Spero Blog

Lessons on Leadership

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:19:00 GMT

I've been in a reading frenzy lately. Lots of new material to soak in. But sometimes I have to go back to some old favorites. It's my grown-up version of a security blanket, I think. I'm re-reading "In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership" again. I've lost count, but I'm guessing it's around the 428th time.

Needless to say, I recommend it. Here's one of my favorite passages:

"What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life. Jesus asks, 'Do you love me?' We ask, 'Can we sit at your right hand and your left hand in the Kindgom?' (Matthew 20:21). Ever since the snake said, 'The day you eat of this tree your eyes will be open and you will be like gods, knowing good from evil' (Genesis 3:5), we have been tempted to replace love with power. Jesus lived that temptation in the most agonizing way from the desert to the cross."

This sums up LOTS of things we're learning here at Spero about being engaged with under-resourced populations. It's easy to schedule controlled giving. It's easy to make plans for controlled generosity, to offer drive-by advice to people who we think need it. It's not easy or convenient or predictable to love people well or to ask people to love us well. But, it's to that which we are called and to that end we will endeavor--personally and as an organization. It's worth it.

--Kim Bandy, Director

A Mother's Heart

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:05:00 GMT

Last night, my 4-year-old son gave us a scare. He's prone to respiratory problems any time he gets sick and he had gotten a stomach bug. A few times, I thought his breathing got a little too slow or troubled and I was about to jet to the emergency room.

Thankfully, his breathing was regulated and we made it through with a trip to the after-hours clinic. We left with these resources:

--A prescription for medicine that would keep him from being so nauseous.

--A phone number to call at any time during the night and talk to an on-call nurse.

--A list of symptoms to look for that would cause us to go to any one of the FOUR Emergency rooms within easy driving distance of our house.

And, once again, I felt the weight of being in America. The balance of gratitude that my son has so many options to keep him safe and of hurt for moms all around the world without any of these options. I just can't imagine what it's like to watch your child become dehydrated without being able to help. I can't imagine not being able to tell my son that we're going to do something that will make him feel better.

I don't ever want to take these things for granted. I want each time that I feel the weight to cause me to pray and pray and pray for the moms around the world that don't get these opportunities. I want it to cause me to rethink how much I can do to support these moms through agencies and ministries that bring life-saving clean water, medicine, and more. And I want it to stir in me an even deeper longing for His Kingdom to come to earth as it is in Heaven.

Join me in praying?

With Hope,

Kim Bandy

Director

Love Your (International) Neighbor!

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:30:00 GMT

Last week we gathered with a group of churches who are actively engaging with the refugee community of Oklahoma City. And I wish I could express well enough on paper just how amazing it was. As far as meetings go, it certainly wasn't spectacular. We didn't even have any multi-media presentations…how 1990's of us. But, what WAS absolutely spectacular was seeing a room full of networked churches who are choosing to very practically and very supernaturally love their neighbors from all over the world.

All of us at Spero know that no program can fully meet the needs of this community. They aren't 'problems.' They are PEOPLE who are new to America and need one thing to make it here: relationships.

So, to hear stories of American families who are sharing meals, holidays, life with their Iraqi neighbors; to hear mothers who are just as passionate about the education of their Burmese friends' children as they are the education of their own children; to hear the ways that these families are using their LIVES to share the steadfast love of Jesus--it was overwhelming.

It's why I know our organization is appropriately named. "Spero" is Latin for "hope." And HOPE is all that I see coming from a small gathering like we had last week.

Defend the Fatherless

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:31:00 GMT

"Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed." Psalm 82:3

I've heard this Scripture associated with foster care, adoption, and/or caring for international orphans many times. And it has always stirred me--how could it not? So direct, to the point.

And sometime recently, this passage has come to life in a new and additional dimension for me. I remember very clearly one day when I read it quickly on a piece of literature for an organization serving children. I felt the Lord ask me, "Do you suppose you get to choose which fatherless to defend?" Ouch.

