9th St. art project

Down on south 9th St. today we found this. Someone has taken it upon themselves to decorate this stretch of fence with hundreds of old cigarette boxes. It must be a collaborative effort that somebody started and the neighborhood is keeping going. I don't know why but this gave me some feeling of hope for South 9th St.

I've written about 9th St. before and this is something I have not seen down there. It's just not a place to participate in a whimsical, colorful thing. I've been surprised before, like when a guy (now a close friend) played bagel toss with us and when I saw a woman run a hug our friend playing Santa around Christmastime. But these are few and far between. My heart lifted today when I saw these boxes. On one hand it's litter, but on the other, it reveals that there is something there still in the heart of the most desperate people that wants to play, laugh and appreciate.

I guess it's another lesson in hanging out long enough and looking through the right lens.

North! Or Be Eaten.

I'm excited to be a part of the blog tour coming up for "North! Or be Eaten" (out today)...Andrew Peterson's much anticipated follow up to "On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness" (blogged about it here). I should receive my copy in a few days and will be reviewing it here in the next month.

But I really wanted to re-post here something he wrote (here) about stories, art and creativity in the life of children...heck, for all of us...

"Those of us who write, who sing, who paint, must remember that to a child a song may glow like a nightlight in a scary bedroom. It may be the only thing holding back the monsters. That story may be the only beautiful, true thing that makes it through all the ugliness of a little girl's world to rest in her secret heart. May we take that seriously. It is our job, it is our ministry, it is the sword we swing in the Kingdom, to remind children that the good guys win, that the stories are true, and that a fool's hope may be the best kind." -Andrew Peterson

Loser. (unashamed plug)

Many of you know that I have been losing weight. I lost a lot right up front there in March and April and have been slowly and steadily going down since then. I don't have an accurate read of when I started but I know I've lost a bit over 60 lbs since the middle of March.

Some benefits...

-My knees do not hurt near as much
-My blood pressure has gone from high and borderline high down to the "normal" range
-I'm lighter on my feet and have more energy
-I am not hungry on the program

It has been so easy as some friends are helping me do the "Take Shape For Life" program so I thought I'd post their info here. A helpful difference is that this program is run by "health coaches" who check in on you, have done the plan and help you through rough patches (I'm due to call Bob as I write!)

If you think you'd like to learn more, I can help connect you to my health coaches to see if this plan might be for you. Here's their website...GLONK HERE! And I'd love to talk to you more about it too...cwhitler@gmail.com

Justin Fox live!

Youth With A Mission Modesto and New Hope Church present a day with recording artist Justin Fox!

Sunday, August 16 at 7pm, come out to hear Justin in concert in the Brunswick Hall at New Hope (corner of Dale and Pelendale behind the new bank). The concert is free and an offering will be taken to help cover Justin's expenses. Please bring your friends to an evening of great music! If you haven't heard Justin Fox's music before...go to his website here...justinfox.com

And ,as a special bonus...

Would you like to learn more about the song writing process? Justin will be offering a song writers workshop on that same Sunday afternoon (August 16) from 1 – 5pm (suggested donation $30). Bring your guitar, paper, pen and a willingness to try something new.

If you are interested in the workshop and would like to register or have more questions, please call Chris at 209-404-4027 for details.

Remember, two great events in one day...

Song writers workshop with Justin Fox, Sunday, August 16 from 1 -5 pm ($30 suggested donation)

and

Justin Fox in concert, Sunday night, August 16 at 7pm (free with offering)

at

New Hope Church (4220 Dale Rd. Modesto, CA) in the Brunswick Hall

GLONK HERE for a map

You've had a good summer when...

The Whitlers in July! (and August)

Here's our recent family newsletter...enjoy! And yes, I know a lot of the links actually point to this blog : )



August 9, 2009

Howdy, thought it'd be good to send out a quick little update. This should be pretty painless and with a few links if you want to know more...

Camp Awesome - We took a bunch of kids from inner city Modesto to "The Lord's Land" toward the end of July for 3 nights and 4 days. The camp truly lived up to it's name. We were able to partner with Global Youth Network (they brought 9 down to develop the camp), YWAM Mendocino who provided the property for what we could afford and a generous donation from Central Baptist Church in Modesto to help us buy food and put gas in the vans. If you would like to see our pictures of Camp Awesome, GLONK HERE!

Camp Tsartlip - After an awesome time at Camp Awesome, our family and the Global Youth Network team traveled up to Vancouver Island off the coast of British Columbia in Canada to help with a YWAM couple's day camp program for Tsartlip Village, a First Nations community near Victoria. We had a great time and the day camp ran a lot like our own camp so it was easy to flow with. You can read more about that and see some pics by GLONKING HERE.

