Mercy Community Band

I want everyone to get a look into the opening part of a Sunday Worship at Mercy Community Church. In the video below I am playing guitar and on vocals, Pastor Chad is on the right of the screen playing acoustic guitar, Rick is playing electric guitar, and Steve is on saxophone. The song is "Woke Up This Morning" my personal favorite. Special thanks to Jimmy, the man behind the camera. I had fun adding some special effects on Windows Movie Maker. Hope you enjoy!!! Watch it full screen!

Valentines Day

Valentine’s Day:

A day filled with love, flowers, hearts, candy, stuffed animals, jewelry, fancy dinners, a significant other or maybe a new date.

Valentine’s Day is a special day for many people here in America, and why would it not be. The grocery stores is packed full of bright red flowers, heart shaped candy boxes, life sized stuffed bears, and enough helium balloons to lift a small child. Fresh cut roses are sold on every street corner. Reservations to any fancy restaurant are almost impossible to make. Elementary school kids share Valentine cards with a favorite cartoon character or movie star to each classmate. There is enough love in the air to fill a football stadium, the only worry we have on such a special day is, WHO WILL BE MY VALENTINE! The people in relationships this is an easy task. Those of us who need to find a date, Valentines is that perfect excuse to ask that special someone out on a date! It has always been a special day for me....

February 14, 2012:

This morning I awoke at 8:00am like any other day. The temperature was 38 degrees and it was raining. During the night the temp dropped below freezing and Atlanta experienced freezing rain. As I walked into work today the only thing that I could think about is how members of the Atlanta community had to sleep in these elements the night before. It was not until I sat down at my desk that I realized that today was Valentine’s Day. Today was much like any other day at Central Outreach and Advocacy Center. I worked with guests that were in need of transportation to work, clothing, emergency food, and Georgia ID’s. I helped one younger man today that was released from prison yesterday; he was in need of a GA ID. We talked for awhile about the struggles the State puts on him and others after being released into society. He was eager to obtain the proper State ID so he could get started in the reconstruction of his adult life. There was no balloons or hearts dangling from the ceiling today, really there was no mention of Valentine’s Day at all in our center. Today we passed out “gifts” that hopefully will continue to give, like we try and do each day we are open.

Today has helped me to put some of what I have learned and felt this year into context. As the outside world spends huge amounts of money on this holiday we have friends sleeping under freezing cold rain. When before I thought that not having a date on this day was the worst thing that could ever happen, I listened to the stories of men and women trying everything to get back on their feet but can’t because of the struggles to obtain proper ID. Or of a qualified man that can’t find any work because of his criminal record. Today Valentine’s Day was just another day for many people that are struggling on the margins. I feel truly blessed that I was able to spend this holiday with them.

Vocation

"Vocation is where our greatest joy meets the world's greatest need."

-Frederick Buechner 

Last weekend I went to the Volunteers Exploring Vocation Conference in Norcross, Georgia. It was a three day, two night conference hosted by The Fund for Theological Education. There were around 50 volunteers from the Southeast region attending the conference. The event took place at the Simpsonwood Retreat Center located on the Chattahoochee River. 

Still to this day I am not sure how I got signed up for the conference, neither does my roommate Emily. Randomly we received e-mails about two weeks before the event giving us details on the conference. On Friday two weeks later we headed north for the weekend. 

One of the main reasons I decided to do a YAV year was the chance at living more "intentionally." The reason I put quotations around intentionally is because that word can have lots of different meanings. What I imagined when I signed up to live in an intentional Christian community was lots of discussions both deep and surface level, a tight community feel, bible study/readings, simple living, and community living. As a house I think that we were accomplishing only some of these things. So starting about a month ago I decided to find some ways of living more intentionally on my own. I started by meeting with Chad the pastor at Mercy Church at least once a week, usually we will meet twice. It was in that space that I verbalized the frustrations I was having with my year. As we continued to talk we decided that we would study a book together, the book Chad picked out was ‘Lifesigns’ by Henri Nouwen. That weekend I went to the VEV conference. 