There are many, many mothers and fathers of children in the foster care system who grew up (and are still today) fatherless in the earthly sense. Many, many of these mothers and fathers were in the foster care system themselves as children. Can I choose to have compassion for, engage with, and support only the fatherless that I deem 'innocent'?

I am becoming more and more convinced that the part of my heart that wants to help the vulnerable that "don't deserve this" is not a full response to God's command for me to love. My compassion must also be available to those who have had some years under their belt to make mistakes, to cause harm to themselves or others (much like I have in many ways). So, I'm praying the Lord gives me a desire to do these things out of a love for Him above all else. If I'm doing it for the response I get, the feeling I have, or the 'result' that happens, I will always be prone to serve only those who I deem worthy. And that's a place of judgement I have no business being in.

Marked 2012!

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:34:00 GMT

A new study finds that 48 women every hour are raped in the Congo.
Two people are victims of human trafficking every minute in the world. More than 80% are women and children.
Oklahoma incarcerates the highest number of women per capita in the U.S.

Why MARKED?

Because no woman should be marked by these numbers of death, trauma, victimization.
Because every one of the women who make up these numbers has a face, has a family, has a dream.
Because the Church should rise up to make sure no woman is marked by these numbers anymore; rather that all women, everywhere are marked only by hope, love, and a future of knowing Jesus.

Why MARKED? Because it's time.

Visit www.markedokc.com to find out more about Marked 2012.

American InfoSource Food Drive

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:57:00 GMT

Our friends and neighbors at American InfoSource are always quick and eager to give back to their community. It's been so fun getting to know their staff and to learn how much generosity is woven into their company culture. An inspiration!

To help us prepare for the Holiday food deliveries, each department competed against each other to try to bring the most canned goods. So, Spero ended up being the clear winner out of such a competition, because the combined donation was over 3,000 cans!

And it doesn't stop there. The department who won gets the "prize" of some time away from work serving in our warehouse in preparation for grocery delivery to elderly families and low-income neighborhoods. Did I mention they like to give back?

We're so grateful for companies who decide to commit to a cause together and see it through to the end!

It Takes a Village, Part 3

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 01:39:00 GMT

From previous post:

We've all heard that "it takes a village to raise a child." And, that may never be more true than when that child is involved in the foster care system. These children come with unique backgrounds and needs that make caring for them a large task. A foster family, in addition to the responsibilities involved in caring for any child, must also meet with case-workers, make visits to biological families, attend court on behalf of the child, and more.

Many friends of Spero have been and still are families that have welcomed foster children into their home. We've been in awe of the joys, the spiritual growth, and the life-change that mark these families. But, we've also been made keenly aware of the struggles involved.

So, here's our challenge: if you're in the village of a family with a foster child, act like the village!

Offer help and support to those ministering to children in need. Becoming an adoptive or foster family isn't what the Lord is calling everyone to do, but caring for orphans is a Biblical mandate that none of us can ignore. So, take a look around: your neighborhood, your small group, your church…is there someone in your 'village' that's serving in this way? Care for orphans by caring for them!

The next few posts will help you know some ways you can support them. We Americans aren't always great at asking for help, so Spero is going to ask for them! We've polled our friends and have come up with some simple ways to help.

Simple Idea to Serve #3: Provide a Ride!
Simply providing rides to or from school, lessons, or play dates can make a big difference, especially if there's a young baby or two that would have to get loaded up in the car otherwise! Offer to take your friends' children to and/or home from school a day or two a week to give your friend some time to catch up on laundry, cooking, or--better yet!--a little bit of rest.

If you are transporting a child in the home that's in state custody, you'll need to check with the agency that's responsible for the child to find out what's required for transportation. It's likely a volunteer application, a background check, and a copy of a driver's license. Just a small price to pay for making someone's day!

