Moreover, engagement with the land actually becomes a creative way to preach the love of Christ to those in the city. A friend who attends our church and does inner-city ministry in Portland learned this same lesson. Serving inner-city youth in their high-school settings, he found it challenging to help them encounter the message of Jesus. Then it dawned on him—these kids have never seen the raw beauty of the land or the stars of heaven; they live in the city. So he experimented with something. He took inner-city kids camping in the rugged Oregon landscape. What he discovered was mind-blowing:
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