At the VEV conference nothing life altering happened, I couldn’t even tell you much that we talked about that weekend. Not saying that in a bad way, I enjoyed the small group discussions and playing spades with other mission volunteers from the area. It is now when I look back on the weekend and see that it was the start to the shift in my year. It was during that weekend when I started to truly see that my search for vocation was not going to be easy. It was going to take some thinking outside of the box and challenging myself with different, uncomfortable things. Before taking part in the VEV conference I read ‘Let Your Life Speak’ by Parker J. Palmer and in that book it talks about vocation being a lifelong process. I get that; I know that I not close to finding my true vocation. I do know that things are changing inside and out, so I am happy for that. 

The things that I was hoping for in the beginning of the year finally started taking place. Our house community each Tuesday during our meeting is now studying a book; this month we are reading ‘St. Francis and the Foolishness of God.’ I personally don’t think that the book is great but each week it sparks group conversations where we can share, listen and learn from each other. Also last week I asked if our house could meet and talk about what was not going so good from the first part of the year. The meeting ended up lasting almost three hours but at the end I felt so renewed because as a community we discussed the hard stuff and came out better because of it. As a community we took a step to becoming more intentional and I hope that those discussions continue. 

We now have Megan who is a spiritual director come and meet with our community twice a month as a group and once a month individually. We have only had a few meeting with her at the house but each time it has been a very good experience. I believe that continually engaging in community activities like these are going to be very beneficial in creating a much close nit house community. During our first individual session we talked a lot about vocation and how I have been struggling to find mine. Megan helped me talk myself through some situations; I am very excited to continue to work with her throughout the rest of my time in Atlanta. 

My meetings with Chad have continued, recently we have been meeting two times a week. We meet after we close down Mercy on Thursday and then again before church on Sunday. We have now started reading and discussing the book ‘Lifesigns’ which has sparked some great conversations. I truly value Chad as a friend but also as a follower of Jesus in his work at Mercy. He helps me put certain parts of my life in perspective with the work I am doing now to the work that I came from. I always end my meetings with Chad feeling hopeful. I look forward to learn all I can from Chad and the community members that make up Mercy Church. 

I asked for change and I got it. I was looking for more and now as you can see I have a lot on my plate. My hope is that I now don’t take for granted the resources that are in front of me. I am excited to see where the rest of my year takes me! Nouwen talks a lot about moving from the house of fear to the house of love in the book Lifesigns. So this is the start of me being intentional about moving myself out of the house of fear and into the house of love! 

I look forward to getting to see the mission trip group from First Presbyterian Church who are coming to Atlanta to work with Chad and Mercy Church!!

The Little Things and Coffee

I want to start by wishing everyone a Happy New Year as we begin 2012! I am excited to get back to writing new blog entries after taking a few weeks off for the Christmas holiday. My Blog has reached 1000 reads so thank you all so much for taking the time to read and comment on my posts!

6AM Thursday morning I awake to the screams of my rooster alarm going off. It is quite possibly the worst sound in the world. After arriving in Atlanta from Tallahassee what seemed like just hours earlier I knew that my Christmas break was officially over. I received a call on my way up I-85 from Chad (pastor at Mercy) letting me know that Mercy during the cold months opens at 7AM rather than 8AM. The last time my alarm was set for those horrible morning hours was during my time working at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota when I had to do it every day. The temperature when I woke up was 32 degrees, not very used to that coming from Florida. I gathered up my coat, guitar, and a cup of coffee and headed out the door.

7AM I arrive at Mercy Community Church and as I walk through the gates I feel a sense of being home. I was greeted with a warm welcome by some of my friends from the community. The 100 cup coffee maker that runs on a timer had already brewed up some hot fresh coffee. I poured a cup for myself and got a chance to catch up with the friends I had not seen in almost three weeks. Jesus was already hard at work in the kitchen making hot grits to be served for breakfast. The day was young but the feeling I got was, it was going to be a special day!

8AM the fresh grits are served as more folks come from the outside to warm their insides from the cold night before. I enjoy a hot bowl of grits as I have a conversation with Jesus about how everything he makes just tastes so good. I always try to throw in the few Spanish words I know; he usually just has to laugh at how bad I butcher them.

