Reachout

Changing the World One Bag at a Time: Replenish!

What a night! About 100 people from Restore gathered at Metro North Mall and then headed out into communities across the Northland to help gather school supplies for hurting kids as part of our Replenish KC Project.

We went door to door in 14 different communities and asked people to partner with us by donating school supplies. We dropped off approximately 785 bags for people to fill with supplies and left at least 850 door hangers. Every bag drop-off was a conversation we had with someone. Every door hanger is an opportunity for someone to be generous. The vibe we picked up was that people are very willing to be part of helping kids in the community.

I've already received calls and emails from people telling us that they are going to fill their bags.

Thanks to all of the people at Restore who showed up to make it happen. I love being part of this generous community.

We're headed back to the neighborhoods on August 8th to pick-up the bags. Keep praying that people will respond to our request and donate the supplies. Keep praying that God will use this opportunity to work great things in our community.

Wrapping up with the First Coaching Group

Restore was part of this.

So much of what we did our first year after launch came out of our ongoing dialogue with these churches.

Kudos to David Mills for his forward-thinking on these issues.

Progress?

Friday afternoon I met with the members of our Northwood Hills Community focus group. We spent time celebrating all of the activities we did in support of the Northwood Neighborhood adjacent to Southeast Elementary.

All of us agreed that the community block party we hosted in October was a success.

The parent training night we had in February worked well, although we would have loved  the turnout to be better.

A representative from the Kansas City Police Department informed us that the neighborhood had done a 180 degree change. Calls to the area are down. Instead of being called when neighbors are arguing--the old way--they are now being called for real issues.

We talked about doing something in the summer. But the Park Hill School District, the city, and the community have plenty of programs planned for the summer. Parents of school-age children at Northwood have many options. They don't need us to offer them something else.

We may do some sort of backyard program for kids (something like a character club) although we need some things to fall into place for this to happen.

We will conduct a school supply drive at the end of the summer. (I am thinking of asking some local churches to join us?)

I tell you all of this because it really feels like our little community partnership has made progress in Northwood. As we debated what had changed, we kept coming back to that block party in October. It was the real catalyst for change in this community. We simply invited the residents to a neutral space and asked them to start talking to each other. They've done the rest.

Could it be this easy? Could it be that all we needed to do was to give this community an opportunity for people to break-through the invisible barriers they had erected between themselves? Did we really help transform a community by encouraging people to talk to each other?

It's got me thinking about the power of one catalytic event; it's got me thinking about simple service; it's got me thinking that this serve, love and change thing is working.

Nothwood Hills Community Focus Group Parent Night--After

Well we did it.

Approximately 40 people from Restore Community Church helped pull off a very unique evening at Southeast Elementary this past Thursday.

The event turned out better than we expected. Thanks to a team from the City of Kansas City, residents learned some simple conflict resolution skills. The Kansas City Police Department provided some crime statistics for the area, and Janet from Northland Neighborhoods, Inc. provided a great overview the pros and cons of a neighborhood organization. At the end of the night we asked residents to form a neighborhood organization. To our delight most of the parents agreed to meet again to start the process.

People from Restore served in a variety of capacities. They greeted the residents and sat with them during dinner. Another team served dinner and helped bus the tables. Yet another team staffed some programming for the kids so that the parents would have a chance to focus during the parent break-out.

An educational professional told me: "this wouldn't have happened without your team."

And once again I heard from many community organizations how admirable it was to see so many people from Restore serving the community. One woman from the city added, "just like the church should be doing."

I couldn't agree more.

What I love about the opportunity we have to serve this neighborhood is that it's organic. It just sort of happens. Now that Restore is part of the focus team we have a hand to play in this partnership. We could never have planned to be at this point. We simply started serving and the relationships we are developing continue to point us to more opportunities to be the church.

The evidence: At the end of the night I was asked by two different city organizations if Restore would be interested in serving with them in some of their programs.

I am convinced that we were invited to play because we didn't bring an agenda. We simply served with no strings attached. People are seeing the church rather than hearing about it.

 

Nothwood Hills Community Focus Group Parent Night--Before

Our partnership with the Northwood Hills Community Focus Group will celebrate another milestone tonight.

