Tour of The Nine, Part 2

Manuel High School is in the Whittier community. Whittier is much like Five Points. Gentrification is evident as well as the social and cultural divide. Our church currently meets here. Recently, our pastor visited the principal and her response was "Whenever Providence walks through my door, I know it's going to be an answer to prayer!" Our new cohort of Fellows is being assigned to a class of freshmen. They will meet each week with these freshmen to encourage, listen and serve. I can't wait to see what God does with this.

Our next stop was in the North Park Hill and Northeast Park Hill communities where we met Terrance Roberts. When we entered Park Hill, we left the Crips gang territory and entered the Bloods'. Terrance is a former Blood and was caught in the trap of gang violence and lifestyle at an early age. But he found Christ and has founded Prodigal Son which is committed to save at-risk kids and prevent urban youth violence. 1993 is known as the "Summer of Violence". The Bloods struck first by killing one of the original founders of the Crips in Denver. The Crips struck back by burning down a strip mall in North Park Hill where most of the Bloods hung out. That strip mall laid dormant as an ash heap for years. Terrance, through his passion, faith and vision wanted to rid his neighborhood of this symbol of violence and replace it with a Boys and Girls Club. That facility opens this fall. We are looking at ways that our PCULD Fellows can partner with this ministry.

That brings us to the Clayton community. There is an old college campus that is now used for community services called the Clayton Campus.
It houses the Providence Center for Urban Leadership as well as Upstream Impact, our strategic partner in helping families move out of poverty and achieve their dreams. We also have several Community Groups in the Clayton area and a great park ministry and open grills to reach this neighborhood.

Just a couple of blocks away from the campus is the Steele Street Apartments that houses many of our Fellow including Pattie, Rayanne and I. Our door is always open to you. We would love for all of you to come visit and see what God is doing first hand in The Nine. We are thankful for all of you who contribute to this ministry and for partnering with us to reach this great city. God is alive and on the move. Jesus prayed "Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored may your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  As it is in heaven, let it be on earth. As it is in heaven, let it be in The Nine. As it is in heaven, let it be in your city, in your church, in your home. Thanks for coming along.

Tour of the Nine (Part 1)

Last week, I went with our pastor, Jason Janz, and the new cohort of Fellows from the Providence Center for Urban Leadership Development on a tour of The Nine, the nine communities in Northeast Denver that we are dedicated to serve and to see God's Kingdom restore, redeem and renew. I thought you might like to see the highlights.

• This home is where the famous Buffalo Bill died. It's just a couple of blocks from Jason's home in Five Points. It is for sale if you want it. You can't see it but behind the bushes is a buffalo yard fixture to represent him.

•  We had lunch at the Curtis Park Creamery which is an unusual name for a taco joint but they serve great burritos. It is directly across from Curtis Park which is the area God first laid on my and Pattie's hearts that eventually led us to Providence Bible Church. Curtis Park is in the Five Points community and is a picture of gentrification. On one side of the park are projects for the poor and on the other side are newly renovated homes where the young upper class is moving. They may be neighbors but there is a divide and a disconnect between the two. 

Our next stop was in the Globeville community. The Globeville, Swansea, and Elyria communities are the poorest of The Nine. They are forgotten, almost hidden neighborhoods tucked away amid industrialization and in the shadows of highway bridges from the I-70 and I-25 exchange known as the "Mousetrap." At the beginning of 2012, Providence had a goal of intentionally reaching out to this community but, over halfway through the year, we had not made any significant attempts.So the elders decided to do a prayer walk through the neighborhood.

They first went to find what God may already be doing in Globeville. That led them to a man named Boogie who runs Street Kidz out of this building in Globeville. It actually is a very nice rec center with weight room, full gym, lounge space, and foosball and pool tables. Boogie is a testament that when you have passion for a neighborhood or kids or whatever your passion may be, God can provide a way. The city charges Boogie $1 a year for use of this space because he is helping keep youth off the street.




Boogie told them about this building that was not being used and wondered if it could be of use to us. The elders stopped in front and prayed about this building. The very next morning, Jason received a call about this building. He was told that the city was going to give this building to the non-profit that gave the best proposal. To make a great story short, we won the proposal battle. The building was sold to us for $10. It is going to be used for additional educational opportunities in the neighborhood. Go God!

Directly across the street is Garden Place School. We purposefully chose this school for the PCULD fellows to partner with Reading Partners in tutoring children. Children who are under reading level by third grade are less likely to graduate high school. We met the principal who had just received the reading scores used by Denver Public Schools. Garden Place had the highest level of growth in reading skills in the district. She was beaming with this news and grateful for our involvement. Again, go God!

Tim Keller says that we should not seek a great church but seek a great city for by seeking a great church you only have a church. But if you seek a great city, you will have both. I love our work in The Nine!

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Church in the Forgotten Places

This week I would like to give you a tour of The Nine, the nine communities in Northeast Denver that are densely populated, racially diverse, historically poor, and have a wide range of needs. I would like you to see where God has called us to live and serve. I would like to begin this tour with an article written by our pastor, Jason Janz, on the Sunday we kicked off Providencia with a service in Swansea Park.

"Today, Providence has our worship service in Swansea Park here in Denver. Swansea is a forgotten place. Coupled with two adjacent neighborhoods, Elyria and Globeville, it straddles I-70 as it dumps air pollution into this place. Globeville is the only neighborhood I know that has been cut into four pieces by the Interstate system. “The Mousetrap” of I-25 and I-70 have left indelible scars upon this immigrant community. People have to hose down their siding once a year to get the tire residue of the sides of their houses. You can imagine what that does to your lungs. One out of three residents die of cancer. Elyria, however, is perhaps the most forgotten neighborhood in all of Denver. It’s mainly industrial until you stumble upon 10 blocks of humble homes and trailers filled with young families with children and a few old codgers. Denver residents, you may wonder where it is. Just remember when you went to the Stock Show to visit the exhibit hall. If you were to turn and look east, you would see the entrance to Elyria.

My friend, Alysa McManus, and I invited every home in Elyria to come to the service today. I was burdened as I walked the streets. The only retail establishment open was a liquor store. It sits in the shadow of the Purina plant that regularly emits an odor that overtakes the neighborhood for hours. I can smell it at my house and I’m a mile away. I can’t imagine the smell up close.

A man walked up to me and asked me if I was a “registered deacon.” I told him that I wasn’t but that I was a pastor. He asked me to pray over his home. It was a center of drugs and bad activity and he was now renting it and wanting it to be used for good. He told me his story of being an ex-offender and a thug who ran these streets but now he wanted a change. We had a sweet time of prayer. Pray for “Uncle D.”

If you look below the surface of middle class eyes, you will see some beautiful aspects about this place. The residents don’t seem to have sold themselves to the hamster wheel of the American Dream. They seem more content. A large number of people were on their front porches tending to flowers, a game of cards, a small yard sale, or just chatting with one another. And the children. They were laughing and playing with little to no knowledge that they lived in a forgotten place.

When I came downtown, I thought I was going to the forgotten place. However, the new urbanism movement has actually made downtown the hot place to be. But tucked away under the highways and in the middle of industrial parks, you will still find places where Jesus would be centering his ministry. That’s where we’ll be today and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part. I believe this neighborhood and these residents will have a deep ministry in my life."