An Interview on Community
Hope for Louisville: JC Reflects on Community Life as a Hope Team Member (Interviews with the Hope Men – Part 4 of 5)
Hope for Louisville Team Members (from Left to Right) Bradley Brown, Spencer Husch, JC Williams, Caleb Butler and Darrell Johnson.
JSBC Admin’s Note: JSBC is urgently seeking Christians between the ages of 18-30 to serve with the Hope for Louisville program from September 2010-August 2011. There is a special need for men. Know someone who is able and willing to serve with us? Let us know by writing to hope@jeffersonstreet.org or by sending them to our website at www.hopeforlouisville.com. In light of the search for people to serve with Hope, we offer the following interviews with the current men’s team.
AN INTERVIEW WITH JC WILLIAMS.
Name: JC Williams
Age: 22
Hometown: Louisville, KY
Before Hope, did you consider yourself a strong and dedicated person when it came to friendships and community life?
Friendship and community were foreign concepts for a large part of my life. I had very few friends. I had very little community. I was scared to reach out and yet bitter in my loneliness. Without a community to lean upon and grow with, my social skills became awkward and inconsistent. I learned to adapt to different people (though often incorrectly) and had very little of my own identity. Rather then having a base to establish myself upon and grow from, I jumped from scene to scene in a way that damaged myself and my relationships with others.
Friendship and community were foreign concepts for a large part of my life. I had very few friends. I had very little community. I was scared to reach out and yet bitter in my loneliness. Without a community to lean upon and grow with, my social skills became awkward and inconsistent. I learned to adapt to different people (though often incorrectly) and had very little of my own identity. Rather then having a base to establish myself upon and grow from, I jumped from scene to scene in a way that damaged myself and my relationships with others.
Looking back, the only consistent relationships I was able to build were those that were based upon a “community”. This was most noticeable when I began Martial Arts. The school became my community. I finally had a base that I could pour myself into, establishing roots. I finally had some consistency. I was able to establish lasting friendships. Of course, this is not the ideal location for establishing the base of your community efforts. Many of my outside relationships suffered and died because of this. For example, I had a very inconsistent relationship with my family.
A series of events led me to leave my Martial Arts community. I found myself once again without a base and I began a time of diligent search…but I didn’t know what I was looking for. I became lost in several different lives and eventually moved into my own apartment. I had some friendships - friendships I treasure even now - but no community.
Another series of events occurred. These events lead me to a church. And I finally got a taste of community. I entered a community group. I was exposed to people in relationship with Christ - something that I had never seen. I had never witnessed people who were heartfelt in their faith. That year I became a Christian.
I learned how much deeper relationships can go when they are based upon Christ. I began to see the need for a strong community founded upon Christ. But I didn’t know what that looked like. I didn’t know how it worked. And I was so used to compartmentalizing my life that I had trouble breaking down those walls and replacing them all with my new base. But as he always does, God provided…
What about now? Have your insights been proven true or false? Do you understand how to keep the needs of others above your own more now?
I entered into the Hope program with the knowledge that I needed to discover how to apply Christ to every aspect of my life. I needed to stop compartmentalizing him – limiting him only to the section of my life labeled “church”. Scripture clearly outlined how to accomplish this, die. “Die to yourself so that Christ can live.” I understood the concept. But surrounded by a world that I had established so drastically separate from God…the prospect was overwhelming.
I entered into the Hope program with the knowledge that I needed to discover how to apply Christ to every aspect of my life. I needed to stop compartmentalizing him – limiting him only to the section of my life labeled “church”. Scripture clearly outlined how to accomplish this, die. “Die to yourself so that Christ can live.” I understood the concept. But surrounded by a world that I had established so drastically separate from God…the prospect was overwhelming.
I am thankful that Christ knows that I am a wimp. I am thankful that he can use me and sanctify me despite my inability to follow after him. And I have realized that this is the essence of what dying to yourself means.
During my time at Hope I have encountered situations that are beyond myself. I have been placed thoroughly outside of my own knowledge and comfort. I have been placed into settings in which I have no established standard. These are the situations in which Christ has lived most completely. These are the situations in which I have seen God work most clearly. These are the situations in which I myself was dead, but Christ lived.
