stream of conciousness thoughts on "urban ministry"

I plan to mail in my application for Seminary today, if I'm accepted I'll be mastering the art of community ministry leadership. The program is Monday nights and will be a combination of traditional seminary courses (Bible, theology, hermeneutics) and also courses in community development and ministry. I'm excited for this next step of exploring my call to life in the city.

We have a group of 40 High School Students and 6 adults staying at church this week. Last night I was asked to teach them about Urban Ministry.

I shared about our house, our neighbors, my work at park, and student teaching at Jefferson.

We made a list of the words associated with "inner city" or "urban" and looked at how many of those were negative or positive. I encouraged them to think this week as they serve not only about why the kids need them, or benefit from them, but also why they need the kids, why they need the city.

I shared a poem from Randy White's book Journey to the Center of the City "Sleeping with the Fan on High." Find this book and read this poem, you can find an online version on google books if you don't want to go to the store.
I was thinking last night about the different authors who have impacted my relationship with the city, John Perkins, Randy White, Shane Claiborne Wayne Gordan, both Campolos, Ray Bakke, Chris Rice and Spencer Perkins, Bob Lupton.

I love books, I love reading, I love how language helps me understand things in new ways. I love that our house has a library.

The authors are great, their books have shaped not just me but I think everyone in this house and a whole generation of people ready to seek the Shalom of the city. There's a lot of men on that list, I haven't read anything by a woman author about community development or urban ministry. I know there are lots of women out there, CCDA was full of women.

Do you know any women authors who write well about Urban Ministry? Who are they? Post suggestions in the comment section.