It Takes A Village, Part 2

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 19:49:00 GMT

So, here's our challenge: if you're in the village of a family with a foster child, act like the village!

The next few posts will help you know some ways you can support them. We Americans aren't always great at asking for help, so Spero is going to ask for them! We've polled our friends and have come up with some simple ways to help.

Simple Idea for Serving #2: Have a mow-down!
Cheesy title aside, it's a pretty helpful thing to do! Give the family you know the gift of extra time to spend with each other. Just offer to take an afternoon and do their lawn care routine for them. Consider making it a family affair by having your children help in age-appropriate ways. It's a great way to teach the value of serving!

It Takes A Village, Part 1

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 19:50:00 GMT

So, here's our challenge: if you're in the village of a family with a foster child, act like the village!

Simple Idea for Serving #1:Grocery Shopping
Do we even need to explain why grocery shopping with a bunch of kids is hard?!?! Simply offer to take on this task for a family--all they have to do is make the list. To make this work well, you need to consider if you can afford to buy the groceries for them. No worries if not! But, it would be helpful to identify this clearly up front. If you don't, the family may be worried about asking for too much.

Our suggestion: write a simple note so you don't forget to mention or clarify this point. Maybe something like this:

"Because we love you and what you're doing for our community, we want to support you! So, we'd love to offer our time and energy to give you a little time and energy back for your family. Simply write out your grocery list (be sure to include amounts, please), leave me your debit card or cash, and I'll shop for you and stock your shelves when I get back."

"Because we love you and what you're doing for our community, we want to support you! We've set aside $150 to shop for groceries for your family. Simply write a list in order of most to least important and we'll pick up all we can! Then, we'll bring it to you and stock your shelves."

Stay tuned for more ideas!

Fluid

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 20:42:00 GMT

A few months ago at a conference, I heard something that struck me as incredibly profound, yet equally obvious:

“The greatest enemy to your ministry is the statement, ‘But we’ve always done it this way.’”

Not outside criticism, not internal disputes, not financial problems…But not taking risks and venturing out of the comfortable.

You see, ministry should be fluid. Not in the sense that your message (THE message) should change, or that you should abandon everything on every whim that floats your way. What we’re talking about here is the coupling of sensitivity to the whisperings (or sometimes shouts!) of the Holy Spirit, and obedience to follow where Christ leads you, even in the midst of opposition or uncertainty.

Just as following Jesus looks different at certain stages of your life (though it requires faith, sacrifice, and willing obedience throughout), it should in your ministry as well. Again, the key must be constantly seeking God’s guidance and being flexible enough to follow it with a servant’s heart.

Our prayer is that our ministry, and yours too, would be in constant pursuit of the fluidity of the Holy Spirit’s leading. We’ll leave you with this:

“But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” -Amos 5:24.

--Austin Taylor, Community Coordinator

It's Summer Time Again!

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 02:28:00 GMT

This week, we’re so pumped to have a large group of high school students from Austin, Texas helping launch the Spero:Voice summer program! They’ll be running the kick-off week for children of Iraqi, Burmese, Sudanese, Congolese, Eritrean, and Russian refugees who have been resettled here in Oklahoma City.

The summer program, which will run until the end of July, focuses on Biblical themes and values, such as friendship, loyalty, influence, and encouragement, as well as other life skills like hygiene and bicycle/street safety. We’re sure the kids are going to have a blast with the tie-dye shirts, water balloons, games, and educational activities we have set up for them! The week will end with a picnic for the kids and their families celebrating World Refugee Day on Friday.

The leader of the high school group has really encouraged the students to completely own this week, and to learn from failures like we all have to in any outreach environment. As they encounter both the joys and challenges of ministering to the refugee population here, we know that it will be an experience they’ll never forget, and hopefully one that fosters a thirst for leadership and serving in their hearts!

