Pan Dulce

Replicating the Imago Dei (Part II)

This is the second installment of my Monday morning devotional this week. Enjoy!

Did you know that Paul taught one body of teaching, one pattern of teaching everywhere and in every church? This explains why he was able to be in a town for as little as two to three days and as many as two to three years only later to write back a letter to the church in that city. Those letters represent about 48% of the New Testament if you count Acts Chapter 9 where Paul is confronted by Christ on the road to Damascus.

So what was that teaching? You can find the encyclopedia version in Ephesians and the Cliff Notes Version in Colossians as well as 1st Peter and James. The New Testament teaching of Paul is seen in these places on the same topics and in almost the same order. A good friend and mentor of mine, Thom Wolf organized the teaching on this and created a model for understanding the basic teaching that Paul used to disciple new Christians. He called it the Universal Discipleship Pattern. Thom gave me permission to write modules on the pattern when I was a pastor in El Paso. The modules are available on my blog if you want to go through them. Cheryl Jones went through the original file, did lots of editing, and then Russ Dilday and his team worked on the presentation and it is has been uploaded on the blog. I make it available to pastors and anyone interested in replicating the image of God in their own lives as well as others. You are free to go on the blog, download it, and study Paul’s 1st century pattern of teaching.

What kind of Training do you think a person needs for replicating the image of God in another person? Believe it or not, most of you already have the training that is required. How many of you have played sports at any time of your life? How many of you have ever served in the military? How many of you have worked in agriculture, business, or agri-business?

I played baseball and football in pony league and Jr. High and I was in Navy ROTC in High School. I served three years in the US Army Reserve, and had a 7 year career in telecommunications customer service. It would take longer than we have to tell you how much these experiences have shaped who I am today. If you have done any of these three you have a point of reference that will help you replicate the image of Christ in another person. In 2 Timothy 2:1-7 Paul outlines his plan for replication.

My older son Josh has just finished basketball season and today he is beginning baseball season. Thomas and David have also played basketball, baseball, and contact football. Belinda would rather them focus on basketball or baseball because she does not want them to get hurt in football. I am trying to mentor them through sports to help them learn about life and more important to learn how to follow Christ.

I think you can learn a lot about life in sports and there are also lessons about ministry, organization, and change that come from sports. I wrote about this in my blog on February 11th entitled “Basketball Season All Year.”

You will note that Paul did not say, if you want to make disciples, you have to go to seminary as important as I think that is. He did not say “you have to do so many years in bible study, Sunday school, or hang out at the synagogue” and today we would say “get involved in church” as vital as that is too. He said you have to entrust what you have learned into the lives of reliable followers of Christ who will, in turn, be qualified to teach others.

In the early 1990’s I became interested in the subject of leadership. Over the years I have come to the conclusion that people don’t really lead others until they learn how to lead themselves. I have also come to a conviction that Christian leaders really don’t lead until they learn how to follow Christ as disciples of all he taught. The making of disciples that we hear in the great commission is pointed toward the end of “teaching them to do everything I have commanded you to do.”

Each one of us has been entrusted with the unstoppable gospel of peace. We have each been called to grace and to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. My prayer for us is that we deepen our reliability as servants who are qualified to teach others from our own experience of doing everything Christ commanded us to do. When we do this we will be able to say “Imitate me as I imitate Christ” to children and families who wonder if there is any hope in the world for them.

You can find the UDP in PDF format on this blog. Enjoy!

Replicating the Imago Dei (Part I)

Today I am posting the manuscript for the devotional that I presented on Monday morning at Buckner International. I will post part of today and the rest of it on Friday of this week. I am headed to Lubbock, Texas where I will welcome the new staff of My Father’s House, meet with our Advisory Council and then travel to Midland, Texas to meet Anna Rodriguez and her staff at Hearthstone, a ministry of Buckner and later that day I will meet with the Midland Advisory Council. These are exciting days for Buckner and the children we serve.

