"Invited Into Joy"

Last week I led 14 USC students and 1 Harvey Mudd student through five days of living as good news to the poor.

We spent two days on skid row, and then the last three pouring ourselves into South LA. Anchored in three core Scriptures--Luke 4, Matthew 25, and Luke 16--we completed the LAUP house community garden (teaching kids to put kale on their pizza), we completed the LAUP house tutoring space, and welcomed the neighborhood to experience practical good news. Our last evening there, college students partnered with neighborhood youth to invite families up and down the block to a barbecue, and saw some 40+ people come by.

At the heart of the experience was a surprise…it was more joyful than anyone imagined. Whitney described Jesus' invitation into loving the least as an "invitation into joy." There is a secret joy of God's kingdom that is uniquely found in making the choice to pour ourselves out for those on the margins…the same joy, I believe, Jesus had in pouring himself out for us.

We concluded our week with a call to commitment: three committed to living their lives in obedience to Jesus for the first time, five committed to letting Jesus realign their life plans in light of being good news to the poor, and 14 of the 15 committed to coming back weekly to continue investing in and tutoring kids in the neighborhood.

It comes one experience at a time, but God is launching a revolution of young people who are rediscovering the good news of Jesus in a way that demonstrates the grace, power, and love of God not just abstractly, but concretely in ways that the world can't deny.


To see the summary video of our week together, click here: LAUP Plunge, 2014

Watching Their Garden Grow

Just a quick update as I head into leading a LAUP spring break plunge, which will be attended by both Christians and some of their non-religious friends…the LAUP garden is in FULL SWING!

Youth from the neighborhood have begun growing their own food to learn about health, and to help the nutrition of their families since January, and the leafy greens are really starting to pop!  It's really exciting to see the beginning of a picture of inner city kids drawn into a relationship with the earth, with nature, and with healthy eating that has the potential to change their world view.

Just one more way that the full range of Jesus' good news is being experienced by the families and kids of South LA through college students and your partnership!