Great story from LA Times writer, Scott Gold...

Homicides plunge, hope rises in Compton

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Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

Jalynn Harris, 7, left, and Terran Artis, 9, embrace at Faith Inspirational Missionary Baptist Church in Compton. The city long known for violence has seen a drop in homicides.

With slayings in the community at their lowest level in 25 years, people are walking the streets again. Once resembling a military operation, law enforcement is engaging more with residents.

By Scott Gold
7:25 PM PST, January 22, 2009

It is a Sunday morning and there is still dew on the grass outside Faith Inspirational Missionary Baptist Church. Already, God has received a standing ovation. The thermometer on the wall claims it's only 75 degrees in here, but congregants are dancing in the aisles, some with their shoes kicked off and stashed under the pews. Their sweat mixes with their tears, and for once in Compton, they are tears of joy.

"People of faith!" thunders the Rev. Rafer Owens, a native son who is also a veteran Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy. "Are you ready to praise the Lord?"

Six hundred people respond: "Ha-roo!"

"Are you ready to take back Compton?"

Louder this time: "Ha-ROO!"

"We disrespected the city of Compton," Owens says, more quietly now. "And when you don't want something, you give it to the rats and the roaches."

They've been praying for a long time in Compton, praying hard. For a long time, it seemed no one was listening.

"Father God, some people in here are hurting," the pastor says, head bowed. "They have given what they feel is their last mile."

But change, he insists, is afoot.

Takin' a life or two

That's what the hell I do

By the time the hip-hop group N.W.A released its seminal 1988 album "Straight Outta Compton," with those lyrics, the city's fate seemed sealed. The album was a celebration of the gang life; killing was described as an inescapable part of life.

The town that many still refer to as "Old Compton" -- poor but proud, with an abiding sense of community -- had been ravaged by guns, crack and joblessness. With just 100,000 people, Compton developed an outsized but deserved reputation as a national epicenter of gang violence.

Today, there are 65 gangs jammed into 10 square miles -- Front Hood Crips and Pirus and Seminoles, bored and broke, jaded and angry, sure that life has little to offer. The turf for some is no bigger than a football field, and they will defend it against any perceived slight. That's how it's been here for almost three decades.

So it came as something of a surprise when the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which contracts to provide police services here, added up the community's 2008 homicides. The total for Compton, including smaller, adjacent pockets of unincorporated county land: 38.

It was the lowest number in at least 25 years and a 50% drop since 2005. From 1985 to 2000, said Sheriff's Capt. William M. Ryan, an average of 66 people were slain each year within the city limits; that number fell last year to 28. Gang-related aggravated assaults have fallen too in the city and the county pockets, nearly 25% over four years -- "dramatic indicators," Sheriff Lee Baca said at a recent news conference, "that we are doing the right thing."

The sheriff did not mention an irony: Compton, while widely viewed as a success story, is one of the few L.A.-area communities where crime is rising. Both the city and county of Los Angeles saw declines in major crimes last year; in Compton, such crimes rose by 13% in the same period.

However, officials said, most of the increase was in property crimes -- burglary, up 39%; larceny, up 27%. Authorities attribute that to the bad economy. A poor community with high unemployment, Ryan said, "is affected the most."

So in a sense, Compton is trading blood in the streets for stolen lawn mowers -- and around here, that's a bargain many will live with.

Indeed, there is a palpable sense that the streets are safer. In a neighborhood called Sunny Cove, residents take a group walk on Mondays now, unthinkable a few years back. Owens' church offers free movies in local parks; the program started slowly, but 900 people came out for the most recent screening, at Lueders Park off Rosecrans Avenue.

"People jog. People walk their dogs. That's different," said William Kemp, a business owner who was born and raised in Compton and is running to fill a vacancy on the City Council. "Is Compton completely safe? No. But are we safer? Absolutely."

Satra Zurita and her sister pooled money six years ago to buy a small home on the west side of Compton, in a neighborhood that, like many others, is known by the name of its gang: Nutty Blocc. Since they moved in, a young man has been killed on the corner and a neighbor shot in the leg during a drive-by.

"There've been times," said Zurita, a local school board member and the daughter of a former City Council member, "when we've said: 'What . . . were we thinking?' "

But she said they now believe they made the right decision.

"There is a sense of safety that I don't think I've ever felt," she said.

No, Zurita said, she will not be taking the bars off her windows any time soon. And everyone here knows the tide could turn again at any moment. But for now, she hears fewer gunshots outside her house and is only rarely awakened by police helicopters. It's a start; she'll take it. And those soaring theft rates?

"Oh," she said, "people are just stealing to feed their family."

Late on a recent night, Det. Joe Sumner, part of the sheriff's gang detail, rumbled through the narrow streets in an unmarked cruiser. Sumner's knowledge of Compton gangs is encyclopedic; put him on any block and he can instantly tell you whose turf you're on.

This night, though, many blocks were dark and empty; they've been that way lately. Amid a concerted law enforcement push, scores of gang members have been imprisoned, and more have given up and moved away -- to Riverside, Fresno, Las Vegas.

"There has been so much pressure put on these guys," Sumner said.

Suddenly he jerked his car toward the sidewalk and bolted from the car. Two young men, documented gangsters, raised their hands, almost instinctively. They knew the drill. They lifted their shirts to show that they were not hiding guns, then spread their legs and put their hands on the warm hood of Sumner's car while he patted them down. Sumner found no drugs and no weapons.

"Take off," he said. To the younger man, he added: "Say hi to your dad."

That, officials said, has been the key to combating gang violence: pairing aggressive enforcement with programs designed to improve the relationship between the community and the cops.

It is a stark contrast to the 1980s, when area law enforcement agencies launched a gang crackdown that resembled a military operation, destroying any semblance of a relationship between the agencies and the communities they served.

Since Ryan took command of the Compton station two years ago, the number of Explorer Scouts has risen from eight to 25, that of station volunteers from 10 to 55, and reserve deputies from just one previously to eight. Neighborhood Watch and business watch programs are popping up all over town.

The department runs the Compton Youth Activities League in a former National Guard armory, and about 150 kids come each month for after-school programs. Almost all have a close relative in prison, officials said, and many have been removed from their families and placed into the foster system.

The other day, a tutor helped children with homework, while other youngsters played pool with a deputy. Ricardo Villeda, 14, said he'd been coming to the armory to learn boxing for about a week. He said his mother would have forbidden it in the past because his 20-minute walk home would have been too dangerous.

Programs are free, including the newest, "Science Alive," designed by a veteran sergeant. So far, about 160 fifth-graders have graduated, after dissecting pigs' hearts and learning about weather systems. The two participating schools reported that the number of students who ranked "proficient" in science last year jumped by 20%.

Still, crises arise in Compton that are unthinkable in most communities. Last year, several students reported being robbed after school and deputies had to step in to calm the situation when scores of fearful kids abruptly stopped going to school.

"It's a tough life," said Deputy Alfonso Rodriguez, who runs the youth center. "If you give a damn, there is a lot at stake."

scott.gold@latimes.com

Compton student; "This is awesome, said 6-year-old Denise Adkin. "He’s the same color as me!"

First-graders watch live history lesson | L.A. Now | Los Angeles Times

First-graders watch live history lesson
11:19 AM, January 20, 2009

Jordan Berwick reacts to a broadcast of President Barack Obama's inauguration at Longfellow Elementary School in Compton. Classroom lessons came to a halt this morning so students at Longfellow Elementary School in Compton could watch a live history lesson unfold as Barack Obama was sworn into office.

In Room 8, first-graders in Jennifer Wagenbrenner's class gathered their small chairs in the center of the room for a better view.

The students were dressed in their finest outfits — elaborate red satin gowns, pinstriped suits, leather shoes — for their own pint-sized inaugural ball that would be held on the school’s courtyard later in the day. Red, white and blue decorations and balloons adorned fences and tabletops.

"He's the perfect man to lead our state ... I mean country," said Torraynce Williams, 7.

As Obama completed the oath of office, the doe-eyed pupils cheered and clapped their small hands.
"This is awesome, said 6-year-old Denise Adkin. "He’s the same color as me!"

When recess started, not all the students dashed for the swings and slides. Seeing the courtyard preparations taking place, some children opted to help arrange chairs and tie balloons.

"Instead of taking recess, they're here helping," said school Principal Caren Floyd. "I love it. I love it!"

