Specific Prayer for The Pathway

Most of my recent posts have referenced our Gather to Scatter strategy. A part of this strategy is our Gather to Scatter Community Outreaches which include 2 community dinners and a total of 4 mailers (something new for us). We will be sending 2 mailers inviting families to attend one of our Community Dinners and 2 mailers inviting people to our Easter Service. Each of these mailers will find their way into the mailboxes of over 9000 residents of the Hilltop and a little beyond. How God could choose to use this is something I can only dream about, and hope that he does more than I can even imagine.

That being said, I know that many who follow this blog are faithful to pray for The Pathway and the people of Tacoma. God is on the verge of doing something great in our city and we want to ask you for some very pointed prayer over the next month and a half. Below are the dates that we are asking for specific prayer. Please print this off and put it on your fridge, in your Bible or just set some reminders on your phone. God has responded so faithfully when we approach him with humble and passionate prayer.

Community Dinner Mailers:

March 13th (today!!!)

March 20th

These are the dates that our Community Dinner invites will go out! Please pray that the Holy Spirit goes before them, with them & continues to move in homes upon their arrival.

Easter Mailers:

March 27th

April 3rd

These are the dates that our Easter Mailers will go out. These mailers also introduce people to the sermon series that we'll be starting April 15th entitled-- What God thinks about... Our topics over the next 6 weeks will be Jesus, Sex, Homosexuality, Abortion, Social Justice, You-Me & Humanity

Gather to Scatter Outreach Dates:

3/25: Community Dinner

4/1: Community Dinner

4/8: Easter Worship Gathering

10:30am @ The Spot

4/9-14: Launch Intentional Communities

4/15: Ice Cream & Game Night

5:30pm @ The Spot

4/21: Trip to the M’s game... 1pm start

Bus departs @ 11:30 (The Spot)

4/22: Parent Child Dedication

10:30am @ The Spot

4/29: Baptisms... 10:30am @ The Spot

Thank you for praying for God to use our Gather to Scatter strategy to reach people for Jesus.

Life Change

I just want to report to all of you who pray for The Pathway and for Tacoma on a regular basis... God is bringing about life change. It's absolutely amazing.

Over the last 2 weeks we have seen two different parents... both new to walking with Jesus... overcome their fear, place their faith in God and teach the Bible to our children in Kids Ave! Seems small... so huge!

Most of you know that our greatest struggle right now, and hindrance to growth, is our lack of leaders. We lack leaders because the majority of The Pathway is new believers and not yet believers. Well, God is moving there too. An awesome couple is planning their move to Tacoma for this August! A church just outside Tacoma in Puyallup, WA has agreed to work towards sending us several families to help make disciples in our church for a 1-2 year commitment. We have a new couple who have committed to leading a new youth Intentional Community. We have an interim worship leader. We have a church planting intern that will be coming to serve with us for 6 months... and on and on. Lives are changing & people are growing.

Another example of life change by the grace of God through Jesus came to fruition just a couple weeks ago. A young single mom in our church had privately come to the point where she wanted to commit her life to Jesus and be baptized. Then I preached to sermons where I emphasized that a lack of obedience to Jesus and Scripture is evidence of lostness. She began to question herself and finally asked if she could sit down and talk with me and Kelli. The conversation that followed was life changing. She literally got to talk through her salvation until she was able to confidently proclaim her faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior... amazing!

Last but not least, God is changing my life. Every time I see God change a life, my life is also changed. I am humbled by what God is doing here in Tacoma and with every passing day my faith increases and I believe more and more strongly that God is preparing us for a great harvest in Tacoma... he is obviously raising up laborers at this point.

Life change is what it's all about. Life change brings so much glory to God. Please continue to pray for life change in Tacoma.

Random thoughts on depravity, humility & blessing...

Depravity: moral corruption

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the depravity of man. I'm going to be really honest here so I hope you are able to read my heart. I hope that I don't come across sounding too arrogant because that is not my intent at all. But over the last 2 years I have seen a depth of depravity... a vast demonstration of moral corruption unlike anything I've ever witnessed before. I've seen shootings, fights, drug deals, domestic abuse, rape, neglect, addiction on every level, sex offenders, child sex offenders, hatred demonstrated in a way that is difficult to describe and a level of selfishness that is nauseating at best.

