Election Recap

I'm a day late in honor of the Board of Elections taking until 2am to announce results . . . for a local election. So for next year's presidential election, expect results December 3rd. Hamilton County voters said no to the jail tax and county officials responded by telling us that they'll stop picking up criminals and throw them back on the street. Way to endear yourselves to the public, guys. I imagine, despite the doomsday announcements dropped today, that the county will be just fine.

The Cincinnati Public school levy failed and this is no surprise. Here's to hoping that some new board members will make a difference.

The most interesting thing was that all nine incumbents were reelected to City Council. These folk weren't the most inept council ever, but they weren't anywhere near stellar either. I think they lucked out with the Banks deal coming so close to Election Day. I would predict that this bodes well for Mayor Mallory to be reelected in 2009.

And the biggest piece of news was the I was not denied the right to vote yesterday because my drivers license still bears my old address. I was ready to drop old Ohio Revised Code 3505.18A on them but was not hassled at all.

God Bless America.

Buffalo Owns Cincinnati

Congrats, Greg, to you and your entire city.

And the black cloud over our city grows larger. I couldn't tell watching today what year it was. It sure did feel like the 1990's. Why did I even think about making a bet? This will be up at least 24 hours on the front page here.

Until then, I will be vomiting.

Almost Reality

Today the county commissioners approved the Banks deal, clearing the way for the land between Cincinnati's stadia to be developed. Construction should start at the beginning of the new year, and in a couple of years the development will shift the center of downtown towards the river. Areas south of Fifth Street [basically Fountain Square] will become the places to be. This means that streetcars will definitely be a necessity to keep the downtown/Over-The-Rhine relationship prosperous. With all the current available housing near the downtown area, I hope they concentrate more on commercial interests. Regardless, long-time complainers will now get their Newport on the Levee on the Ohio side of the river, just like they always wanted. And the Levee will be completely abandoned in five years, reversing the current flow of the Purple People Bridge.

So good news for Cincinnati means that it sucks to be Newport.

Back In Town . . .

. . . and I'm exhausted. We spent the last three days in Lexington, working on getting my brother-in-law married. After a long couple of days Scott and Jessica are finally hitched, we're home, and I'm feeling a little under the weather. I hear there are quite a few bugs going around, but I'm pretty sure it's not SARS. We missed Halloween but Echo Church did still have our third annual Trunk 'N' Treat; word on the street is that the hot chocolate was a hit. Kaelyn was a bee yesterday at the rehearsal dinner. My mother-in-law won costume of the night, though.

Decided to read through my RSS feeds tonight [almost 200] and found a couple items of note:

1) Emily is back in London but posted a couple of pictures from her trip. Her Kaelyn photo is awesome. That kid is photogenic.

2) Dan, a guy who also does Architrek tours, gave Beit Carr a shout out. I'm always leery of pushing new blogs as some people struggle to post consistently [that's what I meant, Jake, so prove me wrong] but Dan has come on strong. He posts frequently on all things Cincinnati and does some great posting on this city's history.

I love that Dan wrote, "I find [Beit Carr] and posts very interesting in spite of the fact, or maybe because, we are somewhat different." Different is good. Our city is a diverse place and that's one of the many reasons we love living here. So do yourself a favor, check his blog out, and add his RSS feed to your interweb diet.

Alright, I'm going to bed. I'll catch you up later.

A Whimpered, "Who-Dey?"

My old college RA [who's currently on vacation with his wife in California] is from Buffalo. He's a huge Bills fan, even operating a fan site/podcast. While we recently reconnected through the interwebs, I had circled next week's game on my calendar as the Bengals are traveling to Rich Stadium. Even though Cincinnati is horrible now, still contemplating on a 4th and 1 punt, I will back my boys and offer a challenge for this week's game. It's pretty simple one, Greg, so choose to accept if you wish.

Bengals win: you post a picture of a Bengals helmet on your blog with the caption, "Cincinnati owns Buffalo."

Bills win: I post a picture of a Bills helmet on this blog with the caption, "Buffalo owns Cincinnati."

No Skyline or Buffalo wings will exchange hands. Interested?

