Last Sunday night we were having a great time cleaning up after our community Bible Study/BBQ.  People were taking turns washing dishes, three people racing to dry the dishes, one sending dishes back to the washer as he did “quality control”, snapping each other with the towels, dancing to music playing in the background, and laughing a lot.  It definitely felt like family.  One of our friends from the community, who was on the drying crew, said, ” I wish our community could work together like this.  I just really want to see that happen.”  I smiled, hearing these words coming from this man, who once stood on the corner with a serious face, selling “herb”.  The transformation that has come over him the last six months has been beautiful to see, after (as he puts it) he “decided to get his life right with God.”  He’s always been one of those people who knows everyone in the community, but now he’s using those connections to  spread God’s love, which shines out of his quick smile, friendly greetings, and genuine concern for people.  He has taken big steps in moving forward: He is raising up as an example of a Godly father to his three children, going back to school for his GED, working hard.  He is actually the one who wanted to do a community Bible Study in the first place and got that started.  He often talks about how much he wants to see other lives around him changed too.  I don’t share any of this to give Urban Resurrection a pat on the back.  This is about God’s movement and us just being there to walk along-side the people He is transforming; ourselves also being transformed in the process.  This gives me hope, keeping my dream alive to see Godly leaders rising up and our community transformed.

We have an opportunity coming up for you to be a part of raising up these community leaders. The CCDA (**Christian Community Development Association) annual conference is being held in Chicago, from Sept. 7-11.  This is all about learning how to transform our communities from the inside out.  We would love to take rising community leaders to this, but we need people to sponsor them to go.  Our goal is to take 5 local leaders.  The cost is a total of $750.00 per person (this includes conference cost, travel, food, and accommodations for the five days). If you want to give toward this, click the “GIVE” link on our homepage, and follow the instructions.
(*Make sure to write in the memo of checks: “Preferenced for: Urban Resurrection Team-CCDA” or when making your donation online, choose “Urban Resurrection-Miami team” in the “Purpose of gift” tab and add “For CCDA conference” in the “note” box.)  Thank you for being a part of raising up community leaders in West Coconut Grove.

**http://www.ccda.org/conference

Posted on June 30th, 2010 by Laurie Cook
Filed under: Community Development, News