caffeine, please.

Exposing human trafficking

Human trafficking, particularly the sex trade, is a huge industry happening here in the United States and abroad.  Most of us know nothing about it and yet its all over the city of Chicago.  In just a few days there will be a nationwide awareness week and that you can participate.  Here's a link for more info: http://www.traffickfree.org/what.html.  If you want a copy of the flyer for Chicago-specific events, email me.  Spread the news.

Opportunity is a brewin'

We're working on some pretty exciting opportunities for our Lincoln Park location right now.  Mike Hansen has been pounding the pavement with praying feet and God seems to be showing us some potential open doors.  I'd like to say more but for now, be praying that we'd be responsive to the leading of Jesus as we investigate opportunity that seems to be a brewin'. 

Serve Our City coming soon...

I'm excited that coming up on June 6, 2009 we'll be mobilizing people in neighborhoods across Chicago to Serve Our City.  That's the simple agenda.  One day.  4 mobilizing sites.  Go and serve people.  We're expecting 600-800 people serving in tangible ways.

Some of you may read that and think, "what difference will one day of serving make?"  Honestly, by itself, not much. 

But our plan is not to have one day of serving where we pat ourselves on the back and say, "isn't that great--we served today!"  Instead our prayer is that hundreds of people will be set in motion, joining the ranks of serving Christians who are doing kingdom works across our city as a part of their lifestyle.  We're praying for people who will build serving into the rhythm of their lives. 

As soon as our registration opens I'll pass along the link.  Pray with me that from this one day God would add many enthusiastic servants who love God with all their heart and love their neighbors for real.

Go to a conference, take home some axioms

Conference = Overload.  Consequently, I've learned to distill my takeaways to just a few so that I still have them a week later.  At the last Leadership Summit, Bill Hybels talked about axioms (proverbs) as powerful tools to condense and distribute values.

So with that in mind, I've condensed my takeaways from the Gospel Coalition National Conference '09 to a few axioms.  My hope is to retain the axioms even if I never look back at my notes.  What follows are my axioms and the speaker who's message I derived them from.  (For direct quotes I have, oddly enough, employed quote marks.)

People who see idols everywhere preach the Gospel well.
(Keller; this quote was the most valuable to me for ministry.)

"Son, none of this depends on you... and so take courage."
(Piper; this quote was the most personally meaningful to me)

The faithful servant leader does not fight to win. He fights for the Gospel to win.
(Driscoll)

He who always raises his voice is ignored in a real crisis.
(Driscoll)

"Misdirected love expresses itself in misdirected energies and pursuits."
(Copeland)

"You can arrange the wood but only God can send the fire."
(Copeland)

"The neurotic rooster believes the sun is comin' up because he's crowin'".
(Copeland)

"Don't let the pulpit drive you to the Word. Let the Word drive you to the pulpit."
(By way of Keller--a Dutch proverb.)

"Even an apostle must read." (2 Tim 4:13)
(Spurgeon, by way of Duncan)

A faithful Gospel-centered life will not guarantee that you don't end up all alone.
(Duncan)

The only flex in the Gospel is found in the sacrifices of the messenger's life.
(Carson)

Reflections on the Gospel Coalition National Conference 2009

I'm on the home stretch of the GCNC09. Its been a really good experience for the crew I've been here with and the 3394 others here also. In this post I'll share general reflections on the conference and coalition.

Next post I'll share the handful of proverbial statements ikm taking with me from this conference.

• The term "gospel-centered", a key phrase for the conference and the coalition, is one I really, really like. Its a phrase that can enter every conversation and serve as a guide and a check.
• The Coalition, as represented at the conference, is very white, very male, quite Reformed, and oriented heavily toward what is preached. If the Coalition is going to have broader impact, it needs to navigate a bigger river in my estimation.
• I love the emphasis on church-planting and the number of young men here--it excites me.
• Effective preachers have a very wide range of approaches to how they communicate. Being yourself and preaching the text in ways that people can hear is the key. Contra the ad-world: image is nothing, text and authenticity is everything.
• The great value of a conference for me is the personal, extended time spent with my cohort and the cohorts of friends new and old. Dinner with Mike and Kyle, train rides with Tony and Luke, hallway chats with Jackson, Jon, Steve, Jonathan and a bunch of others. Conferences are especially good relationship times.
• The Gospel is the best conference focal point I've experienced. Deeply refreshing and practical. Would love to do it again.

The ghetto I refuse to live in

There is a ghetto I refuse to live in.  In this ghetto everyone talks the same dialect; everyone stays within the tight circle of what they've always known; ghetto-dwellers fear and suspect outsiders; the ghetto remains blind to the myriad of its own problems because "we''re used to them" and "it could be worse"; and in the ghetto the grandest hope is most often just to survive.

The ghetto I refuse to live in?  The religious ghetto.  The churchiness ghetto.   

In a religious/church ghetto there's a special "insider" language that only participants understand (and its kind of weird), there's a small (and always shrinking) radius of relationships and experiences that are allowed, there's a fear and suspicion about most "outsiders" and their ways, there's a blindness to the problems within the religious ghetto itself and in the religious ghetto, vision gets so small that all we hope for is to just survive this life.

That is living way below the line of authentic faith in Jesus. 

I fight the religious ghetto in me by looking for opportunities to interact outside the ghetto.  Lance H. gave me one of the those opportunities recently.  He invited me to a gathering for actors, directors and theater people who will be doing open readings and the like in a studio space.  Just about everybody there will be theater people and there will most likely be zero "religious ghetto" people.  Invites like this are pure gold. 

I'm going to do my best not to be a pastor-dork at this gathering.  I hope to be just a Jesus-follower who likes to experience new things and hopes to make meaningful contributions to the conversation.  My friend Steve S. has been coaching me for years to be a little more at home in the theater community.  He's a Christian who does his life in the theater world.  He's one of the people who helps me see life from outside the religious ghetto.  People like that are incredibly valuable guides.

So thanks Lance for getting me out of the ghetto by inviting me to "The Game of Contact".  I promise not to leave a Chick tract on my seat when I leave and I will avoid preaching any of my sermons.   I do hope to speak honestly about my observations on human nature, contribute to the conversation of the evening and appreciate the good art and poetry of William Carlos Williams.

"God, is that you or the hot sauce talking?"

In January, Mike Hansen (our outreach director) and I had lunch.  Over lunch we came up with a simple idea for alerting people to serving opportunities in our community.  It was a classic "on a napkin" idea that never even get it on the napkin because I had to wipe off the hot sauce mess from my tacos.

