Last night we finished up our last Deep meeting of the quarter with the 2nd part of a 2 part series on Money. The two texts of Scripture were:

“Keep your character free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for God has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
- Hebrews 13:5-6″Some pretend to be rich, yet have nothing;
others pretend to be poor, yet have great wealth.”
-Proverbs 13:7

We talked about our problem - not primarily with money, but with our love of it. About how we pretend to be rich by spending more than we need, or as is often the case for college students, spending more than we have in the form of credit card debt. Did you know that:

It then made a lot of sense why Hebrews, among other passages, warns us to be free from the love of money, since it only breeds enslavement and entrapment to our lives.More than the simple financial wisdom, though, was the beauty from Hebrews about how our freedom from loving money relates to our love affair with God. “I will never leave you nor forsake you” - God is loyal to us; God’s got our back. Our financial realities and material needs are not a surprise to God, nor somehow less spiritual. “The Lord is my helper, I will not fear” - God is good, he takes care of our needs. The great news is that God knows what we need, and he wants us to lean on him in that confidence.

This from the IvyJungle.org-Over 15 million undergraduate students in the US.
-58% of them are women.
-College students spend over $231 billion a year in total expenses

Abner Ramos - urban ministry at East LA College - has a great post on education and salary that is definately worth the read.

This today from Tony Dung’s address at his eldest son’s funeral from an apparent suicide tragedy.

“…our boys are getting a lot of the wrong messages about what it means to be a man in this world. About how you should act, and how you should dress, and how you should talk, and how you should treat people. They don’t always get the right message…”

I can’t think of a louder clarion call for the need to influence and mentor young men for Jesus.

READ: Barrio Prophets intro + (a), (b), (c) and (d).
As with the recounting of any event, there are the stats and there are the stories. On Friday, at the Cumbre de Alabanza - The Heart of a Barrio Prophet, the stats were exciting:

• over 130 people attended, including:
• students & staff from at least 13 campuses,
• plus youth leaders & pastors from 5 or 6 churches,
• and a dozen or so Latino alumni from IV,
• even a few parents & families,
• and 35 to 45 people that stood up, saying “I want to be a Barrio Prophet” in their barrio or campus or in their family.

And then there are the stories. In his message, Abner held up a stuffed bear from Starbucks that was wearing a frog suit. [Read “Osito, que paso“] He said, “When I think of a bear, I think ‘majestic, big, beautiful, ferocious’. Bears rule the forest: they eat berries, they punk bees for their honey, they even punk happy campers out of their food, bears eat trout and salmon.”

“But you see, someone at Starbucks corporate headquarters in Seattle Washington thought it would be a cute idea to put a frog suit on this guy. Frog! Frogs are at the bottom of the food chain, they spend their lives hopping away from every predator in the forest, and they eat worms and mosquito. A frog suit!“

“You see, someone put a frog suit on this bear, and in doing so they robbed him of his dignity, of his potential, of his rightful place in the grand scheme of the forest. Every time you and I settle for less than what we are—when we don’t live up to our god-given potential, when we go out and protest the system without having solutions to the problems, when we let others define who we are—we put on a frog suit.”

At the end of the night, student after student came down the center isle to pronounce their verbal commitment - “I want to be a barrio prophet,” - making the stand to tear off the frog suit and uncover the potential God has put in them - not just for themselves privately, but publicly for the campus, their families and the barrios, neighborhoods and place where they live.

And all of the students’ stories. The story of Natalie, our only student in attendance from CSULA, said, “We really need to have something like this on campus.” Or the story of Carlos, a youth our church that came, said, “I never realized how much I was like Jeremiah, or how much I had to learn from him.”

Or the story of Stacey, a student leader from Redlands who I got to pray for, who shared, “I know that the Lord is leading me to be a Barrio Prophet and to come on staff with InterVarsity.” Or of Cindy, another student from Redlands, who brought up her friend Hedi, to pray for healing for her brother who is in the hospital, praying “Give her your peace and show her your love as you heal her brother.”

There is the story of Francisco, a student leader from the UCLA La Fe Bible study that provided all of the snacks for the event, who told me, “We all felt challenged with joy to give this as our offering - free of charge - so that the money raised could go to help out future La Fe events.” Or the story of Lupita, currently a 4th grader, saying “Yes, I will” when I asked her if she would be part of the next generation of Lation college students.

These are stories of God raising up a generation of barrio prophets - called from the barrio, called to the barrio, or to their campus, or their families - to be God’s messengers of hope.

DON’T MISS THIS EVENT!!!
TOPIC - “The Heart of a Barrio Prophet”
EVENT - CUMBRE de ALABANZA
TIME - Friday at 7pm
LOCATION - Community Baptist Church (map)
1120 McDonnell Ave. East Los Angeles, CA 90022READ: Barrio Prophets intro + (a), (b), and (c).

