I enrolled into Bakke Graduate University’s Doctorate in Ministry in Transformational Leadership for the Global City program.  The title is a mouthful.  But basically, it focuses on equipping Christian leaders to minister effectively in global urban environs.  I’ve been looking at this program for a few years but have not been in a steady enough situation to be able to begin.  But with the encouragement of my family, the counsel from a dear friend and mentor, Randy White and the blessing from my church, I took my first course; in Accra, Ghana.  It was amazing. 

As part of the course, I was required to journal 2-3 pages a day over the course of the 12 days I was there.  Below, are excerpts from the first few days of my journals:

01/19/2010

First day of class and I’m surrounded by 13 other students; 5 Americans, 4 African, 3 Chinese and 1 Canadian.  We begin with a series of introductory remarks and orientations.  Then we go around the room and introduce one another.  Although many of us have been interacting online a good bit prior to the course, it is good to put live faces and real voices to Facebook pictures and posted online comments.  Joel in person is like Joel online, but taller.  Dorrie and Melissa look different than their pictures and sound different than they write.  I’m glad to be in the class with all of them.

Salomon is from Niger, in my opinion, by far the most difficult of all the places represented.  It took me 2 days by plane to get here.  It took him 3 days by bus.  He’s wise I can tell.  I can’t imagine the difficulties he’ll face as he goes through the program.  When I begin to complain about how hard this gets or how much I have to do, I’m going to think about him sweating like a madman for 3 days on raggedy piece of shit bus, having to pay bribes at every boarder crossing all because he has a call from God on his life to be an agent of transformation in a place that is hotter than hot and that most people don’t even know exists, and the ones that do know can’t pronounce his city correctly. 

Phoebe is a pastor in China and frankly I have no category for her.  I’ve never met a Chinese pastor that pastors in China.  All the Chinese pastors I know pastor churches in San Francisco.  And all of them are men.  And secondly, I can’t say that I know a single female senior pastor.  In a country where I’ve heard they abort female fetuses, to have in front of me a female Chinese pastor, living in communist China and who leads a congregation twice as large as my own; well, I’m impressed.  Awed really.  Even though she didn’t come by bus.

01/20/2010

I’ve never met Stefan, but I have been in the same room with him.  And when you’re around someone as great as Stefan that’s got to count for something.  He’s the founder and Executive Director of the Tswane Leadership Foundation.  I first came to know of Stefan and his work when I was in Fresno working for a sister organization to his, the One by One Leadership Foundation.  That would have been 8 years ago now.  Though we share many common friends this is actually the first time we’ve met face to face.  And quickly I came to realize that he’s one of those people that has a great deal of wisdom, strength and tenderness.  All of which lay just below the surface enough, that you could pass him in the airport and not notice at all.  But if you talk with him, and listen, it bubbles up, catching you almost unaware but not off guard; you’re able to glimpse the depth of his soul as well as his intellect - both of which come from a deeper story and a richer life that he gives you peeks at because to give the whole story in one sitting would overwhelm.

 Then there are the stories that I tell myself.  I was reminded of those stories while riding around Ghana.  There is a grand narrative of West Africa that I have bought into and experienced.  My very last experience with West Africa was not good.  I was a wounded by the uglier side of the culture and it has served to confirm the African Grand Narrative that is dictated and propagated by a source other than Shalom.  If I’m not careful I’ll let that narrative be the only narrative I hear and that I tell, even if I only tell myself.  The tour did not speak to the things that still anger me about my previous experiences; about corruption, about lies, about shifting responsibility that leads to no one taking ownership, about the ways that I, as a white person, am viewed only as a container of money and thereby dehumanized in the same way that Africans have been viewed only as a receptacle of pity and aid and likewise dehumanized.

01/21/2010

[As Christian leaders] our blind spots will not be identified by others with the same blind spot but by those who see and hear differently.  Thus, we listen to the artist, the engineer, the welder, the banker, the rich and poor, the city and the history of our faith.  So much of the work of reflection for the urban Christian leader will take place in the between places of the City and the Church, the Genders, the Races, etc. 

 01/24/2010

We finished up our tour of churches at Christ Apostolic Church.  This fellowship began several decades ago and is firmly trenched in the faith-healing and Pentecostal expressions of Christianity.  They proclaim themselves as the ‘Mother of Pentecostal Churches in West Africa’.  This church I did not observe as with the others.  This church I experienced.  And the experience caught me completely off guard.  When I walked in the congregation was fully engaged in worship; and by fully I mean fully in the most Pentecostal and charismatic senses of the word. 