Replicating the Imago Dei in “Not One Orphan but All Orphans”

We are all privileged to serve in a ministry that provides protection, provision, and love to children at risk, orphans, and elders in Texas and around the world. These are all actions that flow out of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Once we have provided for them and ensured a loving environment and demonstrate this through the love of Christ, what is it exactly that we are trying to replicate in them? Do we want them to simply be better off than they were before? Are we satisfied when they reach a place that is safe, loving, and nurturing? I want to contend that the end game is replicating the image of God in them. Once we have provided a safe place, shoes on their feet, and perhaps a family that will love them, we have another goal in sight.
We want them to personally know the redeemer’s love.  Inevitably when we serve the least of these we are asked questions like “why are you doing this? Why did you come so far to do this for me?” Of course, we go because we follow a savior who said his agenda was to bring good news to the poor, sight to the blind, freedom for the prisoners, liberty to the oppressed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of God’s favor. We do this because of whose we are. We follow the Christ the makes a beeline to the least of these…those that are hungry, thirsty, naked, strangers, and in need.
We have a wonderful platform that gives us the space to speak of the hope that is within us. The image of God in us produces the will and the act to do those things that God has planned for us to do among the least of these. We ought to be able to give a witness for the hope that is within us. In other, other words, when we are asked why, we ought to have the answer as ambassadors of Christ reconciling the world to him. This is all the more reason to have an Ambassador program to frame a consistent message of Christ’s love.
I have to admit that for years I have studied the Holy Scripture and never was aware of one verse that totally changed the way I understand the ministry of the Apostle Paul. In 1 Corinthians 4:16-17 Paul says “Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.” Did you know that Paul taught one body of teaching, one pattern of teaching everywhere and in every church? More about this teaching on Friday…

It's Happening Already (Part II)

Yesterday I wrote about our Strategic Plan and how it has begun to gain some traction. I mentioned finding new resources, evidence of national expansion, expansion in Texas, and economic development. Here are some other things that are already happening:

Leadership Development
In an effort to get started on asset mapping and succession planning among our staff, I will be launching two pilot programs in March to introduce Destino: Leadership Development Profile. Both groups will go through a brief orientation and then complete their own leadership profile. Once the pilot programs are completed, we will introduce this program to other Buckner staff members as well as churches and pastors. Please pray for us as we begin this process.

More National Expansion
We are working closely with a church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to enter into a collaborative agreement with Buckner to provide an in-church social worker. We will soon have a ministry presence in six states beyond Texas: Oklahoma, Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico, Washington, and Tennessee.

Expansion in Texas
We are currently raising $1.5 of a $2 million dollar goal to establish a Family Place Program in Conroe. The site plan has been approved. Pray that the Lord will move his people to invest in this project for the sake of mothers and children who need a new start at life.   Jon Hogg and Michelle Harris are leading this initiative with support from Buckner Foundation and External Affairs.

Global Expansion
We have exploratory trips set for Viet Nam, Egypt, India, and Laos this year. We have just completed an exploratory trip to Honduras and hope to establish an NGO there soon. We have already begun work in Mexico and are in the process of establishing an NGO there as well. Our work along the US-Mexico Border is expanding rapidly.

Relationship Management
We are looking very closely at how we manage relationships with ministry collaborators who bring resources to the table when considering how we will respond to 143 orphans in the world. We have relationships to manage with churches, institutions, and the government. Victor Upton is leading this effort. Keep him in your prayers.

It is already happening! We are methodically executing our plan and getting things done on behalf of children at risk, orphans, and families. If the next 10 months are like the first 2, we are going to have a fantastic year! Please pray that it may be so.

It's Already Happening

Melissa Opheim’s role at BCFS is to work our strategic plan for 2008. Yesterday I met briefly with my leadership for brief updates on our work at the end of the first 60 days of the year. I was glad to hear that the things we dreamed about are already happening.

Finding Resources
Victor Upton, Kenton Keller and I spent some time at Hardin Simmons University with the Provost, Dr. Bill Ellis and the Dean of Logsdon Seminary, Dr. Tommy Brisco about a week ago. We had a wonderful discussion about potential collaboration and learned about the vast resources and vision of HSU for the future. Please pray that these conversations emerge into collaborative reality. The next week we were in Orlando, Florida at the Association of Biblical Higher Education to meet with presidents, chief academic officers, and chief student services officers to connect bible colleges and ministry students to serve children through internships and mission efforts.

