A little while back my wife drove up to Santa Barbara and visited "A Rocha Santa Barbara," a local extension of "A Rocha International." They are a Christian Conservatory organization with a true compassion for God's creation. Rich Dixon, his wife Jill, and fellow friend Marty Robertson hosted us and took us on a tour of what they are doing in Santa Barbara. We learned so much from them and gained a greater understanding of what our purpose would be here in Long Beach. They are going to be a great asset for us and have a genuine desire to help us any way they can.
P.S. You knew as soon as you walked into their house that they were an awesome family..chickens in the front yard, kids in the kitchen helping prepare lunch, and Marty skateboarding home...
Showing posts with label A Rocha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A Rocha. Show all posts
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Planting the seed for "the garden."
Back in August of 2007, Marion Harper invited Liz Pham, Steve Grindle, myself and a few others to experience a community called Nieu Communities. They lived a way of community that is the closest I’ve seen to Acts 4.
The experience that stuck with me most was a simple community garden Nieu Communities partnered with. The name of the group that runs the garden is called Jacob’s Well. They found an abandoned lot in the middle of a drug infested poor neighborhood in the Downtown East Side district of Vancouver and started caring for the land. They got the community involved and opened up a kitchen where they prepare meals from the harvested food and eat meals together with recovering drug addicts.
It’s become more than just a place to plant, it’s become a place where relationships are built on caring for the land God has given to us and restoring lives through Jesus in the process. There’s a vision in Jeremiah that Jacob’s Well guides itself by. “Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit” to “seek the peace of the city…for in its peace you will have peace” (Jer 29:5,7).
We also visited a Christian conservatory organization called A Rocha. They are an international organzation working to show God's love for all creation by caring for what He loves.
Both of these ideas resonated with me, but exactly what God was calling me to back home was not clear at the time. Little did I know where it would lead...
The experience that stuck with me most was a simple community garden Nieu Communities partnered with. The name of the group that runs the garden is called Jacob’s Well. They found an abandoned lot in the middle of a drug infested poor neighborhood in the Downtown East Side district of Vancouver and started caring for the land. They got the community involved and opened up a kitchen where they prepare meals from the harvested food and eat meals together with recovering drug addicts.
It’s become more than just a place to plant, it’s become a place where relationships are built on caring for the land God has given to us and restoring lives through Jesus in the process. There’s a vision in Jeremiah that Jacob’s Well guides itself by. “Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit” to “seek the peace of the city…for in its peace you will have peace” (Jer 29:5,7).
We also visited a Christian conservatory organization called A Rocha. They are an international organzation working to show God's love for all creation by caring for what He loves.
Both of these ideas resonated with me, but exactly what God was calling me to back home was not clear at the time. Little did I know where it would lead...
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