Ben is in our Certificate in Missional Leadership program. He is spending a year, getting a grad level education, personal counseling about his place in the world, and is immersed in an east Tulsa community at Garnett Church of Christ. He has a big project where he is creating opportunities for stories to be told within the congregation, and beyond into the community. His project is making a contribution to this community- people are connecting, and learning to care better for God’s children. He’s learning a ton- and making a difference in the process. Here’s his first video.
I get a one line email last night. It asks me: “What do you mean by “two years of not being challenged?” I have not met the author (to my knowledge.)
Oh boy. You know when someone asks you a simple question, and you automatically realize that you may have messed up something up? Is it just me? I figured as much…
I go to re-read my email sent out a couple of days ago for contributors, partners, friends, which is aimed to thank folks and inform them about the new stuff going on at CQ Missional. I’m getting the feeling that something I wrote could be taken the wrong way, and I’m thinking, “man, when you write up something quickly and shoot it out there- people who don’t know you read it, and you’ve got to do a better job of communicating your heart.” I’m also reminded that when you shoot from the hip- you usually hit your foot first. In the email, I started some communication about a new “gap year” program we’re starting next year for community college students, and other high school grads.
Here’s what I read that I had written just one day before: “Students are not usually thrilled about it, parents however, like the great value of it. “It” is going to Tulsa Community College for your entry into college life. The Tulsa Achieves program is free for qualifying students and a great choice financially. However, many students who stay in Tulsa for community college have 2 years of not being challenged, wishing they were somewhere else, and playing it safe and not engaging the promise of this time of life. Instead of really exploring a life calling and preparing to enter vocational training with confidence, they do a lot of hanging out.”
Hum… Its that true? Well, I am sure it is for some people. In fact, I know it is for some people. However, my statement can be read as a judgment on the quality of what TCC offers. That was not what I was after, especially because the Achieves program is exactly the kind of thing that excites us about living in Tulsa. Its great. It provides choice for those who haven’t had it before. It gives opportunity. Its city wide.
The notion that students don’t grow or develop during community college really says more about the student than about the college. Our growth is always our own responsibility. You know, like we were taught in grad school, that our outcomes are always a marriage of an experience plus our belief about the experience. Attitude is everything, and people mine beauty from any place every day, and folks also blow it and fail to capitalize on something beautiful right in front of them, every day.
TCC has done a beautiful thing in the Achieves program and as I have commented on numerous occasions, what is a good thing will just keep getting better and better because of this injection of life into the community. Here is the “to the point” explanation and purpose for the TCC Achieves program from their website:
What Is Tulsa Achieves?
TCC helps eliminate the financial burden of attending college by providing additional funding to fill the “gap” between financial aid and the cost of attending college.
For eligible students, Tulsa Achieves pays up to 100% of tuition and fees for a maximum of 63 college credit hours. As a gap-funding program, Tulsa Achieves pays any remaining balance after all state, federal and private aid and grant funding have been applied. There is no cost to the student!
Why did TCC start the Tulsa Achieves Program?
The answer is simple – Students in Tulsa County should have the opportunity to attend college based on an ability to achieve, not an ability to pay.
It’s all about giving back to, and improving, our community. By increasing the number of Tulsa County residents with higher education degrees, we can increase the number of skilled professionals available in the Tulsa job market. We hope to encourage students to graduate high school and engage their community through service learning/volunteer service. With Tulsa Achieves, TCC is helping to ensure that Tulsa continues to grow, just as Tulsa has ensured the growth of TCC.
This deal is SO what we want to promote in Tulsa, and any words that imply that they aren’t doing a great thing here- are just misplaced, and not what we want to communicate.
Can community college be the best possible choice for people trying to move towards their life calling? Absolutely. Even without “us?” Um….yep.
Is it possible that students who stay in Tulsa to engage an education at a place like TCC might need what we offer to help them move forward in life, to pursue their unique role in making the world a better place? I am convinced the answer to that one is yes also. We help people take responsibility for their potential on a personal level, and engage the adventure of what is right in front of their face- such as their potential contribution to this community. Many people just need a personal challenge and relationship that helps them go to this place.
So, maybe a better way to have written that paragraph would have been:
“Some students may not be thrilled about it, parents however, like the great value of it. “It” is going to Tulsa Community College for your entry into college life. The Tulsa Achieves program is free for qualifying students and a great choice, giving tons of students the opportunity for free tuition to TCC’s growing academic programs. The TCC experience also can offer a seamless academic transition to 4 year state Universities. While having TCC and the Achieves program here is such a great resource to our city, many students who stay in Tulsa do not use their time to develop their unique role in the world. Many don’t seek out the challenge that leads to growth during these years and play it safe instead- living in a holding pattern until they go on to a 4 year university, choose a major, and live on “their own.” Instead of really exploring a life calling and preparing to enter vocational training with confidence, many students hang out, do their work, and wait. We believe we can come along side of students during this time, and help them engage the foundational questions of who they will be. The result will be a student ready to engage more specific vocational and life training with courage and confidence- knowing who they are, and ready to dive into that adventure.”
