Hopeless To Hopeful (50 Year Old College Student…)
Today was a big day. As many of you know we just got back off of our ten day tour for Remedy last week. It was quite the adventure, but the whole premise of the tour was to raise funds to get our homeless friend Kyle off the streets. To our surprise we raised three more thousand dollars than we had even hoped to raise and raised just at $7000. A lot of people have been asking what next. Well…I am glad you asked.
We have been in contact with an organization in Ft. Worth, TX called Cornerstone. They have a Transitional Housing Program for homeless men to get them back into society. They offer them a college education at any level they want, give them housing, job placement and at the end of their college life they help them find and purchase a place to live.
Today was Kyle’s interview. For the past few days he has been sketchy at best about this program. He has had numerous bad experiences with what he thought were similar programs. His life has been spent being picked up and dropped off at temporary housing programs with little to no help. Their only desire was to drop the homeless number, but not to help the individual. So when we pulled up to the house Kyle was in a questionable mood. He was somber and was showing hints of attitude on his face. We walked into the office and sat across from Marc. He would be conducting Kyle’s interview. He asked some questions and longed to hear more of Kyle’s story. He, like many others we have seen, hung on every word of his story. Afterward we had the pleasure of meeting the head of the mission, a guy by the name of Phillip. He was brilliant and his passion came through. All of a sudden in the middle Phillip sharing his love and vision for the homeless with us I saw a look of relief come over Kyle’s face. In a moments notice he had realized that maybe, just maybe, he had a chance at a new beginning in life. I saw the stress and apprehension leave his face and a peace and joy welled up.
We took a tour of their incredible facility and I could see even more so that Kyle was getting a little excited. He was like a high school senior visiting the college dorm room he was going to live in the next school year. He began to talk about how he would decorate his space and what kind of job he would like to have. All of a sudden the dreamless man I knew was dreaming big dreams about a new life and a new future with a new hope.
Many of you are reading this and asking what is next…well…here is the run down of what has to happen:
1. Kyle must apply for Pell Grants and enroll in classes at Tarrant County College (which he is doing tomorrow)
2. Once all the paper work goes through we go back to Cornerstone and walk through that very paper work
3. Once a room opens (which is a month to two months away) he will move into the housing at Cornerstone
4. Until that time our good friend Nathan has been gracious enough to offer his house and spare room as a place for him to stay.
5. Once he enters the dorms of Cornerstone he will have work through the colleges work study program
6. His rent at Cornerstone is $50 per month
7. His work study will pay him $500-600 per month.
8. He will be responsible for paying for his food and basic needs
9. His schedule is his to keep.
10. At the end of his schooling he will have three months and help from the program to find a job and housing.
As of today they are very excited to see Kyle enter their program. As of today Kyle is excited to enter their program. All of a sudden the 50 year old hopeless and homeless friend of mine is about to be a 50 year old college student and more importantly, a man full of hope. The road ahead is a tough one, but one at the moment, he is willing to walk. I believe that he is more than ready and I think for the first time in a long time he believes that too. Please keep praying and checking back for updates as to what is happening along the way.
-Wearing The Hearts Of Others On My Sleeve-
-Trevor-
Completely Wrecked and Humiliated…
Over the past ten days I have had the unbelievable opportunity to travel across the country in a tour bus with nine other souls. Our journey has been an incredible one to say the least. One of my favorite stops on the tour was at Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN. Pete Wilson and his amazing team welcomed us with open arms and made us feel even more like we were apart of their vision as a church. While there I met an incredible young woman by the name of Sailor Scott. Little did I know that she would write and article about me and our ministry that would completely wreck and humiliate me...in a good way. You can check it out HERE!!! Please go and support this amazing woman's ministry. Thanks again to all my friends at Cross Point that welcomed us and made us feel like family.
To the Bergstrom family...you will never know how much I love and adore you guys. My life will never be the same as a result of knowing and doing life with you all. You girls are amazing and your house is so not a house...it truly is a home, and I have never felt so at home in a place that was not my own. Thanks for your friendship and thanks for your continual hospitality to us and the least of these. PS. I love Brett this much as well. Any brother of yours will be a brother of mine. LOVE YA!!!
With all that said please read Sailors blog and give her some props and love:
Nashville Part II
Second on the schedule in Nashville was Cross Point Church. We had a great night there. There was an energy in the room that seemed contagious. The response from the students in the audience was inspiring and exciting--it seemed like the message of hearing the song of the oppressed was heard loud and clear on this particular night.
