Welcome to theCommunity
"...and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." Ephesians 5:27
NEWS
23 July 2010 - It's almost the end of July! Where did the summer go?! All we know is mission teams keep pouring into Maywood! We hope that you keep seeing them as well! This past week, construction on the buildings at Burton Park are almost finished. Tomorrow a mission team from Harbor Church in Oologah, OK will be finishing the inside of the building. Their mision team will also be doing VBS at Conner-Haise Park! Since the unfortunate flooding has damaged many residents in Maywood, the mission team and John Yi have decided to extend their work here! The mission team will be helping residents clean-out basements. Please let us know if you are in need of some help on Monday, Tuesday, and/or Wednesday!
17 July 2010 - Penial Baptist Church from Louisiana and The Cross Baptist Church from Fort Worth, Texas, arrive today! The two teams will be doing construction work, evangelism, and VBS at Conner-Haise Park (10th and Washington). The construction will be to replace the roofing on the Park District/Public-Use Buildings at Burton Park on 16th and Washington. the VBS will be in the morning starting at 10 AM Hope to see you there!
11 July 2010 - NAMB Powerplant teams arrive in the Chicagoland area tomorrow. theCommunity in Maywood will be hosting two different teams; Grove Level Baptist Church from Duncan, GA and Belden Baptist Church from Belden, MS. The teams will be doing trash pick-up, VBS in the parks, and many other ministries. Please keep your eyes peeled for us!
28 June 2010 - The beginning of this week theCommunity Summer Missionaries will be helping Alpha y Omega Baptist Church in Cicero, IL, hold a Vacation Bible School. The Vacation Bible School is open to all children and all adults! Please come and join us for this special week of Adventures in the Jungle with Rachel the Explorer (Katie Sprouse). theCommunity staff will also be hosting the regularly scheduled Backyard Bible Clubs at Boscoe Park and Burton Park on Friday then, at John's house and the Prairie Path on Saturday. Last but certainly not least, Mission teams will be arriving soon, hope we get to meet you, if we haven't yet!
23 June 2010 - This week with theCommunity, while John is serving in Canada, the Summer Missionaries will be visiting different college campuses, hosting Backyard Bible Clubs in the parks, and continuing Solex College's Korean/English Bible Studies. Some Morton College students agreed to upcoming weekly Bible studies! Please be in prayer for our team and the students that we find a place to host the Bible study as well as a weekly time that best suits all.
18 June 2010 - Oh yeah, did we mention that we saw 23 new decisions for Christ this past week! Not that we're counting, but that is 102 new professions of faith since beginning our service to the Lord in Maywood in 2008!
14 June 2010 - Our second week of summer missions has begun with the arrival of a dancing and singing youth group from St. Charles, MO. This group, "FUEL," will bring VBS two times a day in 6 different parks around Maywood. They will do some park clean-up, free block party events, performing for local churches, and perform their high-energy Christ-led performance on the front steps of Six Flags Great America. Please pray for this team and their ministry here in Maywood.
5 June 2010 - Our first summer missions teams arrived! We are hosting a youth group and college group from Claremore, OK and a youth choir from Prattville, AL. These groups combined, about 100 servants, have joined us for VBS in the parks for the week. They each are providing free food, games, crafts, and Christian family fun each day in Maywood. Also, joining us later this week is combined youth groups from New Castle, OK, Gainsville, TX and Sanger, TX. They will be doing trash pick-up around Maywood as well as experiencing some VBS with the other teams. Please pray for the park ministries this week as well as the free park events for the children of Maywood. By the end of the week, we were privileged to partake in at least 20 decisions to follow Jesus!
1 June 2010 - Our summer missionary staff have landed! Ashlee, Kristina, Jeanna, Katie, and MyeongUk will serve alongside us in Maywood and on various collegiate campuses around Chicagoland. Sincerest thanks to those who have relevantly responded by prayer, in service, with finances, and through hospitality to see that our missionaries are afforded all their basic necessities in order to answer the Bridegroom's call to missional service to Him, His Bride, and His harvest field! All praise, honor, and glory belong to God.
May 2010 - Chicago is a becoming a prime target of missional interest. Yet there are many things that hinder her from being an adequate host to these important mission teams. A big one is missionary housing. Chicago needs at least three additional missionary housing hubs. Therefore since February, we've been praying that God would make a way for us to establish the first Chicagoland mission house right here in Maywood.
Many factors make Maywood an ideal spot; here's a few. First, location. It's located only 4 miles outside the Chicago's western city limits and only 12 minutes from the Loop (Chicago's core). Second, Maywood properties are very inexpensive. The combination of historically affordable housing compounded by the recent bursting of the housing bubble in Chicagoland has made it common to see properties of all kinds listed for under $100K (with many fine properties around $50K). Third, Maywood itself is a great destination for mission teams because of her many community needs, urban missional opportunities, and its proximity to Chicago.
