fifty. september 2, 2010. "rats."

there's a lot of background info that goes with this picture.

my church is part of a group of churches that are working together to create change in our community. different denominations. different theological beliefs. it's fabulous.

last summer, our first step was to take walks around the neighborhood and make notes about things that need to change. piles of trash. broken things. abandoned vehicles. problems with roads. a list was compiled.

in september or october of last year, we had our first meeting together. the list had been given to city officials who could make changes. they came to the meeting, and let us know how they would address those issues.

a few months later, small groups at the churches met to come up with three issues that we feel are big issues in our community. not just piles of trash or broken things, but major issues.

then all the churches came together again for another meeting, and we combined all of that to come up with the top 3 issues that this organization will work towards changing. the results: education, crime/safety, and community development. each person signed up for a team they want to work on.

tonight we met again, and divided into our groups. i felt like we had very fruitful conversation about what exactly it is that we want this organization to do, and how that's going to play out. instead of saying "education is a problem", that was broken up into specific issues that can be addressed. so now each team is going to spend time meeting and researching these issues, and figuring out who is in charge. i really appreciated that one of the people in charge took a moment to say "you could actually spend the next year just doing research." i love that realistic approach. being an idealistic group isn't going to get anything done.

i also love looking back at the past year. a few months go by and i think "what's going on with this? we haven't met in forever." but tonight i could actually see the progress. we couldn't have had tonight's meeting without the "insignificant" ones of the past year. we couldn't have jumped in where we did tonight. these small steps we're taking are actually moving toward something. and it's exciting.

so it's my photo of the day.