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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