Mothers' Day

Sun, 08 May 2011 15:22:00 GMT

A wonderful group of friends held a fun Mothers' Day brunch for some of the moms in the refugee community at Spero:Voice. These new friends of Spero brought hand-made gifts (that were really fun!) and some long-time friends of Spero pitched in to bring food and to offer transportation.

It was a pretty simple little deal. Some food, some gifts, some chatting. Much like any shower, girlfriend brunch, women's Bible Study meeting I'd ever been to. And that's why it was so perfect. It didn't feel so much like an 'us' serving 'them,' moment as our good friend Ben would say. It felt like an 'us' being with 'us.' We would have celebrated Mothers' Day amongst ourselves anyway--with our friends or family. So, we just invited more friends along--who happen to be from all over the world.

Don't get me wrong, it WAS special to acknowledge the fact that these moms have survived treacherous situations and are still here as loving, awesome, and inspiring mothers. But, the gathering itself showed us we have much more in common than not.

It seemed rather simple. It seemed rather full of love. And it seemed rather ordinary. Which made it seem very, very Kingdom.

Royal Weddings and other important things.

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:55:00 GMT

I am not a good Twitter participant. (tweeter? twitterite? twit? What do you call someone who uses twitter well?) But, I do check it to see what's going on with people and organizations that I like and respect. Today, I'm sure it's no surprise to you that every top trending topic was related to the Royal Wedding. It turns out the world really cares about this stuff--dresses and decorations and what-not. And all I can think about is the song I've been listening to non-stop for a month or so, "Christ is Risen."

I have no idea what copy-right issues I'm stepping on here, but I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that the four people who read this terribly sporadic blog (did I mention I don't do well at social media?) won't turn me in to the authorities when I write that the line in the song that just gets me is "Oh, Church, come stand in the light! The Glory of God has defeated the night."

It would be hard for me to make a case that weddings are bad. Primarily because weddings aren't bad. But, I do think that the world standing still and seemingly taking notice of the Royal Wedding and the Royal Wedding alone for the last few weeks highlights how much room the Church has to come alive, to trust Jesus that He is bringing light to dark places, and to tell the world about a God who is worthy of their worship.

What if the Christians around the world said, 'Yes, I will celebrate things worth celebrating. But, no, I will not use it as a way to distract myself from oppression, bondage, and tragedy."? What if we were known for being the crazy kids who COULD NOT stop caring about Syria, who believed the Glory of God would overcome THAT night, and did it with this joy and hope that just didn't make sense to people? What if we were the people who had an all-out media frenzy, twitter extravaganza, party-in-the-streets celebration not only when a famous couple gets married, but also when one woman is freed from sexual slavery? Or when one child is adopted into a loving family?

I have lots of friends who don't know Jesus. I love them and respect them and they teach me a lot every day. Mostly, they've taught me that the Lord will likely not draw them to Himself using my stellar debating skills. What they've noticed is pretty much that the many of us Christians don't take most of what the Bible says very seriously. Even when they read the Bible, they are confused at the disconnect between it and people of faith that they see. And it's not arrogant on their part. They're not combative and looking for a way to disagree (I know some people are--just not my friends, I promise!). They just genuinely don't know why they would take the God of the Bible seriously if those of us who 'believe' in it don't.

I'm kind of tired of emails that tell me how scared I should be of Muslims and how I should get busy having babies so I can make sure us Christians don't get populated over. To be fair, that's partly because I'm terrified of children so one or two is about all the Good Lord has given me the mental capacity to manage. But, mostly it's because I think it'd be cool if we just dug in and decided that the gift of grace that Jesus gives us is SO crazy that we will spend our lives RADICALLY following His words and caring for the people and things He cares about. I have this idea that if we started doing that and teaching our already-born children how to do that, people around the world wouldn't just 'not be Muslim', but they'd be followers of Jesus. I have no interest in talking you out of something for the sake of proving you're wrong. But, I do believe Jesus has the Words of Life, that His resurrection changed everything. And, mostly, I believe He is worthy to be worshiped.

