Nov. 24th, 2010 we held the first Uptown Sole Care at The People’s Church.  We planned to hold this foot care clinic simultaneously with the annual Thanksgiving Feast provided by my friend Roger.  The idea was, if we hold the clinic in plain view of 300 members of Uptown’s most marginalized community – we will have greater success in following months as people will have an understanding of what we are doing and can feel comfortable to come see us, or invite their friends who might have need.

I have no way of getting an accurate count, but I think we were able to care for about 50-60 people!  However, visually, we reached all 300!  We cannot wait to plan next month’s clinic having learned a tremendous amount from this experience.  Our dream is to provide professional care through the winter months to help this community stay on their feet.

The best part of the day wasn’t necessarily the foot care clinic itself, but the impact that it had on the whole community – especially the other ministers.  There were three men who came to help with music and foot-care from Uptown Baptist – another one showed up right after we’d left.  The ministers from The People’s Church were present and simply glowing with joy that we were able to use their facility in such a loving way.  The pianist from The People’s Church and a few musicians from Uptown Baptist gathered around the piano and worked together to bring songs of gratitude to the community waiting for their meal.

Also, about 9 folks from COMMUNITY were present to help – some from Naperville, some from Chicago; not to mention most of the supplies we gathered were donated by COMMUNITY folks.  In fact, one of the greatest ways God challenged me in the planning of this event was in my comfort in asking for help.  It is not natural for me to ask people for resources, but due to the situation, I had to, and I actually found joy in being able to invite folks who could not physically help to participate through donating funds and resources.  This is a skill I MUST develop – but up until now I have very little joy-filled experience in.

Now, back to those who were physically present:

Let me summarize: A Unitarian church hosted an event put on by a non-denominational group with the help of some Southern Baptists (including one guy on staff with Navigators)!

Please, if that does not make sense, search these terms on Wikipedia: Unitarian, non-denominational, and Southern Baptist.

There are some significant differences among these three groups – especially when it comes to what those in leadership hold to – and each group was represented by their leaders.

THIS gives me GREAT hope  and inspires vision for Uptown.

The needs of this community cannot be addressed through a spirit of competition and they cannot be handled in isolation.

I have been praying for months; “God, where is my team? WHERE is my team?”  I’m beginning to get glimmers of His vast vision for this community and for what it really means to have “a team.”

I don’t think that the foot clinics are the secret to seeing the ministers in Uptown working together – but I do believe this one was key to breaking down barriers and building trust and respect amongst faith communities seeking to love this very diverse community.

My next step might be to get these leaders together to brainstorm ways we can work together to see some real community transformation happen in Uptown!

I will end with something to chew on: So far I am the only minister who actually lives in Uptown.  Just something to chew on.  I will keep my eyes and heart open for the men and women in this community waiting to be activated to live lives on mission in this community as well as for those who already are living on mission in Uptown and I have not yet met.