Topics:<\/b> Calling; Change; Commitment; Community; Evangelism; Example; Faith; Integrity; Leadership; Ministry; Neighbors; Service; Testimony<\/p>\n
References:<\/b> Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:37\u201340; Mark 12:28\u201333; Luke 10:25\u201337; John 13:34; Galatians 5:14; James 2:8<\/p>\n
Kirsten and Lee Hildebrand had just settled into their first home in a suburban community where Kirsten practiced labor and employment law and Lee was working on a doctorate in counseling psychology. But when the couple attended Eastbrook Church, a nondenominational, inner-city Milwaukee church, they began to wonder, Did we settle in the right place?<\/i> Gradually they became convinced that they needed to move out of suburbia into the city.<\/p>\n
In three days they sold their home and bought one in Sherman Park on Grant Boulevard, where old brick homes shoulder Mediterranean tile roofs and copper gutters, and neighbors take in the world from adjoining porches. As the couple unpacked boxes, a question hung over them. \u201cWe knew we were led here for a purpose, but we didn\u2019t know why,\u201d says Lee.<\/p>\n
Six months later, after they had remodeled their own home, the Hildebrands noticed a foreclosure sign a few houses down. Along with two neighbors, Paul Handle and Dave Klevgard, they made an unsuccessful bid for the house, but in the process they identified a problem of absentee landlords. \u201cThe landlords didn\u2019t care about the properties, didn\u2019t put the work in, and then demanded rent,\u201d Kirsten says. \u201cThey\u2019re treating people this way, but everyone deserves a nice place to live.\u201d<\/p>\n
After many late-night conversations, the four of them decided to systematically purchase rundown houses, restore them, rent them affordably to the residents of their city, and, hopefully, change the absentee landlord trend. They registered as \u201cCity Ventures LLC\u201d and brought their fifty-page business plan to Legacy Bank. \u201cWe didn\u2019t just go in jeans with stuff scribbled in a notebook,\u201d Lee says. \u201cKirsten is an attorney, Paul is a marketing manager, David is in insurance, and I was doing my PhD at Marquette. We went as young professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n
With investment capital from the bank and additional funds from individual home equity loans, City Ventures bought a single-family house and then a series of duplexes. The partners juggled full-time jobs with the new worlds of plumbing, electrical work, rent collecting, and the realities of the inner-city. At night drug dealers moved onto their construction sites. In the morning they\u2019d see vandal scrawls on freshly painted walls. Once, a disgruntled tenant held a gun on Lee, forcing him to use his counseling skills to talk his way out of the room.<\/p>\n
Still, the couple refuses to see crime as the neighborhood\u2019s defining characteristic. \u201cThat\u2019s not the sum of the neighborhood,\u201d they say. \u201cNinety percent of the people are people who just want to live their lives.\u201d Six years later Sherman Park is a living illustration of that commitment. Seventy restored buildings boast colorful awnings and shutters, new bricks, or siding. \u201cWe worked hard, and God\u2019s grace was involved,\u201d Lee says. \u201cWe give him all the credit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014\u201cBuilding Up,\u201d Trinity Magazine<\/i> (Fall 2006)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Topics: Calling; Change; Commitment; Community; Evangelism; Example; Faith; Integrity; Leadership; Ministry; Neighbors; Service; Testimony References: Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:37\u201340; Mark 12:28\u201333; Luke 10:25\u201337; John 13:34; Galatians 5:14; James 2:8 Kirsten and Lee Hildebrand had just settled into their first home in a suburban community where Kirsten practiced labor and employment law and Lee was working … Continue reading “REDEEMING
\n THE NEIGHBORHOOD”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6042\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}