To be honest, I'm hesitant to use this blog to talk a lot about what God's doing at my church, Bethel Chapel. For two reasons: First, I'm not big on what I call "inner-city hype stories." Living and working in the city is definitely different from ministering in a suburban or rural area. Our culture's fear of the inner city and our human nature's love for the sensational make it easy to hype up ministry in the inner-city. (What? You've never been mugged by homeless person? You're not witnessing to any gang members? Let me tell you about real ministry. . .) At Bethel, we want the emphasis to be on the work of the Holy Spirit--not some excitement about how dramatic it is to work in the city. The Holy Spirit's work is eternal, but hype about inner-city ministry dries up quickly. So I'm hesitant to hop on my blog every week with amazing stories.

Second, I'm worried that talking about what God's doing here at Bethel will come across as prideful. Maybe this is related to my first point. But I'm concerned that talking about my church will make it sound like it's my church. And again, this goes back to emphasis. There aren't any super heroes at Bethel, especially not me. We pray all the time that God would work in such a way that what happens could never be attributed to anything human. Only the supernatural will do. We want to raise our hands to heaven as we watch a sea get split in half, not whack a rock until it gives us water. That way the glory goes to the right Person. Bethel isn't about a group of philosophically savvy, ministry genius laboring in an exotic mission field. We want it to be about Him.

But at the same time, I don't want to let my fear of hype and pride keep me from talking about what God is doing. I know that He's working just as much other places in the city and country, but I want you to know what God is doing here. I want you to be encouraged that God uses weak vessels in dark places to show off His power. I want you to know that God has not abandoned all of the poorer neighborhoods in this country. I hope it makes you hungry to pray more. And I hope it makes you excited to see God work more--here and where you are. Only God can do these things:

Last week our leadership met with a middle-aged couple for membership. But what was cool about this was that our meeting with them was in Spanish. They're actually from the Congo and speak seven languages. Unfortunately, English is at the end of the seven so they're still working on their English. Only God can bring people that speak different languages to join your church! At last count, we have seven different languages that can be spoken in our church.

A couple of months ago, the Lord burdened a couple in our church about the state of our men's bathroom. So they used their vacation time from work and their money and spent a week remodeling the bathroom.

In the last several months, two teenage girls have prayed and asked God to save them. What's even more special to me, is that it wasn't me or any other adult that led them to pray. It was other teenage girls in the youth group who had that privilege.

A lot of churches in the city are moving to the suburbs or just closing their doors. And even though our church lost our white, middle class members, our doors are still open.

About six or eight months ago the Lord led a staunch Roman Catholic to faith in Christ and to our church. He's been discipled and baptized. When he was baptized last month, we warned him that newly baptized believers often face some serious trials soon afterward. He was no exception. In the span of two weeks he was mugged twice. He was robbed and beaten pretty badly. But his faith in Christ seems to be unshaken. He's determined not to allow Satan or circumstances change his faith in Christ.

Our church regularly corresponds with two men in prison. One of them started coming while he was in nearby rehab center. He's due out sometime this summer. The other one is our former city councilman. My dad had the chance to lead him to the Lord just before he went to prison. Right now he's about half-way through Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology. From his letters, it sounds like he's growing by leaps and bounds spiritually. My dad and some others get to visit these guys pretty regularly. Not only is this obeying God's command in Hebrews 13:3 to "remember the prisoners", it's amazing to see a whole family of people love those who aren't easy to love.

The editor of our local paper gives my dad a weekly column in our local paper for free. My dad would be the first to tell you that he's no writer. But every week God gives him the grace, patience, diligence and ideas that he needs to write the column. Basically, he just gives the gospel every week. So every week the gospel goes to every home in our neighborhood.

2 Corinthians 4:7, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves." What a treasure we have!

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