I guess it's easier to pretend the poverty and hardship don't exist when you can't see it. However, I know that I am guilty of ignoring those problems in my own city too. At least by driving alongs Hastings in Vancouver, one can't ignore the problems that are there. Isn't that supposed to be an important step in recovery - admitting there is a problem?

Today I found myself withing that I could promise these kids a bright future... there are a lot of things I wish I could promise them - like food and clothes and safety. I know too well, though, that many of them are headed for a future filled with institutions that will continue to take advantage of them. What I can do now is minister to them and with them through an institution that won't take advantage of them.

We played 'Trouble' for awhile today, me and some of the kids. We have no pieces for the game, though, so we used lego pieces instead. Thankfully the die is built into that bubble thing in the middle, so we didn't need to go looking for that. My favourite line was from the boy who kept talking about getting his pieces back to his "crib" - i.e. the home safe area. It was pretty funny.

The neighbourhood around the church is called "Hope Park", so John is thinking of calling the congregation "Living Hope Community of Christ" (or something close to that) which I think is a great name. If the church can provide children and adults at least with a sense of hope, then that is great. True, other needs must be met as well. Churches should not only cater to the spiritual needs of members, but to the physical needs as well. How is someone supposed to sit through a church service if they didn't have any breakfast and know they won't have any lunch? Churches also need to be prophetic - challenging the institutions that oppress the people the church works with. It is easy to identify these roles... it is much harder to fulfill them.

By the way, you can leave comments on here if you like, and you can email me... I noticed that homesickness was tapping me on the shoulder the other night, and I'm trying to ignore it by keeping in touch with some familiar souls.

an entertaining email
This is an email Jacob & I wrote the other day to the other volunteers in our program after they sent us emails about their trips through London, Victoria Falls and Australia. I hope you find it entertaining, it covers some stuff I'm too lazy to type out again - it's much easier to cut and paste! There are a couple of jabs at our fellow volunteers in more far-off places. For those of you who don't know, my partner Jacob is 7 feet tall - that might help you understand some of this...


June 10, 2004 4:48:59 PM
'Sup folks!
Jacob & Shannon here, relaxin' in the air conditioned computer lab in what has fast become "our" church. While many of you were visiting exotic destinations such as London, we had already:
-discovered that Subway is twice the price in Michigan than in Iowa and Missouri
-watched game 7 of the Stanley Cup final
-ate pizza and watched the Pistons game at the church on the big screen (after jerry-rigging a coathanger antenna through two vcrs to get the signal to the projector)
-while taking some kids home we drove through a neighbourhood where we learned that it's not safe to stop at cross streets
-played dodgeball in the sanctuary while listening to rap and hip hop music
-been repeatedly stuffed with food by our host family: this morning it was non-stop pancakes and sausages. Bruce (one of our hosts) is constantly concerned that "a big guy like Jacob" isn't getting enough to eat.
-had a water balloon fight with the neighbourhood kids (which ended in a bucket of water being dumped over "Pastor John's" head)
-went to potluck and bible study at Troy Oaks congregation
-Jacob is rediscovering his lego building talent with the kids and planning out the mural he's going to get the kids to paint on the church during the summer day camp
-Shannon hoping her stuffy nose is a cold that will end soon and not allergies that will last all summer
-We have scared our hosts - not realising that the phone we were using is about three feet from their heads as they sleep, or not sleep since "it's been ten years since we've had voices like that after midnight in our house!"
There are plenty of adventures ahead of us, next week we're going to Cedar Point amusment park - roller coaster capital of the USA - with some of the kids. and these are just a few snapshots after only three days of being here. Jacob's getting his birth certificate from home so we don't have to hide him in the trunk when we go up to Canada (not that we would actually do that...) to visit.
We could write forever, but that's all for now. It's time to send this email off and go back to following our calling to help build a christ-centered community here.
Blessing on your ministries too, friends, wherever you are around the world.
Love,
Jacob & Shannon
aka the G's who are down in the 'hood in D-Town
aka Grizzly Bear and Sha-nay-nay

ps if anyone needs a cheeseburger, let us know and we'll try to Fed-Ex it to you - John said he missed those when he was in the Phillippines. Or, we can just eat one for you and then email you about it.