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Rick Richardson is InterVarsity Christian Fellowship's associate director for evangelism. But back in the late 1980s, as the IVCF area director for Chicago, Rick partnered with a Latino, an Asian Indian, and an African American to spearhead an initiative for racial reconciliation on college campuses. They committed to pursue interpersonal relationships across ethnic lines, started a minority student retention program, and raised money to fund it. Here's what happened:

The African American leader of our national Black Campus Ministry withdrew after going through a painful, confusing divorce. That same month, shortly after arriving for a staff meeting, the Latino leader died in my living room of a massive heart attack.

Although I worked long hours trying to build a cross-cultural ministry, interpersonal conflicts with the remaining staff on the team multiplied. I felt rejected and blamed by some people of color I'd hoped to serve. Meanwhile, my frequent absences as I tried to stem the oncoming tide of failure were causing tensions at home. The financial losses the project suffered threatened my own job.

I'd already invited Brenda McNeil to join my staff, and she arrived just as the program was beginning to fold. But Brenda was unaware of the sacrifice I'd made and the losses I'd suffered as I spent that year picking up the pieces. I moved on to a new job and out of the city.

Adapted from The Heart of Racial Justice (InterVarsity, 2004) by permission.

Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Thank you, Lord, for creating my good and beautiful ethnic ancestors and their culture. Help me to embrace my true self in Christ.

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