spendyourself.org

It’s 3:08 am as I write this…  I can’t sleep…  I woke up at about 2:00 am or so, my heart so burdened, the weight of  leaving Newark becoming heavier and heavier on my heart as our departure draws closer.  I find myself asking God why? “Why are you leading us away from this place where we have spent the last seven years of our lives pouring into the kids of this community, building a youth center, changing a neighborhood….?”  Each one of these kids has become like our own children, each one so important to us.  Flesh of our flesh, fellow human beings, made in the image of God.

Some of these kids have been raped… violated by adults and others who where supposed to care for them… Many of these kids are fatherless, abandoned by an earthly father of selfishness…. All of these kids are poor…  Maybe not compared to the kids in Haiti, but compared to the way I grew up and the standard of our country, poor… All of these kids need Jesus. I think of their lives and imagine them in 20 years.  Are we abandoning them…  Am I turning away?  Is leaving them to further my education so I can church plant and duplicate better what has been done here the right choice?  I keep asking myself that question. I keep checking my motives…   This is the hardest thing I have ever done.  Yesterday a kid hugged me and said he wasn’t going to let me leave… I wept…  I don’t want to leave, how can I leave…?  But God keeps reminding me to trust Him, and trust His people to step up and continue to serve the poor, broken and marginalized kids of Newark while we are gone.

Looking into the eyes of my youngest daughter Katy-Grace in the picture above, I can’t imagine going away from her.  I mean look at her.  She’s beautiful.  (Not to be proud or anything)  I see her mother’s feature and I love her and would never want to leave her… As I look at all these pictures of these precious kids below attending our summer camp my heart aches in a similar way.  I see their Father’s Features…Yes, they are not my very own, my DNA does not run through their blood, but God’s does…  They are His children and He will never leave them.  This ministry belongs to God and even though I leave, God will not.  He will still work in this place. “Greater things have yet to come in this city…”

These kids are our flesh and blood…. they belong to all of us.  They are made in the image of God and precious to their Father in heaven. They are the least of these in our country, the marginalized and forgotten…  They are inner city kids of Newark NJ… As of right now, 39 of these precious kids still need to get sponsored for summer camp.  Our summer camp starts in 8 days and as usual we have no idea how we are going to fund it.  God has supplied an amazing team of people who are stepping up to pour their hearts into these kids, but it seems He has not raised up the people to fund it. yet….

So now I ask the people of God, on behalf of my children here in Newark… your children here in Newark…  ”Will you turn from your own flesh and blood?”  You may not know these kids personally, but I do, and I plead on their behalf.  I ask for your help.  I am asking the Church of Jesus Christ, and everyone I know for that matter to come along side us and redeem Newark by redeeming the next generation… Join us in this mission to make right what has been broken by the sin and the selfishness of the human condition.  As Isaiah says later in the 58th chapter: “Spend Yourself on the hungry.”  This is an invitation to join God in the amazing redemption work He is going to do this summer.  The amazing work He already has done when He spent Himself by coming to our broken planet in the person of Jesus Christ to lay down His life on the cross for our sin.

There are so many ways to help.  Right now our biggest need is $15,000 to run this summer camp for the 45 kids and 12 teen staff God has brought us.  Can we raise that in 8 days?  I believe God can.  That seems like a lot, but it really isn’t if you think about it.

If half the people reading this were willing to sacrificed a pizza, or a trip to the movies, or a few trips to Starbucks than all these kids would have a 6 week long summer camp experience permeated with the love of Christ developing them for God’s Glory and the redemption and joy of their community.

We have made it as easy as ever to sponsor kids or even form an online team that can raise funds for them if you can’t personally give.  I stayed up many a night building this website so I could leave an effective tool to help people help kids in Newark.

Please go to our summer camp website and help… in any way you can.

For the King and the Kingdom,

Danny Iverson

Tara Thompson is a student very committed to coming to Newark and serving the kids of the community this summer.

Here’s a blurb from her support letter.

“The first time I stepped into the Housing Projects of Newark, New Jersey I knew I had been completely mistaken in what I had expected. Some of my expectations were accurate of course, it was very poor looking, there were win- dows that were cracked and broken, trash scattered everywhere you turned, and everything seemed to be withering, all the doors, stairs, etc.. However, what I hadn’t expected was the laughter I heard when I entered into the court- yard, laughter that was so innocent and beautiful! It was then, when I saw these beautiful, innocent children laugh- ing as they threw snow balls at each other, that I could take a sigh of relief. Despite the sadness, and the living con- ditions, there was laughter, which meant there was hope.”

Connect with Tara on FaceBook

Here’s Tara Thompson’s support letter.  It is an awesome letter and so inspiring. So support her if you can to help her reach her fundraising goal by Clicking Below.

What a glorious day this was.  Anthony Metrocavage, one of our youth just made a music video of the service.  Next to my wedding, I would say this was one of the most spirit filled worship services I’ve ever been a part of. I really sensed the power of God as I baptized these kids.   Trinity Church recently decided to both splash and dunk and I think that was  good decision.  While Reformed Churches as a whole usually only splash, in the city most people think of baptism as dunking.  Our leadership figured it would be a good idea to let our people choose how they wanted to do it and to also use this as a chance to help show what really matters; that baptism is indeed an outward sign of an inner faith.  That the mode through which you are baptize isn’t what makes it work, but rather is merely a sign of the seal of the Holy Spirt and the power of Jesus to cleanse us and make us new.

God is good!  Oh how he loves us…

I am amazed at the everyday “Kingdom Preparation” that happens in our lives as we live and interact in this world. The Gospel is actualized in us through the mundane things of life, the everyday parables that only those with “eyes to see” can decode and learn from.  I think my eyes are starting to open… I pray they continue to.

One sunday after our worship celebration I ran into my friend John, a middle-aged man who has seizures quite frequently and needs his medication if he is going to hold a job or merely survive.  He told me his medication was out and that he had no money to get it. This is the story of many people in my community. I didn’t have any money and the pharmacy was closed anyway, so I told him to hit up Pastor Walter and if He couldn’t help him I would help him later in the week once I got a few bucks… Then we had a time of prayer (he prayed the sweetest prayer for me and my family and for Kimberly who was feeling really sick) and we parted ways.

Fast-forward to wednesday…  Pastor Walter and I were getting ready to leave for a prayer and planning retreat in the gorgeous Pocono mountains (something pastors are supposed to do… it’s in our job description). I was already running late.  Who should I run into but John, walking hand in hand with his fiance. My selfish heart immediately sunk because I knew he had a need. I knew I had promised to help him. I also knew I had the money on me to do it, but I really didn’t want to.  In my mind I started listing every excuse I could to convince myself that helping him in this moment would not be the right use of my precious time.  I tried my best to weasel out of loving my neighbor to the same extent I would want to be loved if I was in his shoes and he was in mine.  It didn’t work so well.

Fortunately, the Holy Spirit doesn’t let those excuses add up and they really didn’t. So I was a good obedient pastor (though my heart was still not in it yet) and pulled my car over. I told them to get in and said I would take him to the pharmacy to get the meds. I made sure to include that I was in a rush. He was so elated and promised it wouldn’t take long.

