Part 3 – Intro to God’s Plan
If you read the last post, you know that my wife urged me to close my company and take a year off of work (a sabbatical) to figure out what God wanted to do with our family. That year ended with a Biblical model for serving the poor and our commitment to empower a group of single mothers and help them gain the skills they needed to become everything God created them to be. Now that we’re up to speed, let’s continue with this post.
Watching my grandchildren grow and their thirst for knowledge and independence reminds me of one of the first things I learned during the sabbatical. That day in April 2002 when I read Genesis, it wasn’t the first time I read the creation story. In fact, it wasn’t even the first time I had read through the book of Genesis. I had failed many times at reading through the Bible, although I would always finish Genesis before February came and I abandoned my New Year’s resolutions, but that day was different. My reading began with the same verses that most every “Read through the Bible” venture begins with.
Part 2 
– Our Story
We had made it. After years of struggling we had achieved the American Dream. Our lives were finally working out as we had planned. Meredith and I both owned our own businesses, we had three beautiful daughters, were part an incredible church, had great friends, and were preparing to build the perfect home. We were finally getting everything we had worked and hoped for.
All that changed with a phone call in January of 2002. Meredith was on her way to a business meeting and I was loading up to head towards a job site. Meredith didn’t begin with the usual pleasantries. There was no “hi” or “good morning,” just a simple statement. “If this is the American Dream, we’ve been lied to.”
Part 1 – Intro to Breaking the Broken
This blog will begin a series of posts outlining Breaking the Broken. You will see how the whole thing began: Our call into ministry, God’s plan for mankind to be self-sufficient, how we serve the poor depending on their unique situation, and the results of using God’s plan. Basically, I will cover all the major themes of the book over the next several posts.
The subtitle of the book is “Debunking the Myth of Social Justice.” Even though I discuss the downsides of social justice programs in the book, there is some new information I wanted to share before we get started. Let me make one thing clear: social justice began with a good heart. It was started by people who wanted to help their fellow man. They saw hurting people who were struggling, and they wanted to help meet their needs.
Relational Ministry?
I was recentl
y at a dinner and a church was being recognized for their outreach and service. As the pastor talked about how their church impacts their community he said, “We are very active in our community. Every month we do a clothing and food give away and give backpacks to the kids every fall.”
A picture popped up on the overhead of this Pastor and a child as he went on, “This is the child that we support in a third world country. We got to meet him last fall on a mission trip and our support is helping this young man break free from the bonds of poverty.”
As the crowd rose to their feet with applause, to shouts of “Amen”, “Great Job” and “Praise God”, I wondered, “Why do we want to break the bonds of poverty in Third World countries but the kid around the corner only gets a backpack and a box of food?”
The Kid Around the Corner
Gentrification
, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents.
Gentrification has caused many low income families to be pushed from their homes and communities and they are often unable to secure an affordable alternative. This is a reality that Meredith and I have seen many times over the past 15 years as we have worked in low income communities and homeless shelters and our friends have been forced out of their homes.
Treating the Symptom Never Ends the Struggle
783 million people lack access to safe, sanitary water.
I was recently doing some work around the house and had the radio on and heard a commercial for an organization that is trying to address this crisis. I was surprised and encouraged because of what I didn’t hear. I didn’t hear a famous person make an appeal. I didn’t hear that for the cost of a cup of coffee I could provide a case of water for a family on the other side of the world and I didn’t hear about their efforts to load up planes and boats and take bottles of water to villages in third world countries.
A Problem in Thessalonica
Paul was not a guy who liked to mince words. If he saw problem, he addressed it straight on. Well there was an obvious problem in Thessalonica and Paul addresses it with the believers living there on at least three occasions. The problem? There were people in the church that would not work and meet there own needs. The first time Paul brings this up is in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, where he writes:
1Th 4:9 – 12 – About brotherly love: You don’t need me to write you because you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. In fact, you are doing this toward all the brothers in the entire region of Macedonia. But we encourage you, brothers, to do so even more, to seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, so that you may walk properly in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone.
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It’s great to see the mayor of Albuquerque using some of the principles from Breaking the Broken to end homelessness and panhandling. This is a program that is worth duplicating in other areas of the country.
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“Why would you qualify people? The Bible doesn’t tell us to do that! Jesus helped everyone.” These are some of the things I’ve heard during conversations about effectively ministering to the poor. I find the belief that Jesus never qualified people before helping an interesting idea…one that doesn’t have a lot of Biblical support. First we know that Jesus didn’t have to qualify anybody because, unlike us, He already knew their motivation, but there are a couple of times when Jesus did question people before He healed them.
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As I travel around the country speaking, and equipping churches to renew broken lives, there are some Frequently Asked Questions that I receive. I am going to take the next few posts to answer some of these F.A.Q.’s, beginning with the following question:
“What about Jesus feeding the 4,000 and the 5,000?
Doesn’t that show that Jesus wants us to feed the poor?”
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Many of us provide services or minister to the poor. We donate clothing and supplies, provide food and shelter and this is done because we value human life. To value something means to find it important and our hearts are broken when we see our fellow humans suffering so we work to alleviate their pain.
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I don’t th
ink any parent wants to see their children struggle. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I would move heaven and earth to help my children regain their footing if they fell on hard times. I would help with immediate needs, but I would pour even more resources into a solution.
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Several years ago, Rick Warren wrote a book which had a major impact on our society. People ran to stores to buy it. He was featured on news programs, talk shows and his face graced the cover of magazines. His book became the topic of Sunday School Classes, Life Groups, Men’s and Women’s small group studies, and retreats. His book is still in the top 50 list of all-time best-selling books.
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Most of our Christian 
service to the poor is based on giving and not equipping. I’m not sure why we have taken this approach because that is not the example we see in Scripture. God always made man do everything that was within his abilities. God always required man to work to care for his own needs. There were no hand-outs in God’s Plan. Click Here to continue reading
W
e live in a microwave society. We don’t like to wait. We want things fixed and we want them fixed quickly. We rarely spend the time investigating to discover the underlying reasons behind behaviors or situations. Click Here to read more
As I stared down at this incredible gift from Go
d, I was overwhelmed. I felt an area of my heart, that I did not even know existed, jump to life. I felt it begin to fill with a love that I had never experienced before. It was nothing short of amazing. Is there anything more miraculous than the birth of a child?
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It was an honor to share Breaking the Broken – Debunking the Myth of Social Justice with Monica Schmelter on Bridges.
Let’s End Poverty – There are millions of hurting people in the world. They are in dire need of assistance, but are we really making a difference? Click Here to read more.
For previous blogs written by the author Rob Kendall please visit his personal blog site by clicking on the link below the picture
