Paul Richardson Online

The last two weekends have been incredible to me. Two weeks ago we reached out to what some have called, ‘The Largest Unreached People Group In America”. I have seen estimates that say this group make up anywhere from 10-20% of the American population. These studies are all over the map. With my friends Shelley and Lewanda we have started reaching out to this demographic, ‘Families with Special Needs’. We have started respite events where parents can drop off their child with special needs and allow us to minister to them for a few hours.

I am no expert on this subject, but it appears to me that few things are more isolating than having a special needs child. Many of these families don’t feel like they belong anywhere. At our event a couple of weeks ago, many of these children sat on Santa’s knee for the first time. I’m not talking about 4 and 5 year olds, but 11 and 12 and 13 year olds. Going out in public can be a real challenge for these families. Going to church is almost impossible, because churches are not ready for them. We are trying to be.

And then there was our Hope For Christmas Party. We invited people from less fortunate communities around NW Atlanta. We provided food and Christmas presents to hundreds of families. There’s really no way to put this event into words. Christmas was provided to somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,500-4,000 kids, and more than 700 volunteers helped out.

This event requires a lot of organization and a lot of great volunteer leaders. For all of those volunteer’s, their mission was to look people in the eye and be a friend. The people that we serve are pilgrims on the journey just like us. We do not want people to feel like they are just a part of some matrix somewhere (the government does that for us). We want to communicate to them personally; ‘I want to be a friend to you’, ‘With me you are welcome’, and that God’s love is accepting and redeeming.

There are a lot of people in our society who feel isolated. They feel isolated by their own choices, or by circumstances that they had nothing to do with. For some reason the last place those people feel like they can come is the church. Those reasons have nothing to do with the building, the dress code, the style of worship, or whether or not the coffee is free. It has everything to do with the people inside.

The church should be the first place the isolated and the outcast come to. Christ-followers should be looking for these fellow travelers all day, every day. We should also be looking for them at our worship gatherings, and personally telling them of a loving God who desires to bring guidance and hope to their life. It’s not just the Pastor’s job.

Once there was a baby in a manger who invited the outcast to be the first to see him. As a man, those with physical afflictions were never overlooked by him. The guilt ridden prostitute, the crooked tax-collector, life-weary leper, and the young and wealthy all received the same invitation. In Him there is life and hope and 2nd chances available to everyone.

In Him ‘Everyone Belongs’,

Paul

Every day the doors are open at West Ridge there people here who have never been before. Many of them have not been to church before, at least not since they were kids. People from around the community come here looking for Benevolence help. Currently, they come in look for Christmas assistance (See my post, “A little dose of hope”).

In Benevolence there are always people that say they want to come visit. It’s from a pure heart. It’s not money grubbing. It’s literally people that think there is a string attached to getting their heat or light bill paid. There isn’t one. We also don’t just write checks. To get assistance here you are going to have a lengthy conversation with a person that cares enough to communicate God’s love on a personal level. Our Benevolence volunteers, especially their leader Michelle, are as caring as it gets.

I am always struck by the surprise I see in people’s eyes when you take time to talk to them and invite them to come back. Bring your kids. Bring your teens. Bring yourself. We want you to find your place here. So why don’t they?

What is it about the poor, the outcast, and the oppressed that makes them think, “I can come here for ‘this’, but I can’t really be a part.” What is it about us? Why is the church a good place to get help, but not a good place to belong?

By the way, since we are temporarily labeling people, who would you put in the categories, ‘poor’, ‘outcast’ and ‘oppressed’? Who goes through your mind? Was there ever a time when you would have labeled yourself that way?

Ok, so I didn’t even touch the ‘Largest unreached people group in America’ thing’. I’ll get to that.

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

I sent an e-mail the other day to people at our church that have asked for Local and Global Outreach information. In the e-mail, I’m obviously being sarcastic, but I’ve actually had a lot of great conversations about Global Trips since sending it out. Anyway, thought I’d post it here. By the way, my wife and I are very happy together .

(Here’s the e-mail)
Are you simply tired of your hubby? Would you like a little distance from your wife? Friends, that’s what I am here for. That is why my wife loves missions! It puts oceans between us oftentimes, when we need it most.