National Expansion
Felipe Garza and Melissa Opheim just returned from a trip to New Mexico where they visited with Geraldine Dooley, president of the New Mexico Children’s Home in Portales to consider ways we might collaborate for the benefit of children. We already have great connections in Southern New Mexico with Ruben Ortega at Sierra Vista Community Church as well as other friends and donors. This week I also received news that we are close to launching new collaborative agreements in Chicago, Illinois and in St. Louis, Missouri, and Victor Upton just returned from a brief exploratory visit to New Orleans, Louisiana.

Expansion in Lubbock
This past Friday we assumed responsibility for a new ministry in Lubbock, Texas call My Father’s House. This is a residential Christian Women’s Job Corp Ministry that was founded by Shirley Madden. Michelle Harris is leading that effort and I will be traveling there this week to welcome our new staff. As of Friday, Buckner now has two major ministries in Lubbock, our children’s campus and My Father’s House. When you couple that with our Foster Care Staff, and our programs in Midland and Amarillo, we are beginning to see a broad sphere of influence for children and families emerge.

Economic Development
Later today I will hear a report from Kenton Keller who has been gathering information about a new initiative called Economic Development. He has met with Buckner staff, donors, and other companies who do economic development. I am anxious to hear about his findings.

More on “Its Already Happening” on Wednesday of this week.

Collaborating and Networking to Change a Community

Today I have asked Johnny Flowers to write about the ministry he leads at the Wynnewood Center. Please listen and read about the redemptive work Johnny is doing at this place of ministry.

Last week I shared about “Hand up, Not A Hand Out” and the holistic approach to heal and empower the community. Today, I would like to share the importance of collaboration and networking with corporations. Collaborations help support and empower the community.

In 2007, Buckner at The Wynnewood ‘Make A Difference Center”, ministered to over six thousand people in need of some sort of assistance; whether it was in the area of Family Support, Family/Life Education, Senior Adult Programs or Youth & Child Care, not to mention, Spiritual Growth and Development  Programs. The reason we are able to meet the needs of so many children and families is due in part to relationships we have built over the last ten years with other agencies and corporations in the community and abroad.

Since we are a Non-Profit Organization that functions with a limited budget, we often have to get creative when we want to upgrade furnishings for our programs and look for outside donors to stand with us or purchase the items for the Center. Over the last year, we were able to do a complete makeover of our entire center, with the help of our collaborators and people who believe in our program.

In December 2007, Elves In Disguise, a program made up of high school Jesuit Prep students, raised funds to provide an extreme home makeover for a single parent family in the Wynnewood Community. The makeover included furniture and Christmas gifts for the children. They also purchased new furniture for our Community Center along with toys and games for the children that attend the After School Program. Jesuit has been a great collaborator who has donated a van to help transport our clients, and provided us with new and used household items to pass on to families in the community. Jesuit, along with three local churches, donated food to our on site food pantry, and also donated school supplies for our Annual Unity in the Community /Health Fair and Back to School Event, that served over 450 children back packs and supplies.

The Amerigroup Corporation stood with us to renovate our computer lab, which consists of twelve new Dell Computers and Software. These computers allow the children in the community to receive computer training three times a week, while attending the program. 

The After School Program received an extreme makeover in December. The entire center was painted, custom book shelves and new flooring was installed by a corporation called Millennium 3. Bank of America has also purchased flooring for three of the buildings that we use for clients services. These collaborations allow us to empower our clients in an atmosphere which is conducive to learning, create an environment that brings about change, while maximizing the resources that start the healing process and bring about redemption to a community, as well as give us the opportunity to minister with the collaboration approach.

The Wynnewood Make A Difference Center went from just surviving to thriving.  For more in about the Wynnewood Community email jflowers@buckner.org or call 214-948-5153.

A Hand Up, Not A Hand Out

Today I have asked Johnny Flowers to write about the ministry he leads at the Wynnewood Center. Please listen and read about the redemptive work Johnny is doing at this place of ministry.

