Community renewal, Pastoral Grit

We are still in transition between the Ft. Worth area and Shreveport and will be for a few weeks. We were at church this morning and heard Mac McCarter a guest preacher from Shreveport-Bossier Community Renewal, where he is Coordinator. Our church is partnering with them to build a house in September. I took good notes during his talk, but was most impressed with hearing him say that he has figured that churches in the Shreveport area spend about 20 million/year on building programs/construction and improvements. He wondered out loud if it has really made any difference in the community. Great question and point. He also quoted I'm excited to be in a church who has community renewal as a growing passion and I look forward to seeing church members get involved with other churches/faiths in doing something radically positive in the community. I just read this post from Dr. Bruce Prescott about a megachurch pastor who has shown pastoral grit and courage. I admire his courage, giving a prophetic voice in his community while staying out of the trap of getting the church connected to either political party.