September for Tacoma has been beautiful and exhausting... but it's not over yet. Thank you all so much for your prayers and participation in this intentional effort to tangibly demonstrate the love of God to our city while taking every opportunity to share the gospel with them.
It all started last weekend with a block party for the city. We prayed a lot, invited a lot, sent out mailers to the Hilltop and beyond and then prayed some more. I have to say I was disappointed with the turn-out. There were a lot of people that came though over the course of the weekend but I was anticipating more. The comfort I have is that we prayed above all else for God to bring the "right" people and not just a large quantity of people. I trust that is what he did. We had a blast watching families play on the inflatables, take part in an illusionist show and eat a lot of hot dogs and sno-cones. Sunday we ate some more... pancakes this time... and watched the Hawks lose to the Cardinals... sad day.
Again the turn out for the Hawks game was surprisingly small but those that came were able to connect well with the people of our church who were there. Honestly the Hawks game was one of the hardest parts of the weekend for me because I felt like our church dropped the ball. When we went through our April is Awesome outreach the one thing I kept saying and praising Jesus for was that our church got out of their comfort zones, showed up at the events and did everything they could to connect with people. We had far fewer of our own church people at the Hawks game than we do on a typical Sunday and it just kind of bummed me out. We are asking people to do a lot this month but we tried to prepare everyone for a full and exhausting month. I was definitely disappointed in the turn-out. God was still at work though to be sure. There was one family in particular that came and hung out with us... rabid Seahawks fans... they had a blast and we got to know them pretty well through the event. I thank God for the new faces that came.
The highlight of the kick-off weekend was actually our evening worship gathering. We had the highest attendance we've ever had for a worship gathering and had a blast lifting high the name of Jesus. We got to baptize 3 people... a single mom and a husband and wife... and all three dedicated their children to the Lord that evening... 5 kids in all. It was a beautiful expression of the life change we long to see and there were a lot of new faces and unbelievers who got to hear the gospel preached through the Word and through baptism. It was awesome to say the least.
The couple who was baptized is an amazing story. Many of you have read about Bruce and Deidra on this blog. They are an amazing couple and an asset to what God has called The Pathway to be. Their brother-in-law Steve lives next to the spot with his wife Jenn and we've all been serving them and sharing the gospel with them for months. Steve has been diagnosed with a very ferocious disease and has been near death multiple times in the last 9 months. Well Steve finally gave his life to Jesus and we were able to baptize he and his wife. The other baptism was a young single mom named Nomi who lives in the apartment complex our interns were commissioned to reach this summer. One of our interns, Sarah from FBC Concord, TN befriended Nomi and shared the gospel with her all summer. When Sarah went home she was sad that Nomi had not yet given her life to Jesus but I think Sarah had little doubt that it was a decision Nomi was going to make. A couple weeks ago at an Intentional Community gathering Nomi professed that she had given her life to Jesus. Praise God for life change!!!
During the worship gathering we pushed hard for people to join an Intentional Community. We had multiple commitments from people and we are praying that they will boldly connect even as the emotion and enthusiasm starts to dissipate. The weekend had it's ups and downs but we got to meet so many of our neighbors and see so many new faces that there is no doubt God was at work. I'm so thankful for the team God has put in place here in Tacoma and how hard they are all willing to work to see the gospel infiltrate our community.
Tonight we had our third September for Tacoma event... a day at the movies. One of our Intentional Communities sponsored the event and their preparation and what God did blew away my expectations. Because I wasn't thrilled with the turn-out last weekend I set my expectations low for today. What did God do? He blew my expectations out of the water. We watched The Lorax indoors today at 4pm and had a great turn-out. We had people come back from last weekend... this time our church made a great showing... and one of our guys who runs the local family shelter even brought a van full of families from the mission. It was a great time of community and connection, all in the name of Jesus. Then at 8pm we had an outdoor movie and the turn-out again was phenomenal. We had so many kids, parents, and all around new faces that it made me realize this is why we did this outreach. It was awesome to see the body of Christ take ownership of the event, put in the time and effort and see God reward it so fruitfully... not because we are good but because he is great!