Yesterday, I shared about Domestic Violence and its impact on the community. Today, I would like to share how we used the holistic approach to heal and redeem the community. In spite of a dark cloud that is sometimes hovering over this community of twelve hundred people, with twelve hundred personalities, twelve hundred testimonies, twelve hundred problems, and full of challenges there is still a light that shines bright. This light shines in the middle of a place that has had its share of darkness. Murder, robbery, car-jacking, and abuse of every kind are no stranger to this community.  Teen pregnancy, grandparents raising grandchildren, unemployment, mental illness, people with physical disabilities, terminal illness, low or no income to provide for their family are all challenges faced by our clients on a daily basis in the Wynnewood Community.

In spite of these challenges, the motto of the Make A Difference Center is “A Hand Up Not A Hand Out”. The reason we say a hand up is because if a person wants a job, we will assist them with our employment assistance program. If they have no experience, we offer job readiness training. If we have a grandparent who is raising grandchildren, we offer a program called Club 55; a support for seniors who are raising grandchildren or just by themselves. Because of limited income, we have an on-site food pantry for families in the community to have access to when crisis strikes. When violence knocks at their front door, we have a series of support and resources to refer them to if they want to make a change in their life.

We collaborate with Dallas Police Department to provide leadership to monthly Crime Watch Meetings, which has dramatically changed the number of violent acts that has taken place in this community. We encourage all residents to do at least forty hours of community services annually to take ownership in the community. We have several residents who give of their personal time to come and volunteer at the center. We challenge the community to be there for one another not take from one another, through involvement in our resident association meetings. Due to a number of residents not completing high school, we offer GED classes and career training through Arbor Education, an on-site WorkSource Center.

Because of the lack of love in some of the homes, some teenagers make bad choices by looking for love in all the wrong places; and teen pregnancy is an obstacle that some will face. We offer a teenage mothers support services through the Promise House, and also conflict resolution to show our clients how to better control their anger without becoming violent or aggressive.

Even though we were meeting all the social economic needs, the one component that was missing was the spiritual enrichment piece. After realizing that this community relied on public transportation, several residents expressed an interest in not having transportation to get to church, so we started a bible study on Sundays, with a local church coming to provide leadership. This bible study started with three people, now year to date average Sunday attendance is sixty people coming to worship and pray for community that seemed so far from God’s Will. After completing a needs assessment in the community, we have five areas of focus that help us to create programs to meet the needs of the community and they are: Health, Education, Empowerment, Community Development, and Spiritual Enrichment. These areas allow us to start the healing process and bring about redemption to a community that was on a downward spiral, and gives us the opportunity to minister with the holistic approach.

Tomorrow, I will share about the importance of collaborations and corporations to help minister in the community.

The Program That Saves Lives: Domestic Abuse Program

Today I have asked Johnny Flowers to write about the ministry he leads at the Wynnewood Center. Please listen and read about the redemptive work Johnny is doing at this place of ministry.

Family Violence is at an all-time high. Domestic Violence is the number one cause of injury to women in the United States. According to the FBI, a woman is beaten in this country every nine seconds. In one out of every three relationships, some type of domestic violence occurs. (This information was gathered from Sam Houston University Department of Criminal of Justice.) Domestic Violence affects more than thirty-two Americans each year with more than two million injuries, and claims approximately thirteen hundred deaths. (This information was gathered from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.) Seventy percent of the children of abused women are also physically abused, and twenty percent are sexually abused. The majority of abusive men were either abused as a child or witnessed their mother being abused. (This information was gathered from Womankind, Inc.) Domestic Violence causes nearly one hundred thousand days of hospitalization, thirty thousand emergency room visits and forty thousand physician visits annually. (This information was gathered from Womankind, Inc. also.) Domestic Violence accounts for fifteen percent of the total number of crimes reported. (This information was gathered from National Institute of Justice)

Because Domestic Violence has no respecter of any community, economic status, race, color or creed, there is Domestic Violence in every community, but we are fortunate at the Make A Difference Center to have two licensed therapist on staff. One therapist, who works with adult women, holds group therapy with morning sessions and evening sessions to accommodate the women who may be employed or have not left the abusive situation. Often times, the therapist will help the victims of domestic violence plan an escape from their abusive situation, and provide them a safe place to get on with their life. This includes providing emergency shelter, supportive living, child development center, children’s counseling, outreach counseling and incest recovery services. The services are provided by collaboration between Buckner and the Family Place. This program has had a proven record of helping hundreds of women and children escape situations that could have cost them their life.