We went to the pharmacy across from our church building and sure enough, it took long…  I should have known. Nothing “doesn’t take long” in Newark (except getting mugged). My schedule was in shambles, and I stood there tapping my foot with a “you said it wouldn’t take long” look on my face as I texted my excuse to my missed appointment. In my mind I was thinking, “why am I helping this guy, it’s his own fault he can’t get his medication.  He needs to grow up and stop relying on other people for help. He needs to get his act together. How dare he lie to me and say it wouldn’t take long. Doesn’t he know I am an important person and have more important things to do.”

As I stood there frustrated I looked over at John and saw in his eyes the pain he was feeling at having to make his friend wait.  His hand was shaking and he was frantically looking over the counter; his own awkward way of trying to encourage the pharmacy person to hurry… He looked over at me sadly and said “sorry this is taking so long, but thanks so much for helping me.”

My heart melted, and I felt once again the power of the Gospel being preached to me by the least of these. Jesus was there and Jesus was teaching me something…  He was drawing me near to himself and was bringing my heart into true communion with Him. I just hadn’t seen it yet… I wasn’t going to get any closer to God up in the Poconos, praying and fasting, than I would right there in that pharmacy, pissed off and angry. I didn’t need to go up to the mountains and listen to more Tim Keller sermons about serving the poor, I needed to let Jesus preach to me through John, and truly learn how to love my neighbor by actually doing it.

I can’t help but laugh mockingly at the pointless anger and selfishness in my heart. I also laugh out of sheer joy for the redemptive work of Christ being actualized in my innermost in that moment.  Here I am, getting ready to leave on a retreat to draw near to God so that I can better serve the poor, broken and marginalized of my community and God throws a wrench in my plans by sending a poor needy person my way. What do I do? I get angry, frustrated and even bitter toward God and my neighbor.

Amazing isn’t it?   I am a Reformed Pastor so I am really supposed to believe that God is sovereign and works all things for our good… That’s in our doctrine. But I really didn’t and my attitude showed it. I might actually be sicker than John is.

Fortunately the Spirit doesn’t let our guilt add up either… The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord brings good news for a poor, faithless and sick sinner like me…  How? In Jesus, the anointed servant, the bread of heaven who came to heal the sick; to heal me and John from all our diseases.  You see, Jesus doesn’t act the way I do…

So what does Jesus do and how did He act that day? Well, He waited patiently with me for my medicine; medicine I needed to get that I hadn’t received yet that day. Medicine He chose to purchase for me with his own blood that slowly drained from his body as He hung on the cross. The Medicine of Heaven – an eternal remedy that is healing me forever… The Good News that God is healing and will heal us from all our diseases, inside and out. He will redeem us, even at an infinite cost to Himself. This is medicine for life.  Jesus waits with me everyday, patiently enduring my unbelief, and the sickness of my sin,  lovingly waiting for me to truly get “it” and believe the covenant promises of God’s redeeming love. Heaven’s remedy allows me to TRULY LIVE and abide in the will of God, and Jesus is the way I can get it.  There’s no way I can manufacture my own remedy to heal my unbelieving heart, I need the pharmacy of heaven to give me it’s manna everyday, and Jesus has bought an eternal health plan for me through His atoning sacrifice… The best news is that it’s free.

The problem is that I try so many false medications to deal with my sickness. My schedule and my religion are a few of the many…  If I could just be more organized, busy, efficient or if I could just do more for God- preach a better sermon or pray more… then I can be healed, Newark can be changed, and this world will be redeemed…  No, my false medications continue to fail on every level. Yet especially in my failure and “seizures” the love of God has a chance to seize my heart afresh and reminds me of what really matters.

Jesus is always amongst the poor and needy. I got to commune with my Savior as I stood there waiting with my blood-bought brother John, both of us poor and in need of mercy. I felt repentance wash through me. I felt fresh joy and faith in God flood my soul.  As we stood there waiting, talking and laughing, that pharmacy became a sanctuary. We worshipped our God together; each of us thankful in different ways for how our Father in heaven was providing the medicine we needed.

Sabbatical…..  yes this is true.  Our board and various other leaders in my life have decided to send us on a 6 week sabbatical to write, rest, reconnect as a family and seek fresh vision and direction from the LORD.  We will be in Virginia for two weeks with Kimberly’s father and then go up to Cape Cod Massachusetts for the remaining month.  Kimberly’s extended family lives there and has been gracious to let us stay in one of their cottages on the beach during this off season when people don’t usually rent.  I will be focusing a lot on reading, study,  and writing a book about incarnational ministry that I have been working on here and there but have not had a chance to focus on and finish.  I also brought my musical gear and will have time to write and record some songs, another thing that really helps me connect to my Creator.  My phone will be off till November 14th, but I will be checking email, and facebook every few days or so.  I will not answer ministry related stuff unless it is urgent.  Please direct any ministry related things to Pastor Walter Howard.  His cell is 973-932-7098  and his email is poppahoward@gmail.com.  It is hard for me to leave at this time, but after 6 years of ministry and a tired out spirit that has dealt with this sickness, I am accepting this assignment with joy and looking forward to what God will harvest from our lives through this.

I don’t always understand why things happen the way they do and why God has allowed me to go through what I have been through these last 2 months. I might never fully get it this side of eternal glory…  I do want to share with you dear friends some of the things I am starting to understand…

Sometimes God has us on our backs for a reason.  For those of you who haven’t heard,  I was infected with MRSA on my nose at the beginning of August and we have been battling this life threatening and extremely painful infection ever since.  After nearly two months of struggle, 4 emergency room visits, 8 different antibiotics, a PIC line going to my heart, being admitted to the hospital twice and lots of pain it seems that God has seen it fit to bring me through this season of suffering.  My infectious disease doctor believed I needed to have a final surgery to remove a remaining lump in the tissue of my nose. She believed it still had the MRSA infection in it and that the antibiotics didn’t seem to heal it fully.  I waited two weeks and saw an ear nose and throat specialist yesterday and he said the lump was nearly gone and seems to be healing.  He saw no need now to cut it out. I am very thankful that I won’t be getting a Micahel Jackscon nose anytime soon, and despite some slight scarring from the infection, my wife still likes to look at me (or she is just really good at keeping her wedding vows….you know,  the part about in sickness and in health) I am still feeling tired and dealing with some of the side affects of the numerous and intense drugs I was on but I feel good in Spirit and excited about the next steps of this journey.  It has been a hard two months and we have felt many attacks.  I broke up a fight right before I got sick and few days later our Mini-van was vandalized.  All the oil had been purposely drained from it and when we drove it the whole engine seized within a minute and we had to get a new one put in. A nice 3 week long ordeal…  last month my beautiful two year old daughter Trinity did a not-so-cute thing and pulled my laptop off my desk and broke it.  (it still kinda works)  Fortunately for us,  we have insurance all three of these expensive disasters, but the co-pays, deductibles and co-insurance payments have hit us really hard financially.  I don’t write of these hardships to complain but rather to rejoice… Yes, somewhere in the depths of this sinful self-centered soul of mine, God has brought great joy and deeper levels of faith and repentance in my life through this suffering and these experiences…  if you want to keep reading I’ll explain some of things God has been teaching me through this whole thing.  I know once I get going I tend to write a lot so if you don’t want to read some of my journal entries and thoughts that is fine, though I pray that you would and be encouraged and drawn closer to Jesus through what he has taught me.  If you are not so inclined please do skip down to the end and at least read about the ministry and what is happening and how you can pray/help.