What now? Now is the time to continue to pray. We did not just do these events to draw a crowd. We did them so that people would be introduced to the life changing power of Jesus. Please pray that people come to worship tomorrow and respond to the gospel. Please pray that our church follows up with relationships that were started and please pray that people come back next Saturday for ice cream and game night. We are expecting great things from a great God and we ask that you pray for him to do more than we can imagine. I want to ask you to pray specifically that people would connect to a new Story of God Intentional Community that we are launching. A great opportunity for people to hear God's story and figure out how they fit into that story.
I also want to thank all of you who gave so generously to make this outreach possible. You know who you are and words cannot express how grateful we are for your generosity.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Monday, September 3, 2012
September for Tacoma... it's time to pray!
I can't believe it is already September 3rd! Where does the time go? By God's grace we had a full, fast-paced and spiritually productive summer. As a church we intentionally took the month of August slow as we prepared spiritually, emotionally, physically and financially to embark on a month that is wholly dedicated to God by dedicating the month of September to Tacoma. We don't want this month to be about us or for us. We want this month to be about Tacoma and for Tacoma. September for Tacoma.
If you have followed this blog long you probably remember praying for and reading about our April is Awesome outreach strategy. Long story short we spent the month of April initiating and facilitating relational opportunities with the people in our city for the purpose of sharing the gospel and connecting people to Intentional Community. Although not perfectly, it worked. The love of God was shown, the gospel of Jesus was shared, lives changed and the church grew. All praise to Jesus. As a result, we decided to do something similar again with the hopes of seeing God gain even more glory and more people coming to know Jesus.
Well, September for Tacoma officially began this past Wednesday as our mailers began hitting people's mailboxes inviting them to our first weekend of events. It continued this labor day weekend as all of our Intentional Communities hosted or will host intentional bbq's in their neighborhoods to invite people to our kick-off September for Tacoma events. So now's the time for you to pray. Below is a list of events that will be happening and again we'd ask that you pray for three specific things. Pray for people to feel the love of God. Pray for people to hear verbally the gospel that is available to them and then respond. And pray for God to get a ton of glory! Thanks so much and we will keep you posted.
September for Tacoma
9/8-- Community Block Party with Illusionist- Drew Worsham
9/9-- Pancake brunch/Seahawks watch party/Evening worship & baptisms
9/15-- Community Movie, 4pm & 8pm
9/22-- Community Ice Cream & Game night
If you have followed this blog long you probably remember praying for and reading about our April is Awesome outreach strategy. Long story short we spent the month of April initiating and facilitating relational opportunities with the people in our city for the purpose of sharing the gospel and connecting people to Intentional Community. Although not perfectly, it worked. The love of God was shown, the gospel of Jesus was shared, lives changed and the church grew. All praise to Jesus. As a result, we decided to do something similar again with the hopes of seeing God gain even more glory and more people coming to know Jesus.
Well, September for Tacoma officially began this past Wednesday as our mailers began hitting people's mailboxes inviting them to our first weekend of events. It continued this labor day weekend as all of our Intentional Communities hosted or will host intentional bbq's in their neighborhoods to invite people to our kick-off September for Tacoma events. So now's the time for you to pray. Below is a list of events that will be happening and again we'd ask that you pray for three specific things. Pray for people to feel the love of God. Pray for people to hear verbally the gospel that is available to them and then respond. And pray for God to get a ton of glory! Thanks so much and we will keep you posted.
September for Tacoma
9/8-- Community Block Party with Illusionist- Drew Worsham
9/9-- Pancake brunch/Seahawks watch party/Evening worship & baptisms
9/15-- Community Movie, 4pm & 8pm
9/22-- Community Ice Cream & Game night
Monday, August 20, 2012
I think I just experienced community...
That's right. The guy who is constantly talking about, preaching about and blogging about biblical Intentional Community. The guy who has tried to build into the very fabric of The Pathway that church is not a place we go on Sundays, it's who we are as the body of Christ on mission for God every day of the week. The guy who spends a significant amount of his time trying to teach people to live in community, serve in community, invite people into community and encourage people not to run from community when things get messy. That's right, I think God just graced me with a glimpse at what community could be... maybe even what it should be... if it wasn't forced, organized, recruited, trained, dissected, launched and well, orchestrated.
Let me explain.