-- Yvonne Villarreal

Caption: Jordan Berwick reacts to a broadcast of President Barack Obama's inauguration at Longfellow Elementary School in Compton. More photos

Photo: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Compton Murder Rate Drops for Third Straight Year

The Compton Bulletin Online - LOCAL NEWS

Murder Rate Drops for Third Straight Year
Decrease in homicides tied to better community outreach, enhanced gang suppression, multi-agency partnerships

By Allison Jean Eaton
Bulletin Editor

COMPTON—Continuing the trend of the last two years, the city’s homicide rate further fell in 2008, law enforcement officials said.

Murders in this 10.5-square-mile city heavily populated by gangs dropped to 28, while in county unincorporated areas policed by Compton Sheriff’s Station, 10 murders were recorded, up from seven last year, for a year-end total of 38.

That’s five less than last year’s 43 murders, with 36 originating from within city limits and seven in unincorporated areas in 2007.

Although this year’s decrease appears small, Capt. William Ryan said Friday, Jan. 9 that when compared to homicide totals from just three years ago in 2005, when 76 people were murdered, the homicide rate has been slashed in half.

This year’s total is the lowest the city has experienced in decades.

“I think it is in large part due to our enhanced enforcement efforts,” Ryan told The Bulletin.

Of the 38 killings this year, 31 were gang-related, continuing the yearly trend of most homicides being directly tied to gang activity.

New Website Launches

It's not quite complete with all the content I want there, but our new site is now live. Check it out at http://urbanfocus.net and let us know what you think!

Thanks!

Our Response to the Shooting

Compton: A Sodom & Gomorrah or a Nineveh? You make the call.
by Mike Herman, urban missionary of Campus Crusade for Christ

We have worked in Compton for almost 15 years and lived here for 11. Thousands of people have been here much longer, but we are unique because we are white.

Rarely have we talked to someone from outside our community, state, or even country that has never heard of Compton. Our city is internationally known because of movies and rap music depicting modern American inner-city life. Compton is infamous for birthing "Gangsta' rap" and the Bloods gang, for drive-by shootings, for drugs, for staying on the "Most Dangerous Cities in America list"…in general it's a place people want to stay far-away from.

Because we are an unlikely minority here, we are often asked questions like, "Do you know where you are?" (as if we got off on the wrong exit from the freeway) or "Why do you live there?"

Sometimes this question is from friends or acquaintances from the ministerial community, sometimes by someone else who is white community, sometimes it is from people we have met here in Compton. Often times it is a question asked by our local law enforcement.

People find it perplexing, confusing, and even inconceivable that a (relatively) young white couple would actually choose to live in a community such as this, not to mention raising our two (white) children here.

Generally, we assure them that we are (mostly) normal people that have felt the call of God to relocate to this community; even though there are struggles and difficulties, we feel that we have the best job in the world. We try to illuminate how God is moving and transforming lives and our community as a whole. We have always assured them that in all these years we have rarely seen or ever been a part of any major incident that has put us in danger.

Until now.

This past Saturday our house was hit with a stray bullet from a drive-by shooting on our street. Around 10 pm we had finished putting up our Christmas tree and sent our kids to their room to prepare for bed. My wife and I were sitting in the living room and our 20 year-old godson (who has lived with us for three years) was in his room across from us. All of a sudden we heard shots ring out and immediately realized they were very close to us. Toward the end of what seemed to be a very long stream of bullets we heard a loud cracking-pinging-thump sound. We knew our house was hit somewhere and we all dove to the floor.

Just as suddenly as it started it was over. I cautiously stood and moved toward the front door. Looking out the peep hole first, I then ventured outside to see some neighbors already out and surveying the situation. The Sheriffs arrived quickly and the story came together slowly.

Apparently, a truck traveling perpendicular to our street was shooting at a suspected gang member running down our sidewalk. (We found later that the young man shot was not expected to live.) The bullet hitting the frame of our living room bay window missed our window by less than 1/2 an inch.
As we spent time afterwards processing and praying together as a family, our overwhelming emotion was not fear but GRATITUDE.

For years we have set our hopes upon the promise of Psalm 91 – that we "dwell in the shelter of the Most High" and do not have to "fear the terror of night nor the arrow that flies by day." That confidence has never before been challenged, but now that it could be – we actually feel more confident than ever, because we have actually EXPERIENCED Psalm 91.

It is overwhelming when we consider the many ways that God was with us that night. First and foremost to us, our children were not in the living room when the shooting happened – they had been in the back only about 5 minutes.

Secondly, they were playing Christmas music so loud they heard NOTHING. (They are still unaware that a bullet hit our house -- we will tell them when we think it's appropriate.) Had the bullet entered our window, no one would have been hit due to our positions in the house, but the emotional trauma would have been more severe, especially for Syd and Zach. (As it is, we are watching for any signs of trauma or distress; we are processing with them their perceptions and fears as they come up.)

Our first summer in urban ministry we were challenged on how to perceive the inner-city. Do we see a particular community as a Sodom & Gomorrah or a Nineveh?

In Genesis 18, God informs Abraham that he plans to destroy the city of Sodom because of its wickedness. Abraham pleads with God not to destroy Sodom, and God agrees that he would not destroy the city if there were 50 righteous people in it, then 45, then 30, then 20, or even ten righteous people. Only one righteous person was found living in Sodom. Consequently, God destroyed the city.

In the book of Jonah, Nineveh was an evil city that needed to be condemned. God sent Jonah to preach to Nineveh and its population. So Jonah finally goes and enters the city crying, "In forty days Nineveh shall be destroyed." The people of Nineveh believed his word and initiated a fast. The king of Nineveh put on sackcloth and ashes and made a proclamation to decree fasting, prayer, and repentance. God saw these reactions and spared the city.

So now that the violence has touched our home, has it changed how do we see Compton? Our answer: We see Compton as more like Nineveh than ever.

We can and will not dismiss the lives that are being touched and changed, the churches coming together in unity and mission, even the non-Christians that are getting involved in the transformation. The new slogan of the city is, "Birthing a New Compton", and that is exactly what is happening.

• Jesus, one of our 17 year old soccer players recently said, "I have never thought of going to college before coming to Compton United".
• Jose, another 17 year old soccer player, has taken many of his high school friends to the high school youth ministry. His influence continues to grow among his friends.
• Ramiro will graduate next year from college with a degree in Kinesiology. His goal is to teacher and coach in Compton, ministering to youth like himself.
• Louquitta, our oldest S.A.Y. Yes! alum, received her Master's Degree from Howard University and is now a social worker. She moved to Atlanta a few years back to help plant a very dynamic church there. (We still pray God might call her back to Compton someday!)
• Over 20 different churches have participated in the 'Compton Initiative' clean-up days, rehabbing many, many houses, churches and parks in the city over the last 3 years.
• Saddleback Church from south Orange County has chosen the 'Compton Initiative' movement to help launch their domestic P.E.A.C.E Plan; they average bringing 500 volunteers to our Compton day every two months.
• We have group after group volunteering to come to Compton for short-term ministry projects. In fact, Compton is becoming somewhat of a ministry training ground for these groups.
• We see economic development happening all around us. From Target, Staples, Best Buy, and TGIF Friday's, Compton is experiencing an economic renewal that has exceeded expectations.

God's calling on our lives is clear. We are some of the Jonahs sent to Nineveh to proclaim our Lord and learn to love our neighbors well.

Does a shooting change that? The answer is simply no. Is it always easy? No. We live in a desperate community with many desperate people. But Romans 5:20,21 tells us where sin abounds, grace abounds even more. This is the truth that we stand upon.

We never know what will happen next, what challenge or obstacle will rear its head. However, we do love our city, its people, and its future. We hope to be here for many years to come, seeing God’s grace fill this place.

People Trade Firearms for Gift Cards in Compton

KTLA News

November 29, 2008

COMPTON -- In an effort to
make the city of Compton a safer place, authorities on Saturday gave
$100 gift cards to people who turned in firearms and $200 gift cards
for assault weapons.

The fourth annual "Gifts for Guns" event
was held at a Ralphs supermarket at 280 E. Compton Blvd., where the
weapons were collected by sheriff's personnel and volunteers at a booth
set up in the parking lot.

The booth will be set up again Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

"We're trying to rid our city of guns being shot, people being killed," said City Councilwoman Barbara Calhoun.

People who turned in guns were not asked to identify themselves or say where the weapons came from, said Sgt. Byron Woods.

Organizers
said people have turned in about 1,500 guns over the last three years.
The first year was the biggest in terms of the number of guns turned
in, they said, adding that it continues to be a very successful program.

Authorities
perform a ballistics test in a crime lab on each gun collected. In past
years, they have discovered upon processing the collected guns that
some have been involved in crimes. In those cases, the weapon is turned
over to the appropriate law enforcement agency.

The gift cards they received can be redeemed at Best Buy, Target, Home Depot and Ralphs Supermarkets.