A second therapist, who has been working with children for over five years, uses several creative methods, one being play therapy helping the child victim put domestic violence behind them. The two therapists provide counseling services to over two hundred fifty women and children who have been victims of Domestic Violence. Often times, victims of Domestic Violence feel like they are all alone and they have no one to turn to or no way out. If any of our clients are in an abusive relationship they are not alone. We are here to help them stay safe and escape Domestic Violence; not as a temporary fix, but for good.

Domestic Violence is not of God, but often women tend to stay in abusive relationships due to their lack of understanding of the Word of God and esteem issues. The Word of God describes what love really is in I Corinthians 13:4-7. Domestic Violence is not an act of love, but abuse. Tomorrow, I will be sharing the holistic approach of healing and redemption for the Wynnewood Community.

“When No One Cared, You Made The Difference”

Today I have asked Johnny Flowers to write about the ministry he leads at the Wynnewood Center. Please listen and read about the redemptive work Johnny is doing at this place of ministry.

Yesterday, I shared about the curriculum and dynamics that make up the After School Program. Today, I would like to share about one of our clients who came by my office and reminded me how important the Buckner Program is to the clients we serve and minister to in the community. On a day that I was working late at the office, there was an unexpected knock at the door. When I went to the door, their stood a young man neatly dressed in a military uniform with his back turned to the door. When I opened the door, there stood Tyrone, a fictitious name of a former client who participated in our After-School Program as a pre-adolescent until he graduated high school. He and his three siblings practically lived at The Make A Difference Center.

During the summer months, they would arrive often before the staff would arrive for their shift to start, and was often the last of the children to go home because they loved to be at the center. With excitement in his eyes, he gave me a hug, much like the one I gave my father after coming home from Desert Storm, after seeing combat for the first time and didn’t know if I would ever see my parents again. I invited him in to have a seat, and he began to express his gratitude for the skills and support he received in the After School Program. He began to tell me how he could not wait to come back home to Dallas, Texas to see his family and friends, but more so to show me and my staff what he had accomplished.

He had beaten the odds!  With all the dynamics involved in his life, and being told at age twelve the he was going to be a failure, he had truly beaten the odds.  His mom would often become verbally abusive towards him, when she and the live-in boy friend would get high on crack cocaine and didn’t have the means to acquire more to sustain their high. She would tell him he wasn’t going to amount to anything, because his dad whom he has never met wasn’t anything and she told him that on the regular basis. She also told him that he would grow up to be a loser just like his dad.

Although he heard negative things at home, the staff at the center would encourage the students to not look at their current situations at home or become complacent because of what was going on around them. Tyrone stated: “The After School Program staff would challenge us to think outside of the box and set obtainable goals and objectives, and if we continued to trust in God, He would help us turn our dreams into reality. When the center provided us with a nutritional snack or lunch, a lot of the times that was all we had to eat and you guys never even knew it! That is why I always asked for extra snacks and would hang out all the time, because the center became my safe place in a world that wasn’t very kind to me. The center made us feel like we were important and we had value to our life, and we could achieve anything that we set our minds and hearts to. More importantly, this is where I met Jesus as my Lord and Savior and saw him in you and your staff. And I also remember my first time at Mt. Lebanon Camp, and seeing the sign that says: This is where people meet Jesus. I often felt like Buckner should have that same sign in the After School Program.”

Due to the amount of family violence in the community, tomorrow I will be sharing on our Domestic Violence Program.  If you would like to help make life better for a child contact jflowers@buckner.org or call 214-948-5153.

The Make A Difference Center

Today I have asked Johnny Flowers, Director of Community Services / Team Leader, to write about the ministry he leads at the Wynnewood Center. Please listen and read about the redemptive work Johnny is doing at this place of ministry.

Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, in as much as ye did it not to one of the least these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. Matthew 25:45-46.

This week I have been given the honor of sharing about the ministry that Buckner has at The Parks at Wynnewood Apartment Community. To begin, I will be sharing about the After School Program and Staff, as well as the resources available to empower and support the children and families in the community.

