This week, we will launch our first suburban “Dream Team” in Chesterfield County.  A Dream Team is a small group of individuals with a shared passion around a shared mission.  In this case the mission is to help strengthen families in Hillside Court. We have been operating mission...

As a 40+ year old, suburban, middle class, white,  female, many would find my new fascination with Hip Hop a bit puzzling.  Honestly, if you had told me a month ago I would be writing a post affirming Hip Hop music, I would have thought you were nuts.  Prior to last week, the only things I...

While many of you studied the story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17) in Sunday school, I did not really appreciate this story until I was in my early thirties and watched the Veggie Tales version called “Dave and the Giant Pickle.” So here is a quick refresher: Israel was at war...

photo © 2007 bradleyolin | more info (via: Wylio)Telling people about Embrace Richmond in a way that captures the spirit of what we are all about is one of the hardest things I have to do as an Executive Director.  We are not a social services agency, we are not program driven and we are not...

Street Saints; Renewing America’s Cities by Barbara J. Elliott is one of my all time favorite books.  Elliott has captured stories from across the country that demonstrate the power of the ordinary person who seek to be a blessing to their community.  My favorite chapter is the ...

photo © 2010 RAFTWET Jewell | more info (via: Wylio)I think I know what Alice felt like when she returned home after spending time in wonderland.  I doubt she went back to life as it was before.  I think she longed to see the mysterious Cheshire Cat appearing and disappearing and I bet she...

I think one of the most difficult realities of trying to bridge the inner city of Richmond with the surrounding counties revolves around issues of race.  John Perkins in his book Beyond Charity states, “Because race is such a major player in our history, any attempts to solve the problems...

Over the years I have met many people who have said to me “I gave up on serving the poor” for a variety of reasons; they became too busy, they got burned, they did not feel like they were making a difference or did not feel like they were appreciated.  However, Claudio Oliver...

What is your drug of choice?  comfort, security, competition, praise, staying busy, controlling people, being in shallow relationships, having too much or too little money, worrying, seeing ourselves as superior or inferior to others. The above list of addictions came from an intriguing post...

Have you ever felt your life was out of balance?  Have you ever had a season when you were simply to busy to rest and reflect upon your life but later came to realize that by resting and reflecting, your life actually got easier and made more sense?  I have just recently come through a...

Have you ever had a total stranger speak such truth into a situation that you knew God was speaking through them?  Well, I have not had that happen very often but today was one of those once-in-a-blue-moon kind of days. Every Wednesday a group of key leaders from Embrace gather to pray and...

Does the church encourage creativity and innovation? Are we helping people discover their talents and gifts and encouraging their creativity?   These are the questions asked by Dan Kimball in his recent blog post titled “May the church (and seminaries) be part of helping change how...