In 2008, we had 68 missionaries. In 2009, we had a little more than 100. In 2010, we expect to see well over 200 (up to 270+) missionaries working with us , and that's just in Maywood! The number could have been well over 400, except for the 150+ missionaries we have already had to turned away due to lack of adequate housing! Pray that God will keep sending his laborers into this harvest field, but also pray that God will enable us to welcome them. Pray also how God might be leading you to be involved in this monumental venture for the expansion of the Kingdom in Chicago! Maybe you'd be interested in becoming a Maywood property owner?
May 2010 - Our summer missionaries assignments are now set in stone. If all goes well, we'll have a total of six missionaries on the ground on May 31st. Four are appointments of the North American Mission Board, with one of them being one our own international students. One is Mississippian who is coming on her own, and one who is (semi-?) permanently relocating to Maywood. We're expecting to see an exciting summer of God-at-work. Our missionaries will be working with us in Maywood (of course), on various collegiate campuses, and helping us to complete a project that will have strategic Chicagoland-wide impact. It is our hope and prayer that before they depart on August 7th that they will see the amazing ways in which God is already working in Chicagoland, and that they will just fall in love with "this great city."
Along those lines, we've been asking many of you to pray that God would make it possible for us to be excellent hosts to our missionaries by providing them quality room and board in Maywood proper. We've found a great apartment for them within walking distance of our home and local ministry sites. We've also had partners come to our aid who will help us defray the costs. While we have not yet pulled together everything we need, by bringing us as far as he already has, God has certainly shown us once again that he intends to pay for his own work! Thank you for your faithful prayers; now, keep on praying that the Lord will provide the remainder in abundance!
April and May 2010 - After numerous weather-related cancellations of a downtown trip planned for our student ministries, we've shelved the whole thing and went bowling - twice! I forgot how much fun bowling can be. Better yet, I forgot how fun bowling can be when you go with people you love! We broke up into teams and with a friendly wager of Cokes, we had a great time of just hanging out. Also, we've seen a rather significant influx of new international students in recent weeks.
March 2010 - Again, with the help of the mission teams mentioned below, we have made some really important contacts with students at Truman College in Chicago, Morton College in Cicero, and Northeastern University in Chicago. In all honesty, NEIU continues to be a very challenging field of harvest, so please pray that the Lord will reveal his "people of peace" and that he will break up the fallow ground of students hearts.
However, our short time at Truman and Morton College uncovered some amazing leads! Just to give you an example, at Truman when a few from our gang went into the Student Activities office for info about starting a new organization, a student (a complete stranger) sitting in the office just stood up and declared, I'll join that group! It was soon discovered that he was once a student at Tulsa Community College - the very school that our missionaries were from! What a coincidence (wink wink).
Then at Morton, we met a few students who had been waiting to see a campus ministry started and others who are HUNGRY for spiritual answers! John's already met with one of them and they are prayerfully pushing forward! BTW, Morton college currently has ZERO campus ministries! Even Crusade and IVCP have closed shop long ago!
We also lent out a team of missionaries for a day to help out a fellow church-planter who is trying to start a new student ministry at Harper College in Palatine, IL.
March 2010 - Our town is abuzz with appreciation for the clean-up efforts of 70 students from Clemson, Mississippi State, and Tulsa as well as another 21 from the FBC of Newcastle, OK! We will probably feel the repercussions of their service for weeks and months, even years to come. It's not because the parks and streets will remain clean in perpetuity. No, it's because these missionaries came alongside us to engage Maywood with a meaningful expression of Christ's love. This service has created and will create opportunities for sharing the gospel of Jesus. Elected officials, the park district, and community leaders, not to mention average villagers have expressed their profound gratitude! And we point them to Christ and the power of his Good News to transform people and communities!
March 13th, 2010 - Four mission teams will come alongside us for the next week. The Baptist Collegiate Ministries from Clemson University, Mississippi State University, the Tulsa Community Colleges, and the University of Tulsa will spread out to several campuses and in Maywood for ministry and evangelism. In some cases, they will be out to "spy out" the land. In other cases, they will be ministering to the needs of people. In all cases, they will engage people for an opportunity to reveal Jesus to them. For now, we'll withhold their targeted locations, but please pray for God's favor on their missional service!
We also have the privilege of hosting a mission team from the First Baptist Church of Newcastle, Oklahoma. They will be in Maywood on Tuesday for service to our neighbors and for opportunities to share the "reason for the hope" within them.
January/February 2010 - Wouldn't it be great if all the news was always good news? Three churches in North Carolina approached Chicagoland Baptists churches with the proposition of bringing a team of 150+ missionaries for construction projects, Vacation Bible Schools, and really anything that we would have them do this summer.
As far as I know, we were the only ones interested in receiving them. The only catch was housing them affordably. Long story short: We could not get anyone with the sufficient facilities to help us host them - no churches, no schools, no community centers, no one! Every church that we approached with the adequate facilities turned us away. Every school that we approached said, "no."
We've come to realize from experience that even bad news serves important purposes in the plans of our wise and efficient God - even if we don't really have a clue at the time. Well if God is accepting suggestions, can I put my vote in for INDICTMENT? Anyway, as of the close of February, we thank God for providing partners like the the Chicagoland Community Church, the Greater Exodus Baptist Church, and the local YMCAs who have helped us secure housing and bathing facilities for 12 mission teams (so far) who will serve alongside us in 2010!
