Infuse

Podcast: The Inconvenient Kingdom

2009-03-03T18:40:00.001-08:00

The Inconvenient Kingdom

Love Fox Valley

2009-02-16T12:55:00.000-08:00

I haven’t experienced much church unity in my life. I don’t necessarily mean within a church, though that’s been bad at times too, but unity between local churches. The unity of the entire body of Christ in a given city or region. There are three main ways I’ve experienced the relationship between local churches:

Uninterested: When the most you know about the church on the other corner is that the sign out front says, “Ch_ _ch, what’s missing?”
Inferior: Whether it’s because of doctrine, size, building, or softball team, you know you’re better than they are. The best example of this I’ve heard is when one church asked the church across the field to play a softball game and they were asked for their docrinal statement. The other church looked at the statement and then decilined to play. (Both churches from Evangelical denominations!)
Competition: I have sat around with people from MY church bemoaining the gains of other local churches. Talking about how they’re taking “our” people. No one likes to admit this one, most of the time people won’t, but it’s real.

It’s sad really. Jesus prayed that all those who followed him would be one in the way he was one with the Father. Paul yelled at the Corinthians on paper for creating distinctions between themselves rather than focusing on their unity in Christ. We are supposed to be unified with all those who are a part of the body of Christ.

In the last year and a half I’ve had the opportunity to see what this unity is supposed to look like. It’s come in the form of a person and an organization. The person is Randy Schoof, pastor of the Warehouse Church here in Aurora. You can’t talk to Randy for more than two minutes without hearing about the importance of unity, and he devotes himself to helping it happen. (More on that in a second, because that’s the organization.) Since we moved to Aurora Randy has been one of our greatest supporters. If y0u are about following Jesus and helping others do the same then he is with you. The first time I met him he offered to let us meet in their building, told me to let him know if there was anything we needed, and introduced me to a bunch of people from other churches. He is about Christ’s Church, all of it.

Which brings me to Love Fox Valley. This is the culmination of the efforts of a number of people, including Randy, to bring unity and action to the Aurora and Fox River Valley area by the church, the whole church. It is more of a network than an organization. The whole church in the area functioning together to show and proclaim the love of Jesus Christ. We had a meeting for it last week and there were at least 30 churches and ministries represented there, maybe more. There aren’t many places where this is happening, and I’m thankful I get to be a part of it.

WCLS: Efrem Smith

2008-08-07T18:42:00.000-07:00

Disparity exists based on race, class, and place.
Find dwelling places where the hurting people are.
The high pressure of what God wants to do is hitting the low pressure of what we'd rather do and creating racial and socio-economic storms.
There's no institution that can make the case "we only cater to people who are like each other" except the church. (And that's not okay!)
The church should lead in being socially innovative.

And a great quote: "I'm tired of grown men havin' Lil' in front of their name. Lil' Wayne. Lil' Weezy. You grown men!"

WCLS: John Burke

2008-08-07T18:38:00.000-07:00

Making and maintaining good soil is essential if people are to grow.
1 Cor. 3:6-9 God causes the growth, we're responsible for the soil.
Are you willing to get your hands dirty by meeting people where they are?

Messy Leadership

Grace-giving Acceptance. If you find a Rembrandt covered in mud you wouldn't throw it away or even try to wipe it off. You'd take it to an expert who could clean it and make it good as new. We need to view people through God's eyes, not our own.
Authentic Confessing Community. Leaders have to lead in being authentic. We have to actually care about each other.
Stay Connected to Christ. "Apart from me you can do nothing." Stay connected, fruit happens.

WCLS: Gary Haugen

2008-08-07T10:59:00.000-07:00

What is leadership that matters to God? It is leading in issues that matter to God. In other words, are Jesus and I interested in the same things?

2 Passions of God

The World (Jn. 3:16) How can hurting people believe God is good? The Church is the plan to make people believe that God is good.
Justice Biblical injustice is about the abuse of power to take from them the good things God has for them (i.e. life, liberty, dignity).

Leadership matters most when the cause seems hopeless, scary, and difficult.

Leadership when it seems hopeless.

Refocus on where hope comes from.
If God is passionate about getting it done than he is responsible for getting it done.

Leadership when it seems scary.

Jesus did not come to make us safe, he came to make us brave.
Too many of us are on the journey with Jesus but we're missing the adventure. We won't experience God there.

4 Leadership Choices

Choosing not to be safe.
Choosing deep spiritual health. (Not needed when it's safe and easy.)
Choose to pursue excellence.
Choose to seize the joy. (It should make us laugh that God uses people like us!)

WCLS (Willow Creek Leadership Summit): Bill Hybles

2008-08-07T08:49:00.000-07:00

Much of the task of leadership is making decisions.
Part of what leaders must do is make tough decisions--it is not for the faint of heart.

4 Common decision making questions for Christian Leaders
1. Does the Bible speak to it?
2. What would smart advisors say?
3. What does PGE teach you? (Past Pain, Past Gains, Experiences)
4. Is the Holy Spirit prompting me?

Make trial decisions and see if they lead to peace or turmoil within.
If a decision turns out well, thank everyone who played a part in it. If it turns out poorly, blame only yourself.

Leadership Axioms: Short sayings that guide decision making and come from a synthesis of learning from the four questions above.

Some Leadership Axioms

The best way to get rid of an enemy is to turn him into a friend. (Abraham Lincoln)
Create movement for movement's sake.
Promote a clash of ideas. (Colin Powell)
Vision leaks. (Hybles)
Get the right people around the table. (Hybles)
Facts are your friends. (Hybles)
When something feels funky, engage. (Hybles)

Willow Creek Leadership Summit

2008-08-07T06:35:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a new friend, Jon Peacock (pastor of Axis, the 20-something ministry of Willow), I'm at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit the next two days. I'll be posting some notes throughout these two days, much like I did when I went to Exponential. I'd love to hear any thoughts you have!

Infuse In Focus

2008-07-21T06:02:00.000-07:00

Beginning this Sunday at 5:00 we'll be doing an in-depth three-week look at Infuse. It will include some discussion about what the terms "organic" and "missional" mean in relation to church, a look at discipleship and what it really means to follow Jesus, and some specifics about the vision and life of Infuse. Our hope is that it will serve as a solid orientation for those who are joining with Infuse and a clear picture for those who are just interested in what we're doing. I'm excited about it because it has shown me clearly how far we've come in a year. Our focus and ability to explain what we're about are far greater now than they were then.

It's an open invitation, so if you or someone you know wants to come just email us and we'll get you directions.

Welcome Denver-ites!

2008-07-14T06:28:00.000-07:00

This week Ty, Meagan, and Katrina arrived from Denver. And last night we had them with us on a Sunday night for the first time. (We also had Asa with us who's visiting from KY which was great!) It was an amazing feeling to have them sitting there as tangible evidence of so many prayers answered. We have been praying for them and their potential move for about 8 months now. In the process there have been obstacles, doubts, excitement, planning--but in the end God brought them here. It was an emotional moment realizing how amazing their move here really is.

As you think of it, pray for them this week. They need to find jobs and places to live. They have left family and friends, and over the next few weeks that will really hit them. Pray that God gives them continued peace about coming here and that they're able to settle in quickly. Praise God!

This Week in Aurora

2008-07-07T15:56:00.000-07:00

Downtown development
More new condos are being rehabed in a historic building downtown and will be complete with a Potbelly, my favorite sandwich shop, and a wine shop.

Riveredge Park
This project is somewhat controversial here, but the economic impact and beautification of the riverfront has huge potential. It's something many of us are following, as it will mean more people downtown and new ways to connect with people. It'll be a great "third space." Now the city is looking for some grant money to help make the dream more of a reality.

See the sketches here.

Fermilab
Though in Batavia, it sits on the border of Aurora. Fermilab, a Department of Energy particle accelerator with lots of smart physicists, lost funding recently and has been in danger of forced layoffs and cutbacks. The good news is that those jobs were just saved by a supplemental appropriations bill last week.

Crime in Aurora
For years Aurora has had a bad stereotype for being unsafe and crime-filled. Aurora police recently announced some good news that crime is again down, and no murders were committed in the 1st half of 2008.

Podcast: Marriage in the Upside Down Kingdom

2008-06-27T06:17:00.001-07:00

What should Christian marriage be like?

Get the podcast.

Missional Mish-mash

2008-06-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

Recently there has been a lot of great conversation going on about the word "missional." It is a very necessary conversation as this word continues to be watered down to the point it's like my iced tea yesterday after sitting in the sun for two hours. In our culture there are many buzzwords that are birthed with a specific meaning that are then either highjacked or broadened to the point they mean nothing and then they pass away. I credit Alan Hirsch, one of the people who has popularized this term, with realizing that this was happening to the word "missional" and trying to do something about it.

Read Alan's post on this here.

From my perspective (which is the only perspective I have) one of the biggest reasons missional has become marginalized is that it is understood as a church thing rather than a people of God thing. A church is not missional because it has an outreach program--even if it's an extensive outreach program. It seems so many churches now want to highlight the ways they're reaching out to the community and then call themselves missional. Now those programs may contribute to the mission of Christ in that church, but unless the people of God in that church have apprehended a missional mind, heart, and way of living that is exhibited throughout their life (not just when they go to volunteer at the outreach event) then the church is not missional.

Somehow we have arrived at a place in Western Christianity where discipleship is outsourced to the staff and programs of a church rather than it being a part of every Christ-follower's life. All a person has to do is show up on Sunday morning and then participate in some of what the church has going on and BAM that's discipleship. But it's not. That can be a helpful part of discipleship, but being conformed to the image of Christ is not a program or something a pastor can force on you, you have to open yourself and allow Jesus to transform you. In this transformation we will become missional because we will apprehend the heart of God for the world and will seek to join him in that mission in every moment of life. As that happens churches will be missional because the people are missional.

Here are a couple other posts you should check out on this issue.
Ryan Taylor on missional and discipleship
Cory Whitehead on Alan Hirsch

We Chose Our Adventure

2008-06-19T08:44:00.001-07:00

Last night we were driving home from a trip to the local Target (we needed new water bottles since we recently pitched all the cancer causing #7 bottles) and I had a strange realization. I don't really know where it came from, but I think it is a good summary of what our life is like now.

"Michelle," I bellowed (I didn't really bellow, but that's a much cooler word than said), "I was just thinking that if we had moved here so I could take a job in a church, we probably wouldn't have any of the friends we have now. We'd be spending all our time with church people and church programs. I'm sure we'd have some friends, but they'd all be different."

If we had moved here and right away gone into a church, especially if I was a pastor there, I wouldn't be at Starbucks every morning (unless it was to meet with someone from church), Michelle wouldn't have started a playgroup (she'd have stuff for moms with church people), I wouldn't spend any evenings in local bars, we wouldn't be having cookouts for people in our neighborhood, and the list goes on. In many ways it's been very hard to find friends without going into a church, that's how we've always done it, but we're both really enjoying the relationships that are growing right now. We look forward to more forming from our neighborhood, coffee shops, bars, playgroups, and many other places in the coming months.

Reclaiming the Word "Missional"

2008-06-15T14:38:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to meet Alan Hirsch a couple weeks ago, which was a great honor and, of course, included captivating, thoughtful discussion.

As part of his stop at CTI, he did an interview with Leadership journal and Out of Ur. You can find the audio here.

The short clip focuses on what "missional" really means (because everyone seems to be using the word these days), and I've included a few of my notes here:

A missionary stance toward the culture
Treat neighbors as a cross-cultural environment
Pretend you're in Papua New Guinea and have to learn all about a new culture
There are hundreds of subcultures around us (different music tastes, hobbies, dress code, political thinking, etc)

What does an attractional church do if it realizes they need to shift their posture to a more missional mindset?:

Win the battle of the imagination
Dethrone Constantine (that the Church exists beyond the institution)
Be patient because it's such a huge shift
Everyone has to take an active role and realize they're more than consumers
Know that people will be upset by this shift

Listen to the short audio clip for more context.

This Week in Aurora

2008-06-15T10:41:00.000-07:00

Downtown Alive
This week one of my favorite things in Aurora started up for the summer: Downtown Alive. It's a great community gathering every Friday night, with live music, lots of food, and running into alot of people. I'm always excited to go a few times, and take new people with me.

Free Citywide Wifi
For the last couple years, Aurora has been working to add free wifi throughout the city, but has run into big problems with the installation and the company that was providing it. Unfortunately this week they finally pulled the plug on the project.

Waubonsee Community College
If you've been to downtown Aurora, you'll notice a huge crater on an entire city block. Over the next couple years, the local community college is going to be building a new downtown campus, which was just approved by the city board this week.

Operation Helping Hands
Yesterday, a local church, Ginger Creek Community Church, organized the annual Operation Helping Hands. Several local churches got together for a day of service. Over 400 volunteers landscaped, painted, and did other projects for the people of Aurora.

Frustrating!

2008-06-13T08:53:00.001-07:00

Throughout our process of starting Infuse we've looked for both local churches and church networks with whom we can partner. We're thankful for the few that we've found and our affiliation with them. But it is amazing how difficult it is to find any who are willing to experiment with something like Infuse!

In almost every case church planting organizations require a building to be bought or rented within a couple years, a large number of "members" to be gathered, a worship team, certain programs to be established, etc. It's not that I'm opposed to measurement or accountability, but with a missionary venture like Infuse these measurements just don't fit! In my interaction with others pursuing missional/organic church planting this is one of the biggest frustrations. We are often unable to partner with the existing church because they set up rules or procedures that just don't fit with what we're doing. This makes me all the more thankful for those who are flexible enough to work with us!

Podcast: The Upside Down Kingdom

2008-06-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

What does it mean to be a part of the kingdom of God?

Get the podcast.