Playing off of an idea we had seen Erin at Lakeview Pantry use, we decided Mike would begin sending out a monthly email in the first week of the month telling people about an opportunity to serve the following (second) week of the month.  Feeling a burst of creative energy, we decided to call this revolutionary thingy 2nd Week Serve.  (Mike and I are a creative force when properly filled with frijoles and hot sauce.)

Mike then went about setting up an email listserve and having his brother design a logo--nice touch!  Then we put some info in the weekly bulletins and connection cards at Lakeview and Lincoln Park and mentioned it occassionally on Sundays. 

The first month we had 50 people signed up and 25 people show up to the first serving opportunity bagging and delivering groceries with Lakeview Pantry.  (If I had known just how powerful hot sauce was, we would have started drinking it much sooner.)

Two months later, there are now over 80 people on the list and in April there are 3 different 2nd Week Serve opportunities.  At this point Mike is trying to figure out how to expand the opportunities because the desire is for more serving chances. 

I share this because I think its important to demystify how God-ideas can go from a conversation over lunch to a valuable mobilization tool that has simple technology tools, limited promotion and no budget.  Sometimes the only thing standing between you and a powerful ministry opportunity is a little implemented ingenuity and creativity.  Who knows what God could do with the ideas He's put in you if you'd just step out and experiment.

And here's the other thing--with an approach like this, if the idea doesn't work out, you can fold your tent and try another idea.  Sometimes its the hot sauce talking and sometimes its the Holy Spirit.  Time will help you discern the difference.  Everything is an experiment--try it and flow with it if it seems God is blowing winding in the sail.

Keller on missional church life

I realize I've gone too long without posting a Keller video.  I think the phrase, "Christians need to be concerned with and remember what its like not to believe--it needs to permeate everything we do..." speaks powerfully to me. 

Leonard Sweet on church architecture

Leonard Sweet, one of my favorite Dr. Strangelove church voices, posts an engaging set of principles about postmodern church buildings.  In his usual fashion, he quotes obscure items and makes them current while saying profound things in profound ways, all the while pulling it off without ever sounding arrogant.  That's a rare man. 

Here's my condensation and commentary on his "10 Commandments of Architecture for the Postmodern Church":

1. Thou shalt not make a graven image.
   • Sweet seems to be concerned here that the building does not become a celebration of its designers/builders but is instead "designed for recycling. It's egalitarian, mobile, and adaptable for multiple use."  I think the other side of this is that the building itself not be worshipped as sacred but kept in proper perspective and used up for God.  I think we need to grow in the area of maxing out the space God has entrusted us, frankly.
2. Thou shalt not create ugliness.
   • This is a classic Sweetlet:  "Vitruvius [you know, that guy], said in his manual On Architecture that a building should have the qualities of (1) commodity, (2) firmness, and (3) delight. By commodity, he meant user-friendliness. By firmness, he meant integrity: the building does what it says it does—it doesn't fall down or leak. By delight, Vitruvius meant joy and beauty."
3. Thou shalt design for all senses.
   • The Orthodox Church, in all its forms, already does this.  They've been 5 sense innovators since the Middle Ages and before.  This is not new ground but the idea of capturing more of the senses in worship captures my interest--if its not done with distraction and as a replacement to the spoken word in preaching and worship.
4. Thou shalt have a sense of place.
   • This is quite similar to Theology of Place.  I think this is my favorite of Sweet's list.  What it says about reflecting the community where a church resides is huge, especially in a community like Chicago with so many different neighborhoods.  The Catholic church gets this well in much of its architecture--or it least it did back when the buildings were built.
5. Thou shalt get real.
   • In the retrofitting of a Restart congregation, this can be an expensive challenge.  Our Lakeview building was constructed under a different church architecture philosophy.  Little open space, every room seemingly on a different level of floor, lots of passages and hallways.  It does not reflect the open design model that I prefer and that is more current.  Its hard to refit the buildings but some of our locations are doing a good job and we're doing what we can with the Lakeview building.
6. Thou shalt build a living church.
   • "Where else but in churches do postmoderns experience architectural spaces with hard benches, dark woods, and elevated presiders? he asks. Only in courtrooms, which are known for judgment; and funeral homes, which harbor death." 
   • Well stated.  That's why when we revitalize older church buildings, we try to keep some sense of the old without having distracting elements that congure up a wrong environmental response.
7. Thou shalt get the church out of doors.
   • Sweet's nudge toward outdoor amphitheaters (in the right climate--not Chicago) is already being considered/pursued by the church Francis Chan pastors in SoCal.  I love the hear behind Chan's decision--a desire to redirect building funds to serve the mission of kingdom advancement.
8. Thou shalt love thy setting.
   • This is Sweet's green-friendly command.  It applies mostly to new construction though we've talked about rooftop gardens as a way to retro-green some of our older buildings.  What I like about the rooftop garden is its going back the way we came--rooftops have a lot of biblical history.
9. Thou shalt build smart churches.
   • Here Sweet is at his best--proposing a radical rethink about every surface of the church as "a living organism that responds to human touch..."  Cool thought.  Probably will happen.  And the thing is, every display on every surface can be generated through light and projection and then rethought as needed.
10. Thou shalt create new God-glorifying spaces.
    • "The essence of architecture is the imbuing of matter with spirit until the spirit is uplifted."  And that is a fitting final statement to the matter... for now.

Shout outs to my peeps

Today's Ignite Conference at our Midway campus was a big win!  Lots of new faces, a full Spanish language tract, Pastor Wilfredo deJesus, matches, the Jesse White Tumblers, powerful music, great sessions and a big turnout!  This is our third year doing the event and each time its happened because of the teamwork and hours put in by a whole bunch of people from different New Life locations.

Two people at the center of it all bear huge responsibility for the event and always deliver:  EJ Lyon and Vilma Arguelles.  EJ handles all the conference and session related logistics--sign in, registration, books, day-of problems, resources, volunteer recruitment and placement, performers like the JWT's and a whole bunch more.  Vilma oversees all the tech, graphic and design people, videos, building needs and workers, set up, sound/tech/video, day-of program and a whole bunch more.

Frankly, without these ladies handling the operations, the event wouldn't happen.  Alongside them are a host of great volunteers who serve in too many ways to list (but I'll try anyway).  Altogether, hundreds of work-hours are invested to make an event like Ignite happen. 

