Recently, we celebrated Mrs. Laverne Winfree’s 75th birthday in our new office in Richmond on Brookland Park Boulevard.  To my left was a young man who is struggling to get his life back on track.  Two days prior he said “I just need to be around things that are positive and get off the...

Missional: Joining God in the Neighborhood  by Alan J. Roxburgh, is probably one of the best books I have read this year.  I will be sharing several posts containing some of the most insightful segments.  This post contains the basic premise of the book.  Roxburgh writes, “At this...

  “When you look in the rear view mirror, do you see a community transformation story?” Several months ago, when Jay Van Groningen from Communities First Association taught a three day intensive workshop on Asset Based Community Development this is the question he asked us over and...

I have always found people’s reaction to sports bizarre.  People painting their chests and going half naked to a ball game in the freezing cold to cheer on their team…what’s that?  Or even closer to home, my husband’s inability to eat before the Aggies play on television.  I even...

Eric Swanson is with Leadership Network and traveled around the country studying Christian groups who were making significant contributions in their communities.  He co-authored the book The Externally Focused Church in which he states, “Community transformation begins at the...