“Oh, oh, oh … How empty the city, once teeming with people. A widow, this city, once in the front rank of nations, once queen of the ball, she’s now a drudge in the kitchen.” - Lamentations 1:1, The Message
God’s face be upon you during this continued pandemic season. There are millions of joys we’ve had to retire. For me, that included gatherings like the bike tours to SF’s pluralist communities I used to lead (as shown). But biking these days is a grief-filled experience as the current scene continues unfolding before my eyes, an apocalyptic-feeling scene of increased tents, shuttered storefronts (now 54% city-wide), droves leaving the City, and empty streets. At times, I have the chance to listen to shop owners express their grief, furloughing staff, and dealing with uncertainly. In making space, I hope to empathize with them in hopes they might even experience God’s mercy in the midst of this pandemic. San Francisco, New York, and cities like it, are becoming like widows.
In addition, some of you have lost your employment or lost loved ones. How deep will the grief go? Notice how God’s loyal love and mercy arrived in the deepest depths of grief in Lamentations 3:22 and we can take comfort in that. Lord, have mercy.
Given all the losses, I am especially grateful that Kingdom Rice continues to flourish through strategic writing and speaking. Financially, we are keeping afloat in spite of significant pandemic-related income loss, thanks to those who can continue to fulfill their pledges, unexpected special gifts, a full pipeline of work, and the fact that we applied for the “Payroll Protection Program.” By God’s grace, I finished three writing projects and contributed to other books and will share them with you as they get released this year. More than ever, I’m able to focus on KR’s unique offerings.
Giving interviews is not unique, but interviews in conjunction with our content, context, and pipeline to integrate these into people’s lifestyle are. Of the recent interviews I’ve given, the most meaningful one to me was conducted by one of my closest colleagues, Tim Svoboda, Director of Youth With a Mission. Some of the questions he asked me were…
What are examples of engaging the artsy, techie, people of SF?
How do I respond with those who publicly explicitly bash the name of Jesus?
How can Christians better engage their different communities with God’s love?
I received the most vivid feedback from those who are not familiar with ministry in San Francisco and I most appreciated hearing viewers’ next steps, which included
rereading the Bible through more of an honor-shame lens
pursuing relationships with people in unfamiliar spaces
examining and retiring evangelistic tools that end up “othering” people.
Not everyone resonated with the interview. One person commented. “You are supposed to be teaching about the Lord Jesus & not hanging out with pagans and playing music.” I invite you to watch the video here by clicking here.
I am excited this work is helping dismantle Western-dominated training. Among our programs, I’m most excited about starting our 2nd round of cohorts because 1) Most participants will be referrals in a 2 Tim 2:2 sense. 2) The cohorts most directly fulfill our mission.
We equip Christian leaders to deeply understand how their own family and cultural story fits into God’s Story in a way that will shape how they lead others to love and live amongst their neighbors.
God’s face be upon you during this continued pandemic season. There are millions of joys we’ve had to retire. For me, that included gatherings like the bike tours to SF’s pluralist communities I used to lead (as shown). But biking these days is a grief-filled experience as the current scene continues unfolding before my eyes, an apocalyptic-feeling scene of increased tents, shuttered storefronts (now 54% city-wide), droves leaving the City, and empty streets. At times, I have the chance to listen to shop owners express their grief, furloughing staff, and dealing with uncertainly. In making space, I hope to empathize with them in hopes they might even experience God’s mercy in the midst of this pandemic. San Francisco, New York, and cities like it, are becoming like widows. 