There are a bunch of other people who do big things to make Ignite happen: 

• Bobby Moss and Paco Amador serve on the planning team with EJ, Vilma and I and contribute a lot of ideas, guidance, planning, and laughs.  I think we have the most fun (and most caffeinated) meetings of any New Life group.
• Joshua and Nancy Holec are big time servants in the final run up putting a ton of hours and care into final prep and day-of management.  Nancy runs a lot of the back of the house and Joshua the front.  They're a great team.
• Marco and Christina Terrell and their incredible team of talented and hard-working foodies.  They don't just throw some food out on a table--they create magic!  And no one who wasn't fasting could have gone home today hungry.  They serve a constantly replenishing snack-meal and drink service that is unbeatable.
• The building team, led by Phil Flores and the tech team of Steve, Tino and crew who work with Vilma providing recording of every session and sound/tech/video in each session.  These crews make sure the rooms are set up with chairs, sound, video, empty trash cans, clean bathrooms, clean floors--you name it. 
• All the session teachers and facilitators.  We try to mix it up with new presenters and new topics each year as well as tapping into the strength of our pastoral team.  Each year our teaching team does a great job.
• The registration, ushering and greeting team.  They arrive early and make sure that everyone is welcomed, given resources, and helped wherever needed.  And don't forget the parking lot guys overseen by Mike Berry who keep cramming in "one more car".  
• Mike Vasquez, Alicia Holec and Roger Masa who video and photograph just about anything that moves.

We start planning this conference about 5 months before it happens.  But each year the effort and work of many pays off with an experience that equips and ignites a big cross-section of New Lifers. 

Thank you Ignite Peeps!  You're the best!

Jesus is my rap star

Take a look...

Pinch me (not literally, though, please.)

Yesterday Pastor Mark and I had the chance to meet for a few hours with a church leadership team from Madison Square Church in Grand Rapids, MI.  Whoot, whoot for GR!  This church has over 1100 people on a weekend and is currently meeting in two locations with 4 worship gatherings each Sunday morning.  Their leadership team is quite diverse and they are interested in long term multi-site ministry as a way to missionally reach their city. 

As a leadership team at New Life, we've been working for about 6 months with a businessman friend of the church to form a network that would resource and coach churches just like this one--churches that are urban, that are growing and reaching people and that want to save themselves all the mistakes we've made along the way. 

I really felt like we connected on a heart and mission level and with this team and I'm looking forward to relating with them more in the future.

Last Saturday Bobby and I had a chance to spend some time with the leadership team for Second Story from Peoria, IL and formed a similar bond.  (I also got to see my good friend Steve Snyder who serves on the leadership team at Second Story--bonus!)

I enjoy these kind of opportunities--they top my list of ways I like to spend my time.  I feel refreshed when I'm able to hear where someone's at, give feedback and encouragement and point toward potential next steps for breakthrough.  I'm really grateful to serve at a church where I have those opportunities, regularly.  Its one of the "pinch me" realities of my role at New Life.

Examiner

In December I applied to be an Examiner with Examiner.com.  What's an Examiner?  A local person who shares their view of their city from a particular vantage point.  I applied to be the Evangelical Examiner for Chicago. 

Yesterday I heard back from the Examiner--they'd like me to take the gig.  I looked over the terms and its pretty much no strings so I'm going to give it a shot.  I have a couple ideas for some story streams...

• "These are the churches in your neighborhood"--a recurring feature highlighting different Evangelical churches in Chicago.
• "Dude, who stole my church?"--a recurring feature on churches that are no longer.  I already have a dozen so that gets me 12 weeks down the road.

Hoping to have fun with this and bang the drum for the church that is alive, loving Jesus and serving people here in Chicago.  I'll give you more details as I get them.

Contrasting shallow and deeper

As we enter into 10 weeks of teaching and soaking in the concept of Deeper, I'm soberly eager (no idea if that's possible.)  I spent some time today making a list contrasting shallow spirituality with deeper pursuit.  Nothing here is new but it helps me to contrast things in order to understand them.  I like to ask the question "how is this different from that?"  By the end of the list I was challenged and convicted to go Deeper.  (If you have adds/edits, feel free to comment them in...)

 

Shallow Spirituality	Deeper Pursuit
Has arrived	Is searching
Full of answers	Full of wonder
Is doing pretty good	Feels constantly unfinished
Lives primarily off of other people’s God discoveries and moments	Invests time into exploration with the hope of God discoveries and moments
Measures expectations to avoid spiritual disappointment	Lives with the tension of expectancy and disappointment
Hopes to become a saint, maybe someday	A saint who groans against the grip and depth of sin
Hopeful about performance	Hungry for Grace
Loves to be right	Rightly loves
Fears mystery and moves away from it	Fears mystery and moves toward it
Lives off of a good faith history	Lives off of a moment-by-moment decision to say “yes” again
Doesn’t count costs and disengages when things get tough	Counts costs daily, gulps and moves forward
Seeks God in spiritual places	Seeks God in every place
Has only a few hiding places	Destroys every hiding place
Resists being challenged	Humbly receives challenge looking for God-words in it

 

 

 

Deeper

Sunday we’ll begin a new 10 week teaching series called Deeper.  Since this was one the 3 words I entered into this year with I’m excited to head into this teaching.

When we start a new series, I get excited about what the teaching journey will do in me and then (I hope) through me.  Each series represents a new journey and each series is an opportunity for me to grow.  Looking forward to going Deeper with the New Life community as we head toward Resurrection Sunday together.

A song for HWJS

It seems to me it would be handy to have a song for the shoveling revolution.  Something inspiring and catchy.  Something by an icon.  I offer "Gotta Serve Somebody" by Bob Dylan as the theme song for the mad shovelers of Chicago.
 
Other nominations?  Anybody second my choice?  (I'd upload the song but its a rights-managed itunes song--argh.)

HWJS, part 2

I've seen this before but I always marvel at it when it happens.  There is a domino effect when you serve people, even quietly.  After Tyce and I shoveled some spots, my next door neighbor Raul did the same the next day.  Another neighbor routinely snowblows about 6 or 7 houses worth of sidewalk, including mine.  Another family shoveled out a spot and saved it but then thought better about it the next day and got rid of the spot savers.

And now, a week into heavy snowfall, only one person on our block has kept out any spot savers.  We've chucked those milk crate markers twice (in Christian love) and then parked in another "unsaved" spot.  We're trying to communicate that parking spots are for anyone.  I think our communication is pretty effective.

There's a culture of serving emerging which is being shaped by... serving.  This is a very powerful spiritual principle--serve before the culture values serving and watch people start to value and participate in serving in a deeper way.  Now certainly this is not foolproof--some people will refuse to change even if everyone else is serving.  But by and large, in every social sphere and group, I believe you can sow seeds of serving and watch others begin to sow them along with you bringing a harvest of good.

HWJS

You've heard of WWJD.  How about HWJS?  How Would Jesus Shovel?

Shoveling is a big issue when you live in the city of Chicago in winter.  Right?