The lesson for me? James tells us: “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak…” I’m reminded that my perspective is limited, and I quickly forget that others have the ability to broaden my little window. My quick words don’t give the whole story, and as I have experienced more times than I would like to admit, the crow doesn’t taste like chicken. I’ll eat it though (salsa might help).
We look forward to serving people as they discover their unique role in making the world a better place. Thanks to folks like TCC and the Achieves program who are doing that same work. Our program to help students with their unique role in this world, called “GPS” will take off this August.
Martin Luther King Day is one of my favorite holidays. My family has a long standing tradition of gathering early in the morning, lighting candles, and walking through the neighborhood singing “We Shall Overcome”, and then we make an effort to work as a family to do our little part to eradicate various injustices.
Part of that statement is true. It is one of my favorite holidays. You probably wouldn’t know that, however, unless you asked me about it- because I like most families, just try to enjoy an extra day off. It is important, though, because it keeps the story of the value of people in front of me. This day keeps the story alive, of the struggle of people who see themselves as being made in God’s image- and the people who see them as less than that- and will do whatever it takes to repress that vision.
My family had the opportunity to go to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis last year on our way to Florida, and the experience was powerful for me to say the least. After an hour or two of reading of the struggle, watching video clips, and sitting in the bus where Rosa Park’s said “I am tired.” and refused to move; I found myself standing next to the place where King lost his life on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. I stood looking through a plexiglass window at King’s room to my right and straight ahead was the balcony. The building across the street from which the shots came was in my line of sight as well. Something caught my eye when looking down at the balcony deck- there was a square in the concrete which had been cut out and new concrete poured in it. The square was approximately 18 inches long and wide, to my recollection. Not sure where I got the information, if it was someone there, or a sign through our self guided tour, but I became aware that the square was the clean up work by the owner of the motel. This square of concrete was where MLK’s blood was, and it was stained, and not able to be cleaned. So, the owner, cut the blood stained concrete out, and poured new cement in its place.
This kind of clean up happens every day where there is violent crime, and also where there are tragic accidents. The clean up helps the rest of us not think about, or even know about, what happened at that spot in the past. This is helpful for our communities. In this case, though, it reminded me that with this murder- the life cut short led a struggle affirming God’s image in all men. His was an imperfect life, full of contradictions, and yet not afraid to speak of justice and the peaceful way of Jesus. People joining in grabbed hold of their identity as image bearers and had the revelation that jail time, pain, or even death could not stop them from taking that identity on to themselves as individuals. There was unspeakable freedom in understanding this, and true community as African Americans and any other people who had experienced a generational repression started to own their place in America with diginty. There was a consistency starting to happen between people’s inner lives and how they hoped to express themselves in the outside world. Even more importantly for all of us- there was a collective assumption of identity that created a wave of change and courage, and for that matter- conflict.
And, while MLK the man is not by any means solely responsible for Civil Rights progress; he was a life that was a part of creating hope and helping people live with courage. He helped people believe that they had value. He challenged people who worked so hard to preserve their own power and deny worth in others. So while this man was a larger than life character, his blood got cleaned up and the square on the balcony spoke to the enormity of this life, and the value of every man. I stared at the square and started to cry. My children got uncomfortable as Dad was all emotional and weird. I couldn’t stop, as I was broken- so sad that this life of great value created such a story, was cut down so quickly, and the evidence of his murder got removed by a concrete cutter.
As I walked away from the museum, and drove with my family for our vacation to Florida, I was struck with the knowledge of the value of every person. Every person as being made in God’s image is made to be a creator and contributor, and some take this idea to heart and live it out in ways that make the world a better place. They live it out in ways that personify the prayer of Jesus when he prayed “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” I was also stuck with how true power that creates sustainable change comes from the bottom up, from stables outside of Bethlehem, from streets in Selma, where people live every day. When people choose to believe that they have a unique role to play in this big story- things change for the better. God help those who fight to deny this identity in people, and God help us when we are asleep to this identity and choose to orient ourselves toward consumption.
The balcony square can remind us that: every life has value, every life ends on earth, while our lives may intersect with tragedy- we can leave an impact that can go on for generations. truth lives.
What unique role will you, will I, have in helping the world become a better place?
I get a one line email last night. It asks me: “What do you mean by “two years of not being challenged?” I have not met the author (to my knowledge.)
Martin Luther King Day is one of my favorite holidays. My family has a long standing tradition of gathering early in the morning, lighting candles, and walking through the neighborhood singing “We Shall Overcome”, and then we make an effort to work as a family to do our little part to eradicate various injustices.