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CitySquare Board member, Jon Halbert and his wife, Linda, played a major role in the production of Rising From Ashes.

 It's an amazing story.

 The Halberts possess great hearts for justice, compassion and opportunity.

 Enjoy the clip.

Plan on seeing the movie!

Here's a bit of previewingcommentary:

Team Rwanda started out as a cycling organization however they quickly learned they had to care for the greater needs of each athlete. Many of the riders could not read or write, lived in homes without water, electricity, were malnourished, and had never received healthcare, or even knew what a dentist was. But there was still a greater issue, the issues of the heart. These riders were all recovering from the traumatic psychological effects of the 1994 genocide. Team Rwanda had to look deeper.

Team Rwanda has not solved all of these problems but it is making a difference. Riders are provided a modest salary to help provide for themselves and their families, equivalent to three times the national average income. Riders are given English lessons and taught how to read and write. Healthcare is provided for the ongoing issues of malaria and water born diseases. When funds are available, the riders are given regular health checks and dental care. The riders are given the responsibility of being ambassadors for their country to the World.

While the team has taken care of the physical and mental issues it has provided something greater... hope. Rwanda is a country recovering from one of the World’s most devastating genocides and they have longed for heroes. The riders of Team Rwanda have become more then just a cycling team, they have become ambassadors of hope and men to look up to. They have given the country a vision of something greater then themselves and a renewed sense of purpose.

Rising From Ashes is more than a movie, it’s a story tool that relates to each and every one of us. It’s a gateway of hope. But this is just the beginning. Since 2005 Team Rwanda has developed a model for caring for passionate athletes and it’s about to expand the vision. In 2012 Team Rwanda will begin the next phase, the development of Africa’s first all black, all African team to attempt the greatest cycling event in the world, The Tour de France. 

Paved super highway to success. . .if you can pay!

Maybe it's just me.  [I can hear my ever-faithful boo-birds chiming in on me just here!]

But there is something a bit off-center about the expansion plans for I-635 LBJ Freeway and its new toll lanes.

Dallas Morning News columnist, Steve Blow placed the spotlight on the problem in last Sunday's paper ("Untolled to untold inequity on LBJ," B-1).  It seems there is a contest to name the new, super fast lanes that will carry with them a toll.

The extra toll lanes are designed to get more traffic down the ever-crowded thoroughfare.  Those who can pay will be able to access the new lanes and will get down the road faster.  Those who can't afford them will not be able to take advantage of the new passage.

Some have suggested that the toll lanes be named "Lexus lanes."

What's really revolutionary about these lanes, as Blow points out, is the fact that the toll on the lanes will be recalculated every five minutes based on the number of cars attempting to access the new lanes (three lanes in each direction).  The more cars in the lanes, the higher the toll.  And, once fully implemented, there will be no cap on tolls.  Electronic signs will notify drivers of the "going rate" at the time.  Classic matter of supply and demand.

Here's Blow's conclusion:  "It's just inevitable that the fast lanes will be filled with the well-heeled and the slow lanes with the paycheck-to-paycheck crowd.  And are we OK with that?. . .Can any nation remain strong when the gap between rich and poor grows wider in every way--right down to the streets they drive on?"

Here's an idea.  With the current technology available, we could read the license plate number and charge a toll based on the make, model and vintage of each car that passes through the toll lane.  If I drive a Lexus or a Jag, my toll will be higher.  If I drive a 12-year-old Chevy, then the toll is assessed accordingly.

The ability to pay out of pocket should not be the measure of everything.  The enterprising desire to work and to drive to work, even at a low wage job, should be rewarded by equity in public transit.

Fast lanes should be for everyone who's battling to get somewhere.

Making change safe. . .

Space for Change to Take Place
Henri Nouwen

Hospitality means primarily the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines. It is not to lead our neighbor into a corner where there are no alternatives left, but to open a wide spectrum of options for choice and commitment.

Source: Reaching Out

Rocky Ground

Rocky Ground

(I'm a soldier!)

