Encounter God in the City: Onramps to Personal and Community Transformation - Softcover

"An unforgettable trip to real life in Fresno to see how Jesus uses real people to make a real difference. Essential reading for anyone who wants to see God's dreams come true in the city. Randy compellingly weaves stories from the streets with stories from the gospel and provides insightful guidelines for those who want to discover how God might want to use their mustard seeds in the city."--Tom Sine, founder and director, Mustard Seed Associates, author of Joining God's Conspiracy and Living on Purpose,

"From living in cardboard boxes for a week to running computer schools among the poor, Randy White overflows with options for following Jesus into our cities."--Miriam Adeney, Associate Professor of Global and Urban Studies, Seattle Pacific University

"Randy White paves the road for us to enter the Story that begins in the Garden and ends in the City. Here is a gentle invitation to participate in the healing of broken lives and cracked sidewalks, and to practice resurrection in the abandoned places of the empire."--Shane Claiborne, founding partner of The Simple Way community in inner-city Philadelphia, and author of The Irresistible Revolution (thesimpleway.org)

"There is a redemptive art to urban ministry. It is the art of storytelling--taking the mistold tale of human existence and retelling the story from the perspective of the love of God. Anyone desirous of seeing this redemptive art in practice should read Encounter God in the City. This book is a must read for theological faculty in our seminaries. It is a how-to manual in contextual theology and experiential education. It is a must read for practitioners of ministry in the city who are serious about learning how to be agents of transformation, and a must read for all Christians who are not afraid of being surprised by a joy that calls them to holistic ministry in an urban world. It has become a must read for all of our students."--Dave Frenchak, President, Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education (SCUPE)

"Randy White takes us to the mean streets of urban America and uncovers there treasures of the kingdom hidden from the natural eye. Years of firsthand experience living in the 'hood give him rare insights into the surprising ways God can be discovered among the disenfranchised of the city. In candid, sometimes painful self-disclosure, he invites us to look into the unlovely faces of the broken and catch glimpses of the mystery of the Christ who said 'inasmuch as you have done it unto (cared for) the least of these you have done it unto me.'"--Bob Lupton, urban community developer, author of Theirs Is the Kingdom and Renewing the City

"Cities are to be loved. Living, learning and loving the city makes a huge difference in personal transformation as well as ministry. Randy White's Encounter God in the City is biblical, practical and full of beautiful stories. An important read for all followers of Jesus."--Dr. John Perkins, founder, Christian Community Development Association, and Rev. Dr. Wayne Gordon, president, Christian Community Development Association, and pastor, Lawndale Community Church, Chicago

"Encounter God in the City is a road map to becoming an apostle at the intersection of love, pain and hope. Randy White has captured the bittersweet beauty of mutual transformation that comes in serving. Years of experience living among those he serves invest his words with power and give his insights an incisive edge, cutting to the quick of urban dysfunction. This book is both uplifting and hands-on practical--a must-read for anyone who wants to live out their faith authentically."--Barbara J. Elliott, author of Street Saints: Renewing America's Cities, and founder of the Center for Renewal, Houston, Texas

"I've been waiting for Randy's book for years. Here we have the broken heart and quick mind of an urban practitioner-scholar, calling God's people to believe they can embrace the urban poor for Christ. His journey and that of his family are really an 'every-believer' model. We can all do a part of this, even if not the whole. Thank you, Randy."--Lon Allison, Director, Billy Graham Center, Wheaton College

"Randy White knows that the Spirit of God was active in the inner city long before he and Tina got there. . . . The Whites know what incarnation means, to live vulnerably while hungering for righteousness and seeking shalom, the justice and peace of God."--From the foreword by Ray Bakke, founder, International Urban Associates

"What a wonderful book. Many people are talking about transformation these days; Randy White shows us what it looks like with his roots planted in the soil of his neighborhood. This kind of transformation removes the distance between object and subject as it changes both partners. I am already making plans to use this in my teaching."--Jude Tiersma Watson, Team Director, LA InnerCHANGE, and Associate Professor of Urban Mission, Fuller Theological Seminary

Randy White directs Bakke Graduate University's international Doctor of Ministry Degree focusing on transformational leadership for the global city. He is the founder of the Fresno Institute for Urban Leadership and was InterVarsity's national coordinator for urban projects for more than a decade, overseeing projects in 30 American cities. Randy and his family live in Fresno, CA, the city with the highest level of concentrated poverty of any large city in the U.S.. For the last 16 of those years, they have lived in Fresno's highest crime, highest poverty neighborhood, once called the Devil's Triangle, pursuing God's shalom kingdom there through relational, urban ministry and community development activities.

Ray Bakke is world renowned as a minister and educator devoted to helping the church love the cities as God loves them. Bakke is author of "Street Signs": "A New Direction in Urban Ministry "and two urban ministry classics: "The Urban Christian "and "A Theology as Big as the City," He is also author of "The Expanded Mission of City Center Churches "and "A Biblical Word for an Urban World," Bakke has worked with a network of more than 100 urban-based church and missions leaders in many of the largest cities of the world. Currently Bakke is the chancellor for global urban ministry at Bakke Graduate University of Ministry.

Brad Smith serves as president of Bakke Graduate University (BGU) of Ministry. Prior to joining BGU, he served as president/CEOwith the Leadership Network, an organization focused on church health and innovation. He is the founding pastor of Kessler Community Church, located in a racially diverse, urban neighborhood in Dallas. He was a founder for the Center for Christian Leadership at Dallas Theological Seminary and was responsible for developing spiritual formation and leadership programs. He and his wife, Debby, have three children.