Local Exegesis Project:
1) Spend time touring your community setting, and notice how space is divided, how and where the structures are built, etc. Ask God to reveal insights about the people and the social, physical or psychological environment;
2) eat at a place you normally would not have eaten, noticing the others around you, the “community” the restaurant attracts, etc;
3) educate yourself about the people and/or organizations in your region that are striving to redemptively engage the population of that area;
4) and, consider taking members of your ministry team with you to share the experience.
The Lines of My City: Exegeting a Rural East Texas Community
Native to my space, the community of Gladewater, Texas is fascinating, and perplexing, even in its dismal, tranquil state of economic depression. It is my space, much of which has not changed over my life span. Once booming from the discovery of oil over 80 years ago, the discovery wells are silent now…for the most part. Ruins of refineries and pipelines transect the surface of my space. The town-center is set apart in neat rows and columns of streets, but approaching a well site, the roads twist and turn to compensate for whatever obstacle. Along the way, progression stopped and the course altered. The lines, held in perpetuity, remain silent reminders of a bygone day of success, increase and generosity.
It is evident that lines separate and divide this once prideful town. There are barriers such as Union Pacific’s rail line that has for over a century designated economic status and livable space. There is a crossroad intersection of two important federal highways. But there are still places of discrimination forever locked away from public eye but known and not trodden upon. Tranquil family neighborhoods during my lifetime have given way to row houses of irresponsible and addiction-laden tenants. They were built as “soul nurturing” but have fallen into “life denying” structures in my community setting. Hardships bring tension in all areas of town and with stress come friction within the family unit, socially and culturally. No one is homeless at night, for there are far too many unoccupied homes to "squat" in. Families live recklessly in exposed environments of unsanitary and non-forgiving conditions. While these conditions are bleak, something is happening in Gladewater.
Transformation is just beyond the crest of a new horizon. But, where is this hope-filled ingredient today and where is God at work in this city called Gladewater? Do these lines transect the Church or ordinary people?
My assignment brings me to Don Omar’s taco stand, a downtown eatery that very few people attend. The family-owned, Spanish-speaking diner is a place with great service, complimentary smiles and abundant proportions. A small Hispanic family operates this with their children close to their side. They are pride-filled and always happy, two values they are teaching their children about success. Sadly, few in Gladewater trod their way. Their clientele is mainly the Spanish-speaking working class, to which Gladewater has yet to recognize as a part of their growing and rapidly changing cultural diversity. The wisdom of these two parents is positively colliding with their children’s educational endeavors to pursue equality, equilibrium and excellence within their community.
I am also fortunate to be aware of Miss Katherine’s and Miss Earnestine’s*, et al, once-a-month free meal prepared solely by their volunteer efforts. Their plan is to feed the community’s hungry people a soulful meal while they serve and pray. Their outreach effort has grown during the current economic crisis. They are unique ladies of distinction helping from their heart and serving with their hands.
Societal forces and local influences of race and color are still hampering our ability in Gladewater to flourish. Strangely, with all sides at an impasse, heritage and fear are the driving preventative agents. In local political arenas of school and city, a generation of emerging leaders with new ideas and new foundations are squelched by older fear-bearing authoritarians. Long past are the days of the United Way funding these programs, for Gladewater’s propensity to give generously plummets yearly. But God is working through this new leadership in our community in unconventional ways to transform community. They are the unrecognized parents and the adults/youth willing to volunteer their time and resources to make things happen. They are the service-oriented members of the community willing to give with no receipt of award, medal or trophy. They are the bi-vocational pastors and lay people with commitment to serve God beyond salary. They are individuals or common partnerships tired of a system of organization that feeds the egos of the elected politicos and going beyond measure to see that God’s redemptive plan is carried to all including the power hungry. Yet, these are individuals that are in positions of weakness. These heroes of my town allow their hearts to shape their ministry and God to set the agenda of passion for serving others. Their approach to success or failure is regulated by their stamina of volunteerism, provisional resource base and their attitude to conform to drive change forward.
My excursion is a unique one into the depths of searching for God. My instilled compassion and activism for the unfortunate and weary has always been a driving factor of my service to God’s Kingdom, but I have been weakened in my attempts by arrogant family pride and communal stigma attachment of helping the hurting and denied. My work with this MAGL** program has been an educational eye-opener to what and why I have always been trying to accomplish. This exegesis project will provide me the determination that if “big cities can change then small communities can likewise.” In my context to ministry, envisioning the “what” is often dreaming, but Living Hope Fellowship can begin the faith journey of offering the Word of God to others in their native language. Fortunately, the MAGL program connections with fellow colleagues are linking us with personnel to accomplish these tasks. We will soon be speaking to a Spanish-speaking pastor about coming to LHF. As for me, I find God by crossing the line from ordinary to the uncommon, usually not with the status quo. There is great potential in my environment to seek the exceptional means of finding God. Just seek between the lines!
*Miss Katherine & Miss Earnestine are volunteers with the group Caring Hearts, a local community outreach in Gladewater.
**MAGL refers to the Masters in Global Leadership Program at Fuller Seminiary.
Rev. Ben Bright is the Logistics & Administrative Pastor at LHF, and is currently studying online for his MAGL at Fuller Seminary.
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