Conscious Party 2012

Its a new year and I want to ask you all to help make this the best year that the Conscious Party has seen. The First Party of the year is next Saturday January 7th. Here are some ways you can plan to help:

• Put it on your calendar and plan on coming
• Start spreading the word (among both artists and the homeless)
• Let us know if you can bring food (dinner or desert?)
• Let us know if I can count you in for rides or set-up at 7:30 or clean up at the end of the night.
• Start working on a poem or song to share. We want to encourage creativity and original pieces.
• Pray that God would breathe life into our effort and that Jesus would be honored by the Party itself.
• Use facebook, google+, twitter, and word of mouth to just help create a buzz for the coming months party.
• Use this as a chance to invite and hang with your homeless friends. (if you don't have homeless friends, make one. Let me know if you need help)
• DOES ANYBODY HAVE A VIDEO CAMERA AND/OR WANT TO HELP RECORD DURING THE NIGHT?

I am so grateful for all the ways that I have seen God's beauty through this party and look forward to gettin' conscious together!

Please click here and let us know how you can help

2011- Year End Review

In many ways this has been a year of trials and obstacles. Natalia & I had to move out of the house for a season, Matt spent over half of the year out of town (and country), and with the smallest team we have had in years the guys took on the most ambitious ventures in hospitality that I can remember. 2011 started with a bullet lodged in one of our vehicles. Then within the first two weeks of the year we all had gotten ill from some communal plague, we had three intruders into our back yard, a stolen vehicle, and we got the place ready for the first Lake House wedding for a couple from our home church. And so the year went. We struggled as a community with convictions that lead us to turn off the heat and air conditioning as a way of breaking our addictions to comfort, consume less, and striving for a just lifestyle. As we sweat throughout the year we also faced many personal struggles and convictions that were faced as a family.
This year I had more opportunities to speak out than I ever had before as I pleaded with our city council not to legislate against our poor, challenged a local middle class church that meets in our neighborhood to love our neighbors, and had more speaking engagements than I was aware I could handle. I also had the opportunity to develop and teach an 8 week course on an ecological theology of liberation with the underground institute under the name Jesus & Urban Gardening. This material really came to me like a gift from God as Erica and I spent 30 days in April eating nothing but food that was sourced from within 100 miles of the Lake House.
Robby really kicked things into gear over the summer and busted out project after project which resulted in a cooler, cleaner house that once again had hot water that is warmed by Brother Sun.
Drew & Phillip both married and moved out and we had a beautiful columbian named Hugo & a Mad Genius named Cliff join our ranks. (Clayton just moved in at the end of the year as well)
We removed the dryer and learned to cook outside, we had many guests and we hosted some really great parties. We have struggled this year with communal disciplines and we are growing increasingly aware of our desperate need for the Spirit of God.
2011 was rough on us all but I am grateful to Jesus for the way he has walked with us and faithfully taught us along the way. When I look at our community today and think back to where we were 12 months ago I know this has formed a depth and unity between us like the effect great battles have on the men who return from them.
We anticipated a growth in community this year as it began. We spoke of other house and additions of people and projects. The anticipation of growth was correct but we were mistaken on what that would look like. Numerically we look very similar to what we did a year ago, as far as projects go we have actually atrophied (or streamlined for the optimists) but I know that growth has taken place in each of us as individuals and as a community as well. We have weathered storms and grown roots. May these roots draw deeply on the Grace and presence of God and may 2012 bear the fruit.

Lake House TED talk next Monday night

Lake House: Solar Initiative

I just finished writing a report for my solar energy class. For the report I had to determine the energy usage of our house and design a photovoltaic system to supply its needs. I was able to design a system to supply all of the needs of the back house. Here is a short video from the report showing what they system will look like. I am excited to say that we are going to go ahead and start building it. But for right now we just need to figure out how the heck to fund it. The total cost will be around 2 thousand dollars. If you have any ideas or suggestions please contact us.

