Archive for the ‘Detroit History’ Category

ONE series kickoff: Imago Dei, & an amazing day!

Posted: January 22, 2013 by mikehanafee in Black History Month, Detroit History, Discipleship Groups, new facility, preaching, race riots, racism, Restore Church, the gospel, Vision, worship
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“These premises shall not be occupied by a negro or colored person” reads the original deed to our building. Our history as a nation is drenched in racism and every one of our stories, whether you realize or not, has been shaped by racism. Yesterday, we began our ONE series by looking at how the truth of Imago Dei dismantles the very basis of racism. From conception, every human of every color is made in the image of God – therefore, every human is valuable, beautiful, & equal. But there is also something else we all are, sinful. Sin has marred our Imago Dei like graffiti. And we have all been tagged in two ways – by the sin of others, & by our own sin. Thankfully Jesus came as the perfect Imago Dei. He was not marred by sin but for sin, in our place.  He suffered at the hands of men the injustice many have experienced and then suffered at the hand of God for the sins all of us have committed. He redeems His people, gathers us into His eternal family by His blood, & begins a life of transforming us so that our Imago Dei can increasingly show off & show out His glory!

The room was way too hot and the sermon the longest I have ever preached (I’m going to stewy away from that record in the future!) but the Spirit really seemed to show up. And during communion several people stood and bore bold, broken, public repentance. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed in 43 years of life, 17 years as a Christian. We feel as if we are being swept up in something much bigger than us. What is certain is that what is happening is something only God can do. Only God. We tremble at His grace & power. I invite you to listen in on a topic that we are passionate about and that leads right to the heart of God in the gospel.

With about 115 in attendance on Sunday we are pretty close to being maxed out in the upper room. Moving the nursery downstairs has created a little bit of space but we need to get the building renovated as quickly as possible. Would you come for lunch on Feb 26 at The PO to hear a bit of our story and how you might be able to renovate the building with us? You can reference the information card below.

We are launching our 4th Dgroup the first week of February on Lawrence St (across from Central High on Linwood) under the leadership of Clete & Ruth. Also, the very first couple who committed to Restore, 2 years ago when we weren’t much more than a dream, will now serve as apprentice Dgroup leaders. I’m thrilled about this! We need to launch 2 more Dgroups in the near future, so please pray for wisdom & provision.

Revelation 7:9-10

Posted: July 31, 2012 by mikehanafee in Core Values, Detroit History, Detroit Info, preaching, racism, Restore Church, the gospel
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Once again the Lord gave us beautiful weather as we worshiped outdoors at Gordon Park. After a great time of singing lead by a guest mission team from First Presbyterian of Trenton I spoke from the passage that is not just inked on my forearm, it is engraved on my heart.  Revelation 7:9-10 informs us that eternity is doxalogical, Christological, & multicultural. And to fulfill our purpose of previewing this right now the church must be missional. In the end we must realize 3 things. 1 Our hearts are the neediest mission field we know – therefore we must relentlessly apply the gospel to ourselves. 2 We must go to our neighbor – those we live, work, & play with. 3 We must care about our region – our Acts 1:8 B & C! All our called to do something – pray, give, &/or go.

In this message you’ll also learn that Detroit is laid out like a baseball field! Fast forward to the 10:00 mark of the video unless you want to catch some fellowship, a brief discussion of whether I’m hot, & a few minutes of announcements as we worked out microphone issues.  Clete took several pics of the service and of hanging out with part of the BUMP mission team. Please pray for our sports/vbs this week as we kick into full gear Tuesday!

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
(Revelation 7:9-10 ESV)

Gordon Park Clean Up and Sunday Praise Service in the Park

Posted: June 21, 2012 by cletebontrager in Detroit History, Detroit Info, Family, Friends, race riots, racism, Restore Church, social justice
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June 16th Restore Church along with friends from the community came together to clean Gordon Park.  This is a small, but beautiful park.  We had our work cut out for us, but with many hands it really did make light work.  Thank you to all who helped with this effort.  Many friends were made and friendships deepened.  We all had a lot of fun.

So above you see the pictures of the before.  After we cleaned up the park it looked so much better.  It is amazing what a little elbow grease and hard work will do to an overgrown park.  We are not any different than that park.  We are all overgrown with weeds of sin choking out good growth.  We have man hole covers missing and so we fill them up with garbage of the world.  The big difference is we can’t clean ourselves up.  Oh we may for a short time trim some weeds out, but lasting change only comes from the Holy Spirit doing a work in our life.   This park if not maintained will look just like when we started in a few short weeks.  Same thing happens to us if the change does not come through the work of God in our hearts.  Change must come from the inside out.

So after we did the clean up on Saturday we held a praise service in Gordon Park.  This was the starting place for the 1967 Detroit Riots.  So much history where we held the service.  We had Lorenzo tell a little about Motown Square.  Mike preached from the book of Nehemiah on rebuilding the walls.  God used the service to bring a community together.  We had a little over 50 people out for this service that was held on Father’s Day.  We want to thank Sarah Hilliker for chairs that we were able to borrow from the ministry she works for in Highland Park and also Fred Robinson for the use of his generator.

Here are some pics from Sunday:

We had a wonderful time praising Jesus!  This upcoming Sunday we will be in the park again, so look us up there at 11:00 am.

Park Clean-up & Praise Service at site that ignited 1967 Detroit Riots

Posted: June 11, 2012 by mikehanafee in Detroit History, preaching, race riots, racism, social justice, the gospel, Vision
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Since moving into central Detroit in the fall of 2010 I have learned from my neighbors a great deal more about this city I deeply love. On a jog just a few days ago I spoke to a gentleman (I needed a break!) who pulled out a collection of pictures of what 12th Street (now also called Rosa Parks Blvd) looked like before the 1967 riots. (Btw, while some do not like the label “riots” most long term residents I know use that term. I should also add that institutional racism played a massive role in these destructive events.) Man, I was absolutely floored by the number of commercial buildings that once lined this historic street. I also learned that a local park (just a few blocks from my house) is the location of the blind pig that was was raided in 1967, igniting the 5 day civil disturbance. What’s interesting is that we had already planned a clean-up & praise service for this park the following weekend! And as we passed out flyers for these 2 events people began to share story after story after story about their memories of this location, both pre & post 1967 (some of which I will share in the worship service).

You read read a short article about the starting point of the 1967 riot here and view a 4 minute video here.

Here are the details. The park is located at the NW corner of Clairmount St & 12th St (Rosa Parks Blvd). 

Saturday June 16 we’ll clean-up the park from 10 AM-12 PM. Several neighbors have said they will help out, including one family who attended yesterday’s worship service and another gentleman who said he would bring a large deck lawnmower. We’d love to have you join us – bring your strong back & any lawn tools you have.

Sunday June 17 we will gather for worship at 11AM (our first morning service!). We’ll do what we normally do – sing, pray, fellowship, and open up the word. Specifically, we’ll look at a man who was called to move to a foreign city, and in partnership with longterm residents, work to rebuild the city’s walls. I’m talking about Nehemiah. Even more specifically, we’ll examine in this message on Father’s Day, the role men have in rebuilding communities, and how Jesus restores in men the right fight.

Do not be afraid of your enemies. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes! (Nehemiah 4:14)

 

Please pray for strong participation in these 2 events by long-term residents. We are also planning another praise in the park service later in the summer as well as a larger cookout & concert on Friday August 17.