Compton United Soccer Club Overview

Overview: Compton United Soccer Club was created to fill the absence of sanctioned, quality youth soccer programs in the inner city.  CUSC utilizes its ‘Five Stages of Development’ to grow players into leaders; athletic, academic, character, leadership and community.

As we develop soccer players into top level competitors giving them opportunities not normally afforded to youth from a community such as Compton, we will take all opportunities to maximize the platform that soccer gives us to develop these youth into college recruits, college graduates, great parents and spouses and business and community leaders.

Location Served: Currently in greater Compton, CA, a community known all around the world for its crime, drugs and gangs, with future objectives to establish sister clubs in other disadvantaged urban communities.

Participants: Boys and girls ages 6-19 living in and around the greater Compton area.

Key programs:

•  US Soccer Competitive Club Teams
•  USYSA Youth Developmental/Recreational Teams
•  Sanctioned Futsal Teams
•  Youth Futsal Recreational League
•  Creation of Compton United Youth Soccer Academy (currently in planning stages)
•  Academic Tutoring
•  Annual College Night
•  The Crash Elite Leadership Mentoring Program
•  Urban Youth Soccer Leadership Academy (Summer Camp)
•  International Youth Leadership Soccer Trips (i.e. World Cup 2010 in South Africa)

Impact: Since its inception in 2002, Compton United has engaged over 200 children and youth.  A vast majority of these participants come from very challenged and/or troubled homes and soccer has provided a vision for the future.  Recently, a 17 year old competitive team player was quoted as saying, “Before Compton United I never even thought of college”.  Now he is ready and prepared to go.

Response to a Supporter's stop of Support due to Voting for Obama

Before the election, one of our fellow staff families received a letter from a long-term supporter that decided to stop their support because this couple's support of Obama.

Here is the response from that couple to the supporter.

+++++++++++++++

Dear XXXXXXXX,

Thank you for your support over the past XX years. We appreciate all that you have done for us, and others as I know your heart to help those in need. It’s evident as I walk into your office and see world vision sponsorship, the trips you do with habitat and your strong involvement at your church. You live out your faith and I respect and admire you for that.

In saying that I hope that you would know us as well as we are like minded in most ways. Never in all our days as Christians have we supported abortion. We know as strongly as you that the Bible teaches that each unborn baby is known by God and is made in His image. Abortion is murder and is one of the many abominations we have allowed to happen in our country.

I know you and XXXXXXXX are birth parents and I can’t imagine all that you two had to go through during that time. As you know we are adoptive parents to kids that could have been aborted if the adoption plan wasn’t there. XXXXXX started the only teen mops in all of South LA because of her passion to support teen mothers. It’s a great program as you are involved too, and it’s an injustice that there has been no one to start the program were the need is the highest. We are not foster parents but we also take in kids who have little hope and nowhere to go. We agree with you that killing a baby doesn’t solve any problems it only creates more.

This is not the first time we have been the recipients of anger from fellow believers over a political stance. Usually it has been strong Christian Democrats who think it is unconscionable for us to have voted for Bush. (Interesting how 90% of Christians in urban areas are democrat and 90% of Christians in the suburbs are Republican) The accusation from the left side is “as a Christian and missionary how can you support McCain and Palin when they blatantly and firmly neglect the needs of the poor?” Funding has been cut to our school. Our few hospitals are being closed. Our youth can’t afford college or get the loans they need to get there. Children who were brought across the border illegally and raised here can’t get a job, health insurance, can’t get a higher education, can’t buy a home, and can’t survive if they go back to the country their parents came from because there is nothing for them but violence. Our Emergency food and shelter money has been cut federally and by the state to zero. LA is the hungriest city in the country and we feed 150,000 per month out of our warehouse. What am I going to tell people come January when the money is stopped and people are hungry? Skid row is full of homeless who were put there because republicans passed a bill that didn’t fund mental institutions and they were dumped on the street. These people are just as valuable to God as the unborn child. Unfortunately, there is not a candidate who addresses the needs of both.

McCain is not addressing these issues or at least not well. Obama is and most democrats usually do. This is one of the main reasons people of color and the urban poor vote to the left.

There are just as many issues in the McCain camp that are an abomination to God as there are in Obama’s.

Politics has never been the solution for our world. We do not put our trust or faith in the new president. Our faith as is yours is in Jesus. The only hope for change is when Christians work together across social, economic, and racial barriers to further His Kingdom.

Millions of Christians are voting for McCain just as Millions of Christians are voting for Obama. We hope they are not putting their hope in them. We hope they are voting for the man whom they think will bring the most good for our country.

Neither of us like Obama’s support of roe vs wade and neither of us like McCain’s apathy to the needs of the poor, both are an abomination. So we pray for wisdom as I know you do.

So no matter how we vote we get judged and assumptions are made as to what we value. I hope you won’t be one of them.

Your support to us is not nearly as important as our relationship. We understand if you feel you can no longer support us, but don’t let it be because you think we support the murder of unborn children. We vehemently do not.

XXXXXXXX and XXXXXX

Hate, a Lesson for Today

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.

- Martin Luther King Jr.

TAPPED Archive | The American Prospect

TAPPED Archive | The American Prospect: "'It's extraordinary to me that the United States can find $7 $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion dollars to saved 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases.' - Bono

--Dana Goldstein

Posted by Dana Goldstein on September 24, 2008 11:17 AM | Permalink"

Reflecting on Our Response to 9/11

Reflecting on Our Response to 9/11

(reprinted from Sojourners @ www.sojo.net)

Seven years ago this morning, airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon, and a field in rural Pennsylvania. The next day I joined with a few others to draft the following statement. In a few weeks, more than 4,000 of America's religious leaders of all faiths had signed it and it was printed as an ad in The New York Times.

Seven years later, as we remember that day, it is appropriate to reflect on this statement and to wonder how the world would be different if its counsel had been heeded.

We demanded "that those responsible for these utterly evil acts be found and brought to justice. Those culpable must not escape accountability." Yet after seven years of war in Afghanistan, we are still engaged against a resurgent Taliban and al Qaeda, and Osama bin Laden has still not been found. Then, 9/11 was used as a rationale to invade and occupy Iraq, a conflict that has now taken the lives of more than 4,000 American troops and countless Iraqis. Rather than "the vision of community, tolerance, compassion, justice, and the sacredness of human life, which lies at the heart of all our religious traditions," we have seen the erosion of our civil liberties, torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, and indefinite detentions without trial.

Today on this anniversary, let us pause to remember those who died, to reflect on what has happened since, and once again, "Let us rededicate ourselves to global peace, human dignity, and the eradication of the injustice that breeds rage and vengeance." We offered a different way to deny the terrorists their victory, which, I believe, could still be followed. It's not too late to change our course. Please read and reflect upon the original statement.

I like this description...

Justice is what love looks like in public.

- Cornel West
From Call and Response, a documentary on global slavery.

Role of the Church

The church ... cannot be content to play the part of a nurse looking after the casualties of the system. It must play an active part both in challenging the present unjust structures and in pioneering alternatives.
- Donald Dorr

MCCAIN MET PALIN ONCE BEFORE YESTERDAY?

So, I wonder if McCain is picking the best person for the job, or the best vote getter for the election?

Makes me nervous.

Beer & Converative Voters

Interesting, Cindy McCain's company,Hensley & Company is the main Anheuser-Busch beer distributor in AZ.

As Hensley & Company approached its 50th anniversary, it held sway as one of the largest beer distributors in the country, enjoying more than a 60 percent share in its markets and dominating the distribution business in Arizona.

Wonder how many conservative voters know this?

http://www.answers.com/topic/hensley-company

7/29/08 Earthquake

5.8 earthquake shakes us pretty good- about 20-30 seconds of the house rolling - no damage though.

Quake was apparently felt from San Diego to Las Vegas.

Syd & Zach was at VBS at church... hope they did ok! It was their first one!

We'll pick them up in 2.5 hours.

A good reminder that we definitely should get more prepared for the eventual big one.

More later...

Urgent Prayer Request... for John Perkins

Dr. John Perkins, Co-Founder, CCDA

An urgent prayer request has just come in from reliable sources, for Dr. John Perkins... who is apparently heading into major surgery today.

Here's the published announcement at JMPF.org...

******URGENT MESSAGE*******

Dr. John Perkins was admitted to St. Dominic Hospital on the morning of July 26.

He is having surgery July 28 to remove a bile obstruction in his large intestine.

Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

He will be at St. Dominic in room 3404 for the rest of the week and would appreciate any visitors.