This mural sits on the corner of a major East LA intersection - Avenida de Cesar Chavez & Soto Blvd. (map), walking distance from our home. The title of the mural is “No Greater Love” or “The Greatest Love,” and has been there since 1992 by Paul Botello (a CSULA graduate) on the wall of Ramirez Pharmacy.

After the LA riots in May 1992, the city commissioned muralists in several communities to do several mural projects aimed at curbing the sense of urban disenfranchisement that had been revealed by the riots.

This mural was done in that same season, but was a gift from the Ramirez family. The LAmurals.org website describes the mural as “..attempting to connect spirituality with a society in need of peace.” This section of the mural depicts a bearded face gazing at a wounded heart that is surrounded by thorns. Somehow from the wounded heart, there is a seed sprouting a new plant that is surrounded & protected by a bursting flame.

I believe this is the heart of a barrio prophet that Jeremiah speaks from in chapter 12, the theme passage for tomorrow’s event. Wounded. Pricked and Prodded. Bearing new life through a flame of passion before God. Jeremiah says to God:

“You are always righteous, O LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?…You are always on their lips but far from their hearts. Yet you know me, O LORD; you see me and test my thoughts about you…

How long…?”

God’s response to Jeremiah is worth the price of admission. Hope to see you there.

READ: Recounting how it went.

TOPIC — “The Heart of a Barrio Prophet”
EVENT — CUMBRE de ALABANZA
TIME — Friday at 7pm
LOCATION — Community Baptist Church (map)
1120 McDonnell Ave. East Los Angeles, CA 90022
Yesterday, after taking Bus Line 71 to CSULA, I met up with staff partners from USC to pray over the campus and invite students to the “Cumbre” event this Friday.

Students along Library walkway at CSULA
To the students that I met, I asked, “If God were to come into the barrio, what issues would God have to address?”Brenda, a frosh student from West LA that I met at the bus stop, said, “Teaching people peace and how to love one another.” I asked her what she meant by “peace.” “You mean the opposite of stress?” “No,” she replied, “opposite of violence.” Another woman that I talked with, Maritza, a third year Catholic student from South Los Angeles, talked about God needing to explain all of the division between Christians, who all claim Jesus. I met another woman on the walkway who responded, “I’ve never really thought about that, but now that you ask, I’m really interested to know.”

What I realized is whatever the specific question, there is a hunger in this generation to experience truth in flesh, God walking in the barrio. Maritza and I talked about the incarnation of Jesus as the picture for us of what our invisible God looks like. We didn’t use the word ‘incarnation’ but that was what we talked about - God among us, actually invested in the barrio issues that affect the people God cares about. While I don’t know who will show up this Friday, it is confirming to know that the hope for a prophetic voice in the barrio is what this generation of students hopes for.

Lastly, when asked “what does barrio mean?” by my students, they helped me fill in the answer - “ghetto, da hood, the city, urban center.” Urban center prophets just doesn’t flow the same.

READ: Barrio Prophets (a) and (b)

When I was a junior at Oxy, I had the opportunity to study the book of Philippians for a semester with my peers. It was my first semester in a formal leadership position, and I was challenged by Paul’s posture as a leader towards the challenges he faced in ministry.More than 10 years later, I’m still challenged by Paul and how he holds the value of the gospel - both in its content and its communication. In Philippians 1, Paul writes:

“It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me…But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.”

I’ve often struggled to understand how Paul is only able to accept this rivalrious preaching, but more so, to rejoice that - somehow - through it the gospel is being preached. If Francis of Assissi’s words are true: “Preach the gospel at all times. Use words when necessary,” then how can rivalrious and envious preaching actually still contain the gospel, which challenges envy & rivalry?

That I don’t know.

What I do know is that the power of the gospel must be great enough to sustain our mixed motives and even our purely bad ones. I’ve had to hold onto this at several times over the past 10 years in ministry, none more than this high season for rivalrious ministry. (Shouldn’t that phrase be an oxymoron?)

What I have seen true - both in the past & the present - is that nothing can stop God. Not rivalry or envy from others. Not mixed motives or bad ones - my own or from others. Nothing. Maybe that is what undergirds Paul’s freedom & strength of joy.