A Lamentation of Joy.

The great Scottish Pastor Robert Murray McCheyne of the 1800s spent a chunk of his thriving ministry on his back deathly sick. He ended up going to be with the LORD at age 29.  He writes about how God saw it fit to grow his ministry in Dundee Scotland while he was out of the picture. All he could do was pray and connect with God.   During that time, God grew his ministry more than when he was preaching…  I have felt that way these last two months.  Despite me being out of the picture great things have happened in Newark that I couldn’t even imagine.  The community is changing and the people are growing together in faith. People are stepping up and leading unlike I have ever seen before. It is an awesome thing to witness and I praise God for this.

I have also begun a new season of seeking to be more intimate with the Lord than ever before.  It is interesting how a person can do “church work” and be far from the heart of God.  I see that tendency in myself.  So quickly I focus on the ministry of God instead of just “being” with Him and seeking Him for the sake of seeking Him.  I have to confess, these last few years have been dry ones for my own personal study, prayer life, and personal time with God. I’ll study and pray like my job depended on it, since it does, but just enough so I can do my work and feel successful and appear holy to the people that look up to me. I have taken seminary classes, preached over 100 sermons, led Bible studies and shared the Gospel with my community, yet fallen short in the most important area of deep personal devotion with my God and deep personal prayer for others.  I struggle so much within the business of this ministry to take the time to be with my First Love and really sit at His feet, learn His ways and rejoice in His promises.  I have gotten so self absorbed and focused on “ministry,” so enamored and confident in myself and my ability to minister the Gospel, that I have barely prayed the way I should for my flock.  The last few years, my personal devotions have become a habitual fast food dining experience.  Instead of sitting down daily to the feast that God has laid out before me in His Word, and taking my time to read and meditate on it,  I go through the drive-through and eat while I am on the move…  It may make me feel full and give me some spiritual nutrients to get through the day, but in the end in leaves me spiritually lazy, a bit indigested, and not nearly equipped to handle life in a way that will honor God and bring joy to my neighbor.  It’s kind of like that movie “Super Size me.” The guy making the documentary on fast food eats only McDonald’s for along period of time and nearly dies.  Putting ministry before my own spiritual health has cost me these last few years I am afraid…  I find my heart so quickly getting bitter and judgmental …  I find my joy fluctuating based on circumstance and I tend to overwork in order to compensate.   Instead of slowing down and focusing on what really matters, I tend to speed up and take on more than I can handle to try and justify the way I am feeling and counteract the bitterness of ministry with more activity.

During my leisure time and Sabbath, I have formed very unhealthy habits of going to media and entertainment to find my rest and relaxation instead of Christ…  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think movies or TV are bad (I do enjoy Hulu), but when that is where I find myself naturally going to try and rest, there is a problem.  I really saw this the first week of being sick.  My heart got so bitter and as I lay there in bed away from my ministry (eventually in the hospital), I didn’t even want to read the Word, pray or even talk to people about God.  All I did was watch movies, sleep, and complain.  My heart became so hard and I can’t believe some of the doubts and thoughts that went through my brain.  I wanted to give up, just walk away from everything and not care anymore.

After being admitted  to the hospital and finding out I had a potentially life threatening infection my heart became a little bit stirred.  My grandfather came to visit me and brought with him the grace-filled message of the Gospel that he so consistently bears. He reminded me of the Good News in his tender yet firm way.  He also called my heart to repentance and would not let his grandson make excuses for anything.  How I needed that correction, that realigning of my heart, that complaining, self-absorbed spirit silenced by a grandfather’s tender and firm hand.

As my wife and kids came to see me I couldn’t help but cry.  I looked at my son and realized how badly I wanted him to know Jesus and how badly I wanted to see him grow up.  I realized lots of things. I wanted to be a better father. I had been such a bad example to him.  How often he saw his daddy come home from a hard day of work and crash into the arms of his lap-top, putting on his headphones and shutting himself away from his family.  Instead of seeing a father excited and filled with the Spirit of God, he was witnessing a burnt out pastor addicted to movies. That’s not the dad I want to be… That is not the dad I am going to be by God’s grace.

My body needed this physical sickness to help heal the spiritual disease of my heart, and God knew that.  I didn’t understand why He would shut me down right at the end of such an awesome summer of ministry.  Why would God lay me aside and allow such a random disease to afflict me and stop me in my tracks?…. Doesn’t He need me to save the world?…. or at least Newark?…  Doesn’t He owe me good health and a happy life for all the ways I serve Him day in and day out?…  No…. he doesn’t….   He wants my heart to love Him and know Him.  He doesn’t want my works…. he doesn’t want anything but me…  God wants me completely…. He wants me to be in His presence, to delight in Him above all else; to find eternal joy in Him and the love that He has for me as displayed in Christ’s sacrifice.  He is willing to do anything to bring me to him, even die in my place and take on my eternal infection of sin that would otherwise lead to my eternal death and ruin. The Cross has shown me this love, it has shown US this love. “By His wounds” we are indeed healed.   Yes, He loves me, and he has used MRSA to teach my doubting heart afresh of such love.  I am so excited about this new season and the great feast for my soul I am finding in God’s Word.  In God’s Word I am seeing and tasting that their is indeed a never ending spring of water that quenches my thirst; and I must drink from it daily.  McCheyne’s life spoke to me again as He write this in His journal:

“Somewhat overcome,. Let me see. There is a creeping defect here.  Humble purpose like reading of the WORD omitted. What plant can be unwatered and not wither.”

So true… How can I go so long without allowing the roots of my heart  to drink in the Water of the Word.  No wonder the weeds of this present world get in and begin to choke out my joy?  How can I have joy in the promises of God if I forget them so quickly? I am so naturally prone to not immerse myself in the ever powerful Word of God.  His Word alone has the power to trigger the hopeless  sinner’s  memory to authentically “forget not all His benefits,” to rejoice in the “mercies that are new every morning,” and that in view of such mercy to truly become a “living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God.” It is so easy for me to watch a two hour movie and entertain myself with such stories, yet so hard for me to meditate on the story of redemption for half that time and find my life satisfied there alone.

Why is it so hard to sit and be still before the Lord and allow his Word to speak to me?  I think the enemy of our souls would seek to truly undo me by cutting off my letters from home…  he will do anything he can to keep my heart from longing for home and the love found in the arms of the Father.  The best way he can do that is by keeping me out of the Word.  If he can get me to skim my bible like I did my college textbooks, just to get enough info to pass the next test, then he has succeed in keeping my heart from hearing from the Father…  The humble purpose like reading of the WORD is indeed our lifeline…  I am committing afresh to drink from such a fountain and I encourage all who are reading and have a walk with God to do the same.  Dr. Tim Keller encouraged me to stop reading God’s Word as an instruction manual that tells me what to do and how to live, but rather read it as a love story that points me to Jesus, the one who really lived and in whom all things have their being.  The more I fall in love with God’s story of redemption and the hero of the story, the more my heart will be inclined to join my Maker in becoming a part of this redemption story as it unfolds through time.

Not being in the Word makes me forget the story and paves a highway for selfish sin to travel quickly to my heart.  A heart overgrown and flourishing with the WORD of God leaves no path for sin to travel to the inner man and corrupt him.

