Tacoma Orphans

I'm sitting in my office right now listening to a bunch of college students from Ada, OK talking about meatball sandwiches & Pringles as they get ready to head to the YMCA for a shower before going to sleep on small air mattresses on a hard floor... and I love it!  We actually have two mission teams here right now from FBC Charlotte, TX and Trinity Baptist in Ada, OK.  They just wrapped up a day of serving our local Boys and Girls Club, volunteering at a low income apartment complex, prayer walking our neighborhood and having an intentional cook-out at the park where they'll be hosting a block party on Friday.  But through all the hard work, communal showering and bad air mattresses, no one is complaining.  They are all here to serve Jesus and I am excited to see how Jesus responds!

Last night I sat on the floor at the spot during our mission team orientation.  Stacie Hooks has led a solid team from our church in planning and preparing for the mission team and all the ways they'll be serving while they are here.  It was not that long ago that if something was going to get done, led, planned or organized, I had to do it.  I'm so blessed now to be surrounded by so many people who are sharing the load and carrying the mission forward.

As I listened to Stacie talk to the mission team and go over the schedule I was humbled to think of how God brought Stacie to our church.  She was actually a crazy young college student who I hired when I worked at Camp WOW years ago.  She came to serve with us here in Tacoma for a few weeks and she's now been here a few years.  Up next was Kyler Phillips.  She was sharing with the team about some service projects they would be doing this week.  As I listened to Kyler talk I was in awe.  She's a passionate and confident young woman who has lived in Tacoma for two years with her husband Chase.  But I will always remember Kyler as the nervous, passionate, excited summer intern who came to Tacoma full of questions about life, ministry and church planting.

Then came Jason Downing.  Jason was actually an intern with another church plant 5 years ago just south of Tacoma.  I happened to know the planter and he let us "borrow" Jason one day a week as we learned our new city and began to plant the gospel.  Jason stood before the mission teams sharing about all the ways that they would be praying for the people of Tacoma this week.  I was amazed that God called him to plant his life here over a year ago.

And then came Adam Forgety.  Adam is our new Associate Pastor and worship leader.  He stood up to lead us in a time of worship.  One of the churches that is here this week, Trinity, is Adam and his wife Khylee's old church.  Adam was the worship pastor at Trinity for about 5 years and he and Khylee led multiple short term teams to serve with us in Tacoma.  It was this time last year that Adam first began to feel God calling him to Tacoma.  Amazing.

As I sat there on that floor, in awe of all God has done and the ways he has called people out of their comfort zone and into an incredible city that sits in the shadow of Seattle, I began to think of all of our Tacoma orphans.  That's what we have come to call all those who have left the comforts of home, family and southern hospitality to serve Jesus in the city we have come to love and call home.

Tacoma Orphans:
Rebecca Hurst was the first.  She is my wife's best friend and old college roommate.  I still remember chatting with her on the Internet when she told me God was calling her to come from Austin, TX to Tacoma to help us plant The Pathway.  Five years later Becca is still here and still serving.  She came here as a single young missionary and God has brought her a husband and most recently a precious baby boy.

Laura Bravo is one of those people that makes me smile just typing her name.  She came to Camp WOW years ago as a camper.  She then served as a high school intern that led to me hiring her as a college summer staffer.  Laura was going to serve as a missionary in Calgary and got stuck at Seatac due to some customs issues.  She new we lived in the area and ended up staying with us for more than a month.  She fell in love with Tacoma and after serving in Canada for a year, came back to be a part of The Pathway.  She too came as a young, single woman and over the last several years God has brought her an awesome godly husband and she just graduated from the University of Washington, Tacoma.  Amazing.

Jenna Jones planned to serve with us for a couple weeks with Stacie Hooks.  Now a couple years later I can't imagine The Pathway without Jenna.  She took our Kids Ministry from about 6 kids to over 30 today and I believe is ready and equipped by God to lead us to see even more families and kids fall in love with Jesus!

Chase Phillips is Kyler's husband that I mentioned earlier.  Chase came to serve with us on a short term mission trip.  He then decided to marry Kyler (good idea) and they moved to Tacoma a week after getting married.

Khylee Forgety is Adam's partner in crime and in marriage and the mother of their newly adopted baby boy!  Her journey was and is an amazing testimony of faith and obedience.  Although Adam had been wrestling with a call to Tacoma for a year, Khylee had not even considered until about a month before they moved here.  But she didn't come kicking and screaming (at least not too much).  She wrestled with God, prayed, sought wise and trusted counsel and then said "yes" to Jesus.

