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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

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

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.

THE Story round three! (& a quick hit to Philly)

Posted: March 1, 2012 by mikehanafee in racism, Restore Church, social justice, Soma School, THE Story

Lather, rinse, repeat. OK, that cycle went the way of my hair some years back! But here’s a cycle that I still know by painful experience – rebellion, rescue, repeat. As we saw Sunday in round 3 of THE Story, Rescue to Rebellion, that’s the story of Israel in the OT. Man, do we ever need a Rescuer! That’s exactly what & who THE Story has been increasingly pointing us toward…and next Sunday we get to begin to talk about Him by Name!

Attendance was down by over 20 due to sickness & travel & probably other reasons but the interaction was thick! Conversation points included the delusion of saying God is first in our life (1st Commandment) but willfully dismissing His commands (2nd – 10th commandments); the role of God’s law in our lives; the tension between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility; and the ways culture justifies things that God clearly prohibits (like racism & abortion) on the basis of “my rights”, scripture twisting, personal convenience, and comfort. Check it out it out here as I lead scene 1, Deliverance & Instructions, and Clete leads scene 2, The Kings & the Prophets.

Also, last Thursday & Friday Clete & I did a quick (1200 miles roundtrip) trip to Philly to sit at a very informative roundtable on urban ministry in predominately african-american and latino areas (what I call non-skinny jeans urbia). There were some really thought provoking discussions on topics like why many african-american men see Christianity as weak and are therefore drawn to Islam (by Carl Ellis Jr, author of Free at Last? The Gospel in African American Experience, a must read), on how to focus on your local community while giving space in your church for committed Christians outside your immediate neighborhood (by Eric Mason), building biblical community where nuclear families are the great exception and not the norm, reaching unchurchables, leveraging a “churchified” context for mission, and breaking up urban soil. It was so good I’ll be doing another 42 hour quick hit to Philly for the May roundtable on preaching & theology in the city. You can check out this ministry, ThriveInTheCity, as well as get information about their second Thriving Summit on October 12-13, here.

A Glimpse into Restore’s Jan 15 Celebration

Posted: January 17, 2012 by mikehanafee in Gospel Identities, preaching, racism, Restore Church, social justice, Uncategorized, Vision

Wow, Sunday was a great day! Jesus was lifted up & the Spirit moved as we celebrated the power of the gospel to reconcile people back to the Father & to one another.

The children & teens did a great job reciting Dr. King’s Letter From a Birmingham Jail, Wayne Stapleton of Grace Community Church shared some reflections, Clete lead us in a sweet time of worship, & I preached from Ephesians 2:11-22. The big idea was that the same work that breaks down the wall between man & God is is the same work that breaks down the walls between ethnic groups. Jesus is the wrecking ball for the walls of hostility! Because of this we have the responsibility of taking the steps of repentance & relational investment. And ultimately racial reconciliation is not about us at all – it’s about God & His glory!

We’re not sure how many attended as no one counted but the 80 bulletins were snapped up quickly – we estimate between 120 – 140 came out. We are really thankful several signed up for the upcoming 8 week February 12 – April 1 Bible study. Please pray that many others will join in this study as well and that God will use it in a mighty way!

We would like to tangibly express our gratitude to Grace Episcopal Church for opening up their facility to us by repairing lights damaged by an electrical storm. If anyone in the area has the skill & time to help us fix these lights please let us know.

And thanks to Gospel Life church for helping with nursery and parking security!

The parking brake!

Posted: December 15, 2011 by mikehanafee in Colossians, Core Values, Detroit Info, racism, Restore Church, social justice
Tags: disciple maker, vimeo

Yep, my first car was a Vette…ok, a Chevette. Driving home one night I noticed it was running more sluggish than usual. Climbing a hill was particularly difficult even with the gas pedal pegged. Then I realized I had my parking break on — I had been working against the very progress I was seeking. (and wearing out my break pads!) That’s what legalism does to our forward movement in Christ. It slows us down & wears us out. In this message from Colossians 2:16-23 I show three ways legalism is a growth stunter & grace killer. It’s through Christ we become more like Christ!

Last week I participated in a few Vision360 discussions about discipleship. The plates were small (we met at Small Plates in Ferndale;) but the discussion was big. Alex made max use of the tablecloth! And it was great to meet some other pastors in the area.

To divorce discipleship from evangelism is to do something the Bible doesn’t. Discipleship begins before conversion. Discipleship happens though the brain, heart, & fingertips. Every believer is a disciple maker & has the Spirit to do it! What if every small group saw themselves as a reproducing organism? Jesus Christ was obsessed with His mission & to be like Him is to also be obsessed with His mission.

At last week’s Missional Community meeting Paul did a great job teaching the material from the When Helping Hurts Conference. (He even brought into our “auditorium” high tech media!) In line with this several of us attended an energetic symposium last night on Gentrification. It was really helpful. Kurt Metzger of Data Driven Detroit gave an informative presentation on the demographics of our great city. For a excellent article on gentrification from a Kingdom perspective check out this article by Bob Lufton. Well worth your read. Oh yeah, just before the symposium I was able to work on my drum skills. I’m not quite ready to join the worship team.

OUCH! When Helping Hurts

Posted: December 7, 2011 by mikehanafee in Gospel Identities, social justice

Giving a buck to the guy on the corner. Blanketing a neighborhood with an ongoing cadence of quick hit mission teams. Constantly providing meals to the same people for years. To be sure all this is help…but often it is help that ultimately hurts. It’s like giving Tylenol for head pain to someone who has a tumor. It only addresses the symptoms. In their book When helping Hurts authors Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert address faulty assumptions about poverty and then commend an approach that flows out of the work of the gospel to restore four key relationships…in all of us.

Good Intentions Are Not Enough
Churches and individual Christians often have faulty assumptions about the causes of poverty — assumptions that many times lead to ministry strategies that do considerable harm to poor people as well as to themselves. “When Helping Hurts” addresses these assumptions and offers several principles and strategies for poverty alleviation, including:

the distinction between relief, rehabilitation, and development

the difference between asset-based and needs-based strategies

the advantages of participatory over blueprint approaches

Last Saturday four of us (Kevin, Clete, Paul, me) had the privilege of attending the authors’ Helping Without Hurting Seminar in Holland, Michigan. Tonight (Wednesday December 7) Paul Hendryx will provide an hourlong overview of the book and seminar. Last night he went through his presentation with a few of us and it is going to be good stuff. Contact me if you would like to attend.

As you can see we had a pretty good time on this overnight trip – my stomach still hurts from laughing. I price-lined a one star room for $35. The beds were “full-size” so it was funny watching Clete & Paul try to maintain a 3 foot neutral zone on a 4 1/2 foot foot wide bed. We toured the host church facility during the breaks (not quite the Compaq Center but close) and were able to “go” to the beach & on a buggy ride. Well actually only Clete on the latter.

I’ve also included pics from the conference, hanging with some Free Church bros yesterday, and my corner after a recent snowfall. Oh yeah, restoration just began on the house we are purchasing! Please pray work is completed by February. And pray for the Bontrager’s closing on December 20.