In terms of prayer, God has used me more on my back in bed than on the field.  What great times of prayer he has given me these last few weeks. Prayer with my wife, and deep personal prayer times I have rarely known.  I felt his presence and enjoyed crying out to Him for my community and our world.  I want to see the discipline of prayer for others increase in my life.  God has used this sickness to help me learn to take my eyes off myself and focus on Him and the needs of others…

I know this has been long and probably repetitive, but this is where my heart is and what God has used this sickness to accomplish. I praise Him for this and hope that my struggle would encourage you to “Seek First the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.”

What’s next?

Sabbatical…..  yes this is true.  Our board and various other leaders in my life have decided to send us on a 6 week sabbatical to write, rest, reconnect as a family and seek fresh vision and direction from the LORD.  We will be in Virginia for two weeks with Kimberly’s father and then go up to Cape Cod Massachusetts for the remaining month.  Kimberly’s extended family lives there and has been gracious to let us stay in one of their cottages on the beach during this off season when people don’t usually rent.  I will be focusing a lot on reading, study,  and writing a book about incarnational ministry that I have been working on here and there but have not had a chance to focus on and finish.  I also brought my musical gear and will have time to write and record some songs, another thing that really helps me connect to my Creator.  My phone will be off till November 14th, but I will be checking email, and facebook every few days or so.  I will not answer ministry related stuff unless it is urgent.  Please direct any ministry related things to Pastor Walter Howard.  His cell is 973-932-7098  and his email is poppahoward@gmail.com.  It is hard for me to leave at this time, but after 6 years of ministry and a tired out spirit that has dealt with this sickness, I am accepting this assignment with joy and looking forward to what God will harvest from our lives through this.

The Report

God has raised up my staff and people from the community to lead the charge in reaching our community for His glory.  Things have grown and as we enter into the Fall we are looking at some amazing things happening.

Here is our Main Fall program and details of what it is all about.  I also attached a sheet that details all of Trinity/Safe Haven’s ministries and volunteer opportunities.  If you are in the area and want to be a part of that, please do contact the appropriate person and come and serve.

S.H.A.C. (Safe Haven After Class) - Our afterschool program for K-5th graders.  60 kids come together each day from 3:00-6:00 for a healthy snack, tutoring, homework help, spiritual instruction/development, social development, music, art, computer and dance lessons.  The program also employs 15  teens from the community to work with the kids as junior counselors.  This is a job development program changing kids lives.  Teens that otherwise might be hustling drugs and running the streets now become positive forces in society who are learning how to work and are also developing a relationship with God.  We are very excited about what God is doing. Asa Jackson is our new program director and is doing an awesome job leading this program. This is unlike anything else we have seen in Newark.  We have partnered with Against All Odds Foundation to provide excellent tutoring with qualified teachers who work with kids on a 1 on 5 ratio to help them catch up in reading and math.  AAO is hiring as well and if you have a college degree and want to tutor at-risk kids they will train you and pay $50/hour to tutor kids from our community.  Pretty sweet deal.

Here is a list of our Safe Haven staff team. Please pray for them as they reach our community. Please pray for lots of protection while I am gone and can’t lead things.  It is hard to leave but I am confident this is what God wants at this time of my life and I am also confident in my team and what God is doing in them and through them.

Asa Jackson – Program Director of Safe Haven After Class (S.H.A.C)/Guy’s bible study leader.

Josh Halinen – Program Coordinator of Safe Haven After Class (S.H.A.C)

Kortlyn Shoemaker – Art director and teen girl’s Bible study leader and Sunday School teacher

Jonathan Rudd – Youth Center Director and Studio Engineer, Bible study leader, Music ministry

Jamie Waters – Intern and Group Leader for Safe Haven After Class (S.H.A.C). He will also be working on our website and sponsorship pages.

Nelda Cerynik – Executive administrative assistant

Kathy Pedro – S.H.A.C administrator

Please also pray for the 15 youth staff working for us this year.  Our website should have profiles of them up soon.

Here is Our Trinity Staff Team (Paid and Volunteer). Please pray for them as well.

Pastor Walter Howard – Senior Pastor, Adult Ministry.

Keisha Williams – Secretary

Michael  Mitchel – Custodian

Adam Culp – Worship leader

Jerry and Valerie DeVos – Men and Women Ministries

Suzanne Lyon – Prayer Ministry

Willie Cheatham – Feeding ministry

Niki Hernez and Lilly Brown – Food Pantry

Needs

As you can imagine and as always we have huge needs.  God seems to keep providing and I praise God for all of the supporters (you) that he has raised up to pray and give toward the redemption of Newark.  Thank you so much for all you have done to support us thus far.   To our monthly supporters who have stayed with us during this hard financial season, thank you for your faithful giving.  Those that had to leave our support team, we understand and thank you for everything you have given into this ministry. We know you all are praying and we see the fruit of your support in everything that is happening.  May God continue to bless you greatly as you bless the poor here in Newark.

Our biggest need right now is funding for our after school program.

It costs close to $7,000 a month to operate SHAC and it has been really hard to raise funds these days. God is growing our ministry and outreach. We are reaching more kids and people than ever before but are also facing some big struggles.   Here is an easy way people can help.

$1 a day.  I am praying for God to raise up 100 people from this email to sacrifice a coke or a candy bar or any junk food and give a buck to help our kids and teens have a healthy snack each day and 2 healthy dinners each week.  Most of our kids eat junk all day and besides what they get at school don’t receive healthy balanced meals.  We are trying to change that.  Kids with healthy diets focus better, miss less days of school and will live longer to serve God and their community.

Please pray about going to our website and setting up a monthly recurring donation of $30/month. You will help make Newark kids healthier and you might get healthier too.  When you crave that junk food, think and pray for our kids here in Newark…  I am doing this myself and it has been hard detoxing myself from all the junk food I am used to eating, but has been so good for my soul and body.  I don’t know why I have paid people for so long to make things that are so unhealthy for all of us and why I have not worked on this more in my own life.  Sacrificing in my junk food budget not only has helped me become healthier and strengthened my immune system, it has also freed up money to give to help others.  If you don’t feel called to serve Safe Haven in this way with the money you save on junk food, please consider sponsoring a child through World Vision or Compassion International.  Our Safe Haven kids do this as well and sponsor a kid in Togo Africa and numerous orphans in Haiti.  It is so cool to see them learn to sacrifice for the sake of others.

As always,  it does my heart well to write to you.  I hope this email encourages you to live radically for the God who loves you radically.  I am encouraged and strengthened by your prayers and look forward to hearing from you (after sabbatical).  May God bless you and keep you and cause His face to shine upon you and give you His peace.

Ministry Site.  www.newarksafehaven.com

Family Website.  fromscarlet.com

As I walked around the table talking to kids during summer camp I was amazed at the feeling of family I felt. There was so much joy in the room, such unity and order.  Our kids are changing for the better.  I am witnessing the amazing fruit of the Gospel seeds that have been planted in their hearts. What a joy, what a privilege to be a part of redeeming a city by reaching this next generation.    I asked Zakaylah how camp was going and she told me how much she loved it and then said something that both breaks my heart and also reaffirms this ministry. She said, “I love Asa (our assistant camp director) he’s my dad.”  She didn’t say, “he is like my dad”, or “he reminds me of my dad”, she said: “He is my dad.”  About 5 other kids piped in at this point and agreed that Asa, who is only 22 by the way, was their dad as well.  I had to chuckle remembering all the times I heard that too and what a great feeling it is to be so dear to a kid’s heart; but my chuckling quickly turned to weeping as I thought about the tragedy of this.  Of the 60 kids or so enrolled in our summer camp we would be lucky if 10 of them could say they had their real dad involved in their lives.  Only 4 that I know of have a dad that is really being a dad, and working hard to support his family, love his wife and lead his kids to Christ.

