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Okay, so Three Rivers is only 80 miles from Grand Rapids, but at least it's SOUTH! A small group of Calvin College students will be making their way down 131 on March 20 to spend a week in our fine town working at Huss School and connecting with people and resources throughout the community. We'll be exploring what it means to "seek the welfare of the city" in a small, rural town that has abundant resources in the areas of art, agriculture, business, journalism and diversity--as well as many needs.

Rob and I had a meeting with Johnathan, the trip's student organizer, this morning and we are positively giddy about how much we're looking forward to this trip. We're hoping this group can help us get some things done at the school, as well as bring their fresh perspectives to bear on what the future off-campus program at the school could look like.

Please let us know if you'd like to connect with this group in some way while they're in town. We're still working out our schedule, so we have flexibility at this point--and of course, anyone is welcome to come work alongside us at the school! See our updated "Supplies Needed" page for a list of items we could still use for hosting work groups.

We'll be hosting a film class and a spring break trip--both from Calvin College--at Huss in the next few months and we're going to do quite a bit of preparation if we're to be properly hospitable. The school is currently winterized (no heat, no running water), so we're going to treat it a bit like indoor winter camping. We'd ideally like to get one room operable with electric space heaters, coffee makers and some comfortable seating.

Toward that end, we've started a list of things we're looking for to help stock our hospitality room. If you'd be able to donate any of these items, please contact us!

We're also doing a workday next Tuesday, December 29, to get the room set up for the film class in January. If you're in the area and would like to help, drop us a line and show up around 9:00 in the morning. We'll have some coffee on!

We've sent out a few e-mails requesting end-of-year donations, but it probably doesn't hurt to mention it here, too. We're hoping to raise an additional $2,000 by the end of the year to help cover Huss expenses for the first several months of 2010 (mortgage, insurance and electric) and it looks like we've still got about $1,650 to go.

If you're able, please consider donating. As always, every small amount helps ... so donations of $5, $10 and $20 are just as welcome as larger amounts. Thanks!

One: Watch! Wait! The day of God is at hand!
All: Like the bud on a tree, God's possibilities are about to blossom!
One: Stay awake! The reign of God is very near.
All: We are here, watching and waiting with hope.
All: May God bring justice to all people. May God's reign come on earth as in heaven.

An Advent litany from Hymnal: A Worship Book (1992)

As we met with our board of directors last Friday, it felt appropriate that we were gathering and discerning in the middle of Advent--a time of waiting and expectation. The incarnation of God teaches us that anything can happen, that our longing will be satisfied in ways we could never have foreseen.

We didn't come out of our board meeting with any spectacular revelations or perfect plans. Rather, we came out of it with a much-needed sense of patience, re-committed to growing *culture is not optional together in imaginative, discerning, sustainable ways. Throughout the day, we met with local members of the Three Rivers Area Faith Community, where the vision for a youth and family center at Huss School originated. Their perspective on what the Three Rivers community needs and how our resources might meet those needs will continue to be invaluable as we cultivate relationships of love and accountability. We also toured and said words of blessing at Huss School--just the first of many blessings on the site, we expect. Since some of our board members were meeting in person for the first time, we shared abundant meals and conversation in the middle of more formal business. We look forward to gathering again as a board early in the new year.

Finances continue to be a concern until we get back on our feet with a revised plan for fundraising. Since we last updated you about our efforts with the Imagining Space project, a small Three Rivers congregation contributed over $700 in special offerings toward the project; a group of college staff members raised $800 for Huss as their collective Christmas donation; and an individual donor committed to contribute monthly toward our electric bill. We are incredibly grateful for the generosity and vision behind these gifts. God continues to provide where our efforts fall short.

As we approach the end of 2009, we would be grateful for any financial contribution you can make. $40 keeps the electricity on for one month, $360 covers insurance and $500 meets one mortgage payment. We believe that this project will always depend on the gifts of many people, contributing money, time, prayers and skills as they are able--and it will be stronger for having the investment of many, rather than just a few. Please let us know what you can offer. We would love to start 2010 with four months of expenses in the bank, which means raising $2,000 in addition to the gifts listed above before the end of the year. One-time and monthly donations can be made online. In kind gifts can be communicated by sending us a message through our contact page.

Bigger plans will be needed over time to realize the full potential of the space. In the meantime, there's nothing stopping us from beginning good work on the site. In January, we will host our first out-of-town group at the school. However, this group won't be scrubbing floors and painting walls; they'll be filming! We're glad that a film class from Calvin College will have the opportunity to use the building in its current somewhat-spooky state as a unique film set while they learn practical writing, acting and production skills. We're also looking forward to revealing more to all of you visually in the form of a promotional video the group will make as part of their exchange for using the space.

In March, we'll host our first work group, as several Calvin College students will use their spring break to serve and learn in Three Rivers. The board is already imagining ways to draw more of you into the work and creativity of that week, so watch for more details.

Thank you for your attentiveness to the Imagining Space project throughout 2009. Just one year ago, we never would have anticipated that *cino would have such abundant building and land space as a canvas on which to paint a bold, colorful, interactive Kingdom-oriented vision. Thank God for graciously setting aside this time of year for us to delve into the goodness of hope, of giddy excitement, of earth-shaking surprises.

