Cutting the Inspiration That Is Focus:Hope

I woke up this morning to an article in the Detroit Free Press that is disturbing to me.  There are certainly enough bad news articles out there but this one is personally infuriating.  The article describes how because huge cuts in state funding 70 of Focus:Hope's 300 employees will be out of work and 225 students who are currently enrolled in it's training programs will be turned away.

Let me back up a bit and give you an imperfect history of Focus:Hope.  In the late 1960's after riots had overwhelmed much of the city of Detroit, a woman from the suburbs named Elanor Josaitis joined forces with Father William Cunningham to not only try to help combat the devastating effects of poverty but also bridge the very tenuous cultural divide.  Their mission statement was this: “intelligent and practical action to overcome racism, poverty and injustice." They understood that if anything good would ever come in the city of Detroit, it would be through the combination of faith, training, education and the belief that the future for the young people of Metro Detroit was brighter than the existing landscape.  Their passion inspired men and women like my grandfather, Donald Pizzimenti, to give of their time, talent and treasure to invest in this better tomorrow.  My grandfather would visit churches and meeting halls to convince the people of the congregations to give, to invest in the next generation of Metro Detroiters and the world.  It was not easy then, in that racially charged time, but they did it.  Generations of young men and women have benefited from this amazing work.

But now we see a lack of care and respect for the futures of young people, especially those in areas of increased poverty and decreased opportunity.  Areas where there are no longer any bootstraps for people to pick themselves up by to make something of their lives.  The talk continues to be that we need to cut programs, cut investments so that we don't leave our children with a huge government debt.  And the desire to not spend more than we take in is an appropriate one.  But a future without debt accomplished this way will mean nothing to a generation of young people who have less and less invested in them.  The cutting of funding to Focus:Hope is a symptom of a much bigger problem.We have forgotten that hope produces dreams which produce great futures.  We must find that spirit, that focus on community that truly believes that we are our brothers and sisters keepers.  Focus:Hope has always believed that.

Learning How to Connect People to God From a 3 Minute Pop Song

There is something extraordinary that can happen in a very short period of time in a well crafted song.  There is a depth of emotion that can be communicated in a 3 minute pop song that those of us writing and performing songs for the community worship of God should be paying close attention to.  I think about the songs that have entered the cultural lexicon during my lifetime and all of them have found a way of telling a fantastic story and making an emotional connection in 3 to 4 minutes.  Songs with lines like:
"The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls..."  "Sounds of Silence" - Simon and Garfunkel
"I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend.  But I'd always thought that I'd see you again."  "Fire and Rain" -  James Taylor written by Carole King
"I'll send S.O.S. to the world.  I hope that someone gets my message in a bottle."  "Message in a Bottle" - The Police
"You act like you never had love and you want me to go without."  "One" - U2
"When a heart breaks no it don't breakeven." "Breakeven" - The Script
"I wear my sunglasses at ni..."  OK not that one.

As writers, as leaders, we should be looking for ways to tell true stories, show true emotions, communicate true worship in a way that the heart and mind can best grasp.  We don't need line after line, word after word to say something powerful when words like: "My Jesus, my savior, Lord there is none like you", "O Lord You're beautiful, Your face is all I seek"  or "Open the eyes of my heart, I want to see you" are all we need.

David did it when he wrote: "I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry.."  The truth is, he did it time after time.  If David did it thousands of years ago, and pop song writers can do it to this day, we certainly can take the time to listen to the heart of God, pay attention to the needs of people, and then write down words that connect them.