Keeping up with the ministry of Lee & Dana Trotter in the Prescott neighborhood in urban Kansas City, Kansas.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Roots

Over the past several weeks, our Youthworks teams have been able to help out a dear lady named Ethel.  Ethel lives in an historic home just north of here.  She is proud of the fact that Alex Haley collected a lot of info for his book "Roots" from his aunt who once owned the house.

Ethel was exited to see her house scraped, primered and repainted.  Her yard was cleaned up and a whole lot of misc. chores done.  I had a team from Desperation Church down this past Sunday to help with some more technical work.  We fixed a rotten column on her sagging front porch, replaced some brick on her front steps, and installed a washer and dryer.  Ethel purchased the washer and dryer 2 years ago, but had been washing her clothes in the bathtub.  It was a joyous time when we washed and dried a comforter to test it out yesterday.  She said now she has a nice clean comforter, but probably won't have to use it anytime soon.

Sunday, as we were leaving, I asked Ethel to pray for us.  She beamed as she prayed for us, having something of value to give us back.

It was awesome to be able to encourage Ethel in Christ over these past weeks.

OK, who's next?

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Stepped on a nail.

Stepping on a nail is something I do quite often.  I suppose I could wear shoes when I work.  Some people never learn.  The reason there are nails in my yard is we are getting our house re-roofed.  The guys doing it keep having to do more work, which equates to more money.  There were 6 layers of shingles on this house.  Since the house is 87 years old and had 6 layers, they never took any of the old layers off.  The decking is the original 2 x 8's which are still good.

The guy I hired to do it is a dad of a couple of kids from the church here who have also been a part of my soccer programs.  Juan's wife recently left and became pregnant with another man.  Not cool.  Juan is having to get a lawyer to get custody of his boys, Juan PhillipĂ© and Angel.

Juan is doing a great job on my roof.  He is not a licensed roofer or insured.  That makes it harder to find work.  Pray for Juan and spread the word if you know anyone who has to pay cash for a roof and wants to pay about half of most estimates.  Pray that he is successful in getting custody of the boys.

Thanks.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Second Sundays.

Second Sunday Youth Worship starts Sept. 9th. in KCK. at 5:00pm.  We will have worship every month on the second Sunday.  We are putting together a youth planning and worship teams. If you are or have youth who are interested in being involved, let me know. Spread the word.


Monday, July 9, 2012

Here is a link to this month's newsletter.  We are thankful for our support team.



Thanks, Cornerstone.

Every year a group of our family and friends would look forward to our summer vacation, a pilgrimage to the Cornerstone Festival in Bushnell, Illinois.  This was the last year of the festival that began in 1984.  Dana and I had planned to attend the first, but cancelled the trip after deciding to move to Kansas City and join the Kansas City Youth For Christ staff.  Working camps and mission trips every summer kept us from attending, but we were able to make 7 out of the last 10 festivals.
Had to change this flat with an adjustable wrench.

There are many Christian music festival every year, but none like Cornerstone.  Many seem to be centered around music and culture, which is fine, but Cornerstone is centered around something deeper.  It had become a place of blessed community, embracing a common theme of following God through a unique and subversive lifestyle.

It was at a Cornerstone seminar that Dana and I met Dr. John Perkins, the founder of CCDA.  In talking with John after the seminar, I told John that his testimony compelled me to sell my house in the suburbs and move into the city.  He said, "Well then, you need to sell your house."  That is where it started for us.

Cornerstone will be missed.  I am skeptical that we will ever find any festival or gathering that will have the same sense of community and spirit, that subverts the superficiality and hype that has so permeated so much of popular Christian culture.

We are thankful for all of the great memories, moments, challenges, and friendships that God has blessed us with through the Cornerstone fest.

Be the Change.