#crosspurpose

Greetings from Denver! I continue to be so blessed by your prayers and encouragement.  The past couple months have been a time of transition.  I am now engaged full-time in the Youth Development side of CrossPurpose serving as the Program Coordinator.  I’ve enjoyed getting to focus completely on my passion of working with youth.  I’ve been learning a lot about program development, supporting a volunteer staff, and fundraising.  

We have recently started up our weekly Monday night Discipleship Group (D-Group) with the teens. We’re continuing to build our group, but have had a blast with the youth who have been consistently coming for the past month.  I’ll let these pictures speak for themselves.

We’ve enjoyed getting to know each other and building trust among the group.  We’ve discussed discernment and how God plays a part in our decision making, peer pressure, and dealing with anger.  This week we had a guest speaker, Marcus Doe, who shared with us his experience as a refugee and how he found God in the midst of that darkness.  We’ve also eaten our fair share of pizza and cup of noodles...  

We’ve also been able to work with one of my friends back in Ohio who is a graphic designer to create our logo.

We loved two logos so one is often used for marketing materials and the other will be used for merchandise.

We choose the name 2nd Half Youth Ministries because we believe it’s the second half of our lives that determines whether or not we win.  In a game you can be down at half time, but it’s the choices that are made in the second half that determine whether or not a comeback is made.  We are about the comebacks.  We don’t believe that the events that have occurred in the first half of our youth’s lives define them.  We exist to help youth make a strong finish in their lives. To help them discover who they are, where God is in their lives, how to become leaders, and how to win.  

I’m so grateful for the investment that each of you are making in my life, in this ministry, and in the lives of the youth we continue to serve.  I have been so blessed to have full financial partnership for the last year.  However, I have recently had some changes in financial partnership and am in need of $300/month in order to be at full support.  I ask that you pray about how God would use you to help meet this need.  If you have journeyed with me over the last year as a financial partner I ask that you seek the Lord about increasing your support.  I know there are several who have journeyed with me over the past year as a prayer partner.  I ask that you pray about walking the next 9-10 months with me as a financial partner.  Or perhaps you are being led to give a one-time gift.  All of these methods of financial partnership will help me as I continue ministering in Denver through the end of July.

If you would like to increase your giving, or become a financial partner, please check out this link for the steps to take:  http://crosspurpose.org/get-involved/donate/.  Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.

You may never know until Heaven the impact that your partnership is making, but I pray that my continued updates will give you just a glimpse of that.

If you’d like to stay up-to-date weekly on what D-Group has been up to check out our facebook page @2ndhalfdgroup.

Ministry is in full-swing here at CrossPurpose.  I have been spending much of my time as a Coach in our Uprise program, which is our faith-based poverty alleviation program.  For the past several months I have been journeying with 10 adults (we refer to them as Leaders) as they lead their way to financial self-sufficiency.  I am so proud of each of my Leaders and the courage they exhibit on a daily basis as they seek to do something they have never done in order to get to a place they have never been.

This is my team.  Please be praying for Josiah, Tiye, Rhonda, Cornisha, Shaquana, Tiesha, Rocio, Lamar, and Scott.  

While stepping into difficult life circumstances, one of my Leaders shared, “I don’t know what I would do without you and the Uprise Family.”

Because of your partnership in the ministry at CrossPurpose significant relationships are being formed and significant change is happening.  Each of my Leaders is either in school earning a certificate which will lead to a career or they are now working full-time as they strive for financial self-sufficiency.  I am humbled to be able to cheer them on as they pursue their dreams.

But I am not the only one cheering them on :)

Every first and third Thursday of the month we meet for what we call “Family Gathering”.  In addition to the Leaders, their Allies also attend family gathering.  An Ally is an individual form middle or upper class who commits to journey the next year with the Leader and learn from each other.  It’s a beautiful relationship.

Each month I have Coaching meetings with each of my Leaders.  I have had the privilege of praying over broken hearts and of celebrating victories.  Jesus cares about the whole person - spiritually, emotionally, and physically.  It is a joy to see Christ transform each area of the lives of the Leaders, Allies, and Coaches.

Thank you for being a part of this.  Where the ripples of your partnership and the work of our Allies and Leaders come together, God’s power and love is found.

