God Is Doin' A New Thang
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
The above image may require some background storytelling to give you an idea of why in the heck a white boy from Yakima, WA went camping with a bunch of Latino homeboys from San Francisco.
My choice to join CSD on their annual camping trip was actually just a natural outflow of the movement that had been taking place in my heart over the previous two weeks. Ever since the InnerCHANGE Conference, I had begun to feel a very tangible movement within me from desiring to serve through media, to a more incarnational form of ministry among people. I enjoyed serving as the media/helper person, but at the same time realized that this was not my passion or dream for future ministry. As much as I have training and education and skill in multimedia communication and am willing to use them, I realized my real passion and desire is to work more directly with people in a pastoral role, possibly in an incarnational setting. I felt God calling me to a higher level of leadership that will require a little more risk and a lot more faith.
It is very unusual for me to sense God’s leading this strongly and with so much confirmation in a number of ways, so I pursued it wholeheartedly. I approached my mentors and supervisors here at InnerCHANGE and asked if there was any way to shape the internship at this point to expose me to InnerCHANGE outside of the office – incarnational ministry among the poor and marginalized. Even before the meeting with my mentors, I had felt that Casa San Dimas was my “in” to this neighborhood, and the only feasible place to build relationships in the remaining three weeks. Many of the guys I had already met and become acquainted with through my Monday night visits to Juvenile hall (see post from May 26th). In the meeting with my supervisor I mentioned Casa San Dimas as a place where I could invest some time and energy, and my supervisor mentioned that the CSD camping trip was only four days later, and I was invited!
I am grateful that God orchestrated this in my life to give me clear leading as to how to pursue future ministry and then gave me this perfect opportunity to try it out right here! Keep checking the blog for further developments; I am still seeking the Lord and others as to how He would have me spend my last three weeks here, pursuing this new direction God has opened to me, possibly moving into Casa San Dimas to live with the guys.
I am also reminded of the unsearchable wisdom of God; how He subtly led me last winter into applying to be the Assistant Residence Director of Fischer Dorm at Wheaton next year (a very pastoral role) when I didn’t even know the significance that role would have for me at the time!
Posted by Benjamin Washam 11:58 PM
Labels: San Francisco
2 Comments:
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- Anonymous said...
9:17 PMHolla for crackers in the hood! I'm in the "bad" part of town here in Southside. I was told by someone that there are two "druglords" in this immediate area. I tried to tell her that druglords are in charge of extremely large areas and though they might be big drug dealers, they are not drug"lords", but she didn't want to give up how horrible it was here. Got any krunkers in Casa San Dimas?- Benjamin Washam said...
10:52 PMThankfully, the guys in Casa San Dimas have already done their time (time in prison) and are there because they really want to change their life. Some of them were very involved in the life of "bandilleros" and were high up in the ranks. Now, you would be hard pressed to distinguish them from any other 18 year old Central American youth.