11AM after prayer and bible study have finished starts the time of the different activities. On tap for the day is either Investigative Reporting with an actual reporter for those in the writing class. A chance for anyone wanting or needing to to sit down and talk with Megan who is a trained Spiritual Director one on one. Or the music/instrumental time with Chad and me. This was when I witnessed a transformation like none I had ever seen. A younger female somewhere in her 20's had joined the community earlier in the day, it was her first time to Mercy. She walked in late morning carrying a guitar on her back supporting a very alternative look. When it came time for music she sat down and joined the circle. Chad told me to start the playing because he had to go get a few things done. After pouring yet another cup of coffee I was ready to begin. Not exactly sure what to do I started by playing and singing "This Little Light of Mine" and by no means was it a hit. This is when I invited our new friend to see if she wanted to play a song. She got the guitar out of her case and played us all a tune. She appeared very nervous by the shakiness in her hand and voice while playing and singing her song. Before she finished playing she got up and left for the bathroom obviously emotional and frustrated. The transformation I am talking about started when me and the other members of the community genuinely asked her six words "Come on back and join us!" She decided not to leave and sat back down in the circle. About this time Chad had come back so we played some community favorites like "Woke up this morning" and "Revolution." As our new friend played along she continued to gain confidence, after the song finished she played us one of her original tunes. This time smiling and proud to be singing her original piece. As the hour ended it seemed as though she was a completely different person.

Noon time arrived and our new friend decided to join us on our walk out to the streets to serve lunch. On the way to the first stop she explained to me how she had spent most of her life as a freight train jumper and been all over the country. The next thing she said came as a sudden surprise, "I have wanted to be a part of a church family for many years and I think I have finally found that church." What a powerful thing to hear, something I had never experienced. Growing up in the Presbyterian Church I have never been the one looking for the next person to convert. So to be a witness to our new friend verbalizing that she wanted to be a part of the church was amazing.

2PM we walk back to Mercy to clean up and close for the day and our friend is still tagging along. "I have not had this much fun in a long time" or "This has been a great start to the day" are some of the positive quotes that continued to flow out of her mouth as we cleaned. At one point she even did a full on cartwheel and almost took one of the other community members out she was so excited. Chad sat down with her and taught her some more of his music that she had loved earlier in the day. He even let her have some copies of his songs because she really wanted to learn the chords. Then after a smile and a hug she was off. The gates at Mercy were closing for the day but the love that left out into the Atlanta streets was still shining.

To wrap it all up. It might have taken 6 cups of coffee and a simple sentence by a total stranger for me to see, but today I truly felt the power of God here in Atlanta. Simple genuine hospitality to a girl that might have had nothing became everything. The little things in life do make the biggest differences. "Come on back and join us!" Six words is all it took to see a sudden transformation. What little things can you do today?

Annual Christmas Party at Central OAC

Friday was the annual Christmas party held at Central Outreach and Advocacy Center. It is a special day where volunteers, board members and guests celebrate the Christmas season together. We still run the center like a normal day providing services to those in need, but with a twist!  When you enter the center you can't help but smell the hot apple cider steaming in everyone's cup. In the conference room the table is set with more sweets and goodies then your heart could ever desire. Set up in the back room is a piano playing all the favorite carols by the lovely Ms. Betty. The Christmas party at the OAC was a unique experience that will not soon be forgotten. It was a couple hours out of the day where people from all different life situations, each bearing different burdens, came together to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. The energy inside the center was powerful, smiles replaced frowns, love replaced hate. Guests were able to let down their guard and truly enjoy the Christmas season that usually just brings them more trouble and frustration. My favorite part of the day was singing Christmas carols in the room filled with guests and board members alike. A man named Fred came and sat down between me and Leslie and sang carols in his lovely super bass voice. Betty passed out 100 year old sleigh bells for the guests to play during Jingle Bells, 12 Days of Christmas and other favorites. The room was overflowing with singing,smiling and laughter as we all belted out our Christmas favorites. I took a video on my phone which I will post below, the song is Joy to the World! I can truly say that the Christmas Party at the OAC was my favorite party of the season.