Issue 27

If you're not interested in Cincinnati news, this probably isn't the post for you. I'm fascinated with politics but am leery to comment about specific voting issues because of my role in a local congregation. We have Democrats and Republicans in our church, in addition to independents and non-voters and I think you could make a Biblical case for any of these perspectives [of course, you could probably make defend communism Biblically too, so what does it prove?]. So while I love to watch the American political process play out, I don't want to come out with official endorsements.

That said, I think things change a little bit when it comes to local politics. Usually there are no overlying Christian ethical issues at stake [ex: abortion] so it mostly boils down to opinion/preference. So the following is by no means an endorsement, but food for thought as election day nears.

The biggest issue facing the Cincinnati Metro area this November is Issue 27, a proposed "jail tax." Passage of this issue would raise the Hamilton County sales tax from 6.5% to 7% for eight years, reducing to 6.75% for the next seven years after that. The tax increase is supposed to raise $736million. A similar tax was voted down last year by county voters because the language was suspect [nowhere was the construction of a new jail even mentioned]. The county commissioners decided to overstep the voters and enacted the tax anyway, but a group of citizens petitioned to get the issue on the ballot for approval again this fall.

Support of this issue is pretty popular around here, because everyone wants to fight crime. The Hamilton County Sheriff, a long-time local politician with a solid base of supporters, has warned the public that voting down this referendum would put jailed criminals back on the streets. Somehow, in addition to their release, the Sheriff claims a slew of assault rifles would be back on the streets as well [which still confuses me: do they give guns to them when they leave the jail?]. The message coming across is simple: unless you want to see Snake Plissken roaming the streets of Cincy, pass this levy.

Now if it was totally necessary, I would vote for a jail without hesitation. But there are issues surrounding this issue that are indeed cloudy and need to be explored. Among them are . . .

• The city rents out jailspace to the US Government for their criminals, something that the county is not required to do. There is absolutely no benefit for the county for this except a stipend that is cheaper than what the county currently rents beds for from neighboring counties [so taxpayers lose money on the deal] and favors which the general public would never see anyway. So instead of looking out for the good of the local crime situation, the county loses jail space to the federal government who is responsible for that issue.
• We are told that the condition of the Queensgate jail is deteriorating to the point that it's unsafe. I've been all over this city and have seen some shoddy construction and this jail is in much better shape than people realize; the Queensgate jail has passed all building inspections and is in no danger of collapse. Interestingly enough, the sheriff has refused local media the opportunity to tour the structure with photographers to confirm this claim. So follow this reasoning: the jail is collapsing because we say it is. Trust us. Give us money.
• PEOPLE DON'T UNDERSTAND THE NATURE OF THE COUNTY COURT SYSTEM. Only a very small percentage of criminals are there for long term periods of time. The purpose of the jail is to hold criminals until trial and sentencing until they are sentenced to a state facility. The biggest drain on housing is people forced to wait overnights/weekends to see a judge. The logical solution for this would be to institute a night court [remember Bull?] to process these claims immediately. This would be an investment but would still be more cost effective than this levy.
• Even worst case scenario, the people being "released early" are not dangerous criminals. They are people who are charged with low-grade misdemeanors such as public intoxication. These people still have their day in court.

You just have to ask yourself: is it worth three-quarters of A BILLION DOLLARS without making every effort to try other alternatives? But that was never investigated. Ironic that Republicans are usually known for lamenting the tax-and-spend Democrats but in this case a Republican has led the charge, with some Democrats supporting and others criticizing. This issue supersedes party affiliations. But, most importantly, proponents have the big money backing to make it work. And for that reason it will probably pass. Could you imagine if someone wanted to take that money and invest it into community education/jobs programs, into fighting the our horrendous infant mortality rate, or into affordable housing for the poor? It would be called "a handout" and quickly defeated.

But these are some of the root issues surrounding the crime problem in this county.

Instead: build bigger jails.

It might make sense to you, but it doesn't to me.

No Joy In the 5-1-3

The Bearcats play awful and lose to rival Louisville. The Reds hire Dusty Baker, a.k.a. The Young Pitcher Killer, to be their manager.

These things come in threes, you know.

So the Bengals lose tomorrow and Carson Palmer spontaneously combusts.

So is life in the 'Nati.

