Walking in the Way of Jesus in the Current Moment
Love Out Loud remains dedicated to serving as ambassadors of accurate information and amplifying critical community work.
Love Out Loud began years ago as a concrete way for people walking in the way of Jesus to live out His call for us to love God and neighbor. Working with both ministry and nonprofit partners working for the flourishing of our whole community, a network quickly formed of hundreds of partners engaging almost a thousand volunteers in their areas of passion, calling and giftedness. Our earliest framework “hung” 24 causes on Matthew 25:31-46:
Amazingly, it brought together a wide and diverse coalition: People who cared deeply about loving and serving their neighbors, sought to understand injustices and communities who have been marginalized, and worked to address root causes of these issues.
Recent federal priority and funding shifts are materially impacting local partners – nonprofits, schools, community organizations, and churches and faith communities. These changes have generated significant uncertainty and fear within our community.
Two scriptures frame our response even as we are all seeking to understand the changing landscape:
Philippians 2:1-4: Having the attitude of Christ:
Encourage one another
Love collectively
Work with unified purpose
Prioritize others' interests
The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-10): Highlighting God's blessing on those who:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, etc.
Seek justice
Show mercy
Pursue peace
Endure persecution for righteousness
For more, the whole of Matthew chapters 5-7 is such a concrete picture of the radical way of Jesus and how we are to be and move in the world.
Similar to our pandemic response, Love Out Loud remains committed to:
Answering "How can I help?"
Maintaining cross-sector connectivity
Sharing critical information
Grounding our hearts and efforts in God
As one of our team members reminded us this week: "This is not business as usual, but truly a deep moment of fear, anxiety, and lots of misinformation. The season that we have entered in deeply impacts our coalition work and partnerships" – and the people we all serve.
Love Out Loud remains dedicated to serving as ambassadors of accurate information and amplifying critical community work.
As is well-known, I am always up for a cup of coffee. Please feel the freedom to reach out directly to me process this moment and how we can step up and into who we are called to be as a community and, for many of us, as people walking in the way of Jesus.
In lament and yet with great hope,
Chuck Spong, Executive Director
The Necessity of Doing Justice
"The Necessity of Doing Justice"
- Bryan Stevenson
On Thursday, February 23, Wake Forest University's Face to Face Speaker Series hosted Bryan Stevenson, founder of Equal Justice Initiative and American justice lawyer who has dedicated his work to those who are most in need in our criminal justice system: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and those who face death row.
Through a generous donation as well as tickets purchased by partners, Love Out Loud brought together a group of 225 stakeholders from churches, community partners, and those already engaging or ready to engage in local conversations and service opportunities in areas of justice, equity, and race (pictured in the balcony last night).
It was an amazing, stirring and challenging night with a full house of folks who needed to hear Bryan's prophetic message and life's work...including myself.
Bryan urged us to create a community rooted in justice, compassion, and love, and to boldly embrace an identity that is courageous enough to remember. He encouraged us to “resist the narrative of fear and anger, to stay hopeful, to do the right thing even when it’s uncomfortable and to get proximate enough to affirm the humanity and dignity of each other."
He closed by naming the significant moment of our post-pandemic world – an opportunity in which “we must increase the justice quotient, decrease the anger and not be afraid to talk about the power of love and WHAT LOVE REQUIRES: to act when there is injustice and to lift up justice, compassion and love."
It was a powerful evening. Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy that we will let God's call and challenge to us through Bryan take root in our hearts that we might stay hopeful and do what love requires. Read on for ways that you can continue your justice journey.
Chuck Spong
Executive Director, Love Out Loud
Community Assistance for Weaver Fertilizer Plant Evacuees
On January 31, 2022, a fire at the Weaver Fertilizer Plant resulted in a recommended evacuation of those living within one mile of the plant. About 6,000 people were in the designated evacuation area. Some of those evacuated were able to stay at the Red Cross Shelter set up at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds, while others with underlying health conditions, large families, or unawareness of that option opted for local hotels.
With about 21% of the Winston-Salem community living at or below the poverty line, many of those that were evacuated did not have the disposable means to spend on a hotel for several nights and were forced to use funds designated for rent, groceries, or other essential needs to maintain themselves and their families during evacuation.
Winston Weaver Fertilizer Plant donated $50,000 to assist neighbors affected by the plant fire. Love Out Loud partnered with Camel City Dispatch to disburse emergency assistance and support to those affected by the displacement.