Thanksgiving Tents

We had a wonderful thanksgiving! We always have a dinner at the house for our friends from the neighborhood that might not otherwise have a family to spend it with. Historically we have dinner but most people show up full since there are so many places to get food on Thanksgiving. This year we had about 35 people at our place for dinner and the majority of them had not eaten anything. It was awesome and everybody ate their fill and pretty much polished everything off. Many of those who left our house that night had no home and were headed back out to their spots on the streets. They would sleep outside, try to stay warm, safe, and avoid the police who are constantly running them off. Like Jesus they have nowhere to lay their heads. Being that it was thanksgiving and I knew that a ton of people in our city were headed out to sleep outside of stores for the Black Friday sales i couldn't help but compare. If you are sleeping outside for the purposes of consumption and purchasing it is not just legal but encouraged in our society. If you try to sleep outside any of those same buildings on any other night of the year because you have nowhere else to go you will be run off, trespassed or arrested. After everybody left and we got the house somewhat cleaned up and we headed out with tents too. Not to the street corners or the market places but rather the 6 of us Lake House guys hit the road to head for Georgia. We drove through the night and arrived at Rock Town Friday morning. We spent the weekend camping, rock climbing, laughing, and just being together with each other and God's beautiful creation. It was a much needed rest and photos and possibly even a short movie are coming soon.

A Brief Reflection on Erica and Jon's Experience 'Surviving Tampa'

Lake House - Foreground from Underground Network on Vimeo.

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Last night at home church we went over Luke 6:12-26. A pretty familiar passage for most us, but there was something different about this passage last night. The Holy Spirit took charge and dropped it hard on us, especially me. Here I am, living a "lifestyle" that from an outside point of view might seem radical and extreme sometimes, being challenged by the words of Jesus about the poor. Sure, I live in the innercity supposedly living "among" the poor not realizing that I've been living, to be sincere, far away from them. The thing is that we think we believe something, but when it comes down to act upon it we don't.

Just to be clear the Lake House is a place that where your views will get challenged and when you're getting most comfortable with the lifestyle...Jesus drops the gauntlet. I felt like we were getting away from our call to serve our neighbors, from making room for those "less deserving".

Jesus not only made room for tax collectors, fishermen and zealots, but also for a traitor. Jesus spent the whole night praying and then he calls the twelve among the many. He then proceeds to heal people from diseases and evil spirits. He spent an entire night with the Father...only God knows what went down.

But then Jesus gathers His disciples and the many people that came to see him. He looks at them and goes off with His sermon on the plain. He blesses those who are poor, because the Kingdom of God IS theirs. He also explains how those that are hungry and weeping will be satisfied and filled with laughter...I'm not going to repeat what He says, just look it up.

As I sat in the living room, I looked around me and what did I see? Not the poor. Don't get me wrong--I love the people that come to our house every Wednesday. I love how they love Jesus, I love being in ministry with them. I see many different gifts among them...It's awesome! But one thing we lack is room. We have filled our house with very dear friends, but have forgotten to invite those we were called to serve, those who Jesus calls blessed.

I will stop here for now, and I leave you with a song by Gungor

I was called to be a missionary, although I have been a bad one.

I have been called to be a missionary. In fact everyone who calls on the name of Christ is called to be a missionary, and the mission field to which they are called is the very place they are standing. We are never to go out anywhere without Christ on our minds, the word of God on our lips, and the gospel in our hands and feet. I recognized this call when I was 17 and have had it on my mind since then, always knowing that I was either walking towards or away from this fulfilling life that was being offered to me. Over the past few years I have recognized it more fully and reluctantly embraced this call. While trying to figure out, kicking and screaming along the way, what it looks like to be a missionary, I had fallen in love with many people that I would have never known how to love otherwise. Truly loving those who have no way of loving me back. At the end of the day I recognize that it was not I that loved them, but God through me, using me as a tool to spread the love of a Maker for that which was made.