Even in the midst of great pain, Lord,
I praise you for that which is.
I will not refuse this grief
Or close myself to this anguish.
Let shallow men pray for ease:
"Comfort us; shield us from sorrow."
I pray for whatever you send me,
and I ask to receive it as your gift.
You have put a joy in my heart
greater than all the world's riches.
I lie down trusting the darkness,
for I know that even now you are here.

Psalm 4, adapted from the Hebrew by Stephen Mitchell

Psalm 4 has been something of a mantra for us lately, which may help illuminate, in poetic terms, our sudden silence on the Imagining Space project. Some explanation is certainly in order, so here's a brief overview of the past six months in the lives of Rob and Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma, sole (unpaid) staff members of *culture is not optional.

Beginning in May and with the help of our board of directors, we raised $25,000 in forty days as a down payment to purchase Huss School, an historic building in Three Rivers, Michigan--22,000 square feet of classrooms, office space and a gymnasium on four acres of land for $75,000. It was a huge leap of faith for this small organization and $25,000 was just the beginning. But the vision was magnetizing: an off-campus program for college students, community development in a struggling Midwestern town, an opportunity to embody the everyday Kingdom faithfulness we profess to in catapult, in the road journal, in Practicing Resurrection conferences, in our fiction and non-fiction books. Over 150 donors contributed and the door opened onto a world of possibilities.

In June, we closed on the school purchase just days before embarking on a two-week speaking tour about faith and food. The tour, which took us from our home in Michigan through five states, was a wonderful opportunity to connect with old and new friends on a topic dear to our hearts (and stomachs, of course). At the far western reaches of our route, however, we saw clouds gathering on the horizon. When the storm finally hit, we realized that circumstance would require us to move out of our house in Grand Rapids quite unexpectedly. We were faced with a choice: move somewhere temporary in Grand Rapids for another year, or complete a renovation nine months ahead of schedule on an apartment 80 miles south in Three Rivers to establish a more permanent home closer to Huss School. Given the miraculous developments with the school in the spring, we decided that, even though we planned to continue our work at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, we were being drawn back toward Three Rivers.

Most of July and August passed in a blur of sixteen-hour days. With the help of many friends and family members, we tiled and painted and scrubbed and sanded and varnished and packed. Renovation projects typically fall behind schedule and this one was no exception. After we moved out of our house on August 22, we rested our heads in temporary beds for about six weeks between Grand Rapids and Three Rivers until we could finally move into our apartment--with functional plumbing and legal permission.

In the midst of adjusting to a commute and exhausting physical labor, another unexpected trial commenced. Just after Labor Day weekend, personal possessions started disappearing from our storage space in the basement of the building where our apartment is located. Not until October, when about $6,000 in property had disappeared over the course of several incidents, were we able to narrow the possible suspects down to one person--someone we'd liked, trusted, helped and accepted help from, who had key access all along. In the end, we were only able to recover about a quarter of what was lost through insurance, but we also experienced a loss of trust and security. Even when we were too blind with anger, sadness and helplessness to see the way forward, a group of friends graciously helped guide us to the best resolution possible--one that reflects our values of justice and mercy and did not involve prosecution.

Now, in November, we have fallen behind on our *cino work and continue to wrestle with difficult questions. Why would God provide for our initial fundraising efforts for the school with such breathtaking abundance, only to watch us lose momentum as we struggled to keep our heads above water through an unexpected move and the heartbreak of broken trust? Why would we be able to meet our first financial goal on schedule only to have the whole thing unravel in the next few months when the needs are still so great? What are we supposed to be learning here? Has this hardship been a test along the right path or a caution along the wrong one? Time may or may not clarify the answers, but we plan to proceed, in faith, with the ambitious vision of the Imagining Space campaign.

Throughout everything that's occurred over the past six months--from the purchase of the school to the food tour to the renovation to the thefts--we have been clearly affirmed in one belief: we need community. In our worst times, when we felt the least equipped to face the challenges before us, the community of people around us has answered to such various needs as grunt work, lunch, critical advice and timely encouragement. In the best times, community has cohered around a beautiful, ridiculous vision for life in the Kingdom, responding with everything from ideas to connections to money. Six months of great need have also been six months of great abundance, as we've learned to "praise [God] for that which is" and "lie down trusting the darkness."

The board of *culture is not optional will be meeting in December to assess where we are as an organization, pray over future projects for wisdom and discernment and plan for the coming months and years. In the meantime, we still need all of you. Please join us in prayer. Please also consider making a contribution yet in 2009 toward expenses for the school building. We've all been captivated by the amazing vision for what could be at the old Huss School, but there will be many months of mortgage payments and electric bills to slog through while we work to gather resources for the costly transformation the space will require. Our most immediate need is for help financing the basic monthly expenses, which include the loan payment of $500, the insurance payment of $360 and the basic electric bill, which is usually around $40. We think you'll agree that such slogging is best undertaken in good company, so please join us with whatever resources you have to offer.