Any words of encouragement or prayers sent to elizabeth@jmpf.org will reach Dr. Perkins this week.


**********************

Thank you Neil and Rudy for keeping us all posted.

Great Quote!

It is not a matter of engaging in both the gospel and social action, as if Christian social action was something separate from the gospel itself. The gospel has to be demonstrated in word and deed. Biblically, the gospel includes the totality of all that is good news from God for all that is bad news in human life—in every sphere. So like Jesus, authentic Christian mission has included good news for the poor, compassion for the sick and suffering justice for the oppressed, liberation for the enslaved. The gospel of the Servant of God in the power of the Spirit of God addresses every area of human need and every area that has been broken and twisted by sin and evil. And the heart of the gospel, in all of these areas, is the cross of Christ.

- Christopher J. H. Wright
International director of John Stott Ministries (from Knowing the Holy Spirit Throught the Old Testament)

True Joy

It is sad to see that, in our highly competitive and greedy world, we have lost touch with the joy of giving. We often live as if our happiness depended on having. But I don't know anyone who is really happy because of what he or she has. True joy, happiness and inner peace come from the giving of ourselves to others. A happy life is a life for others.
- Henri J.M. Nouwen
Life of the Beloved

Fresh & Easy; A Compton Success (company Blog)

The opening of our store in Compton last February was one of those very special moments that will stay with me for a very long time - we were made to feel so welcome.

100 days later, it's great to see that it's proving a simple point. Although it was the first new grocery store to be built there in a generation, it's performing just like any of our other stores.

It's attracting a broad mix of customers, and it's business is being built on fresh foods - 10 of its 20 top selling products are fresh produce, some organic, and more than 75% of its sales are our own brand, all of which has no artificial colors or flavors, no added transfat, and only uses preservatives when absolutely necessary.

As I've said before, in our experience, if you offer fresh, wholesome foods at prices everyone can afford, in a clean environment with friendly service, people will shop with you.

Compton again demonstrates the point. And that, of course, is how it should be.....

posted by Simon Uwins @ 1:51

http://www.freshandeasy.com/blog/

Meditating on...

But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. ... For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon's seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

- Jeremiah 29:7-14

Astros visit the MLB Urban Youth Baseball Academy in Compton

Astros manager Cecil Cooper and his entire coaching staff took time out of a busy game day to visit the MLB Urban Youth Academy in Compton, Calif. Cooper and his staff were given a personal tour by Academy instructor Ken Landreaux, who played against Cooper in the 1970's when both were in the American League.

This was the first time that Cooper had seen the two-year-old facility and was very impressed. Cooper and his staff took the time to chat with many of the young academy students.

Cooper says he will make it a point to come back to the academy when the Astros are in the Los Angeles area to play either the Dodgers or Angels.

In photo, Zach is the player to right, stretching his legs (maroon socks).

Happy Cinco De Mayo

Happy Cinco De Mayo

It’s May 5th and in Compton we are celebrating Mexican heritage and pride.

Contrary to popular belief, Cinco De Mayo is not a celebration of Mexico’s independence. We celebrate Cinco De Mayo in memory of Mexico’s victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla in 1862. In Compton we take it a step further and celebrate Mexican culture, history, and ancestry with an annual festival.

When we learn and observe cultures other than our own, we are able to bridge gaps, open the doors of communication, and embrace one another. For those that thought Cinco De Mayo was Independence Day you just learned something new :) Mexican Independence Day is actually on Diez y Seis De Septiembre!"

Teens Fly Into Record Books in Compton!

.:: Aero-News Network: The Aviation and Aerospace World's Daily/Real-Time News and Information Service ::.

Teens Fly Into Record Books At CPM



Tue, 18 Mar '08
Two Kids, 11 Solos!

Two 16-year olds from Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum flew into the record books this weekend, when they each set new world records on Saturday, March 15, 2008.

Kelly Anyadiki (above) became the youngest African American female to solo in four different aircraft on the same day, while Jonathan Strickland (below) established a new record as the youngest African American male to solo six different airplanes, and a second record for soloing six airplanes plus one helicopter all on the same day.

The records were set at Compton Woodley Airport in front a large crowd. Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca was on hand to witness the event, as were other members of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, many of whom flew in from across the country to attend the event.

"These new world records the kids set are an example of where the past meets the present and the future!" said Robin Petgrave, founder of Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum.

"What Robin and these kids are doing here would have made my dad very happy," said Chauncey E. Spencer II, whose father was instrumental in getting African Americans approved for flight training in Tuskegee, AL during World War II. Spencer flew in from Michigan just to witness the world record flights.

Located at Compton Woodley Airport (CPM) in Compton, CA, Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum offers aviation-themed afterschool programs for more than 800 kids from grades K-12. Kids can take part in projects ranging from washing airplanes to graffiti mitigation. Instead of earning money, kids earn 'museum dollars,' which they can apply toward flight instruction or continued education in any field.

Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum plans to open additional locations across the country. The Newport News, VA chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen will open a TAM operation this spring, and the city of Norwalk and the ‘Adopt A Bike’ program in San Bernardino, CA. have plans to open a TAM as well.

Compton Vision Tour Map

A Wake-Up Call

This is an important year for studies on religious life in the U.S. From Kinnaman and Lyon's UnChristian, to David T. Olson's The American Church in Crisis, data is accumulating that business/ministry as usual is not a great strategy for most U.S. denominations and nondenominations.

The
new Pew study highlights the fluidity of commitment among the American
people of faith, and it raises important questions for church leaders
in at least three areas.

1. If congregations and denominations
are not connecting with people's questions, needs, and desires - people
are moving on. Old-fashioned denominational loyalty is gone. Church
leaders can complain about it, but they'd also better acknowledge it.
Now this fact could be used to advocate increased religious pandering
... a "give 'em what they want" approach that turns church leaders into
"purveyors of religious goods and services" (a damning turn of phrase
from the missional church folk) who are competing for share of the
religious market.

But it could also have a much more positive
effect: by convincing church leaders that blindly maintaining the
status quo is a losing strategy, the data can liberate them to ask
deeper questions like ... Why are churches here? What is our mission?
What is our core message? Does Christ's church have a mission, or does
Christ's mission have a church? How much can, and should, change in our
churches? What shifts in church history can guide us as we face this
sea-change in our religious environment? In other words, the new data
could challenge leaders to ask, not simply, "What do the customers
want?" but, "What does God want?" ... and not just "What do members
need from their church?" but "What does the world need our churches to
become, be, and do so that God's will can be done on earth as it is in
heaven?"

2. People are dropping out of church altogether. The
fastest-growing religious segment - especially among the young -
continues to be the unaffiliated. If the "church growth" question of
the 90's was, "How are we going to attract baby boomers to come back to
church services on Sunday?" the "church mission" question in coming
years might be, "How can our churches inspire younger generations to
live a new way of life as disciples each day of the week?"

3.
Old categories are blurring and old identities are diversifying and
fragmenting. The study highlights the simultaneous growth and
diversification of the old evangelical base, for example. As older
generations pass from the scene and the alliances they created lose
strength, who will help catalyze new movements and alliances? What will
their priorities and ethos be?

In light of the accumulating
data, it's become increasingly clear: we don't just need new answers to
old questions, but we need new questions as well.

Brian McLaren (brianmclaren.net) is board chair for Sojourners. He is in the middle of an eleven-city speaking tour you can learn about at deepshift.org.

What if... Compton's Transformation

Market Opening Draws Droves of Shoppers – And a Prince!

Residents say store featuring fresh, nutritious foods ‘couldn’t come soon enough’

Scores of shoppers who waited for more than an hour outside the new Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Feb. 7 fill the aisles once the store opened its doors to the public for the first time. —Compton Bulletin photo by Allison Jean Eaton

By Allison Jean Eaton
Bulletin Staff Writer

COMPTON – The city’s new Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market opened its doors last Thursday to a throng of eager shoppers, most of them from the surrounding neighborhood, and a member of the British Royal Family.

His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, Duke of York kicked off a U.S. visit with a stop at the new location off the intersection of Central and Rosecrans avenues, the latest in a rash of stores the U.S. arm of British retailer Tesco is opening in California, Arizona and Nevada.

The prince is currently touring British business ventures in the United States in his capacity as the United Kingdom’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment.

“If I was going to want to shop on a regular basis, I’d rather come to a store this size,” said Prince Andrew after comparing large Tesco supermarkets he’s seen back home to Fresh & Easy’s smaller size and wider aisles.

Despite what Dr. Kofi Sefa-Boakye, the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency director, described as a “fast tracked” project, the store billing itself as a one-stop shop for fresh, nutritious and wholesome food products was a long time coming, according to some residents.

