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Tony Evans Meets 20/20 Vision for Schools: A Personal Diary
By Jeremy | June 2, 2008
About last week, I wasn’t able to debrief the Tony Evans event until tonight because I left for the LPAC TY Retreat Friday morning. Herewith, Thursday’s play-by-play.
Morning
+ 8 am: Personal plans changed. Judah claims to still be sick (from the day before, when we picked him up early from school due to some kind of stomach bug). Meanwhile, Diana is completed wasted. She caught whatever Judah had overnight, with bathroom visits seemingly every hour or so. Combined with ongoing pregnancy issues, she’s bed ridden for the rest of the day. What to do with our son?
+ 10:30 am: Crisis semi-averted. Diana’s still wiped out, but Judah’s illness mysteriously vanishes about an hour after school starts. He’s up and about, so I draft him to become my personal assistant for the day.
Afternoon
+ 11:30 am: Judah and I meet Chuck Klein from Campus Alliance at MS 34 in Manhattan’s lower east side. Chuck flew into NYC to film the Tony Evans event as part of a documentary-style feature on 20/20 Vision for Schools as a national model of public education reform. Chuck recruits Judah as his grip, and — despite begging to be “one of those kids who walks behind you on camera” — Judah fills the role ably. We spend 2.5 hours filming interviews and B-roll around the school, and yes, Judah gets his wish to walk behind me and with me in a few scenes.
+ 2:00 pm: Drop Chuck off at the subway and Judah at grandma’s, and begin navigating brutal traffic to Christ Tabernacle for a scheduled Coalition leaders meeting at 3.
+ 3:15: Finally arrive for the meeting. Debby and Walter are there already, but Kevin and Edwin are stuck in the same mess I was. They don’t arrive until 4.
+ 4: Improvise Coalition meeting and arrange for Chuck’s audio/visual needs at CT. Walter and Edwin, as co-chairs, do a great time facilitating. I pitch in with logistical details about the evening’s programs. Prayer time and wrap-up before networking at the Pastors dinner.
Evening
+ 5-7: Co-host and emcee the pastors gathering. As usual, Pastors Michael and Adam Durso, Ralph Castillo, and their team at Christ Tabernacle do a phenomenal job welcoming the guests. Listen to Dr. Evans share his own personal journey as a pastor of a church that has adopted 60+ public schools in Dallas and launched the National Church Adopt-a-School Initiative. Reunite with Judah, who arrives with grandma and grandpa. Enjoy watching him smile and wave at me from his seat and work the room like a seasoned charmer.
+ 7-9: Co-host and emcee the public meeting. Sit captivated by the stories of local churches that have begun adopting public schools (testimonies to follow); inspired by three rousing CT Choir numbers; and then mesmerized by a classic Tony Evans oration on what it means to be “salt” and “light” — metaphors Christ used to describe his followers’ role in society. Dr. Evans is truly one of the great American preachers of his generation, in the tradition of both Dr. King and Billy Graham, but with a style all his own. Even more special, he began his message with a five-minute, unequivocal and thorough endorsement of 20/20 Vision, and weaved 20/20 as an illustration throughout his sermon. Audio (and hopefully video) to follow.
The opportunity to share the platform with Dr. Evans was another of those surreal dream-come-true moments for me. Dr. Evans was one of the few radio preachers I actually enjoyed listening to in high school, and the two times I heard him live before last week were at the 1996 Promise Keepers pastors conference in Atlanta (attended by 40,000 ministers), and at the 1997 Promise Keepers Stand in the Gap event at the Mall in Washington (alongside 1 million or so other spectators). Who’d-a-thunk then that we would be collaborating now?
Event Sponsors
The Coalition of Urban Youth Workers, Latino Pastoral Action Center, New York City Leadership Center, Concerts of Prayer Greater New York, New York Faith and Justice, and Christ Tabernacle
Topics: 2020 vision, adam durso, adopt-a-school, campus alliance, campus ministry, christ tabernacle, coalition, events, family, judah, michael durso, rafael castillo, schedule, speaking, tony evans |
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