The situation surrounding our leaving Nigeria and our denial of return is a painful one.  There remains a lot about Nigeria that hurts me and angers me.  But, on that Sunday at the Christ Apostolic Church, I found a great measure of healing.  Healing to things that I didn’t know were still wounded.  In that service, though we were there only for a few moments, God brought to mind areas of my heart that needed soothing with the balm of the Holy Spirit.  I find it completely just and merciful, that God used the mouths of West Africans to sing to me a song that I had forgotten.  I find it appropriate that I was healed in a church that was founded on a belief that God, by faith, heals the broken.Dancing, kneeling, twirling, toungue-speaking, weeping.  And they were singing a song I knew. It was a song that I had heard literally 100 times.  It was sung nearly every other day in Nigeria and upon hearing it, in this place, a flood of emotions and memories came over me and I was overwhelmed. 

Lisa and I were introduced to Darin & Meeghan by a mutual friend, Shane Claiborne nearly 4 years ago.  They, along with Shane, have been incredible friends walking with us over the years; through our relocation to Nigeria, the difficult return and the nomadic months, the respite in Marin and then the move to Memphis.  During the nomadic months especially, the Darin and Meeghan opened their home and we spent several weekends with them as well as some days with Shane in his community in Philadelphia.  These 3 friends have shown to us, in incredibly consistent ways, what it means to be a part of a beloved community, despite distance.  They have faithfully prayed for us and kept up with us despite our ever changing addresses. 

So, now that we have a new address, we thought it would be good to have them all over.  Shane was speaking at a few places around Memphis so it afforded us an excuse to all be together.  It had been, really a few years since we’d all been in the same place with a relaxed pace.  Often times we have to squeeze in meals together at a conference or retreat setting.  This time, the pace was slower, and the time sweeter.  We ate great meals that Lisa prepared, visited the civil rights museum, ate barbeque in north Memphis, talked a lot, told stories, laughed, cried, prayed and hoped for another chance to all be together again.  When they left, my heart was sad to see them go, but refreshed that they had come.

The higher ups in IVCF figured they would just end the Fresno State chapter, let it lay dormant for a year or two, and wait for reinforcements of additional staff in the coming years.  Lisa appealed and recommended they don’t close the chapter but let her continue to serve the dual role and invest primarily in the student leaders that were a part of the Fresno State IVCF chapter.  The higher ups said, “ok, good luck with that”.  Lisa remained faithful and invested heavily in the student leaders.  Robert and Noemi are two of those leaders.  Now, they are serving as Intervarsity Staff.  The IVCF chapter remains today and is strong.  Additionally, Robert went on to pioneer an IVCF chapter at Fresno City College, which also is strong despite its newness. 

Robert & Noemi have remained friends with Lisa and Lisa continues to pray for and encourage them.  We were excited to have them visit our new home and new neighborhood and to worship with them at Living Hope.  They stayed with us for a few days.  The visit, as are most visits with folks you love and miss and love being around, felt short.  When they left, I had a deep sense of pride, the kind of pride one might have in their children or in a family member.  I am proud at the leaders that they have become.  And proud of the way they are following Jesus.  I was proud of my wife, who had invested in them years ago, even when most would have stopped because they wanted to or had permission to.  I was proud that she continues to invest in them now,, years later.  

And I was full of joy, because in between then and now, the Kingdom of God had come near and we all noticed, and rejoiced because of it.

The good thing about setting the date of a house warming party before you move in, is that it forces you to have the house all moved in and ready to go before the party.  The bad thing is, things can happen.  So, me and the 3 guys from Fountainhead Construction Company (which I highly recommend by the way) were at the house until midnight on the eve of the party finishing the mudding, sanding, painting, cleaning, decorating, sprucing, etc.  At 6:30pm the following day, the house looked fantastic, filled with 50 of our closest friends and smelled like fresh paint and a Douglas fir. 

A week later we had our first overnight guest.  The Minturns stopped over in Memphis to spent a night or two with us.  Todd & Carrie served with Lisa at IV during our time in Fresno where they continue to live in our old neighborhood, love their neighbors and give significant leadership the IVCF movement in Fresno and throughout the central valley & central coast.  It was great to see them again, and see our boys playing together.

A few days after that, Lisa’s Dad & Grandpa (Papi) arrived up from Miami.  I don’t know how long of a drive that is, but unless your running from the law, I don’t think you want to do it in a day.  Lisa’s Dad, Oto, is a Cuban Bob Vila.  He swirled around our house, painting, repairing, improving and fixing stuff that I didn’t know was broken.  By the time he left there were parts of our house that looked completely different and bore the marks of being touched by a true craftsman rather than the simple brush strokes of a first-time home owner.  