Living in Christian community has been one of those experiences. I have often found ways to interfere and mess things up, but in the end, the experience has changed me, and the rest of the Hope team, because it was beyond us. We were forced to surrender control to God. Basically, every time something has gone right in our community – it has been of God, every time something has gone array, one of us has gotten in the way. Looking back on my year, that is undeniably true.
Therefore, I have learned that the best way to keep the needs of others above my own, are to remember that we all have the same singular need - Christ. If they forget, I still have everything I need. If someone doesn’t know Christ, I still have everything I need. And by remembering that truth, I can lovingly speak his Grace into their lives.
What is a story or moment from this last year that captures the essence of the hardship and beauty of community living?
There is always sin. It blinds us, corrupts us, and highlights “us,” diminishing Christ. How many times have I allowed sin dominion? Far too many. A picture of this has been the strained relationship Caleb and I shared for the past month. Our eyes slipped from Christ – and in that moment we realized each of the attributes that we couldn’t stand in one another. I began to notice how much this inconvenienced me or that annoyed me, and I began to forget Christ. Caleb realized my dreadful sarcasm wasn’t funny after all and disliked me more and more each time it surfaced.
There is always sin. It blinds us, corrupts us, and highlights “us,” diminishing Christ. How many times have I allowed sin dominion? Far too many. A picture of this has been the strained relationship Caleb and I shared for the past month. Our eyes slipped from Christ – and in that moment we realized each of the attributes that we couldn’t stand in one another. I began to notice how much this inconvenienced me or that annoyed me, and I began to forget Christ. Caleb realized my dreadful sarcasm wasn’t funny after all and disliked me more and more each time it surfaced.
There came a point when the feelings of discontent overwhelmed each of us. We had both journaled about the other one-too-many times, without any effort to reconcile – and God placed that burden heavily upon each of our hearts. At the same time. Caleb approached me just after I finished writing a letter to him to clarify my thoughts. We each shared what was on our hearts and we each confessed how we had lost sight of what was truly important. It is painful to apologize, when you apologize you are admitting that you are wrong, you are killing a part of yourself, but it is beautiful, because in that death Christ is resurrected. Our friendship shined brighter than before.
There have been many moments like this. Moments that have changed me, that have killed me. Moments that have allowed my savior to be resurrected more completely in my life. God laid out a masterful plan that involves each of us affecting one another. Through Christian community Christ destroys our sinful flesh and ushers in a new and better life.
How has community living influenced your ability to love other people and love God more?
Community living has opened my eyes to the effects of my every action on the people around me. Our actions are never confined singularly to us. There is always a butterfly effect. That is part of God’s design, and an underlying theme to many of the messages of the Bible. By keeping one another close we are more able to understand the full situation and not simply be affected, but speak truth into the situation. Rather then allowing a chain of sin to cascade, we witness the cause and are able to minister and proclaim Christ to one another.
Christian community highlights your sins and struggles in bright red, making them unmistakable, because their effect becomes immediately apparent by the “aroma” of the house. Therefore, my sin is no longer just mine, it is everyone’s. Everyone’s sin is no longer just theirs, it is mine. Throughout scripture we see the truth of this outlined in God’s community based decision making. Whole nations are lumped together - because God sees the connection. He knows that we see one another’s sin and he proclaims, “judge your brother and sister!” We are not called to judge unbelievers, but we are called to judge our brothers and sisters out of love, so that they might not fall under the dominion of sin and pull us all down with them! Therefore the golden rule of loving one another as yourself can actually be taken so far as to say, you must love others if you want to love yourself. The actions are wholly connected. By loving my brother, I am loving myself – and by them loving me they are loving themselves – and by loving Christ, we can love everyone. And it is because of Christ’s love that we can do any of it!
So, Christian community is indeed amazing – it has enlightened my faith and opened my eyes to so many truths that I had failed to notice. I have not doubted for a moment that God called me into the Hope for Louisville program, and while I have learned much, and hopefully taught much — it is apparent that this is one of the great truths that will forever redefine and cement my relationship with Christ.
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