The Changing Face of Cincinnati

Kelly told me about a huge open house this weekend throughout the city center called The Ultimate Urban Tour of Living. Yeah, lame title, but they're showcasing the newest construction, from places you could afford to places that . . . well, you wouldn't see them if there wasn't a tour. Best news: it's free. I'd suggest carving out a little time in  your schedule this weekend to check it out.

What To Think About This:

In light of my series on urban Cincinnati, I found this blog post interesting. This guy lives in near Washington Park in OTR, a place where many church groups come to pass out food. It's become so popular that the city actually banned groups from giving out freebies in the park, as 1) they usually leave a huge mess behind and 2) there are plenty of organizations/churches with whom they could partner to do this ministry. Of course, the groups chose instead to work around the letter of the law and now give out stuff on the sidewalks.

Makes you wonder (or at least me):

1. What kind of message does it send to people like Joe who live in the community everyday?

2. What kind of message does it send to the organizations/churches in the community who minister there everyday?

3. Who do these acts of "kindness" benefit more: the local community or the volunteers?

4. Am I being objective and accurate or a heartless SOB?

Or, maybe it's just me.

Urban Cincinnati [Part Four]

I'll admit upfront that this final contribution to my Urban Cincinnati series is more devoted to drawing conclusions from all these facts we've accumulated. Some call it urban renaissance. Others call it gentrification. Regardless of how you view it, people are moving back into the city.

Take a drive through Cincinnati's urban areas and you will see this firsthand. From downtown to Over-The-Rhine, Mount Auburn to Walnut Hills, new construction is everywhere. Extend to the south side of the Ohio River and the northern Kentucky shoreline is soon to be lined with high rise condominiums.

With an emerging generation who is no longer afraid of urban living, revitalized arts/culture scenes, workers growing weary of lengthening commutes, people are choosing to settle in downtown areas. While there will always be a dichotomy between "the haves" and "the have-nots" in the city, there will be fewer and fewer areas that are strictly ghetto. What we will begin to see is pockets of poverty in the midst of affluence (and vice versa) that will no longer be limited to urban areas. People, for the most part, are no longer limited by transportation as a decider of where they live and, let's face it, someone has to work at all those stores/restaurants in the 'burbs. This means encountering the impoverished will eventually be unavoidable, no matter where you live in relation to the city center.

This presents an incredible opportunity for churches that minister in the city. With rich and poor living next door to each other, there are few things that they have in common. It is our opinion that the message of Jesus levels the playing field between races and classes. The gospel does not discriminate. But more than anything else, our cities needs incarnational ministry.

Some urban churches have survived the changing landscape based upon their past. They became "family churches,"  congregations that 2nd and 3rd generation Christians would continue to attend based upon their heritage. These attenders  may have migrated to the suburbs but still continue to trek every week back into the city in order to go to church (actually, this was my family's experience as we lived 20+minutes from our Price Hill church). While this keeps the church alive, it does not necessarily lead to impacting the neighborhood.

We need Christians to live in the city. We need believers to take ownership of these communities. In Cincinnati, neighborhood identity is huge; you can completely change contexts from Avondale to Walnut Hills (to East Walnut Hills) to Columbia Tusculum to Over-The-Rhine, so living thirty minutes away from your church in this city makes it difficult to truly understand the community in which you minister. The only way communities are going to be revitalized spiritually is if the people of God live there and dwell there.

And that's what we're about at Echo. We're in the city. We're striving hard to understand Cincinnati, where it's been and where it's going. And the better we know our mission field, the better we'll understand our mission.

About The Bengals

We suck. And now there's a bye week, so two weeks to dwell on this one. If UC wins at Rutgers this Saturday, people could start to forget this team.

And now I owe my brother money.

Urban Cincinnati [Part Three]

So the 1948 Master Plan, predicting that public transportation was the past and automobile traffic was the future, called for a superhighway that would connect the region. And the result is, in my opinion, what has affected the development of the city more than any other cause: Interstate 275. By the late 1930s, the government had proposed a system of superhighways. It wasn't until President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Federal Highway Act in 1956 that the plan truly gained steam. In Cincinnati, construction on I-75 started in 1941 along the route of the old Miami-Erie Canal [another sign of changing modes of transportation]. Although planned in the 1940's construction of 1-71 didn't take off until two decades later.

