Happy Saint Patrick's Day

See the rest of my Saint Patrick's Day album here.

Faith of a Mustard Seed

Last week my family was invited to the south-side of Chicago to the neighborhood of Lawndale to have lunch with some friends from our church, Dae and Esther, who live there. Lawndale has had a checkered and difficult history. Our friends both work in medicine and while both of them could have sought out far more lucrative careers in other hospitals, but instead they moved to Lawndale where they felt that God wanted them to be. We had lunch together and then they took us to the Lawndale Christian Health Center where Pat, one of the staff members, gave us a tour of the facility and share the story of LCHC with us.

I believe the most touching thing about the history of the center was the way it began. Pat told us that everything began with a group of students who felt like God had given them a burden for this community. Everyone around them thought that they were crazy when they began to share some of their dreams and visions of a church and medical center. However, they began to pray, save, and work towards doing what they felt God had called them to. They had a vision to see the Gospel lived out in word and deed and their faith led to amazing transformation within this community. As I stood in the middle of the medical center, which was a direct and tangible result of their faith, it gave me chills to think of what can be done when people listen to the heart of God. Today the LCHC provides affordable health care to residents who might otherwise go without proper care. Since it is a Christian Center they are able to meet many more needs (spiritual and emotional) than a typical medical facility might be able to.

Our friend Dae explained to us that one of the doctors who helped start the health center was working as a medical missionary in Africa when he felt like God was drawing him back to Chicago. He said at the time when he moved back to the states the quality of health care in Africa was better then the quality of care available for the residents in the community of Lawndale. How is it possible that in a country with such a high standard of living that we can neglect the needs of our own neighbors?

Today, not only is there a medical center with a workout facility and a gym, but the church in Lawndale is also renovating houses and providing affordable housing for residents of the community. The Gospel is being lived out daily in very real and tangible ways and you can see the direct results in the lives of people. I was truly and deeply inspired by the work and faith of the Lawndale Community Church, the Lawndale Christian Health Center, and of our friends who have taken seriously what it means to follow in Christ. I can only imagine what this world would look like if more Christians would follow in their footsteps.

"I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." -Jesus of Nazareth

Fall in the NW Suburbs

Friends in Galicia

Now that Lori and I live in the NW Suburbs of Chicago, we continue to follow the lives of our friends across the pond through their blogs.

This week I had the opportunity to talk with a good friend from Spain in person. I was able to grab a coffee with Roberto Reed as he was passing through the Chicago area. Rob lives in A Couruña, Spain. We met several years ago and I always enjoyed when I was able to visit Vida Nueva Church (A church that he helped to plant). Occasionally friends from the church would come and assist us during the opening of art exhibits in cafe Terra Nova. We enjoyed the kind of partnership that happens when Christians take kingdom view of ministry and work to encourage one another.

Last summer we were able connect with Nate and Faith Walter as they left the Chicago area and headed to Galicia with International Teams. Rob and his church graciously welcomed them and have been working alongside of them as they adjust to life in Spain. We are thankful for Rob and his family and the way that God is working through them to reach Spain with the Gospel. If you ever make it to Galicia it would be well worth your time to look up Roberto and the Walters.

Art in Chicago

Last weekend Lori and I had the privilege of going into the city of Chicago and see an Art Exhibit that our friend Karmen did along with some other local artists. One of the artists who was there has a great site called Don't Talk to Robots. I loved his work and was checking out his site and it turns out that he designed the Harvest site. What a small world!

Anyway, it was great seeing how this group was using art to bring light to some of the issues that people in the city are facing. We look forward to seeing their next exhibit.

Please Pray for NIU

Please take some time to pray for the students, families and faculty of the NIU shooting today.

Here is a link to what happened yesterday.

Let it snow...

So we had the first snow of the season this week. Our whole family was pretty excited, especially the kiddos. This is the first real snow that they have experienced. We were home one Christmas that snowed when Abi was a toddler but she did not remember it. Well here are some pics of the snow in our winter abode.

