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Time with the Tibbels...

by Neil Cox, IndyChristian.com

Yesterday was a great meeting of the 'Faith Community Forum' and 'Transform Indiana', as Allan & Susan Tibbels came to be with us from the Sandtown area of Baltimore. Their personal involvement -- following God's leading them to the inner city -- was not only heart-warming, it was inspirational to the Hoosiers gathered... many of whom themselves are also actively involved in some aspect of inner-city ministry.


Photo, U.S. News & World Report

Allan: "When I met Susan, I told her I was going to be a millionaire in 5 years.

Then I broke my neck playing basketball."

Susan: "I thought my sacrifice was enough, just dealing with his being a parapallegic, and taking care of our girls. At one point, one of them had slipped into a coma and nearly died. I thought, "I've had my share. I'm 25, and I'll deal with it, God; but this is enough." Then Allan says he wants us to move into a rat-infested part of the inner-city to do ministry where we would be the only white family."

"Intellectually, I knew he was right -- it's right out the Bible -- re moving to the city and helping people…. Yet I did NOT want to move to the city. Nonetheless, in 1986 we went, but I was angry and not participating the first two years. "

"We looked like the Beverly Hillbillies as we moved in… cars, kids, stuff. No financial support, no connections in the city.. no way to be a bridge to resources because we didn’t have any."

"But then as I mingled at the kids’ school, I realized this was my part… and said, 'Ok God I’ll start a school thing'."

"Despite my rough things in life, suddenly I was among people who've had way more ‘pain’ than I have experienced. So God gave me a passion for the children. But I said, 'I will never, never, never do fundraising for this.' LOL. But now I’ve accumulated a bit of a reputation for fundraising… out of a passion for the needs children have. And people respond."

Allan: "Sandtown looked like a city that had been bombed. We called Habitat's founder, Millard Fuller. His advice: 'If you have a dollar in your pocket go for it.' So we started rifling through our sofa to find coins" LOL.

"We knew we needed to come live in the neighborhood with a servant’s heart, and with an attitude of repentance for a history of white flight & patternalism. And we learned that reconciliation is 'day by day'. It's a lifetime of work. "

Now that work includes 10,000 vols a year. Some come to ‘vacation’ in Sandtown.

200 homes have been completed now. 30 are under contstruction. Whole blocks have been rehabbed. And the school -- New Song Learning Center -- is a $5 million building, and operates as a public school under new charter school provisions.

There is so much more to their story, but Susan summed it up well:

“It’s not about Allan & Susan… it’s about God. He is working in Sandtown…. And it’s our privilege to be a part of it. When God gives you eyes of grace, you look at everything it a different way. No, I'm not a millionaire (LOL), but learning all these lessons, are my reward for doing what I said I wouldn't."

“I wouldn’t know God the way I know God now.”

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Mark your calendar for November 16-20.

Join Allan, Susan and thousands of others who are reaching their cities around the country and world, as the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) brings their national conference to Indy. To get involved with the local host committee now, contact Scott Truex or Gina Lewis.

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You can visit New Song Urban Ministries online at http://NSUM.org. Also read U.S. News & World Report: "Brick by Brick, He Fights the Inner-city Blues"

posted by IndyChristian @ 7:07 AM