Mercy Community Church

Picture drawn in the Mercy Art Class

Every Thursday morning at 8:00am I start my day at Mercy Community Church. Thursday has become a day that I very much look forward to as part of my week. Mercy is based out of  the Druid Hills Presbyterian Church grounds which located in the Poncey Highland area of Atlanta. Mercy started about seven years ago when Pastor Chad Hyatt's vision of a true Christian Community came to life. Now Chad is assisted by Pastor Maggie Leonard a graduate of Columbia Presbyterian Theological Seminary. They make up a very powerful team and I am very blessed to be learning from them both. The community is open to any one who chooses to enter through the always open door. The majority of the community is made up of men and women who are currently homeless. I use the word homeless carefully, I am not putting all the community members into a box of homelessness. I do believe that the term homeless is used in a way that can be a very isolating and demeaning to people in difficult situations. To quote a man I was talking to at Mercy "The word homeless seems like it is tattooed on your forehead and as hard as you try you can't get it off. You get placed into this box with people that you are nothing like. You start paying for things that you have never even thought about doing." I know that personally I have used the word "homeless" to put people in a box before.

Pastor Chad defining Mercy Church

During the week Mercy is open Monday, Thursday and Friday from 8:00am till around lunchtime. Each morning at 8 the doors open and everyone is free to enjoy fresh brewed coffee, bagels, and bread with a choice of butter or homemade strawberry jam! This is a great time for conversations and especially now during the winter a time to warm up from the night before. Around 9 everyone gathers in the main room to start the time of prayer and reflection. We usually start off with songs, most of them actually that Chad wrote. The time of reflection and prayer comes in a different form each day. Some days it's very traditional, with readings and reflection,other times meditation is used or different kinds of music. When the floor is open for the community to voice their prayers out loud it can be very powerful. They pray about the hardships and struggles they endure in their everyday lives. The amount of faith and trust they still keep with God with all they go through is amazing and is truly the power of the spirit. Around 10am is when the bible study begins. Either Chad or Maggie will open reading out of the bible in both English and Spanish. After reading they try to pull together the meaning of what is being said in the passage. Then the floor is open for anyone to talk about the passage, and they are never shy about how they feel. I have been through many bible studies in my time and have never enjoyed them like I do at Mercy. The responses from the people are incredible, not only do they understand what is being said, they usually connect it with a story from their lives. What a blessing it is to hear these people open up and let the world see who they really are. After bible study come the activity for the day. Mercy offers:

• Art classes(the drawing on the top was made in the art class) where people can draw, paint, or craft
• Writing Classes- Jeremy, a PhD writing student at Georgia State works with the community and they publish the Atlanta Outlook each month. The Atlanta Outlook is written 100% by the homeless community and the writers sell the papers for $1 and keep the profit they collect.
• Investigative Reporting- Cat, a full time reporter comes in on Thursday to teach members of the Atlanta Outlook team to how to become a good investigative reporter for articles in the Atlanta Outlook.
• Music Class- This is what I help with on Thursdays. We bring out the guitars and drums and have an old fashion jam session playing different kind of songs. Chad also plays the guitar but does most of the singing aswell!

Playing the Tambourine at Mercy

At 12:30 we pack up sandwiches, fresh hot homemade soup prepared by Chef Jesus, water, and sometimes fruit and head for the streets. We stop at two different locations on Ponce de Leon Ave and pass out the food . This is a special time to connect with people that were not able to make it to Mercy. It is very good to know that all the folks we serve were able to have a healthy and fresh lunch.

Mercy has become a very special place for me here in Atlanta. I look forward to my visit each week. I am excited to see what else I am able to learn from Mercy this year.

The other week DOOR hosted a fundraiser and had a door competition where the guests at the event voted on which door they thought was the best. Pictured below in the door that Mercy painted and it won 1st place!

I Promise To Get Better!!

Hello All,

I want to start by apologizing to all the readers of my blog for not posting in over a month. I really do appreciate the amount of readers and support I have received from my blog entries. I miss sharing my experiences here in Atlanta. I posted in an earlier entry that I wanted my journey throughout this year not just to be my own but shared with all. So far I have not been keeping to my side of the promise. So as this Advent season begins I want to make a promise, I promise to post a new blog entry each and every week until we have all caught up. The start to this year has been amazing and I am very excited to share!

I have been training for a half marathon for about two months now and it has been going great. This thanksgiving I ran in the 15K Turkey Trot in Tallahassee in 1 hour and 14 minuets averaging a little under 8 minuet miles. Check back very soon for the start of the new blog entries!

Here is a picture of me running the last stretch of the 15K!