Christian Hippies #4

On my drive down to Houston, I took a detour to visit a group affiliated with a local church in Waco.
From the beginning I wasn't really sure not only what I was getting myself into but also whether this group qualified as New Monastic. This begs the question of what qualifies. They were affiliated in a Baylor newspaper article, so that seemed to be enough to constitute a visit.

No one in the community had ever heard of New Monastic communities or the article. The church runs what they call "discipleship houses" of an older church member and usually a few college people of one gender that people can choose to live in for a year. Some of the houses are located in disadvantaged neighborhoods and engage the neighborhood. The only part that is missing largely is the long-term commitment.

However, it was interesting to see how remants of my past played out here. For one, this group was only here for a month, living as a home missions project through the church. It was through Baylor, the school I once would've loved to go to. It was interesting to see that for the most part people were much more about the church than the social justice aspect, I wondered if mentioning the phrase would be taboo. That could've just been a vibe though.

However the reallly weird blast from the past came with the neighborhood summer camp they were running. The director there had worked at KAA (kid's across America, Kanakuk's inner city kid kamp (yes, with a K) the same summer I did for older kids. The kids from Waco were going up at the end of the month. I hadn't heard those cheers or "get hype for Jesus" in 2 years.

I hated that summer, absolutely hated it. I couldn't have felt more out of place among jock Christians who seemed like the popular kids from high school all again. However, God continues to use little reminders of some good lessons I learned there, like seeing yet another connection in this mosaic in the making that is my life. I guess all things really do work out for the good.....