Facts on the Fatherless

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

This past weekend a small group from our church had the privilege of serving the office staff of GRIP. Grip is a Chicago inner-city ministry that works with a lot of students from broken home. Jen Carlson works at Grip and gave me the following stats. I was so blown away by what I read that I had to pass it along.

The Facts on “Fatherlessness”

The percentage of kids born out-of-wedlock has grown 223% since 1970.
[US Dept. of Health and Human Services, 2005]

7 out of 10 African-American kids are born out-of-wedlock.
[US Dept. of Health and Human Services, 2005]

3 out of 10 Caucasian kids are born out-of-wedlock; an increase of 440% since 1970.
[US Dept. of Health and Human Services, 2005]

The Consequences
90% of homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes.
[U.S. D.H.H.S., Bureau of the Census.]

80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger come from fatherless homes.
[Criminal Justice and Behavior, Vol 14, p. 403-26, 1987.]

60% of repeat rapists grew up without fathers.
[Raymond A. Knight and Robert A. Prentky, "The Developmental Antecednts of Adult Adaptations of Rapist Sub-Types," Criminal Justice & Behavior, Vol 14, 1987, p 403-426.]

71% of pregnant teenagers lack a father.
[US Dept. of Health and Human Services press release, Friday, March 26, 1999.]

63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes.
[US D.H.H.S., Bureau of the Census.]

85% of children who exhibit behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes.
[Center for Disease Control.]

90% of adolescent repeat arsonists live with only their mother.
[Wray Herbert, "Dousing the Kindlers," Psychology Today, January, 1985, p.28.]

71% of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes.
[National Principals Association Report on the State of High Schools.]

75% of adolescent patients in chemical abuse canters come from fatherless homes.
[Rainbows for all God`s Children.]

70% of juveniles in state operated institutions have no father.
[US Dept. of Justice, Special Report, Sept. 1988.]

85% of youths in prisons grew up in a fatherless home.
[Fulton Co. Georgia jail populations, Texas Dept. of Corrections, 1992.]

75% of prisoners grew up without a father.
[Daniel Amneus, The Garbage Generation, Alhambra, CA: Primrose Press, 1990.]

Fatherless boys and girls are…
2x’s as likely to drop out of high school;
2x’s as likely to end up in jail;
4x’s more likely to need help emotional or behavioral problems.
[US D.H.H.S. news release, March 26, 1999.]

43% of US children live without their father.
[US Department of Census.]

Harvest Community Church

Returning to the USA has been quite a whirlwind for Lori, myself and the girls. It feels like we hit the ground running when our plane landed in July and we have just been trying to keep up with what is happening around us. We immediately had to renew our driver's licenses and purchase a car. Just last week we were able to move into our house although we still have a huge pile of boxes in the living room. As the dust is starting to settle a little (literally) I hope to be a little more active in posting on this blog.

Finishing up at IT: For those who have been supporting us financially as we lived in Spain we can’t tell you how much we have appreciated your faithfulness each month. You truly blessed us and we hope that our time in Spain was as much a blessing to those whom we ministered to as your ministry was to us. We can't say say thank you enough for all the support that you have given us!
We want to let you know that our relocation and severance pay period is coming to an end with International Teams, which for us would be through the end of September. After that time you are more than welcome to support IT and any of it’s other amazing ministries around the world, but we will no longer be taking a salary from there.

Harvest Community Church: I (Matt) am acclimating to my job and learning as much as possible as I begin to develop a local outreach ministry with HCC as well as get a handle on each of the locations we are partnering with around the globe. I love seeing first hand how God is working through different ministries around the world! I love the people that I get to work with in my office and our whole family has been blessed and feel really welcomed by the whole Harvest community. The church just launched it's new web site if you want to see a little more what we are up to.

Random Chicago Fact

Cook County, IL has the
second-highest number of millionaire
households (167,873)
and the
second-highest number of poor
households (273,658) of
any county in the nation

To find out more visit the 2007 Report on Illinois Poverty