Joy!

Fabulous Diana Ross Partners with CitySquare for 25th Anniversary Celebration!!!

How do you celebrate 25 years of fighting poverty in Dallas for an organization that assisted nearly 70,000 people last year? We have just the event! CitySquare's A Night To Remember featuring the legendary Diana Ross Help us prove there "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" in our efforts to fight poverty by clicking the buttons below for ticket and sponsorship information. All proceeds support the programs and services at CitySquare. With your help, we can feed the hungry, heal the sick, house the homeless, and renew hope in the heart of our city. To become a Sponsor click here! To purchase tickets click here!

Lyle Lovett for CitySquare! Tickets go on sale May 11!

Get tickets here, NOW!!!

Lord of the Dance

This old Shaker hymn moves me.  There's just "something" about dancing!   Be sure that you view all the way to the end. . .there is a pause before the "resurrection" verse!

What do you think?

POTUS sings Al Green!!!

Forget partisan issues and perspectives.  Just enjoy the fun and the humanity! 

GO! MAVS!

Hey, if you're from Dallas, you gotta love this!

because of

THIS!

Seeking the peace and prosperity of the city. . .

Jeremiah 29:7

. . .seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

[Photos by Jenny Fogel, CDM Staff]

A Night to Remember 2010???

Next year, maybe? What do ya think?

Steve Martin on David Letterman tonight!

Tune in tonight to see Steve Martin on the David Letterman Show.

Martin will appear in a benefit for Central Dallas Ministries at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center on Tuesday, October 27 at 8 p. m.

Check him out tonight and tell me what you think!

Steve Martin to Benefit Central Dallas Ministries!!!

Tickets on sale now!

Save the date!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.dallasperformingarts.org/.

Join us for an evening of celebration and joy!

For more details about sponsorships, contact Lisa Goolsby at 214.823.8710 ext. 138 or lgoolsby@CentralDallasMinistries.org!

St. Patrick's Day and Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson fans should have been wearing the green last Tuesday for the St. Patrick's Day celebration of the release of a very unique collection of music.

"Naked Willie" offers up 17 selections of the master's music stripped naked of all the back up tracks and typical accompaniment.

If you are a hardcore Willie fan, sample some of this fine work.

Note: Buy the collection here by clicking on one of the Amazon.com thumbnails below and to the right and benefit CDM.

Irish blessin' on ya

"May the blessing of light be on you, light without and light within. May the blessed sunshine shine on you and warm you and warm your heart till it glows like a great peat fire, so that the stranger may come and warm himself at it, and also a friend."

--Traditional Irish Blessing

Dallas Dinner Table 2009

Dallas Dinner Table is non-profit group devoted to developing specific settings during which people from all across our community can come together, share a meal and engage in honest conversations about race.

Lots of people talk about talking about race and racial issues. Dallas Dinner Table actually talks about race!

And, guess what?

You are invited to participate in the 2009 Dallas Dinner Table Event

When: Thursday March 19th at 6:00 p.m.

Where: Venues throughout the Dallas - Ft. Worth Metroplex.

We hope you will join us.

Registration is open until March 12th at http://www.dallasdinnertable.com/.

For those interested in volunteering as facilitators, please check the facilitator box on the registration form.

Sign up now!

Community observed

Diane Rehm's show on NPR always holds my attention. Last Tuesday I found myself laughing and crying all at once as she interviewed Michael Davis, author of the new book, Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street.

I "grew up" watching Sesame Street with my daughters! I mean, what could be better than Cookie Monster's rendition of "C is for Cookie"?

In my current life I've decided that Sesame Street prefigured all that I've learned and come to know about community and community development in the inner city.

I love the title Davis gave his book, "Street Gang."

During the interview, Davis read part of the script of the program that delivered the bad news that Mr. Hooper, the older storekeeper, had died. The Children's Television Workshop decided to create a script that would attempt an explanation of death to pre-school children.

It is a very moving episode. You can watch it here.

I think it is true. Everything we need, and about all that's worth knowing, we learned from Sesame Street.

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Everyone counts! Everyone wins again!

I've read Rick Reilly's commentary for years. He left Sports Illustrated to join ESPN. I love what he writes.

But, I've gotta tell you, I've not read anything before like this.

Talk about a community intervention! Attitudes like this could change life for millions.

Don't miss it.

Then, tell me what you think.

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Thanksgiving,1941: Freedom, Brotherhood and Justice

THANKSGIVING DAY - 1941

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - A PROCLAMATION

I, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate and set aside Thursday, the twentieth day of November 1941, as a day to be observed in giving thanks to the Heavenly Source of our earthly blessings.

