The Circle is Growing

Here's a snapshot from the front yard of the LAUP house today.

True to their commitments, over a dozen of the USC students who experienced the joy of bringing the healing, hope, and light of God to the South LA urban community have been coming back every week.

Except now it's more than a dozen.

Today they had Bible study in our front yard before mentoring youth and serving the neighbors. The original five kids from the neighborhood have grown to 10. (If you look, you'll see them all in the Bible Study circle.) The original dozen from USC have grown to 15. The circle is growing.

There is a movement of God growing right here on the grass of the front yard. Urban kids are finding mentors they never dreamed of. USC students are gaining a heart for kids navigate an alternate urban reality. Both of them are caught up in the Kingdom of God...which may leave none of them ever the same!

Pray for God's power to go before this movement: to protect it, to deepen it, and to use it to not just transform 25 kids on a lawn, but to make God's grace, healing, and salvation real to a whole city.

Living the Dream

Thirty Two students from USC and Occidental College just finished spending five nights of their spring break together in the LAUP house. Their presence here did something that will change this house forever.

The goal of this LAUP "plunge" was to help students gain God's heart for the poor, and to give them a practical experience of bringing the light, hope, love, and generosity of God's Kingdom to the South Los Angeles urban community. All of that happened...and then some.

If you haven't been to the neighborhood, it's dirty. Trash everywhere, overgrown weeds, chipping paint, broken couches on the sidewalk...not to mention a general feeling of danger and depression. So they picked up trash on the whole block, pulled weeds, painted people's fences, planted a lemon tree...and gave the LAUP house itself a makeover.

And as they did that, neighbors came out of the woodwork. Urban youth helped paint, played with the students, and joined us for dinner every night. A woman donated dinner one night. Another loaned us four ladders. The plumber across this street cut us a deal to fix the water main (broken by an overzealous student taking a pick-axe to tree roots). Today, my neighbor across the street came to share his gratitude to the students. "You're here on your spring BREAK?? Are you kidding me? Wow...this is something special." In my seven years of living here, I've never seen the neighborhood react with such warmth, gratitude, and community as I saw in these past five days.

This isn't the typical spring break for today's college student. Yet at the end of a week in the inner city, working hard, sharing three bedrooms with 32 people, one student captured the feeling of the whole group. "We're living the dream."

Another student captured it like this: "I participated in the LAUP Plunge over spring break, and I witnessed so much of God’s work and His love. My heart was transformed, not just temporarily, but for life, to a point where I can’t turn back. I heard God’s calling to serve so clearly and I strongly desire to be part of His plan in whatever way I possibly can. The Plunge was an incredible experience, and I am drawn so strongly to continue working with the poor here in LA."

The USC students are returning on their own, Saturday, to host a neighborhood barbecue. They will come back to mentor the kids on the block every Friday and Saturday. They ARE living the dream: Jesus' dream of the kingdom of God. For these students and for this neighborhood, what was once just a dream is becoming reality.