... His hand is stretched out still ...

Today is Thursday, October 29 -- the 80th anniversary of the Great Stock Market Crash, which many pinpoint as the start of the Great Depression.

Whether that was the exact turning point is open for discussion, but the date is significant for Gospel Mission, because the crash happened just after the Mission was founded -- and the history, as I piece it together, is a study in God's planning and provision for His people.

Simply put, it illustrates that God is always ahead of the curve.

Gospel Mission was planted by the Apostolic Church of Pentecost in 1929, which -- if my historical knowledge serves me right -- was a time of great prosperity up till the stock market crash. GM was first established in the Hastings-and-Abbott area (we moved to 331 Carrall Street in the 40s), which itself was a place of great prosperity in Vancouver. If you look at the City Directories for that time period - and up till the early 50s, in fact - you'll find that what is now Canada's Worst Postal Code was a happenin' part of town. There were law offices, consulates, restaurants, theatres (including the Avon -- originally the Pantages -- where my parents met) and the Carnegie Public Library (now the Carnegie Centre).

Why set up a rescue mission in the midst of that prosperity? Because God knew what was coming -- not just with the depression but the aftermath of World War 2, when soldiers who'd been demobbed but couldn't re-adjust to civilian life -- perhaps because of medical/mental conditions -- would wind up in that area and then the gradual transition into what it is today -- and He knew He needed His people in the area to help catch those who fell.

Now consider this: The Lord's Rain was conceived and built at a time of great worldwide prosperity. Things were bad enough on the DTES, but the Global Economic Downturn hit around the same time that The Lord's Rain opened and you can expect more people would fall victim to the effects of the downturn -- or at least of the fear of the downturn -- and wind up in the area.

Of course, we couldn't see that downturn coming when we took on the project. People who stepped forward to help financially and with funds and labour might have been spooked if we'd started the project just 6 months later, when the economic storm clouds were rolling in. Again, God moved ahead of the curve to make sure His influence -- His Hope -- would be there for people to see.

So the anniversary of the Crash of '29 has an interesting connection with Gospel Mission -- something that none of the people who actually planted the church could have anticipated. As with so many other things that God wants -- including The Lord's Rain -- people respond out of obedience, without knowing even a tenth of the reason why they're supposed to.

And as we obey Him, His hand stays stretched out for blessing.

Gospel Mission gets major $$$!

Here's the text of a news release I've just sent to the media. Praise the Lord Who provides!

(In case the "serious bread" line is lost on you: the Weston Foundation grew out of Weston's Bakeries and the family now owns Superstore, Loblaws, the President's Choice product line and a bunch of other grocery-related concerns.)



News Release Oct. 27, 2009

Weston’s provides serious bread for Gospel Mission

Gospel Mission Society and its ministry, The Lord’s Rain, which provides showers for people on Vancouver’s Downtown East Side, have received a major boost to their financial resources from a major Canadian charitable Foundation.

The W. Garfield Weston Foundation has selected Gospel Mission to receive a grant of $15,000 to go towards its work in what some call “Canada’s Worst Postal Code.” Mr Mark Mitchell, a Director of the W. Garfield Weston Foundation and a third-generation member of the Weston family, will present the cheque at a small ceremony on Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 9:30am at Gospel Mission, 331 Carrall Street.

This contribution is part of a one-time special program initiated by The Foundation to help organizations like Gospel Mission make it through the current economic downturn. In all, $1.8 million is being divided among 120 groups. Further information about this special program can be found at http://www.westonfoundation.org/tigs/Pages/default.aspx.

Since Gospel Mission and The Lord’s Rain are run by volunteers (except for one paid administrator’s position), money contributed to the Society goes directly where it’s needed most: rent, utilities and supplies.

"We are very pleased be able to assist Gospel Mission in providing guidance and food for people in need,” says Mr Mitchell. “For 80 years, it has ministered to people regardless of race, gender or background, while The Lord’s Rain literally helps people ‘clean up’. We’re confident this contribution will have a direct and immediate impact."

