Dr Kevin Blackwell

“When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were weary and worn out, like sheep without a shepherd.” Matthew 9:36

Recently my family assisted a young lady who God put in our path. Every morning she leaves her 900 sq. ft. home in the projects to catch the bus and head to her job where she earns just enough to afford the $500 rent, pay utility bills, and put food on her table. Over the past year the Lord has placed a burden on our heart for her, and we as a family have kind of adopted her. She lives utterly alone. Her mother died when she was young, and her Father is no where to be found. She has no kin, and no support system around her. We found out that her government housing unit has no central air/heat and she has never been able to afford a window or portable AC unit. With temperatures soaring this week in our area we could not stomach the thought of her sitting all weekend in an oven. Yesterday, we purchased her a unit and installed it for her. When I walked into her home the thermometer on her wall read 94 degrees. I am happy to tell you that she sent us a message last night letting us know that she was enjoying the coolness of her home for the first time in the 4 years she has lived there. I shared Christ with her and she has a Gospel testimony, but no one has ever discipled her, truly loved her, nor does anyone ever hug her and tell her she is loved beyond measure.

My experience with our friend has reminded me that in my own community there are people living in absolute poverty, utter desolation, dangerously isolated, and at an increased risk of violence. Driving into these projects less than 30 minutes from my home the Lord reminded me that there are thousands like Brianna who are just trying to survive. As I slowly drove through this community the Lord stirred my heart to the needs of people here in my own backyard. I felt a deep sense of compassion, and at the same time a burden. In Matthew 9:36 we find Jesus in a familiar posture, being moved with compassion for the crowd, the hurting, the lost, the hungry, those trapped in their own sense of despair. The word that Matthew uses to describe the emotion that Jesus felt for those in his own town, is the Greek word, splagchnizomai, which means to be moved in the inmost parts. It is used 12 times in the Gospels to describe Jesus’ gut level emotive response to the crowds. Jesus spent the better part of 3 years helping the disciples see people the way that he did. Whether that was a Samaritan, Centurion, diseased leper, or adulterer, his posture was always the same, the needs of their soul deeply moved him. We see the disciples acting in similar missional compassion in Acts surely impacted by the example of Christ. His desire for his church has not changed. He has given us his compassion not to keep, but to share.

The emotions of Jesus is what I felt as I drove through the slums of North Birmingham, a gut level compassion. Who is telling these people that there is hope? Who is telling them that there is a Savior who cares, who died for them, who desires to meet them where they are and reveal himself. In my county there are too many churches to count, and many of them are doing missions, really effective mission work. So much of this mission work involves a plane ride or a cross-country drive. Hear me, the Church must do international missions, we must, we are commanded. This is no repudiation of these missional efforts, may they continue and increase! I do wonder, however, if we as a Church often neglect the darkest and most lost places in our own backyards. It is much easier to do foreign mission work because it is less messy. We travel to a place, teach a VBS, do construction work, prayer walk, evangelize, encourage church leaders and then come home leaving thousands of miles of distance between us and them. What if a church in my county targeted Brianna’s housing project with the same excitement and passion as they do in foreign areas. What if that church invested resources, time, and compassion to people trapped in systemic poverty right in the shadow of their steeple? Truth is it is much messier to minister to people who have seriously screwed up situations in your own home area. Yet, it is a matter of obedience for Churches to be locally missional, to start in their own Jerusalem before going to the utter most parts of the world. If we desire to truly reflect the heart of Christ we must have compassion in our deepest inner parts to those closest to us. This is not to say we only provide resources or offer services, whatever we do it must be Gospel-driven. Before we can reach people’s hearts it likely will involve using our hands.

As I got in my truck to leave that housing project I watched a little boy, maybe 7 or 8 years old, on his bike riding with training wheels. As I put my truck in drive ready to pull away that little boy stopped his bike and for what seemed like minutes our eyes met. We just stared at each other. I will never forget his face. Prayed for him and was moved to tears. What will his life be in 10 years? Who is telling him that there is a God who sent his Son to die for him and to offer him a better life? My family will continue to be a blessing to this troubled community, doing what we can with what we have. As I left I drove slowly through that neighborhood praying that the hope of Christ would invade those 4 blocks. As we consider the mission work of our churches, let us not fly over or drive away from these areas in our own backyard needing a touch from Jesus.

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” Matthew 25:35-40.