We are a diverse people – of social, economic, educational and racial variety – United by our humanity – in its goodness, beauty, and joys, as well as, its brokenness, corruption and pains – Seeking the unusual Kingdom of God – as the counter-cultural, restorative, harmonious Way of intended existence –Demonstrated now, although not yet fully, through tangible Community – a simple, neighborly, loving, interdependent, transparent, non-judgmental, Spirit-filled, group of people seeking the Way of Jesus in every aspect of existence.

A Diverse People – We are not a just a ministry to the homeless. If we were we feel we would be falling short of God’s purpose. Rather, we desire to be a church, a community of people seeking God together, which consists of rich and poor, educated and uneducated, accepted and outcast and every other category this world has used to divide and devalue what God originally said was GOOD.

United by Our Humanity – We believe God created all people in His image – a creation he called “good” in the beginning. However, we also believe that God’s good creation has since undergone tremendous corruption and distortion which has left people broken, hurting and confused. As a people embraced by God, even in our brokenness, we embrace each other in our shared brokenness and pains. At the same time, as God is reminding us, we also remind each other of the goodness, beauty and joy of one another.

Seeking the Unusual Kingdom of God – We desire to follow the Kingdom-Way of God – not simply a belief, not a doctrine, not a religion – but a lifestyle, a path of existence, a way of living. A Kingdom that is vastly different from any other Kingdom that has ever existed on this earth. A Kingdom which reintroduces and reinstitutes God’s intensions for his creation – in the way we interact with Him, each other and the rest of creation. Just as Jesus prayed, we invite this Kingdom-Way of existence to come on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Demonstrated through Tangible Community – We believe that as we pray “Your Kingdom Come on Earth as it is in Heaven” that it can and will be actualized now, although not yet fully, AMONG US! We believe this demonstration of the Kingdom of God will be through a tangible, living organism – the Church. It is more than a group of people sharing a belief, more than sharing religious practices or meeting in a building. Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (Jn 13:35). In other words, our interactions with each other will demonstrate to others the person or Way we are following. We believe Jesus and His Kingdom are demonstrated (or not) through ALL aspects of our existence - from the way we talk to each other to the food on our table (or lack of food on our neighbor’s table). God’s unusual Kingdom will be demonstrated through the interaction of the greatest and least – through justice, equality and becoming less. It will be demonstrated through the way the rich and poor interact – through sharing, through simplicity, through Jubilee economics. It will be demonstrated through the interaction of the powerful and vulnerable – through compassion, protection, gentleness and grace. It will be demonstrated by the housed and homeless – by adoption, inclusion and the offer of a safe place to sleep. And in many other ways the Kingdom of God will be demonstrated through this tangible community called the Church.

Carpenter’s church grew out of Carpenter’s Kitchen, a Sunday lunch meal provided by multiple churches across Lubbock located at Broadway Church of Christ’s Youth Reach building on the NE corner of Main and Ave. S. The churches providing the meals, at some point, began having devotionals in the foyer before the meals. In 1997 Jim Beck came back from Kenya and began working as an Involvement Minister at Broadway. He began going to the Kitchen each week to hang out and get to know people.

Bringing a missionary’s perspective to the ministry, Jim saw several things: an inconsistency with different teachers from different churches leading the devotionals each week and an opportunity for community instead of simply service. So he approached the Broadway Elders requesting to take over the Kitchen devotionals to provide consistency (which naturally upset some of the other churches who enjoyed their opportunity to teach once every three months). So Jim began leading the devotionals. Around sixty people would join in the small foyer of Carpenter’s Kitchen each week. The local people were very involved in the devotionals – leading songs and participating in discussion.

In 1998 Jim quit working as an Involvement minister and began focusing fully on the inner city. The early mission was “Creating Community”. The objective was to simply get to know people. At this time Jim also had several of his LCU students very involved in the ministry (Gabe Maudy, Brent McKay and others). They spent time hanging out at the Kitchen and on the streets in people’s apartments, etc. During this time, Pioneer Park Church of Christ contacted Rodney Plunket about donating their building to the group that was meeting at Carpenter’s Kitchen. At the time Pioneer Park had just a few members meeting in their huge building in North Overton (located where Ramirez Elementary School is now located).

