CCDA Conference, Part 2: Tina Ward

I am the Senior Pastor of “A Worshipper’s Ministry” a church without walls, where we concentrate on feeding (spiritually & physically), clothing, fellowshipping, and provided resource information to our brothers and sisters who are destitute and/or homeless today. As a result my areas of concentration for attending the different workshops were, Contemporary social Issues, Youth and Children, Leadership Development, Housing, and Church in the Community. From every workshop and plenary that I attended, there is a quote that I think summed up what I gleaned from each presenters presentation, and that is:

Go to the people, live among them, learn from them, love them. Start with what they know, build on what they have. But of the best leaders, when their task is done, the people will remark, “we have done it ourselves.”-Lao Tzu

Each day consisted of 8:30am Bible study with Dr. John Perkins himself; a man so in steeped with wisdom and experience in urban ministry; every morning the conference room comfortably seating over 2000 people had standing room only by the time he said good morning. Then the service moved right into worship and the morning plenary, which by the way, encompassed diversity of every kind (age, ethnic, race, music, culture, religion, etc…). From there lunch followed by workshops, dinner, concerts and evening plenary. There were a total of twenty-three speakers, on the roll were people like Dr. John Perkins chairman emeritus, Richard Twiss a member of the Sicangu Lakota Oyate, Tony Campolo professor emeritus of sociology of Eastern University, Emmanuel Katongole from Uganda, Sami Awad founder and executive director of the Holy Land Trust in Bethlehem, Rev. Dr. Raymond Rivera founder of the Latino Pastoral Action Center, Noel Castellanos CEO of CCDA, Dr. Barbara William-Skinner former Executive Director of the Congressional Black Caucus, Cheryl Miller Executive Director of Perpetual Help Home, Presiding Bishop Charles Blake of COGIC, Dr. Wayne Gordon President of CCDA and the pastor of Lawndale Community church, and last but not least, Lisa Sharon Harper the Director at Mobilizing at Sojourners.

There were several networking gatherings which I had the privilege of attending the First Timers Party held at the nationally known restaurant/chefs, Hell’s Kitchen. I had an amazing experience and meet some very productive urban working visionary people. As I stated earlier I attended several of the workshops, but there were a few that were most beneficial and as the Pastor of A Worshipper’s Ministry, I will be consulting and developing a relationship with these ministries. Like Ten Ways for Churches to Create or Preserve Affordable Housing, facilitated by Jill Suzanne Shook Editor of Making Housing Happen Second Edition Faith Base Affordable Housing. She started off with theology of housing with scriptures like Micah 2:1-2, Leviticus 26:40-43, Jeremiah 7:5-7, and Luke 4:18 just to name a few. Then she walked us through ten housing models: 1) Sweat Equity, 2) Business-as-Ministry Model, “workforce” Housing Model, 3) Church-Owned Land, 4) Cooperative Housing 5) Community Land Trust, 6) Adaptive Reuse, 7) Church Empowerment, 8) Tenant Take Over 9) Community Organizing, 10) Housing Advocacy. We also will be partnering with Empowering Alternatives to Pantries: A Food Cooperative Program for Low-Income Families, facilitated by Chad Hale. Their mission is to provide food for those in need in a way that affirms dignity and builds community. Not a Handout, provides Food Security, creates additional Community Support, Fights Homelessness, provides Educational, Informational, and Leadership Training opportunities, and Strengthens Faith. I also attended Gang to Grace: Reaching and Mentoring Gang involved Youth facilitated by Matt Demateo and Art Guerrero, which we will be in conversation with as we progress. The last one I will mention for there are too many to name them all, is number one along with the food pantry on my list to partner and train with, Enterprise: An Effective Method to Assist Individuals in Re-Entry facilitated by Cheryl Miller, Lisa McDade, and Sarah Waters. This workshop defined quantum enterprise and provided practical insight on implementing and sustaining an effective model. Workshop presenters included formerly incarcerated individuals who work at The Center for Peace and spoke about the program and some of the barriers they faced.

I have been encouraged and blessed all the more as a result of attending the CCDA. I was able to volunteer and as a result my registration was discounted; and as God and I would have it, my volunteer responsibilities consisted of two of the workshops I originally wanted to attend, and two days of manning the prayer room. Which was supper awesome, the leader decorated the room in stations with the breakdown of The Lord’s Prayer as a journey though each station for people to sit and think, ponder, pray, cry, mediate, or whatever they were moved to do in quiet. She also had a station for writing prayers and a imitation bricks Prayer Wall for people to leave their prayers in; and then those of us on the prayer team got to pray with people, walk through the halls, exhibits, and workshops and pray, and lastly we all prayed together over the prayers placed in the Prayer Wall. It was a life changing experience for me to behold thousands of likeminded people in one space. It made wonder if that was what heaven look like. I found myself repeatedly day after day, crying and thanking God for allowing me to partake of this conference and all it entailed. I am so looking forward to the next one to be held on September 11-14, at the Hyatt Regency in New Orleans in 2013. Thank You God!