Give a Christmas gift to them and yourself by sending your spouse to Cuba, Brazil or Burkina Faso.

$125 gets you registered to be a part of great vision, changed lives, and community transformation in some amazing places in the world. We will give you all the information you need, and help you raise the funds.

Get involved in sharing God through missions. It will change your life, and save your marriage.

Visit westridge.com/global and put a little Cuba in their stocking.”

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

The last three weeks at West Ridge Church, Pastor Brian Bloye led us through a series called, ‘Fearless’. It was on giving. You know every time you hear or read the Bible it requires a response. Even by the Pastors on the church staff.

I have wrestled with an issue related to giving now for about three years. I heard a Pastor via podcast challenge his people about giving. This particular Pastor has a philosophy on communication that is one of my favorites, “Always wear shoes you can run in.” Brilliant. He was challenging Christ-followers to start with percentage giving. And then he went on a bit of a rant that has haunted me. He said, “If you are giving 3%, let’s talk about 4…. If you are giving 30%, let’s talk about 31….” Haunted me! God has been whispering me to very specifically since I heard that talk, “Let’s talk about 11.”

My wife is a natural giver. I am not. We sponsor a child in Burkina. From time to time we try to give an extra gift to one of my friends planting churches. We will give extra towards Outreach efforts at WRC (gift offering, toys for Christmas) so that our lives mirror our ministry. Just little stuff. Still, God whispers, let’s talk about 11.

My wife and I have been faithful 10% givers to our local church since the early days of our marriage. But scripture says this, But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving. Grow in the grace of giving. Even just a little bit.

Brian talked specifically about church centered giving. He spoke about giving where you are taught (and in this case sometimes where you do the teaching). After years of wrestling, being stubborn, and probably a bit fearful, we are moving to 11. I’m notorious for jumping 4 steps ahead, when I should just take the one in front of me. One will lead to the next; eventually.

I can’t tell you how small a step this is, or how stupid I feel for not taking it sooner. But it’s an obedient step. It’s also one I believe that if more of us did it, we could make a greater impact in Atlanta, Burkina Faso, Cuba, Brazil, and right next door.

Let’s talk about….

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

As we roll forward toward our Hope For Christmas Event I wanted to let you know where you could give directly to children in your own community. Toys for Tots is a wonderful organization. The boxes that are around your community are collected and taken to a central distribution center where they are given out by their national organization. They will most likely give us some toys from the general donation that is coming in from around Metro Atlanta.

One of our partners for this Hope For Christmas event is Toys for Tots of Paulding County. When you give to one of their locations you can be guaranteed that the toys stay here to help children in our own community. Some are collecting already, they all will be by this time tomorrow. Here are some Toys for Tots locations that will be collecting in partnership with what is happening locally:

Elon Salon (Dallas)

K-Mart (Hiram)

Rite-Aid (Hiram)

Wal-mart (Hiram)

Wal-mart on Dallas Hwy (Dallas)

North GA Bank  (Hiram)

Paulding County Courthouse (Dallas)

Bentwater Community

Liberty Mutual (Norcross, Beaver Ruin Road)

Williams Printing (College Park)

Of course, we are also collecting at West Ridge Church the next two Sundays.

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

A couple years ago I read a book on prayer by author Richard Rohr. The book was called ‘Everything Belongs’. It had a lot of great insights and some impact on me personally. As I continued to read and reflect over the title of the book God kept tweaking the phrase in my heart. Over time I started using the phrase ‘Everyone Belongs’. I started signing my name with the phrase. I was looking at people differently.

You see I grew up with a conservative Christian upbringing. What I’m about to say is not a reflection on my family. Since they may be the only 5 people reading this I had to throw that in there. Quite frankly, in an independent fundamentalist background (Baptist one on side, charismatic on the other) not everyone belonged. In my world you ‘belonged’ if you tucked in your shirt, wore a belt, had your hair cut the right length and listened to the right kind of music. But especially don’t listen to the wrong kind.

