Richard Grove
About Mission Year
Mission Year is a year long urban ministry program focused on Christian service and discipleship. We take teams of young people, place them in an area of need, and help them to serve people and create community. We are committed to the command of Jesus to “love God and love people,” by placing the needs of our neighbors first and developing committed disciples of Christ with a heart for the poor. Learn more about our first year program…
Richard Grove's Blog
People Actually Care / May 6, 11:28 AM
So, I’m pretty convinced that human beings actually care about/want to help each other, there are just too many distractions out there so people get their priorities confused. I was thinking about this the other day when I heard that Mayor Daley stated that there are only 20 homeless people in the downtown Chicago area. I don’t think this is a miscalculation on the city’s part, I think this is a lie. But I think they are lying less the the people of Chicago and more to themselves. The city of Chicago will never admit that it has failed. That it can’t solve its own problems, that it can’t make everyone happy and content. So what can it do? It can tell you that you’re happy anyway. And you believe it. I believe it, until I wake up at 3:30AM to gunshots. Until my roommate comes home with a story about her personal experience with police profiling and harassment. Until I look down the street and see the drugs changing hands in the middle of the freaking day, and the women selling themselves so they can afford those drugs.
So the thing is, people actually do care. But caring hurts too much, so we surround ourselves with these comforts, and we stack these comforts so high around us that we eventually seal ourselves off from reality. When I met Jesus, he laughed in my face. He made me feel so silly and stupid, the way I was trying to follow him. I had this huge caravan filled with my possessions, Jesus didn’t even have a bag. Jesus doesn’t even OWN a bag.
I’ve probably done a good job so far of making everyone feel guilty and depressed. I’m really good at pointing out all the things that we’ve done wrong, and I would like to change that about myself. So, what I’m going to do now is offer an observation followed by a solution. See, people naturally want to associate with those who are most like themselves. This allows them to be comfortable and go on thinking their lifestyle choice is the right one. But this is crazy, especially for people who believe in God, because God made everyone. This means God made all colors, all cultures, all skills and all gifts. So why do we form communities in our own image? The community that truly reflects God’s image is multicultural and multiethnic with equal representation of all skills and gifts. So I would encourage you to make some friends who look different than you, who have a different income than you, who have a different FAITH than you. Not because you’re such a good person, but because you actually need them to better understand what God looks like.
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Peacefully Restless / Apr 18, 04:18 PM
My most recent Mondays, which are official Mission Year Sabbath days, I haven’t wanted to do anything except go for these really long walks. Last week I walked probably 4 miles, and the week before that I walked all the way from the Aquarium downtown back to our apartment, probably around 40 blocks. I’ve just been feeling restless, like I can’t settle back into a rhythm, there’s just been too much on my mind. I think it’s Jesus’ fault. He just keeps showing up at really inconvenient times.
Two Sundays ago he showed up when Leroy Barber, the Mission Year president, came and spoke at our church. He talked about Jeremiah 29. God promised the Jews he would deliver them out of Babylon, he told them he was in control. They were in Babylon for a reason, though, he told them. God said they should build their homes in Babylon, and invest in the Babylonians. He said their future was tied up with the future of Babylon. God wanted them to be in Babylon, but not of Babylon. We are the Jews, our cities are Babylon.
Jeremiah 29:4-14
Having Direction Feels Good / Mar 24, 10:31 AM
I’m home in Alabama for spring break, and I’m getting a lot of stuff done. Productivity is my first name. Productivity Joseph Grove. I’ve been talking with my mom’s boss, Forrest, an influential lawyer here in Mobile who just happens to be crazy about Jesus. He knows a crazy ton of people, including the President of the University of Mobile (a college to which I am applying) and decided to set up a private meeting for me. So yesterday I went and chatted it up with the President of the University. I told him I want to study Theology and Business. He was like: Sweet! (paraphrase) that totally sounds like an awesome idea, dude! So I filled out the application and I’m pretty much set for the Fall. Considering I had no plans whatsoever when I moved to Chicago, I feel pretty good about my situation right now.
I’m excited to learn how I can apply the principles of Mission Year to my life. I’m excited to talk to people who want to change things for the Greater Good, for the community as a whole, as well as individually. I’m also excited to live with my parents next year and to work on my relationship with them. But right now I’m most excited to go back and enjoy freaking Spring! The clouds are literally parting in Chicago.
Wow, this is actually really hard. / Mar 10, 09:10 AM
So I had a discussion with my best good friend and roommate, Jordan last night, and in the middle of it I sort of realized that I really suck. I mean really. I spend most of my time thinking about myself; like, 99.5% of my time. I think about how I can prove to others how awesome I am. I think about how I can convince myself that I’m right. I rationalize my actions instead of examining them. I listen to people just so I can figure how to better pull the rug out from under them. It’s like my whole life is one big debate, me against everyone else. I can’t stand being wrong, I literally cannot take it. Whenever I start to break down, I just block everyone out, I victimize myself, I think about the injustice of my situation. This sucks!
Jesus is the only way that I can find God. I have to just admit to myself that I suck. That’s the only way that I can find true value, when I empty myself into God.
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"What Do You Believe?" / Feb 14, 11:47 AM
My family is in the process of finding a new church home in Spanish Fort, Alabama, where they recently moved. They’d been attending this one church for a while, one which my parents were not too crazy about but my brothers seemed to like (to the extent that a 6th and an 8th grader can like church). Things were going relatively smoothly until my brother’s Sunday School class had a discussion on Evolution. My brother believes in Evolution, as do I and the rest of my family, but his Sunday School class held a firm, anti-Evolution stance. I have no problem with this. My brother had no problem with this. The problem is that they wouldn’t even let him speak. They were the majority, he was a minority, and as far as they were concerned, he could either submit or shut-up. He did neither. He decided never to go back.
So what did this Sunday School class accomplish? Not only did they not convince my brother to accept their case, they did convince him that they’re a bunch of jerks. They might have convinced him that their whole church is a bunch of jerks. Maybe they convinced him their whole denomination is a bunch of jerks. Maybe all Christians are jerks.
I’m very proud of my brother for not submitting to the majority. And I don’t think he’s short-sighted enough to come to the conclusion that their being Christian has anything to do with their being jerks. But there are plenty of people who will, and have. And I don’t blame them.
