Here at Light Up the City, we love to hear the amazing stories of congregations working together to love their cities by serving and caring for the community. Each story is different and it's awesome to hear the way that God is working to reveal himself. This week's blog post is contributed by Grace Lane from Epic Life Church in North Seattle. Grace shares an awesome story of congregations working together to pray and beautify one of the most notorious thoroughfares in Seattle- Aurora Ave (which is right on their doorstep). On a Sunday in July, North Seattle community members and churches came together for an event called Love Aurora - an opportunity to tangibly demonstrate care and investme
This past week I ran, for the third year in a row, with TEAM Mission in the Ragnar Relay Race- a two hundred mile relay race from the Canadian border to Langley, WA. TEAM Mission is a recovery program at Seattle's Union Gospel Mission that battles addiction and homelessness through running, fitness and community. The team, who is led by Scott Sowle, provides training and support through a close knit team of fellow program members, volunteers and UGM staff. There are opportunities to participate in a variety of running and fitness events: Ragnar, marathons/half marathons, Spartan, 5K and 10K races. TEAM Mission's motto is "We believe every mile matters, not only for physical health but also f
Recently, a friend asked me to explain why so many people experience homelessness. This led to a lengthy conversation; in which I was not able to give her a single, concise reason. In my job I am regularly asked why people are homeless. I’ve worked at Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission over seven years, and during this time I have discovered new meaning in the scripture, “For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me.” (Mk. 14:7). Jesus declares this after a woman anoints him with expensive perfume to which Judas responds she could have sold her perfume and given the money to the poor. However, again, Jesus says there will a
In our previous post Chris wrote about the "freedom of summer" and used an analogy based off Galatians 5:1, which was pretty awesome, but also what I was planning on writing about for the 4th of July post. So, instead I'm going to write about family, hospitality and blowing stuff up (thanks to Chris). Growing up, with a pretty extensive family in a small, farming town, there were several holidays we hosted during the warmer seasons and July 4th was the ultimate. The long July days, the warmth and blowing stuff up, made for a much anticipated, annual event. Now, my dad was not a cook growing up, he didn't cook any other time that I can remember, EXCEPT for these gatherings. A native Texan who