January 30th, 2010 - Our first "graduating class." We gathered with our Solex College students to bid a fond farewell to the first two students who both arrived and departed from Solex while theCommunity@Solex has been on the campus. They are two students who faithfully participated in our Bible Studies and special events. It is our prayer that they will be Christians of the unusual variety - truly missional Christians who understand that no matter where they go, they go bearing the only Light which penetrates the darkness of a lost world.
December 25th, 2009 - Christmas Day Open House in Maywood. Several college students and neighbors joined us for a Christmas celebration. The food and fellowship was wonderful albeit a brief retreat from all the trials of life! This is an especially difficult time for village with all the recent economic pressures that further burden people who were already having a hard time getting by. So, having the opportunity of taking our guests before the throne of grace in prayer was the best of all.
November 28th, 2009 - Gloria and John hosted "family-less" students at their home for an evening of dinner and fellowship. For most in attendance, this was their very first holiday dinner in America! It was a joy to introduce them to American traditions, but what was even more exciting was having many opportunities to talk about various spiritual matters and THE spiritual matter - JESUS.
November 26th, 2009 - On Thanksgiving Day, the Korean Christian Reformed Church (one of our ministry partners at Solex) hosted a Thanksgiving Day celebration which included a grand luncheon. Solex students were the special guests! It was clear that students had a great time, and that they felt loved and welcomed. What a blessing to find a local church and pastor that is committed to collegiate ministries.
November 25th, 2009 - theCommunity@Solex hosted about 40 students, faculty and staff of Solex College who came out for a Pre-Thanksgiving luncheon. It was an excellent time of meeting lots of new students as well as familiar ones. We also gave out 19 New Testaments! Also, having the opportunity to get acquainted with and serve the folks who work at Solex was an extra treat, too.
November 11th and 12th, 2009 - John had the privilege of twice sharing about theCommunityinMayood at the 2009 Illinois Baptist State Association's Annual Meeting in Springfield. First, he presented a report on behalf of the Baptist Foundation which had generously provided academic scholarships while John was in seminary. It was an opportunity to formally express gratitude for the BF's past support and also to inform them that their support has ongoing repercussions as he and Gloria press on in Maywood for the Kingdom. Second, with this year's focus at IBSA's Annual Meeting being on Illinois churchplanting, he briefly shared about the work in Maywood. In addition, he presented this prayer requests before the people of God. "Pray that the type of cultural Christianity that inhibits authentic and relevant discipleship in our community and yours would receive the death blow that it deserves!" We can only assume that our hearts and those of the delegates were united since John's prayer request was met with applause! Hopefully, it will be met with prayer.
November 2009 - The Yi family had a wonderful time visiting and reconnecting with our ministry partners in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the Dallas and Fort Worth areas of Texas. The Lord certainly gave them favor in their meetings as existing partnerships were shored-up. As well, new partnerships were enlisted. Already, we are on track to enlist even more mission teams for 2010 than we had in 2009!
October 2009 - It is cause for great encouragement to know that many continue to stand behind the Work of theCommunity in prayer, material support, incarnational ministry, and by advocating for missional strategies for engaging their own communities! It is exciting to see new partnerships develop and old partnerships strengthen as existing partnerships are deepened. Also, it is thrilling to provide the news that the support of a local church has been enlisted as they will help us house our visiting mission teams at a location nearby Maywood. It is hoped that that additional local partnerships will continue to develop which will certainly further the impact of ongoing ministry in Maywood.
With the colder months upon us, outdoor ministries are obviously hampered, so the attentions is increasingly shifted to collegiate ministries. We also anticipate new collegiate ministries to begin on additional campuses as persons-of-peace relationships are revealed and fostered by God.
September, 28th 2009 - Sometimes it takes the testimony of others to appreciate what God is doing through you. Case in point, we often have a difficult time celebrating and enjoying the good stuff that is going on around us. Often our own eyes are so fixated on the hopes-of-dreams-to-be-fulfilled which are surely coming on the horizon that we fail to even notice the hopes and dreams that God is fulfilling already and now. Regrettably, we confess that our far-sightedness about the Kingdom is strangely and stubbornly self-imposed.
Thanks to a dear friend, who has recorded what her eyes have seen, we're better able to appreciate the beauty of what is indeed near - the Kingdom of God - unfolding right now! Here is what she sees:
17 July 2010 - Penial Baptist Church from Louisiana and The Cross Baptist Church from Fort Worth, Texas, arrive today! The two teams will be doing construction work, evangelism, and VBS at Conner-Haise Park (10th and Washington). The construction will be to replace the roofing on the Park District/Public-Use Buildings at Burton Park on 16th and Washington. the VBS will be in the morning starting at 10 AM Hope to see you there!
11 July 2010 - NAMB Powerplant teams arrive in the Chicagoland area tomorrow. theCommunity in Maywood will be hosting two different teams; Grove Level Baptist Church from Duncan, GA and Belden Baptist Church from Belden, MS. The teams will be doing trash pick-up, VBS in the parks, and many other ministries. Please keep your eyes peeled for us!