Asistencia Comunitaria para los Evacuados de la Planta de Fertilizantes Weaver
El 31 de enero de 2022, un incendio en la Planta de Fertilizantes Weaver resultó en una evacuación recomendable para aquellos viviendo dentro de un perímetro de una milla alrededor de la planta. Alrededor de 6,000 personas se encontraban en el área de evacuación designada. Algunos de aquellos evacuados pudieron quedarse en el Refugio de la Cruz Roja que se estableció en los terrenos de la feria de Winston Salem, mientras que otros con condiciones de salud subyacentes, familias grandes, o sin conocimiento de esa opción optaron por hoteles locales.
Con alrededor del 21% de la población de Winston Salem viviendo en o por debajo del nivel de pobreza, muchos de aquellos que fueron evacuados no tenían los medios disponibles para gastar en un hotel por varias noches y se vieron forzados a usar fondos destinados para la renta, alimentos, u otras necesidades básicas para mantenerse ellos mismos y sus familias durante la evacuación.
La Planta de Fertilizantes Winston Weaver donó $50,000 para asistir a los vecinos afectados por el incendio de la planta. Love Out Loud se unió con Camel City Dispatch para brindar asistencia de emergencia a personas que estuvieron en esta situación y necesitábamos ayuda.
Prayers and Readings for Monday, March 16, 2020
As the Love Out Loud team met today, we began with these prayers, Scriptures and readings. Perhaps they will strengthen your heart as well:
INVOCATION
Lord God, you who are the source of all truth, wisdom, justice and love, lead me through this time of worship and throughout this day of service to you. Help me constantly to rest my life upon the eternal foundations of your love and presence. Save me from haste and confusion, from wrongful desire, and the net of evil. Through the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, enlighten, instruct, and guide me all the day long. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
SCRIPTURE: PSALM 143
Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness! Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you. For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead. Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled. I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands. I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah Answer me quickly, O Lord! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit. Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord! I have fled to you for refuge. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground! For your name's sake, O Lord, preserve my life! In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble! And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies, and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul, for I am your servant.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
READINGS FOR REFLECTION: FROM “TIME ENOUGH TO MINISTER” BY HENRI NOUWEN
Often we’re not as pressed for time as much as we feel we’re pressed for time. I remember several years ago becoming so pressed by the demands of teaching at Yale that I tool a prayer sabbatical to the Trappist monastery at Genesco, New York. No teaching, lecturing, or counseling…just solitude and prayer.
The second day there, a group of students from Genesco College walked in and asked, “Henri, can you give us a retreat?”
Of course, at the monastery, that was not my decision, but I said to the abbot, “I came here from the university to get away from that type of thing. These students have asked for five meditations, an enormous amount of work and preparation. I don’t want to do it.”
The abbot said, “You’re going to do it.”
“What do you mean? Why should I spend my sabbatical time preparing all those things?”
“Prepare?” he replied. “You’ve been a Christian for forty years and a priest for twenty, and a few high school students want to have a retreat. Why do you have to prepare? What those boys and girls want is to be a part of your life in God for a few days. If you pray half an hour in the morning, sing in our choir for an hour, and do your spiritual reading, you will have so much to say you could give ten retreats.”
The question, you see, is not to prepare but to live in a state of ongoing preparedness so that when someone who is drowning in the world comes into your world, you are ready to reach out and help. It may be at four o’clock, six o’clock, or nine o’clock. One time you call it preaching, the next time teaching, then counseling, and later administration. But let them be part of your life in God—that’s ministering.
BENEDICTION
May the Lord make you strong to do the work of ministry. Amen
Union: a Call to Fervent Prayer
A CALL TO FERVENT PRAYER
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, According to the power at work with us, to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen
Ephesians 3:20-21
Some, or most of you, have heard about the blessing we have been given in having the UNION musical come to Winston-Salem at the Steven Center Friday, February 8th, 2019. On Saturday morning there will also be a time to gather for worship and discussion at the Union Baptist Church.
We are looking for people who feel called to support this week-end in prayer. We are praying and seeking God’s favor; asking Him for success in this venture to bring forth an awakening and a revelation to the city during Black History Month.
We are asking you and your congregation(s) to stand united with us and join us in prayer for this musical and Saturday morning follow-up to transform the city. Pray that the weather will be mild; pray that there will be no negative interference; and that all involved will stay healthy in body and mind. Pray that the Will of God goes ahead of, and prevails during Friday night and Saturday morning. Pray that we, as a group, and everyone involved, will be surrounded with divine protection.
We expect something great to occur here that will continue to affect us all throughout the year and in the years to come. We thank you for all the prayers that you will send forward to strengthen out stand.
Be blessed!