That being said, I still know that I am depraved. I am morally corrupt thanks to the actions of Adam and Eve as well as my own sinful choices. But when I stand up to preach on Sunday mornings or when I sit down to simply listen and shepherd someone, I find it impossible to say with honesty that I understand where they are... I just don't. And that leads to my next random thought... humility.

Humility: modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance

As I try and point people to Jesus in the midst of a depth of depravity that I don't think I truly believed existed until a few years ago, I am humbled by the opportunity God has given me. I mean seriously, I am just an average guy with a relatively pristine pass. I have not dealt with the depths of substance addiction or the pain that comes from a broken home that so many of my church know first hand.

I have not spent time in jail and I don't have a history with gang violence. I'm just an average sinner, basking in the glory of God's grace in my own life and humbled that God could use me, would use me to shepherd people who live in and are abused by a level of sinfulness that I will probably never know first hand. I cannot live up to this calling. I am embarrassed at times to preach the depth of God's grace when I feel like my experience with sin is so shallow. But it's not about me.

That leads me to the third random thought with really no significant connection to the previous two... blessing.

Blessing: God's favor & protection

Over the last 2 years and most recently over the last 2 weeks my family has experienced a level of blessing... a level of God's favor and protection... that is beyond comprehension. I'm so thankful that God's grace is so all encompassing. It really is applied to all facets of the christian life including blessings to sustain us through the trials.

In my last post I asked for prayer for our housing situation. Long story short, we were buying a house and everything fell apart the day before closing. We had already given notice to our landlord so we had 12 days to find a place to live, pack up and move.

Blessing #1: God provided us a great house in our neighborhood so that we could still live amongst the people we have been called to reach. That house by the way is allowing us to save money every month from what we've been paying the last 2 years.

Blessing #2: Our parents. Kelli and I are both constantly overwhelmed by the love and support of our families. We took their kids, and more importantly their grandkids, two thousand miles away from them and they have all done nothing but support us, pray for us and bless our socks off in the midst of it. In the last 2 weeks my parents came to Tacoma and simply served their children. How many parents would do that? My dad helped (okay he did more than help) with all the repairs that needed to be done at the old house and the work that needed to be done at the new place. He helped us move and he never once complained. Meanwhile, my mom took care of two wild and crazy 2 year olds from sun up to sun down while we packed, cleaned, fulfilled ministry responsibilities and even slept in. We are so blessed.

Blessing #3: We truly have a church family. When we put the word out that we were moving, we were not shorthanded. We had a crew come down from our previous church in Snoqualmie, Tommy came down from the church we sent him to plant in Seattle and some of our own Pathway crew came and pitched in. Then, even more inexplicably, we put the word out that we had to clean our house and still our Pathway church family came running. We had people scrubbing toilets, patching holes and cleaning floors... all because of God's amazing grace.

The Point: I think the point is that all my random thoughts on depravity, humility and blessing lead me to the same place... worship. Our God is so good. In the midst of sin he gives grace and love and the only appropriate response is worship. Thank you God.

Crazy times

First & foremost I want to apologize for not posting last Monday. I truly appreciate all of you who follow our blog so faithfully and pray for us so passionately. There is a lot going on in Tacoma right now and I want to try and catch you up.

Most of you know that through God's provision and the Holy Spirit's guidance we've been in the process of purchasing a house. Long story short, the day before closing on our new place everything fell a part. It was the most unbelievable and unexplainable disaster... must have been God's sovereign hand at work!!! Unfortunately, by the time we found out we weren't going to close on our new house, our current house had already been rented out. That left us exactly 12 days to find a new place, pack up and move! Talk about crazy times?!!!

While all this chaos is stirring in regard to our house, our kids health starts to go haywire again. Rylan got MRSA a while back (a tricky form of staph) and it was miserable and painful for her. Well, we found out in the midst of our house chaos that she got MRSA again!!! Many of you know Jagen has had issues with acid reflux and severe stomach ulcers. Well, all his symptoms began to arise again last week. It seemed like nothing was going right!