SO, I have decided that I will not scoff the Royal Wedding. Those of you who know how not girly I am know that's impressive. (Don't get all lecture-y on me here. I know marriage is spiritual business. I just don't care a whole lot what color your boutineers are.) But, I will choose to celebrate freely and fully the things that Jesus tells me to care about just as much. I will pray and pray and pray that, starting with me and my family, that the American Church comes alive in such a way that freedom for captives is a reality, that those who don't know Jesus see His grip on us as we sacrificially follow Him, and that the Glory of God overcomes the night in Syria, in Burma, in Congo, and beyond.

And, I'll try to learn more about twitter.

*A friendly post by Kim Bandy who posted on a whim without proof-reading from trusted sources, so is well-aware that her grammar is wrong in 3/4 of the sentences written. My apologies.

Laundry Love

Sat, 05 Feb 2011 05:37:00 GMT

I heard about this a few weeks ago and have been thinking about it since. It's a simple idea, really, but a very important one. A church in NW Arkansas rents out a laundry facility and opens it to people living in shelters, on the street, or in a housing facility without washing machines.

The thing that seems the most significant to me is that the relational aspect of the ministry stays in the forefront, I hear. This could easily become a 'transactional' event that gives a volunteer the chance to serve (one-sided) and be the provider. But, that's not the heart of this organization--they truly intend to share time and conversation with everyone that attends the Laundry Love Night. It's not a giver and receiver dynamic, but a shared experience dynamic. Awesome.

Check them out. Maybe it's something you'd want to try in OKC!

Home Across Lands

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 03:53:00 GMT

So I just watched this fantastic documentary entitled Home Across Lands. It chronicles the journey of a group of Kunama refugees from Eritrea through the resettlement process in the United States. Let me give you some background.

The Kunama are an ethnic group that make up about three percent of the population of Eritrea, a country north of Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa. Wars are typically over some small tract of land, and unsurprisingly, the Kunama live on a contested border between Eritrea and Ethiopia. When the practically inevitable war broke out, the Kunama fled south to Ethiopia. The Shimelba Refugee Camp was established and the Kunama, along with other ethnic groups, made their home on a dusty corner of land. They are not allowed to leave the camp to find work and boredom haunts the families sequestered there.

Thankfully, the UN began resettling a small group of Kunama families and individuals in 2007. Home Across Lands tells the story of several families who were resettled in Providence and how the International Institute in Rhode Island works to aid them as they develop a new life and thriving community in the United States. Let me just tell you, we were inspired. Although the mission of International Institute is very different from that of Spero, we love that they have so successfully assisted Kunama families in the resettlement process. They have extensive programs that help the refugees find jobs, learn English, and begin to thrive in their new home. If they had a Facebook, we’d “like” what they do!

Oklahoma City also has a small population of Kunama and we have found their transition to be incredibly difficult. There are only about 200,000 Kunama speakers in the entire world and only 20% of those are literate in their own language. This poses a huge problem for school-age children who have been resettled in the US. Their reading levels are abysmally low. Not only are they trying to understand English, but also the content of their classes. I took a French cinema class in college and I’m not gonna lie, it was rough trying to follow what on earth the prof was talking about. So I can imagine trying to decipher English words and then understand overall content on top of that!

So what do we do about this? Well, I connected some of our tutors with an ESL (English as a Second Language) instructor who gave them guidelines on how to best tutor an ELL (English Language Learner) student. This is a great start! We always need more tutors, so if you’re up for it, let us know! We can plug you in with Kunama families in our city or other refugee groups. Or, if you want, you can borrow our copy of Home Across Lands for a small gathering in your home. The film does a great job of explaining the resettlement process in general as well as the experience particular to the Kunama in Rhode Island. This film is an incredible resource! We like it and think you will too!

--Lela Berry, Spero:Voice staff

P.S. Special thanks to All Nations Church for loving the Eritrean community in OKC so well! Your friendship is irreplaceable.