For me, a lot of the excitement about Ted’s legal ministry (see CLCP) began when we attended the Christian Legal Society’s annual conference in Chicago in October. Ted’s work was gracious enough to fund my ticket to travel to the conference alongside Ted. Both of us, along with Ted’s boss and his wife (Pete and Wendy), attended the all-day seminar on Christian Legal Aid. It was an excellent day. The discussion leader, Bruce Strom, taught us so much from his experience starting Administer Justice, a full-time legal aid ministry in Eglin, Illinois. Bruce stepped out in faith, leaving his private law practice to begin pro bono legal services to low-income neighbors.  What a cool testimony!   He gave us resources from his practice, and his co-workers offered so much advice to the group of sixty-plus Christian attorneys who want to extend themselves to follow the Christian calling to care for the poor, seek justice, and with compassion to reach out to those in need.  Even though Wendy and I were maybe the only non-attorneys in the room, I was so jazzed thinking about the possibilities of legal ministry! It was a fruitful couple of days for Pete, and Ted, of making contacts and brainstorming and praying for their ministry – there is such a broad horizon ahead, and it seems like the possibilities are endless…

The four of us reflected in"The Bean"

A real highlight of our 5-day trip was meeting a Chicago pastor, who graciously allowed Ted and I to sleep on his church’s floor in the city. Through some contacts at our church in Philly, this Chicago pastor found out that we were coming and in need of any type of accommodations. He hosted us for three nights – we opted to stay on his floor even though our friends had some extra space in their hotel room!   Something about Pastor Juan’s testimony, his demeanor, and his faith, changed us.  His blunt, honest words during a Chicago neighborhood tour “blew our minds and touched our hearts” – as I wrote in my journal a few days later. Himself being a previous heroin addict, he now ministers to recovering addicts in a part of the city that used to be the “badlands,” but is now slowly gentrifying.  This is close to where our Philly pastor began his ministry, and Pastor Juan was one of his earliest congregation members and a co-laborer in reaching out to their community with the gospel. One thing Pastor Juan kept emphasizing is how, as humans, we have a hard time “letting God be God.” We perpetually want to take control and give Jesus “tips” on how to run things. But, as Pastor Juan would say, “God is pretty good at being God. He doesn’t really need our help to run things.” Ha. I definitely feel the need at times to make sure God has everything under control. There was so much more that struck us. We were all four grateful for the few moments we had in his presence that weekend.

CLCP

Christian Legal Clinics of Philadelphia (CLCP) is a legal ministry that operates “neighborhood clinics” bi-monthly throughout Philadelphia. For ten years now, lawyers (mostly Christian) have committed time each month to offering free, hour-long consultations to people in need of assistance, but who cannot afford standard legal fees. CLCP operates their clinics through partner organizations, who both offer space for the clinic to run and promote the clinic within their neighborhood. The model has worked for these several years, and now, God has prepared the setting for CLCP to strengthen and expand its efforts.

In North Philly, CLCP partners with the Ayuda Community Center, a faith-based organization started by members of our church in Hunting Park. Every other Tuesday, three to four attorneys gather in the Ayuda clinic, and each one meets individually with two to three clients. The attorneys’ aim is to offer expert advice on the client’s legal issues, and also to extend compassion through a listening ear and prayer. In some cases, the attorneys may even be able to take on a client’s case pro bono. In these poignant situations, the Gospel enters as a way to console and encourage oft-distressed clients, and each attorney’s ultimate aim is to minister to everyone who walks in the clinic’s doors.

Now, because of God putting the right people and processes in place, and one particularly generous donor, CLCP has hired their first ever employees, established a head office, and is prayerfully looking to expand their services to other neighborhoods in the city.

TED is their first full-time hire! And we’re so blessed by that J Read more about what Ted will be doing  here.

Philly

This is a blog about what we're doing in Philly.

Philly is a great place to be.  Its major deficit is that it’s so far from California (big negative), but this is where Ted and I found ourselves three years ago, in a time of natural transition in life and as a result of much prayer and conversation.

Ted started at Drexel Law while I worked at UPenn.  After year one, we married and moved to a new neighborhood, closer to the church we had started attending and the ministry opportunities represented there.  I started an accelerated master’s program in international development at Eastern University. Just six months after I finished, Ted got his JD!

So, here we are! We are now members of our church, Ted is commencing work as a lawyer right in our neighborhood, and God has been so faithful in providing us a place to be, with friends and beautiful spots nearby.

As we move into our fourth year, thank you for being invested; thank you for caring for us and for even wanting to know what’s going on!

Love,

Katharine