Street Signs in the Desert

This past September we hosted a Vision Tour where we flew in pastors and prospective church planters in from all over the U.S. to Tucson. The idea behind the tour was to identify target areas and people groups where we want and need to start new churches. It was a lot of work, but a great time nonetheless. We had a great sampler platter of urban areas, the university area, among the Hispanics, the Pacua Yaqui tribe, Middle Eastern refugees, and of course, the suburbs.

The best part for me was in the preparation. While in the planning phase I happened to read Street Signs which opened up my eyes and helped me look at Tucson anew. I even expanded my vocabulary in regards to the city, but most importantly my love for Tucson grew. I decided from this point on I'm going to love this city as a student and work my way into all of the cracks and crevices. I set out to explore this place in depth and fell even more in love with Tucson.

According to the book, we've now just hit the "World-class City" mark as we've reached a million people. I've heard some projections that by 2050 we'll be at 10 million. Needless to say we're exploding with growth and as a church planting strategist it breaks my heart that we're not even keeping up with this growth let alone back-filling the urban areas when all the white churches fled to the 'burbs. I just learned today to in one spot in SE Tucson they're gonna create a whole new suburb ex nihilo starting with 30,000 homes! It's a daunting task.

Just yesterday I was thinking of this book as I drove from one end of Tucson to the other after I got done mountain biking. I really do love this city and I can only imagine how God feels as well. I too grew up in a tiny town (Iowa), but God has opened my eyes and heart for the city. I'm excited about trying in some small way to impact culture knowing the influence of Tucson is more far-reaching than I realize.

Leadership on a global scale

The world is going urban and the urban world is going young. Leadership is shifting rapidly from the aging to the young and talented. Theology of the young is being shaped by a global informational system moving at warp speed.
Will the emerging leaders of the world get caught up in the theological arguments of the West and the incessant babbling and reaction to a Western faith that has lost its way? Is it possible for young leaders outside the West to move beyond the present wars within the church calling for a different kind of faith? Does the whole world need different kind of faith? Has the mission and faith of the West missed the gospel entirely and simply produced a step child faith within other cultures that will utimately call Jesus down out of heaven to wipe us all off the earth?

Tell us about your city

Sean told us about Tucson, a rapidly growing city in the southwest of the United States. Can you tell us about your city?

Dr. Jon Sharpe talks about Street Signs

Ray Bakke and I set out to write STREET SIGNS as an autobiographical journey of two rural guys pushed and pulled to the city. We were in a sense, accidental tourists! We didn't mean to get sucked up in city life but the reality of an urban planet with over fifty percent of the population living in these urban jungles created a facination that has held our attention for many years.

The main thrust of STREET SIGNS is to tell our urban story and to write about the kind of compassionate approach we think is necessary to see positive change in these great places. We have used the word "transformation" in this book more times than is warranted, I'm sure. However, when we look at the need of our cities and our urban world, we see the need for people who work for change in people, places, and systems. The old argument that if you change people everything else will change makes a lot of sense, but we often find that a public pronouncement of personal change does not always trickle down to positive change in our communties and in the systems that often crush the soul. So, our call is for the kind of fruit in a life that produces community change and systemic change. We know this is a tall order so we keep hammering away like a carpenter pounding in that last nail at the end of a long day.

I've chosen the Apostle Barnabas as my patron saint and example of the kind of urban leader I admire. He was a risk taker and risked a great deal of his personal reputation promoting people others found scary. He was the first person to embrace the Apostle Paul in Jerusalem when he was a reputable trouble maker and a threat to the early followers of Christ. Barnabas also was first at Antioch to realize that the good news of Jesus was not just for Jewish people but also for Gentiles (outsiders). Barnabas also knew how to embrace people that many found threatening. The Barnabas kind of leadership is so necessary in our cities where cultures clash and usually crash.

Finally, we write about consulting the city because we think consulting is the best methodology for working in a city. Consulting to us is a "listening before speaking" approach. Consulting reminds us that the prophet wrote, "Come let us reason together." We need to listen to each other in the city. We need to start with the "signs of hope" and not start with the desperate needs we all know so well. "If you could show us where God is at work in your city, where would it be?" That question frames our approach to the city.

City consultations is what we are about. Ray Bakke has conducted city consultations in over 250 world class cities for over thirty-five years. His experience is vast. It has been my joy to work alongside of him while we built a graduate program for leaders from around the world. We didn't just give them information about global and urban realities but we took them to the cities of the world and immersed them into these giant centers exposing them to models of ministry, practicing mentors, and signs of hope.

Our work is consulting the city, strengthening leaders, and building networks. I hope our new work can be helpful to you.

Blessings,

Jon Sharpe

Consulting the City