Like the mural depicts, the heart of a Barrio Prophet is not sheltered from pain and the thorns of life. Anyone in the barrio knows that through personal experience. “The Heart of a Barrio Prophet” is the topic and theme for the CUMBRE de ALABANZA this Friday at 7pm at Community Baptist Church (map) in East Los Angeles. One goal for this gathering of Latino/a college students from campuses and churches across Los Angeles is to create a place to encounter God - the great healer - through worship, prayer, fellowship and the Word. In this encounter - encuentro con Dios - God works to heal hurt and then lead students not away from the pain, but into facing & conquering it in order to usher in God’s transforming power.For many, one source of pain is the experience of the barrio. This was true for our speaker, Abner Ramos, who grew up here in East LA, and planned for his education at UCLA to be his ticket out of the barrio forever. But then the his encounter with God changed Abner from a barrio victim to a barrio prophet:

“To tell you the truth, I didn’t want to come. I thought that going back to East L.A. was against everything I had been working hard to accomplish, that is, to stay out of the ghetto and make a lot of money… But something interesting happened that day.As we were unloading the pizza Brad told me that someone had been shot on campus the day before. “Yea, some guys got in a fight in the parking lot. One of them pulled out a gun, and now the other dude is dead.” I didn’t think much of it then.

I went home to visit my family that weekend. That’s when my brother asked me what I had been up to. “I went to ELAC this week, it’s a cool place.”

He looked at me with a sad look on his face. “Guess who shot someone on that campus this week?”

“Who?”

“Marcel Narro.”

Marcel was by best friend growing up. I saw him go downhill when we were freshmen at Montebello High School. We did everything together. The day before I came to ELAC he pulled out his gun and emptied the clip at point blank range into another man’s chest. It’s a sad thing to see your friends make stupid decisions.

At that point I heard God’s voice say, “Abner, your best friends are killing people on that campus. You have to go and tell them that I bring hope, you have to give them my gospel.”

Yeah. Wow. Come on Friday to hear Abner speak. Bring your Latino youth, friends, leaders and future barrio prophets to experience this transformation from the God of Barrio prophets, Jesus himself.

READ: Barrio Prophets (a) and (c)

Though Hurricane Katrina devasted an area over 2 months and hundreds of miles away from LA, this Saturday I’ll be taking a group of 8 students from CSULA to volunteer at a mobile medical clinic in Whittier that is being set up to assist and serve those that have been displaced and affected by the recent devastation in the Gulf Coast.This opportunity is sponsored by Compassion Net. This is the first of what hopefully will be many “Portable Clinics” to serve not just those impacted by Katrina, but others that need health care provisions in LA.

“Disaster relief accentuates the challenges of rebuilding. We have determined the best way to use our resources: to provide health care resources to hundreds of churches whose members welcome hurricane evacuees into their homes. Our mission is to constitute a firm second wave of assistance long after the media has moved on to the next “big news.”

I’ll let you know how it goes for our students this weekend. I anticipate that we’ll learn and recieve as much as we could possible give.

Everyday this week, I’ll be previewing CUMBRE de ALABANZA — “The Heart of a Barrio Prophet,” the big event this Friday at 7pm at Community Baptist Church (map) in East Los Angeles, by linking to information (all the links will be worth the click) about the event, the speaker, and our hopes and goals for the time.
Abner Ramos - serving students at East Los Angeles College (ELAC) will be preaching from Jeremiah 12 (read passage), a book he has been recently challenged by:

“Like Jeremiah, I’ve been fed up with the sin and apathy of my people. God had me study the prophet, and stopped me at chapter 12. When Jeremiah exposes his heart to God, God exposes his heart to Jeremiah. God has a beautiful heart.”

Read more of Abner’s blog thoughts on Jeremiah & being a Barrio Prophets here and here. One of our hopes for this time is for God to raise up a generation of Barrio Prophets to communicate a message of hope & justice.

Just last week I was at CSULA inviting students to this event when I met a student named Jose, who was waiting at the bus hub on campus to go home. Jose - who grew up in the barrio here in East LA - is a senior studying engineering who hopes to graduate this spring.

When I asked him “If God were to walk into the barrio, what would he have to speak to?”, Jose responded, “God would have to speak to the false perceptions that people have about those of us who live in the barrio, about how we live, what we are like, and what we hope for.”

Jose’ challenge for God is the same as Jeremiah’s challenge for God - to rise up and to act for justice in the barrio. God’s response to Jeremiah, to Jose and to you & I is this: “I am rising up - through this generation from the barrio to be worldchangers across the globe.”

On that note, you’re all invited this Friday to hear more about the generation of Barrio Prophets that God is raising up.

READ: Barrio Prophets (b)

This past week at DEEP, Kevin Blue - the director of the Los Angeles Urban Project, and the father of the child of my pregnant staff partner, Jen Blue - preached about the significance of the Word of God in our lives, from Matthew 7, (check out this translation for another interesting read.)What really got me from his message wasn’t the “new”ness of it, but truth of his insight. Kevin pointed out that “saying ‘Jesus is Lord‘ is just a statement of fact. Doing ‘Jesus is Lord‘ is where the proof is in our lives. It was refreshing to be taught from a passage that I’m very familiar with, realizing that the Scripture is the Living Word of God.

One of the students that committed her life to Jesus at the beginning of the year emailed my staff partner Maite this translation of several Bible passages in response to a study of the ACTS model for prayer that they did last week.