They brought with them part of the roasted pig from the Noche Buena celebration two days prior.  Lisa headed up to the Hispanic market, returning with black beans, yucca and Pilon and we feasted like generals in Castros court.  I’m still smiling from that dinner.  This was Papi’s first visit to Memphis since we moved and our first real time together since Abuela’s passing.  I was delighted to see him, and have our family spend so much time together.  The boys had a blast and it was fun having them around. 

We rang in the New Year with Papi & ‘Grandpa’ as the boys call Oto.  Then the next day they made their way back to Florida.  A day later Robert & Noemi arrived and we had overnight guests #7 & #8 (we’ve been in the house 3 weeks at this point). 

Robert and Noemi drove over to Memphis following the Urbana Missions Conference in St. Louis.  It was a fantastic visit and beautiful time of catching up and reflecting back.  I’ll recap that story in the next blog.  

But we are the group that sent out an end of the year video nearly two years late, so in that same spirit of delayed blogging (or as we like to call it, time and distance to properly reflect), we’ll begin a series of retro posts that look at the last few months.

This American Life ~ a friend of mine put me on to this radio show years ago and I've not stopped listening to it yet.  I think it gives a fantastic insight into the paradox of world we live in, touches the heart & mind and the, by far consistently the best story telling I have ever, ever heard.

The Rozell Family Blog ~ Brian & Steph really deserve a blog post all their own.  But let me say out loud (as I've mentioned it on numerous occasions) that Brian is one of the best writers I know.  Even if I didn't know him, I would read his work and buy anything he published.  And on top of that, he's got a fantastic photographer's eye.  He and his dynamo wife live in Fairbanks Alaska working as school teachers and living out an adventurous life. 

Fajita Fiesta; Fresno, Ca ~ In a city dominated by Mexican food, this gets my vote as the best.  There are two locations of this family owned restaurant in Fresno.  For my money, when in town, visit the one at Divisidero and Van Ness.  Sit on the patio and tell Mira that the Watson's say hello.

Mama's Cafe; San Francisco, Ca. ~ I'm not a morning person.  I can think of only two reasons why I'd get up at 5 in the morning.  And the reasons are completely unrelated.  One of those is to head down to North Beach, the northeast corner of Washington Square, past the chinese people doing Tai Chi, is Mama's Cafe.  The line will stretch out the door and up the street, but don't be daunted.  Stand in it and wait.  And bring cash, because Mama doesn't take plastic.  The best breakfast place in the world.

Kings Canyon / Sequoia National Parks ~ These two parks are in the same stretch of mountains as their more popular brother Yosemite.  And though they don't have the same post card vista from the Valley, there's still a ton that I love about these two.  They're gorgeous, accessible and with less traffic and Yosemite.  Lisa and I spent lots of time in these mountains, not as much as we should have or wanted to, but each time we leave excited we came and sad we have to leave.

Anne Lamott ~ From time to time, there are books or authors that I read and then, re-read and re-read.  Anne is that author for me in this season of my life.  I was initially resistant to reading her because I thought, 'she's just a women's author.  I don't want to read about menopause'.  But I couldn't have been more wrong about her.  Her wit and insight is poignant.  She's not for everyone, but she's for me and I can't put her books down.

Cafe con Leche ~ Lisa introduced me to this little cup of heaven on my first trip to Miami.  Basically its cuban coffee and milk and something else that makes it taste out of this world.  I don't know if the Cubans stir the milk & coffee with their fingers or what it is that makes it so awesome, but I can't get enough of it.  In a world increasingly dominated by starbucks, Miami is one place that doesn't seem to be buying it (or drinking it).  There's still cuban coffee stands on every corner.  And that makes me very, very happy.

Lisa's Cuban Cooking ~ I'm not just saying this.  Lisa is a great cook.  Especially when she's whuppin up something from her Abuela's special recipes.  Ropa Vieja, Picadillo, Arroz con Pollo, Flan...She's a great cook.  We enjoy eating out (as you can tell from my other favorite things) but, given a choice, I pick Lisa's cuban cuisine over anything else.  

Flying Fish / Trolley Cars; Memphis, TN ~ Ok, this might be cheating but for the Watsons often this is a package deal.  Flying Fish is a fantastic little catfish joint in downtown Memphis.  Nathan loves going to flying fish.  Its fun, funky and kid friendly which, in my opinion is a pretty good description of the Watson family.  Flying Fish is also a block from the trolley cars which float around downtown Memphis.  So, often we'll take in some catfish then hop a trolley and roll around one of our favorite downtowns.  

