Listening for the Holy

As a nine-year old, when his younger brother was crushed by a truck on their way to school during WWII, Lapp learned that while life deals crushing blows, he could not quit living no matter how tough things get. Beginning to learn that life is about helping others more than worrying about oneself, at twelve he saved his father's life. He soon heard the Holy telling him that making life work for others was his calling. But as evidence that his ministry would be in the street, outside the church's doors, Lapp sought societal justice, becoming a Civil Rights Activist in college. After ordination, while starting a new church, he joined Martin Luther King, Jr. for the March on Washington, then went to Selma. He soon organized and directed the Metro Denver Fair Housing Center. In helping create the New Town of The Woodlands in Texas, he developed the community governance and services. After returning to Colorado, he created businesses that provided equal employment opportunity with health insurance for women. Twenty-five years ago, nearing "retirement" he organized and still chairs a Colorado faith-based Non-Profit that builds and manages low-income housing. In his ministry, he has been shot at, fired twice, and run out of town. Along the way, he has been a denominational leader and a Trustee of Chicago Theological Seminary. He has learned over a lifetime that there is an unseen, life-creating force that calls all people to engage in making life work for everyone, regardless of the cost, the doing of which gives one courage and spiritual strength.