Dear Friend,

My team lost. Bad! Indiana University, a top-ranked team lost. They were supposed to win it all. Zeller and Oladipo (two really great basketball players) were supposed to be unstoppable. But, they were stopped. And there was nothing I could do about it.

While I was sitting there watching my team get a royal whooping, I thought about Kevin. He is a young teenager I will be working with for the next few months. I could connect the dots of his problems from behavioral disorders to family drama to low academics but that process would be too long for this e-mail. The only important point is that Kevin is supposed to become a success story. You know the feel-good movie plot: deadbeat dad, momma doing her best but falling behind on rent, and here comes Mr. Hayden to save the day.

Even though the game has been stacked against him, Kevin is supposed to rise up and beat the odds by playing his cards right. He is supposed to break the cycle of poverty, learn how to use his words instead of his fists, overcome his reading disability, and play excellent help-side defense. Wait, Kevin, that’s who were talking about, not a basketball player. In a way, though, cheering for a teenager like Kevin is a lot like cheering for a 16th seed in the NCAA tournament. The odds of such an underdog team actually winning it all are very slim. So are the odds of a person like Kevin overcoming all his challenges.

A friend of mine once broke it down with another basketball analogy. He said that loving people is sometimes like the desperate Hail Mary shot. The basketball game is coming to its final seconds, the team with the ball is down by a point and far from their basket. Even so, no player in his or her right mind just drops the ball down and says, “Well, making a shot from here is so unlikely that I won’t even try.” Instead, filled with desperate hope, any player worth her salt hurls that ball with all his might and prays to God that it goes in. It rarely happens, but the possibility of a miracle is always worth a shot.

So is Kevin. There is one big difference: When your favorite team is self-destructing before your eyes, there is absolutely nothing you can do. When someone you love is self-destructing, however, you can step in and be that Hail Mary shot for them. I am going do that for Kevin. Please cheer with me that this one goes in.

Peace,
MC (Till)

PS….
New Album Almost Here!!!!!!
I am not sure how much more excited I could be right now:) I am happy to announce that the music to my new jazz hip-hop project is finished.

You can pre-order your copy right now and receive some perks.

$15- copy of album a month before anyone else
$20- month before plus autographed copy
$30- month before, autographed copy, and free download of instrumental version
$50- all the above plus an extra friendly thank you from me:)
$300- all the above plus a house show (rates vary on traveling distance:)
$1000- you just tell me what you want

Thank you. You have been a part of a vast network of supporters who have provided money, prayers, and advice over the past few years. You helped equip me with everything I needed to live and serve in this broken neighborhood of Walnut Hills, Cincinnati.

I have seen and learned so much. I saw a community rally behind my wife and I when we went through the most challenging phase of our lives, as Larita battled cancer and the effects of chemotherapy. I learned that I was not put on this earth to change people, but rather to love them, and hopefully to convince them to love me back, for both our sakes.

Even as I write this, I am watching my little friend Charles transition from a problem child to a classroom leader who, after a year and a half of interventions, mentoring sessions, medication, and hours and hours of intensive love, is finally reading on a first grade level.

Each encounter with a kid like Charles, all my interactions with families, every experience I lived through in Walnut Hills, every story I shared via e-mail has helped shape me into a person who deeply appreciates the manifestations of God; grace, mercy, forgiveness, and most importantly love.  This neighborhood and this work has been invaluable to me as an individual in so many ways. It wasn’t easy, and I felt very awkward at times, but I gave it my best and I am confident that the people I was loving on felt my love. 

Sadly, Walnut Hills never really worked for my family. Try as we might, Larita, Zoe, and I as a unit never really figured out the rhythms of this neighborhood. Really, living in a neighborhood like Walnut Hills is a kind of dance. There is little structure to it, like jazz. It can speed up or slow down at the drop of a needle and, like jazz, mastering it requires an unrelenting passion and devotion. As a family unit we just couldn’t find our rhythm here.

So, because we are committed to dancing together, we are moving on to find a different kind of music, and a different kind of ministry. I will finish out the school year at Douglass and continue to visit kids like Charles in my off hours, but after that I look forward to our family bringing all that we have learned in Walnut Hills into a church-based setting. I am excited and, to be honest, a bit anxious, but I really believe God is calling us to move in this direction.

In the meantime, however, I am asking that you support me through the end of May, so that I can truly finish out the school year strong. After all, I may be leaving the neighborhood, but the rest of the Walnut Hills Fellowship will still be here, and my job over these next few months is to do my best to connect the families I am currently working with to that community.  In order to make this work possible for another three months I will need to raise $1,500.

You have carried me this far, and I am counting on you to bring me to the end of this chapter, and to the beginning of the next.  As always, I am so grateful for your support!

Your friend,

Adam (mc till)

Hello.

For the past several years I have been sending monthly e-mails about my adventures here in Walnut Hills. I am going to advert from that routine for a little bit to bring you a little jazz.

Recently, I recorded a new album with some very talented musicians. The outcome is a jazz album centered around my songs about finding beauty in the midst of chaos. Recording the album was a great experience as it brought a lot of peace and balance into my life.

The album will be released soon. In the meantime I would like to offer you a free “little jazz mix-tape.” I took a couple of my favorite jazz tunes of all time and added a few raps to them.

You can listen and even download these tunes for free here…

Simply click ‘download’ then ‘buy now’ and enter ’0′ for the amount.

Stay jazzy,

MC (Till)

I have always been told to pick up a penny when I see one lying around. I used to. Not anymore. Every penny does not count. Sorry penny, but you don’t even cost the amount it cost to make you. We, the united states, should end our relationship with you.

“But wait,” says the person infatuated with the penny, “every penny counts.” Not true. Let me explain. Let’s just say you found a penny every other day for a year . That’s 182.5 pennies. Now let’s say that you actually kept those pennies in a jar somewhere in your already cluttered house. And let’s go one step further and say you did that for the next 50 years. You will have 9,125 pennies. Do you know how much money that is? $91.25. That’s right. You just spent time every other day bending over and reaching underneath couches picking up dirty, dusty, moldy pennies. And after 50 years you don’t even have $100 to show for it.

“But wait,” the infatuater continues. “That’s almost $100.” Indeed. But it cost your government, the one you fund through your taxes, almost $200 to mint those little outdated creatures of half worth. Some things come and go just like they should (i.e. the chia pet, disco music, the trapper keeper, land line telephones, the flowbee, and women wearing shoulder pads…although I secretly want that last two to make a comeback).

It is time to retire the penny and find another way to honor President Lincoln.

So, keep your pennies and listen to “the little jazz mix-tape” for free!