2nd Mile 101 - The Mission

This is the first in a series of four posts entitled 2nd Mile 101. We hope these writings can help answer the questions of who 2nd Mile is and why we do what we do the way we do it.

We are seeking to see the Gospel renew lives and communities so they are transformed in every way.

This is the mission statement of 2nd Mile Ministries. It is the mandate that we seek to live out each day in our lives and our ministry. 2nd Mile is more than an after school program. It is more than youth Bible study. And it is more than tossing a basketball and snacks out to give some kids something better to do. We are enlivened and pushed forward by this mission and vision for our community.

2nd Mile is a Christian community development ministry that centers its life in the Brentwood neighborhood, just north of downtown Jacksonville. The neighborhood is faced by many challenges and disparities, but is also marked by people of tremendous gifting, generosity, and resilience. Our goal is to use the resources and skills that already exist in the community to bring transformation to our neighborhood.

We are seeking to see the Gospel . . .

This mission starts with the Gospel. The Good News about Jesus Christ, who came to the earth to bring the Kingdom of God. This Gospel declares the forgiveness of sins, the opening of free access to the throne of God, and the reign of grace in the life of all who will believe it. Further, however, this Gospel empowers the vision of 2nd Mile Ministries. Without the Gospel of Jesus, we are powerless. The message of Jesus shows us how to live and also invites all who call on his name to join in his mission of bringing about Kingdom transformation everywhere we go.

Further, the Gospel is where the heavy-lifting of work like 2nd Mile’s takes place. On our own, we don’t have the wisdom, perseverance, or skills necessary to do this work, but by the empowerment and working of our God who has called us to himself, we are able to push on towards the goal.

We are seeking to see the Gospel renew lives and communities. . . .

At 2nd Mile, we believe in renewal. We believe redeeming that which is broken is not just about building up, but about restoring things back to their original intention. This renewal is to take place on the individual level as well for corporately. We seek to see growth and development in individual lives in our community. The small victory that only impacts one person is part of the mission. So, when J.J. makes the honor roll or understands Jesus in a deeper way, we embrace it and celebrates. But further, renewal takes place on the large scale and in the group as well. So, when 1,000 community members join together for a safe, positive event at the Family Fall Festival or when 20 college students from the Midwest come to Brentwood and experience a renewal that they can bring back to their own communities, we celebrate as well.

This renewal is to take place in the small things and the large things. It is to take place in the short term and the long term. It is to take place in the lives of individuals and in entire communities.

We are seeking to see the Gospel renew lives and communities so they are transformed in every way.

The end goal for 2nd Mile is wholistic transformation. We desire to see positive change in every aspect of our community, those we minister to, and ourselves. This means growth spiritually, socially, academically, professionally, and physically. For us, if a student grows up through 2nd Mile’s youth programs and is equipped to graduate on-time, resolve conflict in healthy ways, goes to college, and successfully starts a thriving career, but does not walk with Christ, it does not meet our full definition of success. Similarly, if a young person encounters 2nd Mile and deeply follows Christ, but does not experience transformation in other areas of life, where the Lord desires for them to thrive, it too falls short of our definition of success. We seek not partial or temporary solutions, but wrap-around impact that touches and transforms every area of life and every element of our community.

We want to get it right and see flourishing and redemption pour out of Brentwood. We desire to see God glorified in our lives and community. We set our hopes on a future vision where this community, which has so much to offer, fully builds itself into a place of renewal, redemption, and wholistic transformation.

We are seeking to see the Gospel new lives and communities so they are transformed in every way.

The Gospel: It's Still Good

Originally published on February 17, 2017.
Written by Jonathan Blackburn

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him- 1 Corinthians 1:26-29

There are many ways in which the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has been authenticated and affirmed; the empty tomb, His resurrected body personally observed by hundreds, as well as the sacred and non-sacred written testimonies of those called and impacted by the gospel. In addition to these powerful "witnesses ", God has provided a more personal authentication; and that is our lives.