Our beloved country is free and strong. Our moral and physical defenses against the forces of threatened aggression are mounting daily in magnitude and effectiveness.

In the interest of our own future, we are sending succor at increasing pace to those peoples abroad who are bravely defending their homes and their precious liberties against annihilation.

We have not lost our faith in the spiritual dignity of man, our proud belief in the right of all people to live out their lives in freedom and with equal treatment. The love of democracy still burns brightly in our hearts.

We are grateful to the Father of us all for the innumerable daily manifestations of His beneficent mercy in affairs both public and private, for the bounties of the harvest, for opportunities to labor and to serve, and for the continuation of those homely joys and satisfactions which enrich our lives.

Let us ask the Divine Blessing on our decision and determination to protect our way of life against the forces of evil and slavery which seek in these days to encompass us.

On the day appointed for this purpose, let us reflect at our homes or places of worship on the goodness of God and, in giving thanks, let us ray for a speedy end to strife and the establishment on earth of freedom, brotherhood, and justice for enduring time.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

DONE at the City of Washington this 8th day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and forty-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and sixty-sixth.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

A week of death. . .forced reflections

Death forces reflection.

It has been a week of death for me.

Four precious people, lost in the same week.

Three funerals on Thursday.

One more yesterday afternoon.

Four people with widely differing life experiences and ends.

One, a young mother of two, shot and killed as she drove to work. A friend who walked alongside us to make the community better for everyone, especially the children. A person of compassion, but much more. An advocate for renewal, justice and hope. Read a local Dallas news opinion about this amazing community leader here.

One, a homeless man with a number of difficult, chronic health issues, died at his new home. No longer forced to live on the mean, tough streets of our city, the ill-health created by so many years out there finally caught up with him.

One, a much beloved grandmother and the mother of one of my good friends and team members who works with us in bringing legal assistance to the poor who can't otherwise afford counsel. A woman who spent her time, her life and her resources serving, connecting, leading, fighting for others and loving everyone in the process.

One, a bright, handsome teenager, a young man who couldn't see himself the way all of the rest of us saw him--so full of potential, brilliance, future-- ended his own life at home. He battled hard. His parents, brothers, grandparents, friends did all they knew to do, but in the end he determined that life hurt too much to go on.

All represent hard, tragic losses to our world. Each so very different in circumstance. Each with completely unique stories.

Yet, still all so much the same.

The passage has occurred for each of them.

In each case I found myself thinking about that small space separating "here" from the approaching "there."

My faith tells me that each has found the perfect, the prepared place "over there." Peace follows this realization.

Strangely though, these losses force me to focus more intently than ever on my "here and now."

"Here" I find my calling.

I can ill-afford to take anyone for granted "here."

"Here" is found the work we have to do among and with one another.

"Here" is where we make sense out of our coming passage to "there."

"Here" is so very short, and so very important.

For those of us left on the "here" side of the passage, death forces us to reflect and to grapple with the meaning and the purpose of our time.

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"It's A New Day"

Regardless what your political worldview might be, you have to admit that the selection of Senator Barack Obama as our 44th President set off a cultural, emotional, celebratory, social shift of tectonic proportions.

Those of us who are white likely will never fully appreciate what's back of the continuing public displays of emotion, hope, celebration and pure joy.

But, we can try, and in this new opportunity to try, we may discover a phenomenal basis for the growth of community and real progress in pursuing racial reconciliation.

In this same spirit, I just had to share this one from YouTube! Check it out here.

Reactions?

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Halloween

There's nothing quite like Halloween in the inner city.

Last night we shared candy with way over 300 children of all ages--likely closer to 400. It was an amazing run on our front porch! At one time we counted 30 kids in our front yard. It was unbelievable. We've never had more children come by for trick or treat.

Our block felt like a carnival. Neighbors out on their front porches ready for the children, enjoying the mild Texas night. Families coming and going to escort their little ones to the candy.

So many cute children. So many who obviously had very little.

The moment of the night for me took place between "bowl fillings." You know, the time between when the candy bowl runs out and you manage to fill it up again.

Four little girls, all in late elementary school noted the condition of my supply of candy. They reached in their bags and each pulled out a contribution to my diminished supply.

"Here, mister," the spokesman for the group explained. "We'll make a contribution to your bowl."

They laughed and ran off my porch to the next house.

There is a lesson in there somewhere, don't you think?

What a grand night.

I love the city.

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What is poverty?

My buddy in Memphis, Justin, sent me this link from YouTube.

The title, "What is poverty?"

The answer will surprise many.

The answer stands at the heart of what we have learned here in Dallas over the past almost 15 years.

What makes people poor?

Consider your answer before you watch.

I'd love to hear what you think, especially in light of your own experiences.

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