Over the years, God has chipped some of that stuff away (I’m a work in progress), and I can’t go back to my previous way of thinking. I have learned that there is good and beauty in a lot of places I didn’t used to look for it. I have learned that God has placed a piece of Himself inside of everyone, and that a personal relationship with Jesus is how to activate the God-particles.

Never has that been brought more to light than when the Outreach team at West Ridge starting engaging what some have called the largest unreached people group in America…(Part 2, later)

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

In 2008 an awesome collaboration of community leaders in Northwest Atlanta invited West Ridge Church to help them pull off the county Christmas program. We let them know what we could do, and together we were able to serve somewhere north of 1,000 families for Christmas. West Ridge didn’t do this alone.We partnered with A Fresh Hope, CAYA Ministries and Toys for Tots to pull it off. Several other local churches got involved as well.

This year, we thought we would do it again, invite more families, and provide more assistance. So with the same partners we are throwing a party on Saturday, December 19th from 2:00 pm – 7:00 pm at West Ridge Church. We call it, ‘Hope For Christmas‘

Here is what happens at the party;

1. Invite people who need some extra assistance with Christmas to come and receive a food box with enough stuff for Christmas Dinner,
2. Give every parent a toy for each child in their home,
3. Give every child a chance to ‘shop’ for free in Santa’s Secret Store. The store gives children who otherwise might not get gifts themselves the chance to experience the joy of giving. The store is filled with items for siblings, Mom and Dad, and grandparents.

Along with all of these elements are crafts, snacks, and Jolly Ol’ Saint Nick himself makes an appearance.

I believe a little dose of hope given in Jesus name has the potential to go a lot farther than people may realize.

Christmas is a magical time of year, but 1500 families don’t get assistance by magic. We need your help, and I would invite you to partner with us in one of the following ways.

1. It takes over 500 volunteers to pull this off both before the event and on the 19th itself. If you would give a little time, it will go a long way. (You can volunteer by going here)
2. We could use some gifts. Toys are less expensive this year than ever before. You can drop them off at West Ridge Church in boxes spread throughout the church or bring them in Monday-Thursday from 9am-5pm. We could also use gifts for Parents and Grandparents for the kids to choose from in Santa’s Secret Store (I love saying that name. Don’t know why )
3. We need canned goods. What would you want for Christmas dinner? Boxes of stuffing, potatoes, cans of yams, green beans and corn would be great.

If you want to volunteer or know someone that needs to register for assistance, you can take them to this link. There you will find two separate links for registration and volunteering.

We are also inviting over 400 families to this that were impacted by September’s flooding. It’s the least we can do for them.

Help us give a little dose of hope this year. It just might change the trajectory of an entire family.

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

This Sunday at West Ridge Church my friend Pete Brokopp will share for a couple minutes in each of our three services. Pete is an inspiring leader with lots of great stories so we thought we would create another opportunity for you to meet him. Sunday afternoon at 4 pm we will be hosting a reception for Pete at West Ridge where you can learn more about how to get involved in Burkina, and what life is like there. This is an especially great chance for those of you who have sponsored a child through Compassion International to learn more about the trials your sponsored child might face.

With that said may you want to go to Africa, but maybe you  would like to know what other trips are available through the church. For more information on going on a Global trip with West Ridge visit westridge.com/global. I have put some brief descriptions below.

Where will you go?

CUBA

Cuba has been in the news a lot lately. It’s on a lot of people’s minds. Beyond all the politics there are some incredible people, and  the opportunity to experience an amazing culture that mixes the Caribbean and  Hispanic life. Join us in working alongside our church partners just outside of Havana. We will work to help them serve their communities, and to assist and train them in doing Women’s, Children’s and Small Groups Ministry.

BRAZIL

We are partnering with Indigenous Pastors and Leaders to build a training center to equip tribal people to be able to engage over one hundred unreached people groups along the Amazon River. The training center is being built near Iran-duba, which is located across the Rio Negro from the beautiful city of Manaus

BURKINA FASO

Every trip we take to Burkina Faso has a different focus as we seek to impact the culture and infrastructure of this West African country and spread the gospel. We may be in the bush building church, or working in the capital city of Ouagadougou working alongside the number one school in the country. We have a built on our guest house and team center here and are ready for year of ministry in order to truly make a difference.