A Great Tuesday

2008-05-22T11:49:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday Cory hosted the first neighborhood cookout in his neck of the woods. It started at 6:00, and as he, Michelle, our kids, Phil (a friend of ours) and I sat in the driveway I think we were all thinking we might be the only ones there. That was going to mean about 6 hamburgers and a bag of chips each. It was a chilly day and the clouds looked menacing, so we weren't too optimistic (I appreciate the reminder about having faith in God that's being concocted in your head right now, but we were reminding each other of God's power to answer prayer, so no need to contact us for that one).

About ten minutes after six a couple four houses down from Cory's came over. About twenty minutes later there were fifteen people in the driveway! We got to connect with a number of his neighbors and we are praying that this will be the start of some great relationships.

That same night I headed out early from Cory's cookout with the kids (Michelle was at a movie with a mom she's met through her playgroup) to a going away cookout for one of the workers I know at Starbuck's. We only got to stay for about twenty minutes, since we needed to avoid Ayla turning into a pumpkin at her bedtime, but it was great to see so many of the workers I know in a different context. I'm excited about the possibility of having them over in the near future.

So God really answered our prayers on Tuesday and we're excited about what he'll do with these reltionships!

From Steve

2008-05-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

This is the latest message from Steve, Sarah Lowrey's brother. It's a pretty powerful message. Please keep him and his whole family in your prayers.

Unfortunately, this is the question I have been asking myself as of late. I'm 32 years old, my birthday is coming up very shortly and this question of quality vs quantity of life looms over head.

Last Saturday, I took part in an amazing and powerful thing. One of the ministers in the area organized a "laying on of hands" by elders of the Christian church from all over Chicagoland. I walked into Camp LRCA (where it was held) and was blown away as to how many men where there. Men I had never met or knew, gave up their Saturday morning to come and pray over my wife and I. Many of the other ministers from the area were there as well, but by-and-large, this was an elder driven thing. I will never be able to truly express how much this meant to me. I am still completely humbled and grateful for being a part of this.

Quality vs Quantity: The elders laying on of hands, their prayers and petitions, asking God to grant me more quantity of life.The next step we were planning was to be involved with a Clinical Trial up at University of Chicago. Again, problems arose. My body is in overdrive with this cancer right now. For their studies, they were not able to administer this new drug to me until I have been off chemo for 28 days. That puts my start date at May 20th. Problem is, things have rapidly progressed downward in my body and we can no longer wait until May 20th. We are stepping away from the Clinical Trial because we need something now!!! My Dr has now found cancer in my lungs. My body is getting weaker and weaker. My Dr will be administering different doses of chemo in different forms trying to get every lat bit of quantity for Ol' Steve that he can.

It would be great if I could share some good news in these mailings, so I'm going to do so now.

My church (Impact Christian Church) is everything I have ever longed and dreamed of in a church. I love the people that go there and they truly love me. Impact has been such a huge support for me to lean on during this fight with cancer. Impact brought together so many people that are family today, but never knew each other before. Impact brought together one of my best friend's, Dan and his future wife Jen. I cannot, nor will ever, say enough how much this church has meant to me.

My family continues to lift me up. All those crazy trips back and forth to Univ. of Chic. with dad driving, making sure I'm comfortable, waiting, waiting, waiting. I could go on and on about the deeds of my mom and dad during this time, but they truly serve as Godly parents of a sick child. Candy's work has been amazing with letting her take off whenever she needs to (it has been such a help to have a nurse for a wife throughout this whole process). Jada continues to do good in school, but is starting to go through a rough patch. She sees what is going on and is trying her best to adjust to it all. Sometimes I just sit and cry because as much as this is a huge burden and weight upon me, it is and will be even more for Jada to bear.

So, Quality vs Quantity: Anyone that's ever known me has known that I live life to the hilt. When I decide to do something, I go barreling forward and figure out the details later. I looked at my wife the other day and said, "I don't think it would be fair if I only get 12 years with you, but what an amazing 12 years they have been." Have I done bad things I regret? Sure. Absolutely. But the good things I have done with my life, my family, my church, my friends, in service to my God really start to stack up those "Quality chips." This is not a letter of me giving up, in fact, I plan on fighting for tomorrow everyday of my life. This is just me letting you know, God has filled this 32 year old punk to the brim with an amazing life.

Keep up the prayers.
Love Steve

This Week in Aurora

2008-05-04T10:33:00.000-07:00

Regularly we will try to update you on some of the things (stories, events, development, etc) happening around Aurora in the previous couple weeks.

Here's the first installment:

The 4th public high school in Aurora will being construction in the next few months, but we're not sure where yet. There's some controversy over the location and it's going to mediation and maybe court.
Aurora's annual Cinco de Mayo festival is being held downtown this weekend.
Mayor Tom Weisner gave his State of the City address this week, focusing more on progress made with crime and downtown development than any announcements of any new projects.
The Beacon News featured a story on Hesed House (the homeless shelter and food pantry that Infuse donated food to this week)
A local church, Warehouse Church, held their 8th annual Motorcycle Sunday, which brought out hundreds of bikers to Phillips Park.
Last weekend was another large anti-abortion protest at the new Planned Parenthood on the city's far east side.

Food Drive--Take Two

2008-05-01T06:35:00.000-07:00

Last night we carried out part two of our meticulous two-part plan to gather food for Hesed House. Last weekend Michelle and I went around to about 20 of our neighbors' houses to invite them to a cookout and ask them to bring some non-perishable food stuff. I got home from work and with Michelle, Cory, and Megan got out the lawn chairs, some blankets, and wheeled the grill around to the front of the house. At 6:30 I started cooking, wondering if I'd be cooking for anyone but the six of us (4 plus Isaiah and Ayla). It was a nice night, but still kind of chilly, and I know meeting new people can be intimidating, especially when there's a kid with muscles like Isaiah is out front--so I didn't know if anyone would come.

I needed not fear (that's a weird sentence, but I'm leaving it). We ended up having people from six of the neighboring houses stop by, and most of them stayed to talk and consume some cooked meat. Everyone who came was very generous with their donations for Hesed House.

There were a number of highlights from the night.

A couple long-time neighborhood families (15 and 19 years) saying this was the first time something like this had happened in the neighborhood. They were so excited to be there and were talking about getting to know each other better over the summer.
Our neighbor down the street offering his 4 month old son as a "perishable good" for the food drive. (Well, I thought it was funny.)
Two of the people who were there expressed interest in hosting something for the neighborhood.
We took a huge step toward knowing our neighbors.

This morning Cory and I took the food to Hesed House (it took the use of both of our cars!). We all are praising God that the food drive went so well and that in this one step we have made some initial connections with our neighbors. God is good!

Food Drive--Take 1

2008-04-30T07:08:00.001-07:00

Last night Michelle, Isaiah, Ayla, and I joined Cory to collect food in his neighborhood for the food drive. Most of the people who he asked to participate did and we got to meet a number of his neighbors. It was actually a lot of fun! Tonight we have the cookout at our house, so hopefully we'll know more people and have more food to donate. Plus, we've covenanted together to remember to take some pictures!

Exponential: Quotable!

2008-04-25T08:10:00.000-07:00

Here are my favorite quotations from the week.

"Christianity started as a Jewish movement, it will end as a Muslim movement." Bob Roberts
"We use the gospels to tame our children into well-adjusted middle-class individuals. But these are revolutionary texts!" Alan Hirsch
"In the spark is the pontential of flame. In the flame is the potential of the conflagration that overtakes the forest." Alan Hirsch
"The barn has been spruced up for the last 30 years and the wheat is still not harvesting itself." Ed Stetzer
"Too many church planters plant a church in their head, not their community." Ed Stetzer
"Most churches choose their traditions over their children/communities." Ed Stetzer
"Jesus never told us to plant a church, he said to make disciples." Neil Cole
"You've learned how to lead from business leaders and you lead businesses!" Neil Cole
"See the lost as the leaders of the future." Neil Cole
"The reason God uses me is because I volunteered." Rick Warren

Exponential: Rick Warren

2008-04-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

Growing a Reproducing Church
Rick Warren

How to grow a reproducing church:

Keep growing personally.
Take care of your family.
Develop a kingdom mindset.
Focus on building people, not the church.

He wants this on his tombstone, "He served God's purpose in his generation and then he died."

Let all the church planters in an incredible prayer of commitment and then prayed for God's blessing on everyone.

Exponential: Tim Keller

2008-04-25T08:01:00.000-07:00

The Gospel
Tim Keller

The DNA of a reproducing church has to be the gospel.
In the Christian world, no one's really sure what the gospel is anymore.
The cross confronts and fulfills cultural longings.

The Gospel Tripod

In Jesus Christ, God emptied himself.
In Jesus Christ, God atoned for our sins.
In Jesus Christ, God will return and restore all things.

Many have focused on only one of the three, which results in an incomplete gospel.

Exponential: Neil Cole 2

2008-04-25T07:48:00.000-07:00

Chaordic Leadership
Neil Cole

How do you know if your strategy for disciple-making is exponential or incremental? Here's the forumla he gave to help.

Your baptism goal (number your church would hope to baptize in a year) x 1 million=

If what you're doing doesn't have the potential to reach that many people, then the strategy is incremental, not exponential.

You can't use an addition system and slowly evolve into multiplication.

A church multiplication movement is not...

a movement without multiple generations (of churches)
gathering Christians from other churches
big revival meetings (you reproduce what you are)
a centralized leadership development institution that sends out leaders

A church multiplication movement is self-perpetuating and self-propagating.

96% of churches don't multiply/reproduce. If this happened with women we'd be worried!

The DNA of the church

Divine Truth
Nurturing Relationships
Apostolic Mission
You cannot supplement, subtract from, or seperate the DNA without bad things happening.

Can we have order in chaos? (referring mostly to leadership and decentralized churches)

You can't control spontaneous multiplication. If you're controlling it, it won't spontaneously reproduce.
We've confused order with control.
Who is better at control, you or the Holy Spirit?
If the DNA remains consistent, the whole will be consistent.
An exoskeletal structure limits growth.
An endoskeleton grows with an organism and isn't seen.
Fractals are an example of consistent order in design at every level.

All reproduction happens on a cellular level (in other words, even the smallest units reproduce in living things)

We all began as a zygote.
Development happens naturally from micro to macro
Disciples-->Leaders-->Churches-->Movements
Multiply the simple enough times and it becomes complex.

Exponential: Neil Cole

2008-04-25T07:41:00.000-07:00

Cultivating Kingdom-Focused Lives
Neil Cole

You cannot control multiplication.
Spiritual Breathing: Exhaling
confession/cleansing of sin (2 Tim. 2:19-22)
The Bible's clear we should confess to each other.
Spiritual Breathing: Inhaling
The consumption of Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16-17)
Part of the problem is our churches aren't reading the Bible. They're not learning to
hear God's voice, they're learning to hear it through their pastor.
Read the Bible like a love letter--all the way through and over and over.
Spiritual Breathing: Sharing (2 Tim. 4:1-5)
This will flow out of breathing.
We'll only know what to say in the moment if we're breathing.
Life Transformation Groups
No leader, equally disciples.
Three activities: read Scripture, confess sin, pray for the lost.
In disciple making we have to work with people who will be faithful to the process. Some will try to consume your life with their problems and you can't let them. You're not their Savior.

Exponential: Ed Stetzer 2

2008-04-24T07:38:00.000-07:00

Leading Apostolic Movements

Ed Stetzer

Apostolic Movements must be...

Sacrificial
nothing comes without giving something up.
Reproducible
movements don't occur through large things
million dollar church plants don't survive at a higher rate than thousand dollar ones
we'll never see a movement until any Christian can do it
what you celebrate you become
resist the grandiose in favor of the reproducible
(have) Theological Integrity
Incarnational
we've created a Christian colony while the world changed around us
Empowering
movements occur when disempowered people are given freedom
the "clergyization" of the church has disempowered God's people
for many pastors their identity is tied up in the affirmation that comes from a disempowered church (wow!)
Charitable
Sealable
Wholistic

Exponential: Ed Stetzer

2008-04-24T07:33:00.000-07:00

Missional Manifestations
Ed Stetzer

When you move beyond a single cell you need systems to help a church live.
There are numerous shifts taking place in church planting movements in the West.

from demographics to discernments
from models to missions
from attractional to incarnational
from uniformity to diversity (of church forms)
from professional to passionate
from seating to sending
from decisions to disciples
from additional to exponential

Church needs to be biblically faithful, culturally relative, counter-cultural community for the gospel and the kingdom of God.

Exponential: Alan Hirsch 3

2008-04-24T07:28:00.000-07:00

The Missional Magnet
Alan Hirsch

In the context of persecution the people distill the message to "Jesus is Lord." (which assumes Savior)
If you list the good qualities of the Pharisees, it's us!
Jesus was theologically a Pharisee, but it's how you inhabit the doctrine.
Ecclesiology is taking over and Jesus becomes a subset of the church.
If you ask most people where you go to find Jesus they'd say a church. That's heresy! Jesus is everywhere, not contained by a building.
The measure of success is not size, it's multiplication.
We are polytheists. In politics, family, economics, career, etc. we don't let Jesus rule very easily. We serve different gods or philosophies in each.

Food Drive Announcement

2008-04-23T17:13:00.000-07:00

Over this next week Infuse is coordinating a food drive for the Hesed House Food Pantry, a ministry in downtown Aurora that provides for 300 to 400 households every week. We are gathering food by going door-to-door in our neighborhoods, by collecting food from friends, and by encouraging others to spread the word, too. Next Wednesday, the Lees are having a neighborhood "Cookout for a Cause" to also gather food for this project.

This is a great way for us to help and serve our community in a practical way, while also doing more to meet our neighbors.

With the economy hurting, and gas prices and food costs rising to record levels, it's a hard time for alot of people right now. In Kane County, family income is declining amidst these rising costs. That also means that food pantries are seeing shrinking donations, but growing needs. For more about Kane County statistics and the Hesed House Food Pantry, read a recent Beacon News article, Report: Earnings fall in Kane, DuPage counties.