Marybeth Coker came to serve with us as a semester missionary and decided that there was no reason to leave.  We don't know how long Marybeth will be with us but we are so thankful that she is here.  She has served in our Kids Ministry, pioneered our assimilation process and done just about anything else she's been asked to do (including jumping into the ice cold puget sound!).

I think I can speak for all of us in saying that I love being a Tacoma Orphan.  Although we are far from our families and many things that are comfortable, God has given us a new family that we would have never been a part of had he not called us out.  God is using these orphans, these missionaries, in mighty and powerful ways.  I'm thankful that my family is not alone here in Tacoma. God has provided the right people, at the right time, every step of the way!

Interns Arrive Today!

I'm incredibly excited that our interns are flying in today!  We have 6 college interns serving with our church this summer, the most we have ever had.  I'm in awe of God, as usual, as he takes something small and grows it to be something powerfully effective for his kingdom and glory.

This year we were able to bring in 6 interns thanks to a unique partnership between the North American Mission Board, Fielder Church in Arlington, TX and Oklahoma Baptist University.  In all I think they are deploying around 25 interns to the Seattle area.  It's been so encouraging to see groups of people coming together to help saturate our region with the gospel.

Please be praying for our interns.  Our overall objective for them this summer is to help them learn how to be more effective missionaries when they return home.  We want them to learn how to be compassionate, bold, humble servants of Jesus who love God, love others and speak the gospel with grace and love.  They will be living in a local apartment complex in a pretty rough area.  It will be a stretch for them to learn to live incarnationally on a daily basis.  They will be volunteering at the local boys and girls club, hosting community block parties, loving their neighbors in tangible ways and joining some of our existing Intentional Communities.

This is not designed to be an easy summer for the interns.  It's not designed to be a summer filled with menial behind the scenes tasks.  This internship was created with disciple-making in mind.  It's challenging, exhausting and at times can be lonely.  But it is also exhilarating, stretching, life-changing and our prayer is that it is fruitful.  We're praying that our interns have the opportunity lead many people to Jesus.  We're praying that they have the change to connect new believers to the body of Christ.  We're asking God to give them the chance to sharpen and use their spiritual gifts for the glory of God and courageously depend on the Holy Spirit to empower them to engage the gospel in ways they never thought possible.

Some specific prayers: *As you are able, please pray for our interns by name.  Consider choosing one or two to pray for daily...
Paige Worthington, Gage Johnson, Zack Danyla, Miriam Ingham, Michael Baker, Leena Vappula

1) Please pray for safe and timely arrival.  At least 2 of our interns will be a day late because of bad weather and delayed flights.

2) Pray for quick assimilation into Tacoma life.

3) Pray for a supernatural open doors with their neighbors.  Pray for gospel conversations and gospel opportunities beginning week 1.

4) Please pray against the attack of Satan.  We've learned a lot and experienced a lot in our four plus years in Tacoma.  One of the most difficult and sobering lessons we've learned is the reality of spiritual warfare.  However, we've also learned in new and fresh ways the victory found in Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.  Please pray against discouragement and pray for faith to overcome all obstacles of the evil one.

5) Pray for life change.  Our number one priority is kingdom growth.  Not just in Tacoma but all over this world.  We believe if our interns experience true life change and begin to live more passionately and more missionally when they return home, the kingdom will grow and the internship will have been a success!

Inside the mind of a pastor/church planter

I never stop thinking.  I don't know what it is, but I just can't shut my mind off.  I wanted to share with you some things that have been going on in my mind.  This particular post isn't to share any answers, insights or to give you the end result of my journey through some tough questions.  This is just to say, Hey, I'm a pastor in Tacoma and these are some of the questions I'm having to wrestle with.  Please pray for me.

-I'm wrestling with how to gauge people's commitment to community.  If it's simply based on average attendance at a weekday gathering, we're missing the point.  But if we don't examine it, we're neglecting a core piece of biblical Christianity.  As we grow, how do I know if our people are truly engaging Intentional Community?

