The City as a Teacher

DOOR Chicago recently sent off 18 folks to serve in Paraguay, South Africa, England and Austraila.  Since 2006 DOOR has partnered with Radical Journey, a program of Mennonite Mission Network, to provide orientation for Radical Journey's program.  This year the participants lived with Jesus People, an intentional Christian community on the
northside of Chicago.  I am happy to work with this program each year, as the teacher I learn so much.
1.  Jesus People is an amazing community of folks that share resources, live together, and do church.  When speaking to several members of the community, it became clear to me that the joy of community is sometimes the struggle of working together.  It isn't all lollipops, roses, and smiles.  Instead, getting past those things speaks clearer to community
than maybe anything else.
2.  I am constantly amazed at how the city teaches better than I do. The things that I don't plan, couldn't plan, or couldn't even dream up, come up in city life.  From people stopping participants on the street or getting lost, lessons that only the city and God could provide
growing experiences for the participants and me.
3.  Young adults who want to devote their lives to living for God and service are inspiring.  Participants who choose to participate Radical Journey are usually much younger than I, and yet I admire them as they continue the journey in this way.

-Krista

Summer Ends...

Greetings to all of you,

I hope God has been blessing all of you the way God has been blessing me. This summer in Chicago has been outstanding. We haven’t really had anything go “wrong” this summer at all! We have had groups from all over this country and parts of Canada feel God’s presence here and I am blessed to be a witness to it.

One story I have took place at a peace rally. I don’t know if this is making national news but Chicago has been hit hard when it comes to violent crimes in the past year. By July 1st of this year we have had over 300 violent crimes with some ending in death. In fact the weekend of July 24th, 4 people were shot and killed and 3 were critically wounded. The rally was put on by Brenda Matthews and I want to say that I am a witnessed to God’s uncanny ability to touch our hearts. I remember when Brenda said to me “you know what I should put on a rally” and two weeks later there I am standing out in the rain visiting with old friends and witnessing some of East Garfield Park’s God giving blessings. I am always impressed by the things Brenda can do and the people God has surrounded her with and I know that was reflected to the groups that witnessed a community bare it soul to ask God to anoint them as instruments of peace and to bless the Chicago community with the ability to love not destroy.

Another example of God’s blessings actually happened at our front steps. I should say on the wall next to our front steps. For 6 weeks a group of youth from the west side community along with aid from the city’s park district, and First Church of the Brethren (the place where DOOR Chicago is housed) re-painted a mural that was on Faith House (a building that we rent from First Church). During the 6 weeks groups got to see the transformation of this wall and witnessed the message the kids and First Church wanted to convey towards the community.

Finally I witnessed the transformation of my summer staff. This year for our end of the summer retreat we had a lock-in at Faith House where we did not communicate with the outside world for 24 hours and took that time to fellowship with one another. After our lock-in we then drove to the Indiana sand Dunes where we played at the beach and hiked. After the beach we came back to the city to have dinner at one of my favorite places called Café Too. Over dinner we all shared to one another what we felt were our best qualities and it was really overwhelming with all the positive feedback that they had for one each other. What is really funny is after dinner we went to a video arcade place and played laser tag against one another and they were all trying to dominate the game! It is truly a blessing to see the level of relationships we have all formed with one another and how God can bring complete strangers together to do the work we are all called to do. I would like to thank each of my staff this summer (and all the staff across the network) for their commitment for doing service and their open mindedness for learning new ways to praise and have a relationship with God.

DOOR Merchandise

This summer you'll have the opportunity to purchase DOOR Chicago t-shirts and/ or Nalgene 32 oz waterbottles. All of the money from the sale of merchandise go to our local leadership development programs. Our development fund is used in several ways, scholarships, training, and supplement to salaries for leadership positions.
It's a win- win. You get a great fair trade shirt and the local community get leadership training and experience for our young people.

Summer is coming.....

Greetings and Salutations from Chicago!!
Things have been very busy this past spring here. I have had wonderful groups from all over the country and even Canada!! All were truly special and helped the city in so many ways. Ways in which I know you will once your group comes to do God’s work. If you are anxious and excited about your upcoming trip to DOOR Chicago please visit our YouTube page. At this page you can view the facility you will be calling home for your stay and see pictures of groups who have visited. Also, we are having a food drive to help support the local food bank and their many food pantry partners. Now until Aug 15 we are collecting non perishable food items so that the local food bank and pantries can continue their efforts to feed those who need it. Please do all you can to help us to pass our goal of 1200 can goods!! If you have any questions about this event and others please contact me. Thank you and God bless.

Here comes the Spring

Greetings from Chicago! This week launches the start of our spring season which means we welcome spring groups. We are always grateful and blessed to have eager people to come and serve with us in the city. The start of the spring also brings the start of this year’s food drive to raise 1200 lbs of non perishable items. If you would like to donate items please send them to the DOOR Chicago office. If you would like to donate funds please send a check made out to DOOR Chicago and in the memo section put Food Drive. Also, if you would like to see the facility that you will be staying at feel free to check out DOOR Chicago’s YouTube videos!!! Thank you and God bless.

Snowy Chicago

We are still "Seeing the Face of God" in the snowy cold of Chicago. Please consider signing up for a winter or spring weekend. Contact Brian at Brian@DOORnetwork.org for more information.

Spend a semester in Chicago

We are still taking applications for the Spring Semester 2009. If you are interested in having an internship and taking a class called "The City from a Multicultural Perspective", please contact us at Krista@DOORnetwork.org.