If you're interested in donating food to this project, that would be great! Hesed House takes all non-perishables, but items in extra need include: cereal, canned fruit, macaroni and cheese, and baking mixes. They have a complete wish list here. We will be delivering food next week, so we'll need all donations by Wednesday, April 30. To contact us about donating: infusechurch@gmail.com.

Exponential: Alan Hirsch 2

2008-04-23T08:14:00.000-07:00

Missionary Movement
Alan Hirsch

The church is in decline in every Western setting.

4 Areas We Need to Recover

1. The Centrality of Jesus

Christology lies at the heart of the renewal of the church.
Jesus sets the template for what it means to be a Christian.
Jesus' harshest criticism is for the religious people.
It's easy to take Jesus out of the church because it's hard to live with a Lord.
Christianity minus Christ equals religion.

2. Discipleship

Becoming like Jesus.
Embodiment is critical to transmission.
Movements only grow in proportion to their ability to make disciples.
Consumerism is killing us from within. It is an alternative religion and we've wedded ourselves to it.

3. Ethos/Structure of Apostolic Movements

missionally responsive
culturally adaptive
organizationally agile
mobilize the whole people of God
every believer a church planter
reproducible
structurally networked

4. Missional-Incarnational Impulse

Exponential: Alan Hirsch

2008-04-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

Lord Jesus...It All Begins Here
Alan Hirsch

Missio Dei--as a missionary, God is a redeemer.
Every Christian is a missionary, we're all sent ones.
The church doesn't have a mission, God's mission has a church.
Most people have "God experiences," they just don't know how to interpret them in and through Jesus.
God is in the places we normally don't go.
If you organize around ministry you never get around to mission, even if you have good intentions.
Your budget says what you believe in.
Worship is offering the whole world up to God.
Communion should be happeningg whenever we eat and drink.
We can change the world by regularly inviting the poor to our table.
Our offer to others is to "come die with us" for the sake of others.

Exponential: Bob Roberts

2008-04-23T08:01:00.000-07:00

A Vision for Apostolic Movements Glocally (no, I didn't misspell that)
Bob Roberts

5 Things that are different about Christianity than any other religion

1. Covenant

The grid for God's operation is not the church, it's society.
God said Abraham would be the father of many nations, which means he is about all peoples.
We're called to transform the world, not to put on a show.
It's a whole lot easier to do a Sunday event than to start a church that changes the world.

2. The Cross

Reconciles all things.
Christ is for all nations.

3. The Commission

Focus on Jesus--the disciple and the church emerge.
Christianity is the first church to ever shift ethnicity (but didn't abandon Jews).

4. Community

Christianity started as a Jewish movement, it will end as a Muslim movement.

5. Connectedness

We've never been able to engage the world like we can today.

Exponential: Andy Stanley

2008-04-22T13:09:00.001-07:00

Apostolic Vision
Andy Stanley

Vision is a mental picture of what could be, fueled by a passion for what should be.
A vision begins as a burden
Our vision has to be clear to people so they know how to follow us.
A vision needs to be portable.
Leaders often know so much about their vision that they expect everyone else to know just as much.
Barak Obama is winning because he's the only candidate who's vision we know. "Change." We may not even know what that means, but at least we know something.
Cast your vision convincingly. Define the problem your vision addresses, state the solution, and explain why and why now.
What would go undone if we ceased to exist?
Repeat the vision regularly.
Celebrate systematically.
Embrace it personally.

Exponential: Ed Stetzer

2008-04-22T13:02:00.000-07:00

Ed Stetzer is a church planting guru who spoke on the state of church planting in the U.S. and then interviewed a panel of pastors who lead reproducing churches.

Churches of less than 200 are four times more likely to plant new churches than churches of more than 1000.
Church planting is hard work and is made easier if you're part of a community of church planters.
Church planting is the most effective form of evangelism.
If you want to build multiplication into your DNA you have to put resources toward that.
Bob Roberts--If you want to be effective at making reproducing churches you have to learn from the other side of the world where it's happening.
Neil Cole--Complex things break down, simple things multiply. Your church is only as good as your disciples.
Great preaching is one of the major obstacles to church planting because is makes church mostly about Sunday.
Another obstacle to church planting is focusing on church instead of society and letting church grow out of that.

Orlando Tuesday Morning

2008-04-22T09:32:00.000-07:00

I got up at 2:45 this morning after going to bed around 11:30, but I made it to Orlando and even got some sleep on the plane. I'm really excited for how God will use these few days in my life and the life of Infuse. I've already connected with some people, and I'm especially excited about one in particular (the last one below).

Jeff Nichols: A friend from seminary and fellow church planter who lives in Denver. We bumped into each other in the registration line and got to catch up a little bit.
Hugh Halter and Matt Smay: The leaders of the MCAP training I'm doing are here for the conference and to promote their new book, The Tangible Kingdom.
Scott Whiting: I was next in line for the registration and was making small talk with one of the volunteers. He asked me where I was from, so I told him I was from Aurora. The guy behind me in line said, "No way, me too! Where in Aurora?" So after we both got our bag of advertising flyers we talked for a few minutes. He used to be a pastor at Calvary Church in Naperville, but five years ago he left to plant a church. They are now in the process of morphing into a network of groups, something similar to Infuse. I'm pumped to get to know him better over the next few days and to have found another kindred spirit in Aurora!

Praise God that some great things are happening before the conference even starts.

Podcast: Clamoring for Community?

2008-04-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

We sometimes make the assumption that people are looking for community, but are they?

Get the podcast.

Off to Orlando

2008-04-21T07:57:00.000-07:00

This week I have the chance to attend the Exponential Conference in Orlando. On the upside–some great speakers on missional church planting, three days in Florida, and a sure victory in tennis over my good friend James (who I’ve only beaten once in my life!). On the downside–three days away from my wonderful wife and kids. I’ll have lots of hugs saved up for them by the time I get back!

I'll be blogging daily about what I'm learning, so check back this week to see what's up in Florida.

Orlando, here I come!

Please Pray

2008-04-21T07:26:00.000-07:00

The following is an email from Sarah Lowrey's brother, Steve. He is in the midst of a struggle against a very aggressive cancer. The prayer at the the end of the email was written by Robert Lowery. Please bring him before our benevolent God with us.

Today, I was supposed to go on a field trip with Jada. A problem arose. For the past couple weeks, I have been complaining on a pain in my stomach and in my back. My stomach has become enormously distended, it was jetting out looking like I was pregnant. It led to shortness of breath, pain in my stomach any and everytime I ate and was incredibly uncomfortable to sleep. So, I had to miss the field trip today (my dad graciously took my place) and went in to see the Dr. He ordered X-Rays. Nothing showed up. Then he ordered a CT Scan. Great, so I went down and drank that crazy stuff, hooked up to an IV and did the scan. I was scared out of my mind. We then went upstairs back to my Dr's office to wait for the scan results. While waiting in his office, Candy and I really assumed that this was a meaningless trip. That he would look at the scans and say I was just suffering from side-effects of the chemo I was on. How I wish that to be the case.

Dr. Drasga came in and immediately told us this was not good. That the cancer has continued to grow, even though on a new completely different chemo from before. That the cancer has actually produced a liquid in the lining of my stomach surrounding my liver. Tomorrow, I am supposed to go into radiology, they are gonna stick a needle in my gut and drain the liquid (which will come right back in about 1-2 weeks and will need to get this done periodically). I was stunned. I couldn't believe it. I have been doing the organic food diet, taking the vitamins (and yeah, maybe things would have been worse if I wasn't doing that) and bathing this thing in prayer. Stunned, shocked, hurt, scared...all of the above.

He told me I have blown through all 5 major chemos that work on Colo-Rectal Cancer with no results. So what next? That's the question. He offered up a couple options.

1. Retry some of the older chemos that have thus far had no effect on me. He suggested trying different doses, different forms of chemo (like a pill form) and such. He informed us there is a less that %10 percent chance of any effectiveness.
2. Clinical trials. Whether through University of Chicago or some other place. We're looking into insurance stuff and trying to factor things in here with this. But clinical trials have been tested with some success on animals and they are essentially looking for human guinea pigs with no options left. He informed us there is a less than %10 percent chance of any effectiveness.
3. Halt all treatments, stop with science and just let nature take it's course with Hospice. Obviously, this is not an option we are even considering.
So there you have it. I continue to pray, gravel and plead before our God for a miracle. As I have asked before, so I do so again. Pray for my fighting spirit, my strength and most of all hope. Since being diagnosed in July, this cancer has continued to run me through with no signs of slowing, stopping o even regressing.

I do know this, my wrestlers, my friends, my church, my parents, my child and my wife have all aided me in the fight. I will continue to push forward. All I've ever wanted to to grow old with my wife and to raise my daughter into the Godly Servant I know she will be. Sometimes (especially days like this) that dream fades more and more. I appreciate the prayers and the support through this dark and sorrowful time in our family.

I also know, that just as Satan is whispering in my ear, he may be in yours as well. Gently lying saying that "God has abandoned Steve." My God is still right here with me. I made the statement the other day to a fellow minister, "I cannot fathom the mind of God. I don't know what His plans are, I don't know why I have this disease. I cannot grasp Him mind in this. I can, however, fathom and understand His heart. Just as much as I am broken about this, as my wife, my parents are broken about this, my God hearts breaks for this as well." My God is still my Father, my God is still my refuge and my God is still the one true Rock that I will ever cling to.

Lord, we praise you for your tender mercies and your steadfast love . . .
Lord, we praise you for the skill of doctors and others who have provided care . . .
Lord, we praise you for brothers and sisters in Christ who have offered prayers, words of encouragement, and have done acts of mercy . . .
Lord, we praise you for the hope that we have because of Christ . . .
But . . .Lord, we beg you to bring healing to Steve so that he may continue to honor and serve you by being a loving husband, father, son, and leader in your Church . . .
Lord, we beg you to lighten burdens and give strength . . .
Lord, we beg you for wisdom to trust you when we cannot understand why this disease has brought so much pain and danger . . .
Lord, we beg you to to give strength so that your will is honored . . .
Lord, we beg you to help Steve, Candy, and the rest of the family bear the burdens patiently . . .
Lord, we beg you to bless those who are weighed down with the mystery of suffering . . .
Lord, we beg you to reveal yourself even more powerfully as the God of love who bears all our sufferings . . .
Lord, we beg you to draw near, as we call upon your name to deliver your servant Steve from this sickness . . .
We beg you to give him life anew, to stretch out your hand and set him on his feet again, to put strength into him, to give him back to your church and family fully restored . . .
Lord, we beg you to use this time of deep pain to bring glory and honor to you . . .
From the depths of our despair we call to you, Lord.
Hear our cry, O Lord; listen to our call for help! We wait eagerly for the Lord's help and in his word we trust.
Amen.

The Medium and the Message

2008-04-15T07:28:00.000-07:00

Last week Scott Hodge, the lead pastor at the Orchard here in Aurora, went to a conference called Q. It was a gathering of various Christian, cultural, and business leaders. He blogged through his iPhone during each session (yes, I am jealous as I hold my old blackberry with duct tape on the back). I thought one of the most interesting posts was this one on the way we communicate now vs. in the past.

What's Happening in Aurora (Updated)

2008-04-09T08:36:00.000-07:00

Here are a few recent news stories that have been big in Aurora.

Johnny Depp visits for filming of his upcoming movie "Public Enemies." Previously I forgot the biggest news associated with this--Cory is in the movie! For more on his experience click here.

A huge drug bust was made.

An old building gets a new life. (The building in the picture.)

Monday Thoughts: Real Offering

2008-04-07T08:44:00.000-07:00

This week we started looking at 1 Samuel and Ephesians. One of the things that really stuck out to us in 1 Samuel 1-3 was the amazing offering made by Hannah, Samuel's mom. She told God that if she was able to have a child she would give that child back to God. After that she became pregnant and Samuel was born. As soon as he was weaned she took him and gave him to Eli to be trained to serve God. The text seems to indicate that from that point on she saw him once a year. God gave her other children, but it is difficult for me to imagine giving up my only child knowing that I would only see him once a year. In some ways this is reminiscent of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac. In both cases amazing obedience to God and willingness to sacrifice is displayed.

Contrast this with the evil actions of Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas. They were designated as priests, yet they were "worthless men" who had "no regard for God." These were the ones who were supposed to be models of what it meant to serve God, yet the real model is a previously barren women.

So what does real offering to God look like? Who are the people in your life who have given you a model worth following?

Podcast: Agendaless?

2008-04-02T08:33:00.000-07:00

Is it right for a marriage, friendship, or any other relationship to have an agenda? Is it right for Christians to have an agenda in their relationship with people who are not Christians? That depends...

Get the podcast.

Fifth Sunday

2008-04-01T06:23:00.001-07:00

This past Sunday we went to a gathering of the church in Aurora (by which I mean quite a few different local churches all coming together). They meet together on Sunday night whenever there are five Sundays in the month for worship, prayer, communion, and baptism.

It was a powerful night. I was blown away by the fact that these churches believe in the unity of the church so much that they save their baptisms so that they can do them with other churches in the area. But that is a good indicator of the spirit in the room on Sunday. Being there you didn't sense any competition or jealousy, just a true spirit of unity and joy that they could be together.

We are very blessed to be beginning Infuse in a place where this type of unity exists among many of the churches. A number of them have welcomed us with open arms. In fact, one of the pastors, Randy from Warehouse Church, said one of the things he and other pastors in Aurora have been praying for has been more workers for the work of planting seeds and harvest in Aurora. So when he heard about Infuse he was excited because it is one way that prayer is being answered--and thankfully there are quite a few other ways it is being answered right now too.

A Prayer

2008-03-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

In the midst of what we're doing here in Aurora, this prayer from Colossians was powerful for me today so I wanted to share it.

