Nail Scarred Hands Made New

      Making Sense of the Gospel

      in a Violent Latin American Slum

      JOHN SHORACK

      WIPF & STOCK - Eugene, Oregon

      Nail Scarred Hands Made New

      Making Sense of the Gospel in a Violent Latin American Slum

      Copyright © 2012 John Shorack. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

      Wipf & Stock

      An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

      199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

      Eugene, OR 97401

      www.wipfandstock.com

      ISBN 13: 978-1-61097-838-5

      EISBN 13: 978-1-62189-497-1

      Manufactured in the U.S.A.

      All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

      William Carey Library Publishers for use of the following chart: The Secular-Animistic Axis from Gailyn Van Rheehen’s book Communicating Christ in Animistic Contexts, page 96.

      Though many have fallen in the streets of Caracas, the death of Caligallo took on unusual significance for our small team of mission workers in the city’s slums. God used this tragic moment to usher us into a new season of faith and hope, of life and vision for God’s shalom—even in the midst of pain and suffering. For this reason and more I dedicate this book to his living memory, which will be told wherever I announce the Good News.

      Foreword

      Our neighborhoods are dear to us. Across five continents, InnerCHANGE team members have forged relationships of such intimacy with neighbors, and together celebrated personal moments so dear, that it has felt like we were experiencing ministry more than “doing” it. So we have been cautious in discussing the sober reality of violent crime. Furthermore, we have seen that those who have never experienced life in our landscapes can too easily misconstrue the issue of violence in slums, barrios, and inner cities around the world as the issue confronting missionaries.

      John Shorack’s book, Nail Scarred Hands Made New, is searing in its honesty about the danger of violence and the impact of loss in pursuing solidarity with Christ among the poor. But it is also a book that is lavish in its hope and insightful in the way it identifies Christ’s redemption steering along the jagged edge. John writes that in order to thrive on tough mission terrain, one must move beyond the category of “mission worker” to embrace a deeper relationship as mission partner with Christ, whether at the edge of the cliff of offense described in Luke 4 or at the edge of the manger of vulnerability in Luke 2. In a book that combines tender memoir, scriptural meditation, and theological reflection, John stakes out new ground for people who are earnestly seeking to pursue Jesus to the margins. It is not simply what is being said here in this book that is powerful. It is what is being lived.

      I am fortunate in that some of my very closest friends are colaborers in InnerCHANGE. We are an order among the poor that is part mission, part tribe, part family. I have known John Shorack for more than twenty years and have had the privilege of mentoring him as a leader in much of his first decade serving with us. We have always been open, honest, and very tight. So when he first began to sense the Lord leading him and his family to Caracas, I struggled a bit. I was concerned not simply because a move to Caracas meant a move away from regular physical contact but also because our explorations in the hillside slums above that capital city revealed that we would have to anticipate a level of violent crime we had not encountered before. I was especially concerned because John lost his father to the Vietnam War when he was a boy, and the impact of that loss was incalculable for John and his family.

      So the possibility that John could walk in his father’s footsteps and be taken from his wife and three children at a tender age was all too real. Did I talk about this with John? I can no longer remember. But spoken or unspoken, the possibility that John could die in Venezuela and leave his three children fatherless was understood. John has been threatened violently and robbed many times in Caracas, yet he has continued to show great trust and fortitude. And yet, as he makes clear in this book, he and his family have thrived and glimpsed a depth of security and intimacy in Christ that could perhaps have been gained in no other way.

      It has been more than twenty-six years since I moved to a unique place called Minnie Street in Santa Ana, California, and founded InnerCHANGE. Within a few months of relocating there, I realized I was on sacred ground that called for a New Testament Jesus. There was both so much need and so much opportunity for the gospel. And yet, Minnie Street was so far removed from the reach of the church.

      One afternoon while I was sitting at my front window listening to the sounds of hundreds of children down in the courtyard, I was conscious of my inexperience in the face of such need. More important, I was conscious of my inadequacy in the face of such a privilege; that I should be allowed to minister in such a place simply overawed me. In that moment, I prayed earnestly in my simple apartment that God would bring better people than me to that street, better people than me to InnerCHANGE. God has answered that prayer time and again since that afternoon. Nail Scarred Hands is evidence of the fruit of that prayer.

      John Hayes

      General director of InnerCHANGE

      Acknowledgments

      A wise friend with published works to his name kindly educated me one day when I rather proudly put before him my “final draft.” Not unlike a sensitive father who praises his five-year old’s first colorful stick drawing, he tenderly explained to me that there are “three kinds of drafts . . . one that’s for yourself, another that’s for an audience, and finally, one you write for a publisher.” He let me connect the dots. I swallowed my pride and admitted to myself that I had not come as far as I had thought.

      Many have helped bring my fledgling manuscript to the point of publishing. In the earliest, most painstaking stage (when I truly didn’t know which end was up), my brother Todd gave way too much of his valuable time. I think he’s forgiven me for what I put his editorial skills through. Later, my uncle Lloyd Johnson took the time to coach me in my self-editing skills. Thank you! In the home stretch, my InnerCHANGE colleague and friend, Catherine Rundle, provided big-picture editorial instincts that the project needed. Her enthusiasm for the book also spurred me on at a critical juncture.

      Two individuals inspired this journey of reflective writing. Bob Ekblad, whose visit to our team in Venezuela played a central role in what gave birth to this project, represents so much of what is needed in the church today: courageous leaders who build bridges long enough to reach across the widest divides in the body of Christ. Vishal Mangalwadi penned a little-known book in the 1980s called Truth and Social Reform. Tucked away in the last chapter is a beautiful treatise on hope from his context of poverty in India. His insights into Christian hope, chiseled out of his experience of persecution and hardship, took the blinders off my eyes for a rereading of biblical passages that helped me connect the dots between suffering and hope, between our part and God’s. Without Vishal I don’t know if I would have had the courage to address the whole matter of suffering.

      Many others have encouraged me along the way. InnerCHANGE colleagues and friends John Hayes, Mark Smith, and Darren Prince have cheered me on, believing in me at each stage of the manuscript. The Caracas InnerCHANGE team has exercised great patience with this never-ending project that inevitably pulled me away from team commitments. My wife, Birgit, has been a constant source of strength and encouragement along the slow and often arduous path