This year Teens Opposing Poverty celebrates 30 years of ministry!  As part of that celebration, we will share stories and insights that have helped to shape us.  Here is one from 2011.

Even when you devote your life to serving the poor, your priorities at times get skewed.  The true story that follows is in part a confession, but it’s also a lesson I learned: Never sacrifice the important things on the altar of the urgent.

My cell phone rang.  I didn’t recognize the number and debated whether or not I would answer it. It was the day before Easter.  My wife, daughter and I were having dinner with my parents and I really didn’t want to be bothered.  But for some reason I still can’t fathom, I answered it.

 The woman on the other end identified herself as Elizabeth.  She said that she and her husband lived on a fixed income and that they were almost out of food.  It was near the end of the month so the timing was right for a request like that.

 I’d like to say that my heart was filled with compassion for her at the moment, but it wasn’t.  In my role as the director of a ministry that works with homeless and poor people I get calls like this all the time, so I selfishly resented the intrusion on my family time and told her I would help her on Monday just to end the conversation as quickly as possible.

 Come Monday morning, I walked into my office overwhelmed by my “do list” with almost everything on it screaming “URGENT!” at me.  I rolled up my sleeves and dug in, hoping I could cross off at least a few things by the end of the day.  Right about the time I found my “groove” on a writing project, my phone rang.  It was Elizabeth.  I let it roll over to voice mail and forgot about it for a few hours.

 After lunch I checked my messages.  Sure enough, Elizabeth asked me to call her back as soon as possible.  Once again, I have to confess, my heart was not brimming over with compassion.  All I could think about was how much I had to do and how I really didn’t have the time to gather the food and drive ½ hour to Winchester to deliver it.  By the time I did everything, I knew I would lose nearly 2 hours out of my day.

 I wished I hadn’t told her I would take her the food, but I said I would and, since I believe that integrity is a dying virtue in our culture, I was determined to make good on my word.  I left work 20 minutes earlier than normal to take my daughter, Lindsey, to ballet practice so I would have time to get the food from the outreach pantry at my church.  Having her help pack the bags saved at least a little time.

 I dropped Lindsey off at ballet and headed to Winchester, hoping to arrive by 5 pm.  When I got close to the address she gave me, I called Elizabeth.  As I parked my truck along the street I could see an elderly woman standing at the door, waiting. I grabbed the groceries thinking, “This is going to be quick.”  There was so much work to do.

 Elizabeth held the door open as I approached.  She was less than 5 feet tall and looked even smaller because of her stooped shoulders.  Her husband was sitting on the couch of their cluttered-but-clean living room.  He looked at me and nodded, but said nothing.

 I set the grocery bags down.  Elizabeth thanked me and told me they had not eaten all day.  Ah, there was the compassion, along with a healthy conviction about my misplaced priorities.  Someone was hungry.  I should have made getting food to them my first task of the day, not the last.

 All of a sudden, I wasn’t in so much of a hurry.  We chatted awhile.  After a few minutes her husband joined in the conversation, although he still didn’t move.  As we talked, I learned that on their meager income they not only had to care for themselves but their two grandchildren as well.  The end of the month was always hard for them. 

 I didn’t stay too long.  I knew they were hungry.

 For the life of me, I can’t remember any of the other urgent tasks that faced me that day.  All I remember is that I was blessed with the opportunity to take food to somebody who was hungry.  I guess that’s all that was worth remembering.

“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” Gal 6:9 (NKJV)

Here’s to not growing weary.

God’s grace to you,

Steve Jennings

Mahatma Gandhi was passionate about justice.  The young Indian-born lawyer found his way to South Africa after finishing law school in London.  When he saw discrimination against Indian people there, he fought for their civil rights.  After achieving success, he returned to India where he organized peasant farmers and urban laborers to resist excessive land taxes and discrimination.  After that, he spent most of the rest of his life securing the independence of India from Britain.

Gandhi fought injustice wherever he saw it and was able to rally an entire nation of people to peacefully challenge the status quo and achieve freedom.

If you look through history, you will find people who changed entire cultures by rallying thousands or millions to stand with them against injustice, bigotry and oppression.

Chances are you and I will never do that. For most of us, activism is limited to writing to our governmental leaders and voting our conscience.  We will, at best, play only a small part in transforming our society.

Does that mean we can’t do much to right wrongs and rid the world of injustice?  No.  Each of us can bring about enormous change… for one person.

I have spent 27 years working with people on the bottom rung of society’s ladder.  For them every single day is a struggle to survive. They are beaten down to the point where they have difficulty taking advantage of even the best opportunities presented to them.  They need advocates.  They need people to help them fight the injustices they face.

You can realize justice for one.  You can advocate for one.  You don’t have to change the whole world.  Just help change the world for one person.

That person may be poor, in prison, in an orphanage, a nursing home, or a hospital.  They may not be able to work their way through their situation.  But with someone to speak for them, they can triumph.

So now you know who to advocate for.  To whom do you advocate?

• Start with the person you are helping.  They may not feel they are worthy or capable of a better life.  They may not think they have what it takes to fight that war.   It is our job let them know that we believe in them so they can believe in themselves. If their heads and hearts aren’t in the right place, anything else they do is more likely to fail.
• Advocate for opportunity.  It may involve helping them find the opportunity they need, fill out applications, physically going with them to help them through whatever the next step might be, or just being there to answer questions or give counsel and advice.
• Advocate for resources. Peter’s 1986 Ford conversion van (it was his home as well as his transportation) transmission blew.  We put out an appeal for funds to get it fixed.  He is now back to work and will soon move into an apartment.
• Advocate for legitimacy.  Be willing to be a reference for jobs or entry into programs.  This means that you have to really get to know the person you are helping.
• Advocate for justice.  I hate courtrooms, but I have been in more of them than I care to remember to offer moral support or to testify on behalf of someone I’m helping.  I have also helped them put together appeals for when they have been wrongly denied services.