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worth of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and givng joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:9-14

Podcast: Fragmented Unity

2008-03-26T07:19:00.000-07:00

Jesus prayed that his followers would be one. How are we doing?

Get the podcast.

Monday Thoughts: Holy Week

2008-03-24T07:07:00.000-07:00

We had very meaningful times together on Good Friday and Easter. One of the things we spent significant time discussing was the extent to which we grasp our need for a Savior. Like the criminal who hung on a cross next to Jesus, we need to accept our sinfulness and call on the only one who can forgive us. The point of this is not to live in a perpetual state of guilt over our sin (this wouldn't reflect the forgiveness of God very well) but to remember that we have been saved by Jesus, not ourselves. This week was a good time to be reminded of that.

One other thing we discussed came out of John 20:21--Jesus said to his disciples that he was sending them as the Father had sent him. Given the context of his suffering and resurrection, he is sending them (and us) to suffer and sacrifice for the sake of others. That's a hard one to swallow, and one that I think we'll be trying to live out our whole lives.

Podcast Subversive Power

2008-03-19T07:45:00.000-07:00

There are many things in the kingdom of God that seem backwards from what seems natural--power is one of them. We can all learn from Jesus' greatest display of power.

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Monday Thoughts: Growing

2008-03-17T08:44:00.000-07:00

We had some great discussion about a number of things last night. One of the things Cory raised that we had talked about in the past but hand't discussed for a while was what we want to be known for. We all agreed that the defining characteristic we hoped to be known for is love. We want to love God, love each other, and love our friends and neighbors. This will often require sacrifice or doing things that are uncomfortable. Despite this, the reward of developing deep community and relationships will be worth the difficulty.

We spent quite a bit of time talking about how we're feeling about Infuse right now too. There are things that are difficult for all of us in pursuing something that is currently so small. Missing times of corporate worship and fellowship with a larger body, being impatient to see more fruit from what we're doing, and wanting to get better at connecting with people in our communities. But it was so encouraging to also hear how excited people are about where we're at right now. All of us can see the ways God is working and answering the prayers we're praying directly. Things are happening and we can see the beginning of what can be. We are all being challenged in our relationships with God through what we're doing right now. I think all of us feel that we are growing in our faith significantly, and that is very encouraging.

Being a Turtle

2008-03-14T08:16:00.000-07:00

Sometimes pursuing things in a missionary way like we are feels like moving at a turtle's pace. I fight this battle of wanting to see more happening than we are and wondering if we're doing something wrong. So the video I watched today as a part of the training I'm doing was a great reminder. The speaker, Hugh, is a part of leading a missional community that has 14 villages (small communities) which consist of about 240 people. But in the video he talked about the process that he and his wife went through when they first moved to Denver. After 12 months they were friends with about 30 people, but still didn't have a gathering focused on spiritual growth--they were just forming relationships. After two years they had one community, ranging from 8-20 people who were pursuing following Christ in mission together. It was in the third year that things started happening more quickly.

It makes sense that this process is slow. It is a relationally-driven process that relies on Christ-focused community being formed and then multiplication taking place. This isn't something that can start quickly, but it is something that has great chances of exploding once the initial seeds start to bear fruit. I was encouraged today that as long as we are praying for God to work and then intentionally putting ourselves in positions where he can use us, it's okay to move like a turtle.

And if we really look at what's going on here, things are happening after only 6 months. We are building relationships with quite a few people (more about this in the next newsletter), there are other Christians who are exploring joining us in this mission, and we can point to tangible ways we see God at work. I'm convinced that we're moving in the right direction if we will stay the course and follow God's leading into mission.

Monday Thoughts: Perspective

2008-03-11T07:29:00.000-07:00

This week's Monday thoughts come to you on Tuesday, just to keep you guessing.

In our study of Luke this week we focused on perspective. There were two passages we talked about quite a bit.

"And so you will bear testimony to me. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict." Luke 21:13-15

In the context, the disciples will be in positions of persecution because they have been faithful to proclaiming the gospel. When they enter difficult positions because of this Jesus says he will give them the wisdom to say what they need to say. We don't face the same issue of persecution, but we also will be in difficult situations at times if we are faithful to Christ. In those potentially awkward conversations we can rely on Jesus to help us--we don't have to have a detailed plan ahead of time.

"Be careful, or your hears will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day (the day of Christ's return) will close on you suddenly like a trap." Luke 21:34

This passage speaks to losing perspective on the bigger picture. When we lose focus on living out our calling as followers of Christ we can be sucked into a couple traps. One is to give our attention to the daily difficulties of life, like bills, health concerns, and finding a babysitter. The other trap is to succumb to these anxieties or the seeming pointlessness of life by finding an escape. Whether this is alcohol, TV, food, or something else--we end up numbing our minds and finding comfort in something other than Christ. We need to live with the perspective that Christ will return. And instead of driving us to escape from the world, this should challenge us to be about the work Christ has laid out for us--redemption, reconciliation, and justice.

Enter Spring

2008-03-07T08:16:00.000-08:00

Is anyone else ready for Spring to get here? In Aurora we're starting to get a few of the Spring tease days--the ones where it gets just warm enough you think you might not need a coat. These days are usually followed by sub-freezing temps and even colder wind chills.

Not only am I ready for Spring because I'm sick of having frostbite from walking outside for more than one minute, I'm ready for Spring because of the opportunity it holds for Infuse. In the winter here people tend to stay in their homes (and who can blame them), making a ministry based around relationships very difficult to puruse. I'm thankful that God has given us some opportunities during these cold months, but as the temperature creeps up it opens a whole new world of possibilities for us. We can be out in our neighborhoods more, go to the park, attend summer festivals, and the list goes on. All this makes me excited for what the next six months hold for us!

Podcast: Costly Discipleship

2008-03-04T06:31:00.001-08:00

Is discipleship supposed to be easy?

Get the podcast.

Subscribe through iTunes.

Monday Thoughts: Still Wrestling

2008-03-03T08:23:00.000-08:00

Last night we focused on Luke 17-20 in our discussion time. The passage that we spent the most time on was Luke 18:1-8. This is the parable of the unjust judge--basically a rude and obnoxious guy who didn't care about anyone. A woman came to him asking for a judgment in her favor. He put her off, but she continued to pester him until he gave her the judgment she wanted just to get her off his back. The reason for this parable? "Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up." Luke 18:1

The trouble with this is it sounds like Jesus is saying, "If you just bug God enough he'll eventually give you what you want just to get rid of you." Michelle said she had a pastor explain this passage once by saying he envisioned God having a big jar, and every time we pray for something he puts a marble in the jar. Eventually the jar fills up and then God answers the prayer. What?!? So God is playing a game with us where he could answer our prayers anytime but he'd rather make us fill up a jar? And he won't even do us the favor of telling us how big the jar is? That doesn't seem to fit with the characterization of God as good and caring.

To make sense of this seemingly negative characterization of God I think we have to apply what Jesus says in Luke 11:11-13. Basically that human parents know how to give good things to their children, so how much more will God give good things to his children. So in this case, if an unjust judge will eventually give in to someone who is persistent, how much more will God, who is just, answer those who call to him for justice.

Last night just reinforced that this issue of unanswered prayer, and how prayer works, is an important one. Cory noted how our usual way of dealing with prayer is to celebrate when God answers and not talk about it when he doesn't. That just doesn't seem to do the issue justice. For more thoughts on some of the issues that play into unanswered prayer you can listen to last week's podcast called Wrestling Prayer.

Podcast: No Regrets

2008-02-28T07:11:00.000-08:00

How do you want to be known? Is your life on track to get you there?

Get the podcast.

Faith in Advertising

2008-02-24T14:04:00.000-08:00

On Saturday the fam and I decided to get out of the house. We made a stop at the library (where Michelle actually met a new woman and set a playdate with her (for the kids of course) this week!) and then went on to a toy store near here that has a train set and lots of toys for the kids to try and break so we have to buy them.

After following Ayla around the store aimlessly for about 45 minutes I figured it was about time to go. We put our coats on and headed out the door. As we exited into the cold Chicago (well, technically Chicago area) afternoon a few people walked briskly by us and shoved something into Michelle's hand. The guy who forced the leaflet into her hand didn't say anymore than a gruff "here." With two kids to juggle and a diaper bag we didn't have a chance to look at it until we were on the way home.

You can probably guess what it was for--a new church opening in a theater in the area. It looked nice, very professionally done, but I couldn't help thinking this trio was going to do more harm than good on their pamphlet-distributing mission. If we were people seeking a faith community (which is who they seemed to be targeting) I can't imagine we'd check this one out. Professional advertising still doesn't outdo friendliness and service. Imagine if one of them had offered to carry our diaper bag to the car and actually interacted with us like regular humans! That might have compelled someone to check out their church, but their manner on Saturday probably wouldn't do much more than further ingrain some negative stereotypes of Christians. Perhaps the most ironic part was that the slogan on the brochure was "No Perfect People Allowed," maybe they were just trying to live out their slogan.

The point is, following Christ through kindness and compassion will speak far more to people than the flash and presentation of our gathering places. And I think Jesus would be far more concerned with the former as well.

Podcast: Wrestling Prayer

2008-02-20T18:20:00.000-08:00

This marks the first week of the Infuse podcast. As I become more familiar with it hopefully the audio quality will increase and we'll have options for you to subscribe to it if you'd like. This week's podcast focuses on prayer, something we dealt with here on Sunday night.

To listen to the podcast just click here.

Road Rage Reduction

2008-02-20T08:44:00.000-08:00

Cory and I are working together in a coffee shop this morning and we were talking about our efforts to put into practice a strategy for prayer that we talked about on Sunday night. Basically the idea is to use down times in our day to focus on different kinds of prayer. For both of us these are the shower, driving to work, driving home from work, and before falling asleep at night. We are focusing on worship, giving thanks, offering requests, and confession. Cory said he's had times this week (in only two days!) when he was praying in the car and something happened that sent him into mild road rage, which made for an interesting contrast to the prayer. Unfortunately, I can associate too well with this.

Yesterday I was on my way way to work and came to a point in my harrowing journey where the two lanes merge into one. The sign on the side of the road clearly indicates that the right lane merges into the left, which means the left lane should have the right of way. Now, because I am so philanthropic, each day I allow one of the cars from the right lane to get in front of me. After patting myself on the back I continue on my way to work. Well, yesterday I was allowing the nice minivan beside me to take the sacred space in front of me, when a big, menacing SUV came roaring up beside me, got within about a foot of the beautiful minivan who was playing by the rules, and made it clear that he was going to try and butt his way in front of me. I was going to have no part of it! (Did I mention I was praying as this started to happen?) So I rode neck-in-neck with the presumptuous SUV as we came closer and closer to the point of merging. This continued to the point that the horrible SUV was about to be driving on the shoulder. At that point I relented and hit the brake so he could take his wrongful place in front of me. I sat in my car, shaking my head like a disappointed parent hoping with all my might that he was looking at me in the rearview mirror.

At that point I remembered I had been praying, and I knew my attitude at the moment was not godly, but even realizing that I was still upset! I prayed about that attitude and slowly remembered that in that bully SUV was a driver who God loved, who I should love. That's the hard thing about prayer, it doesn't allow us to be selfish or angry! Hopefully Cory and I will both reap the benefits of praying in the car and have a road rage reduction.

Monday Thoughts: Wrestling Prayer

2008-02-18T07:27:00.000-08:00

Last night we focused on Luke 11:1-13, which is Jesus' teaching on prayer to his disciples. The main thing we wrestled with, which is sort of a timeless conundrum when it comes to prayer, is "why does our experience often not match up with what the Bible says about prayer?" We all know people who have prayed with incredible faith, fully believing they were praying for God's will through the direction of the Holy Spirit, expecting God to answer, but he didn't.

There are some common ways of explaining this:

1. God did/will answer, but not in the way or the time we expect.
2. The prayer wasn't in God's will.
3. The person praying had unconfessed sin or not enough faith.
4. God did what was best for his kingdom.

Here are some things the Bible says about prayer:

1. God wants us to ask him for things. (Luke 11:9-13 verse 13 is important to consider here; Phil. 4:6; Eph. 6:18)
2. God answers our prayers. (Psalm 5; Mark 11:20-25; Luke 11:1-11)
3. Our lives and the state of our relationships impact our prayer. (Isaiah 1: Mark 11:25; James 5:16-18)
4. God responds to persistence/boldness in prayer. (Luke 11:1-8, 18:1-8)
5. Motivation matters. (Matthew 6:5-15, 25-34; Luke 18:9-14)
6. Walking with the Holy Spirit directs our prayers. (Luke 11:13; Rom. 8:26-27; Eph. 6:18)

We have been talking about all these things in relation to prayer in general, but more specifically in relation to our prayers for the expanding of the kingdom of God through Infuse. Any thoughts on this important topic?

Northern Illinois Tragedy

2008-02-15T06:30:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's shooting at Northern Illinois University is hitting close to home for us. We don't know any of the victims, but where we live in Aurora we're only about 25 minutes away from DeKalb, the home of NIU. We do know one couple who live just off campus--the husband is a grad student there, but he didn't know any of the victims well.

Somehow the proximity does make it strike a little harder though. Whenever something like this happens it is horrible and tragic. Please take a moment to pray for the students, staff, faculty, and parents of those at NIU. Pray that out of this horrible evil God will be able to fashion some good and that he will bring comfort to the hurting. If you want to read more I'm including a few links below.

The Aurora Beacon News
The Chicago Tribune

Setting Goals, Kind Of

2008-02-13T07:52:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday night we spent some time talking about setting goals for ourselves and Infuse as a whole for the next six months. One of my hesitations with this is that goals can be limiting. I would hate to set a goal lower than what God wants to do. I also have to realize that the work or reconciliation and redemption is driven by God, not me. He uses me, but I don't have control over it, so setting goals may be somewhat presumptuous.