In addition to my ministry as a Coach with Uprise, I have been pouring my passion into our youth program, 2nd Half Youth Ministries.  I have been working with another Fellow, Johnell, to develop and build our youth program.  Our mentor and advisor, Ted Travis, trained us in Strategic Planning where we were able to learn the steps to create an effective non-profit.  This information is invaluable to me as I move forward in the calling God has placed on my life.

We have begun our ministry in partnership with the High School Discipleship group at our church.  Each Monday night we met with about 25-30 youth, ate together, played together, and found Jesus together.

There is a large part of my heart filled with the youth God has allowed me to journey with.

During our last couple weeks together, the Seniors shared their stories with the group.  Hearing how they have seen God work in and through their realities and hearts before they have even graduated from High School is a blessing I will continue to carry with me.

We are taking a break for the summer and Johnell and I are focusing on planning for the coming school year.  But as we plan, we are also working with four young men during our summer employment program.  It is not an easy trek, but I am confident that God is working and that these young men are learning more of what it looks like to be the young men God created them to be.  I am grateful for the opportunity to play a role in this development.  

Every four months the Fellows are required to give Board Presentations where we share our failures, successes, and goals for the future.  We recently gave Board Presentations in May.  I appreciate this challenge because it helps me to grow in my public speaking ability, an ability I know God wants to continue developing in me.

In this picture are the other 11 Fellows I get to do life with each day.  I don’t know how I would get through this season without them.

I, along with most of the other Fellows, live in these apartments.  So this is where I call home in Denver :)

Personally, this has been a difficult season.  I recently went home for my great-grandmother’s funeral and shortly after I returned found out my Grandpa Leitch has been diagnosed with cancer.  (Please be praying for him. :))  It’s especially hard being away from family during times like this.  I have realized that God brought me here for different reasons than I thought, but I have never doubted that it is God’s plan for me to be here in Denver.  He has brought me here for healing.  Through the Christian counseling I am receiving I have learned about aspects of myself I never would have learned on my own.  

Although the process is painful, each day I become more in awe of the lengths that God will go to make us whole. I think about that in my own life, in the lives of our Leaders, and in the lives of our youth.  In a way that only God can, He pursues wholeness for us.  He looks past the temporary pain of the moment because He knows His love will sustain us until we get to the other side.  

Thank you for choosing to be a part of this story and the redemptive work that God is doing both in my life and in the lives of those I serve.

Know that you are always welcome to visit Denver and see it for yourself :)

‘“Lord, he whom You love is ill.’ But when Jesus heard it He said, ‘This illness does not lead to death.  It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it (John 11:3-4).’”

I have spent a lot of time over the past couple months wondering why God didn’t show up sooner.  Wondering how the goodness of God could allow such pain and suffering.  

I attended a women’s conference with my roommates a couple weeks ago.  As we sat around a table I was asked, “What do you need to leave behind to be fully present here?”  I decided to be honest with these strangers and said, “My anger.”  

And then we talked about Lazarus.

“Lord, if you would have been here, my brother would not have died.”  I wasn’t the first to feel this way, to think these things.  

Before Lazarus’ sisters even get a chance to speak those words aloud, Jesus says exactly why He didn’t show up sooner.  It wasn’t for lack of love; it wasn’t because He didn’t care.  Jesus says, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.”  

So that you may believe.  That’s why. 

That day Jesus didn’t just resurrect Lazarus, He resurrected the belief of Mary and Martha.  Only our Jesus can bring resurrection through suffering.

I pray that my update illustrates this Truth:

When I thought of Jesus dying to defeat death I always thought physical death. Until this month.  Jesus’ death didn’t defeat physical death.  We all still physically die.  His sacrifice defeated the death caused by sin and that death we experience daily.  Jesus died so we wouldn’t have to carry that burden.  But most often we can’t fully surrender that burden until Heaven.

I shared with you all in a previous post about my friend John.  The situation surrounding his death continues to awaken our hearts to the undeniable injustice in our world.  We recently celebrated John’s life and mourned his death.  John was a part of my community group and a leader in Uprise, one of the programs I’m involved with at CrossPurpose.  In the picture is our community group with John’s family.  We are just beginning to know John’s family, but his death is already bringing about new life.  Please pray for us as we continue to love them and walk this journey with them.

I continue to see the power of God over our death and brokenness through Providence, the church I attend in Denver and the church that birthed CrossPurpose.  In one picture our pastor, Jason Janz, speaks on the value of children to the Kingdom.  In the second picture, a choir made up of our African brothers and sisters (many refugees) sings in Swahili about the power of God.  I know when I enter this space everyone has value and everyone is loved.  Here the playing field is level.

