"The poorest man in the world is a man without a dream"

(originally written 9/24/08)

That quote grabbed my attention.

It was towards the end of a brochure from The St. Louis Dream Center, a place that is truly being Christ in the heart of inner city St. Louis.

I just told a friend tonight that after talking with people and touring The Dream Center and Mercy Ministries today, it was like walking into a dream.

Both places encompass the long-term vision and dreams God has put on my heart and that He has been revealing to me slowly over the last four years.

Lives transformed. Hope restored.

Mercy Ministries is a home for teen girls and their mission is to help young women find freedom from various life-controlling issues such as drug and alcohol addictions, eating disorders, self-harm, unwanted pregnancies, physical and sexual abuse and depression. They are a national organization, headquarters in Nashville and several campuses throughout the states.

A church that never sleeps…

The lady I met with at Mercy Ministries told me since I also have a desire to do urban/inner city ministry down the road, that I should check out The Dream Center, where her husband is on staff. He’s one of the pastors there and they actually started off at the original Dream Center in LA and then after Joyce Meyer Ministries toured the LA facility, decided St. Louis needed something like it as well.

I don’t even know how to describe the Dream Center. I toured eight different buildings. It is a center but it is a church. As a local church, their vision is to transform the St. Louis community by restoring individuals and families through the love of Christ.

They are serving the community and doing urban ministry 24/7. And the interns and some of the staff live there. As one girl shared with me today, “we live here with the gunshots, with the drug busts, with the prostitution, we see it all and we live it with them.”

Very much what God’s been putting on my heart, to have a center that is in the heart of a city that also functions as the church. The two are not separate. And then, in working with women at The Shelter in Columbia, I’ve had an increasing desire to bridge the gap between the world we don’t see. The disadvantaged that we can so easily insulate ourselves from. I have a desire to live and be a part of their lives, and share that with them, not go home every night to my home in the suburbs. And the more God has been stirring this longer-term dream within, He is stirring my heart for how to start that now, little by little in my own city. How I can be a part of God's plan to connect our church more with the needs of our city.

So today, two separate parts of the dream came alive before my eyes. I was completely speechless after spending an hour at The Dream Center.

And when I drove up this long hill to Mercy Ministries, all of a sudden everything was still.It was so beautiful. And it was awesome getting to see some of the girls that live there and see how this program is truly empowering women to know who they are and to experience the power of God in their lives.

Part of why I was so speechless is I was so full of hope.

Christ has come to this home. I thought as I left Mercy Ministries.Christ has come to this city. I thought as I left The Dream Center.One by one, block by block, He is chasing and redeeming and loving His people, calling each one home.