Stories In Progress EVENT, July 10, 2014! All are welcome!

The 'Story in Progress' of DOOR Hollywood is that it's growing, and working to provide more paying internships and opportunities for local teens and adults to serve as hosts to our Dwellers and Discover group delegations to Hollywood.

On July 10, 2014, we will hold our largest fundraiser in our history at CBS Radford Studios in Studio City, California.  It will be a street fair and silent auction along "New York Street," familiar to most as the site of Seinfeld, Brooklyn 99, and countless other moments of stories set in a city.

DOOR Hollywood is the story of our city.  Please RSVP by clicking here.

We also have a massive fundraising goal, and need everyone to help even if you can't attend.  

Please click here to help fundraise before our celebration on July 10th!

In the peace of Christ,

Matthew & Marvin
#DOORStories14

Stories in Progress: Along the Border

DOOR Hollywood follows the example of Jesus' parable about the Samaritan, in that it would appear that the idea of "the Samaritan" was a person who would not be expected to have any kindness to offer.  And yet....

The Hollywood YAV/Dwellers recently visited the Mexican/US border in Agua Prieta, Sonora, and listened to migrant's stories, listened to the protocols of the border patrol from their office, and stepped into Mexico as guests, being hosted by families working hard to make a life in Mexico sustainable and profitable.  Jocabad, our leader, asked: what can we learn when we step to the other's side?  Not just the "other-side," but the other's side.  How will Jesus meet us there?

As we walked along the border in Mexico, I thought of my times in Dachau where many died; my standing on New Orleans' Congo Square where many stepped off boats into slavery; thought of preserved stops of the Underground Railroad where many passed to freedom.  These were moments that have happened.  As we walked along the dusty desert trail leading to a common crossing point, I felt the electric energy of a moment of great human history happening NOW.  The water tank we filled may very well be used tonight, and many prayers go up along that trail.  Prayers of protection, prayers of hope, prayers against fear, prayers for something better.  It was sacred space, the solemnity and power of now.

Please see more photos from our journey by clicking here.  

Blessings and hope to you in this now,
Matthew
#DOORStories14

Ministry of Time Spent....

Recently, our Dweller Tara highlighted these two quotes.  I think they get at the heart of La Casa de la Comunidad....read them, let them breathe, see how they sit within your heart.  

“More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time and the freedom to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems. My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social or spiritual progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them.”  – Henri J. M. Nouwen,  Gracias

“The fundamental building blocks of the kingdom are relationships. Not programs, systems, or productivity. But inconvenient, time-consuming, intrusive relationships. The kingdom is built on personal involvements that disrupt schedules and drain energy. When I enter into redemptive relationships with others, I lose much of my 'capacity to produce desired results with a minimum expenditure of energy, time, money, or materials'. In short, relationships sabotage my efficiency. A part of me dies. Is this perhaps what our Lord meant when he said we must lay down our lives for each other?” - Robert D. Lupton, Theirs is the Kindgom

Hollywood From Above

It was Tara’s turn to plan a community time, and she chose to have a dinner with the Dwellers' next-door neighbors and then took us all up to Mulholland Drive to lift each other up.

It was calm and a little cool, the marine layer had started to roll in off the ocean, and looking down on Universal Studios and North Hollywood, the city lights had that glowing halo thing going on.  We were a little huddled mass on the mountaintop, one by one sharing a compliment and a thankfulness for each person.  

“I appreciate how you calm me down.”  “I appreciate how you always make me laugh, even on hard days.”  “I appreciate how much you care for all of us.”  “I appreciate how grounded you are.”  “I appreciate when you listen, you’re a really good listener……” It went on until we closed in prayer.

It wasn’t a dramatic Moses mountaintop moment, but as I drove down from the mountain, I felt the resonance of the commandment of Jesus: Love your neighbor as yourself.  

A moment to pause and lift one another up.

Peace,

Matthew

Complicate the Single Stories in Hollywood in 2014!

 Blessings as we begin 2014!

We aim to dig into the debilitating and isolating nature of the "single story" in our work this year.

Come as a Discover group and ask questions like these: are homeless individuals lazy or scam artists or neither?  can I learn about God from a former gang member, from someone living on the streets? what can I actually do to help the racism of today?www.doornetwork.org/discover

 Come work in Hollywood as part of our summer Discern team, alongside local young adults studying what it means to follow Jesus in Los Angeles.  Ask questions like:
is God indeed working here in the city?  is LA only a scary, crime-infested city where only movie stars can "rise above" it all?  or are they most in danger of missing the point? www.doornetwork.org/discern

Come spend a year living in intentional Christian community as a Dweller in a predominately Central American immigrant neighborhood and ask questions like:  Who would Jesus deport?  Can Christians effect change in systems that seem to glorify the rich and criminalize the poor?   Can I get along with someone from another denomination? From another culture?  am I difficult to live with? www.doornetwork.org/dwell

Come for a day, a week, a summer, or a year.  We look forward to asking questions and seeking God's truth together.