So in light of those thoughts, we have agreed to spend this week praying about what God wants for us individually and as a group in the next six months. We focusing our prayer on three key areas.

1. Relationships: It is natural for relationships to exist on multiple levels. Jesus had the crowds that followed him, his band of disciples, the 12, and his closest 3. We want to make sure that we are growing relationships from people we don't know yet all the way through those we're closest to intentionally.

2. Tangible blessing: We want to show the love of Christ through service to our community as a whole, and more specifically to the people we're in relationships with. This means cultivating a mindset that looks for ways to bless people.

3. Shared life: In order to develop strong and meaningful relationships we have to share life with each other. Instead of having a time we share with fellow Christians, another time with non-Christian friends, and other time serving, we want to incorporate all of those people into all of life.

We'll let you know how this comes out this Sunday!

Weekly Thoughts: Authenticity

2008-02-05T07:10:00.000-08:00

As we launch our new website and I try to be MUCH better about blogging regularly, one thing I'm going to start doing is writing a little bit about our discussion each Sunday night. This past week we had a Super Bowl party, which went really well. But I wanted to share about the discussion we had the previous Sunday. We're reading through Luke right now, just discussing as much as we get to on a given night, and a week and a half ago much of our discussion foucused on the area of authenticity. What sparked the discussion was Luke 6:37-42.

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." He also told them this parable, "Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? Students are not above their teacher, but all who are fully trained will be like their teacher. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in someone else's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say, 'Friend, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in yoru own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from the other person's eye."

One of the things I've heard from people who won't go to church or struggled to make themselves go is that when they go they feel judged. Now your first reaction to that, like mine, might be, "But people aren't judging them, that's not true!" The problem with that is their perception will rule what they think of the church and probably Christians in general. But we can control perceptions, can we?

There are a couple ways we can try. One is by being open and authentic. Maybe part of the reason people feel judged is that all the Christians they come in contact with seem to have it all together. We all know they don't, but despite our belief in salvation by grace and the forgiveness of God, we do tend to hide our deficiencies and problems. We make it look like we've got it all together, so people who don't are naturally going to think we view them as inferior. So we need to work on removing our fascade and showing the world who we really are.

The second thing is that we can get to know people outside the church. It is very difficult to control how people percieve a large group, but it is much less difficult to control how people perceive us as individuals or families. Someone may believe the church is judgmental, but if they get to know you, and you're open about your own struggles and you are not judgmental of them, then they can't say all Christians are judgmental. But this means we can't spend all our time in a church or with our Christian friends. We need to be a light where people need a light. Our authenticity there can change people's false perceptions.

The last thing we discussed is how we respect people who are authentic. There was a woman in our Sunday School class in Denver who was completely open with the whole class (which included people she barely knew) about some very deep struggles. None of us thought, "wow, she's messed up, I can't believe she comes to church." Instead, she was one of the most respected and trusted people in the class. I will always look up to her in this area of authenticity. Our fear of what people will think is a deception Satan uses to trick us into being fake. Trapping us in our addictions and sin while making people uncomfortable about their imperfections at the same time. Real authenticity is a discipline, but it is one worth striving for.

Pray with Us

2008-02-04T07:26:00.000-08:00

We believe that God is very involved in our lives individually and in the world as a whole. The biblical call for us to bring our requests before him is a very real invitation to impact what happens in the world. We don't manipulate God, but just as any parent responds to the requests of their children, God responds to the requests we make of him. There are times when God cannot give us what we ask for because we ask for something that is bad for us and bad for his kingdom, but when we ask in line with his will, we believe he answers our prayers. One way to know we're in line with his will is to pray the things that are instructed in the Bible. One of these is very appropriate for Infuse right now, and we'd like you to pray this with us.

Luke 10:2 says,
He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

This is an important prayer for all God's people, and we feel it is especially important for Infuse right now. As we approach ministry as missionaries, we will make a much greater impact for each person who pursues this mission with us. So we're asking that you would begin praying with us that God would send us more workers who resonate with the vision of Infuse and want to reach out to those who are far from God.

One suggestion (made by Neil Cole, the leader of Church Multiplication Associates) for remembering to pray this each day is to pray at 10:02 (since the passage is from Luke 10:2). Whether you pray at a certain time each day or not, we ask that you would begin to earnestly ask God to send more workers to us for his glory and the advance of his kingdom!

Shaping Community

2008-01-21T08:45:00.000-08:00

Last night my wife threw me a surprise 30th birthday party with the other people of Infuse. We had a great time playing games, sharing a fun meal (four courses, matching four different life stages!), and getting to know each other better. As I sat there enjoying our time and laughing as people shared some of the crazy things they did growing up, it gave me a wonderful picture of what will be as people who are not Christians make their way into our community. I could picutre people there with us enjoying themselves and feeling connected to this developing community of people who want to serve God. That was exciting to me!

One of the things Michelle and I have been talking about quite a bit it what it looks like to share life as a community. Instead of seeing ourselves as a group that gets together once a week, we want to grow into a people who share life throughout the week. Times like last night help us to grow together and make that more possible.

The Miniature Earth

2007-12-13T06:47:00.001-08:00

Cory posted this slideshow on his blog and I think it's worth taking the time to watch. I think some of us get sick of hearing how rich we are as a nation--and as individuals, but we continue to do so little about it--and I am the first to admit I'm an offender on this count.

At the end of the slideshow there are a few websites listed that have to do with ending poverty. If you have the time check one of these out.

Organic Church

2007-12-11T07:31:00.000-08:00

In the last week I've been reading the book Organic Church by Neil Cole. It's been out for a while, but I never read it largely because of the cheesy cover and the cheesy picture of Neil in the back (I know I'm so fickle). I started reading it because I got a copy for free, but had I known what was in it I would have gladly shelled out some cash. This is one of the best books I've read in a long time.

Cole provides a powerfully prophetic message for all Christians. It is true that he promotes a very non-traditional approach to church (which I resonate with), but what he writes is not focused on the form of church so much as it is focued on calling us back to Christ. Here is a tasty sample from the book.

All of us invested in the Kingdom of God long deeply to be a part of a spontaneously growing and multiplying movement where God is doing the work. We read the book of Acts, and our spirits scream to be a part of something like that. When we hear reports of the Kingdom expanding and lives changing overseas in China or India, our souls are touched in a deep place that we seldom feel, and it reminds us that our own experience is so empty. It is unfortunate that we sacrifice our heart’s desire for lesser things. The reality is that as long as we invest in human-driven efforts, we will never see what we all really want to see…There is a risk involved in seeking a spontaneous movement. We must trust God to do His part. We must be willing to place ourselves in a position where, if he does not show up, we will be seen as complete fools. Most have not been willing to take that risk. We are often afraid that God’s reputation will be tarnished. This fear is not from heaven but hell. We will never see the dramatic power of God if we are too afraid to be placed in a position that requires His deliverance.

Do we even know what it would look like to put ourselves in such a place? Are we so comfortable that we wouldn't know how to be risky if we wanted to?

You're a what?

2007-11-26T19:05:00.001-08:00

Usually thinking about missionaries leads a person's mind to wander down a path that leads to a place located across at least one large body of water. Somewhere just outside Chicago, Illinois isn't exactly a traditional missionary destination. But it is a place in need of missionaries, and that's why we're here.

It seems that almost every week there is a new statistic released that trumpets massive changes in the way Americans view and practice Christianity. Whether you've seen these statistics or not, you may sense that things aren't quite the same as they used to be. You hear grim reports about youth leaving church once they go off to college. You can't put your finger on why, but it doesn't seem that Christianity has quite as much of an influence on our culture as it used to. You hang out with people who are as interested in showing up at church as they are in dusting. Your experiences and statistics indicate that we are increasingly a nation in need of missionaries.

There are many good churches in the United States making a great impact on the people and communities they serve, but there are also an increasingly large number of people who won't ever step through the door of one of these churches. To reach these people, there have to be those who will approach our culture as missionaries--going to people where they are and being the presence of Christ with them.

This kind of missionary takes time and patience, which is a bit of stretch for me because I tend to have a solid impatient streak.
You can ask anyone in the group I pastored in Denver--if something didn't work in three months (or sometimes one) I wanted to change it. This constant change made it difficult for people to discern what that group was about and didn't give any of our strategies time to succeed.

Now God has taken us from that ministry to one that requires even more patience (do you think he's trying to tell me something?). When a missionary goes into another country, they don't expect to see converts and have a thriving church in a few months. They know that their work, if it is done right, will take a long time. It takes them years to develop relationships, see people put faith in Christ, and teach them what it means to be missionaries as well. Though the context is different, our work is really no different. If we want to reach people who have no interest in going to church, we need to take a long time to listen, be with them, and understand how the gospel is best communicated to them.

When we came here I hoped to see massive impact in the first few months, but I'm learning that's not a missionary pace. The work is intense, and being missionaries has required a huge adjustment in how we live, but if we really want to reach people we have to have a wider lens. I am training myself to think in terms of three years rather than three months. And Michelle gives me a gentle reminder of that every time I talk about changing something.

Go Read Some Other Blogs

2007-11-19T07:51:00.000-08:00

A couple of the board members have posted about some aspect of the board meeting on their blogs.

For a nice, long (but worth it) video of a talk by Michael Frost see Cory's blog.

For a more laid back, picture tour of the time with the board go to Mariam's blog.

The First of the Board Meetings

2007-11-15T20:06:00.000-08:00

On Monday and Tuesday of this week we had our first annual meeting of the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors plays an important part in setting the direction of Infuse and provides accountability for our direction. It's amazing the cross-section of people God has blessed us with in this group.

Mark is a youth pastor at South Suburban Church in Littleton, Colorado.
Mariam is a doctoral student at St. Andrews in Scotland.
James works with Kingdom Advisors in Atlanta, a Christian financial organization.
Cory works at Christianity Today and is a part of Infuse here in Aurora.

I am really excited about what the next year holds for us and the vision God has given. These people all played an important role and we're thankful for their commitment!

Michelle's Thoughts on the First Three Months in Aurora

2007-11-01T07:57:00.000-07:00

Moving to Aurora was one of the hardest steps of faith I have taken in my life. We are in a place where we hardly know anyone and we do not have the community of faith we have had virtually our whole lives. It has been a hard move for our family both relationally and financially. It is hard to meet people when you are a stay at home mom with two small children and you are not attending a traditional church. This has been a struggle in a lot of ways, but also a blessing as we are realizing what it takes to be misssional. If we had stayed in Denver our established friendships might have hindered us since we wouldn't feel the same urgency to meet people. I am desperate to meet other moms so I have created two moms groups in order to develop some life-long friendships as well as minister to people.

My first group is a playgroup on Wednesday mornings, we have around 5 moms that attend and we let our children play and we talk. Isaiah and Ayla love it because they have friends to come over again, and I love to be able to be with other moms. The women are each unique and a gift. This past meeting I felt so encouraged as there were some beginning discussions about church and life. I am already learning tons about the women and look forward to serving them. I also recently started a moms' night out group that is purely to really converse with other moms. Our first meeting is this week and I am very excited to see how God uses this as well! Thinking about my groups, it is a real eye opener how people are yearning for
relationships. People truly need people, that is how God has created us. These two groups are not "it" in terms of being missional. We are missionaries. We are trying to meet people wherever we go (Starbucks, scrapbooking, grocery stores, etc.) and changing our mindset to be open to how God might use us. It is a challenge in many ways to be here, especially being away from the deep relationships we had in Denver, but also good since it forces us to be our in our world, loving people as He does.

Blog Migration

2007-08-07T13:52:00.000-07:00

As the birds of the ponds in Indiana migrate south for winter, so this blog is preparing to migrate. The Infuse website is now up at http://www.infusechurch.com and that is where this blog is moving. The focus will change just slightly with this change. I hope that numerous people from Infuse will be contributing, talking about whatever is on their minds. We will continue to write the kinds of things we're writing here, and we'll probably even post things in both places for a while, but the days of this blog are limited.

If you have time check out the website and let us know what you think. It's a starting point and I'm sure it will change quite a bit in the next year, so input is welcome!

Evangelizing the Churched?

2007-08-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

The first day of the class I had the opportunity to teach this summer we went around the room and talked about our backgrounds. One of the guys in the class shared something like this.

"I have some background with Christianity. I went to church with my mom until the end of high school. But in the last couple years I haven't really gone to church or anything. I wouldn't consider myself as a believer now."

I thought it was brave of him to be so honest, especially at a Christian university and in a Bible class.

The class was on Colossians, and we got to talk quite a bit about what Christianity is supposed to be and how that can differ from what it has become. We also had a good class where people felt comfortable asking difficult questions. Those led to some good discussions. At the end of the three weeks of class that same guy came up to the front, shook my hand, and said, "Thanks for a good class. If I were living in Chicago I'd want to come to your church."

What changed? I don't know that answer for sure, but based on the questions he asked and comments he made in class I have a guess. I don't think he had ever really heard the gospel. This man, who had grown up in church, had never heard the full good news of Jesus Christ. He heard that he was supposed to behave in certain ways, but not that Christianity was supposed to be about following the way of Christ and letting that impact every part of how we live, think, and interact with others.

This was a good reminder to me that just because someone grew up in church doesn't mean they know the gospel. We have to be ready for spiritual discussions with people we might think should alrady know about following Christ.

We're Here!

2007-07-30T08:21:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a moving extravaganza! I rode to Aurora with my father-in-law on Friday morning to meet our landlord at 11:00. As we started to unload the trailer a downpour began, which finished about the time we threw the last box in the garage. After that we spent the afternoon helping Megan, Michelle's sister, move into her new place which is only about five minutes from us! My favorite part of that move was that we had to take the railing off her balcony and hoist her box spring up while standing on the U-Haul trailer because it wouldn't fit up the stairs. Michelle, our kids, and my parents arrived safely in Aurora around 3:00.

