OCT 2 2015 | Privilege, Africa, Justice and a Single White Girl, Part 1

Sea Change Church · "Privilege, Africa, Justice and a Single White Girl, Part 1" · Christine Garde Denning · October 2, 2015
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

All right, welcome to AdamStatmiller.com here doing another interview with somebody that really inspires me, Christine Gard. Christine is the founder of Could You? I'm going to let her tell you what Could You does, but it is influential throughout Africa. And Christine, welcome to, I guess you would call it a show. It's not really a show. We're sitting here in the fellowship hall of our church recording on my iPhone, so it's not too much of a show. Pretty bootleg, but some pretty incredible content. How are you doing?

I'm good, and I think this is a great show. Well, Christine and I have known each other for, well, we didn't see each other for about 20-something years, but we've known each other for probably 25 years, something like that, working with Young Life back in the day. Back in the day. Did you go to the Florida? I did, yes. That's how we, well, we knew each other before. We were both out of San Diego, right?

Yes. And we were, you stayed with Young Life for how long? 13 years. I did Young Life at the border. I started out working in San Ysidro. In San Diego. So that's South San Diego, working at the border. Wow. Yeah, I started San Diego South Bay. Wow, okay, I remember that. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And before that, I had started it because I was hired by a group called Triple Crown.

Okay. And it was a drug elimination grant money paid for by Housing and Urban Development, and I came in to start a program for gang members and families. There had been a lot of drive-by, as it had just happened. Right. And that's because you came out of a Latino gang yourself, right? Exactly. No, and in the interview, I remember Ray Smith, if you're out there, he was great.

But I remember sitting in his office and him saying to me, they will eat you alive. You'll never make it here, but I'm going to hire you as my token white girl. Help us get some government money. Later on, I remember on my third year anniversary there, we were at a staff party, and I was the only white staff. And it was mostly an African-American organization working with Bloods and Crips.

That sounds so funny listening to you say that. Yeah, very. You'll check the picture online. You'll see that she's probably not Blood and Crips material. It's true. You never got jumped in? You didn't get jumped into the gang? No, I've never even seen a gang member when I started doing this work. But on my third year anniversary there, I remember Ray saying, admitting to me that they had taken a company pool as to how long I'd last.

Oh, wow. And they thought two and a half months. And he bet the longest on me. And three years in, he's like, we just want you to know. Did you win? Did you get the money? That's true. I was in that pool. You should get the money. But they all lost because it's been good two and a half months. And I lasted three years. And loved it. It was great. And hard.

And, yeah. Wow. I want to get into the difficulty. I like that word because ministry is hard. Yeah. Right? When you did this, you're how old? And you're coming out of college. Yep. I worked. I worked. I went to Pace University in New York. Graduated with an international management degree. You're from New York. Mm-hmm. And a Spanish minor. New York City? Nope.

So I grew up in a small town. It's actually a hamlet. 1,800 people. Okay. But two hours northwest of Manhattan. Right. So then I grew up. So where you start doesn't always define where you end up. No. No. And so I ended up going to San Diego. And I had never, I think I visited here once when I was in sixth grade. But I had had a broken heart back in New York.

And I was like, I'm going to get as far away from here as possible. Ah. The old geographical missions. And so I moved to San Diego. And I got out here. And I actually came out. And I wasn't a Christian. Well, yeah, I wasn't. I'd gone to church a little bit growing up. But it was a dead church. And I had never heard the gospel. Came out here. And decided I needed to meet some normal people.

Or at least figure out how to meet some people. And so I started to go to church for the reason of trying to meet people. And I ended up meeting a group of people through John Maxwell's church. Oh, he led me to Christ when I was 12. And that's where I met the Lord. Wow. So he was at a, this is so fascinating. Because he was, we were at an amazing grace service.

And he is up there. I picture it now. And he's got on a stool. And it's evening. And he's got a vest on. And he shares the gospel in this utterly plain way. And I remember him saying, if you're out there and you think that fill in the blank is going to bring you contentment and peace and joy. And it's marriage or money or prestige or whatever. He said, nothing is going to fill you the way that Christ is going to.

And you will be searching forever. And I remember that night thinking, I have no idea if what he's saying is true. And if it is true, I was early 20s, like 23, 24. And I remember thinking, if it's real, I want that. If it's not real, I don't want to buy into something that's a crutch or that's not, you know. So I remember praying and saying, God will give you all of me if, for 30 days.

And then for 30 days, I'll go after this hard. So there's an expiration date on your faith. There was. Nice. And I remember thinking. A lot of us have that. And I said, and after 30 days, if I don't know for sure this was real, then I tried. So for 30 days, I did. I started praying. And praying for the first time. I started reading the Bible for the first time.