It sounds like a lot and it can be taxing. If you pick up this mantle, don’t be surprised if there are times when you will grow “weary in well doing.” But if you are willing to step just a little out of your comfort zone you can bring about justice for one.   Then their world (and yours) will never be the same.

God’s grace to you,

Steve Jennings, Executive Director

Teens Opposing Poverty

In February 1983 I gave my heart and life to Jesus Christ. These last 30 years have been a wild ride and an adventure I will never regret. Please permit me a little self-indulgent reflection on how all of this came about.

My faith journey began as a child.  Our family went to church; I went through confirmation class and professed my faith in Christ in 1965. But as I entered my teen years, I abandoned the faith of my childhood. By the time I started college I gave no thought to the things of God and doubted whether one even existed. Darwinian evolution was the foundation of my understanding of the origins of life. Naturalism was the lens through which I viewed the world.

Until my junior year, nothing had shaken that perspective. Then I took Dr. Watson’s physiology class where I gained an appreciation of how we are “fearfully and wonderfully made”. I marveled at the intricate complexity of the human body and rejected the ridiculous, irrational claims of evolution. We cannot go “from goo to you by way of the zoo” as Frank Peretti puts it.

My rejection of Darwinian evolution had nothing to do with faith or religion. It just no longer made sense.

As an Animal Science student, I could see how an animal from the same family or genus might evolve into different species. Even many creationists believe in that process of speciation or microevolution. That is simply an extension of selective breeding that we use in livestock. You start with a genetically diverse animal. As you select for certain traits you concentrate some genetic traits and eliminate others.  But the idea that you can start with a genetically simple organism, such as a single-celled animal, that rapidly evolves into a genetically more complex organism didn’t (and still doesn’t) make sense.

So where did that leave me?

The only conclusion I could come to was that we are products of a brilliant design. If we are designed there must be a designer. And so I took my first baby steps on my journey of faith. Those steps had no impact on how I lived my life, but I went from being an atheist (or something akin to it) to being an agnostic.  Little did I know what God had in store for me.

Next: Part 2 – The November to Remember

God’s grace to you,

Steve Jennings, Executive Director

http://www.TeensOpposingPoverty.org

Have you ever wondered why, despite all of the programs and ministries out there that poverty is still so rampant in our culture?  Recession and slow-to-nonexistent recovery aside, there are many obstacles to overcome before most of the poor can achieve a better lifestyle.

The diagram is my feeble attempt to show at least some of the points where those of us working with the poor must connect in order to play our part in helping to lift even one person out of poverty.

Each rung of the ladder represents a level of ministry. In truth, many of these levels may overlap.  It’s not necessarily a sequential path, but generally, all of these things must happen to see desirable outcomes for each person we serve.

The bottom rung of ministry has to happen before anything else will work.  How can you expect anyone to make progress if they don’t have enough clothes to wear, a roof over their heads or food to eat?  In all honesty, I have seen dozens of people scratch and claw their way out of poverty without a home, but some protection from the elements is still essential.

Once we meet the basic needs of the people we serve, we must help them get into a place mentally, emotionally and spiritually where they can focus and push through the setbacks they will most certainly experience, whether due to their own failures or to circumstances beyond their control.  This is the rung where those of us at Teens Opposing Poverty place most of our emphasis.  We offer encouragement and Jesus.  Without enough resolve and faith, it will be difficult for anyone to climb to the next rung.

When someone is ready to take on the challenges, they can begin taking advantage of the opportunities for work, housing, rehabilitation or education they will need to “beat the streets.” This stage is where we see most people fall off the ladder.

I never cease to be amazed at the hardships our friends experience when they try to move on to a better life. Here is where those of us in ministry with the poor need to continue to believe in the people we serve, help them believe in themselves and remind them that they have something bigger than themselves to live for. When they slip off this rung, they don’t have to fall off the ladder.  Our job is to catch them at the next rung down and refuel their hearts, minds and souls so they can try again.

The top rung is where the poor can move to a better life.  Mind you, we need to be careful to allow the person we are serving to determine what that better life is.  Some people may be fine without indoor plumbing, but our job may be to help them get to where they can meet their other needs on their own.  Our work in ministry with the poor often doesn’t end when they get to this rung of the ladder.  Sometimes we have to push them to step out of their comfort zones or pull them along with us to take that next big step in life.  Or our job at this point may simply be to follow them on their journey and never stop being a friend.

Holding the rungs of the ladder together are “Resources” and “Served to Servant.” All along the climb up the ladder, those of us in ministry will have to provide resources.  It may be stuff for basic needs or it may be information to help someone continue the climb.  The other support that holds the ladder upright is made up of opportunities to encourage those we serve to become fellow servants.  When the poor cease to be objects of our charity and begin giving of themselves, big things begin to happen.  The opportunities for this can come anywhere along the climb up the ladder.

In TOP’s ministry, it can start with a homeless man sharing the mistakes he made in his life with the youth who are serving him.  In a rural setting it might mean someone who takes on the responsibility of managing a community garden.

I hope you see a place along this ladder where you can help bring someone to a better place in life.

God’s grace to you,

Steve Jennings, Executive Director

http://www.TeensOpposingPoverty.org