Back Home - After a little visit with family in Oregon (thanks Hewitts!), we're back in Modesto. This next month, our home church, New Hope Christian Fellowship, will move to a new property. We'll be moving our YWAM Modesto office (up until now has been at New Hope) to a space offered to us by our friends at Youth For Christ. And of course, continuing to be a presence on South 9th St. and working with the our kids club, youth group, church and our local and international partners.

Please pray...

- For all the moving to go well. - For our staff couple John and Rhiannon, working in Thailand with friends at Compasio for the next couple of weeks. - For the kids at Camp Awesome, that God will work in their lives and in their families. - For the Tsartlip community in Canada. - For us, that we handle all of our precious relationships with the care they deserve.

Keep in touch! How can we pray for you? What's going on in your life?

Here's how to find us online and other ways...

Family site/blog - http://thewhitlers.com

Whitler podcast (teaching, music and fun stuff)- http://www.gcast.com/u/cwhitler/main

Amie on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/amiehw

Chris on facebook - http://www.facebook.com/badyouthspeaker

YWAM site - http://ywammodesto.org

YWAM blog - http://ywam-modesto.blogspot.com

If you would like to support our work financially, all donations are tax deductible when made out and sent to: YWAM / P.O. Box 3000 / Garden Valley, TX / 75771-3000. Our name must not appear on the check but include a separate note stating the gift is for the Whitlers in Modesto, CA. Thanks!

Things you might want to know...

Tsartlip village

It's hard to know how to begin this post. I don't feel like I have to be careful, I want to be. It's how I felt all last week in the Tsartlip village near Victoria on Vancouver Island off the West coast of British Columbia in Canada. The Tsartlip village is a reservation for indigenous people. In Canada, they say "First Nations" people or "aboriginal". The people in the village say "Indian" and "reserve" or simply "the rez".

We were there with a team assisting a YWAM couple that do community service and youth development there. Mua is Samoan. His wife Marie grew up in Tsartlip. We helped them run a day camp for the kids of the community. Nothing fancy, just hanging out with kids and having positive interactions.

We were welcome. The people's natural disposition is not overly warm but they are welcoming if a little held back at first. They did want to know who we were, why we were there and who these strangers were taking pictures of their kids. It's the way I would feel if complete strangers showed up to run a program for my children. I would check them out.

The wounding of indigenous culture by larger, invasive cultures is something I don't completely understand. But I know it's important to learn about here and all over the world. It's part of why I went...to learn, listen and carefully seek out. It was a great time for our family and the team we were with.

Before I got there, I felt a bit intimidated going into an unknown...worried I would misstep or say something stupid. And then I remembered a meeting I was a part of in Fresno. A couple of friends and I went down to talk to some ministry leaders down there. We were talking to Brian King about his work with the gangs. One of the guys with us asked if we would ever have credibility with the guys in gangs as many of us came from middle-class families. Brian looked at us, smiled and said "man, people are people." Everyone responds to genuine attempts at friendship and understanding even if the attemps are a bit clumsy.

So that's what we did in Tsartlip. We flowed with the slow, methodical culture, asked questions, listened and played with the kids. We attended and volunteered at the Pow Wow weekend. We ate fried bread (mmm). We danced. Kids are kids. People are people.

Here's some pics from our time there (facebook readers will have to click "read original post up there at the top)...or you can view it by GLONKING HERE.

Tsartlip

Camp Awesome was awesome!

I realized that I didn't say much about the camp in this post so I thought I'd come back to it. We had 24 kids and 16 staff travel together for 4 great days of camp all thanks to our wonderful hosts at The Lords Land (YWAM Mendocino). Most of the kids (minus our staff kids) are from our Kids Club that we do throughout the year. This camp was a colaborative effort between YWAM Modesto, Global Youth Network (9 came down from Canada to create the camp with us) and The Lord's Land. Thanks everybody for a great week! Here's some pics...Facebook readers with have to click "view original post" at the top or GLONK HERE for the slide show...

Camp Awesome!

Spiritual Warfare

“For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy,
Now I will arise,” says the LORD;
“I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.” (Psalm 12)

This is a picture of our friend hearing that there is hope for her to get out of a run down motel infested with vermin, abuse and wickedness. This is a picture of forms being filled out, files opened, information given, friendship offered, smiles and a tangible way out. There are evil people, earthly systems and demonic spirits that oppress the poor. They greedily want to keep them down. Their gain is directly related to keeping the poor in hovels, discouraged and feeling isolated, weak and vulnerable. This picture is of true spiritual warfare.

