Refugee Beads: Gladness and Need in the Neighborhood

"Vocation is the place where our deep gladness meets the world's deep need." - Frederick Buechner

All of my life, I felt a desire to tell the stories of how love survives in overlooked people and places. But in recent months, God's hand has taken that desire and made it into a living opportunity.

One week ago, our Hispanic neighbors, the artisans of Refugee Beads, and our other family and friends gathered under two tents on the lawn by the leasing office of our apartment complex. They were joining us to celebrate the coming birth of our son, Jack Lawrence North.

Miguel was there, along with Guzman, La La, Georgie, and David, all of whom played on a soccer team I used to coach. Several moms from the neighborhood also came out, eager to show their love and support. Our friends from Iraq, Burma, and Bhutan joined us, playing games and sharing a meal.

Five years ago, when we moved into this neighborhood, we did so with the idea of finding and nurturing God's love. I did part-time work to support our ministry, driving an armored van for a year before joining She Is Safe as Director of Communications. The whole time, I balanced the emotional and mental demands of outside jobs with my deep concern for the lives of immigrants and refugees in our neighborhood.

With the recent outpouring of love from our neighborhood, a growing interest among the youth in spiritual matters, and the growth of our little family, Ruthie and I feel a need for me to focus on doing the work that I love among the people I care about.

That's why we're working to bring me on to the Refugee Beads team as a full-time Communications Director. The birth of a child seems like a weird time to make a major transition, but we feel a need to ride this wave of opportunities to grow Refugee Beads, deepen our relationships with our neighbors, and better tell the story of what God is doing here.

Please join us in praying for this move. If you would like to contribute financially to this work, please donate to our GoFundMe Campaign here. We need to reach our goal of $10,000 before we can make this transition.

Thank you so much for your prayers, friendship, and financial support. We can't wait to write you with the good news about what God does with our growing family in the coming months!

In Christ's love,

Ian and Ruthie

Storyboard

Our neighborhood is full of stories worth telling. I have teamed up with a group of artists from Open Table Community to explore and share the life of our neighborhood. We're calling the collective "Storyboard." Our first video project features our Afterschool Program Director, Miguel Martinez, and his mom. Click this link to watch it.

Ignacia's Story - Mother's Day 2014