I am overwhelmed by the cry of their hearts for their father and how unanswered that cry is.  Two 14 year old girls Kimberly has been ministering to just had babies… Why?…  what would compel them at such a young age to give themselves away to the countless young men (also fatherless) seeking to “be a man” and find love and pleasure?  The cry for the father resounds through the hearts of each of the kids, teenagers, and adults we work with, a cry that is louder than any other cry and is the root of so much of the disfunction, chaos and bad choices that these kids make.  Why do these young men run so quickly to gangs, desiring to affirm their manhood through violence, crime, pimping off girls, stomping on the weak and destroying community?  Why do the girls fall into prostitution so easily, so mindlessly, as if it were normal, and the only way life could work?…  I heard of one girl under the age of 15 getting pimped out to over 10 guys a night… why?… doesn’t that make you want to weep?… my heart is breaking…. I think of my daughters… I look at them as they sleep in my arms, praying for them, praying for God to protect them, to be their everything, to satisfy their deepest longings. I pray I will be the father I need to be…. the father that points them with my love to the LOVE of THE FATHER.

A Pastor’s Ponderings- An Addict’s Agony

My heart breaks all the more for this community that God has placed us in. This morning I feel renewed in mission, ready to answer this call that my selfish heart  so quickly desires to abandon.  I have to confess I had a hard week. My heart was full of bitterness. A homeless man I have been helping for the last 6 years called me every day, nearly every hour, cursing me to a pulp, leaving the most ruthless messages imaginable, cutting my heart with his words and threats.  I couldn’t understand why he would do that. I thought we were friends, I thought he was thankful…. But in his moments of backsliding he lashed out for someone to blame, he lashed out at his father who abandoned him.  His words were a cry for the Father, a bitter outpouring of emotions that daddy was never there to comfort, a behavior that daddy was never there to discipline, a brokenness that daddy was never their to mend. His words weren’t really toward me. I just happen to be the closest person in his life and one of the only people that wanted to help him.  In my heart I know this now, but last week I wanted to leave this place.

Last week my heart got bitter, resentful, self absorbed, and complacent.  I did not love this man as I should. Instead of loving him and pointing him towards Christ, I condemned him in my heart and wrote him off as a casualty of the war and a worthless investment of my time, talents and treasures.  In my arrogance I justified myself all week, with revenge in my heart and slander on my tongue toward him.  I boasted to others of all the ways in the past he had hurt me though I had helped him.  I tried my best to make myself out to be the trodden down hero who did as much as he could and deserves to retire and lick his wounds…  I continued to ignore him all week, never called him back, pretended like he didn’t exist and that it wasn’t my problem anymore to try and help him.  After all, I had already done so much for him and he is the one that dropped the ball and couldn’t control his temper and got kicked out of the place he was staying. It was his own fault he was homeless…  there was nothing more I could do and I didn’t want to be bothered with him anymore. I had ministry to do and a church to grow and funds to raise, and sermons to prepare and a few of my favorite TV shows to catch up on.

Saturday night I checked my voicemail and their were 5 messages from him.  I knew they were probably all the same, him complaining about being homeless again and asking me to help him, on his terms, to have a place to stay…(He refuses to go to any of the homeless shelters in our network.) “He needs tough love” I said self-righteously to myself as  I heartlessly erased all the messages without listening to them, not wanting to be told how bad I am at being a Christian and loving my neighbor.  I felt so tired of being cursed out after trying so hard for so long to love him and be patient with him and truly be his friend….  Something in the back of my mind told me to listen to the last message, and so I did.  I expected to hear screaming and cursing as usual, but instead I heard a calm voice.  He said “I have been thinking a lot about everything and I know you are right about a lot of things in terms of my failures. But the way you treated me this week just proved that you are no different than anyone else. You just care about your #$%^&*!@ self and no one else.  I never want to speak to you again.”   He wasn’t in worship this sunday. He hasn’t called me since.

I have some repenting to do to my brother. I don’t need to repent for not catering to his desires and enabling him to continue in the lifestyle he has chosen that is destroying him. No I do not need to repent for that.  That is the right approach when seeking to bring people out of their addictions, immaturity, and lack of responsibility.  I need to repent for not being a friend, for not loving him the way I would want to be loved if I was in his situation, had been through the things he had been through and was left on the street by everyone around me.  I have repenting to do for my self-absorption, my obsession with ministry success and the way his failures and backsliding has tainted that image I hope in far too much.  I have repenting to do for my laziness, and the way I justify it with all the “good things” I do.  I have to most of all repent for my unbelief in the Gospel and its power to change the most wretched of hearts, not meaning his, but my own.

My heart is crying out for THE FATHER too, just in different ways than my brother on the street.  I am seeing that I  need the same amount of love to the same extent as my addicted, uneducated, handicap friend on the street.  My heart is crying out just as much for THE FATHER.   I go to so many things other than him to justify my existence and so quickly  fall in love with things my Father gives me instead of HIM. So much of my religious behavior and moral integrity isn’t because I love Him so much more than others do, but because I want him to bless me.  Somehow in my twisted mind I think that the better I obey, the better it will be for me, and the more God will owe me blessing, success, my agendas, and my personal happiness in life. So I obey for me instead of for Him and because of Him.  What I think is obedience becomes my most selfish sin.  I am not obeying out of love for My Father and in response to what He has done for me in Christ, but rather, I obey out  of my own self-absorption covered in the shining shell of religion.  When I obey in this way my heart can not have compassion on those like my homeless friend who haven’t undergone the moral conditioning that I have been privileged to be raised in.  Instead I think myself better and more elite and worthy of the Kingdom of God and its benefits.  I can easily look down my nose at him and not give him the time of day.  I even can convince others that it is ok to treat people like dogs and promote elitism and even racism.  I have set a horrible example as a leader in this and I want to do better…

The Call

So why am I sharing this with you? Well, their are two reasons.

First, I pray that this will move your heart to cry out all the more to THE FATHER and hear his voice and respond to His love in your life through repentance and faith.  Secondly, I pray that this will move you out of yourself and more into a life that exists for others.  I just preached a sermon entitled “Spend Yourself” at a partnering church here in Newark that is seeking to reach its community.  I feel like such a hypocrite, for I am so far from what I preach, but that doesn’t make it any less true.  It is in spending ourselves that we announce to this world the Love of the Father for broken people and the sweet redemption that is found in Christ who “Spent Himself” on us.   As the Church steps up and becomes the Church through selflessly and radically serving the world we get to actualize the Gospel all the more.  My brother on the street preached to me all week. How? He was showing me my attitude toward God.  He was teaching my heart things I wouldn’t have ever known if I didn’t know him.  I am hoping to repent to my brother as soon as I see him, and ask his forgiveness for my pathetic friendship and for viewing him and using him as an object of ministry instead of a person, crying out for friendship.  I am looking forward to praying with him and seeking to guide him toward Jesus from a heart of humble love and concern instead of duty and self promotion.