God has very loudly spoken to me personally about my own death and brokenness in this past month.  He has used the people at CrossPurpose to love me and speak Truth to me.  So thankful for these relationships.

But perhaps my favorite story of resurrection to share with you is the story of Steve.  He is very close to graduating from Uprise this next month.  Please watch his story:  

Today we celebrate with him as he is now fully released from the Department of Corrections.  

My belief in my Jesus grows stronger when I hear Steve’s story of resurrection. I’m sure there were times when Steve wondered why Jesus didn’t show up.  Just like I have, just like Mary and Martha, maybe even just like you.  And Jesus replies, “for your sake, I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.”  

Thank you, Jesus, for resurrecting our belief.  

If you would like to be a part of what God is doing through CrossPurpose, please visit this link and partner with me:  http://crosspurpose.org/get-involved/donate/.  Be sure to specify that your donation is for the ministry of Hannah Leitch.

(Note:  If you are getting this via email and are unable to see the videos in this post, please click on the "read in browser” link at the bottom of the blog.)

It was with a broken heart two years ago that I first listened to this song.  God spoke Truth into my heart about His love and I dreamed of the journey I wanted to take with Him.  I prayed that I would finally believe this love and let it satisfy my heart.  I longed for God to make me strong in my weak places and become more of the woman He created me to be.  

As I think back on 2015, I would have never thought this journey would bring me to Colorado.  Through some twists and turns God began putting Colorado on my heart at the end of May.  In July I was led to CrossPurpose.  I quit my job, sold my belongings, and began support raising.  In August I began the journey out to Denver.  If it were not for the love and the goodness of my God that I had begun to more fully experience I would never have been able to take these steps. Even as I prepare to go back to Denver after a wonderful Christmas break I wonder how I ever had the courage to follow my Jesus across the country.  But He has been faithful.  He has been good.  He has taken care of me.  He has been with me.

I have learned that God only tells us what we need to know for the moment.  I am beginning to realize that God brought me to Denver for reasons I didn’t quite expect.  He brought me here for different lessons than I anticipated.  And they are good.  Challenging, but good.

Some of these lessons have left me with more questions than answers.  At the beginning of December, a friend and Denver family member lost his life.  The injustice surrounding John’s death angers me.  His story is not an easy one, but he found himself on a journey towards finding his Jesus.  Ultimately, his healing would not come on this earth.  I have faith that he has now been put back together as he is held in the physical hands of our Savior. My heart hurts that I couldn’t see that journey here on earth, but Jesus has walked with me as I wrestle through this darkness.

He was a participant in Uprise, the faith based poverty alleviation program I will be working with at CrossPurpose.  Please watch John’s story towards redemption:

 Through John’s death and several other experiences, this year has shown me that loving people comes with a cost.  It hurts sometimes.  It breaks your heart. But in that hurt, we identify with Jesus’ life and love for us.  Jesus’ love for broken people continually breaks His heart.  But that has never stopped Him from pursuing us.  

I am so thankful that God has continued pursuing me in my brokenness, particularly two years ago as I began to more fully experience His grace and His love.  I am thankful that this journey has led me to CrossPurpose where we pursue people in their brokenness.  Thankful that God chooses to use broken people to love on other broken people.  Thankful that God doesn’t leave us broken.  Thankful to be  a part of God’s story of redemption.  

CrossPurpose is dedicated to being a part of God’s story of redemption here on earth.  CrossPurpose is dedicated to loving like Jesus loved.  

November was an exciting and challenging month.  I’ll try to share most of it through picture :)

The month started off with a visit from my sister!

It was so good to have her here.  I’m already looking forward to the next visit :) Each of you are welcome to visit, too!  Love seeing familiar faces.  

While my sister was here we, along with the other Delta fellows, attended the Denver Faith and Justice Conference where we were able to engage with others in the Denver area seeking justice “for the least of these”.  

Just a couple days after, all of the fellows left for Memphis, TN to attend the Christian Community Development Association Conference (CCDA).  This was such an encouraging and challenging couple of days.  I learned so much during this time and was able to see the heart of God all over.  I was able to connect with other leaders in urban ministry from across the country.  I left with renewed passion, vital information, and practical solutions and ideas. I have hoped to attend a CCDA conference for quite some time.  I am so thankful for this opportunity.  