Construction on I-275, a beltloop around the city, began in 1958 and wasn't completed until 1979 [I actually remember when I was a child, on trips out to Coney Island, seeing construction finished on the final piece: the bridge spanning the Ohio River at Kellogg Avenue]. The loop is between 84 and 86 miles long [depends on whose numbers you use], and is truly unique as it's the only business loop in the US to pass through three states.

Here are a few things to know when measuring the project's impact: I-275 is the longest continuous-looped expressway in the United States; no American city has a longer beltway. Not only that, it's the second longest in the world after a section of the Autobahn that encircles the city of Berlin. I guess we could brag that when our city planners wanted a loop they weren't going to wuss out and cut it short; they wanted the biggest they could buy.

What's truly fascinating is that no section of I-275 travels through an old neighborhood or town that predated the expressway; that means that all the areas that surround the expressway today was built after it's construction. There were some people who recognized the potential for profit the loop could bring. In the 1956, two years before construction on 1-275 began, Jeffrey Lazarus, owner of the Shillitos' department store chain, purchased 75 acres in Springfield Township in order to build a retail center there. Tri-County Mall continues to be one of the most profitable malls in the area.

What city planners failed to realize was that this beltloop was an invitation for sprawl; in fact, it actually encouraged it. People now had the option of taking advantage of the amnenities of a large metropolitan city without necessarily having to contribute to its tax base. 1-275 is the reason that the Greater Cincinnati Metropolitan area counts almost three-million inhabitants but the city proper only has about 300,000 people. To be fair, this kind of sprawl was taking place around the country. Magazines like Better Homes and Gardens began to present suburban living as the ideal.

When residents of the city flocked to the 'burbs, and their businesses went with them, the infrastructure of the city began to slowly deteriorate. And, on a personal note, the other thing that left with the businesses and people were churches. Traditionally, the city's largest churches were in the urban areas. But as middle/upper class parishioners left town, the congregations left with them. This ecclesiological sprawl could have been the nail in the coffin of the city's success.

Areas that were once affluent, areas that boasted large homes, were abandoned and soon became slums [the poor couldn't afford automobiles and, thus, couldn't leave the city center and public transportation]. Social-economic segregation became the norm and certain areas became the "bad part" of town. The public school system, already struggling, continued to decline rapidly. And while politicians and public officials offered various solutions to the problem, none of them worked.

And some who left the city would begin to spread a doctrine of fear about it. Wheras the phrase "suburban" was derived from "less than urban," the tables were now turned. So how did we get from this point to a renewed interest in urbanism? More on that in part four.

Information about the local interstate found at Cincinnati-Transit.

Urban Cincinnati [Part Two]

In the early twentieth century, despite a decline in growth as the country countined to spread west, Cincinnati was in decent shape. Sure, a corrupt political machine was in control of local affairs, but the city was still able to thrive. Even in the midst of the Great Depression [1925] the city released a master plan of the future, the first major American city to do so. During the tumultuous years of the Second World War city leaders began to anticipate the return of over 50,000 servicemen to the city; they felt they had to do something to steer the future of the city for their sake. They began to research in 1944 and, four years later, the 1948 Cincinnati Metropolitan Master Plan was released. This is the plan that made Cincinnati what it is today.

Here's what they came up with: even though their was an elaborate [and rather successful] street car system stretching as far as Lockland, city planners believed the automobile was the method of transportation in the future, making streetcars obsolete. Whereas a streetcar could get you within block of your home, an automobile could get you to your driveway. Planners reasoned that since the car was the future, people would no longer be limited by public transportation as to where they could live.

So the 1948 Master Plan suggested that areas near downtown should be prepared to become predominantly commercial and industrial; that the city core would be the place where people work. Then, residents could hop in their cars and go their homes outside the city. While fewer residents would seem problematic, city planners weren't detered because they would still be able to to receive tax revenues from these businesses. So they began the process to create a central business district.

A prime target of this was a community known West End, the area immediately west of the downtown area in which many slums were located. The Cincinnati Post comments that the plan included "tearing down the West End (now known as Queensgate) and reconfiguring the street patterns so as to merge six or eight city blocks into super blocks. Each super block was to be the home of a new multi-story factory. Fifty years later, no multi-story factory has been built because multi-story factories were not being built by manufacturers at the time the economic development department came up with this scheme." Portions of this area also became the route that Interstate 75 took through the Mill Creek Valley.

