NorCalUrban

See the entire article at  Christianity Today. Imagine that we elected all the right people to all the right offices—President, congress, governors, right down to school board, city council members, and dog catcher (is that still an office anyone gets to vote for?). Let's imagine that all these ideal office holders instituted all the right policies. Let's imagine that we got all the propositions right. (In California, we vote on lengthy and complicated propositions for everything you can imagine. Nobody understands them all.) Every piece of legislation—from zoning laws to tax codes to immigration policy to crime bills—is just exactly the way you know it ought to be. Would that usher in the kingdom of God? Would the hearts of the parents be turned toward their children? Would all marriages be models of faithful love? Would greed and pride be legislated out of existence? Would assistant pastors find senior pastors to be models of harmony and delight? Would human beings now at las...

Out to a homicide tonight. Pastor Bains went. He and I are police chaplains. Pastor knew the family. How can there be so much violence in 2.5 square miles? Sure, EPA is much better than years before - but we still need Jesus. Posted with LifeCast

I'm sitting at home watching the last game at old Yankee Stadium. They hosted a wonderful pre-game ceremony where many of the living Yankee greats came out including Yogi and Whitey Ford, as well as the families of Babe Ruth and others. The Yankees do a great job of honoring the past players.  The New York Daily News has a great photo set of the day's events. I'm so glad Samuel and I took the time this year to return to the Stadium for a couple of games. We returned to NYC and attended two games, one with our friend Jeremy and his son Judah.   Also, a few years ago when I was traveling for work Sam came with me and we squeezed in a tour of the stadium (it was winter, so no games were being played). Sam and I got to see the press box, club house, dugout, walked around the field and monument park. While in the clubhouse we saw the lockers of DiMaggio, Ruth, Jeter and the forever empty locker of Thurman Munson. When the guide turned his back Sam snuck a feel of Jeter's je...

CCDA board member Bob Lupton from FCS Urban Ministries in Atlanta regularly emails and posts an article called Urban Perspectives where Bob share insights from his work in the South. Bob has been very much leading the conversation around 'gentrification with justice' and empowerment. Today he sent out an article that relates very well to the redevelopment conversation going on in East Palo Alto and like communities. The underlying question is, "How do we reconcile redevelopment with the needs of the poor?"  Thanks for your insights, Bob. Here is Bob's thoughts ( emphasis mine ): “This city has a definite anti-church bias,” the pastor declared, leaning forward across his cup of steaming Chinese tea, brow furrowed with frustration. At every turn he had faced city resistance to his church’s plan to build a worship-community center on the five acre site they owned free and clear. Zoning hurdles, city planning department stonewalling, uncooperative building depa...

They Yankees, geez. What a horrible season evidenced by my lack of attention to them on this blog. I'm just plain frustrated by the Yankees. We'll - at least I can still count the 26 championships. By Jeter - what a ball player. The New York Post reports: The Yankees captain tied Lou Gehrig for the most hits all-time at Yankee Stadium, with his third hit of the day - and 1,269th at the House that Ruth Built - a home run over the right field wall to lead off the fifth inning of the Bombers' 8-4 victory over the Rays. "Jeter is chasing the ghost, and he's chasing it very well," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "I'm happy that I don't have to see him again this year." The home run was part of Jeter's third straight three-hit game and the highlight of the Yankees' second straight victory over the AL East-leading Rays. Jeter singled and doubled in his first two at-bats, then delivered his celebratory blast in the fifth off Rays phenom D...

Check this out. This is something that  Jeremy Del Rio  has been spearheading in NYC. I'm praying that this idea will take hold in Nor Cal. If you think you have an interest in 20/20 - please contact Jeremy or I...

I've learned a lot from  Guy Kawasaki over the years. His book, 'The Art of the Start" taught me much about starting things, raising money and making presentations. He recently did a blog post that contrasts two types of approaches to venture capital. One is with up front money is one is raising money after a product is brought to market. You can read his thoughts on 'Plan B' fundraising here. To me there are many parallels to the non profit sector. Many of us think 'money first, programs after.' We like to project what we feel will be the best case scenarios, articulate the community need are then try to build the capacity around the idea. In my career I've started things only to find the need was not what I expected it to be, and had to go back to donors or stakeholders and explain what happened. That's not too fun. Staffing in non profit work is as or more important than in the for profit world because of the relationship factor. Staffing is als...

Here is an important editorial in the New York Times called "The Great Seduction by David Brooks. You can read the original post here.   Thanks to Dr. Amy Sherman from Ele:Vate for the head's up. The people who created this country built a moral structure around money. The Puritan legacy inhibited luxury and self-indulgence. Benjamin Franklin spread a practical gospel that emphasized hard work, temperance and frugality. Millions of parents, preachers, newspaper editors and teachers expounded the message. The result was quite remarkable. The United States has been an affluent nation since its founding. But the country was, by and large, not corrupted by wealth. For centuries, it remained industrious, ambitious and frugal. Over the past 30 years, much of that has been shredded. The social norms and institutions that encouraged frugality and spending what you earn have been undermined. The institutions that encourage debt and living for the moment have been strengthened. The co...

Labor Day weekend... Thank God for you!  We really needed the three day weekend. While the weekend before we moved into our new place, we still had a bunch of junk in the old one. We spent the weekend clearing out the old apartment, and continuing to work through the boxes and set up our new house. When we left Modesto we down sized a three bedroom small house to a tiny apartment. We got rid of much of our furniture. Now we're having to upsize into a new place, so we're begging, borrowing and stealing as much furniture as we can. Melissa's friend Karen was headed to a missions stint in Russia and she long term lent us a bunch of nice stuff. Phil and Jen were getting rid of some couches and the chair I'm sitting on right now, so thanks to them we have a living room. We found a very nice 'scratch and dent' dining room table a Sears, so we outfitted them with four chairs from Ikea. So - other than some odds and ends, we're set. We also have rented our upstairs ...