After ending our time at the House of Hope on Jan. 20th, our team was encouraged by the unified gathering of churches in the Chicago area. Yet, as we received the Chicago Tribune the next day, an entire page was devoted to the names, ages, and locations of gun homicides in our city for 2015. 484 slain, and now already 37 in January 2016… (http://crime.chicagotribune.com/chicago/homicides)

So as we enter the New Year, we remind ourselves what our city continues to face. Gun violence, division, racism, apathy, and much, much more. There requires much prayer and action in this time. There requires fasting and lamenting. There requires a revival of the church in Chicago. At the end, there requires God and His work. 

So continue to cry out in desperation and in hope for the gospel to go forth and lives to be transformed. Let’s literally cry for our city.

“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14