But the plan called for still one more construction project that, since its completion, has dominated our region. From John Emmeus Davis in his book Contested Ground [pg 123]:

“In the 1940’s, city fathers observed that the majority of residential housing was being built outside of the city proper. Far from being disturbed by such suburbanization, however, [the 1948 Master Plan] expressed a certain relief that so much land for development was still available in the city’s outlying areas. The only public intervention that was warranted was the construction of a multilane highway system to serve those areas”

This multilane highway system will be the subject of part three.

Urban Cincinnati [Part One]

One of the things I attempted to accomplish during Echo's second anniversary celebration was to explain how the landscape of the city has developed in the past 60+ years. And even though I went in-depth, there was still a lot of info I couldn't fit in during the time that I want to share here. Those Beit Carr readers who don't have Cincinnati connections might not find this information interesting, but I think it's rather relevant to our ministry here at Echo and essential to understand for all who chose to do ministry in our city. This information is the accumulative result of research I've conducted over the past few years and I'll do my best to cite the information whenever I can. That said, this isn't an academic research paper so I'm content to attribute some to "public domain." Cincinnati was founded in 1788, a military outpost in the Northwest Territory. For those true geeks, the original name given to the city was "Losantiville" a contraction of different languages and names. In relation to the mouth of the Licking River ["L" for "Licking" & "os" the Latin for "mouth"], it was opposite ["anti"] and a town ["ville"]. While the original founder of the city, John Cleves Symmes, thought that the North Bend or Columbia Tusculum areas would make a good place to start the city, the government chose to locate Fort Washington in the valley where downtown now lies. The most important geographical feature was a hill, between where 3rd and 4th streets are, that created a natural flood wall.As the nation expanded west, the city grew. By 1850, Cincinnati was the 5th biggest city in the nation. More furniture was manufactured in this city than any in the country. The "lower bowl" area [from river to Over-The-Rhine to the Mill Creek] made Cincinnati the most densely populated area in the United States. Basically untouched were Cincinnati's famous hills as no horse could really make it up the hill, making it an unviable option for inhabitation.

After the Civil War, the horsecar/street car system infiltrated the city, making transportation around town easy. And with the advent of inclines, trains were now able to get to the tops of the hills. This made expansion outside of the lower bowl possible and first ring suburbs [Clifton, Mount Auburn, and Walnut Hills] are established.

A few maps for you to illustrate this [click for larger image]:

This is what Cincinnati looked like around the turn of the 20th century. The pink lines are the street cars. You can even see some yellow lines that show the incline system. By the early 1900's, this is an expansive growing city. Areas of the lower bowl area became more dilapadated as people chose to move away from the city to build homes [sound familiar?]. Still, the city maintained a certain fluidity that could be described as "controlled sprawl."

Now let's look at the same map, this time with a close-up of the Walnut Hills area:

Streetcars dominated this part of the city. If you can see that northeast of Eden Park and just south of the cemetary [both in green] there's a rectangular train loop that ran in the Walnut Hills area. The original Walnut Hills Christian Church [the people whose church building Echo rents out every week], started over 125 years ago in this neighborhood. It’s first building was on Locust Street, now WH Taft Road, located at the top left area of the rectangle loop. So in regards to public transportation, it was incredibly accessible, right on a trolley line. Now the current WHCC building is located on East McMillan, at the bottom right corner of the loop, yes, right on the same line; you could get off the trolley and walk straight into the church building. That’s why, in the first fifty plus years of the church, it was one of the more affluent Protestant congregations in the city: nobody drove a car, everyone lived in the city, and they relied on public transportation to get them from place to place.

But it wasn't the advent of the car that changed the landscape here. There were other circumstances at work. Things didn't really begin to change until after World War 2. More on this in the next part of the series.

Maps from the Historical Atlas of Cincinnati Website.

Don't Look Now . . .