I am also inviting you to join us in this mission of taking this city for the Glory of God and announcing the love of the Father to the countless orphans longing to meet Him.  There is much to be done, yet it doesn’t depend on us doing it, but rather on us being it.  I invite you to “be it” with our team here in newark through prayer and support, and maybe even coming here. We have short term mission trips, internships, and I welcome anyone who wants to move here and work and just live out their faith by being a neighbor.

We have 40 kids in summer camp still needing sponsors, a staff team committed to reaching this community in need of monthly supporters, and new needs of the poor are coming up every day.   Through our website and thanks to the many people God has brought us to help us use technology for Kingdom advances, no matter where you are you can connect and really become a part of this Kingdom Work.   One of my friends from Japan just sponsored a kid and can read her blog and keep up with her life all summer. He can know how to pray for her and watch videos of her rejoicing in the Love of The Father as she grows closer to Him and hears His assuring voice. It is amazing how connected we can be to those in need, not just in our community but around the world.  Our summer camp is raising money for an orphanage in Haiti that we are going to build as soon as God provides the funds.  Broken but redeemed people from Newark are going to fly to Haiti and build and orphanage that will house 50 street girls.  Who would have thought that 6 years ago. Our summer camp kids just reached $220 that they have raised our of their own pockets for the girls in Haiti.  They all just wrote letters to the orphans and are praying for them every day. I am so excited about what is happening, this is what we were made for: God’s glory and the joy of others.

My heart is indeed broken for the lack of earthly fathers, and the fathers like me that continue to fail, but my heart rejoices in the ministry of reconciliation- that we, as the family of God, can announce THE FATHER’S love to all and experience it all the more ourselves in the process…

Thank you for your prayers and support.

For the King and the Kingdom,

Danny Iverson

fromscarlet.com

Praises

-by the end of summer camp all 60 of our campers (grades K-5) will have memorized: ~all 66 books of the Bible, ~ the Lord’s Prayer, ~Pledge to the Bible, ~Over 30 Bible Verses, ~ All 10 Commandments, ~ the first 40 questions of the Westminster Catechism for Children, and ~countless Bible stories

-by the end of the summer, 15 teen/young adult staff from the community will have learned how to keep a job, act professionally and will have had the chance to learn about God’s love.

-Several teens (coming from more stable families) have come forth to VOLUNTEER to help.  They are hearing the Gospel preached every weekday of their summer, and are having a great time with the kids.

-10 Adults from our community have been provided with jobs through summer camp and other summer ministries of Safe Haven.  These jobs are essential to their livelihood and providing for their families.

-Teen counselors have sought guidance and prayer for their futures as a result of the studying of God’s commandments and wisdom from the Proverbs (taught on Wacky Wisdom Wednesdays).  They are taking to heart what the kids are learning.

-An outside volunteer has started a new believer’s Bible Study for five weeks out of the summer. Teens who never get out of Newark will be driven to the suburbs, welcomed into a Christian family’s home, and taught the basics of our faith.  I would love to see more of this happening.

-TWO Satellite Safe Havens have started up this summer. We are doing a VBS at the church we are partnering with. They had over 100 kids show up.  It is off the hook.

- We just launched spendyourself.org.  Its a social networking like site for urban ministries to connect  each other and others seeking to invest in redeeming the city…

-We also began a new ministry this summer called “The Nehemiah Project.”  It is basically a non-profit construction company seeking to employ and mentor young men while rebuilding community assets.  It also handles all the work projects teams do while here.  Pretty exciting.

Needs

Please pray for us, we are growing like crazy and God is doing awesome things but we have some huge needs right now we trusting God to meet.

-Summer camp Sponsors. We offer a highly reduced in priced summer camp to the kids of the community. All summer long, 6 hours a day 5 days a week.  We can do this only through scholarships through people who sponsor a kid.  It costs $250 to fully sponsor a kid for the summer.  We still have 36 kids in need of sponsors so to say the least we are hurting in paying our bills and our summer staff.  Please pray about sponsoring one of these precious children. We would hate to have to close the camp down early, these kids need this. You can watch a video about each of them and get to them through their blog they are doing during camp.  Click here to get started.

-Iverson monthly support –  Our support account has taken some hits and we are in need as a family for more monthly supporters to help us meet our family needs and allow Danny to continue to pour all his time into this ministry. If you would like to join team Iverson you can do so quite easily through our new website.  Just put “Iverson Support” in the notes or memo section for online donations and checks. Checks can be made payable to Safe Haven and mailed to 483 Ferry st.

-Nehemiah Project - Our summer missions program was expecting 145 people to come here for the summer to do outreach and work projects in various churches and around the community.  We had numerous teams cancel and many teams had youth drop out last minute. When all is said and done it looks like we are only going to have 75 or so here.  Attacks for sure from the enemy.  Not only did many of the community rebuilding projects planned for the summer suffer, but so much of our summer budget relies on what these teams raise. Our budget is basically 50% behind…  Fun stuff right.  Great chances to trust God for His provision.  I know we are in  hard times and I am not surprised this is happening…  but I also know that God is sovereign and we have made it through hard times before and the ministry moves forward.  If God is putting it in your heart to help meet this shortfall please act soon so we can make it through this summer.   Every little bit added together brings us through.  We have never had any big donors and grants and almost our entire operating budget is raised through individuals and churches giving what they can.  It somehow always adds up.  For those of you that have already stepped up to this challenge I thank you form the bottom of my heart for your sacrificial giving.  We are about halfway through the summer and have not had to lay anyone off.  Praise the LORD.

As I slowly stood to my feet, jaw aching with pain, I didn’t know what to think.  Part of me felt so confused, a bit scared and doubtful, but another part of me felt alive with compassion and fresh love for the man hitting me.  I couldn’t believe this was actually happening and I couldn’t comprehend the way the Spirit of God was causing me to respond…

The words “I love you, and Jesus loves you.” were the only defenses I was allowed to use. For some strange reason any hint of anger or self defense was melted away and with firmness and resolve while looking my friend in his eyes; those same words continued to repeat themselves from my mouth as it began to swell and the punches continued to come.

“It doesn’t have to be this way” I found myself saying; interrupting the cursing and screaming directed at me and Erik as we stood in the small apartment across from my friend who had once again lost any sense of control and was ready to hurt someone.  His kids by now had hid in the closet and the mother of the children sat crying and screaming on the bed behind me.

He hit me again and I fell to the ground as the woman behind me began crying loudly.. Everything seemed like it was happening in slow motion…  I calmly stood back up, wondering how long this would go on and what else there was to do.   “Lord give me strength” was the only thought that ran through my mind as I looked once more into the eyes of madness and confusion confronting me, fresh sorrow at the brokenness of the situation washing over me…

It had been a hard week in Newark, a hard summer for the Iverson family…

Dear family and friends,

The battle for the redemption of our city continues, and I see that so much of this battle mirrors the wars being waged in the inner most depths of my own heart, my wife’s heart and the hearts of every human being on this planet.  I have concluded that the redemption of the families of my community, and the whole world for that matter, must come at a high price.  I am learning that the evil one does not surrender territory easily and that there is a great cost to be counted if we as followers of “The Way” would seek to walk in “the way” and engage the brokenness and darkness of the world around us as well as within the endless caverns of our own souls… (More on this later)

I write you this letter with great thankfulness in my heart for each of you and the joy that you bring our lives in the midst of the struggle.  If you would allow me the time, I would like to share with you below the messy story of redemption happening in real time here in Newark NJ and the way I see it cosmically intersecting with the master narrative of redemption that the God of the universe has gloriously and sovereignty written for the joy of all His children and the glory of His Holy name.  So bear with me if you can make the time, and may the mind of you the reader, and mine the writer of these tidings be opened up all the more to the mystery of faith and the eternal joy held out in the Gospel.