Here's what happens normally in our city:  A big snow falls--let's say 8 or 10 inches.  A few hours later a snow plow comes by and buries all the cars on the block.  A while after that, Joe Sixpack ambles out to his car and considers how long it will take to shovel out.  Realizing the job will likely give him a heart attack, he goes inside the house and recruits his kids to "help".  Two hours later, after a lot of sweat and yelling, the kids, with the "assistance of their dad" manage to shovel the car out. 

An Atheist's apologetic for Christian missions. Huh?

Alert reader Heidi W. sent me this article link written by an Atheist.  It is an argument for the unique value of Christian missionaries to Africa's overall growth and development.  I think that in light of last Sunday's message on perceptions about Christians in the U.S., this article may serve as a template for what we could hope the Church's reputation becomes in the U.S. in the next 20 years.  Oh to be living out our faith so well that Atheists would be telling everyone how valuable we are to the "good of the city".

Quotes I used this past Sunday...

I wanted to post some quotes that I used this past Sunday.  They are from some of the people I respect and who are helping shape me so passing along their words seems worthwhile in a forum like this.

• Christianity is largely viewed as being unChristian by outsiders.  From unChristian by Kinnaman and Lyons.
• "We need to go deeper."  Brian Zahnd, pastor of Word of Life Church, St. Joseph, MO. 
• “Some argue, with good cause, that the term Christian is now polluted beyond recognition.”  (Leonard Sweet, Church of the Perfect Storm)
• “The church must stop chasing the impossible, implausible, and dishonorable dream of re-Christianizing society.  It’s time for the church to understand that this is a missionary culture (Babylon) and that the church needs to think and act missionally.”  Allan Hirsch, author of Forgotten Ways.

Looking forward to pressing in Deeper, in Faith, Hope and Love to join in the Mission of God in 2009.

Multi-site trends

Jim Tomberlin is a leader who is on the front edge of multi-site church trends.  He recently posted an entry at MondayMorningInsight.com. 

I'll comment briefly on each of his trend items...

1. I agree-multi-site is becoming common and "normal".  Many church planters are planting with a multi-site mindset from the beginning.  Its weird because when I came to New Life in 1999, I remember how "out there" multi-site church was.  How things have changed in 10 years.
2. We definitely operate out of this model.  I think its like "urban warfare" applied to the church world.  The church, like modern militaries, are forced to rethink their strategy now that the world is more than 50% urban.  The recast strategy is to employ smaller, more mobile units in both the military and the church world--fighting the battle from "house to house".
3. True for us and seeing this at several other churches around the country (Seacoast, Lifechurch, soon Mars Hill Seattle).
4. This seems to be somewhat true though I think multi-site represents a big break from denominational thinking.  Multi-site churches seem to have a much higher value on intra-church cooperation and define themselves more by agreement than by disagreement.
5. This may be true but it seems also true that many campus pastors, in my anectdotal research, are hired from within most often.  Sort of a UPS hiring model--promote from within for 80% of the jobs.
6. Most notably, www.theaterchurch.com, the website of National Community Church in DC.  Mark Batterson and Co are doing a lot of pioneering on this front.
7. Or as we call them, Restarts.  And the more we witness the decline of older insitutional churches, the more this trend will increase.
8. My parents attend a rural multi-site church--Thornapple Valley Church--and I love Pastor Jeff Arnett's vision and passion to grow great churches in the rural communities of Michigan.  For him, if it has a grocery store, its probably a little too urban.  But as he notes, not too many multi-site churches are working in truly rural areas yet so this area needs a strong dose of networking and resourcing.
9. Not a fan of the internet campus.  I don't believe you can call something that happens over the internet a church in the fullest sense.  You can't baptize and you can't celebrate communion together, two functional basics that happen in the gathered community.  I'm all for the video delivery of messages to real gatherings of people but not for the virtual gathering of people on different computers.  I think innovation goes too far with this one.
10. Personally, I think this format will have a backlash.  Live preaching will never go out of style because in a techno world, people long for "the real thing, baby" (thanks Pepsi for the tagline.)  And I have a concern about the growth of video as a means of delivery--the celebrity nature of mass distribution.  I do not believe fallen humanity is built to handle glory and celebrity is a form of glory.  Seems to lead to trouble.  Again, not fundamentally opposed to video delivery of teaching, but I think it should be used with caution. 

Musicians are sometimes prophetic

I downloaded this song from Emmylou Harris a while ago cuz I liked the title.  Then I got hooked on the song--good stuff.  Then I did more than catch a few passing lyrics--I found and read the lyrics.  And having already had suspicions, I became convinced that Emmylou is speaking prophetically with this song.  Don't know if she is a follower of Jesus or not--seems like maybe yes--but either way, this song is prophetic.

Time in Babylon

Emmylou Harris

 

Five-lane highway danger zone

SUV and a speakerphone

You need that chrome to get you home

Doin' time in Babylon

Cluster mansion on the hill

Another day in Pleasantville

You don't like it take a pill

Doin’ time in Babylon

 

In the land of the proud and free

You can sell your soul and your dignity

For fifteen minutes on TV

Doin' time in Babylon

So suck the fat, cut the bone

Fill it up with silicone

Everybody must get cloned

Doin' time in Babylon

 

Little Boy Blue come blow your horn

The crows are in the corn

The morning sky is red and falling down

The piper's at the till

He's coming for the kill

Luring all our children underground in Babylon

 

We came from apple pie and mom

Thru Civil Rights and Ban the Bomb

To Watergate and Vietnam Hard times in Babylon

Rallied 'round the megaphone

Gave it up, just got stoned

Now it's Prada, Gucci and Perron

Doin' time in Babylon

 

Little Boy Blue come blow your horn

The crows are in the corn

The morning sky is red and falling down

The piper's at the till

He's coming for the kill

Luring all our children underground in Babylon

 

Get results, get 'em fast

We're ready if you got the cash

Someone else will be laughin' last

Doin' time in Babyion

So put that conscience on the shelf

Keep the best stuff for yourself

Let the rest fight over what is left

Doin' time in Babylon

 

Little Boy Blue come blow your horn

The crows are in the corn

The morning sky is red and falling down

Let your song of healing spark

A way out of this dark

Lead us to a higher and a holy ground  

A new year

Its a blip on the radar of time, really.  And without a calendar you'd never even know when it happened.  But a new year is a big deal to us isn't it?  There's just something about our inner hunger for "new" (or "renew"?) that makes us love a new year. 

I think its a redemptive implant.  A leftover cry from our Eden self.  No matter how big our God-aversion, we want new like nobody's business and a new year gives us some new every year.  I believe new years are eternal signposts--things that awaken the Big story in our hearts, even if its only for a moment.

