Ed Glover’s commitment changes Pittsburgh
Some things can only be fixed with time and commitment. Urban problems tend to be that way. When families break down and institutions fail, there are no quick fixes.
That’s why Ed and Tammy Glover stand out. 25 years ago, seeing the mess that inner city Pittsburgh had become, they moved into the inner city, into a district where every other row house was boarded up and they did something that you almost never see.
They stayed.
Ed started Urban Impact Foundation to touch the city, one block, one family, one person at a time. He and Tammy made their home a refuge for a steady stream of guests from the craziness outside. And Ed founded the Urban Impact Foundation to see to take the lessons they learned apply it beyond their own hood.
The results have been spectacular. In a city that graduates barely half its students from school, those who have gone through Ed’s programs graduate at a rate of 97%. And then, in conjunction with others, he helps them go to college or get a job.
Along with people like Coach Mike Tomlin, Ed preaches the gospel of Jesus to thousands of young people in Pittsburgh. But the best message he preaches is with his life.
Last night at Epoch, we honored Ed and Tammy as unsung heroes living in a place where only a life poured out can make a difference. The judges chose them for the evening’s top award.
The day before, one of the young men they’d been loving on for years committed suicide. Tragically, that’s how life in the hood goes. You see so much pain when you live close enough to be hurt.
Knowing the tears they’ve cried over 25 years of ministry, I think we all clapped a little more when Ed picked up his award.
What God-sized problem has seized your heart? If you followed Ed and Tammy’s example, what difference could your commitment make?
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Seth,
First, blessings to you for following God and His vision for sharing the Gospel with the world.
Your post this morning was the icing on the cake for me as I wrapped up reading Lesslie Newbigin’s “The Gospel in a Pluralist Society” and found affirmation of and surging in my soul of a call from God to pursue my dream of sharing the Gospel with church ladies, religious types and the lukewarm social Sunday Christians and even more so, ministerial leaders who have been sucked in, and I mean in, inside the church, inside a comfortable culture of complacency and ineffective hand wringing about how our world is going to hell.
Your words about what the Glovers have lived and the long term commitment that requires mirror Newbigin’s call for following Jesus, and that is my dream, to follow Jesus into the hostile territory that is one of fear, timidity, complacency and laziness inside the church.
I feel encouraged and energized rather than overwhelmed as a result of my reading this morning, Newbigin’s and yours.
There is no reason each of us cannot start in our own community. Sure, they look different, but we can serve right where we are.
Continued blessings as you serve understanding that the power, strength and favor comes through the Lord, not what we do. I am also a recovering sinner having been sucked in to selfish ambition for a spell… But God uses all of it to His glory.
Amen!