Jon sharing with TEDx Tampa Bay

Here is a link to the Q&A that followed the talk. (you will need to turn your speakers up)

The Tampa Epoch

After the ban on panhandling I was determined to make a homeless newspaper for the poor to sell in this city. See the city council had decided to make an exemption from this 'saftey legislation' for newspaper sales. I couldn't seem to figure out how selling newspapers made you safer than selling flowers, water, or just asking for help. Well that's why these decisions are left to the professionals downtown. I talked to many people and found lots of writers and even a printer that would help as long as I made it with a legit masthead. I had never even heard that term before. So I called a big street paper in Tennessee to ask some questions and they informed me that Bill Sharpe, who already prints papers is hard at work in Tampa and almost ready to print. I had them get me in touch with Bill and he introduced me to his paper that he was calling the Epoch. What a load off!!! Plus my paper WAS gonna suck. The Epoch is a great paper that highlights people that live on the streets stories, services and ministries in town stories and a lot more. They printed the first edition in December and from what I here they are doing pretty well with it. It has empowered many people to stay on the corners and make that money that they so desperately need. Kimberly from our home church wrote a wonderful article on our house and community in the January edition. Be sure to buy one and check it out. Even after you buy one remember that this isn't just about the paper, the men and women selling these papers may as well have signs that read 'hungry' or 'homeless'. Give generously.

Sekajipo Genes & The Jungle

Is officially performing at the February Conscious Party!!!

Here is a preview:

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