Youth Service Day

Last weekend Emily and her Americorps team held a community service day for her junior citizen club. They went around the neighborhood planting flowers and picking up trash. Emily will be able to update you more on how this went since I left to play in a golf tournament, but I have noticed a reoccurring trait among our kids, they like to serve. When I came downstairs on Saturday morning to go pick up the kids I found Mario, DeAnthony, and Lacinda sitting on the porch waiting for me. " We didn’t want you to leave without us Mr. Johnny,” they said. They want something to do and jump at the opportunity to get out and work in the community. Now this is in direct contrast to the attitude of most of their parents and adults who seem happy to stay in the house and make little or no commitment to the community. I think over time the surroundings and situations of the poor can get to them and hope is all but lost. That’s when people turn to alcohol, drugs, sex, and other things to kill the pain. I guess our hope is to somehow harness this young optimistic energy of the youth and build on it so that in spite of what discouraging things take place in their lives they can remember the joy of serving and not give up. We hope that these kids will be the ones to rise up and become leaders here in the community.

I'm realizing more and more that we are only rookie's here and don’t completely know or understand the cycle of poverty in which we are living. I’m sure with more time we will learn better methods in mentoring them but for now we just hang out with them and pick up trash together and teach them to read. Hopefully love can defy all odds.
-Johnny






Mario Urkel


Jeremiah Urkel


Shauntay Urkel


Mr. Farmer Johnny Urkel



Steve Urkel

Race Day

5k (3.1 mile)Times:

Emily 32:31

Johnny 29:31

Waiting at the starting line.

The race was run last Saturday in near 90 degree heat. What a fun time we had. Johnny and Emily were both happy with their times considering the hill that they ran up in mile 3. The kids didn't attend the race but are planning to run in the next one which is 2 weeks away. We met up with Jon,Lori, Dylan, Eric,Erin, and Amy at the race. Our friend Ruth was visiting for the weekend from the delta and decided to run with us. Sarah came along to cheer and take pictures. After the race we drank water and ate banana's. Jon Bakker ran the race in 20:42 and finished 3rd in his age group, he got a medal.

Emily, Ruth and a man who should be wearing a shirt.





JB coming down the home stretch




After the 5k there was a one mile fun run for kids. They said anyone could run it so Jon and I did it cause we're just crazy like that.

Fun Run!


While we were out on the coarse Dylan and Eric went to Hal and Mals and had a little race of their own.


Come visit us and you too could have the joy of running in the Mississippi heat!

Run from The Sun

Chillin' on Antioch porch. Left to right- Dixie, Lorian (Grandma), Becki (mom) Karah and Emily


So Emily and I have been training for this 5k run (Run from the sun.com) that is this weekend for about the last month and a half and I've been keeping the kids informed on my times. Last weekend after sharing with the kids about my morning run I got the idea to ask Mario and DeAnthony if they wanted to go to the YMCA with me and run on the outdoor, one-mile loop. They got really excited and yesterday after the program was over we , plus Jeremiah, put on our "running clothes" and headed for the Y. They had decided to take it easy during playtime at the after school program to save their energy for the run. We started off slow to pace ourselves but Jeremiah decided to be the hero and took off in a dead sprint. After half a mile he was dead and Mario, DeAnthony, and I blew past him. We ran our first mile and they were still with me. We ran our second and Mario took a slight lead. On the third we caught Mario and decided to finish together. I could'nt believe that they stayed with me the whole way and we did end up sprinting in together at the end. We ran it in 28 minutes! At the finish we found Jeremiah sitting under a tree listening to Ms. Emily's iPod. I'm going to encourage Mario and DeAnthony (BoBo as we call him) who are brothers to train with me more often. I think they could really compete and win races at their age level. Not only would this make them feel pretty good about themselves but it would also give them some purpose.

The weekend before last we had a visit by Emily's parents and Grandma. It was great to see them and to show them around our new surroundings. I unfortunately got sick on the second night they were here and was feeling pretty bad for most of the weekend. We took a trip to New Orleans and saw close up the devastating effects of the hurricane. Emily got sick the day after they left and spent all of last week in bed with strep throat.
Hilarious! Its always fun when the " incredible" Becki Martin is around.


Dave goes BIG in New Orleans


Lunch in the French Quarter

Last Friday night we held a Parents Night for the children of the after school program. (Fitting that Ms. Emily brought her parents) We had pizza and watched a movie. The goal of the night was to make contact with parents and to let them come and see where they kids are hanging out everyday. I've been thinking that if we really want to have a lasting, positive impact on the children we must not only reach out to them but also their parents. I wanted the parents to know that we respect their dignity and want them involved. We had a great turnout and look forward to doing it again in the future.

This week is crazy at the Perkins Center. We have 70 plus volunteers here from Seattle and California. Our house is full and even the clubhouse where we meet for after school is occupied by a group of guys, forcing us to meet on the enclosed porch at our house. Its fun to have these people here once you realize that theirs nothing to be stressed about. I have to tell the neighborhood kids at the park what's going on because I can tell that they are thinking, " what are all these crazy white people doing here‚?". The groups really get a lot done which allows the staff and myself to do what we do.