Broadway accepted the donation of the building and Carpenter’s Church began meeting there. At this time Scott Mack was the only Elder over Carpenter’s Church. The new property was an overwhelming acquisition and Jim quickly realized he could not do LCU and Carpenter’s by himself. Based on Jim’s recommendation, Broadway hired Brent McKay as a full-time minister at Carpenter’s church. The First Mission Statement was “Creating an Atmosphere where God can do His thing”.

One of the first things they did in the new building was to “renovate” the auditorium. They tore out all the pews, podiums and other religious relics and replaced them with grungy couches. This was part of trying to create a comfortable place to hang out. For “church”, they had casual conversations about God. This early group was very indigenous to N. Overton. There was a mix of families, children, elderly (all in homes) and homeless individuals (but the demographic was not as transient as the current (2009) group). Early on, like most inner city ministries, they had efforts focused on children and families.

In an effort to create the atmosphere where God can do his thing, they ate meals together, celebrated birthdays and holidays together – they did things to try to become family. In the early years, and ongoing until recently, Jim and Brent would take turns keeping the building open on really cold nights in winter. During the early years there were many Government resources available, including very accessible rehab, MHMR, AIDS testing, which were all services offered and represented by the state in Carpenter’s building. After a few years Carpenter’s had a second Mission Statement: “Ever Becoming a Community of Love”.

Around 2003 McDougal began his revitalization project in N. Overton. Jim and Brent fought this but ultimately lost the building along with their neighbors whose homes were demolished. Today there are massive college apartments and homes, restaurants and a Wal-Mart in their place. Pioneer Park was “bought” for and Broadway quickly built the building at 1916 13th ST.

Things changed in the new building. Without the neighborhood surrounding it the group dynamics changed. Many families and children no longer lived in the area, and so the group became more and more a homeless and transient group. During this time Carpenter’s had a third Mission Statement, realizing the overwhelming effects of chemicals on the community, it was, “Living Under the Influence of God and Nothing Else”. They discussed Recovery topics in relation to walking with Jesus.

The first eight years were relationship and trust building years. They grew slowly – for the first three years people would ask Jim and Brent each week if they would be meeting again the following week. The group was fragile early on, having a history of abandonment from people and churches, the people were slow to believe this group was staying and becoming their own.

Now, 11 years later, many have grown to trust Carpenter’s as their church; one that has been consistent and gained their trust and commitment. The neighborhood is still changing – development, revitalization, economy – all these cause movement. We have many new faces, some homeless, some students, some families from other churches who have been disillusioned with traditional church and have found an authenticity in this rugged community.

We are still learning and growing in our understanding. Many of the same truths that brought us into existence still shape us. Like believing that people need a place to belong – we now know that it is needed by the rich and educated just as much as by the poor. And we’ve learned that the Kingdom of God means that we (rich and poor, etc) find that belonging with each other (rich and poor, etc.) and miss out when we segregate our places of belonging. We need ALL people to come together to be healthy and display the Kingdom of God. So for now we keep seeking…

• The easiest and least effective thing to do is give money.
• The hardest and most effective thing to do is give yourself.
• Consistency is essential to community.
• Community is essential to life and transformation.
• Growth in the inner city comes very slow.
• Being a Mash-Unit, we have historically struggled with being overwhelmed by the unhealthy. The problems, brokenness, darkness of the group is much larger than the health and light – in this way things get very off balance. It is hard for the group to care for itself.
• Holidays, Family Events, 12-steps, forgiveness and setting precedent were very effective.
• Organized Bible Studies, Organized Religion and breaking precedent were not effective.
• Developing “Love Collateral” or a “Collateral of Love” allows a depth in relationship, to talk seriously and address hard things that you, otherwise, do not have.

• “How’s that working out for you?”
• “Light Flight” – Christian community fleeing from the poor neighborhood to suburbia
• “Perfect fear drives out love”

Inner City Lubbock grew out of the first Nightly Prayer Vigil in the winter of 08-09. Many churches came together to volunteer at the Prayer Vigil, churches from a variety of denomination backgrounds and beliefs. Inner City Lubbock is simply the name we gave to that group. It's grass roots, there is no real organization, no director, no board, just a list of names and church who said they wanted to work together. For now, we have worked together mostly with the Prayer Vigil, but really we're (Carpenter's Church is) open to greater cooperation as a city and people in whatever else we can find to work together on. For the website go to: www.innercitylubbock.org