While we were in Memphis we visited the National Civil Rights Museum.  Such a humbling experience. 

The very next week I helped with CrossPurpose’s fundraiser, “The WalkOut”. The opportunity to be involved with a large fundraiser is vital experience for the future ministry God is calling me to.  At The WalkOut participants were able to experience what it is like to walk out of poverty as they journeyed from the Denver Rescue Mission all the way to education, support, and self-sufficiency.  

This month we also attended a press conference where we were able to learn more about the Refugee situation, specifically as it relates to Colorado.

As these experiences show, we have spent a lot of time learning over these past couple of months.  Learning about the city, urban ministry, Denver, CrossPurpose, ourselves, and our God.  We have spent a lot of time learning about the type of leader that we are.  I have learned that my top strengths are Empathy, Developer, Belief, Responsibility, and Connectedness.  I have even learned that, particularly in this season of life, I am an introvert (I have always described myself as an extrovert!).  We will continue learning throughout our entire time in Denver.  However, we are now stepping out of the classroom and diving into the community full-time.

Below are some highlights of opportunities I’ve been given this month to use and to grow in the strengths God has gifted to me:

A couple weeks ago I was able to share with our church congregation more about the redemptive and restorative ministry at CrossPurpose.  I am continually amazed each time I speak how God works through my fears.   He truly has bigger plans for us than we could dream for ourselves.

I also recently taught our Job1 participants resume building skills. Our Job1 program works with the formerly incarcerated to provide them with the tools and the skills to get back into the work force.  My involvement with Job1 is one of my favorite ministries at CrossPurpose.  Seeing the men and women’s eagerness to learn and their smiles when they complete their resumes and mock interviews and realize that they truly do have something to offer the workforce energizes me.  I absolutely loved talking with Job1 about resume building.  

(Please ignore that I’m wearing the same outfit in all of these pictures.  Haha, I promise these were taken on two different days...and I promise I have more than one outfit.  I did not think about the photo-op when picking my outfit for the day :))  

This week we also learned where we will each individually be spending most of our time ministering.  I will be serving as a Coach in Uprise, our faith-based poverty alleviation program.  I will be walking with the participants as they journey from poverty to self-sufficiency.  I am excited about the transformations I will witness.  I look forward to sharing those stories with each of you. 

I will be working closely with Gigi and Rachel in this role.  

I will also be working alongside Ted (author of Building Cathedrals: Urban Youth Discipleship that Works) and Johnell as we start, from the ground up, CrossPurpose’s Youth Development program.  My passion and heart for urban youth drives me.  In large part this is why I came to CrossPurpose.  I desire to learn how to begin a youth development non-profit.  I am so incredibly excited for the opportunity to be a part of this team.

I am so immensely grateful for all of you who partner with me and make this ministry possible.  I am so thankful that God choose to use you to keep this door open and allow me to learn and to minister at CrossPurpose in Denver.  I have now been out here for almost four months.  It has been a whirlwind of experiences and relationship forming.  But I am so thankful to be here.  And I am excited to take you all on this journey with me.  If you ever have any questions or want to know more, send me an email :)  

Here’s just a couple more pictures to keep you in the loop:

My roommates, Jewell (best friend from college) and Denita

Me and Cassandra, Kristi, and Rachel with our matching stripes (and beautiful mountains in the background - I’m really in CO!)

And the official CrossPurpose fellowship picture with all of the Gamma and Delta fellows, along with our support staff.  I enjoy doing life and ministry with this group.  If you visit, you get to meet all of them :)  Please keep us in your prayers.

Should Syrian refugees be allowed to enter the United States?  Should we let them in our state?  That is a question we’ve been hearing a lot.  As we think about this question, it is imperative that we search Scripture for the answer. God actually has a lot to say about this question.  Before you move on with your day, I ask that you do a quick google search on “what does the Bible say about Refugees?”  You might be surprised what you find.  God is clear.

About a month ago I went on our Refugee Immersion Experience.  Again, I can’t give much in the way of detail, but I can say that the reality of a refugee is a nightmare.  Jesus is not okay with this reality.  Jesus died so this reality does not have to be a reality.  And then He called us to be His hands and His feet.  What does that mean for you?  

The following is a write up by Jill Briscoe about her experience ministering to Refugees.  Who is Jesus to the Refugees?

