The Days After the RACE

The Days After the Race

Blue.
Red.
Democratic.
Republican.
McCain
Obama

No matter what your party affiliation, like me, you probably were proud of both candidates’ speeches and posture on election night. Their eloquence and humility represented the best of America. But more than the speeches something else changed this week domestically and globally. Did you sense it?

Why was the whole world elated? Why were so many different cultures and nations crying tears of joy and a new generation of young people energized? What gave hope in the midst of chaos and market meltdowns?

Many people who are of marginalized descent may know.

I was born in a multi-cultural home in Seoul. My father is of Irish-American descent and my mother of Korean heritage. Growing up, I really didn’t know I was a minority or somewhat of an outsider until I experienced racism and prejudice when I was in elementary school in Arizona. I heard people call me and my family “chinks”, laugh at my Korean mom’s accent or at her awkward social interactions, and later in university, located in the Bible Belt, I was told I couldn’t date Caucasian because I looked Asian (genetically I’m half. . . Koreans have strong genes!). All that to say, I’m not sure until you’re placed in a position of marginality or a freak that you can understand a person who lives in the margins. Sure we’ve all faced moments of prejudice but to be Black in some parts of the South or Latino in an exclusive part of Los Angeles can easily go beyond someone calling you a name

This week there was a domestic and global collective sense of amazement, dreams realized and hopes restored among many who feel marginalized or victimized because of color or class. You know how it is when you’re with someone of similar cultural descent, experience and heritage. . . you don’t have to say anything. . . they just feel you.. Without speaking a word, they relate to you. People who live in the margins of our world or understand classism, whether they’re White, Black, Brown or whatever, got it last night when a, a third culture native, became President-Elect. Many representing the margins and understanding the life of an outsider wept tears of joy not because of a party victory but because of the hope that an outsider can rise to a place of such influence and position. Sure many evangelicals may not understand why people from all the political parties are filled with hope and so emotionally moved. Part of the answer may be because Obama represents more than himself. He represents victims of historical oppression and prejudice both inside and outside of America. He represents multiple cultures and classes. Like when the walls of Berlin came down, the walls of racism and unilateralism were being destroyed the night of November 4, 2008. It wasn’t just about the election of a President. . . it was about a dream being fulfilled. The marginalized have a voice and a place. The election of our President-Elect let the world know that the American Dream is alive and well. And the dream of Martin Luther King Jr. is being realized.

third culture--loving

NEO--NEWSONG Mexico City

Check out what God is doing in Mexico City with our NEWSONG ALLIANCE!

Global MBA!

Jennifer Allen, who is on staff with Amextra and on the core of our NEWSONG Mexico Team won an MBA! Check it out:

http://www.myfoxboston.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=801B17FE176EDAC1CACB3B6265F6700A?contentId=7778029&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1

Market Meltdown

Market Meltdown

I imagine as with the rest of the world, you may be looking at the market news more frequently. Just today I heard Iceland may be bankrupt. I know some of my peers 401K have turned into a 201K! The markets are in transition. Most likely, this recession and economic downturn will not be quickly fixed with bailouts and the lowering of interest rates. We have become a debtor nation. In the Scriptures, we’re told the debtor is slave to the lendor.

While I don’t have a lot of answers I do have tons of questions: What does it mean when America is a slave to the lenders of the world? What is the message God is trying for us to hear? Not only as a nation but as the church? If we have a sustained global downturn, who gets hurt the most? It’s not the middle class. What is our response?


I’m sure you each have your own strategies for dealing with the global slowdown and the chaos of the last few weeks. For me, in my office, this past week I had a sacred moment that came upon me and in fact, overwhelmed me with emotion. Two young men shared with me some temptation they were dealing with. In that moment as they were sharing, I was quickly reminded of what my father-in-law told me twenty plus years ago before I entered the pastorate He said, “Dave, be careful of the big three: money, women and pride.” As I recalled his words with these two promising leaders, I deeply love, the words from I John 2:15-17 flooded my soul.

Love not the world
Neither the things in the world. For anyone that loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him. For al that is in the world,
The Lust of the Flesh.
The Lust of the Eyes.
And the Pride of Life.
Is not of the Father but is of the world.

And the world passes away and the lusts thereof. . . But he that does the will of God abides forever.

As I quoted those words, I literally felt God’s presence much like I did when I first read those words in Telluride, Colorado at a youth retreat, in the middle of the Rockies. I vividly remember it was as if God spoke to me in the midst of the chaos of my parent’s divorce and the fracturing of our home, the loss of our socio-economic standing: “ . . and the world passes away but he that does the will of God abides forever.” It was an invitation into an unshakeable kingdom, a bed-rock of safety in the midst of a long nightmare.

A Daytime View of a Possible Verge Type Location

A Future New Verge Location

This is an ‘urban oasis’ high above the daily grind in Hells Kitchen on 10th Avenue and 36th street in NYC. . . a possible VERGE location for the future.