Ready to Listen

Welcome Mosaic Friends

Parke — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 20:27:54 +0000

Some of our friends from Mosaic Arlington will just be receiving the url for this blog as of Sunday night so I wanted to put out the welcome mat. I’m excited about how their passion for people and this information (and more that is to come) can work together for our communities’ benefit.

A couple highlights of this site:
- Interview with Rob and Edie Bakker
- Neighborhood visits
- Our group maps [1] [2 - see map in sidebar]

A couple ways to take action today:
- Start collecting school supplies while sales are on. The Starbucks at Cooper and Arbrook (see group map) is accepting donations today.
- Contact Intentional Gatherings and ask to tag along for their weekly time with the poor every Saturday in Ft. Worth
- Call Parke Brown about the monthly trip our friend Ben takes to give out food clothing to the poor on the street.

Listening Together

Parke — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 20:10:00 +0000

In our journey over the last three months, we met many groups who are serving the poor and homeless. And we heard about many more. One challenge in each of the places we’ve visited is coordination. Groups know of each other, but often don’t know each other and don’t work together. Often the divisions are small matters of time and effort and not of denomination and focus.

Our friends from Intentional Gatherings and Lighthouse Church are working to bring more coordination between groups in the Ft. Worth area by hosting a lunch for ministries and service groups on July 28 from 1-3pm. If you’re passionate about serving people and interested in making a difference, I’d encourage you to be there. (My friends from Mosaic should probably call me if they want to go so we can carpool.) The stated mission is “to join together to better serve the East Lancaster community.”

“Unity in the Community” Lunch Meeting
Saturday, July 28 1-3pm
Day Resource Center for the Homeless
1415 East Lancaster
Ft. Worth TX 76013

Call 817-846-9881 or 617-808-2520 for more information.

Our Place in the World

Parke — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 02:55:10 +0000

It’s a small attempt so far, but I’ve started to map out faith community meetings of Mosaic Arlington, the poverty survey by the city of Arlington and some places we’ve been. There’s more to come but this is a good start.

A very appropriate video break

Parke — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 21:07:54 +0000

Meeting People at the Cooper Crossing complex

Parke — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 01:46:43 +0000

Maranda wrote up our recent visit to Cooper Crossing this past Monday. As she says, it was a great time.

Last night a few of us met near the Cooper Crossing apartment complex to just walk around and throw around ideas about how to show the love of Christ practically in that neighborhood. We met a couple of interesting people and were able to just introduce ourselves and hear a little of their stories. We met one guy, William, was staying in the car while his wife stayed inside with her mom. He mentioned that he really needed to put gas in his car, but wouldn’t get paid until later this week. We were able to help him out by getting him a little bit of gas. I am really looking forward to talking to William again. There was one other man named Edward that said he has a lot of ideas for ways to us to help out, he just couldn’t think of any right then. Maybe next time he’ll have something for us.

We talked about ways that we could reach out to the kids that are living there and also just to the neighborhood as a whole. It could benefit a lot from a cleanup project, handing out food, or even just spending time with them and their kids.

There are a couple churches in the area that it we could learn a lot from and also, according to our new friend, William, Mission Arlington is out there pretty frequently. Since we already sort of have an in with them, we will probably link up with them in some way.

All in all, it was a good time. For me, it really seems that a continued presence in the community would go a long way. Last night was a step in the right direction. There are probably 20 different things that would show God’s love to this community in a practical way, and I am really itching to get started. We just need to pray for some direction and guidance as to what will be the best idea.

Arlington on the Fourth

Parke — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:12:24 +0000

I spent some time getting into the holiday spirit yesterday with Justin in the morning and Garry that night.

Arlington has a fairly significant parade on the morning of the fourth every year. The Star Telegram estimated a crowd of 50,000 lined the streets of the downtown for what the city calls the biggest parade in Texas (really?). Parades are often more a family affair so we didn’t connect as much as many folks would, but it was a good time to be out and the weather was great. [My photos of the parade]

Later that night, I went to a parking lot west of the Ballpark at Arlington to see the fireworks after the Rangers-Angels game. I was glad I did. Fireworks are always brief, but warm, summer nights with fireworks and tons of people are community moments that almost everyone seems to enjoy. [Video of the fireworks]

One thing I noticed, thanks to Justin, was that the morning parade seemed to attract a primarily white crowd. That wasn’t the case with the fireworks, which I was glad to see. We need more community events that involve everyone.

Downtown Dallas: Serving the Homeless

Seth — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 05:33:41 +0000

This past Saturday Parke and I had the opportunity to travel to downtown Dallas and help serve out sack lunches, snacks, and water to some of the homeless out and around the Dallas Public Library. The group we were with tries to make a monthly trip to bring various kind of food, a “band-aid” as one person called it, to relieve some of the stresses of life for the people in the downtown area. I was able to have a good conversation with a man named Floyd about what the homeless community needs, in a deeper sense than food. One of his concerns was the process of trying to obtain employment and getting through some of the frustrations of dealing with the city, such as receiving an ID in order to get a job.

Talking with Floyd made me curious to see what types of things our community could do to provide a gateway between social services for the homeless and furnish a way to impact the people with more than just food supplements that will ultimately end with strong relationships.

One thing that would be great to scout out on the internet would be how to overcome the cycle of receiving government id without having one in the first place. It seems that to receive a picture id card you must have two forms of identification; your birth certificate and one more, such as social security. S.S., however, also requires a picture id of some sort. Perhaps there is some sort of alternate id that could break the frustrating cycle of that situation. If anyone has any ideas or knowledge on the issue, please let us know!

Much more to come

Parke — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 21:33:42 +0000

I’ve got a ton to add to this blog and the map. We’ve hung out in South Ft. Worth, on the streets of Arlington, with a Nigerian-founded church and in a home or two since then. If you can help me enter this stuff and you’ve been on any of these adventures since June 11 give me a holler.

Also, check out the plans for this Saturday. It should be an interesting adventure…

Learning More About Garry and Justin’s Neighborhood

Parke — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 02:26:23 +0000

Tonight, we spent time near where Garry and Justin live, trying to get to know another neighborhood of Arlington better. Starting out from 629 Cousins Lane, we walked west on Cousins, around a trailer park and then south a few blocks along Division just short of Fielder and back towards Sanford.

We noticed a couple things along the way. The apartments along Fielder have a lot of families living on the edge of poverty and some college students. There are quite a few unused lots in the neighborhood. And we also noticed that the main meeting place outside people’s homes is the local convenience store.

“What would it look like to build community up around a convenience store?” we wondered. “Would starting to offer simple things like a bulletin board with local civil services and other helps make a difference?” I’m not sure, but I think it’s worth investigating.

A drive through East Arlington

Parke — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 15:02:10 +0000

It was raining on Monday, June 4 when Seth and I met up at the old empty mall near Pioneer Parkway. I almost gave up, but Seth encouraged me on to good things and we at least drove around a bit. Some parts right around the mall look reasonably good from the outside. A few newer developments look fresh and clean with new schools to boot. Still, it’s clear there are some really hurting parts of the neighborhood. The mall itself looks like it could easily be a drug hangout when night roles around.

I’m reminded though as I write all these things that outside observation really only tells you so much. Wealth and clean appearance doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a “good” neighborhood and visa versa. I really need to connect this group with people more.

Seth had some good thoughts about finding a weekly place to serve. It might be a better thing for most of our group so it feels more like we’re doing something.