Jeremiah 29

This week we have one of my favorite speakers. His name is Ron Ruthruff, and he's the Director of Ministry and Program Development at a downtown Seattle street-youth drop in center called New Horizons Ministries.

The focus of the week has been two-fold: 1. Give our students a look at what life is like for kids living on the streets--specifically in Seattle. We watched a documentary called "Streetwise," which followed the lives of a few kids from Seattle who are living on the streets. We've been talking quite a bit about child & adolescent development, and the issues that these kids are facing--realizing that much of their formative years are being shaped very differently from those of us who have had parents around to help us navigate the confusing waters of adolescence. 2. Secondly, Ron has been spending quite a bit of time talking about cities--the formation of cities, issues in cities, and what our role as Christians can be to be a part of transformation in the cities we live in. It's too much to attempt to summarize here, but I really find these subjects fascinating. I find myself wanting to become more educated on the subjects--especially in terms of specific issues happening here in Seattle.

He uses a pretty extensive bibliography for his teaching, but there are a few main books that he references, if you're interested in checking them out:
The Corner
A Theology as Big as the City
The Prophetic Imagination

He also uses scripture extensively in his teaching, but one of the key ones is found in Jeremiah 29, where God commands the exiles to "seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." The main idea being that our welfare as individuals is intimately connected with the welfare of the community (city) around us.

It's been a good and challenging week. These last few weeks before Christmas are always difficult ones to maintain our focus. With the Christmas break approaching (along with our overseas outreaches) it can be quite diffiecult for all of us (students and staff alike) to really be present with all that is happening. We have to be on guard against "checking out" of all the activites we're involved with--teaching, small groups, outreaches in Seattle, etc.

Please be praying that we would have a strong finish to this portion of the DTS.