Union: A Musical
The Union cast at dress rehearsal
PROJECT INTRODUCTION
In the spring of 1968, the sanitation workers of Memphis, Tennessee went on strike. This strike, occasioned both by the tragic deaths of two of their fellow workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, and the desperate need for humane working conditions, began merely as a local matter. And yet, in ways that few could have foreseen, it became a defining moment in the ongoing American struggle toward a more perfect union.
In one respect, this transformation came about because of the presence of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the strike. It was there that he hoped to begin his next great work—the Poor People’s Campaign. It was there that he gave his last great speech—the “Mountaintop Speech.” It was there that he gave his final great sacrifice—his life. The Sanitation Workers’ Strike will always be known as the site of Martin Luther King’s last labor in the struggle.
And yet, in a much more important respect, the transformation of the strike from a local to a national event came not because of what Martin Luther King brought to it, but because of what he found there. And what did he find? He found an extraordinary and utterly distinctive union of the most important themes of the American Civil Rights struggle: the fusion of racial and economic justice, the affirmation of dignity in the midst of dehumanization, the collaboration of the religious and the radical, and the vision of love joined to the work of justice. This incredible union of disparate themes transformed the Sanitation Workers’ Strike into a movement of singular importance—both for its own time, and for ours.
And yet, the story remains largely unknown.
UNION: A Musical, is a celebration of these events, an exploration of these essential themes, and—at a time when we desperately need a vision of how to engage these struggles in our own day—an invitation to the work that the creation of a “more perfect union” requires of us all.
TOUR INFORMATION
As a part of its development process, UNION: A Musical, will tour select cities across the United States in 2019. These performances will take the form of a “staged reading” and will be followed by a time of audience engagement as to the meaning of the play’s themes and the power of its execution.
In exploring performance opportunities, the Creative Team seeks to offer the following:
● Support | We seek to perform in places where we can provide meaningful support for communities taking meaningful steps to address the themes of the play in their own place.
● Engagement | We seek not simply to perform for audiences, but to engage with audiences about their own experiences of the play and its fundamental themes.
● Collaboration | We seek to collaborate with local leaders, artists, actors, and musicians both in the performance itself and in the community engagement events that attend it.
● Accessibility | We seek to perform this play in venues—and at prices—that ensure that this musical experience is accessible to the entire community.
● Impact | We seek to perform this play in a context that is designed for live theater and that will allow the audience to be maximally engaged by the experience.
TEAM INFORMATION: click on the names below to find out more about this amazing creative team
Kristen Adele, Associate Producer, Co-Director
Amisho Baraka, Associate Producer, Co-Writer
Art Hooker, Producer, Filmmaker
Justin Merrick, Associate Producer, Co-Director
Gregory Thompson, Executive Producer, Co-Writer
Anasa Troutman, Executive Producer
Union was performed in Winston-Salem in early 2019:
Friday, February 8, 2019, 8pm, The Stevens Center
A morning of plenary sessions, workshops and dialogues will take place the following day:
Saturday, February 9, 2019, 9:00am-2:00pm, Union Baptist Church
On Friday, February 8, 2019, at 8PM | UNION: The Musical, was performed in Winston-Salem at The Stevens Center. Tickets were free and distributed through local partner churches and organizations.
THE FORUM ON FAITH AND CULTURE followed on Saturday, Feb 9, 2019. Close to 1,000 people from across racial, socio-economic and generational lines joined us for a dynamic forum during which we discussed the important and challenging subjects of race, justice and walking in the way of Jesus. Community Partners and Union Team members joined in these sessions, taking place at Union Baptist Church. Together we spent time lamenting, reflecting, learnings, and participating in thoughtful conversations which we expect will result in positive action.
The attendees and wider community were invited to sign a commitment card and take a “Next Step” with strong work that is already happening in our community. We are creating a resource book full of Next Steps for attendees of the Forum on Faith and Culture. This resource book will contain a variety of activities and opportunities surround race and justice.
Love Winston Salem 2018
This past Saturday, July 28, 2018, we partnered with several ministries including Carolina Crown, New Canaan Society, Samaritan Feet, Second Harvest of NWNC, and others to distribute 1,250 pairs of shoes and 2,000 books to students of WSFC Schools. This was an opportunity to offer the community more than a pair of shoes, it was a chance to offer a little hope, and serve our community through washing feet and providing a message of the gospel and encouragement to families.
Families came pouring into our three locations at Kimberly Park Elementary, Ibraham Elementary and Old Town Elementary.
We had over 100 wonderful volunteers who came from churches, the communities and even as far as Fort Hood.
We had roughly 400 pairs of shoes to give away at each site, along with food samples from The Food Bank, dance shoes, and books.