There was a lot of focus on risk that night; that Kyle is taking a risk on us, and we are taking a risk on Kyle. I love the idea of risk being a key factor in any human relationship.
I've been impressed all week by Trevor and Jeremy's willingness to risk; to get on a tour bus, invite a team of volunteers, and attempt something big. To risk sleeping in coffin-sized bunks, to risk going to Indiana when it's 30 degrees...
In all seriousness, it's been inspiring to watch the team risk this week.
Thanks to Cross Point for having us....more thoughts to come.
-julie
Nashville Part 1
The first order of business in Nashville was at Emmaus, a really cool community of folks that meet together on Sundays. Their space was vibey and they were really welcoming to us. We did a scaled down version of our regular presentation, which went well. This sweet community has a heart for justice and we had a great time meeting them and spending a quick Sunday morning with them. Every Sunday morning they meet together and assemble food packets to take to the homeless. Then they return to their meeting place and have their church service. It's awesome to see people taking care of people.
[Q&A with Kyle]
-julie
Willing to See
[Q&A with Kyle in Lafayette, IN]
During the Q&A time in Lafayette, Kyle said something that I can't stop thinking about. Trevor and Jeremy asked him to describe part of what being homeless was like, how he felt, how he was treated, etc. He began to describe the different avoidance techniques people have seemed to master when it comes to ignoring a homeless person, and he said, "They will find something to look at besides you."
Jeremy talks about how easy it is to find things to distract yourself with when you're stopped at a traffic light and a homeless person is standing nearby. It's easy to play with the radio, to check your phone, or look away. It's easy to find anything else to look at, just like Kyle said.
I think there are a lot of reasons for our tendency to look away. Some of them are selfish. Some of them are fearful. And maybe part of it is because we honestly don't know what to do. It's hard to see someone in need and not know how to truly be helpful. It's as though you can't win--because the quick fix of handing out spare change doesn't do anyone any good, and the process of actually helping a homeless person to get back on their feet in society is such a complicated, multi-faceted process that we feel unempowered. It's just easier to look away.
It reminded me of what the author Henri Nouwen wrote in his book, Reaching Out:
Maybe, for the time being, we have to accept the many fluctuations between knowing and not knowing, seeing and not seeing, feeling and not feeling, between days in which the whole world seems like a rose garden and days in which our hearts seem tied to a millstone, between moments of ecstatic joy and moments of gloomy depression, between the humble confession that the newspaper holds more than our souls can bear and the realization that it is only through facing up to the reality of our world that we can grow into our responsibility. What keeps us from opening ourselves to the reality of the world? Could it be that we cannot accept our powerlessness and are only willing to see those wounds that we can heal?
But when you turn and look, and when you stop and listen, it turns out we actually can do something. It's not easy, but making it easy isn't necessarily the point. Maybe we just take it one story at a time.
-julie
Why do numbers matter?
After a great run in Joplin, we drove up to Connexions Christian Ministries in Lafayette, Indiana.
Approximately 15 minutes to start time, there was approximately no one there. Of course it's everyone's hope for a good turnout, but it was really interesting to observe everyone's reactions to the fact that no one was there, 15 minutes to start.
Anxious.
As people slowly began to trickle in, I started to wonder, why do numbers matter? I'm a musician, and I always hope that people will come to my shows--and obviously, the more the better. I always have to remind myself that if I'm playing good music, then it's always worth it, it doesn't matter how many people are listening. Good music is always worth it. But the music must be good. It's up to me as the performer to decide if it's going to be worth it. The responsibility is still mine.
So, if one person were to have attended last night, it would only matter if everyone gave their all. And no doubt, everyone did. It was great. There turned out to be just under 40 attendees, and they were excited. And it was worth it.
They were generous to us and to Kyle, and wanted to get to work in Lafayette to start changing their city.
So, why do numbers matter?
Ego, maybe.
But last night, they didn't matter.
-julie
From the road…
Hi all--I'm Julie, and I'll be filling you all in on the happenings of The Forgotten Tour while we're on the road. I'll share some photos, stories, thoughts, maybe an embarrassing moment or two....
We're currently hanging on the bus in Lafayette, Indiana, about to do a show in a couple hours. I'll be back around soon, but wanted to introduce myself and say hello!
I hope the guys don't regret giving me the username and password to the blog, because this is going to be superfantastic. Thumbs up.