We spent the bulk of the day Saturday moving all our stuff out of Cory's garage and spare bedroom. It was pretty hot, so I soaked through about four shirts, but we got it done. Many thanks to Cory, Megan, Michael, Steve, Twyla, and Jacki for all their help.

Here's the top five things I learned from the weekend:
1. I'm not meant to be a mover.
2. Stairs are evil.
3. People make jokes about the humidity in the Midwest, those are not funny.
4. If you ever want to move it is best to just have folding chairs as furniture.
5. You always have more stuff than you think!

Church Plant FAQs

2007-07-25T19:40:00.001-07:00

(Below are frequently asked questions that have been asked of us as we're preparing for this church plant. Hopefully it'll help you understand more of what we're planning, however, we realize that the Holy Spirit will direct this.)

What is a missional church?

It is a group of Christ-followers who organize their lives individually and corporately around the two-fold mission of spiritual and physical redemption in the world.

Why are missional churches like Infuse needed?

American culture has undergone major changes in relation to Christianity over the last fifteen years. There are about 100 million unchurched Americans, and the church only reaches about 35% of the demographic range of the population.

As Jim Peterson says in Church Without Walls, "We must take into account the fact that we live in a society that is, in many ways, reverting to paganism. Biblical beliefs and values are becoming increasingly foreign to popular thought."

In the past people have come to the church for guidance, relationships, and spiritual insight. For many, this is no longer the case. The United States is following in the footsteps of other Western countries, such as Australia and England. Those countries are now considered to be largely spiritually dead.

What are your hopes and dreams with Infuse?

Our hope is that the Holy Spirit will move in a mighty way through our efforts to bring people into a relationship with Jesus Christ that will result in lifelong discipleship. We desire that out of this movement there would be three primary outcomes:

--A missional church planting movement would be spawned that reaches outside of Aurora. Many other networks similar to this are being formed all over the country.

--That the prayer Jesus told us to pray, "Your kingdom come," would be increasingly answered as we change our world by serving and loving people in practical ways.

--We would foster true discipleship that leads people back into their own world as missionaries.

What will you be doing through Infuse?

Much of what we do will center around cell groups. We view these as a cross between a house church and a small group. They will be given a great deal of freedom to self-organize around the values of worship, community, and mission. We want them to take a unique shape based on the people participating in them and the segment of culture they wish to reach. We do not see them as being controlled by a centralized leadership, rather they will be networked to each other through open communication and bound together by the common values.

When we have more than a couple groups, we’ll also start a weekly gathering for all those involved in the network. This gathering will not be used as a front entry to the church—that’s what the cell groups are for. This will be a place to worship together, communicate our vision, and hear stories of life transformation.

Are you working with a church, denomination, or church planting organization?

Yes, we’re partnering with Christian Resource Ministries and their missional branch, Missio. They’ll provide training and lead us through these beginning stages. You can find more information at these links: http://www.crmleaders.org and www.missio.us. We’ve also established a board of directors that will guide and support us, and provide accountability. Finally, we are setting up missionary-type relationships with a number of existing churches.

Where can I get more information about what you’re doing with Infuse?

We will consistently be updating our church website and our blog. You can find more at these links: http://infusechurch.com and http://infusing.blogspot.com. Or, of course, give me a call or send me an email.

How will your day-to-day life change?

My day-to-day life won’t change a lot. I’m still working full-time at Christianity Today, but my time away from work will be focused on Infuse. My service will focus on meetings and strategy, practical community service, and relationship-building.

What are your financial needs?

Trevor will be spending the most time with Infuse. We’re praying that he’ll only need a part-time job and the rest of his family’s needs will be subsidized by support that we raise together. In addition, our support will go to community service and outreach in Aurora. An example of this might be a tutoring program at a local housing complex. There will be some overhead, like office supplies and a computer. In total, our goal is to raise $100,000 the first year with that decreasing as people join us and tithe to the church network.

I want to learn more about the missional church movement. Do you recommend any good books?

Yes, definitely! Here are a few of the books that have shaped what we’re doing.

Church Without Walls by Jim Peterson.
The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch
The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church by Reggie McNeal

Also, Leadership journal recently dedicated an entire issue to missional churches. You can find a summary here.

Church Plant Update

2007-07-25T19:28:00.000-07:00

(Below is my update letter I sent this week about Infuse. We ask for your prayers.)

Friends,

In college my closest group of friends often talked about serving in ministry together, but it was more of an unrealistic dream than something that would ever come to fruition.

For these seven years since graduation, I’ve worked at Christianity Today International. I get to help create resources that equip churches and their leaders, and I’ve grown more in love with the church and convinced that it is the hope of the world.

Lately, through my professional and volunteer church work, God has shown me that one of my unique gifts is apostleship. Apostles are entrepreneurial and often seen using their gifts on new frontiers of ministry like church planting or creating new ministries.

With this in mind, I want to share with you some exciting news in my life.

On July 27, one of my best friends from college, Trevor Lee, and his family will move from Denver to Aurora, Illinois to follow a call God has grown in us—the call to be missionaries to our own culture. We’ve chosen Aurora because of its diversity and its great needs, and Trevor has seen the passion and commitment I’ve developed for this city over the last several years I’ve lived here.

Statistics show that people are detaching from church and becoming increasingly unfamiliar with what it means to be a Christian. You’ll probably notice this just in your circle of influence. I’ve noticed this as more people my age stop being part of a church or never show an interest.

We’re starting a church called Infuse. We want to take time to develop relationships and to understand how to reach those who have had little or no contact with the church. We’ll simply serve and love people more intentionally throughout Aurora.

Infuse is a non-traditional church plant, based on an organic model that is gaining momentum in the States. Practically, it looks like going to a new country to be missionaries. This means taking the time to really listen to people, gain an understanding of what the Church would look like for them, and empower them to live out faith in Christ within their cultural setting. We don’t expect quick, tangible results because we know that relationship-building takes time.

We cannot fulfill God’s call on our lives without the support of our friends and family. We’re looking for partners in this missional church plant, and I thought it was important you know what we’re doing so you could pray with us in these beginning stages.

Because we are starting with a small group and pursuing a model that will take time to make an impact, we will also need financial support to make this work. If you feel led to support us financially in this start-up ministry, you can fill out the card below and mail it in the envelope provided or sign up for electronic funds transfer at www.InfuseChurch.com under “Support.” If you are willing to pray for us, please also let us know on the card so that we can keep you updated on what is happening.

I love talking about what we’re doing so please ask me questions. Attached is an FAQ page that provides more detailed information. We’re excited about this new spiritual journey and look forward to you being a part of it with us.

Trusting in Him,

Cory Whitehead

Praying for Puppies?

2007-07-17T06:10:00.001-07:00

One balance I've often struggled with in prayer--especially group prayer--is taking everyone's issues seriously but not making prayer some kind of trite grocery list of suggestions to God. What do you do when someone says their dog needs prayer because it's going to get a shot? Or that their grandma got a bad watermelon at the store that she can't take back?

On the side of accommodating, and even encouraging, any and every request are a few things. One, I believe that God is intimately involved in the world and that there isn't anything that escapes his awareness. So on some level, anything that is a concern to someone is a concern to him. Second, I don't believe I have the right to judge the validity of someone else's experiences. So if someone says they are anxious, sad, or angry about something, my reaction shouldn't be to dismiss it as stupid. It may be something that wouldn't matter to me were I in their shoes, but apparently it does matter to them. Third, I believe that God answers prayer. Prayer is not just something God uses to shape us (though it can do that), he has invited us to shape his involvement in the world through prayer.

On the side of not wanting to accomodate seemingly trite prayers are a few other things. One, the Bible doesn't give us many examples of the kinds of prayer. Prayer in Scripture is rich and is far more about the things of the kingdom of God than it is about minor inconveniences or pains. Two, prayer requests like these tend to make group prayer time less meaningful and more routine. It's easy to make a list, check it twice, and talk out loud about it under the pretense of it being prayer. Sometimes it may be prayer, but I know that there are many times I've just prayed for someone's request without passion or desire because I thought I had to. Many times these requests seem to come out because someone really wants to say something, just give an update on their life and not know when else to do it, or spread some gossip. Third, this reinforces that Christianity is all about "me" and God giving me what I deserve. I don't have time to write about all the things that are wrong with that and how that thinking has neutered Christianity.

Something that motivated this is an article I came across by JoHannah Reardon on group prayer. Again, there's no hyperlink button on this computer, but if you're up for cutting and pasting it's at http://www.christianitytoday.com/smallgroups/articles/artofgroupprayer.html.

Your thoughts on the topic?

Article Worth Reading

2007-07-10T06:40:00.000-07:00

This article (http://www.theofframp.org/emerging.html) (sorry, my hyperlink button in blogger isn't working) by Brian McLaren was brought to my attention and I think it's worth reading. A few of my favorite lines to entice you into reading it are:

"So, this quest for community challenges us not to seek community as a commodity, but rather to pursue love (which is patient, kind, not rude, etc.) as a practice, which yields community as a byproduct."

We have massive systemic problems, one of which is "Our transience , which means right about the time we, against all odds, get close to a circle of friends, half of them will up and move away."

"Old categories merge in what I believe is a radical shift in our theology, from a system in which "missions" is one department of theology, to a new place where theology is one department of mission."

"In contrast, missional Christianity says, "God is expressing his love to all outsiders through our acts of kindness and service. You're invited to leave your life of accumulation and competition and self-centeredness to join us in this mission of love, blessing, and peace. Want to join in the mission?"

Any thoughts?

Living in Two Worlds

2007-06-28T10:06:00.000-07:00

The Bible attests that those who follow Christ have been delivered from the dominion of darkness and brought into the Kingdom of the Son (Col. 1:12-14). This sounds nice--like something we'd be happy about, but it raises the question of how we live in light of the fact that we are now citizens of and earthly kingdom and the kingdom of God. The implications for mission are not as problematic as the reality of how we live our lives as individuals and communities. For instance--

How do function as self-giving, patient, sacrificial, forgiving, long-suffering communities (Col. 3:12-16 among others) of faith when we are transient, fragmented, selfish, and individualistic people? The realities of the life we've bought make the kind of community life envisioned in the New Testament (and perhaps best illustrated in the picture of a body of believers) a distant reality that appears as a shadow to us. We find it difficult to imagine spending the time and effort it would take to develop deep family bonds with fellow believers let alone to find the challenge and encouragement there to push us out into service and witness in the world. We just don't have the time. We have accepted a life where our deepest relationships with other believers are forged in an hour or two a week. We don't have the patience to work diligently on much anymore, we just want quality quickly.

How can we show people a life characterized by love for enemies and peace when one of our foremost concerns is our rights? Whether or not we should retaliate when our rights are violated isn't given much thought. We just assume that if we are mistreated, caused to suffer, or just not given our due, then someone needs to pay for it. The example of our Master might lead us to consider otherwise (1 Peter 2:20-24).

How will we learn to be disciples of the homeless, sinner-associating, positionless Jesus when we love money and comfort? The life we are called to, both individually and corporately, cannot be lived in the service of more than one master. I just wonder how badly we twist the message of the Master so that we won't have to feel too uncomfortable. We are often bowing to masters we don't know are there, because we don't take the time to look and see them.

Much of this comes out of reflections while teaching Colossians. It is an enormous task for us to live in the place we occupy in this world, as faithful messengers of our Lord, while at the same time being transformed by the upside-down values of the Kingdom of light.

Super Saturday

2007-06-25T10:38:00.000-07:00

Michelle and I returned to Aurora this past Saturday to search for a place to live. I ended up being a great day and I wanted to share a couple highlights. In case you're interested in the general but not the specific, I put the general praise in bold and then wrote more about it after.

We found an amazing place to live that is perfect for us right now in many ways...that's what I describe below.
We started the day looking for a place to live in Naperville, then went to Warrenville, spent some time on the east edge of Aurora, and ended up on the west side of Aurora. Most of the day was pretty discouraging in regard to the places we were seeing. However, the last place we went, the one we thought would have no chance, ended up being great and we are approved to be able to rent it. Here are some of the reasons it's so great.

There is a huge unfinished basement. It will need a little sprucing up, but this will be a place that can hold 20-25 people so as we have parties and as our cell group grows there will be plenty of space to meet. Since it is in the basement it is also far enough away from the kids' rooms that they would be able to sleep while we are talking, singing, or whatever. Most of the places we looked didn't have anything like this and we would have had a hard time fitting more than 10 people in the living room.

It is in West Aurora. All along we have liked the diversity of Aurora and wanted that to be the place we were centrally located. We thought we might have to compromise that some because it is so difficult to find a place to rent in the area right now. So we had been preparing ourselves to be in a less than ideal location, at least for the first year. This is in a very nice neighborhood, is only 5-7 minutes from downtown Aurora, and will be a great place to be. We think we could be very happy living here for a number of years, which we thought was out of the question until we saw this place.

There is a huge backyard. Not an easy thing to find in any city. This will be great for our kids, and beyond that there are only partial fences between yards and the person renting to us said people will play across the yards--sounds like a great way to meet the neighbors!

The rent is the cheapest of any of the places we looked at!! Enough said.

The second, and more important, great thing that happened on Saturday happened at lunch. We got together with a couple we met for the first time in May and they told us that they wanted to be a part of Infuse!

The first time we met with Brian and Sarah we left lunch and Michelle said, "When he talks it sounds like you! Or maybe when you talk it sounds like him. Either way, you two think so much alike about the church and what we need to be in our culture." It is a blessing to be joined by a couple that is so seriously pursuing how to live out faith in our culture and are mature in their faith. As a bonus, we sincerely enjoy being with them and just look forward to growing our friendship. They are a really amazing couple!

We have prayed for a long time that God would give us at least 8-10 people by the time we start. We are now up to 6 and look forward to who else he will bring to be a part of this.

