Giving

Pontiac, in many ways, is in rough shape.

In twenty years it has lost half of its population and the leak continues.  Many people have never been to a place like that.  Where I come from we are continually seeing new developments, new subdivisions, new restaurants, new shopping places and new construction.

That is not this place.  Our skyline is instead noted for its emptiness, not its activity.  Industrial buildings are empty, commercial buildings are at 1/5 their capacity, and with half of its population gone, every other house is vacant.

But where some see despair, we see opportunity.  High vacancy means that prices are low.  That is the only way we were able to buy a 3,000 square-foot house for $10,000.  That is the only way that a vacant lot is $100.

The city is also not very good at cooperation.  Churches, government, nonprofits, businesses –all of them are pretty bad at working together toward common goals.

In this way, we literally live in a place where a little light goes a long way.  $100 will buy a vacant lot which we can use to beautify a dilapidated neighborhood with the help of other groups and people we’ve made friends with in the city.

When I was in college I’d always say, “How much can my spare ten dollars do?”  The answer, in our case, is a lot.  Here is what we can do with ten dollars:

• $10 is 1/10th of a vacant lot we can turn into a garden.
• $10 is 1/2 of a fruit tree that will feed a neighbor.
• $10 is 3 packages of hot dogs that we can cook for our neighbors in a barbecue.
• $10 is a yard of dirt to grow vegetables in.
• $10 is 20 packs of seeds.
• $10 is our website for a year.

So, if you’ve been reading about our work, if you’ve been out to see our work, or if you think that what we are doing is worth-while and would like to support us, know that it does go such a long way to loving on our neighborhood.  If you’re moved to give, here is how…

Currently our funds are housed at:
Rochester Church of Christ 250 West Avon Road Rochester Hills, Michigan 48307

Checks can be made payable to Rochester Church with Micah 6 in the memo line
All donations are tax deductible and delivered to us in full.

If this is something you decide to do we would be very grateful.  Our calling couldn’t have been answered without much love and support from friends and family who are literally all over the world.

Thank you,

Cole Yoakum

Navigating Dependency

We have a neighbor that has taken a liking to us.  By taking a liking to us I mean she calls, comes over or catches us on the street and asks us for help.  Sometimes it is a ride to the grocery store, sometimes it is asking us to buy her a phone card, other days it is asking us for furniture, to buy food she is selling our of her kitchen, etc.

That “etc.” is a funny thing to add because from day to day we never know what it is going to be with her.  Initially, we were open and glad to help.  Driving her around town to fill our this paper, helping her find clothes at this place and helping her wasn’t a problem.  We love Jesus and we’re glad to help.

Just a Helper

We all have our Bible heroes.  We think of Peter, Paul, David, Moses and have our mental favorites.  But, some of my favorite characters are the ones who show up for a minute to do what they can, then disapear.  There weren’t chapters devoted to them, you’ll never see Charles Swindoll write a book about them with a plum-colored cover and very european depiction of them on the cover.  But they are extemely important.

They are folks like Pricilla and Aquilla.  Or the ladies who were funding Jesus’ ministry, or John Mark’s mom who offered a room for Jesus and his disciples to meet.  They are just good people who do their part so that the gospel can move forward and the church can grow.

Getting Known in Our Community

We want to be a positive force in our community.  I know that.  Everyone in the house knows that.  Many people in Rochester know that.  But how do we let our neighbors know that?

This has been something that has been rolling around in my head for a little while.  Now that we are all moved in to our home at 32 Newberry, how do we begin to get to know the neighbors and start plugging in to our community?

I will give you a few examples of things we are doing here at the Micah 6 house that may be insightful.

Micah 6 House

Hello everyone!  I wanted to give a quick Micah 6 Community update…

WE HAVE OUR HOUSE!

From now on, Micah 6 Community will be living and working out of 32 Newberry in Pontiac.The house is 2,800 square feet, six bedrooms and in great shape.  We bought it, taxes included for just over $12,500.

Today Kim and I spent a good amount of time moving things in, tearing out carpet, cleaning the floors and meeting the neighbors.

But there is one problem…we’re broke.

Some time ago we started the 1000×20 fundraising campaign where 1000 of our friends donated $20 each.  Well, we have currently raised just enough to buy our house, but we are tapped out.  So much so that we can’t even turn the power on just yet or hire a plumber to fix some things in our basement.

We’re looking for more of our friends to step up to the task and donate $20 to finish getting us into the house and begin the work of meeting neighbors, planting gardens and most importantly showing Christ in our neighborhood.

All donations are tax deductible because Rochester Church of Christ is helping to handle our funds for us.

If this is something you can help us with, please do!

Checks should be made payable to Rochester Church of Christ with Micah 6 Community in the memo line and sent to:

Micah 6 Community
P.O. Box 431704
Pontiac, MI 48343

Thank you in advanced for the love, support, help and encouragement!

Why Africa Matters to Your Community

I wrote several days ago about people’s strong feelings about missions as sponsored by their local congregations. I have talked with preachers, elders and lay people alike who constantly wrestle with what portion of the church budget to send to workers overseas and how to answer people who ask questions about African missions and what relevance that holds for a church called to be a local expression of  Jesus.

First of all, I don’t really care for the local-foreign division in how we see missions.  I would rather see missions thought of as the outgrowth of a Christian life and devotion. Just like we don’t think of local-foreign peace or local-foreign study, there is just peace, just study, there should just be mission.

No Straight Lines

I have a married couple in my life who are quickly becoming spiritual mentors to Jenny and me.  They’ve been around since we began really conceptualizing and moving on Micah 6 Community and our work here in Pontiac.

They are quite fond of mentioning (usually when I am not in the mood to hear it) that God rarely works in straight lines.

This was true of our house today.  For the better part of a month we have been negotiating the price of a house we were hoping to buy on the southeast part of the city.  Meanwhile, a pipe broke in the basement, spewing hot water and filling the house with steam.

House Deadline!

For some time now Micah 6 Community has been working with Grace Centers of Hope to try to find a house that could be the beginning place for our intentional community.  We have seen a few houses come and go for various reasons: not God’s timing, not our preferred location, etc.

As we have been anticipating a house we have begun our fundraising campaign 1000by20 which would give us a starting budget for a house, gardens and other costs involved with starting up an intentional community.

I am happy to say that now Grace Centers and Micah 6 have agreed on a house and purchase date!

This means that by June 1^st Micah 6 Community needs to raise $7200 to move into the house that we have selected. That means that we are looking for 360 of our friends to donate $20 each by the end of this month.

Thank you for the love and support you’ve already given, and be in prayer about whether or not you can be one of those 360 friends.

For more information, click here.

Friends Missiology

I was thinking about how churches grow, the gospel spreads and how you begin to impact a city with the love of Jesus the other day. I was actually thinking about that twice…

First, I am always thinking about it in terms of Pontiac. Much of my role at Micah 6 Community thus far has been to get to know Pontiac so that we can begin prayerfully considering ways to serve the community. As we are preparing to move there, begin working there, begin serving there we are always noticing when people say, “I wish that Pontiac had…” or “I wish someone would…” or  “we need…” We are always listening and thinking about the future for what that means for us and how we can impact those needs.

Micah 6 Community – Fundraising

It has been quite a trip up to this point.

Five months ago, sitting in a restaurant in Searcy, Arkansas I didn’t know where this was going to go.  Jenny and I were sitting in a booth with my friend Kristen Snow and her boyfriend Bud. We talked for a long while about how things were going in Detroit, things that we were trying, places I was thinking about going. In the back of my head though I had been thinking about Pontiac for some time.