We sincerely apologize for the loss of momentum and communication that occurred on the Imagining Space project while our lives took unexpected hairpin turns this summer and fall. Like the tall Michigan oaks that have lost all of their leaves, we look forward to re-emerging anew and flourishing for yet another season...but we can't do it without you. Thank you, in advance, for taking the time to consider how you can best contribute to the needs of *culture is not optional on the brink of 2010.

Grace and peace,
Rob & Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

On Friday, June 12, we closed on Huss School. On Tuesday, June 16, Rob and I hit the road for a two-week speaking tour. The two weeks since our return from the tour have been a whirlwind of trying to catch up and stay on top of the many projects that have converged on us all at once this summer, in addition to trying to negotiate a shaky housing situation for us here in Grand Rapids. And so, finally spending two hours tending to (part of) the lawn at Huss School this past Saturday felt like a great accomplishment.

Rob worked with a borrowed mower while I trimmed and weeded. Even though we were exhausted from an already-full day of physical labor, it felt good to begin to engage more intimately with the property than just the tours we and others have taken of the building itself. The next few years will definitely be a process of getting to know the cracks in the sidewalk, the curves of the lawn, the species of weeds that spring up naturally when no one is looking. My work gloves once again bear the familiar scent--I think it smells like peanut butter--of the Tree to Heaven sprouts that I used to pull from my great grandparents' property in Indiana. I had brought a metal bucket with me for collecting weeds, but soon realized that it was way too small. In the school are a number of blue plastic bins that were used for storing teaching supplies, so I hauled one out and filled it up. Half-joking, I told Rob that this box would forever remain with the Huss School property and heretofore be known as The Weed Coffin: where weeds go to die.

I've been feeling stressed out lately about caring properly for the property, especially when it seems to be such a draw for vandalism. There have been three more broken windows since we closed and imagining what's happening there beyond our control keeps me up at night. But as repetitive labor often does, I had some clarity while I was pulling out the tallest weeds along the front of the school: I need to pray for God's protection around the space as we work to transform inclinations toward destruction into a sense of community ownership. I met Officer Huhnke from the Three Rivers Police Department while we were there and he kindly offered to let his shift know about the change in ownership and help watch over the property.

Over the next few weeks, we'll be working on finding a donated or reduced price mower--riding, as it took Rob two hours to do just the front with a push mower and, if we're really fortunate, a diesel model so we can work with biodiesel for fuel. Once we have the tools in place at the school, someone has offered to help supervise volunteers or perhaps folks from the local probation office for ongoing maintenance, which will be a great start for the community ownership we need, both for us personally and for the good of the project in the future.

We closed today. :)

Thank you to all of you who have sent your congratulations on meeting our first fund raising goal, either virtually or in person or just through your thoughts and prayers. People keep saying to us, "Wow! You must be excited!" Well, yes, we are excited. It's been so liberating to be able to begin imagining specific possibilities for the space at Huss School after having to push "pause" for several weeks of discernment and fund raising.

At the same time, our excitement is tethered by ongoing logistical details and an appropriately sobering awareness of the responsibility we're about to take on, not just in terms of earth and bricks and mortar and money, but in terms of honoring a community's dreams and needs, as well as our own big ideas. I think it's not unlike having a baby, with all of the joy and uncertainty accompanying that decision.

At this point, it looks like the closing that was scheduled for this afternoon at 3pm is going to happen and we're doing everything we can to get there. We've finally secured an insurance policy and we're working feverishly to get all of the paperwork in order. We'll post an update later this evening, but in the meantime, please hold us and this project in prayer for peace, for wisdom and for joy.

It happened one weekend in early June of 2009: *culture is not optional crossed a threshold and entered a whole new realm of possibilities. What a Monday morning!

It's true, we've officially surpassed the $20,000 goal we set at the beginning of May in an attempt to see what might be in store for *cino's future. We'd already determined that Three Rivers, Michigan felt a lot like home for the organization. But if that future was going to include the historic Huss School, the first step was a $20,000 down payment. We had never raised that much money so quickly in our seven-year history as an organization, but we put the vision out there and the results have been simply astounding. People of all ages from all around the world have contributed according to their abilities--a fitting beginning to what we hope will be a vibrant center for education and service both within Three Rivers and beyond.

How do we change gears from holding an idea loosely to letting our imaginations run wild with the possibilities for a specific space? We're still figuring that out--what a great problem to have! And we just can't wait to see where this journey takes us next. Thank you for walking with us in the past and in the future, even when the path is scary, even when it's exciting, even when it's a big ol' question mark and it feels like we're completely lost. With your continued partnership and God's blessing--well, anything can happen, can't it?

We have an official closing date and time: June 10 at 3:00pm. We're still a little short of the down payment amount necessary to close and we're still working to secure insurance (which is proving more difficult than expected), but we're moving forward in faith and trying to get everything in order nonetheless.

There are still a few funding options on the table that we're trying to firm up, but the support of the *cino community is still vital to the success of this vision. So far, the response has been amazing and we're truly humbled by and thankful for your support!