The Make A Difference Center is located in the southern sector of Dallas in an apartment complex of about twelve hundred people with low to moderate income. Seventy-five percent of the residents are single parents or grandparents raising grandchildren. In light of the challenges in the community, Buckner brings hope and support through one program in particular; The Wynnewood After School Program. The After School Program is staffed by a Director, who has been at Buckner for ten years, and four additional staff with a combined tenure of fifteen years of working with children in at-risk communities. The staff has been trained in the areas of Child Development, Nutrition, Conflict Resolution, Stress Management, Life Skills, Empowerment of Youth, Recognizing and Reporting the Signs and Symptoms of Child Abuse, as well as supporting parents in Child Abuse Prevention. The staff is dedicated to protecting children, promoting independence and building strong families and communities.

There are several components that make up the After School Program as follows:
Life Skills based on the forty developmental asset curriculum.
Spiritual Enrichment teaches daily devotions, while giving the students insight on the importance of having a relationship with Christ.
Academic Support providing one-on-one tutoring with homework, also TAKS Test preparation.
Enrichment Activities exposes the child to a variety of cultural, educational, spiritual and fun activities, while expanding the child’s worldview.
Experiential Learning offers hands-on learning of new skills through fun and meaningful experiences and activities while providing a varied learning environment.
Goal Setting allows the students to set personal goals for themselves in the areas of academics and family relationships, as well as short-term and long-term goals.
Recreation includes an indoor game room, organized sports teams, and an Annual Get Fit for Summer Camp and much, much more.
Computer Literacy Training enhances the students’ knowledge and ability to use computers and technology efficiently. The students in the After School Program attend the on-site computer lab three times weekly.
Recording Studio allows students, who have a special interest in creative arts, to learn how to play and record their own music as a form of expressing their inner feelings.

The students who utilize these services leave the program empowered and equipped to take on the challenges that life may throw their way. Tomorrow, I will share a story of a client who maximized the opportunity to utilize the After School Program at Wynnewood, and the effect that it had on his life.

Westgate, Where Relationships Matter Most

This past Sunday I had the privilege of preaching at Westgate Memorial Baptist Church in Beaumont, Texas in the absence of my good friend, Dr. Raymond McHenry. Ray and I met while we were doctoral students at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. Ray was on his way back from Russia returning from a mission trip he was leading. I had the privilege of preaching at the 8:30 am and the 10:50 am service.

It was a privilege to participate in these services. The music was upbeat and the congregation was alive to the Spirit. I made it just in time for the 8:30 am service and was greeted by Greg Eubanks, Director/Team Leader of Buckner Children and Family Services/Beaumont Children’s Village as well as Ben Mazzara, Executive Director of Buckner’s Calder Woods Retirement Center. Greg and Ben came to the early service and helped me staff the booth exhibit after the service. Greg, Ben and I were on hand to answer questions about Buckner International.

During the second service, Rhonda O’Neill director of community affairs in Beaumont and Kristin Wilson, foster care case manager also from Beaumont were there to greet me and staff the booth after the end of the second service. The day was special for Kristin since she is a member of Westgate. It was a joy to be able to highlight Kristin’s ministry. Rhonda, Kristin and I were busy answering questions after the second service. During my time at Westgate I learned that the church has been involved in Shoes for Orphan Souls and have provided school supplies for residents at the Beaumont Children’s Village.

I invited the church to consider going on a shoe trip to put shoes on children in other countries and I invited them to consider a KidsHope USA program as well as ministry along the border and in other states across the USA. After the second service we met a couple who was thinking seriously about foster care and adoption. I introduced that couple to Kristin and she began to tell them about the information meeting on Tuesday of this week. We all sensed that God was speaking to us all this week about the needs of children we serve.

Churches like Westgate are already engaged with Buckner and global missions. They are already making a great investment on behalf of the least of these. Today’s visit may have opened up some new doors and raised the possibility of new collaborative efforts on behalf of the least of these.

Pray for Dr. McHenry’s safe return and for ways the Lord might be calling us to Go somewhere to serve children, Be a voice for those who have no voice, and Do something for the least of these.