Being an agent of change is lonely work, but it is worth the difficult times in light of the internal witness that you are on the right side of history. I would not betray Dan’s friendship, but I know he has shed countless tears as his passions and convictions have been misunderstood through the years. Men and women like Dan developed vision for this work to build beautiful community in their youth in the 1970’s, and some, like Dan, had the wisdom, patience, and conviction to bring their vision to fruition. In light of recent American history, building bridges between cultures and amongst diverse people is the great task of our generation. These people are those who suffer real loses and endure real hardship and real heartache for the sake of their principles. Men and women who take this path are heroes. If you know anything about organizations, resisting the status quo and attempting to implement change on principle without regard to politics is a difficult and courageous act. My vision is to build a multi-ethnic church that displays in a tangible way God’s love for all people and be a symbol in this city of community in the midst of diversity.” Nineteen years later, Dan has made good on his promise. He said to the council, “if you want someone to cater to the current culture of the church. Nineteen years ago he came to Bellflower from Michigan for a job interview at our church. He is the pastor of a local church in Bellflower, CA. I was going to write a post that covered three of my best friends but I realize that in the world of blogging most folk do not have the time to read a lengthy post, so I decided to limit this to one friend instead of three. He is truly a great friend, but this post is about another friend of mine, Dan. I admire his capacity to have a solidly evangelical friend like myself. Let me begin by saying that Joe is a good friend of mine. My Christian Friend - A Positive Testimony He writes the blog 21st Century Reformation. This guest post is by a real world friend named Brad Hightower. If you would like to submit a guest post, please see the guides. I consider them a balance of sorts against my endless hypocrisy watch posts. It’s time I passed on a few good stories. Yet in my personal life, many of the people I know are wonderful examples of tolerance, love and service - and most of these people happen to be Christians. I recently sent out a call for uplifting stories because my blog tends to be negative with story after story of miscreants and child abusers.

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