“The provision for this ministry has been a case of the Lord tapping people on the shoulder – individuals, businesses, churches and organizations – to contribute as and when needed,” adds Drew Snider, Assistant Pastor at Gospel Mission. “This contribution makes it so much easier for us to minister the Hope that people need to turn their lives around.”

Founded in 1929 by the Apostolic Church of Pentecost, Gospel Mission is a church that has served Vancouver’s Downtown East Side through the Great Depression, World War II and countless economic ups and downs, helping to catch people who have fallen and encouraging them with the knowledge that they are loved. The Lord’s Rain opened in April 2008, providing showers and a place where people can escape from the street and find friendly conversation (not to mention free coffee!).

Att’n assignment editors: the media are invited to the cheque presentation on Tues. Nov. 3 at 9:30 am. The presentation will take place at Gospel Mission, 331 Carrall Street. Due to the roadwork currently underway in the block, the best parking will be on Cordova Street between Abbott and Columbia.
-30-

When is a "charity" not a "charity"? Hmm ...

On Saturday, I posted a remark about an item in the Vancouver Sun, stating that non-profit groups and charities were feeling the pinch from the recession. Then I started ruminating on that phase, "non-profits and charities", and thought of something.



Let's see if can express this without seeming smug or self-righteous.



See, my comment on the item in the Sun is that Gospel Mission / The Lord's Rain was that no one interviewed us for the article, but if they had, they would have heard a different observation, namely, that the Lord will provide. And, indeed, He does. God does not experience recessions. So any kind of contribution -- from the big-ticket blessing from The W. Garfield Weston Foundation to an unexpected gift from the family of a gentleman who died recently and had been a supporter of ours in the past to an offering collected from the memorial for our dear sister Candy -- is a case of God at work.



But why us? For the true answer, look at us as an example that can apply to anyone else. To begin with, we declare that God is our source for provision and that so long as we are doing the work He has called us to do, we know we can rely on Him: not gaming revenue, not government whims, not companies that might tighten their belts in tough times.



Specifically, He has called us to bring the Light of Christ to people on the Downtown East Side, because from His Word comes the key to everything. Social justice, human rights, homelessness, poverty, crime, drug addiction: turn to the Word of God, and you'll find the solutions for all of that, and what more needful area can you think of than the Downtown East Side -- or any of the other "Samarias" all over the western world? (What do I mean by "Samaria"? Check out this blog entry.)

And He's sending the distinct message that those who answer that call won't have to worry about provision. Recession or no recession, He keeps coming through for us in ways that are so wondrous, they can only be God At Work, and we give Him the praise and the glory.

And what about the non-profits and charities that are feeling the pinch? The same provision God gives to us can go to them, too, if they take a moment and consider whether (a) they're doing what God has called them to do and (b) they're doing it His way.

***
An intriguing anniversary
Thursday, October 29, will mark the 80th anniversary of the Great Stock Market Crash, which many pinpoint as the start of the Great Depression. Whether that was the exact turning point is open for discussion, but the date is significant for Gospel Mission, because it occurred just after the founding of the Mission.

Huh?

Gospel Mission was planted by the Apostolic Church of Pentecost in 1929, which -- if my historical knowledge serves me right -- was a time of great prosperity up till the stock market crash. The Hastings-and-Abbott area, where GM was first established (we moved to 331 Carrall Street in the 40s), was a place of great prosperity in Vancouver. If you look at the City Directories for that time period - and up till the early 50s, in fact - you'll find that what is now Canada's Worst Postal Code was a happenin' part of town. There were law offices, consulates, restaurants, theatres (including the Avon -- originally the Pantages -- where my parents met) and the Carnegie Public Library (now the Carnegie Centre).

Why set up a rescue mission in the midst of that prosperity?

