{"id":446,"date":"2011-01-10T10:00:44","date_gmt":"2011-01-10T15:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/?p=446"},"modified":"2010-12-29T14:01:32","modified_gmt":"2010-12-29T19:01:32","slug":"ruthruff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2011\/01\/10\/ruthruff\/","title":{"rendered":"The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids on the Streets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/75\/2010\/12\/Least-of-These-Cover.jpg\" rel=\"prettyPhoto[446]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-661\" style=\"margin: 5px\" title=\"Least of These Cover\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/75\/2010\/12\/Least-of-These-Cover.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"126\" height=\"194\" \/><\/a>Greetings, friends,<br \/>\nWe want to pass along some information to you regarding someone I recently met in the North Pacific Conference, Ron Ruthruff. Ron&#8217;s deep commitment to justice and caring for the marginalized, particularly homeless teens, is captured in his recently released book,<em>The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids on the Streets<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>A blurb from the cover reads: &#8220;Ron offers a rare eyewitness account of the pain, humiliation, and unmet needs of America&#8217;s homeless teen population as well as the sobering epiphany that these homeless children have as much to offer society and faith communities as we think we have to offer them&#8221; (Dr. Alex Gee).<\/p>\n<p>Ron is a member of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emeraldcitybible.org\/#\/welcome\" target=\"_blank\">Emerald City Bible Fellowship<\/a> in Seattle.<\/p>\n<p>I hope this is a helpful connection.<br \/>\nPeace and grace,<br \/>\nDebbie Blue<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Dr. Ron Ruthruff \u2013 Bio:<\/p>\n<p>For the past twenty six years Ron Ruthruff has served homeless and street involved youth and families in Seattle, Washington, providing case management services, designing programs and educating the community on the issues that impact those that are labeled the least in our neighborhoods.<\/p>\n<p>Ron\u2019s call is to empower individuals to live lives of significance, to equip the church to love and serve their neighbors and to engage communities in cross cultural and global conversations.\u00a0 His education is an eclectic blend of social work, counseling, and theological studies.\u00a0 Ron holds a B.A. from Western Washington University, a M.S. from Pepperdine University, and a Doctorate of Ministry in Complex Urban Settings from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston, MA. His dissertation title, \u201cWelcoming Kids to the Table of Community: New Horizons Ministries as a Model of Service to Homeless Runaway Adolescents,\u201d addresses the psychosocial and spiritual issues surrounding homeless adolescents and describes a relationally based and theologically supported service delivery strategy to serve these marginalized young people.<\/p>\n<p>Since completing his doctorate Ron has lectured on missiology, urban ministry, and social justice both domestically and internationally.\u00a0 Lectures include \u201cTheology of Mission in the New Testament,\u201d \u201cHigh-risk Youth and Early Intervention Strategies,\u201d \u201cStreet Culture and Sociological Aspects of Prostitution,\u201d and \u201cPastoral Visitation in Non Traditional Environments.\u201d\u00a0 In Guatemala he supervised a doctoral project that was part of a plan to create chaplaincy services gang involved youth. In Vietnam he presented a lecture to the leaders of the communist government regarding faith based approaches to urban problems. In Nairobi Kenya he taught philosophy of service and theology courses to urban pastors and youth workers. He has also traveled to Cambodia and India to teach social work best practices. Closer to home Ron preaches often at local churches and serves as adjunct faculty at Bakke Graduate School and Mars Hill Graduate School.<\/p>\n<p>Ron just completed his first book <em>THE LEAST OF THESE: Lessons Learned from Kids on the Street<\/em>. Released by New Hope Publishers, Birmingham, Alabama, October 2010.<\/p>\n<p>If you would like to connect with Ron, please let us know by completing this <a href=\"http:\/\/mu.covchurch.org\/youth\/events\/information-request-form\/\" target=\"_blank\">information request form<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=446&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Greetings, friends, We want to pass along some information to you regarding someone I recently met in the North Pacific Conference, Ron Ruthruff. Ron&#8217;s deep commitment to justice and caring for the marginalized, particularly homeless teens, is captured in his recently released book,The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids on the Streets. A blurb [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[218],"tags":[45,433,227,432,434],"class_list":["post-446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-print-resource","tag-cmj","tag-homlessness","tag-npc","tag-ron-ruthruff","tag-seattle"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids on the Streets - ECC | Youth Worker Update<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2011\/01\/10\/ruthruff\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids on the Streets - ECC | Youth Worker Update\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Greetings, friends, We want to pass along some information to you regarding someone I recently met in the North Pacific Conference, Ron Ruthruff. Ron&#8217;s deep commitment to justice and caring for the marginalized, particularly homeless teens, is captured in his recently released book,The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids on the Streets. A blurb [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2011\/01\/10\/ruthruff\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ECC | Youth Worker Update\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-01-10T15:00:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/75\/2010\/12\/Least-of-These-Cover.