28 June 2010 - The beginning of this week theCommunity Summer Missionaries will be helping Alpha y Omega Baptist Church in Cicero, IL, hold a Vacation Bible School. The Vacation Bible School is open to all children and all adults! Please come and join us for this special week of Adventures in the Jungle with Rachel the Explorer (Katie Sprouse). theCommunity staff will also be hosting the regularly scheduled Backyard Bible Clubs at Boscoe Park and Burton Park on Friday then, at John's house and the Prairie Path on Saturday. Last but certainly not least, Mission teams will be arriving soon, hope we get to meet you, if we haven't yet!
23 June 2010 - This week with theCommunity, while John is serving in Canada, the Summer Missionaries will be visiting different college campuses, hosting Backyard Bible Clubs in the parks, and continuing Solex College's Korean/English Bible Studies. Some Morton College students agreed to upcoming weekly Bible studies! Please be in prayer for our team and the students that we find a place to host the Bible study as well as a weekly time that best suits all.
18 June 2010 - Oh yeah, did we mention that we saw 23 new decisions for Christ this past week! Not that we're counting, but that is 102 new professions of faith since beginning our service to the Lord in Maywood in 2008!
14 June 2010 - Our second week of summer missions has begun with the arrival of a dancing and singing youth group from St. Charles, MO. This group, "FUEL," will bring VBS two times a day in 6 different parks around Maywood. They will do some park clean-up, free block party events, performing for local churches, and perform their high-energy Christ-led performance on the front steps of Six Flags Great America. Please pray for this team and their ministry here in Maywood.
5 June 2010 - Our first summer missions teams arrived! We are hosting a youth group and college group from Claremore, OK and a youth choir from Prattville, AL. These groups combined, about 100 servants, have joined us for VBS in the parks for the week. They each are providing free food, games, crafts, and Christian family fun each day in Maywood. Also, joining us later this week is combined youth groups from New Castle, OK, Gainsville, TX and Sanger, TX. They will be doing trash pick-up around Maywood as well as experiencing some VBS with the other teams. Please pray for the park ministries this week as well as the free park events for the children of Maywood. By the end of the week, we were privileged to partake in at least 20 decisions to follow Jesus!
1 June 2010 - Our summer missionary staff have landed! Ashlee, Kristina, Jeanna, Katie, and MyeongUk will serve alongside us in Maywood and on various collegiate campuses around Chicagoland. Sincerest thanks to those who have relevantly responded by prayer, in service, with finances, and through hospitality to see that our missionaries are afforded all their basic necessities in order to answer the Bridegroom's call to missional service to Him, His Bride, and His harvest field! All praise, honor, and glory belong to God.
May 2010 - Chicago is a becoming a prime target of missional interest. Yet there are many things that hinder her from being an adequate host to these important mission teams. A big one is missionary housing. Chicago needs at least three additional missionary housing hubs. Therefore since February, we've been praying that God would make a way for us to establish the first Chicagoland mission house right here in Maywood.
Many factors make Maywood an ideal spot; here's a few. First, location. It's located only 4 miles outside the Chicago's western city limits and only 12 minutes from the Loop (Chicago's core). Second, Maywood properties are very inexpensive. The combination of historically affordable housing compounded by the recent bursting of the housing bubble in Chicagoland has made it common to see properties of all kinds listed for under $100K (with many fine properties around $50K). Third, Maywood itself is a great destination for mission teams because of her many community needs, urban missional opportunities, and its proximity to Chicago.
In 2008, we had 68 missionaries. In 2009, we had a little more than 100. In 2010, we expect to see well over 200 (up to 270+) missionaries working with us , and that's just in Maywood! The number could have been well over 400, except for the 150+ missionaries we have already had to turned away due to lack of adequate housing! Pray that God will keep sending his laborers into this harvest field, but also pray that God will enable us to welcome them. Pray also how God might be leading you to be involved in this monumental venture for the expansion of the Kingdom in Chicago! Maybe you'd be interested in becoming a Maywood property owner?
May 2010 - Our summer missionaries assignments are now set in stone. If all goes well, we'll have a total of six missionaries on the ground on May 31st. Four are appointments of the North American Mission Board, with one of them being one our own international students. One is Mississippian who is coming on her own, and one who is (semi-?) permanently relocating to Maywood. We're expecting to see an exciting summer of God-at-work. Our missionaries will be working with us in Maywood (of course), on various collegiate campuses, and helping us to complete a project that will have strategic Chicagoland-wide impact. It is our hope and prayer that before they depart on August 7th that they will see the amazing ways in which God is already working in Chicagoland, and that they will just fall in love with "this great city."
Along those lines, we've been asking many of you to pray that God would make it possible for us to be excellent hosts to our missionaries by providing them quality room and board in Maywood proper. We've found a great apartment for them within walking distance of our home and local ministry sites. We've also had partners come to our aid who will help us defray the costs. While we have not yet pulled together everything we need, by bringing us as far as he already has, God has certainly shown us once again that he intends to pay for his own work! Thank you for your faithful prayers; now, keep on praying that the Lord will provide the remainder in abundance!