Because God knew what was coming -- not just with the depression but the aftermath of World War 2, when soldiers who'd been demobbed and maybe had debilitating medical/mental conditions would wind up in that area and then the gradual transition into what it is today -- and He knew He needed His people in the area to help catch those who fell.

Consider this: The Lord's Rain was conceived and built at a time of great worldwide prosperity. Things were bad enough on the DTES, but the Global Economic Downturn hit around the same time that The Lord's Rain opened and you can expect more people would fall victim to the effects of the downturn -- or at least of the fear of the downturn -- and wind up in the area. Again, God moved ahead of the curve to make sure His influence -- His Hope -- would be there for people to see.

So the anniversary of the Crash of '29 has an interesting connection with Gospel Mission -- something that none of the people who actually planted the church could have anticipated. As with so many other things that God wants -- including The Lord's Rain -- people respond out of obedience, without knowing even a tenth of the reason why they're supposed to.

****
Take neither purse nor scrip ...
The Lord's Rain got put to work in an unusual way this past weekend. I got a call from Peter Carlson, International Prayer Director with Grace Extended Ministries in Beaverton, Oregon. He'd heard about us through a mutual friend, Thor Tolo, the radio personality who interviewed me twice last year about my book, A Very Convenient Truth. Thor and I have become good friends since then, and he had no compunction about giving Peter my number when he found out Peter was leading a group of young missionaries up to Vancouver for a conference at Glad Tidings Church.

Funny thing is -- and you have to understand the way the minds of men and women of God work -- they piled into their vehicles and headed north without having a place to stay. 10 of them. And they called on Wednesday, with the conference starting on Saturday.

Well, we didn't have a place for them to crash, but we did have a place where they could shower-up, so on Saturday morning, five of them trooped over to The Lord's Rain to do just that. We also opened up for them early Sunday morning, which we don't normally do.

It was a great time to talk and compare notes about missionary work -- particularly work with urban poverty (a much better term than "the homeless", if only because you can have a roof over your head or a shelter bed and account for one less in the "homelessness register" ledger sheet and still not have a home) -- and pray together and encourage one another. It was also a wonderful blessing to be a part of the equivalent of Jesus' sending out the 70 disciples with the instruction not to take anything with them, but to rely on the hospitality of the people they met along the way.

("When I sent ye out, lacked ye anything?" He asked; "Nothing," they replied.)

And where did they crash? They stayed at "614", which is a ministry run by the Salvation Army's War College, about 2 blocks away. It just happened to be a ministry that they had wanted to connect with.

See what I mean about God providing in ways we can never imagine?

Olympics, Rail Implants and the Glam Couple

Don't park here - you shall smart for this!*

I'm really looking forward to the Winter Olympics, but there's no question the games are going to affect us all in different ways. The Olympic Transportation Plan Phase 2 has just come out, and my relief at Gospel Mission not being in one of those security "red zones" despite being near GM Place and BC Place suddenly turned sour when I saw the map in The Sun.

The map shows that yes, we're outside the security zone, but the stretch of Cordova Street running past Carrall will be a 24/7 no-stopping zone.

Couple that with the revamped Carrall Street outside the mission -- where there will be metered parking which will likely be snapped up during the Games -- and you can see we have a potential problem. See, the suggestion to bring in supplies during "off hours" (like between midnight and noon) may work for businesses, but the mission is considerably different. We come in at all hours and something is going on 6 nights a week plus Sunday afternoon. Barry comes in from Port Coquitlam. Teresa, from Richmond. The bus and walking is not an option for Daniel.

There are two potential solutions that I can see, and I'm contacting the City of Vancouver about them. One is to allow us to place a hood on one of the parking meters, essentially reserving it for Gospel Mission. Another is to work a deal to allow us to park up to 2 vehicles in the alley next to the building. We'll need prayer for favor in that one, I can tell you.