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ywupdate\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ywupdate\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2011\\\/01\\\/10\\\/ruthruff\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2011\\\/01\\\/10\\\/ruthruff\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ywupdate\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9af2fd623407f88ae03546a35de916b8\"},\"headline\":\"The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids on the Streets\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-10T15:00:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2011\\\/01\\\/10\\\/ruthruff\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":500,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"CMJ\",\"Homlessness\",\"NPC\",\"Ron Ruthruff\",\"Seattle\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Print Resource\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2011\\\/01\\\/10\\\/ruthruff\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2011\\\/01\\\/10\\\/ruthruff\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2011\\\/01\\\/10\\\/ruthruff\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids on the Streets - ECC | Youth Worker Update\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-10T15:00:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9af2fd623407f88ae03546a35de916b8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2011\\\/01\\\/10\\\/ruthruff\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2011\\\/01\\\/10\\\/ruthruff\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2011\\\/01\\\/10\\\/ruthruff\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids on the Streets\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/\",\"name\":\"ECC | Youth Worker Update\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9af2fd623407f88ae03546a35de916b8\",\"name\":\"ywupdate\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f026dada661eaf52d1399b13bb04b6387fbae52b82587fed7f401d4e4a421635?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f026dada661eaf52d1399b13bb04b6387fbae52b82587fed7f401d4e4a421635?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f026dada661eaf52d1399b13bb04b6387fbae52b82587fed7f401d4e4a421635?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ywupdate\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/author\\\/ywupdate\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids on the Streets - ECC | Youth Worker Update","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2011\/01\/10\/ruthruff\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids on the Streets - ECC | Youth Worker Update","og_description":"Greetings, friends, We want to pass along some information to you regarding someone I recently met in the North Pacific Conference, Ron Ruthruff. Ron&#8217;s deep commitment to justice and caring for the marginalized, particularly homeless teens, is captured in his recently released book,The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids on the Streets. A blurb [&hellip;]","og_url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2011\/01\/10\/ruthruff\/","og_site_name":"ECC | Youth Worker Update","article_published_time":"2011-01-10T15:00:44+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/75\/2010\/12\/Least-of-These-Cover.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"ywupdate","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ywupdate","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2011\/01\/10\/ruthruff\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2011\/01\/10\/ruthruff\/"},"author":{"name":"ywupdate","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/#\/schema\/person\/9af2fd623407f88ae03546a35de916b8"},"headline":"The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids on the Streets","datePublished":"2011-01-10T15:00:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2011\/01\/10\/ruthruff\/"},"wordCount":500,"commentCount":0,"keywords":["CMJ","Homlessness","NPC","Ron Ruthruff","Seattle"],"articleSection":["Print Resource"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2011\/01\/10\/ruthruff\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2011\/01\/10\/ruthruff\/","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2011\/01\/10\/ruthruff\/","name":"The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids on the Streets - ECC | Youth Worker Update","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-01-10T15:00:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/#\/schema\/person\/9af2fd623407f88ae03546a35de916b8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2011\/01\/10\/ruthruff\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2011\/01\/10\/ruthruff\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2011\/01\/10\/ruthruff\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids on the Streets"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/#website","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/","name":"ECC | Youth Worker Update","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/#\/schema\/person\/9af2fd623407f88ae03546a35de916b8","name":"ywupdate","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f026dada661eaf52d1399b13bb04b6387fbae52b82587fed7f401d4e4a421635?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f026dada661eaf52d1399b13bb04b6387fbae52b82587fed7f401d4e4a421635?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f026dada661eaf52d1399b13bb04b6387fbae52b82587fed7f401d4e4a421635?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ywupdate"},"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/author\/ywupdate\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":681,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446\/revisions\/681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}