Other News

/ January 19, 2012 4:39 pm

C. S. Lewis’ WWI-inspired “Spirits in Bondage” reveals the ghosts he was haunted by

Threads of despair and fantasy are woven together in a poetic work C. S. Lewis, best known for his post-conversion Christian writings, penned as a young man just back from World War I. In 1919, Spirits in Bondage was published under the pseudonym “Clive Hamilton.” It might be a stretch to say that this collection is edifying (at least in the [...]

/ January 17, 2012 12:36 pm

The Things That Are Not: Forty Years After the American Jesus Movement of the Early 1970s, Any “New” Jesus Movement Will Not Come in the Same Way

The Things That Are Not: Forty Years After the American Jesus Movement of the Early 1970s, Any “New” Jesus Movement Will Not Come in the Same Way By Jon Trott   What follows is not “prophecy” in any “thus saith the Lord” sense; it is only an expression of a heart burden I bear, and as such, may be safely [...]

/ January 10, 2012 2:01 pm

Another Prisoner, Juan Rivera, once nearly put to death has been set free due to DNA showing his innocence

(Above) Juan Rivera in 1993, 2003, and 2009 All below text from Center for Wrongful Convictions website. Juan Rivera freed after 19 years behind bars for a crime it had long been obvious he could not have committed. Center on Wrongful Convictions Client Juan Rivera walked out of Stateville Correctional Center on Friday, January 6, 2012, after Lake County State’s [...]

/ January 9, 2012 12:21 am

Visiting Our Orphans

When I came to Chicago, I noticed that our call for compassion cannot be lived as an idealistic dream. One night, I gazed at all the sleeping homeless men and realized I was standing in the midst of a sea of orphans; a hundred guys without families, ostracized and seeking someone to listen to their endless stories. What I was [...]

/ December 20, 2011 12:01 pm

JPUSA Participates in “Cease Fire” Vigil & Walk of Uptown Gang Shooting Sites

Cease Fire Uptown, a group dedicated to building bridges with gang members and finding alternatives to gang activity, held a candlelight walk and vigil to three different areas where recent shootings in Uptown have occurred. This rough-cut video offers a thumbnail of what went on. If you would like to be involved, see either Organization of the Northeast or Cease [...]

/ December 20, 2011 11:00 am

The beggar, the Rich Man, and Abraham

A young woman reads the Scriptures… and the issue of our wealth vs the world’s poverty becomes terribly personal. Two thousand years are erased and we are confronted with a simple question. The beggar Lazarus… and the Rich Man… Which one are we?

/ December 15, 2011 9:28 am

The Hallelujah Chorus, with students from JPUSA’s Uptown Christian School

/ December 13, 2011 12:09 pm

Merry Christmas, Mr. P Stone

  I have lived in Uptown since the mid eighties. It is different now. Back then it was a bonified ghetto, with burnt out buildings, drunks to step over on the sidewalk and children of drug addicts playing on the streets in rags. Over the years it has changed. Like much of the North side of Chicago it has been [...]

/ November 21, 2011 11:17 am

In the Dark, the Silent Heart (poetry by Jon Trott)

Audio (low quality) of the author reading the below. The Unseen Love by Jon Trott Gonna tell the truth (at least the truth as I know it) A crumbling wall, a doorless frame I can’t fill it I fall to my knees in an agony of soul white hole Field of alkali and stones my love cannot sow it Can [...]

/ November 13, 2011 7:44 pm

Let America Be America

            Let America Be America Again (written 1935) by Langston Hughes Audio version (Jon Trott narrator).     Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free. (America never was America to me.) Let [...]