-I'm wrestling with gay marriage.  Now before you get all up in arms and think I don't believe in marriage being between one man and one woman, I will refer you to my Re-defining Marriage series (www.thepathwaytacoma.com).  I absolutely hold a biblical view of marriage.  But my state and my city have embraced same-sex marriage and I genuinely love people who are a part of the GLBT community.  I've had same-sex couples ask me to marry them.  I've had same-sex couples share with me the joy they feel for being allowed to marry.  We have friends who are in same-sex relationships that have children together.  I'm praying that those friends will come to Christ.  And when they do, they will ask me if they should get a divorce and break up the only family their kids have ever known.  They'll probably ask me a million other questions I haven't even thought of.  And when they do, how will I respond?  How would Jesus respond?

-I'm wrestling with marijuana.  I've had someone smoke it during a worship gathering.  I know that sounds crazy but I think I was one of the few people who even noticed.  Smoking pot is legal in my state.  You've heard all the arguments, but for Christians it has always been easy to just say, "Well, it's against the law so...".  Well, it's not against the law anymore.  When people ask me how to approach it, I'm wrestling with how to respond.

-I'm wrestling with what makes a heterosexual couple truly married in the eyes of God?  If you grew up in a solid family like I did, you may value marriage, even the marriage license, a great deal.  But what if you come from a situation where divorce is rampant?  That certificate can be signed and then torn up in the blink of an eye.  Where's the value in that?  So when a couple tells me they want to get married in the eyes of God, but they don't want to make it legal in the eyes of the state of Washington, I wrestle with how to respond.  The state of Washington doesn't care if they're legally married or not.  Everything in me can't comprehend why they would not want to get legally married.  But I don't have their history and their wounds.  I'm wrestling with it.

I'll stop there.  Wherever you are, your pastor is wrestling with the same things, similar things, or will be wrestling with all of these things and more in the near future.  I'm not really looking for advice... your pastor probably isn't either.  I'm just looking for genuine prayer that the Holy Spirit would guide me as I wrestle with these questions.  Thank you for praying for me and my church.  Don't forget to pray for your pastor and your church!

Momentum, Challenges, Excitement, Opportunity

Momentum: I blogged about momentum a while back.  It's a tricky thing you know?  Its very essence demands that there be seasons of experiencing the opposite of momentum.  I guess that would be stagnation and/or struggle.  By the grace of God I believe we are experiencing momentum right now.  Thank you for all of your prayers.  I truly believe prayer is the crucial ingredient.  Most of you know that congregational prayer is THE emphasis for The Pathway this year.  We've been gathering monthly for concerts of prayer and asking God to bring spiritual healing to our city.  

As always, God has been gracious.  Easter and everything that went with it (Sponsoring a 5k, Murder Mystery, Good Friday Gathering, pancake breakfast, baptisms and more) has sparked new momentum for our church.  The arrival of our new Associate Pastor and his family coupled with the grace with which our former worship leader has teamed with him has brought momentum.  I shared several blogs ago that I have been asking God to help us eclipse the 100 people barrier in our worship gatherings and this month we averaged 97... he knows what he is doing.  We've launched 3 new groups and one more launches this week.  God is good.

Challenges:  Of course when the Spirit brings momentum challenges ALWAYS arise.  In recent days we have learned that 2 couples who are key leaders in our church are moving on.  They both lead Intentional Communities, they have both been with our church for extended periods of time... they are both incredible.  My first reaction to the news was fear.  After all, I'm always blogging about how we need more leaders.  But God has reminded me, in a very clear and loving way, that when Jesus is your leader, you need not be afraid.  He is going to provide new leaders and even greater opportunities for our church and more importantly for his Kingdom going forward.

Excitement: This perspective has moved me from fear to excitement.  After all, these couples are missionaries.  They truly are.  Now they are going to new cities in different states to saturate their new communities with the gospel.  This is what we prayed for from the beginning of The Pathway.  It's in our vision statement... We want to be a church with beautiful feet... sending missionaries.  We want to pray for them, celebrate what God is doing in them and support them as they go.  There are not many things more exciting than sending missionaries!

Opportunity: With every wave of momentum, with every challenge and with every exciting new venture comes a swell of opportunity.  I would ask you all to pray for new leaders to rise up, new leaders to embrace God's call on their lives and new disciples to lead new Intentional Communities.  There is tremendous spiritual opportunity in Tacoma.  God has been working, is working and will continue to work.  Please join us in praying for the spiritual healing of the people in Tacoma.  We are desperate for it.  We are broken for these people.  We believe the opportunity is endless and we are asking God to continue to provide workers for this incredible mission field!