(I'm a soldier!)

We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground
We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground
We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground
We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground

Rise up shepherd, rise up
Your flock has roamed far from the hills
The stars have faded, the sky is still
The angels are shouting "Glory Hallelujah"

We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground
We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground

Forty days and nights of rain have washed this land
Jesus said the money changers in this temple will not stand
Find your flock, get them to higher ground
Flood waters rising and and the kingdom's on fire

We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground
We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground

(I'm a soldier!)

Tend to your flock or they will stray
We'll be called for our service come Judgment Day
Before we cross that river wide
Blood on our hands will come back on us twice

(I'm a soldier!)

Rise up shepherd, rise up
Your flock has roamed far from the hills
Stars have faded, the sky is still
Sun's in the heavens and a new day's rising

You use your muscle and your mind and you pray your best
That your best is good enough, the Lord will do the rest
You raise your children and you teach them to walk straight and sure
You pray that hard times, hard times, come no more
You try to sleep, you toss and turn, the bottom's dropping out
Where you once had faith now there's only doubt
You pray for guidance, only silence now meets your prayers
The morning breaks, you awake but no one's there

We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground

There's a new day coming

We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground

(I'm a soldier!)

We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground

Oh, a new day's coming

We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground

(I'm a soldier!)

We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground

Oh, a new day's coming

We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground

(I'm a soldier!)

We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground

There's a new day coming

We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground

We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground
We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground
We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground
We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground

Bruce Springsteen

Ghandi's worldview

Mahatma Gandhi listed Seven Deadly Social Sins that he considered to be most spiritually damaging to humanity. This list is more relevant today than when he wrote it more than a half century ago, don't you think?


Here's the sins he identified as most heinous:

Politics without principle.

Commerce without morality.

Science without humanity.

Knowledge without character.

Wealth without work.

Pleasure without conscience.

Worship without sacrifice.

Adequate substance for a Sunday reflection.

I, Too

Langston Hughes is a favorite of mine. 

Many things have changed since he penned his prophetic and challenging poem, "I, Too." 

Reflect.

Give thanks!

David Shipler--a seminar on American poverty

For those who want to dive deeper into the reality of poverty in America today, here's a "seminar" that you'll find extremely helpful.

David Shipler spoke at Central Dallas Ministries not long after he wrote, The Working Poor: Invisible in America. His insights were profound, helpful and challenging. His well-researched work is a must read for anyone really concerned about poverty today.

In regard to the video below, I'm not sure I've seen anything that better justifies the investment of your time.

I'd appreciate your opinions after you hear Shipler's comments.

Poverty Meditation

"It's not about charity, it's about justice.
Where you live should not decide whether you live or whether you die." — Bono

"Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn't commit." — Eli Khamarov

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have too much...it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."
— Franklin Delano Roosevelt

“One day our grandchildren will go to museums to see what poverty was like.”
— Muhammad Yunus

"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
— Mother Theresa

"The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of civilization, when men ate each other because they had not yet learned to take food from the soil or to consume the abundant animal life around them. The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty."
— Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I believe that, as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil." — Robert Kennedy

"The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life."
— John Fitzgerald Kennedy

"Poverty is the worst form of violence." — Mahatma Gandhi

“You can’t get rid of poverty by giving people money.” — P.J. O’Rourke

Justice denied, justice affirmed

When things go terribly wrong in a community, steps must be taken to ensure that the same mistakes and misjudgments are never made again. When systems are found to be broken or inadequate, they must be repaired or discarded altogether and replaced.

Take the matter of wrongly convicted, innocent persons who suffer incarceration at the hands of the State of Texas because of flawed and often intentionally misleading interrogation methods.

This week, The Dallas Morning News reported on the latest Dallas County man who has been cleared of all charges against him related to the rape of a co-ed at Southern Methodist University in 1986. The report makes it clear that forces were at work in the investigation that assured a wrongful conviction. Obviously, when tried, Jerry Lee Evans did not receive the benefit of the assumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law.

