A conversation with Eugene Blackwell

From the first day of his ministry in January 2010, House of Manna founder Eugene Blackwell knew his new worshiping community's financial sustainability would take more than five years.

"Look, we're in Homewood, in an impoverished neighborhood," he says. "Average income per household is $10,000 to $12,000."

House of Manna was one of the last new church developments to receive funding under the old New Church Development grant cycle. Its financial supporters- the Presbyterian Mission Agency, Pittsburgh Presbytery, and the Synod of the Trinity-hoped House of Manna, after its grant funding ended, would become an organized Presbyterian church.

"Listen, I knew that wasn't realistic," says Blackwell. "I expressed my concerns about our inability to form a church in five years."

Over time, it became clear to Pittsburgh Presbytery leaders that House of Manna would indeed need more time to become a trusted spiritual home for the Homewood community.

Blackwell says his community is now transitioning from a new church development to a missional faith community, which he believes will become a sustainable Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregation in the next three years.

Communications strategist Paul Seebeck sat down with Eugene "Freedom" Blackwell to find out how House of Manna plans to do that.

First of all, why do people call you "Freedom"?
Freedom is a name given to me by my wife and the people of the community. The name represents my own liberty from the world and the enemies of God to perform the work of Jesus Christ. Like many Christians, my life has seen many struggles that the Lord has seen me through. Each struggle serves as a building block to my faith and trust in God. Freedom also represents the forward progress of our community.

So what does this look like in terms of sustainability?
There are two things we've done to address this. We've extended our partnerships with local Presbyterian congregations like Westminster, Fox Chapel, and Shadyside. These communities are committed to supporting us financially over the next three years. We are anticipating partnerships on a smaller scale from other congregations, such as Hot Metal Bridge, Open Door, and Community Presbyterian Church of Ben Avon. In addition, we recently extended our partnership with North Way Christian Community, a multisite nondenominational church. They've hired me to the teaching team to preach and build diversity. This takes pressure off of House of Manna to pay me to preach.

What was the other thing you did?
In 2011 we noticed that the ministry of House of Manna had reached its financial and human capacity to serve the social needs of the community. With the help of our community partners we were able to acquire a 12,000-square-foot building, remove some people from the House of Manna payroll, and expand our ability to meet social and economic needs by assisting with job creation and employee skills.                     Continue Reading