Kelli and I cancelled our cable a while back and apparently no one in our family thinks I can survive without television (that's probably true) because we were immediately inundated with boxes of hand-me-down movies and TV series on DVD. Well, one of the series we were given was Season 3 of "24." I'll spare you the details, but I now have a serious man crush on Jack Bauer and I'm beginning to believe that I could actually pull of some of his antics... but that is probably for another blog. What started out as Kelli and I watching a season of "24" turned into a few of our friends gathering on Monday nights to watch all of the seasons of "24." It was usually 4, 6, maybe 8 of us who would watch. But as time moved on it has morphed into a night that is anticipated, looked forward to and planned for. We arrange our schedules around "24" night. It's kind of scary, but also kind of fun. That leads me to the experience I had to night.
I came home from running an errand for Kelli at Target and there was barely enough room to park at my house. There were 16 people crammed into the tiny living room of our little 950 square foot home. And with no air conditioning in Washington it was rather warm. Someone had brought homemade pizza and someone else had spent all day cooking pork. One of our crew had a birthday on Saturday so Kelli made her famous cake balls and somebody else brought ice cream. There were all different shapes, sizes, colors, ethnicities and cultural backgrounds in the room. There were followers of Jesus and there were those who don't yet know Jesus. We laughed, we poked fun at each other, we talked about our week. We ate food and we watched "24."
After our minimum two episode intake people sat around and talked for another hour plus. I had and heard conversations of life, of work, of stress and struggle. There was talk of Scripture and life. There were plans made, needs met, cars shared. One of our bunch even stayed the night so that we don't have to wake our kids up early when Kelli has to take me to the airport. And all the interaction, all the conversation, all the life shared just happened. I didn't plan any cute ice breakers, we didn't watch a cool DVD curriculum. We just got together to watch "24," and community... biblical and intentional community... well, it just happened.
As a pastor, I find myself working so hard, praying so hard, trying so hard to teach people to want community, to get in community, to love community and to be the church. I will say that I think that is necessary. So many people have missed it. But what if people truly just started being the church again? There was nothing orchestrated tonight. No one came out of obligation and there was no pre-planned schedule or script. It was just all natural, completely beautiful, Intentional Community.
Let me explain.
Kelli and I cancelled our cable a while back and apparently no one in our family thinks I can survive without television (that's probably true) because we were immediately inundated with boxes of hand-me-down movies and TV series on DVD. Well, one of the series we were given was Season 3 of "24." I'll spare you the details, but I now have a serious man crush on Jack Bauer and I'm beginning to believe that I could actually pull of some of his antics... but that is probably for another blog. What started out as Kelli and I watching a season of "24" turned into a few of our friends gathering on Monday nights to watch all of the seasons of "24." It was usually 4, 6, maybe 8 of us who would watch. But as time moved on it has morphed into a night that is anticipated, looked forward to and planned for. We arrange our schedules around "24" night. It's kind of scary, but also kind of fun. That leads me to the experience I had to night.
I came home from running an errand for Kelli at Target and there was barely enough room to park at my house. There were 16 people crammed into the tiny living room of our little 950 square foot home. And with no air conditioning in Washington it was rather warm. Someone had brought homemade pizza and someone else had spent all day cooking pork. One of our crew had a birthday on Saturday so Kelli made her famous cake balls and somebody else brought ice cream. There were all different shapes, sizes, colors, ethnicities and cultural backgrounds in the room. There were followers of Jesus and there were those who don't yet know Jesus. We laughed, we poked fun at each other, we talked about our week. We ate food and we watched "24."
After our minimum two episode intake people sat around and talked for another hour plus. I had and heard conversations of life, of work, of stress and struggle. There was talk of Scripture and life. There were plans made, needs met, cars shared. One of our bunch even stayed the night so that we don't have to wake our kids up early when Kelli has to take me to the airport. And all the interaction, all the conversation, all the life shared just happened. I didn't plan any cute ice breakers, we didn't watch a cool DVD curriculum. We just got together to watch "24," and community... biblical and intentional community... well, it just happened.
