As the three rehearsed in Wesley's office last week, they paused to discuss their understanding of biblical imperatives and Christian discipleship. All are high-energy professionals who lead Christian agencies in Philadelphia. Rush is the daughter of urban missionaries Melvin and Elizabeth Floyd and grew up in gang turf, in the Spring Garden neighborhood, as her parents ministered for Teen Haven. After early years in Southwest Philadelphia and a black church, she moved to Chicago, where her father pastored a Scandinavian congregation in a neighborhood turning Latino. That is a constant frustration.
White people can stay inside their culture and advance.
She was raised by churchgoing Christians in a homogeneous town in Kansas. She broke away in college, then returned to Christianity while running a Los Angeles rescue mission. She came East for urban-ministry training. It has been chastening at times, Wesley said. I felt this bitterness and this anger.