Plan your visit to Jackson today!

Dauphin, Wilco, Katie, and Vegetable Garden

Hey thanks for reading our blog. Sorry about the lack of updates lately. We’ve had a delightful March here in Jackson.

We went back to Dauphin Island on the Alabama coast for three days to celebrate my 25th birthday. We had a lot of fun golfing, running on the beach, jumping off stuff, and playing with a big blue balloon. (See the short story below)



We also did an art project on the beach with flowers that we saw blooming all over the island. Emily collected several bags full of flowers all over the golf coarse as I sank numerous birdies, pars, and quad bogies.






After Dauphin we headed north to Meridian Mississippi to catch one of the greatest rock bands in this here country, Wilco. Normally I don’t think Wilco would play a small town like meridian but one of the band members was a local born and raised so we got lucky. It was a great night of music not soon to be forgotten.




When we arrived back home to Jackson we enjoyed a week with a special guest from Portland. Emily’s good friend Katie came to visit and we had a great time hosting her and showing her around the area. On the Sunday that she was here we had the kids who come to church with us over for lunch.






Last week we began work on our new project with the kids, the vegetable garden! We worked throughout the week on clearing our small plot of land in John Perkins back yard of grass and weeds. Yesterday we had our final tilling and weeding day before we begin to plant seeds this week. The kids are loving the garden. They love dirt and mud. Most have never had the chance to use tools like shovels and rakes much less the roto tiller.

We had 10 to 12 kids that came to church with us yesterday. They all came over for lunch filling up our big dinning room table. Half of the children worked with Emily on preparing the meal and the other half worked with me on clean-up.




After lunch we hit the garden. We are really excited about the kids working and maintaining their own garden. When we harvest we will give the crops to the children to take home and share with their family. Its great to see Emily’s vision becoming a reality and to see the kids so enthusiastic about it. We’ll keep you updated on our garden project progress.





This week we have Emily’s parents and Grandma coming out for a visit and we are very excited to have them here.
Come see us!

The boy and his Big Blue Birthday Balloon (True Story)

Once there was a boy and a big blue balloon.



They were friends.



They had fun at the beach.



The boy showed the balloon the ocean.



The Balloon longed to float upon the ocean but the boy refused to let it go.


The balloon betrayed him.




And drifted out to sea.






The boy was sad.



The End

WATCH THIS ! ! !

www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/bononationalprayerbreakfast.htm


Copy and paste the above link

Seattle

Last week I had the privilege of traveling to Seattle with John Perkins for a week of lectures and speaking engagements. My roll was to be his nap coordinator, well not really but basically it was to make sure the 75-year-old man didn’t over work himself. The week was based around a visit to Seattle Pacific University where they are working to start a John Perkins Center. John spoke several times at SPU over the week. They all love him up there. The university itself is working to incorporate Perkins philosophies on reconciliation and community development into the core of their students and faculty.

It was a great but tiring week. At times I felt like we were a rock band on tour, going from one venue to the next. JP would get up on stage and rock the house then we would be off to the next engagement. I couldn’t believe the amount of energy John had. Some highlights of the week included J.P. speaking to a group of 85 fourth graders who had read his book, attending the governors prayer breakfast where J.P. was the keynote speaker, selling books after each talk, meeting up with my good friend Erik and sitting out on a curb talking til the sun came up, having dinner in Olympia with Carole and the “incredible Becki”, enjoying a few of the local micro brews, coffee (I brought six bags back). I met so many people and had a lot of good talks over the week.

I probably heard JP speak 15 to 20 times and each time I was effected and challenged. When people talk about love and justice the bells in my heart ring and I am interested in how I can better practice those things. I think I had forgotten what a radical voice JP is in our times. He has the ability to speak to not just Christians but to anyone. He fires people up but not on emotion or promises of prosperity, he speaks to the heart. I found myself thinking back to first time I heard him speak. I had given up on the modern church and was in a state of soul searching. I didn’t see the church living out what Jesus talked about, instead I saw people clinging to folklore religion that’s only purpose was to appease themselves. When I heard JP talking about literally living out the things Jesus talked about, justice for the oppressed and ministering to the poor, I could no longer deny that all of Christianity was messed up. I saw people experiencing that change on our trip. I spoke to a middle aged, somewhat wealthy man who was realizing that he’d lost the vision in his life. He’d realized that his kids were getting a great education in their all white private school but that they may be missing out on the joys of being friends with other ethnicities.
This short blog cannot give justice to JP’s philosophies and speaking. If you are really interested in what he’s all about read a few of his books. He talks not just about helping the poor by giving them food but also by introducing them to a Jesus through discipleship.
The end result of discipleship is character and in our neighborhoods and world we desperately need people of true character.

If you are interested in reading any of John’s books I’ll make you a deal. I’ll pay for the shipping for a limited time. All books are $10. Email me if you would like to take me up on this. johnny.bertram@gmail.com

Johnny ( who's Bad?)

Books By Dr. Perkins


Let Justice Roll Down
A Quiet Revolution
With Justice For All
Beyond Charity
Restoring At Risk Communities