Restore Community Church, along with organizations from the community, including the City of Kansas City, Northland Neighborhoods, Inc., Park Hill School District, and  Kansas City police department, are coming together to host some of the parents of students of Southeast Elementary School to a dinner and evening themed around conflict resolution.

People from Restore will serve dinner to the residents and help facilitate a parent break-out session. 

I marvel at the fact that this opportunity began through a relationship a Restore attender had with the school administration. If all goes well the evening will end with some of the residents agreeing to form an neighborhood organization that will make a positive impact in the community for years to come.

This is so cool that I can hardly stand-it.

I'll let you know how it goes...

Set Service Goals

So you want to start serving your community but you don't know where to begin? How about setting some goals and committing to reaching them.

Before Restore Community Church launched, our lead team sat down and put some service goals on the calendar. For us 24 service projects BEFORE LAUNCH seemed right. We deliberately varied the size and impact of these events. We experimented. We didn't have 24 events planned before we set this goal--all we knew is that we wanted to be doing 24 things in the community and then we got to work.

We held ourselves accountable to this goal. Each week as our lead team meet we would check in to see how we were doing. We assigned ourselves events and asked our launch team members to join us. We devoted time and resources to these projects. As we counted down to launch we pushed ourselves to make them happen. 

Having a goal (in this case a number of out reach activities) gave us something to work towards and embedded this notion in our culture that we were going to be a church that served the community.

So I encourage you--set goals. Put them on the calendar and make them happen. Quit planning to serve and start serving.

Restore Partners with Community Organizations to Sponsor a Block Party

When we launched Restore, I prayed that we would be a church that served the surrounding community so that people could see Jesus rather than merely hear about him. Indeed, this Saturday confirmed that God has answered my prayers.

Over 60 people from Restore showed up at Southeast Elementary to help host a block party for the residents of the Northwood Hills neighborhood adjacent to the school. Nearly 125 residents from the neighborhood participated in the event. 

The goal of the block party was simple: Help residents connect with one another and provide them information resources to assist them in some of their challenges. The neighborhood is best by conflict , crime, and poverty. Because of large African immigrant population, there are frequent cultural conflicts between the parents of the children who attend Southeast. Inevitably, these conflicts affect the children who bring them to school.

So when the community invited Restore to be part of plan to help these residents, we said yes. Our other community partners included: the Kansas City Police and Fire Departments, Park Hill School District, Southeast Elementary, Northland Neighborhoods, Inc., and the YMCA. Together we wanted to host a block party for the residents so that it would be a catalyst for community transformation.

By all accounts, the block party was a resounding success. One group from Restore helped grill up hot dogs and burgers and served them to the residents. Another group hosted team-building games for the kids. Yet, another group manged the Restore sponsored bounce house.

The police brought one of their patrol show cars, complete with hydraulics ( a huge hit with the kids). The fire department parked one of its engines in the neighborhood so the kids could play on it. Tommy Bowman arranged for music for the morning. Later a police helicopter did a fly-by. I watched as neighbors who were hardly on speaking terms start talking to each other. We saw children smiling and playing together, something they haven’t been doing much of according to some of the teachers from Southeast. These same teachers told me that the kids who attended the block party haven’t stopped talking about it. They want to know when the next one is scheduled.

Seeing community in action was inspiring and reminded me of the role the church has to play in being a catalyst for it. 

One of the police offices who I interviewed saidREstore : “What Restore has made possible in this neighborhood is hope.”

I don’t want to over-state what we helped accomplish Saturday morning. Northwood Hills is a hurting community and it’s going to need sustainable assistance from the outside to make it a better place to live.  But what I do know is that the church has the answer for a great deal of the troubles of our society: stronger community. The church must be involved in these issues and partner with other organizations if we are to have any credibility with the community. And so any chance we have to promote community we ought to embrace.

Saturday morning was a catalyst for community building. I know that God has a plan for this community and I also know that Restore has a role to play.

I am grateful to all of the people from Restore who made the block party possible. I saw the face of the residents and the kids that morning and I know we made a difference.

We are continuing to participate in the Northwood Community Focus group and so I am confident that there will be opportunities to serve this community again. In the meantime, we ask that you continue to pray for the residents of Northwood.

Thanks to all of the attenders of Restore for being the church! I love you guys!

Serve.Love.Change.