As a pastor, I find myself working so hard, praying so hard, trying so hard to teach people to want community, to get in community, to love community and to be the church. I will say that I think that is necessary. So many people have missed it. But what if people truly just started being the church again? There was nothing orchestrated tonight. No one came out of obligation and there was no pre-planned schedule or script. It was just all natural, completely beautiful, Intentional Community.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Repentance
God has really been working in my heart lately in some areas that need repentance. It's hard to teach and preach God's Word to people without living it out on a consistent basis. The major area where I need to walk in repentance is my love relationship with Jesus. I like to refer to it as my devotional life. I feel like if I'm not wholly devoted to Jesus and knowing him more intimately, then everything else will start to crumble around me. To be honest, I've allowed the work of ministry, all good stuff, to stand in the way of my intimacy with the Almighty. I've been fighting... but not fighting hard. God called me to repentance this week and I am committed to falling in love with Jesus all over again.
God also called me to repentance in another area. I pray passionately for my city to be transformed by the gospel of Jesus. I sincerely want to see a movement of God sweep over our city in such a powerful way that other cities, other people, other nations look to Tacoma, WA and want to know what on earth is happening that could transform culture in such a supernatural way. I was at the "Send North America" conference this past week in Atlanta, GA and a questions was asked that really led me to repentance. Someone asked everyone in the room, "If God decided to move in your city but he decided to do it through a different church, would you still pray as passionately for your city?" Ouch. That one stung. Although I do love Jesus and do love my city, my motives were brought to light in that moment. I realized that my main motivation recently in praying for my city has not been life change, it has been that God would use The Pathway as the spark to ignite this flame. God knows our hearts. God knows my heart. I want Tacoma to be flipped upside down by the power of the Holy Spirit but I don't want to care if it's my church or any other church that God uses in the process. I simply long to be faithful.
I have also felt a strong need to repent when it comes to the way I love my wife. In all honesty, I think I probably am a good husband on most counts. I am truly in love with my wife. But over the last several months I have given my "best" to the people of our church and saved the leftovers for Jesus and my wife. Not cool. Not cool at all. I'm called to love my bride the way Jesus loves his bride. And I have not done that. Walking in repentance is humbling, challenging and exhausting. But it is effective and most importantly it is glorifying to God.
Yesterday I tried to follow the Spirit's lead and call our church to repentance. We did several things differently in our worship time but one thing we did was have people right the things they need to repent of on an index card and nail (actually tape) it to the cross where it belongs. We challenged people to mark this moment in their hearts as a milestone on the road to repentance. Now I expected people to put blank cards up there or one word answer. But God blew my mind. People were broken and wrote lists and paragraphs of things that they know they need to repent of. It was amazing. Please, pray for our church as we walk the road of repentance and pray that God will use us in whatever way he chooses to bring him glory in our city.
God also called me to repentance in another area. I pray passionately for my city to be transformed by the gospel of Jesus. I sincerely want to see a movement of God sweep over our city in such a powerful way that other cities, other people, other nations look to Tacoma, WA and want to know what on earth is happening that could transform culture in such a supernatural way. I was at the "Send North America" conference this past week in Atlanta, GA and a questions was asked that really led me to repentance. Someone asked everyone in the room, "If God decided to move in your city but he decided to do it through a different church, would you still pray as passionately for your city?" Ouch. That one stung. Although I do love Jesus and do love my city, my motives were brought to light in that moment. I realized that my main motivation recently in praying for my city has not been life change, it has been that God would use The Pathway as the spark to ignite this flame. God knows our hearts. God knows my heart. I want Tacoma to be flipped upside down by the power of the Holy Spirit but I don't want to care if it's my church or any other church that God uses in the process. I simply long to be faithful.
I have also felt a strong need to repent when it comes to the way I love my wife. In all honesty, I think I probably am a good husband on most counts. I am truly in love with my wife. But over the last several months I have given my "best" to the people of our church and saved the leftovers for Jesus and my wife. Not cool. Not cool at all. I'm called to love my bride the way Jesus loves his bride. And I have not done that. Walking in repentance is humbling, challenging and exhausting. But it is effective and most importantly it is glorifying to God.