And there's a much better article about this out there, so if you have time...go here...A 401K Plan You Can Tickle by Brant Hansen

Who wants to make chili?

I played around with a couple of ideas for my recent chili...first, I thought of a Bacon Chili Cheeseburger themed chili. I still may do this someday but for a competition, I thought it would be better to stay a little more traditional. The last time I tried a novelty chili in a cook off, it was treated as such (Cincinnati Chili...which is awesome). Then I thought I'd do an existing recipe from a chili master - Iron Chef, Bobby Flay. He had one that intrigued me (here) and it's the one I went to the store to do but as I was shopping, it came to me that it would be better to improvise. So, riffing from Bobby Flay's chili, a little bit of Cincinnati, a Hobo's suggestion and a few things that just seemed like they'd taste good, here it is...



Some kind of oil
1 yellow onion (chopped)
4 - 5 cloves of garlic (chopped)
2 lbs of Chuck steak
Some kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper
1 can of tomato puree
1 can of Rotel (diced tomatoes and green chilis)
1 cup of beer (I used Moosehead)
2 TBS of Pasilla chili powder
3 TBS of regular chili powder
1 TBS of cumin
2 tsp sage
2 TBS of honey
2 TBS of unsweetened cocoa
Splurt of lemon juice (or lime)
Splurt of red wine vinegar
Splurt of hot sauce (I used Tapatio)
Spurt of Siracha (rooster sauce)
1 can of black beans
1 thing of beef chorizo
1 can of chicken stock

Tenderize the steak by beating the heck out of it and then cut it into little cubes



In a large pot, heat oil and saute garlic and onions until the onions become kinda clear. Then add the steak and cook until brown on all sides. Throw in some salt and pepper.



Add the cans of tomato puree and Rotel. Add the beer (swirl it around in your tomato cans to get all the residual goodness out of there before you pour).



Then add the chili powders, cumin, sage, cocoa, honey and splurts of things...



Add black beans and bring to a boil. Once boiling add the chorizo and stir it till the heat separates it to spread its love all throughout the pot.

Let is simmer for about 20 minutes and remove from heat.



Once it's cooled off, put it in the fridge and wait (chili is ALWAYS better the second day). It will thicken overnight so the next day, warm it up in a slow cooker, incrementally adding chicken broth (not too much...you want it thick) to bring back its former consistency.

This recipe didn't make near enough chili (about half a crock pot full)...more is better so double it if you wanna.

And there you have it folks, it's pretty durn good! Ahh yeah! Special thanks to Bobby Flay, that Greek family in Cincinnati, my hobo friend and really, I want to thank the idea of chili itself. Chili is good. The more ways of having chili, the better the world becomes. Thanks, Chili, for being so good!

Unlikely ministers in unlikely places

We have been pleasantly surprised this past week finding little groups we didn't know about. While visiting some of the boys from our kids club we stumbled upon these church people doing a small, faithful thing in the park. They come to pray with folks, encourage them, share food and clothes...no big promotion (or funding I'm sure), just Christ's community doing it's thing. And the sermon was great too...basically a small scripture reading and the pastor saying something like "so let's all remember that" and a closing prayer. Best sermon ever!

Then we happened upon "Beans and Rice and Jesus Christ" in the Airport district. It was just happy people serving and eating beans and rice...very simple, very cool.

And finally today we stopped to visit our friend James (who we've shared about before) and new friend Stan happened along with perfect words to share about recovery, staying encouraged and hopeful.



Nobody has the entire answer but we all have a part to play. Friendship and compassion win the day!

What we do with teams

We're hosting a team this week and I thought you might like to know what we do with 'em. We have taken a different tack with teams - often, urban mission destinations will give a team busy work with organizations in the city (soup kitchens, clothes closets, work projects, etc.) as a way to help those groups do projects they cannot normally do with regular staff and to let the team catch a bit of missionary vision by osmosis through interaction with different agencies. We've done this but have begun to grow in a different direction.

Following YWAM's model of training then outreach, we have designed every day of a team's week to be educational with practical application. We start out with an orienting tour that tells the story of YWAM Modesto's beginnings and the issues in the communities in which we work.





Each morning is spent in worship, prayer, reflection and debriefing together plus a teaching from one of our staff members.



Early on, we provide a wide event like a community BBQ or another way to just plant in an area for a while to meet the people we want to be with throughout the week. We let the team meet the people on the street and then debrief with them to see what they would like to do with these new friends for the rest of the week.