[14] if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV

The Heart of Jesus

Marybeth Coker was a semester intern with The Pathway and decided to stay on as a volunteer staff member.  During staff meeting yesterday she told a powerful story of love demonstrated to her on Mother's Day.  I asked her to share the full story so you could get a glimpse into what I believe is the heart of Jesus displayed through Marybeth and The Pathway church.

His name is Jack.

Here I was, a 20 year old girl in Tacoma Washington standing in line waiting to order at McDonald's. I had nothing but food on my mind when an older homeless man asked me if I had any cash. I had been to this McDonald's a lot, and one thing I had noticed was the amount of homeless people always hanging out right by the front doors. “I only have my card, but I’ll buy you dinner if you sit with me.” I said.

He seemed hesitant at first, but then he agreed.

Now I have never really had the best memory but this man's style won’t let you easily forget him. I had seen him before at this very McDonald's. He is in his early 60’s with the skinniest legs you ever did see. He had on skinny jeans with a white jacket that was lined with fur, three or more hats tied around his neck and curly peppered hair.

“One double quarter pounder, a large fry, and one large Coke.” he went on to order.
 We got our food then went to sit down at a table. “What’s your name?” I asked. “Jack” He answered “My name is Jack, I’m from Nebraska. I played football all through high school and college.” He kept talking and I kept listening. He told me he had been in the military, and that he hadn’t seen his wife and kids in many years. He told me he was addicted to cocaine and that he wasn’t going to give it up for anything.   But one thing I will always remember from that day is. I have never seen someone put as much salt on their fries as he did. HA!  

I went on to tell him that I was from Texas, and I told him about my family, about how I missed them and how much they mean to me. Our meal had finished and I was getting up to leave. He put his hand out for me to shake and I pulled him in for a hug. He kissed me on my cheek before we left and said “Thank you for talking to me”.  I don’t know if he knew I needed someone to talk to just as much as he needed to talk to someone. 

A few weeks had gone by and I hadn’t seen Jack anywhere. I went to the McDonald's every few day to see if he was there, but no luck. Then one Saturday night as I was getting food I heard someone call my name, and there sitting in a booth by himself was Jack. I was so excited! I had been looking for him and there he was! AND he remembered my name! I went up to him and said hello. He started by asking if I had any money. I dug into my wallet and pulled out a 5 dollar bill. “5 dollars?” he laughed. “What am I going to do with 5 dollars?”  

The whole time I was sitting with him he kept looking off talking to something. I knew that whatever he was battling had gotten a hold of him this night. He then told me more stories, but this time they were darker than the one he had told me before. This time I didn’t leave with a happy feeling, I left with a grieving heart. Why was I so sad? This is the second time I had every talked to him.  Why did I feel this way already? As I was getting ready to leave he asked what I was doing the next day. I told him I would be with my church and that he should stop by if he could make it. 

Now I knew this was a long shot but he gave me his word that he would come.
The next morning I got to Franklin Elementary where The Pathway gathers for worship around the same time I always do and started setting up. Once things were all ready to go we sat down to pray before everyone else arrived. Someone asked if we had any prayer requests and I asked if they would pray for my friend Jack, that he would come to our gathering and just for his life in general.

We prayed and went on with our Sunday morning routine. The gathering had already started and I was leading the middle school class back to where we normally meet when grumpy old Jack came walking in the building. I won’t lie, I didn’t think he would come the first time I asked him to come.  I didn’t even know the next time I would see him so seeing that old man's face that morning brought joy to my heart.

Jack has been coming to our worship gathering for 6 months now.
He walks right in, every week, with a bag of chips, and a 2 liter of Dr.Pepper.
He’s here every Sunday, almost as early as the set-up crew.

I love this old man.

I love that he brings me my things when I leave them lying around.
I love how he acts like a grumpy old fart but truly has the sweetest heart.
I love when I see him talking with other people in the church.
But most of all, I love that my church love’s my friend.

This past Sunday was Mother’s day. I felt it again, I missed my family. It’s funny how God works, he always seems to send me a little gift of joy when I need it.
I was sitting down, waiting for the service to start when Jack came up to me. “Here” he said, handing me something. It was a plastic grocery bag. Inside were two bags of chocolate and a card.  I laughed when I read “Happy Mother’s day to you!” on the front of the card (seeing that I’m not a mother I thought it was funny). As I opened the card to read the inside, 4 crinkled up dollar bills fell out. 