. . . but Brian Kelly is laying the foundation for a tremendous program at UC. Who could've imagined that they would sell out three [possibly four] games at Nippert, especially considering they average one a sell-out a decade? And just this afternoon they had Notre Dame's season starting QB transfer into the program. I know, the Irish are horrible this year but I really think Demitrius Jones could end up being the best UC QB since Greg Cook. Sure, Mark Dantonio began the building process but Kelly's the perfect personality to make program legit. If they can hang on to the coach long term, I think these guys could eventually make a BCS bowl game.

Bandwagon Openings Now Available

So the Bengals lose another one and the city goes crazy. A 1-2 record doesn't look quite as bad compared to preseason playoff picks St Louis and New Orleans being 0-3. But in Cincinnati, it's cause for emotional distress. If you're unfamiliar with our town you might wonder why we're like this. Simple answer: The 1990's.

After beginning the decade with some strong teams we witnessed firsthand some of the worst football possible. Owner/GM Mike Brown had the football name but none of the capabilities of his father, the great Paul Brown. The Bengals would find ways to lose games. First round draft picks were useless: David Klinger is now in Seminary, Ki-Jana Carter was hurt before he played a game, Dan Wilkinson was "Big Daddy Bust," Akili Smith was drafted before Edgerrin James, Torry Holt, Champ Bailey, and Jevon Kearse. It couldn't get much worse.

The came Marvin Lewis.

It was a breath of fresh air. Carson Palmer, a complete quarterback, was drafted and has embraced the city. Despite not achieving complete glory, Lewis has yet to have a losing season. Bengals fans began sensing a change, some hope; we were no longer the biggest losers. And, if not for an unfortunate injury to Carson, perhaps we even get to the Super Bowl.

But then last year happened. Everything that could go wrong did. It had a certain similarity to the 1990's. People doubted a little but held out hope. And then this year begins at 1-2, with a couple of losses where nothing feels right, and Bengals fans are again manic. People want Marvin fired [interesting as the only constant during this time has been the inept leadership of Mike Brown]. But I'm here to tell you:

Things . . . Will . . . Be . . . Fine.

And you heard it here first: they will win this Monday night against the Patriots.

It seems inconceivable, but they will. The Patriots can be beat and this is the perfect opportunity, with the Bengals reeling, for it to happen. And if nothing else assures me of this, it was a simple gesture by Carson Palmer. After Glenn Holt fumbled away the kick-off at the end of the game when the Bengals had three time outs and a minute to drive for a score, you knew he was down. While Holt has become a surprise go-to guy in situations the past two seasons, this was a game changing mistake. But there goes Carson, right after Holt screwed the pooch, to console his teammate. Those Bengals fans who've watched this team for the past two decades will attest that we haven't had that type of guy here since . . . well, Boomer Esiason.

This ship will be righted. The Bengals will make the play-offs And 1-2 will be a forgotten memory. For this reason I am opening up seats on the bandwagon a little early. This way you can get some premium seating while all the late-comers will be hanging on the sides.

It'll be a nice ride, I promise.

Weekend Recap

Wednesday night is a little late to get this up, but we went non-stop last weekend enjoying two really cool events. The first was the Walnut Hills Festival. It resumed this year after a 15 year hiatus. It took place in the "rough part" of Walnut Hills but that didn't deter people from attending. Larry [good friend and our children's guy] and I helped out with odds and ends, running errands and managing the main stage. We received incredibly too much credit for little work. Talking with the lady who organized it, I think Echo will have a strong presence in helping out with it next year.

The second was my home church's 50-year anniversary. It was cool to reconnect with people that haven't seen me since I was a teenager [I think some were astonished that I found someone gullible enough to marry me]. I kept thinking what it will be like when Echo turns 50 but, then again, I might not be alive then.

This week isn't going to slow down, either. We have the Rett fundraiser Saturday and Echo's anniversary on Sunday.

We don't stop.

In The Meantime . . .

. . . while I formulate some of the longer posts lurking in my mind, I offer these t-shirts that are available to purchase here in Cincinnati. If you're not a local you might not find these interesting but those people familiar with the Nati must puruse and decide when we'll make a field trip to buy some. p.s. Some of them are PG-13 and not appropriate to wear to a Carmen concert.