April and May 2010 - After numerous weather-related cancellations of a downtown trip planned for our student ministries, we've shelved the whole thing and went bowling - twice! I forgot how much fun bowling can be. Better yet, I forgot how fun bowling can be when you go with people you love! We broke up into teams and with a friendly wager of Cokes, we had a great time of just hanging out. Also, we've seen a rather significant influx of new international students in recent weeks.
March 2010 - Again, with the help of the mission teams mentioned below, we have made some really important contacts with students at Truman College in Chicago, Morton College in Cicero, and Northeastern University in Chicago. In all honesty, NEIU continues to be a very challenging field of harvest, so please pray that the Lord will reveal his "people of peace" and that he will break up the fallow ground of students hearts.
However, our short time at Truman and Morton College uncovered some amazing leads! Just to give you an example, at Truman when a few from our gang went into the Student Activities office for info about starting a new organization, a student (a complete stranger) sitting in the office just stood up and declared, I'll join that group! It was soon discovered that he was once a student at Tulsa Community College - the very school that our missionaries were from! What a coincidence (wink wink).
Then at Morton, we met a few students who had been waiting to see a campus ministry started and others who are HUNGRY for spiritual answers! John's already met with one of them and they are prayerfully pushing forward! BTW, Morton college currently has ZERO campus ministries! Even Crusade and IVCP have closed shop long ago!
We also lent out a team of missionaries for a day to help out a fellow church-planter who is trying to start a new student ministry at Harper College in Palatine, IL.
March 2010 - Our town is abuzz with appreciation for the clean-up efforts of 70 students from Clemson, Mississippi State, and Tulsa as well as another 21 from the FBC of Newcastle, OK! We will probably feel the repercussions of their service for weeks and months, even years to come. It's not because the parks and streets will remain clean in perpetuity. No, it's because these missionaries came alongside us to engage Maywood with a meaningful expression of Christ's love. This service has created and will create opportunities for sharing the gospel of Jesus. Elected officials, the park district, and community leaders, not to mention average villagers have expressed their profound gratitude! And we point them to Christ and the power of his Good News to transform people and communities!
March 13th, 2010 - Four mission teams will come alongside us for the next week. The Baptist Collegiate Ministries from Clemson University, Mississippi State University, the Tulsa Community Colleges, and the University of Tulsa will spread out to several campuses and in Maywood for ministry and evangelism. In some cases, they will be out to "spy out" the land. In other cases, they will be ministering to the needs of people. In all cases, they will engage people for an opportunity to reveal Jesus to them. For now, we'll withhold their targeted locations, but please pray for God's favor on their missional service!
We also have the privilege of hosting a mission team from the First Baptist Church of Newcastle, Oklahoma. They will be in Maywood on Tuesday for service to our neighbors and for opportunities to share the "reason for the hope" within them.
January/February 2010 - Wouldn't it be great if all the news was always good news? Three churches in North Carolina approached Chicagoland Baptists churches with the proposition of bringing a team of 150+ missionaries for construction projects, Vacation Bible Schools, and really anything that we would have them do this summer.
As far as I know, we were the only ones interested in receiving them. The only catch was housing them affordably. Long story short: We could not get anyone with the sufficient facilities to help us host them - no churches, no schools, no community centers, no one! Every church that we approached with the adequate facilities turned us away. Every school that we approached said, "no."
We've come to realize from experience that even bad news serves important purposes in the plans of our wise and efficient God - even if we don't really have a clue at the time. Well if God is accepting suggestions, can I put my vote in for INDICTMENT? Anyway, as of the close of February, we thank God for providing partners like the the Chicagoland Community Church, the Greater Exodus Baptist Church, and the local YMCAs who have helped us secure housing and bathing facilities for 12 mission teams (so far) who will serve alongside us in 2010!
January 30th, 2010 - Our first "graduating class." We gathered with our Solex College students to bid a fond farewell to the first two students who both arrived and departed from Solex while theCommunity@Solex has been on the campus. They are two students who faithfully participated in our Bible Studies and special events. It is our prayer that they will be Christians of the unusual variety - truly missional Christians who understand that no matter where they go, they go bearing the only Light which penetrates the darkness of a lost world.
December 25th, 2009 - Christmas Day Open House in Maywood. Several college students and neighbors joined us for a Christmas celebration. The food and fellowship was wonderful albeit a brief retreat from all the trials of life! This is an especially difficult time for village with all the recent economic pressures that further burden people who were already having a hard time getting by. So, having the opportunity of taking our guests before the throne of grace in prayer was the best of all.
November 28th, 2009 - Gloria and John hosted "family-less" students at their home for an evening of dinner and fellowship. For most in attendance, this was their very first holiday dinner in America! It was a joy to introduce them to American traditions, but what was even more exciting was having many opportunities to talk about various spiritual matters and THE spiritual matter - JESUS.
November 26th, 2009 - On Thanksgiving Day, the Korean Christian Reformed Church (one of our ministry partners at Solex) hosted a Thanksgiving Day celebration which included a grand luncheon. Solex students were the special guests! It was clear that students had a great time, and that they felt loved and welcomed. What a blessing to find a local church and pastor that is committed to collegiate ministries.