Many of the kids were thrilled to receive their new shoes, one little girl started dancing in her new shoes, while another little boy started taking off his old shoes before he even got to a foot washing station.
This was more than just a time to wash the kid's feet, it was a chance to encourage them, pray over them, and talk to them about school and the rest of life. This was a time for each volunteer to give a few minutes to show each child just how much they matter.
This was a beautiful opportunity for the people of Winston-Salem to be the hands of Jesus and love our neighbors.
For more information on Love Winston-Salem and how you can be involved next year, visit: loveoutloudws.com/lovewinstonsalem
Changing Our City Through Our Youth
During the Week of July 8th-13th, we hosted our Student Camp. Dozens of kids from our city came together for a week of worship, ministry and new friendships. This was an incredible opportunity for our city. Students from both sides of 52 came together for a week of impact.
Mornings began with time to discuss how they were feeling about the community outreach projects they were doing, hear from a speaker, and begin the day with prayer.
Each day the students were rotated through five different work sites, including, gardening/landscaping, putting in a new roof and floor in a house, and more.
One camp leader (picture below), commented, “I’m not looking at the task [replacing the floor] – I’m looking at these youths learning how to use a saw and take a measurement – actually teaching them. What it is is actually mentoring them and teaching them that they can do more than they ever believed they could. That’s the satisfaction.”
When talking to the students, I was time-and-time-again told that they had never before done anything like this Student Camp and would definitely be interested in doing more volunteer work if they had the opportunity. A student named Bree said, “I feel like everyone goes elsewhere to do mission work but really we need it so much here.” Another student said, “it’s [student camp] been great, meeting a lot of new friends. I never did a lot of work in a yard or a garden before. I would one-hundred percent be interested in doing something like this if I had more opportunities.” – Aaron (pictured below wearing gray)
After a full day of work at their volunteer sites, the students ended their day with a worship service.
The Wounded Healer - Henri J. M. Nouwen
One of our greatest callings is to serve one another in Christ-like love. And one of the most beautiful expressions of that love is to truly "hold" one another in Christ, to walk alongside them, and to affirm the work and calling of Christ in them.
Such is the holy calling of the navigator. We are managing lots and lots of details and moving parts to develop, launch and curate the platform that is Pathways. But at the very heart of the process is the navigator-volunteer relationship. Having our ears attuned to the whispers of the Spirit, our hearts softened by the love of Jesus, and our minds guided by the gift of discernment are all essential to stewarding these holy moments well.
The author Henri Nouwen had just such a strong sense for the personal nature of ministry that he walked away from huge audiences and acclaim and chose to walk alongside people (in his case, those with disabilities) in consistent and personal ways.
The quote below captures just how deeply meaningful and impactful that work can be: showing "personal concern" for one another. This passage from his book The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society reminds us of the power of being fully present to one another.
The great illusion of leadership is to think that people can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there. Our lives are filled with examples which tell us that leadership asks for understanding and that understanding requires sharing. So long as we define leadership in terms of preventing or establishing precedents, or in terms of being responsible for some kind of abstract “general good,” we have forgotten that no God can save us except a suffering God, and that no man can lead his people except the man who is crushed by its sins. Personal concern means making Mr. Harrison [a 48-year old patient in the hospital who is about to have a life-threatening surgery and is afraid to die] the only one who counts, the one for whom I am willing to forget my many other obligations, my scheduled appointments and long-prepared meetings, not because they are not important but because they lose their urgency in the face of Mr. Harrison’s agony. Personal concern makes it possible to experience that going after the “lost sheep” is really a service to all those who are alone.
Many will put their trust in someone who went all the way out of concern for just one of them. The remark, “You really cared for us,” is often illustrated by stories demonstrating that forgetting the many for the sake of the one is a sign of true leadership.
It is not just curiosity which makes people listen to a preacher when he speaks directly to a man and a woman whose marriage he blesses or to the children of the man whom he buries in the ground. They listen in the deep-seated hope that a personal concern might give the preacher words that carry beyond the ears of those whose joy or suffering he shares. Few listen to a sermon which is intended to be applicable to everyone, but most pay careful attention to words born out of concern for only a few.
All this suggest that when one has the courage to enter where life is experienced as most unique and most private, one touches the soul of the community. The man who has spent many hours trying to understand, feel, and clarify the alienation and confusion of one of his fellow men might well be the best equipped to speak to the needs of the many, because all people are one at the well-spring of pain and joy.