The gospel is again confirmed through the lives of people who know without a shadow of a doubt that nothing in and of themselves merits God’s saving grace.  Yet God would grant good to the unfit!  Unfit not only on divine terms, but often on human and social terms!

It is a bit humbling and anti-culture, to cling to the label of God's foolishness, but that's me. The Lord has brought me from a mighty long way!  I am evidence that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and deserves all acceptance.  As I begin the process of transitioning into the Executive Director role at 2nd Mile, I cannot help but look back over my life and see what God has done, and how the gospel is the foundation in my new role as a leader and transformative agent in Jacksonville's Brentwood community.

I am not advocating that my role is what makes the gospel good in the sense of human promotion or positional authority.  But rather to express that my primary relevance in this world, to Jacksonville, to Brentwood, to 2nd Mile is that the good I have, and any good that I am is in and from Christ Jesus.

I am a witness and affirm the gospel, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.  My story is that He saves, that He cares. Like the hymn writer says, he has heard my “faintest cry”.  I am a witness that the gospel is still good, that He reaches not for the favorable, but to those who call upon Him and place their trust in Him. Yes, the gospel is still good, and He has unparalleled compassion for our low estate and human condition.

As I think about the ministry of 2nd Mile, I don’t know what all the future holds, but for sure I trust and expect that Jesus will be Jesus, and that the good news of the gospel will always be good news.

Redemptive and Transforming Relationships

Originally published on February 25, 2015.

“Imagine the sheer delight of enjoying perfect relationships with two others with no fear of things turning sour, a community of three cut from the same fabric yet unmistakably distinct. Imagine three who, without a hint of competitiveness, are absolutely thrilled with the opportunity to display their special glory.”

This is the way, Larry Crabb describes the way the Trinity lives together in a beautiful relationship with one another. And then…they invite us – mere human beings into their absolutely life giving relationship. Jesus says, “Come on. Unite intimately with me so that we are as one. Share my spot in this profound and almost incomprehensible relationship!”

Because of this one-ness now the Father looks at us and sees the image of the one he is making us to reflect…the image of His Son. This is the Son he has been enjoying and delighting in from all eternity. Now we get to enjoy being that object of sheer delight.

This relationship, if truly understood, breathes life and vibrancy into our very soul. A pastor I know often says that for humans the two most core desires of our heart are to be completely and totally known (with nothing hidden) and then in that knowing – to be completely and totally loved and delighted in. Not the kind of love that puts up with us grudgingly (can we call that love?). But the kind of love that spills out in overflowing joy like a magnet drawing us into His presence and then shaping us increasingly into his image and likeness. This is the love that we find in the God-head and are meant to experience through human people who are united with Him already.

While human beings and human relationships are marred by the effects of the Fall, I truly believe that as we enter into the life-giving community of relationships that exist in the Trinity, we can and are called to be a human community that also has this life-giving and restorative effect in the lives that we come into contact with. Others should feel in our presence a safety in being fully known, and in that knowing experience delighted and redeeming love pouring from our lives into theirs. In another excerpt from Connecting (By Larry Crabb) he speaks of the transformative power that exists as human beings function as conduits of Christ’s life-giving and transformative presence in the lives of others.

“[These] people can see the hidden life that is already poured into another by God and, with an awareness of the life they have received from the same source, they pour out what is deepest and truest and noblest within them into the soul of another; and they do it with a clear vision of what that other person could become as the life of Christ is nourished and released within."

Our desire as a 2nd Mile community is that we each (and together) would first bask and soak in the brilliant restorative community of the Godhead. As we enjoy rich communion with the Lord, our desire is that we would be powerful facilitators of redemption and growth for each other. Finally, that we together would pursue and invite others who are not part of this flourishing, life-giving community already in so that they too may experience the wonder, delight, transformation and LIFE that Christ desires.