So here we go….

As many of you know from my last letter (You can read it on my blog if you didn’t get it) the summer began with a bang and it didn’t slow down in the least.  Day after day the good news of hope poured forth from the corner of Hawkins and Ferry and all the people of the community were truly blessed.  The food pantry stayed empty all summer, as soon as food came in it was immediately dispersed to the neediest among us.  Kids gathered every day to experience grace based community though our summer programs, Over 15 teenagers were employed by our camp and developed job skills. The city of Newark gave us 3 different community development awards and continues to encourage and support the work we are doing.  So many wonderful things happened that I can not praise God enough for His work. We are seeing so many prayers answered and I want to thank you for your support and encouragement.

Below I have highlighted the work that God has done through Safe Haven this summer and some new ways He is working this fall as well as new ways you can pray and support this vital ministry.

Ministry praises…

16 Baptized into the Family of God! Video will be on our website soon!!!! God is doing an awesome work. Whole families getting baptized… Amazing.

Attached are some pictures of our Reformation Sunday service. We fixed the ceiling of the sanctuary and barely got it done in time. We had a partner church (Christ the King) from a nearby town join us. It was awesome to have over nearly 300 people packed into our building.  Trinity’s worship attendance seems to grow each week. New people are coming!  Kids are bringing parents and the Word is out in the community that every day at Trinity God is showing up in an amazing way. We are flirting with 100 or so in worship on Sundays, 85-90 percent coming from our community. God is so good! Thanks for praying!

Safe Summer Camp – The 6 week long, 6 hours a day, 5 days a week camp led by our camp director Donna Mateyka and her awesome team had its struggles as expected but succeeded far more than we could have imagined. The camp enrolled 50 2nd-6th graders from the community and employed 15 teenagers. It focused on developing kids in all of our core areas of development and every child left with a deep joy in their heart and a greater knowledge of the Lord in their minds…  Thanks for your prayers and support. We had a large financial shortfall but trust God will provide. We were promised some money from the city but that hasn’ t come through yet. Please pray it does.  Special thanks to those who sponsored kids. I hope you got their post cards to you and enjoyed them.

Various camps – Our teenagers got  the opportunity to go to two wonderful camps in Pennsylvania this summer; once in July and once in August.  Both camps impacted our youth in awesome ways and continues to bear great fruit in their lives. Thank you for those that helped sponsor those trips and make it possible for them to grow in the ways they did.

New Bus donated – Yes, it is true, we have a bus. Eastern Christina school donated a 25 passenger bus and we are so thankful… Please pray for more CDL drivers to volunteer to help us drive it… (and for Danny to stop procrastinating and get  his CDL)

Block Party- through our partnership with the city we closed off our whole street and had a Jazz mobile come. The jazz mobile is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing jazz to the streets of Newark.  We had a big barbecue, gave out lots of literature, made tons of connections and had over 300 people from the community come out.  It was so glorious.  Pastor Walter and myself both shared from the stage and we really felt the presence of God and great unity in our community.

Mission trip – 16 handpicked high schoolers got to go on this trip now labeled “Danny’s trip”.  This was the only trip I got to go on this summer since I was so busy.  The purpose of this trip wad to serve and this group of urban warriors did just that.  We went down to Haymarket Virginia and ran the VBS for Kimberly’s Father’s Church, Saint Paul’s. Three summers ago when Safe Haven was just beginning, Saint Paul’s was one of the groups that sent their youth up to serve us ( and dig out the basement).  Now three years later we got to go serve them. Our youth also painted their Pre-school and did an amazing job.

New GED Program –We have formed a great partnership with a local community development organization and are now able to host a GED program. Praise God since this is a huge need.  Over 40 adults (many of them parents of our kids) are currently signed up for it. Please pray for them to show up and pass their GED.

Seminary Classes to resume. New York Divinity School has a Monday night theology course in our building. We are excited with the partnership.  Please pray for great success as there is much need for education here. The class is on Christian Worldview and is amazing. We are going through the Stone lectures of Abraham Kuyper and many other amazing works.

New Partenership with “Against all odds Foundation.” Our Safe Haven After Class (SHAC) has partnered with this organization to help address many of the needs of the kids in our community…  Please pray for this partnership.. AOA is a great organization that will be supplying all of our tutoring for the kids.

New Discipleship House.

Kirby Thurston, a 6 foot 9 ex-pro-basketball player turned pastor who had served here in Newark 30 years ago with my grandfather, has come back to run our discipleship house. The house is for single young men ages 18-29 to learn and grow closer to God. Kirby is going to run this program. We are very excited about this program and the affect that it will have in helping these young adults become men of purpose. Pastor Kirby is also helping with the after-school program. He is an amazing man of God and so good with the kids. He is African American and such a great role model to these young guys.  Please pray for him as he adjusts to being in the north (cold) and serving our broken community with the love of Christ.

Ministry needs

Monthly Support… As always we need consistent monthly support to keep us in operation. With the state of our economy giving has gone down while ministry need has gone up.  Everything is growing by God’s grace and so many kids are coming into our family of faith.  Please pray about partnering with us in this Kingdom mission of recapturing the city of Newark by recapturing the next generation.   click here to partner by giving financially. (Checks can be sent payable to Safe Haven at 483 Ferry street newark NJ 07105)

Community Action Points

We have developed a great idea for helping the community, empowering our youth and providing for the many trips planned this year.  We call it CAPS. (Community Action Points) The way it works is that the teenagers volunteer to help with all the different programs and get CAPS for helping.  Each point is worth  $1 toward a scholarship for the many trips we go on. This will help motivate our youth to serve and also provide a workforce that shakes the community for Christ.  Here’s the catch, we need funds for the scholarship fund… if you would like to donate toward that Click here. . (Checks can be sent payable to Safe Haven at 483 Ferry street newark NJ 07105….  Put CAPS in the memo)

Pastor Walter Howard Pastor Walter Howard is now working full time for Trinity as our pastor. This is a huge step of faith for him and he needs to raise financial support to live and continue to grow the ministry with the adults. His adult Bible study has now grown to sixteen and his preaching continues to draw many knew faces each week.  The word is out in the community and God is really using him.  If you would like to support him through prayer and giving please click here or send checks payable to Trinity Reformed Church, 483 Ferry Street, Newark NJ 07105. (Walter Howard Support in the memo.)

Show Choir – 20 of our kids have joined a show choir of about 100 that draws from local churches. they are an amazing group and have an awesome leader. This summer they opened for Kirk Franklin and took first place in Mcdonald’s gospelfest. it was amazing.  here is the need. Each kid needs to have a small tape recorder or MP3 recorder to bring to rehearsal so they can learn their part. These kids leave every saturday at 8 am to go practice for 2 hours and work so hard.  Barely any of them can affod the uniforms, trips or the recorders.  If you would like to help with this please contact Gloria Morales who is our Choir leader at gloriamorales@optonline.net.  Your support is much needed in this to help these kids succeed. If you want to donate small portable tape recorders (that work) or mp3 recorders send to 483 ferry st. Newark Nj 07105. If you want to donate toward this program click here.

