By Michael Benson
Communications Director
“At the end of the day, we’re not just a teen center. We’re not a niche ministry. We’re people of the gospel, people of the Christian faith.”
This is how Jake McGregor described One-Eighty in Lodi, California, when I chatted with him and his wife, Alison, recently about their ministry. Alison and Jake are the executive co-directors of One-Eighty. Originally established in 2002 as an after-school teen center, in the decades since, it has grown into so much more.
They still serve as a teen center, a place for young people to make a home for themselves, a safe place they can be themselves. But One-Eighty also serves as a counseling center, providing mental health services to adolescents and their families; as Alison describes it, they train all of their mentors on socio-emotional needs so they can provide a kind of “mental health first aid.” They also invest in community development through their Intentional Neighbors program (check out this profile of Liz Stevahn for more on what this looks like), and they provide adventure opportunities to kids to give them a larger perspective on the world. There is even a microchurch known as Kingdom Community in the mix as well, serving as a kind of heartbeat, running in the background but helping to shape and guide all that happens.
Above all, Jake said, “We want to see the Good News, tangible Good News. Hope for the hopeless and restoration for the broken and release for the captives and sight for the blind. We want to see the whole Gospel take place and be birthed here in this community. And we’ve seen it happen.”
As part of seeking the Gospel for their community, they are attempting something new.
Over the past few years, they have been asked by groups in Washington and Georgia to teach them what they need to do to establish a One-Eighty-type ministry in their communities. Alison and Jake have invited these groups to come to One-Eighty for a week-long intensive, which has been helpful, but as they note, a week isn’t enough time to get a feel for what exactly this kind of hands-on ministry is like.
“You need to spend a year doing this, seeing how difficult it actually is, seeing how beautiful it is when the success comes, going through some of the gritty reality of doing life and relationship with people,” said Jake. “We continue to want to press out the boundaries of the Intentional Neighboring, the community development side of things.”
Which is why they want to establish a house as a kind of training center where individuals can be in the community and work with One-Eighty over a longer timeframe: not just learning about but experiencing what this level of neighborhood engagement is like. Included in this would be a spiritual formation component, guided by NorCal Regional Minister Kent Carlson; however, the day-to-day stuff would need to be led by someone – an individual or a couple – living in the house as a kind of Shepherd Area director. As Alison said, “We really need a house manager who can make sure that the details are run and that the goals are being met.”
Just last week they signed documents on a duplex that Alison describes as “on ‘the corner’ of our community in the most need of restoration.” As a duplex, it creates an ideal split in the space, allowing space for both men and women to be part of this unique community, or a family to occupy one level and interns to be on the other level (with one gender sharing an apartment with the family).
While they are currently starting the process of renovation and figuring out the application process for tenants, probably the most important piece yet to come is finding the individual or couple who will serve as the house manager or shepherd.
Ultimately, this is not just about caring for their neighborhood; this is about seeking the Gospel for parts of our world that are often overlooked, wanting to provide a place for the Church to land and join in where the Holy Spirit is already at work. This is about resourcing and training individuals and groups for this kind of intensive Gospel ministry.
“We’re offering an opportunity for folks to come and learn and grow, and then go,” Jake said. “We would love people to poach our ideas and start new things.”
If you are interested in learning more about this new endeavor, potentially even signing on as a house shepherd, you can reach out to Alison (alison@180lodi.org) or Jake (jake@180lodi.org). You can also find out more about One-Eighty and all they do by visiting their website: www.180lodi.org.