I have 3 phrases I'm entering this new year with.  They're not themes.  They're not catchy slogans.  They're not rules or resolutions.  They're just some phrases and words that have been banging around in my head and heart for the last while that I'm choosing to put on my HUD for 2009.

• Faith, hope and love
• Deeper
• the Mission of God

These phrases will be making guest appearances in my conversations, praying, teaching, writing and thinking as I head into this year.

Design and mission

I am a fan of NFL football and a fan of good design.  So I looked with interest at a 6 page photo spread of the New York Jets incredible brand new training facility in Florham Park, New Jersey.  The designs on this facility would seem to set a new mark for "thinking of everything".

The question was, "can architecture lead to better football?"  It would seem the preliminary answer is "yes".  The facility was one of the reasons Brett Favre chose the Jets.  And the team is a strong playoff contender.

The way the architects designed every element of the facility to keep the experience of winning football in everyone's face is remarkable. 

Examples?  Executive offices have a glass wall (like a luxury box) that overlooks the indoor practice field "to remind the suits of their shared mission".  The entrances to the building simulate the tunnel that players walk through to go onto the playing field--i.e. every employee enters their playing field as they go into the practice/office facility.  The weight room is glass-walled to overlook the outdoor practice field--"I'm lifting these weights now so I can go out there and more effectively smash people." 

Now this is a leap, but stay with me.  Galilee Baptist Church, when it was designed and built in 1951, was constructed very purposefully to keep the experience of quality children's Sunday school in everyone's face.  And they did a great job--Galilee was one of the largest in Chicago in the 50's and 60's. 

However, its not the most effectively designed building if Sunday school is not the definition of the win for the church. 

Now, Galilee's design is something we work around at New Life Lakeview.  Sunday morning children's ministry is important, but it is not the mission.  We've retrofitted the space to make it work for our purposes which are expressed better in small groups and worship gatherings with most of our real "work" as a church accomplished outside the church building.  And its that last part--most of our work being outside the building--that compells me to wonder how I would redesign a church building to best express the church's real mission. 

One thing I'd do--I'd somehow put the offices of the staff in proximity to people, where the mission lies.  And maybe that's why I'm sitting in a cafe while I write this.

Collaboration and learning

Had a chance to attend a meeting today sponsored by Leadership Network (www.leadnet.org) with pastors and staff from around the country who have done church restarts.  Warren Bird and Dave Travis hosted and about 15 different churches and 25 different leaders were present.  Valuable to get insight and cross-pollination perspective on what God seems to be doing in places across North America.

Anytime I can hear from other leaders I'm always amazed at how approaches vary so widely in pursuing mission and yet how common the threads of experience can be.  Whether people are in Phoenix, Dallas, Miami, Toronto, Chicago, Tulsa or anywhere else, the people are different but the people are the same, the challenges are different but the challenges are the same.  No two churches are exactly alike and yet the issues feel so similar and the kinship is strong as I hear the stories shared.

It does seem that we are one of the few churches, at least at this gathering, who's primary experience is in urban and "redemption restarts"--in other words restarting a church that is stuck or in decline in an urban area.  Many of the other churches present had merged with churches that were already somewhat effective and strong but wanted the backing and connection of a larger, better-resourced multi-site church network.  It got me thinking if that would be something God may bring our way in Chicago or other U.S. cities in the future.  Don't know--just prayer-wondering out loud.

Looking forward to getting back to sweet home Chicago in a few hours.  Hopefully, our great Chicago weather will clear up enough to get a plane down here from O'hare.  I'm planning for a long night by the looks of things--brought plenty of reading material for just such a reason

Can I get that in Polish?

I had lunch at Staropolska today with Nate Berry and Pastor Mirek (Miroslaw) Muszczynski.  Mirek has pastored in Chicago for 17 years.  The church, Polish Christian Center is (as far as I know) the only Polish language Evangelical Christian church in the city of Chicago.  (Please correct me if I'm wrong--and I would like to be wrong about this.)

Nate attends our Lincoln Park location with his Polish-born wife Ola and hopes to move to Poland in the next couple years to serve the church there with ProEcclesia ministry.  In the meantime he's seeking to help us move toward Polish connections.

My reason for wanting to meet was simple--Polish people are a huge immigrant population in Chicago (some estimate 2 million) and Luis Palau labeled it the least evangelized group in Chicagoland.  So, as a church with a vision to be all over the city for the good of the city, we have to be asking ourselves, "how can we reach Polish people with the gospel?"

Mirek, as a longtime pastor, had insight into the community and into the American church's history in pursuing Polish people.  He shared some of the barriers to reaching Poles--distrust of anything non-Catholic, an anti-establishment mentality, a strong skepticism bred from years under Communism and a very secular young generation. 

We talked about ways we could make steps toward the Polish community and here are the two that we identified for exploration:

• Mobilize New Life members to serve Polish children who come to Chicago for surgery at Shriner's Hospital (they are here for as long as 6 months).  The children need housing and someone to relationship with people.  There is an existing Polish non-profit that facilitates this and Mirek wants us to connect with them.
• Pursue international internships for Polish men who are pursuing pastoral ministry through ProEcclesia.  What if a couple seminary interns came to Chicago for 1 year to pursue studies, intern at New Life and do outreach and small groups with Polish speaking people on the North side? 

Having lived near the large Polish community on the North side for over 10 years, I am excited to have a couple tangible steps we can pursue toward connecting with this valuable Chicago community.

West Humboldt Park

This past week Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church voted this past Sunday to give their property (church, school and parsonage) to New Life for us to plant a location there!  The title transfer happened last Tuesday and now we are moving forward with the process of assembling a core team.

Friday we had an initial gathering with some key pastoral leaders for this location.  Great meeting with some things already being clarified about role and leadership. 

Excited?  Yes.  Feeling needy for God to move?  Big time. 

Lincoln Park felt like a stretch but something we were ready for.  West Humboldt Park feels like a leap across a chasm--God has to be with us.  A great place to find ourselves. 

Men's Fraternity

This morning was our first Men's Fraternity gathering.  6:15am start time (done at 7:50am).  A great group of men.  Challenging and uplifting teaching from Robert Lewis.  Great small group interaction.  It was a good start to this 24 week journey.

I love the 5 promises Robert Lewis gives as we enter this study.  Five things he is confident (after 13 years of Men's Fraternity) that the experience will deliver on:

1. You will have a clear definition of manhood.
2. You will develop new manhood language.
3. You will make significant personal discoveries about yourself.
4. You will make new friends who are pursuing a common goal.
5. You will have your own personalized manhood plan for achieving authentic manhood.

If you'd like to join us, come on out next week.  You can also email Nick, the group's co-leader.

