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.

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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)