In Peace,
Matthew and Marvin

$6,000 by December 31!

Update: We did it!  We raised $6,440 as of December 31, 2013!  Happy New Year!!! 

2013 has been the best programmatic and missional year for DOOR Hollywood, based on reviews, evaluations, and depth of discussions. From the local teenaged Discerners leading conversations on the painful backstories of gentrification; from Dwellers continuing to strengthen partnerships with local homeless relief agencies; from walking into the reality of racial reconciliation in the name of Jesus, Marvin and I were blown away by the responses to the questions we posed. We were blessed by the emotion showed from our Discover participants who stated feeling like their “eyes had been opened.” We prayerfully celebrate as former Dwellers start digging deeper into social justice right here in Hollywood.

2013 has also been our hardest financial year in our history. Due to a perfect storm of major Presbyterian and Mennonite events this past summer, our Discover participant numbers were painfully low, the primary source of our budget. After DOOR Hollywood’s most successful silent auction to date last May, an event that highlighted the grit of ministry that matters, we held a Christmas Store fundraiser over the weekend with Hollywood Presbyterian Church. Robert Lupton’s “Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help” served as a launchpad as we worked with a combination of Discerners, Dwellers, and local residents and congregants to limit practices that might strip dignity from the folks most affected by the sale.

We set an audacious fundraising goal of $30,000 for the year, almost 3 times what past years have brought in, and today have come in at a little over $24,000. This gives us 3 weeks to close our $6,000 gap and start 2014 with renewed enthusiasm and energy to keep asking these questions, to keep pressing ahead at bridging the justice Jesus calls us towards with the reality of situations in our city, to create even more opportunities for local and traveling youth to connect their faith to attentive action and possibly, change. Help us keep shining a light on the unheard stories of God’s faithfulness and love, right here, right now, in Hollywood.  Click here to help us reach our goal!  - Matthew & Marvin

Both And, by City Director Matthew

Ilé at Mama's International Tamales

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of auditing a Fuller Seminary class on Henri Nouwen with Dwell alumni, Will Quay.  Professor Wil Hernandez urged us to consider Nouwen’s thinking on the damaging nature of “either/or” mentalities.  Either I win, or you do.  The disciples argued about who would be closest to Jesus.  Either you, or me.  Either/or mentality shoved native peoples off of this land, made for you and me. 

A recent statement by Pope Francis, circulating widely on Facebook right now, echoes this danger: “Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless.  As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.”

Instead, doesn’t Jesus encourage us to think inclusively, to say both you AND you AND I can sit at the table of God?  The would-be stone throwers AND the woman who was to receive death by stoning?  The warden and the prisoner.  The Mexican and the United States-ian.  You AND me.

DOOR has been encouraging me in this sense of invitation for years now.  I recently had to write a one-sentence description of Hollywood for the Young Adult Volunteer site.  Here’s what I came up with: “In a city known for its storytelling and its very famous residents, Hollywood YAVs learn the joys of mutual hospitality with their Central and South American neighbors while uncovering the overlooked stories of the largest and most diverse homeless population in the country.”  We have been inviting homeless and housed to the table for years now, and the stories are rich and painful, moving and convicting, human and emotional and joyful. 

Dwellers and Discover group listen to Ilé describe the empowering
work of Mama's.

And yet, I’m still challenged.  I was at a coffeeshop last week, and a man named Brad sat down next to me, as there was room at my table.  Brad talked about ancient Egyptian philosophies and the conflict with modern expressions of Christianity.  Brad told me he opted to be without a home because he didn’t need the trappings of capitalism.  Brad was brilliant.  Brad was intimidating.  We had a nice conversation.  We listened.  And on my walk home, I swear God uses my iPod to send me messages, because Ani DiFranco’s “Garden of Simple” came on, and the line “science chases money and money chases it’s tail and the best minds of my generation can’t make bail.”

God, how have we become so competitive?  How is it that some can have so much and some so little?  How do some get so lost in the shuffle, so stuck in the prison of losing?  Is Brad the one without, or am I, even with my apartment and my iPod?  Who decides?

And this has been a great and terrible year for DOOR.  We had some of the best program and discussions I’ve ever heard, from the downfalls of gentrification to the reality of the hard work of racial reconciliation.  We had the lowest number of visitors we’ve ever had, which for a non-profit educational ministry has financial implications. 

Can we sit with BOTH our success AND our failure?  Can we celebrate even in hard times?  Can we invite people to come even when we’re not sure if there will be food on the table?

Brad bought me a coffee. 

I invite you to come break tamales with us at DOOR, either for a day, a week, or a year.  I promise, God’s faithfulness will not be in question, and is likely to blow us all away.