Friday and Saturday were the neighboring conference that was the spark to get us to Chicago. It was so good to reconnect with old friends from around the continent. Russell from Saskatchewan, Tim from Chicago (formerly Seattle), Dwight from Seattle. And to make new friends as well.
The church lives out the gospel in their neighborhood. Lawndale Community Church. They started asking what the neighborhood needed and now have a medical center, youth center, senior center, healthy option restaurant, and, oh yeah, a church.
Friday sessions went late and we debated whether or not to take the Pink line back into town or call an Uber. Friday night, late, on the L. We decided to go ahead and take the train.
And we were glad we did. We were the only people in our car except an older black man and a drunk man who we later found out was Argentinian. The black man was trying to convince to Argentinian to accept Jesus. It was not going well. Voices raised and we started wondering if we had made the right choice to not Uber.
Soon the black man exited at his stop and the Argentinian came over and sat across from us. We engaged in conversation (as best we could) and found out he was mourning the Pope. That time of night was just about the time the Pope’s funeral was happening. And the Pope was Argentinian. We had a bit more conversation before our stop.
Saturday at the conference was a walk around Pilsen neighborhood. A very poor neighborhood with a lot of gang activity and an extreme food desert. The only greenery/lawn area was some fake grass in front of a Taco Bell. And to top it off, it was raining. Actually it was a deluge. We were all soaked by the time we finished the neighborhood tour.