November 25th, 2009 - theCommunity@Solex hosted about 40 students, faculty and staff of Solex College who came out for a Pre-Thanksgiving luncheon. It was an excellent time of meeting lots of new students as well as familiar ones. We also gave out 19 New Testaments! Also, having the opportunity to get acquainted with and serve the folks who work at Solex was an extra treat, too.
November 11th and 12th, 2009 - John had the privilege of twice sharing about theCommunityinMayood at the 2009 Illinois Baptist State Association's Annual Meeting in Springfield. First, he presented a report on behalf of the Baptist Foundation which had generously provided academic scholarships while John was in seminary. It was an opportunity to formally express gratitude for the BF's past support and also to inform them that their support has ongoing repercussions as he and Gloria press on in Maywood for the Kingdom. Second, with this year's focus at IBSA's Annual Meeting being on Illinois churchplanting, he briefly shared about the work in Maywood. In addition, he presented this prayer requests before the people of God. "Pray that the type of cultural Christianity that inhibits authentic and relevant discipleship in our community and yours would receive the death blow that it deserves!" We can only assume that our hearts and those of the delegates were united since John's prayer request was met with applause! Hopefully, it will be met with prayer.
November 2009 - The Yi family had a wonderful time visiting and reconnecting with our ministry partners in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the Dallas and Fort Worth areas of Texas. The Lord certainly gave them favor in their meetings as existing partnerships were shored-up. As well, new partnerships were enlisted. Already, we are on track to enlist even more mission teams for 2010 than we had in 2009!
October 2009 - It is cause for great encouragement to know that many continue to stand behind the Work of theCommunity in prayer, material support, incarnational ministry, and by advocating for missional strategies for engaging their own communities! It is exciting to see new partnerships develop and old partnerships strengthen as existing partnerships are deepened. Also, it is thrilling to provide the news that the support of a local church has been enlisted as they will help us house our visiting mission teams at a location nearby Maywood. It is hoped that that additional local partnerships will continue to develop which will certainly further the impact of ongoing ministry in Maywood.
With the colder months upon us, outdoor ministries are obviously hampered, so the attentions is increasingly shifted to collegiate ministries. We also anticipate new collegiate ministries to begin on additional campuses as persons-of-peace relationships are revealed and fostered by God.
September, 28th 2009 - Sometimes it takes the testimony of others to appreciate what God is doing through you. Case in point, we often have a difficult time celebrating and enjoying the good stuff that is going on around us. Often our own eyes are so fixated on the hopes-of-dreams-to-be-fulfilled which are surely coming on the horizon that we fail to even notice the hopes and dreams that God is fulfilling already and now. Regrettably, we confess that our far-sightedness about the Kingdom is strangely and stubbornly self-imposed.
Thanks to a dear friend, who has recorded what her eyes have seen, we're better able to appreciate the beauty of what is indeed near - the Kingdom of God - unfolding right now! Here is what she sees:
September, 25th 2009 - Received exciting news! (For some interesting background, read Aug 13th's entry below). The President of Triton College has appointed John to take a seat on her Community Advisory Board. Unofficially, John's seat represents the faith-based constituency of the 25 towns and villages that are served by Triton's community college district. He is honored to serve his neighbors in this capacity. We praise God for opening the doors of opportunity to places where the people of God can be salt and light in the world. The Lord is creative in the the ways he gets his people relevantly engaged with the larger community around them!
September, 23rd 2009 - A dozen of us from the Community@Solex spent the afternoon taking in the sites in Evanston, IL, the Northwestern University campus, and Baha'i House of Worship in Wilmette. What great time to hang out away from the daily pressures of classes. What a combination, beautiful surroundings, the company of friends, pleasant fall weather, and buffalo wings!
See the slideshow at the top of our Events page.
September, 19th 2009 - Look what we found at the library this week! Our ministries to our neighborhood got a write-up in our local paper. Several people mentioned that they had read about our work in the news, but no one seemed to be able to tell us when and where they read it. Well, we found the article and you can read it right here! As usual, the story doesn't capture the details, but we're happy to receive the positive press.
Proviso Herald Article
Labor Day 2009 - A group of eight including students from Solex College headed out to Warren Dunes State Park in Sawyer, Michigan for a day of fun in the sun! What a gorgeous day the Lord provided and the great fellowship made it even better! Check out a few of the photos in the Solex Slideshow.
Late August and Early September 2009 - Surveying, evangelism, and follow-up work has so far yielded at least 4 new professions of faith (possibly 5)! What is even more exciting is the promise of discipling relationships that will result! As of September 6, 2009, we have seen no less than 55 professions of faith since arriving in Maywood 18 months ago! Now, if only 1/4 of these were also being discipled. Now that would REALLY be exciting!
August 21st 2009 - The Concert of Prayer saw fewer attendees than hoped, but the activities of the evening were none the less powerful. Those who did gather prayed together for the Lord to work mightily through His people in Maywood - work that would bring about transformation at the very foundations of our village and in those who are entrusted to serve and lead the citizens of Maywood. We continue to throw the ball into God's court while also making ourselves available for His service.