Consider the report by Jennifer Emily:

Dallas County's 20th DNA exoneration expected

Jerry Lee Evans matched the description of the man who abducted and raped a woman in Deep Ellum in 1986. He even had a similar speech impediment.

But today Evans, 47, is expected to walk out of the courtroom a free man because DNA testing shows he is not the man who raped an 18-year-old Southern Methodist University freshman at knifepoint.

Dallas County prosecutors Tuesday pointed to questionable witness identification procedures as a leading reason for his wrongful conviction.

When the woman looked at a six-picture photo spread, Dallas police officers "were leading and encouraging" her to pick Evans out of the photo lineup, said Mike Ware, who oversees the DA's conviction integrity unit. Officers were also "enthusiastically encouraging" after the woman selected Evans.

You'll find the full report here.

Whenever a community's basic systems of justice, fairness and discovery break down this badly, intervention seems necessary. Again, we should be grateful for the leadership of Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins. Where would Mr. Evans be without him and his leadership?

But, I'm wondering if more needs to be done to speed up ongoing investigations of other cases that need review?

We have seen now 20 individuals in Dallas County alone who have been freed after serving hundreds of years in prison for crimes committed by others, many of whom remain at large and a danger to us all. Dallas County should consider the formation of a special citizen's commission, a public "justice review board" of sorts, to consider, not individual cases as such, but the processes and patterns that have led to such terrible, unthinkable failure on the part of our criminal justice system.

It is time for systemic change.

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Jack Kemp, class act

Jack Kemp always impressed me. I guess I just loved his style.

His athletic ability kept fans coming back for more week after week. He played through his pain. He never complained.

Kemp led the way in attempting to push the nation to face its racism, to talk about it and to engage in reconciling actions.

After football, Kemp entered politics as one of the chief proponents, better, salesmen for President Reagan's "supply side" economic theories.

Kemp served as the Secretary of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under President George H. W. Bush.

Kemp had ideas. He was smart. He was fair. He wanted to include everyone.

Kemp died earlier this month after a battle with cancer. He was 73.

Read a great tribute in the May 11, 2009 issue of Sports Illustrated.

Jack Kemp will be remembered and missed.

Van Jones and Green Jobs

I've referenced Van Jones here in past posts. Now Jones has joined the Obama Administration as Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Great pick, at least in my view.

Green jobs could play a huge role in renewing inner city America.

Take a look at the May 2009 issue of Sojourners. Great issue. Needed emphasis.

At Central Dallas Ministries we are trying to gear up for green jobs training.

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Opinion needed: How would you feel about a meeting involving T. Boone Pickens and Van Jones in a lively conversation about alternative sources of energy, green jobs and urban renewal? Both of these very powerful leaders have an interest in all of these issues. We might be able to attract the pair to a future event at CDM. What do you think?

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The Hole in Our Gospel: Interview

Check out this interesting interview with president of World Vision, Richard Stearns. I lifted it for you from the May 2009 issue of Sojourners magazine:

The Hole in Our Gospel: Interview with World Vision’s Richard Stearns by Robert Gelinas 04-24-2009

As the pastor of a church with a deep desire to love others as Christ would, I’ve recently been telling folks, “If you only read one book this year, then you must read The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns.” And that’s saying a lot, given that my own book just came out! I feel that strongly about Stearns’ message.

Stearns, who has been president of World Vision U.S. since 1998, has a love for God and a passion for hurting people that’s immediately evident. A former CEO for Parker Brothers and Lenox, Inc., he jettisoned a lucrative career in corporate America to answer God’s call to humanitarian ministry. And a decade later, he says he has no regrets. “The world we live in is under siege,” he says, before ticking off the severity of our problems — famine, AIDS, war, ethnic cleansing, terrorism. “Three billion are desperately poor,” he continues, “1 billion are hungry, millions are trafficked in human slavery, 10 million children die needlessly each year. And in the midst of this stands the church in America, with resources, knowledge, and tools unequaled in the history of Christendom.”

