Tragic Urgency

(This is a picture of OJ, 16 years old.)


(This is a picture of Damian Turner, 18 years old.)


On Saturday evening I was driving home from a BBQ with my roommate CW. A block away from our house we saw what is sadly a familiar scene on weekend nights during the summer, police cars and police lights. This particular scene included not only police cars, and several of them, but also an ambulance. I said to CW, "somebody got shot." It wasn't until the following evening that I discovered what happened. The shocking part of the news was that the young man who was shot and killed was a former player of mine, 18 year old Damian Turner. He had played for me on three different summer teams. Even after his playing days I would see him all the time, as we only lived a block or so apart. He was a cool kid, liked hanging out with his friends, like to write and record music, and was active in a local community organization called STOP. He had so much potential! He was shot in the back on Cottage Grove around midnight on Saturday, and he died shortly thereafter.

Tragically, Damian is not alone. Earlier this summer another one of my former players, OJ, was shot multiple times in the head and his body was dumped on some remote railroad tracks. The number of young men (although young women are dying too) who have died in the streets this summer alone is alarming. Chicago has now surpassed New York and Los Angeles as the youth homicide capital of the United States. At a funeral earlier this spring, Pastor Corey Brooks was quoted as saying, "hurt people, hurt people." This is where we are at right now in Chicago. We have a lot of hurting young people, who are acting out of that hurt. There is a conditioned hopelessness that sets in, creating an emotional numbness, and leading to acts of desperation.

Whenever there is a string of shootings, all of the experts chime in. Sadly, oftentimes, there is a lot of finger-pointing that happens. I read and hear statements like this:
We need less guns on the street.
Parents need to parent their kids.
We need more police on the street.
If we could just get the gangs under control...
The kids need more positive activities.
The church no longer has the presence and impact that is once has.
We need less drugs on the street.
The mayor needs to allocate more funds to youth programs.
The interesting thing is, I would agree with all of these statements. We need all of the above! We need involved parents, less guns, just police, more outlets for youth, more engagement from local churches, less drugs, and more funding for after school activities. The underlying factor in all of this is the need for long-term, preventative, life on life investment. We don't need more marches, we need more mentors - coaches, teachers, parents, police, block club leaders, and especially pastors and Christians all working together on a long-term consistent basis. The cry after each shooting is for Intervention, but really the call needs to be for more long-term investment in Prevention.

What about the Church? I think we need to re-think how we do church in our American context. As my friend Allan would say, "we have made it too much about the Sunday morning show!" The city and suburbs are full of "drive-in spiritual service centers" where we "fill up" and then retreat to "normal life." I really believe we need to re-think how we can BE the church Monday through Sunday on our blocks, in our neighborhoods, in our schools, and on our jobs. The service on Sunday then is only the beginning, it is only the huddle, but we should look forward to "breaking huddle" each Sunday and heading into the battle of the coming week. We have lost this sense of battle, this sense of mission, this sense of urgency!

This recent shooting has also reminded me of the eternal weight of the Gospel message that we possess. Our blocks, neighborhoods, and cities need us to both proclaim the Gospel (Jesus is the only way to be reconciled to God) and portray the Gospel message (justice & mercy). It must be a both/and commitment on our behalf. To put it simply, people need Jesus!

Tomorrow morning I will be attending Damian's funeral. Please lift up his family and friends in prayer.

Continue to pray for Churches and Christ followers here in Chicago, that we would work well together for the sake of the Gospel and for the sake of our city.