But consider: Olympics or no Olympics, winter is the time of greatest need in the Downtown East Side, and while businesses and individuals may be able to alter their schedules to accommodate transportation and other needs, that doesn't really work for the street people. A six-week disruption in the operations of Gospel Mission and The Lord's Rain would make things even more difficult for our friends, and that's the very reason why so many individuals and groups have invested in the work we do. I'm sure the City will be willing to find a way to work this out.

Of course, the situation won't be solved by complaining, whining, protesting or dumping non-recyclable imported non-organic juice bottles on Gregor Robertson's front lawn. As we have done over and over again, we turn to the Lord for provision ... which leads us to ...

-----

*Specially for you Flanders & Swann fans!

God always has a ram in the bush!

And the ram this time comes in the form of a family built on bread. The W. Garfield Weston Foundation -- which came out of the company that was originally Weston Bakeries and now is responsible for a bunch of household names in this country, including Superstore and President's Choice -- has announced it's contributing $15,000 to Gospel Mission. It's part of a special fund they set up to help organizations that feed and clothe the poor make it through the current economic downturn, when many of their usual contributors have been pulling in their horns. The Westons put $1.8 million into the fund, to be cut up among 120 organizations -- including ours.

Some might say it's ironic: today's Vancouver Sun has an article about charities feeling the pinch because of the downturn. (There were similar stories several months ago, too, in fact.) No one's interviewed us, which is a shame because while we've had the ups and downs you always experience with a Mission, we keep reminding ourselves and anyone else that God has provided for Gospel Mission over the past 80 years, He has had His hand on The Lord's Rain for blessing and provision and He's not going to let a recession stop Him.

And He has heard our prayers!

The Glamour Kids Return

I've written before about Brendan and Charlotte, a 30-something couple that really make the uninitiated ask, "what happened????" He's good-looking; she's gorgeous; both are sharp as anything: and both have serious drug problems. It makes you realize that anybody can fall and need help. I also go into "dad" mode when I see them: when you meet someone who could be your daughter, it's hard not to.

They're definitely working towards rehab, but it's a long road and they need prayer -- lots of it. Cheryl Weber from "100 Huntley Street" interviewed Brendan during her visit in May (air date still TBA, but some time in 2010) and was amazed at his story of being too close to temptation and letting his life get out of control. But it's also a story of how people cannot be expected to pull themselves up and turn their lives around on their own strength. They need the X-Factor -- Christ. That's why Brendan and Charlotte need our prayers: they're earnest, smart, loving ... but it's in Christ that they'll find that strength to carry them when their own flesh is screaming for the drugs.

Watch that bump there!

The work continues on Carrall Street progresses (as noted above), and one of the elements of the beautification (as opposed to beatification) of Pigeon Park is a set of implants. Rails, to be precise. See, the building in the background used to be the car barn for the BC Electric Railway, and there are still streetcar rails in the pavement in the parking lot. The rails being implanted in Pigeon Park are a sort-of historical throwback and a symbolic continuation of the rails at the car barn. There's also a set of rails running across the sidewalk outside International Village -- the shopping mall on the other side of the old car barn on Pender Street -- and those rails then cross Pender into the parking lot.

Problem with the rails in the sidewalk is, there's no "cutaway" in the sidewalk, so that the rails in the sidewalk are a good 2" higher than the rails in the road -- so that if you really were on a streetcar, there would be this sudden bump (and possibly several derailments). But hey: who said form had to relate to function?

Lee Grady's message at Westpointe

I really hope churches read between the lines -- or catch the less subtle aspects -- of Lee Grady's message today at Westpointe (the audio should be posted soon). Using the image of the storms God sent over the ship that Jonah was riding on, trying to get away from his assignment to Nineveh, Lee says that the "storms" engulfing North America -- such as financial crises and deep, hate-filled political division and general finger-pointing -- have been caused by people of God (the churches) trying to run away from their assignments and lying, fast asleep, below decks.

Indeed, not only have the churches not been fulfilling their assignments, they've been doing things they weren't called to do in the first place.

