Almost every day, it seems, we’re hit with another heartbreaking story of violence and mass shootings. Buffalo, Uvalde, Philadelphia, Tulsa, and close to home with 5 dead in a shooting near Healing Grove’s upcoming Arden-Arcade site as well as a shooting this week at a Safeway near Healing Grove’s San Jose site.

As Christians, we can’t just close our eyes and say “Go in peace, keep warm and well fed” (James 2:16). It’s time to take action!

Join the Healing Grove community (including our youth group) THIS Friday at 6:30pm at the Washington United Youth Center (921 S 1st St, San Jose CA) to join in prayer AND action to prevent violence in our communities.

Love your neighbor!
There’s one thing that every mass shooter has in common: they each had a neighbor. The Jesus Way teaches us that if you have a neighbor, then you have a hope. Let’s all go love our neighbors!

How is Healing Grove Bringing Healing that prevents violence?

• Providing soul care and mental health care to hurting people who have experienced abuse and trauma, including Latino immigrants in San Jose and Afghan immigrants in Sacramento.
• Providing health care & mental health care to addicts and unhoused individuals through our partnership with CityTeam in San Jose.
• Building community among high risk young people through our youth group, summer sports camp, and summer SAM camp (Science, Arts & Mathematics)
• Advocacy for activating public spaces that build community and bring healing through Project:Activate

The impact on my family

Oscar’s family struggled with poverty in their small, crowded house in the downtown San Jose Washington Community. In the 8th grade, Oscar became a close friend of my adopted son, Matthew. Matthew himself was struggling through middle school as a newly arrived refugee from the South Sudanese civil war, where he had witnessed gut-wrenching violence. I tutored Oscar nearly every day through his 8th grade year at Willow Glen Middle School as he dealt with a myriad of family problems that left him unable to focus on his studies.

Oscar was murdered in the first homicide of 2011, shot to death in his front yard on January 1st by rival gang members (see story here).

Matthew, now an adult in his mid-twenties, recently shared with me how devastated he was when Oscar died. The trauma of Oscar’s death shattered Matthew’s image of safety here in America, but thanks be to God we were able to work through it as a family. Oscar’s cousin (who lived in the same house and was more like a brother) spent the rest of high school trying to avenge Oscar’s death, a path that led him to perpetuate the cycle of violence and eventually to be incarcerated.

A number of people close to me have died in gun violence. Tragically, a number of youth I’ve worked with over the years have made the terrible decision to take another’s life. I’m deeply motivated to build a community that is so filled with a spirit of love that this will never happen again.

The Impact on our team.

Much of our team lives in the San Jose Washington Community where gun violence has been common. We all know someone who was killed. That’s exactly why we work so hard to build a loving community where people can find healing in Jesus from all kinds of past trauma.

Here’s the encouraging news. Compared with the level of violence 10 years ago, when Oscar was murdered, the Washington Community is much safer than it used to be. There are many reasons for this, but one of the main reasons is the hard work and prayer by scores of Jesus followers who have devoted their lives to loving hurting people in our community.

I hope you’ll join our journey of healing. Whether you’re a donor, a concierge member, a volunteer, or a prayer supporter, you’re part of our health care, soul care, and culture care healing team!