Yesterday I tried to follow the Spirit's lead and call our church to repentance. We did several things differently in our worship time but one thing we did was have people right the things they need to repent of on an index card and nail (actually tape) it to the cross where it belongs. We challenged people to mark this moment in their hearts as a milestone on the road to repentance. Now I expected people to put blank cards up there or one word answer. But God blew my mind. People were broken and wrote lists and paragraphs of things that they know they need to repent of. It was amazing. Please, pray for our church as we walk the road of repentance and pray that God will use us in whatever way he chooses to bring him glory in our city.
Monday, July 30, 2012
A couple things...n
First of all, I want to give a major shout out to the five interns... Jack, Sarah, Josh, Ken & Lydia... who have served The Pathway, the people of Tacoma and specifically the people of the Summertree apartments for the past 2 months. Every summer we have embedded interns into a local apartment complex with the mission of reaching that complex for Jesus. We have learned a lot each year but in our third year the Holy Spirit saw fit to move mightily. It was amazing to watch the Spirit soften hearts, stretch our interns and begin to bring about life change. As I sat around the fire pit at my house this past Friday evening hearing stories of the summer from the interns, my heart was deeply moved.
All of the interns spoke with deep affection about one couple in particular. The funny thing is that their first encounter with this couple was when the guy asked one of the interns if they wanted to buy some weed. Who would of thought by the end of the summer the couple would be a part of the Summertree Intentional Community. God is amazing.
The second story spoke to the response of the Holy Spirit when we are obedient & consistent. These interns have been faithful to serve their apartment complex consistently all summer long. This last week Stacie, who oversaw the interns this summer, was knocking on doors and inviting residents to an event. She came to the door of one of the maintenance ladies who is the grandma of one of the boys the interns have really invested in deeply. The Grandma looked at Stacie and said, "I'm so glad you all moved in here." Stacie replied, "Me too, it's all because we love Jesus." And to that the Grandma replied with tears welling up in her eyes, "You must REALLY love Jesus." Her grandson has since come to worship with The Pathway and the grandma told Stacie that she will come some day... "but not yet."
The final thing I felt compelled to blog about tonight was a conversation I had with some people this evening. I'm currently chillin in the lobby of a hotel in Atlanta, GA. One of our partners was extremely gracious and invited me to attend the North American Mission Board's "Send North America" Conference. Very cool to see 2000 Southern Baptist leaders gathered to spur on gospel-centered church planting in North America.
While I was at the conference tonight I was chatting with a missions pastor who is praying about where their church should partner and a couple who will be moving to the Seattle area to plant this week. The new church planter told me that he met with a planter in Portland a while back who actually ended up shutting down and "going home" recently. When they met, the planter seemed very discouraged and articulated to this new couple, "I just wish somebody cared as much about planting this church as I do."
That is such a hard thing to hear someone say but I know exactly how he feels. Exactly. Ultimately, nobody... not even your wife and your mom... cares as much as the pastor does about the church plant. That's a humbling thing. It can be a defeating thing. But by the grace of God the Holy Spirit has shown me, in those lonely moments, that there is one that does care about "my" church plant even more than I do and that's the God of the universe. It may sound cheesy or ultra spiritual, but God cares more than I can fathom. He cares about HIS church that he has called me to plant. He cares about me, my wife and our kids. He cares more than I do and because of that I am confident I can run this race. I am confident I am not alone.
Praise Jesus for a God who cares.
All of the interns spoke with deep affection about one couple in particular. The funny thing is that their first encounter with this couple was when the guy asked one of the interns if they wanted to buy some weed. Who would of thought by the end of the summer the couple would be a part of the Summertree Intentional Community. God is amazing.
The second story spoke to the response of the Holy Spirit when we are obedient & consistent. These interns have been faithful to serve their apartment complex consistently all summer long. This last week Stacie, who oversaw the interns this summer, was knocking on doors and inviting residents to an event. She came to the door of one of the maintenance ladies who is the grandma of one of the boys the interns have really invested in deeply. The Grandma looked at Stacie and said, "I'm so glad you all moved in here." Stacie replied, "Me too, it's all because we love Jesus." And to that the Grandma replied with tears welling up in her eyes, "You must REALLY love Jesus." Her grandson has since come to worship with The Pathway and the grandma told Stacie that she will come some day... "but not yet."