Overall we just want to praise God for the way he is abundantly providing for us. We don't function out of a mentality that he owes us or anything, but it is a good reminder during times like this that he does answer our prayers and enjoys providing richly for us (I don't mean he gives us a lot of money, let's please not go there). So praise the Lord with us!

How We View the Poor

2007-06-11T11:32:00.000-07:00

One of the things we will make a priority with our church is serving our community, and specifically the poor/oppressed. I was reading an article by Mark Buchanan called Wreck the Roof about the ways they've had to change their focus as a church in order to really reach out to the needy and came across a great quotation. He is talking about a program they do where they give backpacks with school supplies to the children of single parents. Before they begin he meets with the volunteers from his church and here is what he tells them.

"Today, you are Christ's voice, his hands, his feet, his eyes, his heart. If these people see Jesus, it will be in you. And, like Christ, we are doing more than rendering a service. We are loving them as ourselves. We are not just serving, but having Jesus' attitude--being in very nature servants.

"Life and circumstances, and ofthen their own bad choices, have taken many things from these people. But what each of them needs most today is not clothes or a new backpack or an oil change. We can give all those things and fail to give the one thing needed, or even worse: we might give all those gifts with one hand, and with the other strip them further of the one thing needed.

"The one thing needed is dignity. It is their sense of being loved and worth loving. It is their sense of their infinite value in the eyes of God, and in the eyes of God's people. If we give all those other things today but don't give them dignity, we fail. Today, give the one thing needed. Today, we host kings and queens, princes and princesses. Let us act accordingly."

I nearly cry every time I read the last two sentences. So often we see the poor as projects at best and a nuisance at worst. If we serve them with that attitude we will do more to push them down then to give them a hand.

Once in Denver I pulled up to a stoplight and there was a man begging on the corner. I rolled down my window and here's how our conversation went.

"Hello."
"Hello"
"What's your name?"
"My name's Abraham."
"Hi Abraham. My name's Trevor. I'm sorry I truly don't have anything I can give you today, but I just wanted to say hi. It's got to get tough being out here all day."
"Thanks man. I lost my job two weeks ago and haven't been able to get another job. I've been putting in applications but nothing's come through. I really hate being out here and just want to find some work so I don't have to be."
At this point the light turned green.
"Well, I will pray that you get work soon."
"Hey, thanks for saying hi. You don't know how much that means."

The look in his eyes is one I'll never forget. When he told me it meant a lot that I said hi it was like he had been given hope. That seems wierd to me, to get that from someone saying hi, but I've never had to beg on a street corner, so I can't know what that does to you.

I don't tell this story to say I'm great or something. I shudder to think how many times I haven't stopped to say hi or how much I should have done and didn't. My point is that dignity is important. I can't imagine how humiliating it would be to stand on a street corner and ask for money. Or how humiliating it would be to go apply for welfare. We can do so much good by treating the poor as the equals they are. We cannot forget this point if we really want to please God.

June Is a Key Month

2007-06-04T10:51:00.000-07:00

I was able to spend some extended time in prayer for Infuse over the weekend, and I realized that June is a really key month for the development of this network. Trevor and I have decided to fast one meal a week throughout this month, and I'd love to have you do the same if you feel led.

We're going to fast every Wednesday's lunch in June, starting this Wednesday, June 6. This will help protect and prepare us, and we want to be plugged into, and at the center of, what God wants for us and this ministry.

Whether you decide to join us or not, I do ask that you pray with us on these key requests:

--That we'd be protected from Satan during this time. Temptations and low points are probably imminent as we're embarking on something that pulls us into territory that Satan does not want us to go.

--Affordable housing in Aurora for Trevor and Michelle. Please pray that opportunities will arise soon, and something could be nailed down in June to prepare the way for them to move to Aurora in July.

--A job for Trevor that integrates well with his schedule and doesn't take too much time away from his family and the development of Infuse.

--Paperwork and processes. Trevor has made great progress with articles of incorporation, website, logo, budget, fundraising and support, but much of this is tedious.

--Support. Trevor has the opportunity to preach and talk about this ministry, meet with churches, and share our vision alot in June. Please pray that God will provide what is needed.

--Excitement and anticipation. We want to stay positive and have a soft heart for people that need to hear about Jesus. Pray that we don't get so bogged down into the details that we forget about loving people.

Thanks for your support and friendship! We couldn't do this without a strong network of other people.

My (A)Spiritual Situation

2007-06-01T12:42:00.000-07:00

As we move toward starting our church, I have spent the last week primarily on articles of incorporation, bylaws, and a budget proposal. None of these strikes me as a particularly spiritual endeavor. In fact, the month we have been in Huntington has been somewhat a-spiritual for me. The passion God grew in me to begin this church that drove me to Him in so many ways in the months leading up to our departure from Denver has been buried under paperwork. This gets compounded by the fact that I fight regressing to the person I was growing up. It's funny how location can have power over us mentally and emotionally.

I digress. Last weekend I was on my way back from Aurora after a great weekend with friends from college, and during the last twenty minutes of my drive I started having some horrible fears that I've never had in my life. I quickly became aware that they were from Satan, and I began to pray that God would take them away. Despite my prayers, they grew in intensity all the way home. They have subsided now, but that evening was a strong reminder to me that we are involved in something intensely spiritual. Though I don't enjoy the attack, I took a couple important things from it.

First, we must be doing something Satan doesn't want us to do. In my experience and in the experience of others I've talked to, that is when attacks seem to come most. Second, I'm thankful for the reminder that I am desperately in need of strength from God. I may be able to fill out paperwork on my own, but I can't fulfill his call on my life on my own. I was grateful to be reminded of my dependence on Him.

Church Without Walls

2007-05-25T10:42:00.000-07:00

I came across this book by Jim Peterson by accident. I was looking for McLaren's book on the church at the library and this one was nearby. The title caught my interest so I decided to skim it. I liked it so well I bought it and now I'm rereading it. I can't recommend it highly enough. It contains the best explanation of where we are, how we got here, and where we need to go from here that I've seen. There are a couple sections that get a little slow, but it's worth pushing through them.

One of the things I like most about this book is the brief review of church history. He admits that he is omitting many things and only including things that will help to show how the Western church has come to where it is today. He does an excellent job of showing what a number of Church Fathers contributed to the church while at the same time being bold enough to show how some of their major foci have had negative consequences.

This has become my #1 recommendation on the missional church along with The Forgotten Ways.

The Longing Begins

2007-05-22T10:57:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Michelle and I were able to travel to Aurora together for the first time. We left the kids in Huntington (with someone, don't worry) so we got to go on an actual date Friday to celebrate Michelle's birthday. That time along with the time in the car each way was great for us. We were able to share with each other what we're feeling about our transition to church planting and moving to a new place on a deeper level than we've been able to in weeks.

There were a few other great things that came out of the weekend.

1) Cory and Megan spent their entire Saturday showing us around Aurora and Batavia. This was great for Michelle and I because now as we look for jobs and places to live we have a reference point for where things are. We disagree already on where we want to live, but I'm sure it will work out in time.

2) We were able to have lunch with a couple named Brian and Sarah on Saturday. They are thinking along the same lines we are in regard to church and the kingdom of God, so it was great to talk with them about that. They are also really fun people and we had a great time getting to know them. We're excited to spend more time with them in the future.

3) Eli Steenlage, a friend who I met in Denver, made a logo for us. I don't have the jpg yet, but I'll put it up when I get it. He's very talented and I'm excited about it.

4) Cory's current church (Ginger Creek) is partnering with another church in Aurora (Family and Faith) to make an impact on the city of Aurora. The pastor of that church spoke and Ginger Creek Sunday and he was amazing. His message was very prophetic and really challenged me. If you have time check out the podcast from the link above.

5) We got to spend some great time with Cory and Megan. We are so looking forward to living near them and engaging in the mission of Christ with them!

So those are some highlights. We both came away from the weekend more antsy than ever to get there. We pray that God provides in a way that allows us to do that soon.

What's Our Creed?

2007-05-17T07:38:00.000-07:00

In our discussions about a doctrinal statement, one of the ideas I had was to start with the Apostles' Creed but update/revise it a little bit. My hope in doing that would be to tie into the history of the Church while updating the language and a couple points of doctrine. Below is a draft and the changes that were made. I'd love comments on if this is an okay thing to do and what changes need to be made to it.

We believe in one true God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—Creator of heaven and earth. Jesus Christ, the only Son of the Father was born of the virgin Mary and was truly God and truly human. He lived a perfect life, died on a cross, and was buried. On the third day he rose from the dead. He appeared to many witnesses and ascended into heaven where he mediates for us at the Father’s right hand. One day he will return in glory and fully establish his kingdom.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the one body of Christ—comprised of all who are in him, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and eternal life.

What else needs to be included?
What is included that doesn’t need to be?

Changes from the Apostles’ Creed

1. The Father is not identified as Creator apart from the Son and the Holy Spirit since Scripture attests that all three were involved in the creation in specific ways.
2. That the one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is made explicit.
3. A statement about Jesus’ perfect life is added and the direct reference to his suffering under Pilate is removed.
4. The mention of descending into Hades is removed. There are varying opinions on whether or not this is what Scripture refers to. It does not seem to be an essential point.
5. A statement of his appearance to witnesses is added.
6. Christ is specifically named as our mediator.
7. The statement of judgment is replaced with a statement of the establishment of God’s kingdom. Might be good to include both.
8. The “holy catholic Church” is replaced with the biblical metaphor of the body of Christ.
9. “The communion of the saints” is removed.

Reimagining Evangelism

2007-05-15T19:56:00.000-07:00

It's no news that the Christian culture sometimes doesn't do the best job at engaging nonbelievers, and there's a pretty obvious culture clash in America. A recent article from The Christian Science Monitor tells one story of a man seeking to build bridges with those without faith.

Jim Henderson of Off the Map (please check the site out if you haven't) is a former pastor who realized that most people never come to church and now is on a mission to help other Christians realize why evangelistic efforts turn people away. If nothing else, his resources are a great discussion starter and thought-provoker.

FaithVisuals.com actually has a free, downloadable video from Off the Map called Three Minutes With Three Lost People.

Open Systems 1

2007-05-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

I have been doing a lot of reading, thinking, and discussing about open systems in recent weeks. The most recent impetus for this pursuit has been the book "The Spider and the Starfish." It looks at two organizational models. The first is a more traditional, hierarchical brand. It is compared to the spider because it dies if you take away its leadership, akin to cutting off the head of a spider. It is solid, but lacks the ability to adapt quickly. The second is a very decentralized, always-morphing organization that tends to honor leadership based on character and action rather than on position. This one is compared to a starfish because a starfish can be cut in two and rather than dying it will only produce two new starfish. Without going into all the details and making this entry insufferably long, suffice to say that starfish organizations are stand up to change much better (and change is a staple in our culture) and they tend to bring out greater participation and creativity from their members (something we long to see in Christian discipleship). It seems open systems could be good for the Church.

At least in the things I have been reading there is much talk about embracing open systems in our manifestations of the church. Of organizing in such a way that there are not centralized buildings and leadership, or even programs and theology for that matter (don't read that as saying "any statement about God is as valid as any other"). I think that were open systems truly embraced there would be great benefit to the people of God, but there are barriers to realizing this change. One is that humanity loves control. If an open system is created, influence must be earned over time, it cannot be taken or granted through title and position. This also makes paid church leadership a more "iffy" proposition. Not that it can't happen, but it must be abandoned as a necessity or right. A second problem is our undying fear of heresy. We must be in control or we will slide into something far removed from a biblical theology and practice. Other than the glaring problem that much of the Western Church is already in this predicament, especially in the area of practice and subservience to idolatrous ideologies, where open systems have been formed they have shown themselves to self-regulate. For instance, you might expect Wikipedia, with its availability to anyone's contribution, to be a hodgepodge of idiocy and misinformation, but it is nothing of the sort. It is largely accurate and when people do put misinformation on it usually corrected quickly by other users. We may be less necessary as gatekeepers of theology than we think.

There is much more to be said about this, but I'll leave it here for now.

Legal Bonanza

2007-05-01T07:01:00.000-07:00

Now that we have temporarily settled in I am working on our incorporation and board of directors. I always knew I wasn't cut out to be a lawyer, but never have I had it confirmed so clearly as I have today. I have to read most sentences three times before I get an idea of what is being said and I'm becoming increasingly aware that I need help so I don't make any big mistakes.

It has been odd for me to reflect on the organic nature of what we are trying to do in contrast to the highly structured requirements of the law. It seems like a difficult task to fit a fluid organization into such a rigid container. I'm still not sure how I will fashion the legal documents in a way that doesn't stifle the freedom of all those who will be involved. There's a part of me that feels like it would be better to skip becoming a legal organization all together, but you give up too much in terms of legal benefits and protection if you take that step.

All this to say that I am reluctantly receiving an education this morning. It is one that will continue for days and even years to come.

No More Moving--For Now

2007-04-26T04:57:00.000-07:00

This morning I'm sitting on Cory's couch in Aurora. The move from Colorado is complete, and it was memorable! (A side note--all I really know about Michelle and the kids at this point is that they have made it to Huntington and that the trip wasn't great. Lots of crying, no sleeping--but they're there and safe.)

I got up Tuesday morning and walked outside to discover it was raining--hard. I went from the Naden's house (Southern Gables worship pastor whose family graciously allowed us to stay with them) to my brother's house to load the car up and get the truck. He and I got the car loaded, but it was raining so hard we both had to change clothes and towel off before leaving.

Because of the rain and the time of day, the 15 mile drive through Denver took about an hour. We had been looking forward to our trip together so much that neither of us really cared about the rain or the traffic, we were just glad to be enjoying our time. We had some great talks about theology and the Bible and spent a lot of the time playing stupid games that gave me the hiccups.

Our first night we stopped somewhere in Iowa. It was still raining. When we got up in the morning, it was still raining. In a show of our fatherly inability to really sleep in we were up and on the road again by 8:00. About two hours from Aurora, it stopped raining. This was a huge blessing because we didn't have to unload the truck in a downpour.