That’s the current streak by the California State University trustees for increasing tuition for students in the Cal. State system - like Cal.State LA. As reported in today’s Los Angeles Times, tuition has increased over 79% in the past 5 years.

“Rebecca Balderas, a student leader from San Jose State, called the fee increases unfair… What’s more, Balderas added, “students already know that they won’t see the quality of their education improve even after paying that increased student fee.”

Considering the current educational gap for urban poor students, and the problems that students face, particularly in the CSU system, in being able to gradutate, this may not be the best timed increase. On the otherhand, the CSU trustees have argued that:

“33% of the fee increase would be used for $32.7 million in financial aid to shield the neediest students from fee increases. Other portions of the additional revenue would provide room for 10,000 more students and employee pay increases of about 3%, as well as more spending on technology, libraries and maintenance, they said…Trustee Robert Foster, addressing the student leaders directly, said his vote for the fee increase and budget proposal “is something I don’t like to do, nobody wants to do, but we have to because we have to preserve quality.”

“We want this degree you’re working so hard, and probably going into debt for, to be worth something,” he said. “So you have to preserve quality as well as access.”"

A very easy opportunity has come up that may allow us to raise money for the InterVarsity ministries at our East LA schools (East Los Angeles College and Cal State Los Angeles). Ralphs Grocery Company has a generous community contribution program that is based on their Ralphs Club Cards. If we register your Club Card with our group, a small percentage of the proceeds is given to us so that we can set up scholarships, run events, and serve the campus.And best of all, there is NO COST TO YOU! You get the same discounts and other promotional offers that are associated with your Club Card. It doesn’t affect you in any way. Ralphs tallies what you spend on your Club Card and gives InterVarsity a percentage from their own charitable fund.

This will help us with a constant need on campus. This week we are recruiting over 35 students to attend our annual Fall Conference at Catalina, but many of the students could not pay the entire $89 cost. This program would help fill that gap. If you would like to help us this way, just follow this link to sign up:
http://socal.intervarsity.org/metrola/index.php?fa=ralphs

All you need is your
1) Club Card number (13 digits on the back of card starting with “2.”)
2) Name/Address/Phone Number.

If you don’t have a Club Card, you can sign up for one next time you’re in a Ralphs, or sign up here: Ralphs Club Card. This also works at Food4Less, Cala, and Bell supermarkets.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions. We’d love to hear from you!

This article about Cal. State Northridge in today’s LA Times describes the challenges that many urban commuter students face in trying to graduate. It is almost identical to the situations that many of my students face at Cal.State Los Angeles.

“Cal State Northridge’s struggle reflects the difficulties often faced by U.S. campuses that chiefly serve urban commuter students, including many who also hold down jobs and who are the first in their families to attend college. Higher education researchers say those students are more likely than others to drop out or require extra years to graduate.”

Not surprising, the most important statistic is the retention rate of students between their first & second years of college. When we started at CSULA 6 years ago, the average gradution rate was 7 years - prolonged by the challenges of students working full-time or part-time while going to school, family financial pressures, inadequate preparation in high school, and overcrowded classes that weren’t being offered enough to progress towards a degree in short order.

“Our culture teaches men how to consume women in their thought life when their alone and when they get married they have no idea how to do pursue biblical sexuality.”

Anthony Bradley’s got a great post about the need to talk about relevant biblical sexuality for men. Check it out.

13 student leaders.
7 staff & interns.
5 colleges & universities.And somehow everyone fit in our living room.

Last Wednesday evening, Veronica & I hosted the 1st of 4 La Fe leadership meetings in this school year for students and staff from campuses around Los Angeles. Students from UCLA to East LA CC to Redlands gathered in our living room to pray & prepare for the “Cumbre de Alabanza” event coming up November 18th.We started by praying for each others families - a rare blessing considering how much energy & focus we usually have on the campus in campus ministry. Then Abner Ramos shared about the content of his message from Jeremiah 12 that he’ll be speaking to a group of 100-150 Latino college students, their families and pastors, on embracing the “Heart of a Barrio Prophet.”

What was most encouraging personally was to see such a clear reminder of God’s provision. Not even 2-3 years ago could any of us have imagined this type of gathering of Latino students. We didn’t even have any formal gathering of Latino staff, and less than a handful of Latino staff even if we could gather. Now, we have more than 7 Latino staff and interns and a promising group of gifted Latino student leaders on several campuses.And yet as students were leaving after the meeting, several students came up to me to share how meaningful it was to have this meeting in our home. More than all of the leadership insight. More than the inspiration of the upcoming event. More than the vision for reaching & serving the 350,000+ Latino college students attending 1 of 60+ colleges or universities in the Los Angeles area. It was the impact of hospitality and home that most blessed and encouraged them as they headed back to campus.

READ: Barrio Prophets (a), (b), and (c).