7.15.09

Spent several hours today with a team of people shooting video in Tent City. On Aug 12th, Otter Creek will host a concert as a part of our summer Wednesday night series. Former Otter Creeker Phil Keaggy will be performing. As we started to think about how to make Phil’s appearance more than just a time to be entertained a group of us thought it might be a good way to raise awareness of Tent City. One of our members is a professional photographer who had gone with me to Tent City on several occasions to take pictures of the people and places. He put those pictures together in a photo exhibit and they are on display in the lobby at Otter Creek along with a brief explanation about Tent City. The photographer has been approached by a Jewish friend who attends The Temple about placing the exhibit at their synagogue once it’s finished at Otter Creek. That suggestion, along with the desire to raise awareness about Tent City, set the foundation for the idea of how to make the concert more than just a concert.

We decided to make the concert a benefit concert for Tent City. We’ll hold a community-wide reception an hour before the concert and invite the residents of Tent City (those featured in the photos) to be our honored guests. Let’s let our community get to meet and talk with them – not in some zoo-like approach, but in a real, intimate and honoring way that recognizes them as real people making sacrifices and living in an environment that most of us will never know. In addition to offering a general invitation to the community, let’s make a special invitation to our brothers and sisters from The Temple to attend with the intent of passing the photo exhibit to them at the end of the concert.

Since most people attending the concert will never have visited Tent City we decided to create a short video to show at intermission of the concert and tie it to an opportunity to financially support Otter Creek’s budget that helps pay for various expenses tied to Tent City. So today, we invited Phil Keaggy and a few others to visit Tent City as we shot the footage for the video.

Having to start from the beginning with the story about Tent City and many of the people living there, reminded me again about the broader community in which we all live. As I recounted the story of several of the people living at Tent City, it became obvious that we are all the same – we all have a story that has brought us to where we are today. And while we may not all be at the same place on our journey, we are all on the journey together. The people living at Tent City are real people with real lives and real hurts and needs and joys and hopes – just like all of us. And I believe that once we really accept this, it changes how we look at them and the rest of the world. I believe that recognition moves us closer to the mind of Jesus and changes how we interact with each other.

We’ll have more to say about the concert. And we’ll be trying to get the word out in many different ways. But begin to tell your friends about it. Make plans to attend. While I know the music will be great, I’m even more excited about presenting the opportunity for the people who attend to get a chance to meet and talk with several of the folks who live at Tent City so as to begin to break down some perceptions of them and that place. And I looking forward to seeing how people respond to the chance to support Tent City with their time and money. Most importantly, I’m excited to see how the Holy Spirit will move in people’s lives to create a sense of unity with our brothers and sisters - both from Tent City and from The Temple – that help each of us to collectively look more like Jesus than we individually do. See you at the concert…