“It’s about time they opened a store like this here… I am so excited about this store being here. I could not wait – the day couldn’t come soon enough,” said Sharron Bryant, 48, who lives around the corner on 131st Street.

Bryant and several other women pushing shopping carts with cherry-picked selections took a little time out from shopping to comment on what a relief it is to finally have a store like Fresh & Easy in Compton.

“In these areas like this… people think we don’t eat healthy,” continued Bryant. “Well, we do. It’s just that the ones that do eat healthy go outside. We have to go far away to get to a Trader Joe’s or a Whole Foods or a Bristol Farms or something like that. But now we have it here locally, and it’s excellent,” she said.

And it means more sales tax revenue for the city, chimed in longtime resident Erma Clements, who lives six blocks from the new market. She and shopping companion Melanie Franks said they’re used to traveling all the way to Gardena, Manhattan Beach or El Segundo to access fresh and for the most part organic and preservative-free foods.

Sefa-Boakye said this new market is likely the fastest project he’s ever worked on in his years of community redevelopment experience, and it proves that Compton “is at the head of the pack in urban resurgence.”

“It was about October or September (of 2007) that we got the news” that the market chain had decided to locate here, he said. And now, just a little more than five months later, what was a vacant dirt lot littered with used tires has been transformed into a an eco-friendly structure that inside offers nutritious foods to an underserved population.

The entire northwest corner at Rosecrans and Central has been redeveloped over the past five years, Sefa-Boakye said. Just in front of Fresh & Easy sits Rite Aid, and next to that is Starbucks and T-Mobile. Prior to these developments, Sefa-Boakye said the area lay blighted and run down, an eyesore to the neighborhood.

The city “fast tracked” the project, speeding up the permitting and inspections process to get the store to residents as soon as possible and to give the city a competitive edge in attracting additional economic development.

Sefa-Boakye explained that if the city can offer companies the ability to get a project done from start to finish in a matter of months, Compton will become more attractive to prospective businesses interested in setting up shop in the southern Los Angeles area.

“The location they (Fresh & Easy) selected wouldn’t have been better,” said Sefa-Boakye. “Because this northwest quadrant, which includes Atkinson Brickyard, is one of the sleeping giants which eventually is going to transform the community of Compton.”

What’s more, the store rings true as a sign of urban revival here.

“Fresh & Easy is going to put Compton straight on the map,” he continued. “Why? Because urban communities are currently being realized as the best place to do business. And Compton is the ‘Comeback Kid’.”

Which hasn’t always been the case.

2nd District Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke said she’s struggled for years to get supermarkets and major grocery chains to open stores in her district, but to little avail.

“We’re so pleased to have this facility here – it makes such a difference. I know that everyone assumes that there is a grocery store in everyone’s neighborhood where you can get good produce and where you can get all the things you need to raise your family. Unfortunately, that is not always the case in my district,” said Burke. “Too often when people go into the grocery store, the produce is at its end of its shelf life, and you cannot get a full array of the kind of products you want.”

Mayor Eric J. Perrodin echoed Burke’s comments.

“This means so much to us here in the city of Compton,” he said. “We’ve been trying to get a full service supermarket that offers healthy food for so long here in the city of Compton.

“We had to get somebody from Great Britain to come over here before we could get our own Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s, so thank you, Great Britain.”

A Great Compton Work Day on Feb 2nd!

IMG_5674.JPG
Originally uploaded by urbanfocus

A Great Compton Work Day on Feb 2nd!

"I feel like we have a new house!", said homeowner Alisha from Rose Street. She cried, giggled, laughed and did alot of hugging over the period of the day.

Over 50 volunteers, mostly from West Coast Sand and Gravel in Buena Park, scraped, painted, plastered, dug and landscaped Alisha and her family's home. "We have been here over forty years and we have never seen anything like this", she exclaimed. She expected a three or four painters to do a little bit on the house, but she became quickly overwhelmed when she saw all the vehicles and volunteers arrive bearing paint, ladders, rollers, etc.

This past Saturday, over 600 volunteers participated in the most recent Compton Intiative Work Day, making it the most populated work day so far! One hundred and sixty people drove up from Saddleback Church in south Orange County for the day, along with forty staff and college students from Campus Crusade for Christ, as well as over fifty students from Biola and University California at Irvine.

Six Compton churches including, Faith Inspirational Missionary Baptist Church, Citizen's of Zion Missionary Baptist, The Salvation Army- Compton Corps, and New Birth Foursquare Church had close to 200 volunteers represented.

Thirteen different sites were worked on, most of which were on Alisha's street, Rose close to Faith Inspirational Missionary Baptist Church. Two of those locations were churches, Faith Inspiratonal and Martin Temple, but the others were private homes like Alisha's.

See some of the days pictures from the Feb. 2nd Work Day by clicking here http://www.flickr.com/photos/urbanfocus/sets/72157603844189992/

Don't forget the next work day, March 29!

Who says LA dosen't get any "weather"?

Tornado Warning


SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OXNARD CA
917 PM PST THU JAN 24 2008

CAC037-250600-
/O.CON.KLOX.TO.W.0003.000000T0000Z-080125T0600Z/
LOS ANGELES CA-
917 PM PST THU JAN 24 2008

...A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM PST FOR
SOUTHERN LOS ANGELES COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA INCLUDING
THE CITIES OF LONG BEACH...SAN PEDRO...LAKEWOOD AND NORWALK..


AT 912 PST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A
TORNADO. THE CELL WAS 4 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF LONG BEACH..
AND WAS MOVING NORTH AT 25 MPH. IT WILL MOVE ONSHORE BY
930 PM PST.

OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO
HAWTHORNE...TORRANCE AND LYNWOOD

IF IN MOBILE HOMES OR VEHICLES...EVACUATE THEM AND GET INSIDE A
SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. IF NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...LIE FLAT IN THE
NEAREST DITCH OR OTHER LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR
HANDS.

THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IS IN A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A
WORKBENCH OR OTHER PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS
AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF THE BUILDING IN AN
INTERIOR HALLWAY OR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET. USE BLANKETS OR PILLOWS TO
COVER YOUR BODY AND ALWAYS STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

LAT...LON 3370 11835 3373 11838 3395 11837 3394 11796
3391 11796 3385 11804 3379 11808 3375 11808
3373 11811 3375 11818 3369 11831
TIME...MOT...LOC 0517Z 183DEG 90KT 3442 11821

$$

+++++++++++++++++++

This is the first tornado warning I can ever remember here!

Currently, it's raining pretty hear & Syd is having a hard time going to sleep due to the noise.

It pays to get A's, especially in Compton!

The importance of education can never be stressed enough.

Rewarding students for getting good grades in school may not be the best way to get students to value education but it certainly doesn’t hurt. The extra push, extra encouragement, and extra incentive often motivates students to do better.

Best Buy is offering an incentive for students to get A’s on their report cards. Students have an opportunity to earn up to $50 in Best Buy gift cards. For every A that a student gets, Best Buy will give a $10 gift card.

Why are Best Buy giftcards great incentives?

Kids want cd’s, dvd’s, video games, mp3 players, and electronics! The “It Pays to Get A’s” program gives students an opportunity to earn giftcards to pay for what they want.

In order to participate, students must bring an official copy of their report card and get it stamped by the store manager. This special student incentive is only being offered at the new Best Buy at Gateway Towne Center in Compton and is exclusive to students attending schools in the Compton Unified School District.

If you know a kid in Compton with A’s be sure to tell them about the It Pays to Get A’s program. For more information see the general manager (Marco Orozco) at:

Best Buy, Compton CA (Store 1432)
230 Towne Center Dr
Compton, CA 90220
Phone: 310-884-6822
Hours: Mon-Sat 8:00am-11:00pm
Sun 8:00am-11:00pm

++++++++++++++++++

I have met Marco and he's a great guy and a strong believer and a pastor's kid. He has already offered for the store to sponsor Compton United. We'll meet in January.

Our Anniversary!

Today, November 1st, is the 10th anniversary of us living in our house in Compton. We have been Comptonians for ten years!

I don't know if that makes us official or not but we sure are blessed by it! We would not want to live anywhere else.

< Our living room (usually a bit more disheveled than this!)

LA Times: Compton's homicide rate is dropping

California | Local News

_

Compton's homicide rate is dropping

An antigang task force has been ridding the streets of guns and violence. At 29 slayings, the city is on track to have its lowest total in more than 20 years.