I've been hearing for a few years, now -- and I'm sure I'm not the only one; it's good to get confirmation from someone like Lee. While the storms have been raging around us, churches (and I realize this is a generalization -- as one English prof used to say, "All generalizations are bad" -- because not all the churches have fallen into this) have been railing against sin and the bad things people are doing and forgetting what The Great Commission is all about. We're not supposed to be harping on what's wrong with the world: rather, we're supposed to be telling people what's right with Jesus. Jesus never told us to go forth and wipe out sin. He told us to be His witnesses. If we're doing that properly, sin and evil would be a non-starter. The Light, as John puts it in his Gospel, would shine and darkness would not be able to overpower it.

How many times do we have to hear it? "Resist not evil." "Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with Good." "Feed My sheep." "Ye shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judaea, and in Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth."

From where I sit, ministering Christ in the Downtown East Side, that last point is subtle, but significant. The DTES is our Samaria in Metro Vancouver: land of the outcasts, that the "good" people of the rest of the region would like to pretend doesn't really exist, of which the denizens are to be avoided. Yet if I construe Jesus' directions (in Acts 1:8 -- His last words to us on earth, in fact) as presenting an "order of operations", churches should be leading the charge to bring Christ to the urban poor even before they try to tackle the Third World.

Is showing off God's goodness, Jesus' love, and ministering that to the smelly, weird-looking "Samaria" of the urban poor is our "Nineveh" -- an assignment from God that we try desperately to avoid? Or ministering love and grace to the people who have -- at least for the time-being -- rejected Christ in favour of another "belief system" or their own fleshly desires? Are we trying to avoid those "mission fields" because we're afraid we'll be rejected, laughed-at or scorned?

Yet the storms persist and people's lives are at stake; but if we look at the metaphor Lee uses from Jonah, we see that the antidote is right within our grasp.

Lee Grady (the editor of Charisma magazine, whose prophecy was one of the keys to the realization of The Lord's Rain) speaks again tonight at 6:30, and Monday and Tuesday nights at 7 at Westpointe Christian Centre, 12th & Stephens (near Macdonald) in Vancouver.

The Lord's Rain: The Elves get busy!

(There's an appeal of a different sort near the end of this posting, so even if you don't read the brilliant and engaging prose at the beginning, please cut down to the last 5 or so paragraphs.)

So I go away for 3+ weeks ... The first thing I noticed was the paint job on the outside of Wing's Cafe, the little coffee shop that shares the ground floor of our Carrall Street building with us. Then I realized that paint job extended to the outside of The Lord's Rain ... including the bars on the windows ... and all up the inside staircase (which had been in dire need of repainting* for quite a while).

The elves had arrived, in the form of some young people our sister Teresa Mancia (who does Monday evening services, oversees The Lord's Rain on Monday and Friday middays and filled in for the first two Saturday night services that I was away) had dragooned into helping out at Gospel Mission.

Then, I saw that the elves had also begun dealing with the back wall of The Lord's Rain. That's been one of the remaining jobs at The Lord's Rain: repairing and upgrading the wall in the back portion, where the electrical box is located and some spare lumber has been stored. But there had been other priorities -- like running the place -- and that part of the job was put aside. Not forgotten-about, mind you: just put on the back burner temporarily.

Anyway, Barry had attacked the back area himself, assisted by another of Teresa's elves (a young Muslim man, in fact), and while the job isn't complete, the sense that it's on the right track is a major load off our shoulders.

(There's a metaphor for Salvation in that last sentence: anyone who hangs about, waiting to see a completed work before admitting that they (or anyone else) are Saved is missing the whole point.)

But I digress ... I came home from vacation (honeymoon, in fact) to find the place had taken another big step forward -- a place where His people that we serve can feel comfortable and welcome.