This is what Carl Rogers pointed out when he wrote: “I have found that the very feeling which has seems to me most private, most personal and hence most incomprehensible by others, has turned out to be an expression for which there is a resonance in many other people. It has led me to believe that what is most personal and unique in each one of us is probably the very element which would, if it were shared or expressed, speak most deeply to others. This has helped me to understand artists and poets who have dared to express the unique in themselves.” It indeed seems that the Christian leader is first of all the artist who can bind together many people by his courage in giving expression to his most personal concern.
Be Our Guest | The Story of Joy Prom
There is one magical night every year where individuals with all different abilities are able to come together and enjoy one of the most special nights of the year: prom night.
Joy Prom Winston-Salem is a full-scale, annual prom for the special needs individuals in our community, welcoming guests ages 16+ with any physical, developmental, or intellectual "different” ability. It’s a night where differences are celebrated and everyone gets the opportunity to dress up and go out for an evening full of singing and dancing.
And it all started with two couples asking a simple question: “why not?”
Donna Zayas had been driving to Concord, North Carolina for her son to participate in its Joy Prom. It was a good alternative to his high school’s prom: sensory friendly, full of individuals that had similar experiences. He enjoyed it so much that Donna started to consider what it would be like to have the same event in Winston Salem.
“I just saw people living out the Love of Christ,” Zayas said. “It was so powerful to watch so many people be celebrated.”
One night Donna, her husband, and two of their friends sat down and started to talk about the impact Joy Prom could have on our local community. Through encouraging words and deep conversation, the couples arrived at the question “why not?”, and couldn’t find an answer. From that conversation, Zayas knew there was no going back; she had to bring this opportunity to her city.
Inspired by that conversation with friends, Zayas got in contact with her pastor at Reynolda Church and formed her core team. Love Out Loud was excited to stand by Zayas’ side and help connect her with a community eager to turn her vision into a reality. By 2015, less than a year after that conversation took place, Zayas and her team hosted Winston Salem’s first Joy Prom at First Assembly Christian School.
Coming up this April 13, Joy Prom will celebrate its 4th year with the theme “Be Our Guest”. The amount of guests and community involvement has doubled in size since the prom began, with over 280 guests registered and over 400 community members signed up as volunteers.
There are a full spectrum of disabilities that are accommodated for at this event. Sign language interpreters will be available on sight for individuals who are non-verbal. Every area of the prom is wheelchair accessible. For individuals who are sensitive to sound, there is a designated quiet space. Volunteers are also trained to understand how different disabilities affect different individuals and how to best accommodate them ahead of time.
It’s a special opportunity for individuals with autism, down syndrome, physical disabilities, traumatic brain injuries to step out of their comfort zone in an area that is welcoming and accommodating for everyone. Guests enjoy a red carpet entrance, a "Glitz and Glamour" room, food, dancing, photo booths, Bingo, a craft, themed decorations and more. A Hospitality Suite is available for parents and caretakers that wish to join in the fun as well.
If you want to be a part of Joy Prom, we are still looking for male volunteers (and others!!) to escort the wonderful guests that have registered to attend prom. To volunteer, attend, or learn more, please visit their website at http://www.joypromwinstonsalem.org/
This blog written by Molly Flinchum, Love Out Loud in March 2018 - if you have any questions please email serve@loveoutloudws.com
Stories From Love Winston-Salem - Easton
"My favorite moment at Easton was when two young boys decided they'd do this (picture below) and laughed and smiled. For those of us who saw this, His great love was impressed on our day."
"A momma who doesn't speak any English had brought four kids, all five and under. She heard about this and took a bus and walked 30 minutes. Her sandal had broken by the time she got to the school. She was sitting in the office speaking with a school admin, saying she couldn't make it home because her shoe was broken and she had a 1-, 2-, and 3-year-old with her. I went and got her a new pair of shoes and sock and gently put them on her feet. When I asked if she knew Jesus, her face lit up and I got to pray over their entire family. We met sooo many needs that day."
"My mother-in-law was blessed when she saw two boys with hygiene items with their new shoes on. The two boys were dancing around saying 'I got my own toothbrush!!'"
Love Winston Salem 2017
In 2017, we partnered with Crown Cares, Samaritans Feet, Coca Cola of the Carolina's, Walmart, & Molina Health Care to distribute 1,250 pairs of shoes and a message of hope to the Easton Elementary, Ashley Academy, and Kimberley Park Elementary Communities; Rolling Hills Community; and Piedmont Freedom School Scholars.
Love Winston Salem 2016
In 2016, we partnered with Samaritans Feet, Crown Cares, and United Way of SC to provided 1,000 pairs of shoes and a message of hope to the Easton Elementary, Ashley Academy, and Kimberley Park Elementary Communities