By Stuart Pfeifer, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 29, 2007

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies used to brace for trouble each time they pulled into a cluster of apartment buildings on South Grandee Avenue near the Compton airport. It's a cul-de-sac where they could be easily cornered by gang members

But on a recent Friday night, deputies Jose Sandoval and Larry Waldie spotted only a few teenage girls who didn't appear to be causing trouble. There were no gang members in sight.

Gang violence has plummeted in Compton in the nearly two years since Sheriff Lee Baca assigned a team of deputies and detectives to turn back a menacing tide of crime as part of the department's contract to patrol the mid-county city. With 29 homicides to date, the city is on pace to have the lowest number of killings in more than two decades.

"Six months ago when we'd go in there, it was wall-to-wall knuckleheads," said Lt. Paul Pietrantoni, who supervises the Compton antigang task force. "Now they're all in prison."

Baca's decision to beef up the Compton policing effort was unusual. As a city that contracts for sheriff's services, Compton gets only as many deputies as city officials are willing to pay for. And they couldn't afford the cost -- which would have run millions of dollars a year -- that would have accompanied the 28 sworn personnel Baca sent to the city. So the sheriff decided not to charge for the additional resources, pulling deputies out of other assignments within the nation's largest sheriff's department.

At the time, gang violence in Compton was rampant, with 65 homicides in 2005. Baca said he viewed the violence as "an emerging social disaster."

"It's our responsibility to not let any part of the county deteriorate," Baca said. "I see this as a social responsibility."

In 2006, the task force's first year, murders fell to 39. The task force sends deputies, Sandoval and Waldie among them, onto the streets to look for gang members and guns, while different deputies handle other calls for service. They confront suspected gang members and search them and their homes for guns.

"Marijuana ain't killing anybody right now. I'll get the drugs when the streets are so clean the mothers start complaining about the kids coming home with grass in their pockets, not bullets in their bodies," Pietrantoni said. "We're after guns because guns kill people, and we're after gangsters because we're out to lower the murder rate."

This year, sheriff's officials and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives shut down a Compton gun store that had sold nearly 900 weapons that ended up being confiscated during criminal investigations. Store employees had illegally helped criminals buy guns by encouraging them to use friends or family with clean records to pass background checks. Thousands of guns were seized during the raid.

Getting guns out of the hands of gang members is a much more time-consuming effort. Deputies Sandoval and Waldie recently spent a shift trying to identify gang members and searching them and their cars. Those on probation or parole can be searched for any reason. In other cases, they'd cite evidence of criminal activity: gang tattoos, the odor of marijuana. Between 7 p.m. and midnight, the deputies stopped about half a dozen cars and searched them for weapons. They looked under seats, in trunks and in glove compartments. They popped hoods and checked engines in search of hidden items.

"If there's no gun in the car, if there's no gun on them, onto the next one," Waldie said.

In the last six weeks, Waldie and Sandoval have seized six handguns from suspected criminals. They didn't find any that night. And they encountered only a couple of suspected gang members, each unarmed.

Their experience on the South Grandee cul-de-sac was repeated throughout the night. "We drove through neighborhoods tonight where before you'd see a lot of gang members hanging out. Now, it's quiet," Sandoval said. "It's a lot different since they started the task force."

Compton Mayor Eric Perrodin said he believes the sheriff's crackdown "has been major for us." And as the city celebrates the opening of big-box stores, including a Home Depot, Target and Best Buy, and its first Starbucks -- businesses that could generate additional tax revenue for crime-fighting -- the mayor wonders how long the sheriff will keep up the enforcement.

"I'm afraid as soon as they leave, it's going to kick back up," Perrodin said. "I analogize it to roaches. You turn the light on and they run. You turn it off and they come out of hiding."

Sheriff's Capt. William M. Ryan, who supervises the Compton station, said a key element to reducing crime in the city of nearly 100,000 residents was to intervene with youth early. The department opened a youth center on Alameda Street at which youngsters can play sports, use a computer lab and get help with homework.

The department started a new program to encourage Compton elementary school children to study and enjoy science. Ryan meets with residents once a month for community coffees, most recently at the new Starbucks. (The department picked up the tab.)

"If we can work with the kids, say from 5, 6, 7 years old up to 16 or 17, and do everything we can to get them involved in a variety of programs and on the right track and away from gangs, it's going to go a long way toward eliminating gangs in this community," Ryan said.

Compton is a city still besieged by crime. Deputies received 55,000 calls for service last year. There are robberies and car thefts almost daily. Early into their recent shifts, deputies Sandoval and Waldie saw just how quickly the city could turn violent. It was 7:10 p.m. and the report of a "GSV," or gunshot victim, sent them to the intersection of Dwight Avenue and 151st Street.

They arrived to find a man sprawled on his back, blood pooling beside his head. The deputies saw the man take his final breaths before Compton Fire Department paramedics pronounced him dead at 7:15 p.m.

Investigators believe gang members quarreled with the victim inside a nearby liquor store, then followed and shot him. Jhovanny Rodriguez-Ramirez was the city's 29th murder victim of 2007.

Pietrantoni said there was still reason for hope.

"The community realizes what we're doing. They in turn are giving us information they wouldn't ordinarily give us," he said. "When you can go to Compton and see ladies walking with water bottles in their hands, enjoying their community, you know we've come a long way."

The Story of the Soccer Club

A year ago this summer, Mike launched the first season of “Compton United” – an official, US Soccer sanctioned soccer club for kids in Compton. Up until that point, no such thing had been available. Soccer is everywhere in our community, and the talent level is stunning, but our youth play in independent Hispanic leagues that are not involved with the traditional competitive soccer system. While our kids may have some of the best talent in the country (literally), they have no opportunities to use that talent to open any other doors for their future. In our area, college and team scouts do their recruiting through clubs. To play in a club, you have to have the funds to do so (they are incredibly expensive), a local club available to try out for, and/or the transportation to travel to a not-so-local club. (Even during Ramiro’s senior year when his high school team went all the way to state semi-finals, there were no scouts at their games.) As Mike watched Ramiro and Jose play soccer growing up, saw the incredible talent, and began to understand the inequity of the system, he determined to do something about it. His vision wasn’t just to create a club where the boys could play soccer, but to build an entire program where education, tutoring, leadership development, community service, and character would all be emphasized and the Gospel would be lived out. Last fall after 2 years of dreaming and planning and networking – and seeing God do continual miracles to put him in contact with the right people – the Compton United Soccer Club was born.

We started with one boys’ U17 team (17 and under), one sponsor to buy the uniforms (my brother’s company, MessageFirst), some borrowed equipment, and a whole pallet of Powerade that someone donated for us to sell. Our family spent every weekend last fall with the team, driving all over to games and tournaments and cheering them on. By the time the season ended, the boys had won every game but one and taken the league title. The Cal South soccer quarterly magazine had featured Mike, Ramiro and Jose on the cover, telling the story of Compton United. Fox Sports Soccer channel had created a 5-min blip on CU that was running in between shows. Most importantly we had fallen in love with 14 new teenagers and ministry again -- It was the most fun we’d had since Mike took over the directorship and we stopped having as much time to just be in the community.

Number 10 on the team was Victor Lopez, a defender with great hustle and skill who led by his solid example of determination and consistency. Victor was one you could always count on in a game – when he was needed, he was there. He was a quiet kid who was well-liked, always teachable, and humble. In one of the most memorable moments of the season, our team was playing in the exclusive Rancho Palos Verdes against a team of extremely wealthy kids. Unhappy that his team was getting beat by a bunch of poor Latinos from Compton, one player turned, spit on Victor, and remarked angrily, “Just remember, your parents work for my parents”. In an amazing show of character, Victor did not retaliate, but rallied his teammates to play even harder. When we finished the game 3-2, it was our sweetest victory of the season.

In July when Mike and I were in Colorado at CCC’s staff conference with our kids, Ramiro, and Jose, we received word that Victor had been tragically shot and killed. He was riding home from an indoor soccer game with his brother driving and his 2 younger brothers in the backseat. During an attempted carjacking, Victor took a bullet through his upper body while trying to protect his older brother. He died on the way to the hospital. As you can imagine, this news was devastating to both us and the boys. Jose and Ramiro had played soccer with Victor for years, Jose since they were children. Immediately we cancelled our plans to vacation a few extra days and headed straight home to LA.

What followed was a week mixed with tears and sorrow and a great sense of pride. We witnessed the mind-numbing pain of parents who’ve had their entire family devastated by someone else’s lust for a car. We saw the lost look in a teen’s eyes as he stood over the open casket of a lifelong friend, his hand reaching out to touch Victor’s face. And I understood a newdefinition of hell, as the guttural wailings of a mother who’d lost her teenage son echoed off the vaulted marble walls of a basement mausoleum.