In the beginning of my serious pursuit of what it means to be a missionary, three years ago, I met a man named Sam. Sam was a local of Ybor City in Tampa, FL. He has lived there for years and was know to be a local crack addict. When I first moved into the neighborhood he was one of the first men I met. He would offer to wash my truck for a few dollars, have me drop him off at local shelters late at night with $12 in hand. It was always $12. Over time I had learned of his addiction, his homelessness, and the situation he had found himself in. He became a friend of mine, a friend of ours at the Lake House. Much of the friendship was difficult. At one point we let him borrow our lawnmower to make money, which he never returned. We actually did this twice. You would think one would learn. But through all these troubles and over the years we worked with him, trying to find him sobriety and a stable life. Once he had been sober for 3 months working on his barbers certificate and a GED education. Shortly after this we watched him spiral once more down into the pit of self-inflicting poverty and under the oppression of addiction. Over time he has had his highs and lows, and then there was nothing. We had not heard word nor had we seen him around town, all we had to offer him were our prayers. In the end, our prayers had been answered. Last month, just before leaving for the Philippines, I received a call from Sam, a healthy Sam. He is living in Zephyrhills now with a full time position as a local barber with over a year of sobriety under his belt. He is following God and has built back up his relationships with the members of his family. He called only to thank the Lake House and me for having patience and treating him with love in spite of any wrongs, and that without the love shown he probably would not be where he is today.

It is beautiful to know that although we may not see the way we have an impact on lives we are making an impact and sharing the love that Christ first gave to us. It is encouraging to know that enduring heartache and betrayal can lead to complete transformation in a person, just showing a person dignity can give them the courage to take a step toward salvation. Although we may plant seeds, we may not always be the ones to harvest or even be able to see the fruits of the harvest.

It is not the end product we look towards, it is only sharing the love and having faith that God provides the end product.

Home church 10/12/11

What a blessing it is when people gathered to have dinner and study the word of God. We had over 30 people at home church tonight, including 4 moms with their respective children. 4 moms! Wow, we're reaching the masses. All the joking aside, it was a wonderful time. We cooked chicken basil curry and had some cookies and brownies for dessert. People were fed delicious food along with a passage from Luke. We had so many people that we ran of food and had to improvise. Thanks to Danielle and Megan for helping with the cooking tonight. I was very impressed by Ryan and the way he connected with the new folk. He even sacrifice his own plate of food so someone else could have something.

We had people from all walks of life, which is why I enjoy the Lake house. From a person recently release from jail to a recent college student graduate. From young to old...I love it.

Criminalizing Poverty

I'm going to go back to February of this year,which was before the election. And I'm going to tell you a story. I was advised by a member of the previous administration, and was, that if I voted, if I did not vote for the, the banning of (panhandling on) arterial roads, that I probably wouldn't be back here in March. I took it very seriously. And it went from first reading to second reading. At second reading, I stood here, I sat here, my knees were shaking. I listened and listened and listened. And I wanted to be able to hear what I needed to hear to bring that vote forward. But what I heard was people losing their jobs. And so I had to come to conclusion. And my conclusion was this. That if a job was to be lost, it would be mine, not theirs. And I did not vote for it. Not only did I not vote for it, it changed the vote on Council. I am here today.

-Councilwoman Capin, voted this week to ban panhandling

Our city council, under immense pressure to pass an ordinance to get the poor off our city streets, has been discussing a panhandling ban for over a year now. It is a problematic law that has been difficult to write in a way that could be defended as constitutional. Council has gone back and forth with ideas and compromises. The first idea was a full ban, then a compromise of a ban on arterial roads was proposed and voted down by the previous council, who clearly favored a full ban. Then there was the proposal of a five day ban that would allow street solicitation on the weekends but this was not supported because it could not be demonstrated that weekends were safer that weekdays to stand on the corners. It has not been easy task to single out and legislate against the homeless since as Councilman Cohen stated “We are operating within murky constitutional parameters.” After a year of legal gymnastics, they finally passed an ordinance that remotely approaches constitutionality. Really its more about avoiding a lawsuit. Councilwoman Mulhurn, the only voice of conscience on council, stated “We have to realize that there is no public safety need for this. And then, let's move on to what our legal department's been telling us about how we can make all these exceptions. What if we make no exceptions and we just don't do it? Then we don't have to defend a law. But the reality is, who is going to sue the city? It's not going to be homeless people. It's not going to be people selling flowers and water on the street. They can't afford to sue us. So who could possibly sue us? The unions or the Tribune. So we're making these decision...based on who can afford to sue us, and that is very sad.”