Personal Stories and reflection (Sorry it’s so long, I always have a lot to say)

A few days prior to “Danny’s beat down,” Kimberly had discovered that someone had stolen her engagement ring and wedding band from our bathroom… one of the many homeless people, teenagers or kids who use our bathroom throughout the day had gone through her cosmetic bag and found themselves some treasure…  Due to the pregnancy Kimberly’s Fingers swell and so she had taken them off and stored them “safely” in her kit… A very heartbreaking loss as many of you know the history of the ring and our engagement and what it meant to us.

It has made it very hard to love, trust and forgive the community we are in…

(Read Kimberly’s blog for more on this)

Sometimes we just want to leave. Kimberly had a pretty big melt down after we went through all of that and I wondered if maybe we couldn’t take any more and needed to give up.  Maybe the war is not meant to be fought by us, or maybe we had just lost.  The Lord is faithful and shows us His grace even in times of great discouragement and loss, and we are still here. We have decided to move around the corner into our own apartment.  The space is smaller but more private and hopefully this will help give Kimberly a bit more space from the endless stream of need that flows into our current home since we live right next to the church building. Attached is a picture of the two family home we live in  and our living room that Kimberly decorated. (She is so good at making a room come alive without spending lots of money.) People gave us lots of furniture and we are so thankful. The kids love their new home and I love it too. It is like my own safe haven and it is so refreshing to be able to come home to my family after work in the community.  Moving to the street around the corner has already brought a few new kids into the Church too.  Its so amazing how many people there are here and how many kids just around the corner I didn’t know.  God is working and the Gospel is not going out void…I love watching the truth of God’s love and the disciplines of grace utterly change people’s lives. It doesn’t happen over night but it is happening and happening in my own heart as well.

I love having the good news of Jesus actualized in every situation we encounter.

Getting beat up and standing there taking it was one of those moments where the cross came alive and I understood a little bit more the true heart of Christ and what He really did for us.  As I stood there interceding and standing between the raging man and his family my heart raced a thousand ways. I loved the man hitting me and knew that I could never hit him back. He was my friend and one of the sheep that God had given me to shepherd… How could I hit him?  I think if he had swung on someone else, like one of the kids,  I would have got physical, but his anger was directed at me and as I took it I felt a strange sense of unity with Christ I had never felt before. During this whole ordeal the kids were hiding in the closet and the oldest boy who was 12 had called 911. After getting hit in the jaw three times and getting pushed into a bookshelf my friend had decided to leave and stormed out of the apartment. He went and overdosed on his medication to try and kill himself but the cops got him first and got him to the hospital.  The son came up to me afterwards, and said. “Thanks Pastor Danny for taking the hit for me.” My heart broke as I heard that… I began to understand…

On the cross, Jesus Christ took the full fury of punishment for our sin upon himself. He was crucified by sinful man as Acts 2:3 says, yet all of that was for the purpose of redeeming us. He loved His sheep and even though He had the power to utterly destroy those murdering Him and dishonoring Him, He chose to say: “Father forgive them.” He chose to love them. He chose to take the nails into his hand and allow his blood to be spilled that all of those who were His would be set free from sin and death for all eternity.  He who knew no sin became sin for us that day and in His physical body, as Colossians 1:22 talks about, He bore the stripes that we deserve for our sin and by those stripes, those wounds afflicted by sinful man on the prince of peace, we are healed.  At the time I didn’t understand in my mind how me allowing this man to beat me down would heal him and could heal me, but in my heart I knew that this was the only way his heart could be changed and he could truly understand the gospel, and the only way that my sinful heart could as well.  In that moment I think my heart understood the gospel better than ever and in hind-sight my mind now sees God’s true grace in allowing me to go through that situation and what He taught me through it. You see, every time we sin and love or value anything else above God and fail to love our neighbor as ourselves, it is as though we were driving nails into the very hand of the one who loves us most, the very hand that feeds us, the very hand that touches and heals us. In our rebellion, our utter selfishness, our idolatry, our self-righteousness, we as humans daily drive those nails, daily beat, spit upon, forsake and scorn the savior God has sent. Jesus, our all-powerful savior chooses to take it. In love for us, the very people crucifying him, his mercy supercedes even our worst sins.  That is what is truly changing my heart. When I looked into those eyes of rage and heard those cursing words I saw myself before a holy God, scorning the very one who left heaven and came to save me; the very one who was rich yet became poor for my sake that I might become rich.  My heart is so much more wicked than I could ever know and how quick I am to rebel against God, to judge my neighbor, to live selfishly and materialistically, to crucify afresh the mercy God has given.  On a cosmic level, what happened to me that day is what I do to God every day times a billion.  This is a family whom we had helped for nearly a year. Hours of counseling, money, food, clothing and more that we had given them to help them in their poverty.  What better picture of the gospel is there?  God has done so much for me yet my heart so quickly rebels. He has given me so much yet I complain. He has spent himself on me yet I struggle to focus my mind on him and give my time, treasures and talents to His Kingdom cause.  He continues to graciously give, yet I continue to selfishly take. He has loved me, his neighbor, his enemy even, above his own life, yet I judge and condemn and show so little grace and agape love towards those around me and give so little of myself to them.

How I praise God that in moments like these I get to see how much grace has truly been given and how that grace can teach our hearts to fear and at the same to time our fears relieve.

Oh how sweet it is to trust in Jesus and experience Him all the more in the brokenness of our world as we watch the fullness of His mercy become less dim.  The vastness of our own darkness and the skeletons in our closets are made plain as the light of Christ shines brightly into our hearts and out of us.  Our own brokenness becomes more apparent but His healing becomes so much more real and true.

At the beginning of this month I had the chance to baptize this man’s entire family minus his oldest daughter who is getting baptized in November.  He had gotten out of jail and repented, his heart changed forever. He stood there with an unyielding grin on his face as his 6 kids knelt before the baptismal and I baptized them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The court had chosen not to indict him, and the case was dropped. That Sunday, as the sign of God’s covenant was placed on this family we also celebrated the Lord’s supper.  As my friend came forward and I served him the body of Jesus broken for him and the blood spilled to save him. Our eyes never left each others. We both were crying by then, and the words “I love you” came from his lips.  He reached up and put his hand on my cheek and said “thank you.”

Thank you Jesus for the Cross…

May the Glory of God and His deep love for you displayed in the face of Christ be your strength this day dear brothers and sisters in the Lord. We thank you so much for sending us into this mission field and praying for us as we engage the enemy (around us and within us) and strive with all His energy to make His Kingdom of grace visible to our community through the power of His Spirit.  Shalom to you all…

For the King and the Kingdom,

Danny, Kimberly, DJ, Trinity and the new iver-baby coming in March.

New Address

107 Brill Street

Newark NJ 07105

Danny’s Cell: 862-215-2940  Email: fromscarlet@mac.com

Kimbelry’s Cell: 862-452-8688  Email: flawedbutforgiven@yahoo.com

Family (Needs to be updated) website: www.fromscarlet.com

Kimberly’s blog. www.totheleastofthese.com

Danny’s blog: www.dannyiverson.com