Weekend Reflections

I'll admit that my favorite Sundays are always baptism Sundays.  I don't think I'm alone.  Hearing the God stories as people head to the pool to take a swim for Jesus is very emotional.  This Sunday was no different. 

A couple people were baptized at Lincoln Park (which I had to miss because I was headed to Lakeview for the 10:15 worship gathering.)  Great to see people taking steps of faith at our newest location.

4 people were baptized at Lakeview as well.  The testimonies were authentic, honest and focused on Jesus.  Love that.  A gal who's been battling cancer also shared how God has been at work in her healing--another emotional moment.

And Pastor Mark stopped by Lakeview to give a little update on where we're headed as a church, particularly on the North side.  That ended up being a "holy moment" as I was able to publicly thank him for his leadership in my life.  Both of us were almost in tears.  (Ever seen two bald men cry at once?) 

I gotta say too that it was good to speak about the local church as a part of our Why? series.  I've felt like this short series on foundational truths about church life has been important.  Sometimes we need to just wrestle with the imporant foundations of doctrine that stand under us as a people who follow Jesus. 

I'm sensing that God has more in store for us in this next season and my great concern is to stay healthy, stay tuned to His Spirit and be bold in the opportunities God brings.  Glad to be part of a church that is hungry, teachable and focused on God's mission of transformation.

Culturally confused, what a blessing

Yesterday our family spent the day at the Walworth County Fair in Elkhorn, WI.  We discovered it by accident when visiting our friends Matt & Heather last year. 

The Walworth County Fair is characterized by country music, pig races, fair food, farm animals, tractor pulls and mullets.  A cultural experience of one kind.

Today we had our annual block party in front of the house.  A cultural experience of another kind. 

My neighbor's deejay played a host of Mexican songs at high volume while the kids jumped in the moon walk, played musical chairs, road bikes in the street and played in the sprinkler in the street.  We had a volleyball match where everyone on the court was Mexican except for me.  Two doors north my Nicaraguan neighbors were grilling out too.  Up the street neighborhood boys are playing basketball on my rim in the middle of the street.  Aricela next door has been making and handing out incredible homemade gorditas all day long.

I love that my kids are growing up culturally confused.  They have no idea what they are and truth is, their going to be a little bit of everything.  Praying that God can use that powerfully for His glory when they grow into their mission later in life.

Assigned by mercy

I've been ruminating over 2 Corinthians lately.  There has been much that has ministered to my soul as I've slowly passed back and forth through this letter of Paul.  Today, a simple sentence in 2 Corinthians 4 was just the words I needed to hear:

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.

Ministry assignments are given in the mercy of God, not based on merit and because of that, even when the work feels "over my head" I do not lose heart.  The assigner of the work is also the supplier of the resources to carry it out. 

Chicago plunge class brief update

I'm having a great time in the Chicago Plunge class with Ray Bakke and Coach Wayne Gordon this week.  We've encountered about 20 churches of all traditions, sizes and languages, had insightful presentations and Q&A's with people like Stephanie Neely (City Treasurer), Robert Steele (Cook County commissioner), Vance Henry (director of the CAPS program), Glen Kehrein (Circle Urban Ministries), Dr. Marshall Hatch (pastor of Mt. Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church), and the singing of the men's choir of Hope House (ministry of Lawndale Community Church).

The days are long and filled with lots of note-taking, but the learning is exactly how I would design a class.  Lots of field experience, dialogue and hearing the best practices and experiences of experts from their very own place in the world.  Tactile learning is what Glen Kehrein called it today.

On the fringe

A couple stats from UnChristian:

• less than 3% of young Americans age 18-41 believe all 8 points of a biblical world view (that absolute moral truth exists; that the source of moral truth is the Bible; that the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches; that eternal spiritual salvation cannot be earned; that Jesus lived a sinless life on earth; that every person has a responsibility to share their religious beliefs with others; that Satan is a living force, not just a symbol of evil; and that God is the all-knowing, all-powerful maker of the universe who still rules that creation today.  (p. 75)
  
• there are about 20 million total born-again Christians in this country [out of a population of over 300 million] who describe faith as their top priority and who say their entire purpose in life is summed up by the statement "love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength." (p. 210)
  

This means that people who have sold out to loving and serving Jesus are a small and increasingly shrinking minority of the overall population.  Oh, I know that many people occasionally have attended churches in their lifetime--maybe even recently.  But when it shakes out to real and living followers of Jesus, the numbers get pretty small.  Many Americans are in fact, de-churched.

Does this bother you?  Or excite you?  It excites me.  We're a Church that is moving quickly to the fringes of power and influence in our culture and I believe it is the best thing that could happen to American Christianity.  The church on the fringe is a church that exchanges pursuit of power for pursuit of people.  Church on the fringe is the Church of the New Testament. 

The thing about the fringe is you can choose to feel marginalized, wander off and think about the "glory days" of power and influence or you can choose to hunger for God and pray for the heart of the church to be renewed with a passion to lovingly serve people.  Jesus was born and died poor and marginalized yet full of power and authority that transformed peoples' lives forever.

Jesus, give us joy in being on the fringes of power and courage to love and serve this city for Your glory.

Love your neighbor

This is what love looks like:

When my husband and I were engaged, we planned our wedding in 3 months.  One afternoon we were sorting out the next twenty tasks to complete.  He hadn't called the bakery about the cake, and he still hadn't finished the guest list.  With annoyance dripping out of every pore, I cut into him with all the shame and blame I could conjure up.  How dare he drop the ball and ruin my afternoon.  Now I would have to pick up after his incompetence! 

After my verbal assault, he sat quietly with disbelief and pain in his eyes.  I expected he would scold me for my tirade, but he didn't.  Al he said was, "Jonalyn, is that how you talk to yourself?"  I was silent, stunned.

Then, slowly, I nodded and began to weep long and hard, realizing that this wasn't the good life, it wasn't the abundant life Jesus offered.  But it was the only way I knew to be a model Christian woman planning a model wedding.

It was the first time someone took time to notice the person behind my judgmental words.  He saw the state of my soul.  He swallowed his own pain long enough to see that there was something self-destructive eating me.  To get anything done right, to be holy, to stay pure, to walk the straight and narrow, I condemned myself into obedience...

Dale was the first person who saw my mess and refused to demand an instant cleanup party.  He saw where I was.  And he still married me, not to rescue me, but to join me in this journey into abundant life.  (UnChristian, p. 203-204)

"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her..."

"Love your neighbor as yourself..."

Your mission: deliver groceries

Tomorrow Gil, the kids and I will be doing grocery delivery with Lakeview Pantry.  10:30am to about noon. 