Carrall Street itself is also a work in progress. You can see in this photo (taken on Tuesday) where the sidewalk bulges are taking shape, with stanchions for parking meters and/or bicycle lockups. The bicycle path will be along there, as well.

Here's what's become of Pigeon Park. I understand the City is installing a public washroom there -- one of those self-cleaning jobs, like the one at Main and Terminal, about a mile away.

It's going to look gorgeous, and while some people -- the activists who play off the fears and paranoia in the area -- portray the project as a step towards "gentrification", chasing away the homeless and disadvantaged, I see it as the City sending a subliminal message that these people have not been forgotten and are not being ignored.

That's an important message to an area beset with a spirit of abandonment. Maybe it's not 400 shelter beds or another dozen soup kitchens, but those are only temporary solutions, anyway. The spiritual message from "we know you're there and we want your street to be beautiful, too" brings hope -- Remember, the issue is not HOMELESSNESS but HOPELESSNESS -- that lingers long after the last sandwich has gone.

It's like a certain SkyTrain Attendant I know of, who has a supply of home-grown roses on hand, and when he sees someone who's looking depressed, he gives them one. He's been known to stay with the person and listen to their story. The immediate problem may be an overdue bill or a lost loved one, but the gesture that Somebody Cares opens people's eyes to possibilities they couldn't see before -- because God has suddenly been allowed into the picture.

The job now is to portray the Carrall Street beautification in that way and build on that with more indications that people haven't forgotten them. As I've said before, the fact that the Lord's Rain came together through the combined efforts of a group of individuals with a variety of gifts, is another indication of that.

==========

In closing, here are a couple of praise reports.

1 - we made an extraordinary appeal for financial support a couple of months ago, and the response was tremendous. We need to remember, though, that the need is ongoing (for the rent and utilities -- none of us gets paid to work at The Lord's Rain), so I hope you'll keep us in mind.

2 - the Lord has definitely blessed the move we made in the spring, refusing to accept funds from provincial gaming revenue. It meant that we had to say "thanks-but-no-thanks" to one ministry, and "the world" would probably say we were nuts to do that. But since then, contributions and new people to help minister have been coming in, sometimes from some surprising sources. In essence, we got out of God's way and allowed Him to do what He needed to do.

3 - Barry has been talking for some time now about his vision for The Lord's Rain to be open 6 days a week. Right now, we're open 4 days a week: Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday (plus Tuesday afternoons for "Ladies Day"). This brings us to the "unusual appeal": there are still some opportunities for anyone who might be led to oversee an opening time.

I believe the best times to be open are in the early morning, to give people a place to go after the shelters boot them out -- something especially needed as the weather turns colder. (The Tuesday opening is 7-8:30am, which allows me to get to the office by 9 or 9:15. I mention that because it is something that one can do prior to going to work.) I hope you'll consider that. Respond through this blog if you're interested.

Remember: when Jesus looked at Samaria and said "the fields are white for the harvest", He didn't follow that by saying, "but we don't have the money". He said, "the labourers are few". Money, as I said before, is always going to be a requirement, but the more people who can come down and share their love, experiences and time in the area, the better the connections will be between the people in our own "Samaria" and those from "the other half", and the greater the level of Hope that can be ministered.

(If you don't live in the Vancouver area, there are plenty of other districts like the Downtown East Side, please consider doing something similar in those districts.)

By the way, our mailing address has changed: it's now

Gospel Mission,

Box 1151,

Vancouver BC

V5K 1Z1.

Please make the checks payable to Gospel Mission Society, and if you want it to go specifically towards the showers project, write "The Lord's Rain" or "Showers" in the "memo" line.

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*I am reminded of the pastor who realized his church needed a new paint job, so he got out the paint and brushes to do it himself. But there wasn't enough paint, so he used thinner to make it stretch further. As the level of paint went down, he kept adding more thinner. He was almost finished the job, when a rainstorm hit and washed away all his work. And as he looked at the situation, a voice boomed from the Heavens, "Repaint! And thin no more!"