The final thing I felt compelled to blog about tonight was a conversation I had with some people this evening. I'm currently chillin in the lobby of a hotel in Atlanta, GA. One of our partners was extremely gracious and invited me to attend the North American Mission Board's "Send North America" Conference. Very cool to see 2000 Southern Baptist leaders gathered to spur on gospel-centered church planting in North America.
While I was at the conference tonight I was chatting with a missions pastor who is praying about where their church should partner and a couple who will be moving to the Seattle area to plant this week. The new church planter told me that he met with a planter in Portland a while back who actually ended up shutting down and "going home" recently. When they met, the planter seemed very discouraged and articulated to this new couple, "I just wish somebody cared as much about planting this church as I do."
That is such a hard thing to hear someone say but I know exactly how he feels. Exactly. Ultimately, nobody... not even your wife and your mom... cares as much as the pastor does about the church plant. That's a humbling thing. It can be a defeating thing. But by the grace of God the Holy Spirit has shown me, in those lonely moments, that there is one that does care about "my" church plant even more than I do and that's the God of the universe. It may sound cheesy or ultra spiritual, but God cares more than I can fathom. He cares about HIS church that he has called me to plant. He cares about me, my wife and our kids. He cares more than I do and because of that I am confident I can run this race. I am confident I am not alone.
Praise Jesus for a God who cares.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Hindsight
This past Sunday we said good-bye to our second and final mission team of the summer. It was an outstanding week that tested my faith to the limits. The group was from First Baptist Church in Universal City, TX (FBCUC) and there was a tremendous amount of spiritual warfare from before the team even arrived. God knew what he was doing though (surprise! surprise!) and the culmination of the week was simply beautiful. The team spent the bulk of their week loving on kids and families from the Tacoma Rescue Mission and a local apartment complex called Summertree. The last night of the trip we had a huge block party and a ton of kids and families from these places came and partied with us. God was glorified and relationships were launched. Can't wait to see what God has in store.
This is all well and good, but why is this weeks post entitled "hindsight?" Well, it's because looking back on the starting point that led up to this amazing week only evokes two responses in me... awe & worship. Let me tell you briefly the back story of The Pathway's partnership with FBCUC.
I was born an Air Force brat and when I was about 6 months old my dad got orders to move from Florida to Texas and we found ourselves joining FBCUC. We were there for 3-4 years. My family was a part of the church and I attended their preschool academy. When we left for Colorado none of us knew the amazing plan God had in store for his Kingdom through a then 4 year old little boy and a church that was really beginning to grow in Universal City.
When my dad retired out of the Pentagon in 1994 (I think?), we moved back to the Universal City area but we were a part of a different church. When I went away to college in 2000 my parents went back to FBCUC for a short time before they moved again when my dad took a new job even farther south in Texas. Around the end of 2007 God started to call me and Kelli to help plant churches and in 2008 we moved to Snoqualmie to join a team to plant Lifepointe Community Church. When we began raising funds and seeking partnerships to plant The Pathway in Tacoma, I got a call from my dad. He told me that he hoped I didn't mind, but he had shared our plans with the pastor of FBCUC and he was interested in meeting me and Kelli. Of course I didn't mind! But since I had no real relationship with the church and had never met Pastor David, I didn't really expect anything to come of it. Oh me of little faith.
Before I knew it I was having lunch with Pastor David at a delicious little Mexican joint right next to their church building and it was obvious that the Holy Spirit was moving. FBCUC committed to partnering with us and has now blessed us with significant and consistent financial support, tons of prayer, 3 summer interns over the course of the last three summers and outstanding mission teams who don't simply show up in Tacoma. They come passionate, prepared, flexible and most importantly ready to serve and share the gospel.
The hindsight started to really bring me to worship this summer as I sat with the team reflecting on the week. In the group was Mrs. Rice. Mrs. Rice has known me since I was a very little boy. She is now 70 and I am now 30. Who would have thought when I was running around as a crazy little toddler that 30 years later we would be reconnected on God's mission. The Kingdom of God is big. God's plan is bigger. Hindsight is 20/20 and in the moment we seldom understand the fullness of what God is doing.
The lesson? Trust God. Seeing him orchestrate Kingdom work in this way... over a 30 year period... I can't help but trust him. His plan is perfect. His timing is perfect. And hindsight leads me to a place of awe & worship.
