Federal energy programs supporting oil exploration and production insured gas prices would remain low. At the same time, large expenditures on military research and production contributed to rapid growth in information and high-tech industries. As these industries located in suburbs so did high-paying jobs. In contrast, the Nehemiah Project, supported by local churches, builds affordable housing in poor communities believing that providing decent housing to those in need uplifts the whole community. As people and resources in a community change, many an urban church has found itself with a large building, a shrinking congregation and a disappearing budget.
Sharing becomes a matter of survival.
In today's urbanizing world, Lydia's ministry of hospitality is needed more than ever. It is home to a huge market where truckers from farming communities and city stores meet and transfer fresh produce bound for fancy restaurants and soup kitchens alike. Politicians want to make Hunts Point a place from which to ship the city's garbage. Some see it as a dumping ground of drugs and a center of crime. Others believe it is a community dumped on, abandoned and impoverished.