Special thanks to the pastoral staff of the Proviso Community Church who generously provided a sound system for the evening. Also, we are grateful for the ongoing hospitality demonstrated to us by the Maywood Park District, its director, and his staff!
August 17-18th 2009 - We've devoted the brunt of the summer to kids and youth ministry. Monday we shifted gears by directing our focus on the adults in our neighborhood. Tuesday, we prayed with two adults who received Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives! Two others are at the cusp of eternal security, so you know we'll be visiting them again very soon! There are angels rejoicing with the Father in heaven today! We've also prayed with countless others for various needs that are in their lives and in their blocks. Also, we've had some amazing conversations with a slew of adults who have expressed a desire to study God's Word with us! Pray that many will follow through! Even more have promised to join us at Friday's Concert of Prayer and Praise!
Can't wait to see what the Lord has awaiting us the rest of the week!
The week of August 16th 2009 - A mission team from the Hope Community Church in Ypsilanti, Michigan will be joining us for a week of one-on-one "street evangelism." Plus, they will help us host a Concert of Praise and Prayer! We'll be celebrating God's faithfulness to hear our prayers and keep the village peaceful this summer!
After an unsually violent winter and spring of 2009 (seasons that are usually very peaceful), many villagers dreaded the approach of summer (the season of the year which traditionally sees the most violence). Many nervously sat at the edge of their seats wondering when the shooting sprees and killing would breakout. Still, many were surely praying (some) against hope that the Lord would spare us. Well, the Lord is gracious and he is good for Maywood has enjoyed of the quietest summers in recent history! We dare say that we heard more gunfire in the months of January through March than from April 'til now! While there is no doubt that the our local law enforcement personnel were certainly hard at work, we know that Maywood has few small problems. All of her problems are God-sized! Therefore, our heavenly Father deserves the glory and the praise! Before anyone attempts to hijack the honor and praise, we are giving it all to HIM!
August 13th, 2009 - A funny thing happened today regarding Triton College. First, think back to March of 2009 (see below) when we were essentially kick out by Triton's Vice President in the midst of our student survey and outreach activities. As those who actually read our news already know, over the course of 18 months, virtually every wave of outreach has resulted in disappointment, yet the Lord would not remove the burden for Triton's campus off of our hearts.
Today, John has been invited to consider assuming a seat on the Triton College's President's Community Relations Advisory Board! It's rather humorous that the vice-president asked us to leave in the Spring, and now the president has rolled out the red carpet in the Summer! Praise God, that we didn't literally make a federal case out of it; some suggested that we could have and should have. Anyway, someone from the president's office was on the Maywood Housewalk Tour in July, and not only did she like our house, but during the tour, others apparently commented on the work we've been doing in the community. Then she recalled a news article she had read about our work with neighborhood kids in the parks. She put one and one together, and thought John would make a good candidate for the advisory board. And to think we almost backed out of being on the Housewalk because we were so tired!
Well, it's not a done deal, yet, since John will need to be interviewed, and formally invited. Then he'd have to actually accept the appointment. Whatever happens, it continues to affirm that our approach to reaching the broader community on a platform of conscientious and relevant expressions of Christ's love is indeed inviting the world's appropriate regard for the Bride of Christ. We've long been confident that the fruit would of our labors would become evident in time. We just couldn't have guessed that the fruit would be so grand, and that the regard for the Bride would be so positive!
The week of August 9th 2009 - A mission team from Celebration Church in New Orleans, Louisiana will join us for ministry at Solex College and in Maywood. On Wednesday, the 12th, we served free hotdogs and trimmings to Solex students, faculty, and staff. The executive director of the school made a surprise appearance and presented John with a Solex. I guess that makes John an honorary member of the Solex family! It was great. We got to meet a bunch of new Solex people, and some of our regulars had the opportunity to serve their fellow students. Thank you Celebration Church for everything!
July 31st - Just finished our VBS/Sportscamp. Here are the stats as best
as we can figure.
~5 days of ministry
~over 150 different kids served
~many adults met
~8 professions of faith
~10 Bible lessons taught
~5 mission teams of about 40 missionaries
~over 100 hot dogs and 100 PB&J s served
~over 120 gallons of drinks provided
~1 dark and desperate community served with the light of the ONE and
ONLY Savior! Thank you Jesus!
Special thanks to five missions teams who gloriously reflected the brightness of our Jesus this week in Maywood.
~Anna FBC - Anna, IL
~Bellview BC - Paducah, KY
~Cornerstone BC - Lexington, KY
~Korean BC - Schaumburg, IL
~Tyrannus BC - Glenview, IL.
It is the Bridegroom who prepares the Bride so that He should present her to Himself RADIANT (Eph. 5:27)! All praise and glory belongs to you, Lord Jesus!
July 29th - John sat in with other missionaries to help a brand new convert (not one hour old) share the Good News with her close friend, who then accepted JESUS as LORD and SAVIOR, too!
Do you know what that means, folks? She had her first evangelistic encounter with a lost person in the first hour of her NEW LIFE! I don't want to make anyone feel bad - Aww, who am I kidding? Yes, I do! - but shame on the rest of us who have been involved in HOW MANY after HOW MANY MONTHS/YEARS of following Jesus?!