This is all well and good, but why is this weeks post entitled "hindsight?" Well, it's because looking back on the starting point that led up to this amazing week only evokes two responses in me... awe & worship. Let me tell you briefly the back story of The Pathway's partnership with FBCUC.
I was born an Air Force brat and when I was about 6 months old my dad got orders to move from Florida to Texas and we found ourselves joining FBCUC. We were there for 3-4 years. My family was a part of the church and I attended their preschool academy. When we left for Colorado none of us knew the amazing plan God had in store for his Kingdom through a then 4 year old little boy and a church that was really beginning to grow in Universal City.
When my dad retired out of the Pentagon in 1994 (I think?), we moved back to the Universal City area but we were a part of a different church. When I went away to college in 2000 my parents went back to FBCUC for a short time before they moved again when my dad took a new job even farther south in Texas. Around the end of 2007 God started to call me and Kelli to help plant churches and in 2008 we moved to Snoqualmie to join a team to plant Lifepointe Community Church. When we began raising funds and seeking partnerships to plant The Pathway in Tacoma, I got a call from my dad. He told me that he hoped I didn't mind, but he had shared our plans with the pastor of FBCUC and he was interested in meeting me and Kelli. Of course I didn't mind! But since I had no real relationship with the church and had never met Pastor David, I didn't really expect anything to come of it. Oh me of little faith.
Before I knew it I was having lunch with Pastor David at a delicious little Mexican joint right next to their church building and it was obvious that the Holy Spirit was moving. FBCUC committed to partnering with us and has now blessed us with significant and consistent financial support, tons of prayer, 3 summer interns over the course of the last three summers and outstanding mission teams who don't simply show up in Tacoma. They come passionate, prepared, flexible and most importantly ready to serve and share the gospel.
The hindsight started to really bring me to worship this summer as I sat with the team reflecting on the week. In the group was Mrs. Rice. Mrs. Rice has known me since I was a very little boy. She is now 70 and I am now 30. Who would have thought when I was running around as a crazy little toddler that 30 years later we would be reconnected on God's mission. The Kingdom of God is big. God's plan is bigger. Hindsight is 20/20 and in the moment we seldom understand the fullness of what God is doing.
The lesson? Trust God. Seeing him orchestrate Kingdom work in this way... over a 30 year period... I can't help but trust him. His plan is perfect. His timing is perfect. And hindsight leads me to a place of awe & worship.
Monday, July 9, 2012
The Spot
Since I posted late last week I was struggling to know exactly what to blog about today. I decided I would share with you some BIG stuff going on behind the scenes. We always appreciate your prayers. Most of you know that God blessed us with a building a little over a year ago. Because our hearts desire is to always remember that church is not a place we go, it's who we are, we decided to continue to call the people The Pathway and the building The Spot. It's been really cool to see how that has taken off and really been a conversation starter for what, or who, the church really is.
The Spot is a 19,000 square foot warehouse in the heart of Hilltop that has a ton of history. It used to be a car dealership, a dairy, a tent and awning factory and another church met there before we did. The Spot has another lot right next to it that's the same size and is just a big open grassy space. It is also included in our lease. The Spot is actually still owned by the previous church denomination, The Evangelical Covenant Church. While the majority of the building is just old warehouse space, there is about 3000 square feet that is renovated and usable. On Sundays we meet for worship in one 1500 sq. ft. area and our Kids Ave. meets in the other 1500 sq. ft. area.
However, Sundays is just a small piece of why The Spot has been such an amazing Kingdom tool. During the week we are able to use it open-handed for the city in the name of Jesus. We host block party's and watch parties for major sporting events. We have board meetings, Narcotics anonymous meetings, Intentional Communities, birthday parties and many other things that meet there. We have neighborhood block groups that meet at The Spot and we have even had a wedding reception and a memorial service there. We are also able to use the warehouse for storage space for families in transition as well as for our denomination. We allow the community to house its Tool Lending Library and the health department keeps their disaster response trailers at The Spot. We even have a local non-profit that offices at The Spot.
All this to say, this place, this structure, this building, this spot has given us tremendous favor with our community and our city. Favor in ways that are far greater than we could have asked or imagined.
