The Dustin Arms

This is an exciting report on what the Lord is doing here in San Diego. As you know, our vision is to plant a church where the urban poor and urban professional communities intersect. Recently, the Lord has been teaching me how to value the contributions of the poor in tangible ways. As James says, “has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom…” (James 2:5). Honestly, this is something that I have not done well in the past.

This past Friday the Lord gave me a glimpse to see more of this mystery revealed. He opened an opportunity for me to lead a Bible study in one of the low income apartment buildings in downtown San Diego – the Dustin Arms. It is literally right across the street from our downtown worship site. So I thought, “What if we make this study “income diverse” and invite some of the downtown professionals and even some of our regular attendees who are homeless?” The two-fold advantage is that our downtown church community would have more opportunity to interact across socio-economic lines, and I could get some more experience in facilitating those interactions for our church plant.

God showed up Friday in a mighty way. 14 people came, three homeless, seven residents, the apartment manager, and two professionals. I suggested we study Hebrews, and one of the residents said “I was going to suggest we study Hebrews” (no joke!). We shared testimonies, prayed for one another, and I gave a 10 minute devotional as a preview of Hebrews. But here is the most exciting part.

I gave my devotional, and a couple of people chimed in with some good comments. After I was done, Mark, one of the men who is homeless, restated one of my points as if I had not even said it. I was slightly annoyed, but thought “no harm done”. After the study I was walking out of the building with another professional in the group and she said, “That point that Mark made, I had never thought of that before.” My annoyance rose. “I made that same point!” I almost said. Mandy was picking me up. And as I walked to meet her, I understood a little more how valuable Mark’s contribution had been that night.