They told me where to start. And I started reading. And something changed. Something happened. The more I read, the more it made sense. Yeah. It sparked something. It meant something. And then early on, I started to feel this, like, interest in gang members. And I said to a woman who was a friend. Where does that come from? It does. An interest in gang members?

And this is what happened. This is how you know it wasn't me. I'd never seen a gang member. I never thought of a gang member. In your hamlet. In your New York hamlet. Exactly. Of 1,800 people. In the hood. I'm rolling in the hamlet with my 4.0. It's true. So I remember saying to this woman who was a new friend, who had been a Christian for a long time, telling her, I can't seem to stop thinking about gang members, whether it comes on in the news.

And she said, there's been no increase in gang activity here. So there's no way that there's just circumstances that do that. So she said, it must be God. But press in and see if it's him. Because if you continue to pray about it and it continues to increase your interest, then that has to be God. I'd never heard those terms before. I kind of thought she was crazy.

But I thought, all right, I'm in this for 30 days. So I kept praying and thinking. And the more I did. Wait, this is coming during your 30 days of even if I'm going to follow God. So you're getting your missional calling while you haven't even decided if you're going to completely follow. But you're in for 30 days. I'm in for 30 days. This is like one of those fitness programs.

Right. Well, and then I will say, it did take 90 days. Oh, okay. It took 90. I went in thinking it was 30. And then this process took 90 days. And at the end of 90 days, I felt really sure that God was real and that he was calling me to work with gang kids. And I'd never seen one. I didn't even know how to go about it. And so I started to apply at a bunch of agencies.

And everyone left me out of their office. And they said things like, you don't have any experience. You don't have any social work. You have no, you've got nothing. Like, there's no way this is a good fit for you. But Ray Smith, as I said earlier, took me on as his token white girl. And at the time, he really felt like I could, you know, help him bridge the gap between the mayor's office and the gang work.

So I started. So playing into the cultural, I would say, not even stereotypes. It's actually a reality. Hoping that you, with what they would call today white privilege, right, would be able to build that bridge. Well, and also because, so when I, when I first got out here, I really wanted, I was thinking about, I'm young and I'm thinking, I can do anything.

And energetic. So I decided I wanted to pick the very best job for me. And I didn't know what that job was. And so I decided that it was going to be a job at Mayor Golding's office. Okay. With Susan Golding. Susan Golding. And I decided I wanted to work for her. And I wanted to do community economic development. So I. And this is way before anybody in the Christian world had kind of gotten into, like, you know, systemic, you know, community development, sustainable work, building wells.

Yeah. I mean, the Catholics were probably doing some of that stuff. They were for sure. For sure. But I remember going and looking to see if there were any of these jobs out there. And there weren't. Yeah. So I ended up deciding that I would work for free if somebody would hire me. So that. I think we've all done that. You know, and you go in and you say, I really want this job.

I don't do that anymore. But I used to. But I actually think people should do that more. Yeah, I agree. I think that coming into it, if you're young and nobody wants to hire you, work for free for a year, prove that you're worth it and they'll hire you is the hope. So anyway, I tried to do that. And so that's where Katie McDonald's. Katie McDonald's ended up meeting with me.

I have no idea where she is. They're all in San Diego somewhere. I'd love to see them. But she met with me. And there was no job opening. But I remember her saying, I said, I volunteer. And she said, well, if you're going to volunteer, you have to take it seriously. Like, this is a big deal. Right. And I was like, okay. Raising the bar on free volunteerism.

And, you know, you have to come in and there's a... I like it. I like it. It's an honor. And so I worked at Ruby's Moto Diner, downtown San Diego, to pay my way so I could volunteer for them. But as a result, they put me on some really great things. I did get to work on the strategic, it's like a star alliance. I got to represent the mayor doing some stuff at the border.

So really, really interesting stuff. And that's why Ray, he knew I was there at the mayor's office. And so he said... So he said what? Finish that sentence. Why don't you help us get government funding? And he wanted, you know, knowing that I could use, just like you said, in his mind, some white privilege and use access to help them get some more funding.

White privilege is awesome if you use it to help other people. I'm not a big fan of just using it to get a new car and a house. But to use the societal, you know, gateways that are open for the gospel is awesome. Look, so we're going to take a break right now. But the thing that fascinates me is you gave God an inch and he took an eternity in your life.

And I think ending this first segment with that idea of, are you willing to really go out and give God that 30-day challenge? See if he'll take it to 90 days. I think that commitment, going over the edge. And we're going to get to Africa and how this is launched to the next part of your life. But we'll be right back. This is Adam Stattmiller on the adamstattmiller.com podcast.