Sometimes I feel like the little things in life don’t matter. That if I don't stop and say hello to the checker at the store it won't make a difference. If I don’t hold a door open for someone they’ll live. But these things do matter. If I would have told Jack that day at McDonald's that I didn’t have any money that would have been it. I would have never sat and talked to him, never been so frustrated with him because he was being rude to other people, and never seen the love of a Mother’s day card with 4 dollars in it. 

I loved that gift so much, but the thing I love most is I don’t just see jack as my friend, but Jack sees me as his friend too.  
Like I said before, I find it funny how God works.  On this particular day he gave me joy.  God gave me a gift.

His name is Jack.

Easter Update

I want to thank you all for praying for our church and all the ways we have been trying to bring the gospel to our community before, during and after Easter.  As usual, God has been leaving us amazed... absolutely amazed!  Easter Sunday was incredible.  We had 117 people Easter morning which was exciting and fun beyond description.  What an honor to get to share the story of the resurrection with people who understand its power as well as those who do not... yet.  I was worshiping Jesus simply for his grace to empower so many of our people to invite their lost and unchurched friends and family members.  The people of The Pathway stepped up boldly and invited folks in their circles of influence and I could not be more thankful!

Most of you know we were praying that Easter would not just be one high attendance Sunday.  We have been praying that God would maximize the season for his glory.  This past Sunday we had 85 people gather.  My heart is a bit torn.  The months leading up to Easter we have been averaging around 70... so to have 85 is tremendous growth.  But I want you all to know that I've been asking God to move our worship gathering beyond 100 people this year.  I still believe he can do that and I would ask that you pray that this Easter spark turns into a flame of worship & kingdom growth.

We also launched 3 new groups Easter week.  One new Intentional Community and 2 new connect groups... groups that will hopefully be a first step into Intentional Community.  Again, mixed emotions.  We've had people embrace all 3 groups, but not as many new people as we had hoped... yet!  That being said, we've already seen new people join groups this week.  Sometimes I think it just takes time and schedule adjustments for people to get involved.  Please pray that these groups lead people into authentic, messy, beautiful, missional and effective Intentional Community.  That's where disciples are made.  That's where the church gathers and scatters.  There is so much potential right now I am just asking God to help me stay out of his way!

117 people on Easter Sunday.  From 5 Intentional Communities to 6.  From 0 connect groups to 2.  We baptized 3 on Sunday evening... what a party!!!  There are changes for us on the horizon.  We need more leaders... please pray for more leaders.  Kelli and I went on a walk last night and just talked about how much we love where God has placed us.  Is it hard at times?  Absolutely.  But we love what God is doing in Tacoma.  We can't wait to see what the future holds!

A Hug from Jesus

Warning!  This post may be a little sappy.

This post is not going to be very long, mainly because it's 10:26pm and my wife told me to get to bed!  Many of you who follow this blog know that the last several months have been a struggle for me personally.  There's not just one reason for it (at least I don't think there is), but I've been somewhat discouraged.

Well, God's grace sure is sweet.  Quite a few months back, before the hard times were rolling, Pastor Duane from First Baptist Charlotte called and asked me to preach their revival services in April.  I jumped at the opportunity.  But then he and the church invited my whole family to come along.  And to make things better, their Director of Missions (Frio River Association) connected us with a FREE little cabin on the Frio River for 4 days.

I'm not gonna lie, back when all this was set-up I did not know the how much I was going to need the trip.  But now, I realize the entire experience was a BIG bear hug from my Lord, Savior and best friend King Jesus.  Just a few of the highlights of the hug...

-Day #1 I went to sleep at 7:45pm (thank you wife).  I did not wake up until 8:30am the next morning.  Did I mention I followed that up with 2 naps that day!

-Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday... just our family of four.  God has given us a love and a passion to surround ourselves with people.  A few days with just the four of us was a hug from Jesus I didn't know I needed.

-Our families bent over backward to give us rest and went out of their way to come and visit with us for a few sweet hours.  Thank you family.

-First Baptist Charlotte.   I cannot even begin to express how Jesus used this precious church to touch our souls and refresh our hearts.  The hospitality of Pastor Duane and his wife Sharon was exactly what we needed to experience.  The willingness of a church that is filled with folks old enough to be my grand parents were gracious to allow this passionate young preacher to share my heart and the Word of God with them.  The tender love and words of wisdom from Mr. and Mrs. Thomson, the 87 year old couple who modeled for us the kind of people we want to be when we're, well, 87.  And the list could go on and on.

Thanks Jesus for the hug.  And thank you all for your prayers.