Then we follow the team's lead to help them make the things on their heart possible. This leads to all kinds of creative ideas...some are possible and some are not but the team gets a good idea of what it's like to engage a community and try out creative, compassionate ideas with their friends.

This week, we helped a couple of people with simple but overwhelming yard projects...



... we spent quality time creating safe spaces for people to be refreshed and out of the weather...



and we threw a party on the street...



We want our teams to leave with a passion for going back home and doing something similar...putting yourself out into a forgotten community, meeting the people and letting friendship and compassion lead you into engaging that community with the good news through listening, learning, serving and celebrating.

And of course we take them for the always important cultural experience, the taco trucks!

Highlights from Josh's shots of Modesto's Grafitti day...

With commentary by Josh and Sam...

Sam: "This car was cool"

Josh: "Sweeeeeeeeet"



Sam: "awesome"

Josh: "Grease, starring Sam Travolta"

Sam: "Just like my wooden car (Awana pinewood derby)"

Josh: "ahh, I'm hungry!"

"Taxi!"

Josh: "duna nanana duna nanana BAT SAM!"

Sam: (said in a french accent) "Here we have on our menu - Le Bat on Le Bat Mobile"

Josh: "Here comes Global Warming - dootindoodoo"

Josh: "It's looking at me...it just keeps staring at me!"

Sam: "I've been arrested!"

Josh: "Don't mess with the law."

J & S: "Isn't it beautiful, Son"

Hobos.

What do you get an admitted hobo for his birthday? A chicken leg in ice cream of course. Just in case you wondered.

Happy Birthday Sam!

Sam's 9 today...I can't believe it. These are pictures from the traditional Whitler birthday roll...

Family Newsletter...

June 6, 2009

Just so you know, the Whitlers are carrying on (in more ways than one) here in Modesto. Here's some snippets of our life and work...

Family stuff - Amie and the kids are finishing out the year's education in the next weeks. Josh is 13 and about an inch away from being as tall as me (Chris)! He loves reading, gaming and hatching plans for his next movie. Sam is turning 9 (on the 9th) and is into softball, game shows and getting his school work done as early as possible. Stella is 3 & 1/2 and likes pink things, purple things and purple and pink things. Amie and I are celebrating our 16th anniversary next week!

YWAM stuff - Our team of 7 is reaching out and continually searching for better ways to do the things God has called us to do. We are regularly downtown visiting friends we have made on the street, supporting them with listening, prayer and education about resources. We are actively mentoring a group of about 18 "at risk" kids who live in gang infested neighborhoods. This year has provided much opportunity to partner with other outreach groups and churches for training, sharing resources and support. We are not the answer, but are determined to play our part.

Church stuff - Amie has been training some young women in dance at our church, New Hope Christian Fellowship and I continue to head up the worship team. I also serve as a deacon and work with a team to facilitate the youth group. Our church has been able to send 10 members out on international missions this year and continues to be a major blessing to our work in town. We are getting ready to move into a new neighborhood at the end of the Summer and are excited about this new season of ministry for our congregation.

Thailand stuff - We continue to partner with Compasio, a relief and development organization in Mae Sot, Thailand. Folks from our team, church and community have traveled to Thailand this year to work with our friends on the Thai/Burmese border helping the street kids and vulnerable families. I am serving on the American board for this organization and hope to travel back to Thailand in the next year or so.

Global stuff - I also serve on the leadership team for Global Youth Network, an international education organization that provides opportunities for university students (and other youth) to travel and learn about the world from the perspectives of faith, justice and community. I'm managing a blog and podcast for them (you can look at that HERE) and we receive a Global team in Modesto for leadership training every year. In April, I traveled to 2 orientation camps (Vancouver and Ontario) to help train teams for their trips.

Future Stuff - This Summer, we are hosting teams from Ohio and Canada for missions here in Modesto, we are doing 2 camps with inner-city kids, traveling to Vancouver to help with a camp for native kids, and sending staff off for short term work in Thailand and working with a couple of local youth groups for local outreach. Please keep us in your prayers!

Keep in touch (we'd looooove to hear from you!) -

cwhitler@gmail.com - http://cwhitler.blogspot.com - http://ywammodesto.org - http://ywam-modesto.blogspot.com

If you would like to support our work financially, all donations are tax deductible when made out and sent to: YWAM / P.O. Box 3000 / Garden Valley, TX / 75771-3000. Our name must not appear on the check but include a separate note stating the gift is for the Whitlers in Modesto, CA. Thanks!