Brian Bloye spoke on Acts 3 yesterday at West Ridge Church. One of the points that really stuck out to me (and several others) was that “We have to open for interruptions.” Brian challenged people at the end to let God interrupt you by taking the time to come and allow others to pray with you. He invited people to come forward to be anointed with oil in accordance with James 5. Hundreds came forward. It was powerful.

So how do you take prayer, and anointing, and spiritual healing with you after you leave such an amazing service?

You have to allow for interruptions.

Ever said the phrase, “I’ll be praying for you.” I know I have. It easier to do that, but what if we took the time to stop and say, “Let’s pray right now.”

Have you ever not prayed with a friend because you didn’t have the time. Maybe it  was because it doesn’t fit the rhythm of your friendship? Your friendship has never been about that before. It’s not the norm.

We have to be ready for interruptions. And those unexpected moments can only happen when you allow for that sacred space. Those moments only happen when you allow for margin. Many try to create margin by creating boundaries. But margin is more than just space. One definition I like is;  ”The part of anything least integrated with its center”.

Margin is not just about more room in your finances or not filling in every half-hour block on your calendar. Margin is about coloring outside the lines, and being willing to get off the page.

We need to invite God to guide us and break through our normal, comfortable rhythms, and change them. We need to invite Him to write in the supernatural space on the edges of life’s page.

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

Sometimes God sneaks up on you. I know God is all round us, always with us, and it is us that must walk in constant awareness of that. Yet still, sometimes God is sneaky.

In November 2006,  I was called by a friend at West Ridge Church. She said that she has a friend dying of cancer and asked if I would come visit. Death was imminent and I was asked if I would come regularly to visit and walk all the way to death with this lady.

For the next several months I visited a woman with Pancreatic Cancer nearly once a week. I would sit in a chair by the bed. Sometimes the light in the room was too much, sometimes she wanted more fresh air. Sometimes I would have to leave the room for long periods of time while a nurse or her Mother attended to some of the more harsh symptoms of that disease. She would ask about God. Oftentimes, she would make me think of things in a way that I had not thought of. The kind of profound perspective that God gives to those who are suffering.

Quite honestly, I’ve deleted several other details from this post. Being a part of the end of Laura’s journey and performing her funeral had a profound impact on me. She went to be with her Savior on April 8, 2007. It was Easter Sunday.

All along the way there was Laura’s husband, John. This man had a deep love for his wife. He was doing everything he could to be with her, and to keep her unaware of other struggles that were knocking on his door. I was there as God’s representative. I’m pretty sure this 6ft. 5in. (I think he’s taller than that) man would have liked to give God a right hook to the jaw during his wife’s suffering. Since God incarnate wasn’t available, I kept that thought very near the front of my brain. John also had a lot of questions of a different sort. He declared he was not a Christ-follower and would find his peace in other ways.

A little while after Laura’s death I ran into John in a store in town. It was the day before Easter. He said he wanted to come to church to honor Laura’s death, but wasn’t sure if he would. Some of the last words she spoke to him were asking him to come to know the Savior, and because she had asked him to he would at least make a step towards that.  I told him to come and he could sit with my family. He showed and I sat the whole service praying for John, hoping he would respond. Nothing remarkable happened, but John said he liked it and ‘might’ come back.

I guess he has come a few times since. I kind of lost track of him.

My family was at Burt’s Pumpkin Farm with the rest of North GA yesterday afternoon when I got a text message. John had been at  West Ridge Church yesterday morning, listening to Brian talk about salvation and giving the opportunity to be baptized right away in the service. John had indicated he might come back. Sure enough during our invitation time in the 6:00 p.m. service at West Ridge ‘Goliath’ stood up out of the corner of my eye. I was on stage setting up the offering, and it was all I could do to keep it together. I watched him go into that tub and declare the decision he had made to be a follower of Jesus, and thought about how Laura finished her journey with grace, and how God is still using her life.

I have no idea why I am surprised. That may be a different post and some things I have to work on. I’ll just say I have renewed passion to pray for those who still have questions and am thankful for a God who never stops being the answer to life’s toughest questions.

Everyone Belongs,

Paul