We also witnessed amazing strength in the kids of our community. The week before the service they spent every day going door to door, washing cars, selling tee-shirts/ and anything else they could think of to raise money so that Victor’s family could afford his funeral. One morning they headed to the high school at 7 am -- summer school was in session, so the boys went classroom to classroom, passing the hat to all the teachers and students present. They raised almost $200 that day. They spent every evening at his parent’s house attending the Catholic prayer vigils. They brought his family pictures and made tee-shirts and signed and framed his soccer jersey – anything to stand with each other and surround the family with the support they needed. For the most part, they did it without parents or adults supervising them or organizing their efforts. And, quite honestly, most of them did it without Christ, as these are youth that mostly know faith as an ideal more than as a daily, living reality. Their creativity and initiative was profound.

Though many images are seared into my heart from that week, one stands out above the rest. Before I share, here’s a little context. Throughout the years of playing on high school and league teams, the players have ended every win with a special ritual. They circle up with arms around each other’s shoulders, locking them together, then jump together around and around as they call out a Spanish cheer that ends by shouting the team’s name. It is always a beautiful, inspiring display of solidarity and friendship, victory and celebration -- a symbol of all the good things in sports.

At the end of the burial service in the basement of the mausoleum, Victor’s older brother requested that all his friends step forward. Thirty to forty high school and college-aged guys crowded in, circled arms, and to the wails of Victor’s grieving mother and father, they did that cheer. It was absolutely electric in the corridor, as though everyone’s pain met collectively in the midst of that circle. When they finished, the boys clung to one another desperately, pouring out all their grief, weeping and laying out their broken hearts. The grief of the rest of us in the room surrounded them. This lasted for several moments. The pain and beauty there were almost too powerful to behold – it was one of the most moving experiences of my life.

As the circle eventually broke up and the boys began to file past, stopping to hug each one of us on their way, Mike said to them, “I wish everyone could see and understand that you are the youth of Compton. You all have done such an amazing job holding up each other and Victor’s family -- Compton has never been more proud.”

It’s true – they are the youth of Compton. Many from outside our community would look at their baggy clothes, brown skin, and tattoos, and make assumptions that they are hard-hearted, uncaring, dangerous, menacing kids. Those assumptions would be wrong. They are not gang-bangers or drug dealers; they are not the nameless faces of thieves or murderers. They are Emilio and Juan and Roque and Bene’. Yes many of them have drank their share of alcohol and smoked some weed along the way, as many teenagers in the suburbs have. Yes they use language that I often wish they wouldn’t and most don’t understand the sanctity of sex or God’s plan for marriage. But by in large, they are caring and respectful kids who love their families, support their friends, and are a delight to those around them. They are kids that Jesus sees, that He died for, that He sent us here to love. We are continually humbled that God has chosen us for this task as it is an honor and a privilege to know them.

To see the magazine article and watch the Fox Soccer Channel video on the Club, visit www.comptonunited.org.

Corporate sponsors needed!

Project Photos!

Check out the project photos here!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/intersection2007

Summer Project Update #2

Summer Project Wrap Up!

The last student just left for home.

We are tired but rejoicing.

God showed up in a significant way these last three weeks in Compton on the Intersections/Project Revolution - 2007 Summer Project.


Instead of me rambling on let me share with you what the students said... (This is a lot of text, but if you take the time to read it all you will be blessed!)

“I learned a lot on this trip. I learned a lot about myself..a lot about God’s heart. The solid truths that I have heard before have become heart knowledge instead of just head knowledge. I experienced the grace of God and saw what it truly means and what it looks like. The Lord has proven himself faithful. I have seen more of him. I loved this trip because I was able to meet a lot of other people and work at different ministry sites. It gave me a glimpse of other people’s experiences with God and has left me yearning to know more about him.”

Ashley- Akron, OH


“I learned about myself and my heart during this trip. I’ve always wanted to serve the community but learned that to truly serve the community that I must be be ONE with them. Eat, live, suffer and experience joy with them.”

Dalia- Paramount, CA


“I think God is opening my eyes and calling me to change my city- to be a leader in my community. God has really shown me a lot about cultures through the unity in this group. I have different eyes. I know now that I need to feel more compassion for people who are suffering and living in poverty. If we just stop and try to help out people who are suffering…we are doing what we have been called out to do. God is really helping me to understand that we can all really do something to help….One person can affect a family, that family can affect a community, that community can affect a city and that city can affect a nation. God sees something that is going on in Compton. I am happy to be a part of that. I challenge you all to be a light. Be strong. You can make that difference.”

Ramiro- Compton, CA


“I just feel that God has really spoken to me…that I really need to let God do whatever he wants with my life. This week I have experienced dwelling in the presence of God with such peace. I am so glad that I was able to be honest and speak about my life. I am so thankful for the community that I have become a part of. I can just dwell and listen to what God is trying to say to me. God is good.”

America- Paramount, CA


“This trip has flipped my heart and mind 180 degrees. I had a plan for my future, however, this trip has opened my heart to working in the ministry and serving communities like Compton. I feel like God has spoken to me and given me a new passion for life.”

Caylee- Atlanta, GA


“This week has affirmed and made the importance of community resonate within my heart. We got a chance to get away from all the noise and witness true Christianity in its purest form. I was a part of a diverse group of believers who all had 1 vision -to see justice from oppression and salvation through Christ.”

Ahmad- Lynwood, CA


“I came on this trip with the intentions of sharing God’s love with others but rather I experienced God pouring his love into me. That is the most overwhelming feeling I have ever experienced. That is what the inner city did for me.”

Hannah- Canoga Park, CA


“The whole experience has been about being able to hear God. God will put things in my mind, where I would be holding back to say things and others would say them and it would affirm my beliefs. It was amazing that I was able to spend a week with a group of people and feel like I have known them my whole life. I have been able to be myself and I truly appreciate the fact that I was able to have good conversations with people who I just met. What God has been challenging me with is…when all this is over…then what? It is something we really need to think about. We need to serve the community on a daily basis. Our actions of love and for justice don’t always have to be called a revolution or justice…it is our OBLIGATION. Its about love…not only justice. God spoke to our group and we ran with it. This is where its at! If you’re not a part of project revolution this summer then you’re not having fun.”

Celestine- Los Angeles, CA


“The hunger and the extensive physiological changes my body went through made me truly reflect upon the poverty that exists here in LA.”

Sunghee- Los Angeles, CA

“I realized how self absorbed I am through the poverty simulation. I do put a lot of emphasis on my outer appearance and what the simulation revealed to me was that I had a lot of work to do on my inner perception of myself.”

Esther- Buena Park, CA

What an amazing project.

Summer Project Update #1

From Day 4 of the Project:

Wow, we're off to an amazing start! God is already doing huge things in and through the lives of the college students here.

We have;

• Three African-American students.
• Five Hispanic students.
• One Filipino student.
• Three White students.

Five students are from out of state (Florida, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina), all the rest are locals with six from Emmanuel Reformed Church (our church!) who has adopted Compton for the next 40 years. These students are here as part of that strategy.

Sunday, we attended Faith Inspirational Missionary Baptist Church and the students were blown away. We spent the Sunday School hour with the Pastor, Rafer Owens and his staff hearing his amazing vision for Compton and all of what his church is doing. Then we went into service. Most of the students have never had the opportunity to experience worship in an African-American church before. One of the team leaders came up to me about mid-way through th worship and asked, "Is this ALWAYS this way?" with a huge smile on her face. I smiled back and said , "Yeah, it is".

After the sermon, Pastor Owens called Tonya and I up to talk about the project and what the students were doing here in Compton. We had a few moments to share the vision for the project and what we all are working towards in Compton. Then he had all the students also come up to the platform and told them the church had been praying for them for 10 years to come and help them! It was a huge vision-casting moment for the students as well as the congregation showing both sides that God is doing something big and it's definitely bigger than any one church or group.

Pastor Owens called the group his "Angels". And that he was so touched and energized that they would give up their summer time and come serve in Compton.

The students still have not stopped talking about that, and I don't think they will!

Yesterday, the three teams started their ministry sites. They're doing very well!

Please continue to pray that we will love Compton well, serve our ministry partners and learn more of God's heart as how to reach Compton in the long-term.

-more to come!

Our Soccer Club on Fox Soccer Channel

Watch the video (after the commercial)

The Bible in the Public School & How We Do It

The chairman of the religion department of Boston University [link=http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-prothero14mar14,0,5385607.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail]argues that the Bible should be taught in public schools[/link]. Even though his in not Evangelical reasoning, he has quite interesting points.