In Croatia I was asked to speak to a church gathering for about 200 newly arrived refugees.  Refugees from this area of the world are mostly women because the men are either dead or in camp or fighting.  This group of Muslims, Croats, and a few Serbs had fled to a seminary on the border of a battered Croatian town.  The town was still in danger of sniper fire and bombing, but the church had escaped because there were apartment buildings between it and the guns.  Attackers had tried to fire shells over the apartment buildings to the seminary, but they hadn’t managed to do it, so it became the refugee receiving and feeding place.

We worked all day visiting with the refugees.  At night a service was held in this huge, old church, and I had to speak.  I didn’t know what to say.  Everything I had prepared seemed totally inadequate, so I put my notes away and prayed, “God, give me creative ideas they can identify with.”

I told them about Jesus, who as a baby became a refugee.  He was hunted by soldiers, and his parents had to flee to Egypt at night, leaving everything behind. I could tell people began to click with what I was saying.  I kept praying like crazy.

I continued telling them about Jesus’ life, and when I got to the cross, I said, “He hung there naked, not like pictures tell you.”  They knew what that meant.  Some of them had been stripped naked and tortured.  

At the end of the message, I said, “All these things have happened to you.  You are homeless.  You have had to flee.  You have suffered unjustly.  But you didn’t have a choice.  He had a choice.  He knew all this would happen to him, but he still came.”  And then I told them why.

CrossPurpose has a saying:  “You can’t change what you don’t understand.  And you can’t understand from a distance.”  Last month I asked for prayer as I got a little closer to the reality of homelessness on our Poverty Immersion.  I thank you so much for your prayers.  I cannot share much about the experience in this context as details are to stay unknown for those who may engage in the experience.  I did, however, write on my experience.  If you would like to read it let me know via email and I will send it to you.  Also, if you would like to get a little closer to homelessness in order to better understand the homeless, the opportunity to be a part of the Immersion is open to all :)  There are Poverty Immersions in Dayton, Ohio and Denver, CO.  You will not be the same in all of the best ways.  

I now have a new prayer request for an even more intense experience.  This weekend (16-18) I will be a part of our Refugee Immersion.  I do not know much, but what I do know causes apprehension.  We will be fleeing for our lives during this weekend.  We will be fleeing to the mountains and will rely on our makeshift families for “survival”.  We will be running from rebels as we navigate the mountains at night.  

This experience is so far outside of my comfort zone.  But again, we can’t understand from a distance.  Please pray that no one will be injured.  Our instructor has done this immersion for more than a decade and he assures us he’s never lost anyone yet.  Let’s hope we keep that going :)  And please pray that we will hear God’s voice and the cry of the thousands of refugees that truly are fleeing for their lives as they seek safety and refuge.  

Tonight my heart was really, truly opened to the work that is being done through the ministries at CrossPurpose. Every other week CrossPurpose holds a church service called “The Refuge” for ex-offenders whose charges make it so they cannot attend a congregational service.  I was initially unsure of the experience.  But as we all began to sing “How Great is our God” together our great God broke through to me.  It hit me that one of the things so great about our God is that He loves each and every one of us in this room unconditionally.  No matter our story, no matter our wrongs, no matter our rights, no matter where we have been, no matter where we are; He died for each of us because He loves us with a perfect love we will never understand or deserve.

Pastor Ray then began to teach about the Sermon on the Mount.  “Blessed are the poor in Spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek.”  The list goes on.  This is what Jesus loves.  When we realize our own poverty.  When we are broken. When we are aware of our weakness.  Many of the ex-offenders shared testimonies.  They have experienced Jesus loving them in their brokenness and loving them out of their situation.  How great is our God.

Afterwards, we ate dinner together.  I engaged in conversation with one of the men who shared his testimony.  He was charged with a double murder at the age of 15 and was sentenced to life in prison.  Most would ride him off and stay as far away as possible.  Our God saw a story of redemption.  Our great God pursued his heart because He loves him.  He was released after only 17 years in prison.  As I listened to him share his story I saw a picture of my God that doesn’t fit in our mold of who God is.  This man said he had lost hope in everything else except for God.  He didn’t even yet know if he believed in God, but this God was the only thing that provided him hope.  That is our God.  Great enough to break through cell walls and disbelief to heal hearts and change lives.  

Our God does not give up on our brokenness.  Not mine, not yours, and not this man’s.  How great is our God.