Two Challenges:
1) The church has been growing and we are running out of usable space. That is a good thing but it is also a challenge that needs to be overcome. Renovations are very possible but are expensive and we're not sure how much we would even feel good about doing since we don't own the building.
2) Our lease is up in less than a year and the owners desire to sell. They strongly desire for us to stay in the building but we are paying less than half of what they are putting into the building every month. Because the denomination that owns it has their own financing arm they are willing to work with us to purchase the building but in our tough economy and lower income area we are not certain that is the answer.
Behind the Scenes: God is working. He has given us a partnership with a great church planting network and SBC association (psba.net) that is wanting to purchase strategic church planting centers in the heart of major cities, including Tacoma. God has given us a relationship with a well-known architect in Tacoma who has already donated some of his time in helping us evaluate what could be done. He also happens to love Jesus! The church is growing and The Spot is becoming a light in our dark city. We know that God will continue to do what he wants to do whether we stay at The Spot or not. That's where your prayers come in.
Pray: All of this has been, is and will continue to be way bigger than us. God has done things, changed lives, opened doors and provided resources in ways that have far exceeded our expectations or imaginations. We are constantly reminded that what is impossible with man is made possible with God. We lean on that promise. Please just pray for wisdom, direction and provision. I know those are broad but that is what we desperately need as the church moves forward and continues to grow. Thank you for interceding on our behalf. God is working here in Tacoma. You are a part of it. Thank you!
The Spot is a 19,000 square foot warehouse in the heart of Hilltop that has a ton of history. It used to be a car dealership, a dairy, a tent and awning factory and another church met there before we did. The Spot has another lot right next to it that's the same size and is just a big open grassy space. It is also included in our lease. The Spot is actually still owned by the previous church denomination, The Evangelical Covenant Church. While the majority of the building is just old warehouse space, there is about 3000 square feet that is renovated and usable. On Sundays we meet for worship in one 1500 sq. ft. area and our Kids Ave. meets in the other 1500 sq. ft. area.
However, Sundays is just a small piece of why The Spot has been such an amazing Kingdom tool. During the week we are able to use it open-handed for the city in the name of Jesus. We host block party's and watch parties for major sporting events. We have board meetings, Narcotics anonymous meetings, Intentional Communities, birthday parties and many other things that meet there. We have neighborhood block groups that meet at The Spot and we have even had a wedding reception and a memorial service there. We are also able to use the warehouse for storage space for families in transition as well as for our denomination. We allow the community to house its Tool Lending Library and the health department keeps their disaster response trailers at The Spot. We even have a local non-profit that offices at The Spot.
All this to say, this place, this structure, this building, this spot has given us tremendous favor with our community and our city. Favor in ways that are far greater than we could have asked or imagined.
Two Challenges:
1) The church has been growing and we are running out of usable space. That is a good thing but it is also a challenge that needs to be overcome. Renovations are very possible but are expensive and we're not sure how much we would even feel good about doing since we don't own the building.
2) Our lease is up in less than a year and the owners desire to sell. They strongly desire for us to stay in the building but we are paying less than half of what they are putting into the building every month. Because the denomination that owns it has their own financing arm they are willing to work with us to purchase the building but in our tough economy and lower income area we are not certain that is the answer.
Behind the Scenes: God is working. He has given us a partnership with a great church planting network and SBC association (psba.net) that is wanting to purchase strategic church planting centers in the heart of major cities, including Tacoma. God has given us a relationship with a well-known architect in Tacoma who has already donated some of his time in helping us evaluate what could be done. He also happens to love Jesus! The church is growing and The Spot is becoming a light in our dark city. We know that God will continue to do what he wants to do whether we stay at The Spot or not. That's where your prayers come in.
Pray: All of this has been, is and will continue to be way bigger than us. God has done things, changed lives, opened doors and provided resources in ways that have far exceeded our expectations or imaginations. We are constantly reminded that what is impossible with man is made possible with God. We lean on that promise. Please just pray for wisdom, direction and provision. I know those are broad but that is what we desperately need as the church moves forward and continues to grow. Thank you for interceding on our behalf. God is working here in Tacoma. You are a part of it. Thank you!
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