Then, by God's grace, one of our good friends told Kelli that the awesome part of all these crazy things happening was the realization that God is moving in our midst. We've said it many times before... every time God starts to do great things through The Pathway, chaos breaks out in our family... typically through the health of our children. We just laughed at this observation and praised Jesus for allowing us to walk through the chaos for the praise of his glory. Romans tells us that those who are in Christ Jesus are more than conquerors! That there is absolutely nothing... no trial, pain, sickness or anything else that can separate us from the love of Jesus. We are clinging to that reality in the midst of so much uncertainty.

So, what exactly is God up to here in Tacoma. Well, I honestly don't know how to quantify it or describe it, but the Holy Spirit is moving. We are seeing people's lives changed by Jesus. Just the other day we had a single mom come up to us because Jesus is rocking her world. She wants to be baptized but she first wanted to make sure she fully understood what it means to be a Christian. Another young woman who we have been battling for showed up to our worship service on her own... for the first time ever. No one had to pick her up or invite her, she just came! New faces are showing up all the time. New leaders are stepping up including a couple tonight telling us they are willing to take a leadership role with our teenagers!

We still don't know for sure where we are going to live in 9 days... but we are confident God does. We have found a house but we are still waiting on the final approval from the property management company. Jagen had another test this week that for the first time revealed some possible answers to the problems he's been having! Rylan seems to be moving past her MRSA and the Spirit-led momentum for the gospel does not seem to be slowing down. Please continue to pray for Tacoma, pray for my family and pray for The Pathway as we try to saturate our community with the gospel. Please keep praying for life change!

Soup-er-Bowl

I'm sure most of you watched the Giant's beat the Patriots in a great game that went down to the wire. If you weren't interested in the game itself I would imagine you tuned in for the commercials or to see an aging Madonna put on a much anticipated performance. Most of you who know me even a little know that I am a sports fanatic and look forward to being glued to the screen every year during the super bowl. However, this year I don't think I saw one commercial and I missed most of the game... and I'm so glad I did!

One of the first ways we felt led to serve the Evergreen Neighbors (the community around our facility) was to throw and Intentional "Soup-er-Bowl" Shindig where everyone brought their favorite soup or chili and invited their families, neighbors and friends. Some people even met up the day before to go door-to-door inviting our neighbors to the party. The whole purpose was to develop relationships, love our neighbors and share the gospel. And boy did God ever bless the shindig. He is so faithful and so good.

I missed most of the game because we had so many new faces come to the party. We had people from the neighborhood, we had people from outside the neighborhood, we had a great number of our church in attendance and we even had many of our people bringing their family members for the first time. It was so amazing.

One man that came was named Dave. He's an older gentleman with a cool style... probably in his late sixties or early seventies. We sat and talked for a while and he said he doesn't go to church anywhere but does believe in God. I got to share the gospel with him and explain to him the difference between believing in God and following Jesus. He told me that he often wonders why he is still on this earth. I got to share with him that he's here because God loves him, wants a relationship with him and wants to use him for his glory and mission. Dave told me that was a very deep idea & that he thought it was good. I got his number so we can talk more.

One of our men had been praying that his wife would come with him and she did! We had two of our ladies bring their mom's for the first time. We had more new faces than I could count and had a great time in the name of Jesus. At half-

time we muted Madonna (or whoever was on at the time) for a few minutes to let people know who we are and to tell them that everything that was going on was about Jesus. It was an amazing opportunity and we're praying that God brings salvation, life change and Kingdom growth as a result.

Best of all, we got to model for all our future Intentional Community Leaders what it looks like to be the church and serve our neighbors. God was graceful to us and we pray and trust that he was glorified through our Soup-er-Bowl Shindig! Intentional Community really is a beautiful thing.

Roller Coaster

I love roller coasters. I haven't been on one in years. But I love them. They're fast, rough, exciting and scary. But one of the best things a roller coaster has going for it is that it's not a straight and predictable ride. It has many ups and many downs. That's one of the great things about church planting too. I know that sounds a little off. As a church planter shouldn't I want as many ups as possible? In a way that is true. If I had a choice to have people coming to Jesus and the church thriving and growing all the time of course I would take it. But if that were the case, I think my faith in God and devotion to Jesus would start to slip. The ups are where my faith is strengthened but the downs are where my faith is tested.