John also prayed with five (5) teenagers who prayed to receive Christ. All told, we had eight (8) professions of faith in Jesus Christ today (that we know of)! Good thing it was sunny today. Since he was wearing sunglasses, no one had to watch this grown man wipe the "mysterious something" that suddenly got into his eye." That makes 51 souls who have been plucked from the clutches of hell's fiery flames since we arrived in Maywood in January 2008.
July 26th 2009 - Our PowerPlant missionaries from Bellview Baptist Church in Paducah, KY and Cornerstone Baptist Church in Lexington, KY arrive in Maywood. They will join with even more missionaries from the First Baptist Church of Anna, IL. Together, they come alongside us for ministry in Maywood's neighborhoods and parks. Also, we have the privilege of hosting two local mission teams from the Korean Baptist Church of Schaumburg, Illinois and the Tyrannus Baptist Church of Glenview, Illinois.
July 12th 2009 - Our home participated in Maywood's popular Housewalk. Many strangers viewed our home and offered many nice compliments. It was also an unexpected way to get neighbors who had turned down previous invitations into our home to now come as spectators of sorts. Perhaps some will return and be more accepting our hospitality in the future. Although we were aprehensive about participating at first, it was a cool experience, and we're glad to have been involved!
June 26th 2009 - After many requests by both kids and parents for continued VBS-type programs through the remaining summer weeks, a new Backyard Bible Club (BBC) will meet twice a week in a local park! Then three mission teams from southern Illinois and Kentucky will help us wrap up the summer with a week-long VBS and Sportscamp at the end of the summer! We've already seen dozens of kids come out, and we're already getting request for DAILY BBC! We'd love to oblige, but we just don't have the material and human resources to take on such a tremendous endeavor! That's where you and your church can come to our side as we expand our outreach into Maywood.
The weeks of June 14th and 21st 2009 - John had the privilege of serving with Youth On Mission by serving over 300 hundred missionaries from places like Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky, Idaho, Texas, and others! They blessed a number of Chicagoland's churches and ministries as well as countless individuals! All of this serves to remind us that God still call speople of all ages to join Him in the work that He is already doing all around us!
The week of June 7th 2009 - We had a mission team come alongside for ministry and outreach in two of Maywood's parks. Thanks to the support and favor we found at the Maywood Park District and with the help of FUEL, the youth choir from the FBC of St. Charles, MO, we put on a VBS-Sportscamp for the kids of our neighborhoods. We saw approximately 120 different kids from ages 4 to 13 come out for a great time of games, Bible lessons, crafts, and food! On the last day, we had about 90 local kids come through! One evening, FUEL put on an awesome program; its theme challenged people to submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ. John also gave his first "sermon" in a public Maywood forum. Pointing to the 48 Anglo-missionaries he said to the mostly Black audience, "No offense to all these White kids, but I envision a day when Maywood will not be receiving missionaries, but sending them out." The audience responded with applause and cheers! Our team had numerous opportunities to meet and minister to both children and adults while also ministering to the needs of the missionary's needs. The best part of all was that no less than 20 kids prayed to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord!! What a God-sized week!
June 1st 2009 - Our Missionaries-interns have arrived! Ashley and Kendra will be staying with us until early August. They've come to stand beside us as we work to penetrate the lostness and darkness of Maywood with authentic and relevant ministry to our neighbors. Ashley comes to us from St. Louis, MO. Kendra returns to us after a short-term visit in March with her BCM hails from Tulsa, OK. Pray that God would use them for the glory of the Bridegroom, for the radiance of the Church, and the reaping of His harvest field.
May 2009 - We saw our very first parent come out who also stayed with his child for Backyard Bible Club! This is HUGE! While many children come and go, few parents do much more than drop their kids off with us. As far as they know, we're the smiling Asian strangers that will hopefull take good care of their precious children. Of course, we will love them as our own!
April 2009 - We've launched the Community @ Solex, an ESL Bible study for international students. at Solex COllege in Wheeling. Currently, all the students are Korean, but we pray that God would draw other Asians and many of the eastern Europeans who make up the student body to fellowship with us! This our "Ends of the Earth" piece in our Acts 1:8 strategy for missional ministry. Currently, more than half of our international students intend to return to their homelands in Asia and Europe.
March 2009 - 28 Oklahomans from the Baptist Collegiate Ministries of the University of Tulsa and the Tulsa Community Colleges descended upon Maywood, Wrigleyville, Solex College, Triton College, and Northeastern Illinois University. This mission team had the special opportunity to taste a variety of Chicagoland's ministry contexts and they seemed to fit in wherever they went! Thank God for those who share Christ's compassion for the Shepherd-less sheep in Chicago's pastures! We pray that many will be called and many will answer the call to return. If there was one disappointment, it was at Triton college where the Vice-President personally asked us to cease our outreach activities and leave the campus. He was courteous and professional, and we didn't make a federal case out of it even though we certainly had grounds for it. After all, we seek to find persons-of-peace (P.O.P.s) and make disciples, not adversaries.
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