This is one of the newer ways that we are doing Missio Dei as a family.  Lakeview Pantry is a non-religious org that provides help to people in need of food.  Doing grocery delivery is kingdom infusion--followers of Jesus working shoulder to shoulder with whomever serving whomever. 

If you want to join us, bring a car and a co-pilot and meet us tomorrow at the pantry at 10:30am.  Feel free to email me if you want a few more details.

WALL*E

Took the kids and my nieces to see WALL*E tonight.  You've probably heard that the film has very little dialogue, especially in the first 30 minutes.  On the way home I was commenting to my wife how impressed I was with storytellers who captivate without using any words. 

"That's how I think of animators, though.  That's their gift--to tell stories through pictures," was Gil's reply.  And she's right (and succinctly insightful, as usual).  But its not my gift--telling stories without words--so I remain impressed.  Its a good film for anyone to see and part social commentary.  Makes you shudder at the rapid advancements of "convenience".  Kind of like the "Feed Bag" news piece from the Onion a few weeks ago.

During our down time in MI I'm plowing through a couple books--UnChristian and The Shaping of Things to Come.  UnChristian in particular seems like an important book.  Both seem to follow naturally (if accidentally) from this past Sunday's Secrets of the Kingdom message, Mission Dei out of Matthew 13.  I think the Parable of the Weeds has just moved to the front of the pack of my favorite parables--right pasthe parable of the unfaithful steward.

Great blog and a great video

I just added a new blog, The Missional Challenge, to the "blogs you should be reading instead of mine" list in the left hand column.  The blog turned me on to this powerful message from Michael Frost, a buddy of Alan Hirsch.  If you have 51 minutes, I highly recommend the vid.

Weekend reflections

So this past weekend we were supposed to have Church on the Street.  Instead we had Church in the Building.  Revolutionary. 

Great thing is, it was a great worship celebration anyway.  Several people responding to an invitation to surrender to Jesus, worship that seemed to raise the roof and a touching testimony and baptism.  All things considered, getting derailed was no big deal.  And next week we'll try Church in the Street again.

Big props to Tony O., EJ, Mike H., Nate, Freddy, Hector, the worship team, and a big team of volunteers who were there very early to make the outdoor service (not) happen and then to reengage worship in the building.

Excited for this coming Sunday at 10:45am out on the street!

Now boarding...

I met with a couple yesterday afternoon from one of our locations.  He resides in England.  She's moving to England.  Welcome to Union Station. 

She has a Christian background.  He has a nominal Hindu background, is not yet a Christian and enjoys coming to New Life when he is in town.  What a privilege to be able to point him toward some next steps in his journey toward redemption and life with Jesus and to give them some relationship counsel. 

My counsel to him was:

• Read the Gospels.  A lot.  No substitute for first hand interaction with the life of Jesus.  Also suggested buying an mp3 version like the Bible Experience.
• Look up an Alpha group when you get back home to London.  Alpha is a great group for introducing the basics of Christianity to an interested seeker.
• Resist the temptation to overstate your spiritual progress to your girlfriend in order to keep her.  Be gut-level honest at every step.

And to them was:

• Be sexually celibate.
• Get premarital counsel.
• Find a good church.  And go each Sunday--listen to the truth and be impacted by community and worship.
• Don't pursue marriage if you're not both Christians.

One of the toughest parts of my job is to tell people what they may not want to hear.  There is no escaping it though--truth always cuts against life and I deal with both daily.  But I am convinced that truth can always be given with grace.  My hope is that my responses are "seasoned with grace" and motivated by love.

The gospel expressed through pain

Laura is a sophomore in college ministering this summer with Christ's Hope International in Kisumu, Kenya.  I spent time with the Christ's Hope team in Kisumu on my first trip to Kenya in August of 2006.  (Tangentially, Kisumu is the home town of Barak Obama's father.) 

Laura shared this story about a very recent occurrence while serving there:

GRACE LIKE RAIN...

Wednesday, June 4th, I was about an hour out of Kisumu when I got a phone call from another volunteer, Desmond, saying I needed to come back immediately... our friend Solomon had a boy in the hospital who was dying, and there was no blood in the hospital.  I had the same blood type as he did, and I needed to get back there if there was any chance for him to live.

Urban ministry

Every now and then I get back to my ministry alma mater, Inner City Impact, and speak in chapel.  This week is their annual summer missionary orientation and and they asked me back to speak to the staff. 

It brought back memories.  10 years ago, I was one of the full time staff welcoming the new summer workers.  Good to catch up with old friends and also to meet the newer staff and summer staff.  Also several members of ICI's team are beginning a new work in Cicero and are a part of our New Life Cicero location--very cool.

My talk was on "keys to urban ministry"--which gave me a good opportunity to review my own history in Chicago and think through what I've learned and what has been most important in my growth process.  Here are the bullet points of what I shared (most of which I related back to Acts 17, my favorite "missional" chapter in the New Testament):

• Stay constantly engaged as a student and learner.
• Do things you're not supposed to do—always experiment.
• Be gospel-centered AND contextualized.
• Get some “Holy Stubbornness”.
• • Most of urban ministry fruitfulness involves things anyone can do but few people actually accomplish.
• Work in an interdependent team or die.
• Sabbath.
• Expand your vision--see God's heart for the whole city.

Opraytunity

Tomorrow evening Pastor Mark and I will be meeting with the leadership council of Bethel Lutheran Church in West Humboldt Park.  Bethel was founded in 1894--same year as New Life Lakeview (then Galilee Baptist.)  The church has struggled to reach the community over the last era and they are looking at options for the future of the church.

We connected with their team through a strange route--another pastor's children were taught by the wife of the lead elder.  (You might need your toes and fingers to calculate that one.)  We've had a couple initial meetings with the pastor and elder but this meeting will be more of a formal proposal.  Two other ministries will also be presenting proposals to the church council. 

This is an Opraytunity (not to be confused with an Oprahtunity.)  Something we crossed paths with by Divine accident and which we are pursuing with an open-hand.  "God, this could be an opportunity you want us to pursue or it might not be.  Please confirm your heart and allow us to walk forward with generous passion."

Will you join us in praying?  Thanks.

Union Station

First some snapshots:

• I received an email yesterday from a church family who is moving away.  They feel on one hand sure of God's direction toward their new home across the country and at the same time, "deeply struggle with leaving our home at New Life." 
• Last weekend we visited a former church family that moved to Ohio.  I still remember the coffee I had with Tom when he shared the news that they were moving.  This couple had been very plugged in--an integral part of our core team of ministers. 
• Last week I received an update email from another family who had moved on from New Life more recently and who also had been a vital part of ministry.
• Two Sundays ago two young college graduates said goodbye to me after 4 years of investment in the life and ministry of the church.  One was headed to Eastern Europe, the other the Arizona. 
• Two other graduates who moved away last summer regularly email me with updates on their ministry training. 
• On this very blog, Jelani commented yesterday.  He and wife Holly had important roles of ministry for a number of years and are dear people to us.  They moved to Portland several years ago--the place God was calling them.