The last month has been really fun. We have seen God moving in a new and fresh way on the Hilltop. We have seen leaders step up, worship attendance increase and an Intentional Community launch made up of people who are passionate about reaching our mission field... the Evergreen Neighborhood. Then yesterday, seemingly all at once, the momentum came to a screeching halt. It's like when you come to the end of an amazing loop on a fast roller coaster and you slam to a stop before beginning another incline. It really wasn't that dramatic... it just felt that way in the moment. We probably had half as many people at worship yesterday than we've had for the past month. None of the people I invited came and my message just felt... well... not great. It was just a bummer all around. It was then that I realized I have to be certain of why I am doing what I am doing. Is it for numbers or is it for Jesus? That is when my faith was tested and by God's grace my faith increased.

Then a blessing came. One of those exhilarating parts of the roller coaster ride. We have an awesome family in our church that is as committed as anyone to coming to worship but they have yet to be a part of our Community Groups or more recently our Intentional Community. I love them and there is so much potential in them, but hey haven't taken that next step. It always appears to be scheduling problems but I always wander if that's just an excuse. Then yesterday the husband came to me and told me that he and his wife came up with an idea so that they could be involved with our IC despite their schedule. They asked if they could skype in? I told him that was a great idea! I told him I was so encouraged that they value being a part of biblical community so much that they're willing to skype in until we can offer a gathering on a day of the week that works for them.

Roller coaster rides are full of ups and downs but it's faith in Jesus alone that sustains us through the ride. Thanks for praying. Please keep praying as we Gather to Scatter.

In awe of God's timing

Let me tell you how amazing our God is.

Most of you know that we are in a new phase in the life of The Pathway. We are calling the months of January-April our Gather to Scatter phase. We have combined all our Community Groups into one Intentional Community for the purpose of modeling what "being the church" can and should look like and then scattering at least 5 new IC's across the city. As a part of that modeling, we have adopted a section of our community called the Evergreen Neighbors as our mission field. Over the course of the next several months, as an Intentional Community, we are doing everything we can to pray for, serve and share the gospel with the people who make up the Evergreen Neighborhood.

We made the Evergreen Neighbors our mission field around November. That is when we started planning and praying about our Gather to Scatter strategy. Then, just before Christmas, God did something only he could do in a way that only he could pull off. Most of you remember that God gave Kelli and I another daughter when we moved to Tacoma. Her name is Tiffany and she came to us when she was 17 years old. The pain in regard to Tiffany is great but God is still working in her life and she is still in our life.

One day in December I received a call from a number I didn't recognize. On the other end of the phone was a lady who was looking for help for her pregnant sister. The lady's sister had just escaped an abusive relationship. She was pregnant, close to giving birth and did not have any of the things so many parents are used to receiving from baby showers, family and friends. I told her I would connect her with Kelli because we have so much baby stuff... it's practically coming out our ears! Before I hung up I asked her how she got my number. She said from Tiffany. I asked, "How do you know Tiffany?" She went on to tell me that Tiffany had called her in response to an ad on Craigslist requesting "baby stuff." She told her that I was a pastor and that I could "help."

Fast forward a few days and weeks and the lady and her sister came over to our house, went shopping in our miniature baby boutique (our garage) and spent a little time with Kelli. Kelli invited them to our worship service and they came that week. But they didn't just come. Over the course of the last month they have brought almost their entire extended family with them to various things we have done as an Intentional Community. This past Sunday the lady who originally called me on the phone came up to me teary-eyed and expressed her gratitude toward God. She told me she was amazed that we were putting all our focus on the Evergreen Neighbors because she has numerous siblings, cousins and other family members who live in the boundaries of the Evergreen neighbors. She said that God has used The Pathway to get them to be a part of a church and to hear the gospel for the first time. Awesome.

I love to plan, strategize and vision cast. But ultimately, not even the best strategist could orchestrate something like that. God is moving on the Hilltop. Please pray for us and for the Evergreen Neighbors as we Gather to Scatter for the glory of God and the sake of the gospel.