In The Hole in Our Gospel (Thomas Nelson), Stearns offers an unflinching critique of American Christianity and the growing divide between “rich Christians” and the world’s poor. For Stearns, the burning question for the church, and the subtitle of his book, is this: What does God expect of us? If we answer that question prayerfully and honestly, Stearns believes it could change our lives — and the world. I recently chatted with him about the alleged hole in our faith, the work of World Vision, and (of course) jazz.

Read more here.

Reactions welcomed!

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"Intended Consequences"--human horror, human hope

Photographer Jonathan Torgovnik has produced a photo and video documentary regarding the horror of the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

His special focus deals with the use of rape as a weapon of war.

In particular, Torgovnik reports on the infamous Hutu militia groups known as the Interahamwe, their terror tactics and the survivors of the outrage.

The women Torgovnik befriends experienced this nightmare 15 years ago, just about the time I came to Central Dallas Ministries. After discovering his important work, both in terms of photo journalism and pro-active intervention, I felt the need to share what I had found.

Any work on behalf of human rights is work that resonates with us.

You can watch the report and explore a most impressive site here.

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CEO: Community Empathy Offer

Here's a story for these times.

A story you've just got to read!

Take my word for it--a story you've got to read.

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Our Core Values

Central Dallas Ministries operates from a very strong "value platform."

Our approach to defining our core operational values has been evolutionary since the beginning in 1988.

Check out where we are today!



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Freedom

Some folks think
By burning books
They burn Freedom.

Some folks think
By imprisoning Nehru
They imprison Freedom.

Some folks think
By lynching a Negro
They lynch Freedom.

But Freedom
Stands up and laughs
In their faces
And says,

You'll never kill me!

Langston Hughes
The Collected Works of Langston Hughes (Vol. 2, page 78)

"Undocumented"--the trailer

A new film about to break on the scene likely will be a "must-see." The documentary made by a group of young Americans began as a quest to understand the changing demographics of the United States.

The filmmakers started out with one set of assumptions and, while giving due regard for contrary opinions along the way, ended up in a completely different place. Their shift seems to be because they really got to know the subjects of their study as people.

Funny how that choice and commitment usually changes preconceived notions, isn't it? Getting to know people as people--that is the essence of community formation.

Check out the trailer. Then, tell me what you think. Wanna see the film?

Here's the link: http://www.vimeo.com/1126156.

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Hymns and Words

Maybe it's my increasingly advanced age or, possibly, just impatience, but the words of the hymns sung in church become more important to me as time passes. I suppose that I've grown weary of what one young friend of mine calls "happy clappy church songs."

Take these lyrics from Brian Wren circa 1968. He calls it "Christ Is Alive." Here are verses 3-5 of the Eastertide hymn:

Not throned afar, remotely high,
Untouched, unmoved by human pains,
But daily, in the midst of life, our Savior
In the God-head reigns.

In every insult, rift and war,
Where color scorn or wealth divide,
He suffers still, yet loves the more, and lives,
Though ever crucified.

Christ is alive, and comes to bring
Good news to this and every age,
Til earth and all creation ring
With joy, with justice, love and praise.

I can carry that hope into Monday!

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Monica

We will be back in federal immigration court again today. Monica (for details and background, type her name in this page's Search tool) appears for what might be her final hearing.

Last week Jose received a "voluntary deportation" directive to be fulfilled in 120 days.

Legal counsel is not optimistic that Monica will receive any different determination.

Questions, so many questions arise as I consider the future of these wonderful young people.

Both were brought to the United States by their undocumented parents when they were very small children. For years, as a community, we have invested in their growth, education and productivity. Now that they are at the very beginning of adulthood, enrolled in college and eager to learn and to serve, we as a nation cast them out.

Sorry, but I cannot see the sense or the logic in this action.

We need comprehensive immigration reform, an impossibility in the short run. In the meantime, we need the D.R.E.A.M. Act to provide relief, hope and a fair remedy to young people like Monica and Jose.

Please pray for them today.

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