And this is just a small sample of the people I encounter regularly who are coming and who are going in our church community.

We minister inside Union Station.  Not literally, of course (at least not yet.)  But we minister in the Union Station phase of people's lives.  There are broadly two types of people at our locations of Lakeview and Lincoln Park--those who are busy working in the station and those who are arriving or departing "life trains".  People settled (for now) and serving and people in transition from and to other places.

It is a privilege to minister in an environment like this.  People in the Union Station phase are full of life, full of questions, and eager to make a difference for as long as they can.  They are also typically very open to God's leading and are very teachable.  And people working "in the depot"--in the station--never have a lack of opportunity to serve and minister if they have their eyes and hearts open.

I don't know if this is a prophetic image or not, but it helped me process and clarify our role within New Life and within the Kingdom.  I want to spend more time clarifying this picture and figuring out how we can be more effective at ministering in our environment.

Revolutionary business model

My most recent issue of Inc Magazine had these guys on the cover.

"So what," you say?  Fair enough.  These guys are Jake Nickell and Jeffrey Kalmikoff, executive leaders of Threadless, a local t shirt company that is charting a uniquely 21st century business model.  In fact, Inc calls them the most innovative small business in America.

I think their "customer is the company" business model has implications for the church.  Threadless has successfully (even if somewhat accidentally) created a powerful version of community.  In fact, they are a community before they are a company. 

Now, the church is supposed to be the expert in such matters as community... but sometimes our tools need sharpened and sometimes we need to update the whole toolbox. 

I'm not sure where Threadless' approach falls in relation to the church--new tool or new toolbox--but read the article and share what you see as crossover helps for the church as it builds community.

"That's my Power Spot"

I had a meeting yesterday afternoon with a great couple from our NL Lakeview location.  God has them in a season of job transitions right now so we sat down to talk about possibilities and ideas as they plot their next step ('a man plans his steps but the Lord directs his way'). 

As we talked we began to see fields of opportunity to do "work as mission"--to marry together a career with making a difference in people's lives--in a creative and non-traditional way.  By the end of the conversation I was so excited about the possibilities that I was ready to drop everything and join them in pursuit of this venture.

I've come to realize that some of the happiest moments of my life are when God uses me to help people see the possibilities they have to make a difference for Jesus--to get their lives on mission for God.  They are "Gehazi Moments".  I love to be there at the inception of an idea and then help it go from idea to reality.  And the crazier and more impossible the idea, the more excited I get.  I love to help people figure out their "power spot" (love that phrase from Sonny Arguinzoni--and I love how he says it.  A friend and I heard Sonny speak 10 years ago in California about the "power spot" and its still fresh with me today.)

I know other people who find their happiest moments when they make order out of chaos.  Its their power spot.  (My wife is an "order from chaos" person.)  Personally, I like to see chaos emerge from order and then to take that chaos and help focus it into a laser beam of missional power.

What is your power spot?  What % of your time do you spend working in/toward your power spot?

Dechurchification update across the country

Chris Salzman over at ThinkChristian.net (a blog I regularly read) sent me a link to an article on Dechurchification happenings around the country.  Here's his link and a couple referring articles charting dechurchification as a national urban issue. 

• From the Washington Post
• From the New York Times
• From the Get Religion blog

The Church has got to wake up on this.  It pains me to see that we can't figure out the kingdom agenda here and keep church buildings working for the name and glory of Jesus.   I know that God doesn't need buildings.  And as a church we'll never let buildings be an issue that determines ministry.  But buildings do open up ministry options.

I've said it before and I'll say it again--buildings are a stewardship; nothing more and nothing less.  Maybe if we ring this bell loudly enough and in the right places, the story can be written differently.   

Sign on the door

I saw a sign on a photography studio/training center door today as I drove by it on Lincoln.  The sign said simply "Beginners Welcome". 

I immediately felt invited by that sign.  It said, "we may have fancy pictures up on our storefront but if you don't have a photographic clue, we'll help you and we won't be snotty about it." 

I was thinking... what would that kind of a sign look like on a church door?  What would it say?  Any suggestions?

Open Mic Night at the Pub

Last night was our first Experiencing God worship and story night.  Shanda and Rachel did a great job planning for the night and it was great to see about 6 or 7 small groups well represented. 

We started the open mic testimonies about 8:05 and frankly, I wasn't sure what to expect.  About 8:55 I had to simply say, "that's it for tonight".  The testimonies flowed one after another.  I don't know what everyone was experiencing but hearing the God-stories for so many different people's lives was tremendously faith-building.  It was exactly the encouragement I needed.  Thanks to all of you who shared.

Now for this next part of the story I need to back up a bit in the day... 

Basketball hoop

We bought a basketball hoop this past summer--we have a cement slab out back which serves as a decent 3-on-3 court.  It was mostly a birthday present for Tyce.  Didn't use it much last year.  The neighborhood men and boys also had a hoop that they'd roll out to the street for evening basketball.  Over the winter they broke it by trying to play on it in the freezing cold.  The physics of basketball--cold plexi, ball, object in motion, stays in motion--right through the plexi.

On Monday evening I'm walking to the house about 6:30.  Neighbor man on the porch says, "Hey PK, [I have no idea how this has become my name in my own neighborhood, but I digress...] heard you got a nice hoop out back.  You going to be playing ball later tonight?"  Subtle but effective request.  An hour later we had a yard full of ballers.

Tuesday night--same story, a few different faces.  Wednesday night, same story, smaller crowd, I couldn't go outside but that didn't stop anyone.

Honestly, I'm pretty psyched.  Who knew a hoop could open doors to ministry so easily in my own backyard?  Praying for God appointments.  Feels like a "God-is-working--cooperate-in-His-work " kind of situation.  And to think all I have to do is strap on some shoes and talk some trash to access the opportunity.  God opportunities are often like that.

Kingdom of Comfort

Just downloaded Delirious?'s new album, Kingdom of Comfort.  The theme and story behind the album, the liner notes and the song lyrics are running alongside of a lot of things that God has been speaking into my life over the last 18 months.  Delirious? is a band I really connect with and this album is in my view a must have for any Christian who lives in the developed world. 

Take the time to watch the companion video and read some of the liner notes.  Powerful stuff.