So, there you have it.  I though maybe I'd list a top 10, but I'm sticking with 9.  If another comes to mind, I'll add it.  But, give some of these a try.  And share some of your favorite things as well.

Greg places the suburban students that make up his flock and the student ministry that's designed to form them spiritually in stretching postures.  He places them in broke down and out of the way places - inner city neighborhoods, African orphanages and refugee communities - then forces the students to serve ALONGSIDE those in the community, and then prompts the students to ask questions of their God and their scriptures.  Greg models the action, reflection process of spiritual formation masterfully.  And the maturity of the students in the youth group are the result.  

Then there's the other stuff that I'm growing to genuinely appreciate about Greg.  His zeal for music.  And he's not zealous in the sense that he has a huge CD or MP3 collection.  Zealous in the purer sense.  The sense that says music, to be truly appreciated, must be appreciated in person.  As one goes to visit friends, or converse with relatives or old timers; that's how Greg approaches music.  His zeal for the creative and innovative.  Greg scours movies, conferences, organizations, businesses and nonprofits in an effort to explore how people with vision move forward in ways uncharted.  

And then there's the generosity.  Greg, a single bachelor, has let this nomadic band of 4 Watsons, invade his tranquil world and up-end it for 2 months.  Not a word of complaint (out loud any ways) or a question of "when are you moving out?".  He's loved our boys and, I think he's enjoyed our company.  

Greg has become a wonderful friend to the family and a complete honor to serve with.  Today, and on many other days, G-Jack is my hero!

However, to be honest, it wasn't what was in the envelope that stood out to me (and to the minister who passed the envelope to me).  It was what was written on the envelope.  "Poor Peepul".  This child, somewhere along the way got the notion that the money given to the church was for the poor.  I believe that to be both good theology and good practice.  I pray that I lead a church who's money, in increasing measure, is money given for the benefit of and care for the poor.

Here are a few pictures that Lisa took during the inspection.  More photos to come.

For the most part, we've been looking in the midtown area of Memphis.  It's where we have been living since arriving in Memphis and we really enjoy this part of the city.  The previous 3 heart breaks are all within just a few blocks of each other.  (Of course now that I write that, maybe that's been our problem!  Wrong area).  

The first house was owned by some new friends of ours who lived in Memphis for several years but were relocating outside the state.  They wanted the home to go to some community minded folks who would care for the house and and the neighbors.  We were very interested in the house and began saving pretty aggressively for the down payment.  A few months went by, and after a a week away in California Lisa and I returned ready to move forward with the purchase.  We arrived back in Memphis to discover the house had already been sold.  

The second house was and still is a beauty.  We'd been looking at it for several months, walked through it two or three times and really liked it.  Not perfect, but a fantastic house for some first timers like us.  We haggled, made an offer and began dreaming.  We picked out colors for the walls, got some bids to get the popcorn off the ceiling, and wondered how much a kitchen remodel might set us back.  Then, the day of the closing, our lawyer called us to tell us the deal was not going to happen.  The seller had not been paying her mortgage and the sale price we had agreed to would not cover her payoff and furthermore she didn't have the cash to cover the closing costs.  Nevertheless we tried to work with the seller, waiting to see if a short sale would be approved, but to no avail.  As of now, the house has slipped into foreclosure and we've moved on to other pastures.  

The third house was a beauty.  If you have an eye for potential.  It was a little rundown.  Ok, a lot run down, but a cute little victorian styled house, nearly 100 years old on a fantastic double lot with an awesome wrap around porch.  You had to overlook its lack of heating or A/C and not be intimidated by the amount of work required and look at the house a year down the road.  A gem for sure.  We walked through the house with two contractor friends who helped us dream, and helped us put a price tag on the dream.  And then put a time line on the dream.  So, armed with that, we began the negotiation.  A little back and forth, and by the time it was said and done, The seller wanted a little more than we were willing to give.  Its still on the market if anyone is interested.  

Which brings us to house number 4.  And to be honest, I'm a little hesitant to even blog about this in the event that this thing comes crashing down around us tomorrow.  But, undaunted, we have hope!  Dang it!  This is a cute 4 bedroom 2 bath bungalow style house.  Move in ready.  About 90 years old.  Hardwoods throughout, 2 stories.  Great decks in the back.  Coy Pond.  Detached garage with a detached office.  And we're dreaming again.  Colors, decoration and holiday parties.  

Its like Christmas Eve for the Watson's today.  Here's to hoping Santa brings us something good tomorrow.