WCLS: Efrem Smith

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

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

1. 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.
2. Authentic Confessing Community. Leaders have to lead in being authentic. We have to actually care about each other.
3. Stay Connected to Christ. "Apart from me you can do nothing." Stay connected, fruit happens.

WCLS: Gary Haugen

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

1. 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.
2. 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

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

WCLS (Willow Creek Leadership Summit): Bill Hybles

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

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

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!

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

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

What should Christian marriage be like?

Get the podcast.

Missional Mish-mash

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

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"

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

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!

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

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

Get the podcast.

A Great Tuesday

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

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

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

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.)
3. Two of the people who were there expressed interest in hosting something for the neighborhood.
4. 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

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!

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

Growing a Reproducing Church
Rick Warren

How to grow a reproducing church:

1. Keep growing personally.
2. Take care of your family.
3. Develop a kingdom mindset.
4. 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

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

1. In Jesus Christ, God emptied himself.
2. In Jesus Christ, God atoned for our sins.
3. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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).

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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?

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

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Off to Orlando

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

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

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)

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

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?

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...

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Fifth Sunday

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

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

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

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Monday Thoughts: Holy Week

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

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

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

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

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

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

Is discipleship supposed to be easy?

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Monday Thoughts: Still Wrestling

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

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

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Faith in Advertising

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.