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Denver
This month we’re heading on over to Denver! Be sure to visit our city's page for more information about serving with us in the “Mile High City”.
News from the Denver Team
As another year takes off with what seems a flying start, here at CSM Denver we are gearing up for our second year. It is hard to believe that only a year ago we were a brand new CSM site starting from the ground up. I’m excited for what this year will offer and the opportunity to host students and adults in what will hopefully be a life changing experience. We will continue to challenge our groups to not only serve others, but to learn their story. Everyone has a story that is significant and worth sharing.
I have just made my way through half of the book “Same Kind of Different as Me,” by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. It is a true story of two men, from worlds that couldn’t be farther apart, brought together at a soup kitchen in Texas. As they begin their relationship both are leery of the other and each one doesn’t understand the other. Their backgrounds, cultures, interests and goals are like night and day. I’m at the part in the book where they are starting to get to know each other and what they are finding is that even through their differences they each have something the other person can learn. Both men, one educated and one who cannot read or write, have valuable wisdom and encouragement to offer their new friend. They stepped away from the safety nets they had each built around their lives to begin the journey of friendship. I am reminded that when we open our eyes and allow ourselves to be taken out of our comfort zones that the Lord is waiting to reveal great things in unexpected circumstances.
In the book, Ron says this of his new friend: “I also came to realize that though his thirty years on the streets had sewn a thick hide on the man, they had also forged in him staunch loyalty, a strong spirit, and a deep understanding of what beats in the heart of the downtrodden. Though wallowing in the sin and addictions of street life, he claimed in his solitude to have heard from God. His brain had filed away everything he had seen over the years, and it seemed he had just been waiting for someone willing to listen. I was privileged to be the first to lend an ear.”
My hope for those who come to CSM Denver is that they would have the experience of sharing life with people who are often times ignored or forgotten. This past summer I was leaving my office and I noticed a group of CSM students sitting on a bench next to two homeless individuals. I went over to say hello and they were all smiling and laughing with one another. They told me they were on a break and just “hanging out.” I left smiling and feeling so encouraged that these teens took the initiative to love their neighbor even without a schedule telling them to do so. I believe that is a picture of true and authentic ministry.
Matthew 22: 37-40 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
- Keysha Boggess, CSM Denver City Director
Local Resources
- Denver's Homelessness Plan
- Metro Denver Homeless Initiative
- Polaris Project Colorado - Organization working with human trafficking victims throughout CO.
- Check out a slideshow of CSM Denver!
- Become a Facebook fan of CSM Denver!
Local News Links
- World Vision supplies leave Denver for Haiti January 18, 2010
- Denver's annual MLK parade "a day on, not a day off" January 18, 2010
- HUD grants $29M to Denver in stimulus foreclosure help January 14, 2010
CSM Urban Updates
CSM now has its own blog! Find out what’s happening in urban centers throughout North America, make comments and dialogue with others involved in urban missions.
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