Biblical illiteracy is not just a religious problem. It is a civic problem with political consequences...

But barren of the Bible is just what our public school curriculums are. According to a study by the Bible Literacy Project, which publishes a Bible textbook for secondary schools, only 8% of U.S. high school students have access to an elective Bible course. As a result, an entire generation of Americans is growing up almost entirely ignorant of the most influential book in world history, unable to understand the 1,300 biblical allusions in Shakespeare, the scriptural oratory of President Lincoln and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. or even the prominence of Ezekiel 25:17 (actually a mishmash of this verse and passages from Genesis, Psalms and other books) in the film "Pulp Fiction."

This past week some of our staff helped in piloting the domestic version of [link=http://www.charactersolutions.org/index.html] Character Solutions International's curriculum at the notorious Fremont High School of the Los Angeles Unified District. They taught over 30 kids for one full week, all day long this faith-based character curriculum. They shared their testimonies, prayed, discussed church, etc., all in a public high school with parents and staff in attendance.

These kids were somewhat of a captive audience this was part their first two weeks "off-track" meaning they are in year-round school and they are now on starting a two month break and they could come for two additional weeks and participate in this program to work off a $250 truancy debt.

However, our staff reported the students were lively, enthusiastic and excited about what they were learning.

Donna, one of our senior women staff heard a girl say, "I'm gonna keep being late if it means I can go to special classes like this one!"

In Compton, I (Mike) had a lunch time Bible study in a local middle school for years before I became the director. And it was at the administrations request! We had the former LA (and St. Louis) Ram Jackie Slater come in and he laid out the Gospel with every student and teacher present in the auditorium without anyone batting an eye.

Just a week and a half ago, I was just able to introduce the Compton Unified School District to the [link=http://www.josephsoninstitute.org/]Josephson Institute of Ethics (and their well known Character Counts program[/link]), whom I have admired from afar and providentially just recently met. Pray with us that these two organizations will continue to be as positive as they are now with each other about working together in some very significant ways.

In the inner city both the African American and Hispanic cultures in general hold spirituality in high regard, its almost an insult not to. So we can get away with a lot more than the suburbs can. And in the schools, principals will allow almost anything that can give them some extra help. But than can be good and bad.

As Christians, we must take advantage of these opportunities as much as possible, while the windows are open. In this post (or post-post depending on who you talk to) Christian society we don’t know how long we will have this window, even in the inner city.

Lord, Help Me to See

Every once in a while I catch something like what Thompson describes here. I want to slow down and catch more.

Do you believe that God is present in the smile of a child, in the tears of a parent's grief over a suffering adolescent, in the sudden breakthrough of understanding between quarreling spouses? Eternal truths can be learned by observing the most common elements of life: nursing an infant may be a window into God's nurturing care for each of us; bandaging a cut can help us know the healing desire of God; playing games may speak of the divine playfulness that knows our need for recreation; tending a garden may teach us the dynamics of growth. Families learn that they are sacred communities when they begin to name and claim the many forms of God's grace in their daily life.


- Marjorie J. Thompson from "Family: The Forming Center"

Recent Update We Sent Out

VICTORIES & PRAISES:
We have seen incredible unity and coming together of churches here in Compton. We hosted "Lift Up America", a huge food give-a-way sponsored by Tyson Foods in December and invited over 30 ministries from Compton, many of which we had not known before. This brought a renewed since of hope, purpose and camaraderie amongst the ministries here. Our church has brought between 150-350 volunteers every 2 months for the last year to help paint and rehab churches and homes in Compton. We work on 10-12 sites each work day. This has started an incredible movement that has sparked other churches, civic groups and even the city council to get out and “do good” as is the theme. People are being touched in Jesus’ name and I believe we are at the beginning of an amazing movement of God.

PRAYER REQUESTS:
• That this movement would continue and grow in Compton
• For Ramiro (19) who lives with us, as he goes to college and plays soccer – that he would begin to see himself as God sees him & make long lasting Christian friendships
• For our families health, we have been bothered by a lot of little things (sicknesses) lately
• Our main family vehicle (minivan) is having a lot of engine & transmission problems (again)
• Balance in ministry and life
• For Sydney & Zachary (all of us really!) to know Jesus intimately
• For our Compton United Soccer Club to reach lives and families

FINANCIAL REQUESTS/NEEDS:
We need to raise about $800 a month+ but finding/making the time to do it is very challenging

FAMILY NEWS:
We have really enjoyed having Ramiro in our home. He has been a delight. Sydney is doing VERY well in 2nd grade and has an excellent teacher (that could be teaching college) that has really pushed her and she has simply rose to the challenge. Zach was moved to a different school during the first part of kindergarten (a risk of being on an interdistrict permit outside of our district), so that slowed him down a bit. But he likes his newer teacher and things are going well. He is typical boy and never stops! Both Syd and Zach are playing club soccer with Compton United the soccer club we started as an outreach to our community. They are doing well and learning Spanish too!

We are meeting tons of community families, more than we ever have living here through the club. Compton United has opened so many doors and God has exploded the opportunities for it to grow. It’s been amazing and scary at the same time. We are going from one team last year to probably 12 teams this year! Pray for us!

2.56 Percent???

If Christians had given a 10 percent tithe to their churches in 2004, instead of the actual 2.56 percent, there would have been an extra $164 billion. And if churches spent $70 to $80 billion of that on missions and humanitarian works, the basic needs of every person on the globe would be provided.

(Relevant, Nov./Dec. 2006, p. 30)

What happens to the Superbowl Losers Tshirts?

Very Interesting.

The Super Bowl will end about 10 p.m. Sunday, and by 10:01 every player on the winning team — along with coaches, executives, family members and ball boys — could be outfitted in colorful T-shirts and caps proclaiming them champions.

The other set of championship gear — the 288 T-shirts and caps made for the team that did not win — will be hidden behind a locked door at Dolphin Stadium. By order of the National Football League, those items are never to appear on television or on eBay. They are never even to be seen on American soil.

They will be shipped Monday morning to a warehouse in Sewickley, Pa., near Pittsburgh, where they will become property of [link=http://www.worldvision.org/]World Vision[/link], a relief organization that will package the clothing in wooden boxes and send it to a developing nation, usually in Africa.

[link=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/sports/football/04gear.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin]The whole story from the NY Times.[/link]

Our family is proud to sponsor children from [link=http://www.worldvision.org/] World Vision specifically in the Sithobela Area Development Project in Swaziland.

Hi Nelly!

For First Time, More Poor Live in Suburbs Than Cities

Very Interesting...

All Things Considered, December 8, 2006
A move from the city to the suburbs used to signal prosperity for American families. But last year, the number of poor suburbanites outnumbered poor people in cities by 1 million for the first time. That startling statistic is part of a new report that examines poverty trends in the first part of the decade...

Full story at NPR's site @ http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6598999

Boxes of Love

Boxes of Love are this week. We will distribute about 5000 boxes on Saturday. We also have about 250 people serving 11 churches and private homes in Compton, painting, rehabing and cleaning up.

Pray for God's hand of transformation and revival as we love His people of Compton and South Central.

Look forward to some awesome stories soon!

Mini-Church Tonight

Led our mini church-- small group tonight. It's an awesome group of former gang members, criminals, chikdren from tough -- some very tough backgrounds and we're all striving to love and follow Jesus together.

We talked about how we often view our own relationship with God as the primary aspect of our walk; our prayer closet, quiet times, personal retreats, "being alone w/ Him", etc. But that was never the intent of the biblical writers. The intent was scripture to always be interpreted in community -- the letters to the churches of the New Testament, the Gospel accounts for all to read and be aware, even Old Testament accounts to be accounts to pass on for the generations after. The writers never dreamed of the modern day miracles of the printing press, where everyone could have their own copy of the Holy Book, much less several copies around the house, on their palm pilot, on the web and in every hotel!

We talk alot about 'doing life together', taking each others kids to school when needed, helping one another move, hospital visits, financially when possible, etc. But we also need each other, in community to help make the word real, understandable, relavant and more accurate than I could all by myself. My perspective is narrow. I need John who has spend years in prison to help me understand grace and mercy better. I need Joey who is a recovering white supremest to help me understand forgiveness, etc., etc.

My culture teaches me to focus on independence and individualism but I'm trying to break out of that and learn more about community and how much I need the people that I live with.

Micro-Finance: A Way Out of Poverty

Very interesting article...

[link=http://www.acton.org/ppolicy/comment/article.php?article=348]
“The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006 divided into two equal parts, to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank for their efforts to create economic and social development from below. Lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty. Micro-credit is one such means. Development from below also serves to advance democracy and human rights.”