Future Hall of Famer

I'm still glad I was able to pick up good neighbor Chad Johnson on my fantasy team. Last night we were coming home from church, like most ministry couples, in separate cars. We usually talk on on the phone en route to catch up on our evenings. Coming up the hill I noticed a Rolls Royce ready to pull out from Chad's street. He pulled out between Kelly and me and then headed up Gilbert Avenue.

I wasn't 100% sure it was Chad until I came across this photo online. Yeah, Ocho-Cinco is travelin' in style. Next time I see him, I'll pull up and ask for Grey Poupon. As long as he keeps racking up those fantasy points, he can drive whatever he wants.

Hoping he can put up a couple more TDs in the second half.

The Church And The Poor

Let's talk about something that people are uncomfortable talking about. This nature of this snippet in the Enquirer bothers me. The title of the article is "Panhandler Arrested In Church" which is sure to capture attention. Apparently this guy had done this a few times before, disrupting the service so he could hit-up parishioners. Since you can't forcibly remove someone without crossing some legal lines, the police was the last resort. Already there are people willing to jump on this church as being heartless and I'm sure there are more to come. It seems counterintuitive that a church would be so heartless as to call the authorities because a homeless guy wanted some money but some people have no idea what it's like being a church in the city.

Think about a similar situation: where else could an individual disrupt a gathering on multiple occasions and face no consequences? Most likely, if he had done so during a meeting at a government building or a place of business, the person interrupting would be arrested on the spot. But when it comes to the church, we're supposed to suspend a worship gathering to pacify this request. Why? Because churches are supposed to "be like Jesus" and care for the poor. And when they're biligerant we should turn the other cheek and let the disruptive person have their way in our gatherings.

That sounds about right. And maybe they can dance naked in the aisles too. As we approach the completion of our second year of ministry in Walnut Hills I've can attest that virtually everyone that wants a handout feels it's the most important thing happening in the world at the time; many times they're insistent that their need should be resolved immediately, regardless of what you're doing. We've had people on multiple occasions try to interrupt our service, wanting to speak with me in the middle of preaching, so they could make their plea. We ask them to sit through our worship and we'll get to them when we're done. Granted, some are patient enough to wait but others get pissed because they want what they want now. So if someone in need will not respect this one stipulation we have, why do we have to succumb to them? Oh, because we're a church, and that's what Jesus would do.

I would argue that the primary purpose of a church is to worship the living God. One of the main expressions of this is our worship gathering. While we can also do this by ministering to the poor, that is not our only directive*. In fact, despite the theological positions of some, Scripture does not list the eradication of poverty as the primary purpose of the body of Christ. While we continually do our part to serve our community we still hold that we're to teach the embodiement of Jesus as the true release that people need. We have our priorities and those requesting assistance can at least respect them.

People outside the church are constantly wanting to expose the apparent hypocricies within it. And since there are always the needy among us this is an easy target. But those on the outside have no idea how volitile these situations are.

We had this guy who was constantly looking for handouts come to our church. We did our best to help him out but sometimes said no because we knew he was an addict. A two separate occasions we caught him attempting to steal from the church we rent yet didn't call the police. One night he was particularly insistent when we told him he wouldn't get any money and he decided to steal money from the offering box. Again, we didn't call the police and tried to "restore him Biblically" but we really didn't see him much more. Apparently he got caught stealing [for the umteenth time] and is still in the county lock-up.

In the long run, did we help him out or not? Tough call but it's not ours to make. We'll use our best judgement to help when and where we can but there's no hard/fast rule. But we will not allow someone to manipulate us into making themselves priority number one. We will always reserve the right to say no. And if you've never said no, then you really have no room to criticize.

This is a part of life living in the city. We do our best but understand that an unlimited supply of handouts still would not solve the problems that people face and/or create.

Until you're ministering in the city and experience the week-to-week struggle, you should probably reserve judgement on the matter.

*There are plenty of social service agencies whose main purpose is assist the poor; there are hundreds in Walnut Hills alone. Despite this fact, there is still a problem with people in need. One of the driving reasons in our community is that there are people manipulating the system. They can get government assistance on which to make it by and anything they can panhandle can go to purchase of non-government subsidized purchases [i.e., alcohol]. We do not use this as an excuse not to help, but it's a situation that needs to be recognized. At Echo we try to be deliberate between situations because constantly giving hand-outs to people who are disingenuous is actually more harmful than helpful.