One side note--if you ever drive a big ol' truck through the Chicago area, bring wads of cash for tolls. Each one cost us $5.35.

One other great thing is that Cory let us put stuff in his spare room and the garage so we didn't have to rent a storage space. Cory, Ryan, Megan, Michael, and I worked a sweet assembly line up the stairs and filled the spare room in record time.

So we're glad to be here. I do miss Denver already and so many of the people who have greatly impacted our life who we will see less frequently now. But we know that they will continue to be a part of our lives and we continue to see God's graciousness to us in the transition.

God's Goodness in Pain

2007-04-16T19:03:00.000-07:00

Coming to Denver from Indiana five years ago was tough for us. When we left we all had to drive separate cars, and when we made our first stop I got out and saw Michelle's eyes stained with tears. She said she had cried for the first two hours of our trip. We both had a hard time leaving our families. We assumed we'd be in Denver for three years and then move back nearer home.

Now, five years later, we are taking the step we thought would be a relief--we're moving back to the Midwest. We are very excited for what lies ahead of us, but it is very difficult too. One of the prayers we prayed when we came here was that God would give us good friends, and I know Michelle prayed for that especially hard. We have seen God answer those prayers beyond what we could have imagined.

Now, when Michelle thinks about leaving, she is moved to tears in the same way she was when we came. If I stop and think about our move in the midst of the busyness I also have a hard time thinking about the people we're leaving.

It's this pain that has been my greatest reminder of God's goodness in the last few days. First, that God would create us with an ability to relate to others in a way that leaving them would be painful. I praise Him for that. And the fact that he has made this place that is so far from home become our home, that could not have happened without His hand, and I praise Him for that. So our pain is our reminder of the goodness of our God. It is this goodness we throw ourselves on as we move to the next chapter in our lives.

Crazy Weeks

2007-04-06T04:53:00.000-07:00

We are now only a little over two weeks from leaving Denver. After spending five years here we are sad to go but excited for what is coming next. I don't think the full impact of leaving will hit us for a while because there is so much to do at the moment. We are packing, figuring out how to start a 501C3, looking for housing and jobs (thanks to Cory and my parents for their help on that front!), trying to see everyone here one last time, and finishing up our jobs here.

I am thankful that our lives will only be so scattered for a few weeks!

Who's Purpose 3

2007-03-28T20:28:00.000-07:00

I want to wrap up my thoughts on our current church culture and historically American values with a look at wealth. Here's some of what Scripture has to say on the topic.

"Those who love money never have enough; those who love wealth are never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless." Ecclesiastes 5:10
"No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." Matthew 6:24
"Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely--be content with your pay." Luke 3:14
"And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time, those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need."

It would take a very long post to lay out all the Bible has to say on this very important topic, but these verses illustrate the biblical witness on a few key points. Aquiring wealth has always been a central tenent of the American dream. Entrepreneuership, upward mobility, and a solid portfolio are all things to be coveted. I'm just not sure Jesus' values would match our infatuation with wealth. A few observations about America, the church, and money--

First, in American culture and in the church, money is a very private and personal thing. The fruit of wealth is often seen in houses, vehicles, boats, and other luxuries, but don't ever ask someone how much they made last year or how much they give to Kingdom efforts--that's too personal. The passage in Acts doesn't say that everyone knew how much everyone else had, but they must have had some awareness. The wealthier people knew when there were others in their community who didn't have enough and made sure they were provided for. Now churches are big enough that we can find ways to hide from the needs of others. Our wealth and the way we use it are like our sex life--private knowledge that we keep to ourselves.

Second, Americans and the American church are never content with their current level of financial resources (Ecc and Luke). Norman Rockefeller was once asked, "How much money is enough?" He replied, "Just a little bit more." This summaries the American view of wealth well. Unfortunately it doesn't seem this is often much different in the church, it's just masked more carefully. More money is desired in the name of better programs, which we assure people will mean better ministry. I've never heard a church talk about their excesses and scale back. Rather, attention is given to how just a little more money would solve all the problems. We have adopted this mentality of finding purpose in the pursuit of just a little more wealth.

Finally, Americans have made wealth a god. We work long hours to provide as many things as possible for our families, but we remove ourselves from their lives in the process. We compare ourselves to whoever is one rung up on the financial ladder and try to figure out how we can match them, only to look up again when we get there. We assume more money to buy more things will fulfill us, only to be left empty and wanting. The god of wealth has also invaded our churches. We give preferential treatment to those who put a big check in the plate. We drool over the large houses and vehicles of congregants, never imagining that we should question their stewardship.

Our nation's history and values have taught us that wealth is good, period. This may be the most difficult area for us to embrace Kingdom values, because it will cost us comfort and status.

The Chinese Church

2007-03-25T19:16:00.000-07:00

Last week I made a connection that has encouraged me about the missional church movement. As you probably know, the Chinese underground church has grown rapidly--impressively--over the last decades.

The Chinese church forms cell-like structures because they have to. The government's persecution and interference have forced them underground, but they've stayed connected and networked. These Chinese house churches simply can't become a religious institution with "baggage"--buildings, famous leaders, theological and political debates. They have to "travel light," as Alan Hirsch says in The Forgotten Ways.

And the movement has spread because they're driven to prayer, and the Holy Spirit, and the responsibility and passion for sharing Christ comes back to the individual and away from an institution.

I see some connections here with how a missional church usually works. We can learn alot from the Chinese church--and come to think of it, it's not too different from the early church, is it?

Raising Support

2007-03-22T12:05:00.000-07:00

One of the necessary parts of what we are doing is support raising. I don't think a family of four can live on thirty hours a week at a coffee shop, so I have to pursue support relationships with people. This is probably the thing I have dreaded most of all that we are doing, but two conversations in the past week have eased that dread a little bit.

The first one was with a guy named Matt who works with Missio. We were talking about raising support and he said, "This is going to be very difficult for you until you believe that people need to give to you as much as you need them to give." I've been reflecting on that, and I do believe that it would be beneficial for people to be involved in it through financial support. It is a way that others can participate with us in God's call to missional church planting. We can't do it without them and they might not be gifted or called to go and do it.

The second conversation was with a friend from Southern Gables named Jim. He and I haven't had the chance to get together all that often, but he always challenges me to think and I appreciate his influence in my life. He was talking about the chain that exists between people in all the work of the Kingdom. For instance, if a person enters into a relationship with Christ, there is someone (more likely many people) who have represented true Christianity to them through words and actions. And there are people behind those people who shaped them in a way that they would be disciples. The chain goes on and on, but I think it really applies to our support raising. We don't yet know who will be impacted by our efforts in Aurora, but I believe those people will go on to have significant impact on others for the Kingdom. If it were not for people supporting us, that chain of influence would not continue to expand.

I can't say I want to become a full-time fundraiser now, but these conversations did help to give me some perspective.

Who's Values 2

2007-03-19T08:44:00.000-07:00

In order to not belabor the point I'm going to pretty much skip over the second item I mentioned in the first post--alcohol consumption. All I will say about that area is that I think there may be a connection between the years of prohibition laws and the evangelical church seeing alcohol consumption as a sin for many years (even if this wasn't stated people lived as though it were true). This seems to be changing but that may only be because we are far enough away from that time.

Now I want to turn my attention to a couple values the evangelical church has adopted from our nation that are not biblical. In this post I want to deal with pride (I'll deal with wealth in the next one because it will take its own post!). Below is a sample of what the Bible has to say about pride.

Pride leads us away from God. 2 Kings 19:21-23; 2 Chron. 26:16; Jer. 13:17
It is associated with the wicked. Job 20:5-7; Psalm 10:4; 31:18;
It is evil. Prov. 8:13
In whatever sense pride is positive it is pride in a proper relationship to God and the opposite of the things the world takes pride in. Gal. 6:4; Jas. 1:9-10

Despite a strong biblical stand against arrogant pride, it is an area of sin that is seldom addressed in the church and at best is given some lip service. Most people are socially conscious enough not to be vocal about their pride, but it abounds in actions and false humility. Many of us take pride in our status, job, income, abilities, achievements, and other things we believe come from ourselves.

I believe the reason pride is given relatively free reign in our churches is that our nation has taught us that pride is positive. This starts with national pride. We see ourselves as the greatest nation in the world. It is true that we have more freedom, security, wealth, and power than most if not all the nations of the world, but instead of seeing ourselves in a place of responsibility to serve the world we tend to view ourselves atop the pile of humanity. Though we would never say it, we view the people of the world as beneath us. We take pride in our high position.

This American value of pride extends to both self-esteem and the pursuit of the "American dream." We have been taught that pride in ourselves is essential to functioning properly as human beings. It is what gives us a positive self image. It is often pride that drives us to pursue the things that will bring us status in the eyes of others. As Americans we virtually worship the rich and famous and in so doing reinforce the idea that pride is positive.

Pride is an American value the Church has adopted as its own. A trend that is far-reaching...

Holy Conversations

2007-03-15T19:32:00.000-07:00

I had one of those holy conversations this week with a friend. It was one of the first times we've sat down and discussed Church, and it was uplifting to hear his heart, thoughts, and passions. I want to share some of his insights because I think he's one of many people that struggles with some of these things:

He’s felt a pull to become a pastor, but recently decided to hold off seminary because he has seen pastoral work lately as alot of administration and running the business side of a church. He's uniquely gifted at teaching, mentoring, and spiritual development.

He struggles with the professionalism that is pushed upon churches that grow from small to large. No longer is it about the heart of the person, but it’s about who can preach and teach best, who can sing and play best, and, sometimes even who looks best.

He's seen that spiritual growth isn’t happening at the service, and he believes people aren’t experiencing spiritual growth because they’re not in spiritual relationships with others.

Churches he has visited explain everything in three points or four tips, as if you can explain Jesus and put Him in a box. He's wondering if/how churches should embrace the mysteriousness of Christ?

This isn't about negativity toward the Church, nor do I think I have the answers. These are simply statements that I've thought about, and my friend has thought about, and I know others think about.

Article Alert

2007-03-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

First, I have to admit that I stole this blog title from Drew Moser, and I'm not ashamed of it. This article is about the way we use power and authority and whether or not the way we use it is modeled after Christ. I wrote it after being convicted that too often my use of power or desire for it looks nothing like Christ. You can follow the link from Christianity Today or just click here.

Who's Values Part One--Sexuality

2007-03-14T19:20:00.000-07:00

I've been playing with an idea now for a couple weeks and am really interested in feedback (I know commenting on this blog isn't of highest importance for everyone, but I'd love to get in some face to face conversations about this).

My basic premise is this--the sins the evangelical church has been most critical of are the ones that have been most strongly opposed in our nation's history. The ones we let slide (and sometimes even promote) are the correspond to the values applauded in our nation's history. I will deal with four issues here by way of example--sexuality, alcohol consumption, wealth, and pride. Because this takes some time to develop I'm just going to take one per post.

Sexuality
I recently had a friend who was asked to marry a couple who claimed to be Christians. He asked them if they were living together and they responded that they were. He told them that if they didn't live separately until the wedding that he would not do a Christian ceremony. He would still do the ceremony (and believed that they were Christians who had gotten off track in this area), but he would do the same thing he does for people who are not Christians.

Until the sexual revolution of the 1960s the United States was a fairly conservative nation in regard to sexuality. I don't pretend people weren't having affairs, premarital sex. and homosexual sex, but these were not things people broadcast. To a large extent they were looked down upon, even outside the church (and in what I'm trying to develop that is actually more important). Then the era of free love came along and blew up the conventional sensibilities of the nation in this area. At the time, many looked down on those who led and participated in the revolution that shifted how we think about sexuality. But over the years our nation's culture has come to accept and even glorify promiscuous and liberated sexuality.

But not so with the church. We would like to point to the Bible and say that we take a strong stand on issues of sexuality because it instructs us to do so--and I don't dispute that it does. However, we don't take a strong stand on all the issues the Bible speaks to, even those it speaks to strongly, so why this one? For many years we were able to stand with our nation in affirming a certain sexual ethic. Our nation has shifted but we have remained steadfast. It seems even that may be changing.

To come back to my friend. I don't think he did the wrong thing. He took a stand on an important topic. And he did it out of love because he knew the people he was dealing with. It made them do some reflecting and helped them realize they had stopped trying to please Christ above all else. So my example of him is not a negative one, I'm just asking the question, why are we so strong on this area where sin can manifest itself?

Returning to Consumerism

2007-03-08T14:35:00.000-08:00

I want to come back to the quotation in the blog entry on Liquid Church. Mariam had a great comment regarding some of the themes of the Bible in response to that post.

I think I get what Pete Ward is saying (and I only say that because my response may not apply if I don't get it). His quotation, and much of the book, sound like he is just trying to make the faith understandable and relevant for people in a fragmented and diversified culture. He even mentions not "dumbing anything down." This point is valid. Different people will understand the gospel in different ways and have to apply it to the circumstances in which they live. This is one of the key things the missional church must consider.

However, he takes an unnecessary step in labeling this as consumerism. Consumerism has to do with consumption. Taking things and using them up. At least in our culture it has to do with accumulation of goods (and in that way is directly connected to materialism, though consumerism also includes experiences and other intangibles). The gospel is not a product. It is not something that will be accepted by everyone if we can just find the right bottle to put it in. This vastly underestimates the role of the Holy Spirit and the severity of the call of Christ. I would go so far as to say that viewing the gospel as a product to be marketed to consumers is one of the key contributors to the utter futility and lack of depth in American Christianity. It is seen as one more product to be used in the service of our enjoyment and ease of life. This is the most hideous distortion of the gospel I can imagine.

So while I can agree that we must take culture, language, customs, experiences, etc. into account as we seek to spread the good news of Jesus Christ, I cannot agree that this gospel is compatible with consumerism. Consumerism is a poison to the gospel we proclaim.