Contagion

I met with a rad couple today who really get what church is supposed to be about. (Being, not going). I put a press release in the paper and they read it, emailed me to set up a meeting and today we met for coffee and just had a good time talking about church. It was just nice talking to someone that I didn't have to convince of my ideas. In fact, they were saying my thoughts before I could which was a change (seeing I often get too passionate and won't shut up). We talked about the fact that churches often times argue way too much about the how and not the what. For instance, how church is "executed" instead of what the church even exists for.

I believe that when we will get down to the root of figuring out what the church exists for, the how will follow. For far too long I've been a pro at spiritual plastic surgery. I'd get tired with how things were going and give it a facelift, only to find we'd get the same results. And it's hard to see a group of people change if you aren't changing yourself.

It's like a weed. When I was a kid my mom and dad would get me to weed the garden. I absolutely detested weeding! Who cares if it looked like we lived in the hood, it just wasn't my bag. So I'd get out there in the path and pull weeds out just to be a "good son". But I found a secret (or so I thought). If I just pulled the heads of the weeds off, it looked like I had pulled the whole thing out and I'd get done a whole heck of a lot faster. Little did I know, that by not digging down to the root of the weed I was deceiving myself by thinking it was going fast. Because that nasty little spawn of satan would be springing up quicker than I could realize and I'd be out there pulling heads off of weeds before I knew it. (Sense the rage?)

I'm sick and tired of facelifting when the real problem isn't form, it's function. What does the church exist for? We have 3 things that our church will always revolve around. I've seen many organizations with a mission and vision and values and yet don't stick to them. Ours will guide every decision we make. Our mission is our goal (connecting the disconnected to Jesus), our vision will fulfill the mission (becoming contagious whole-life followers of Jesus) and our values will cause us to become what our vision is, in turn fulfilling our mission. (Missional Living, Passionate Spirituality, Intentional Generosity, Authentic Community and Life-Altering Adventure). This is the foundation of our church and I believe that we won't have to do artifical facelifts in order to get a different result. When these are guiding us, how we doing things will change but it won't be a root issue. When the roots of a tree are healthy, it's leaves still go through the seasons and yet it remains strong because it is firmly planted. That's how we will be.

Starting this church does not come out of rebellion. Some may see it that way but I know it doesn't. In reality starting this church is just simple obedience to a dream that God has put in my heart. This isn't my dream. I'm not a rock star nor will I ever be. I have strengths and I have weaknesses. What I understand is that who I am is God's design, not mine. I also understand that even though I have gifts, they are not great enough to start a church. I desperately need God. He HAS GOT to come through or this thing doesn't fly. Period.

So all this to say, if I can continue to meet people like this couple who are willing to jump in our raft, I will be one happy camper. If you are reading this and want to get together for coffee, drop me a line. It's on me.

Wow...19 days until our first gathering. We are so stinkin' stoked you have no idea! We have been prepping for the beginning of this adventure for 5 months straight. We are beginning to see interest pique and we are starting to connect with people we don't know but they know of what we are doing either by word of mouth or from the ad we put in the leisure guide or the press release that made it's way into the Mission Record. (For the record, I think I'm going to utilize press releases at every possible time I can cause...they're free advertising!)

I just really believe that this is completely God's dream and he wanted this church to be in this city for a specific reason at a specific time. I am convinced that we are right inside of God's timeline and he is about to do something so crazy no one could have ever predicted it! And it takes great faith for me to say that because our ducks are so not in a row. We are still short quite a few thousand dollars but I HAVE to believe that because this is God's dream, not mine, he will make it happen in one way or another.

Our first series that will span over the first four gatherings is titled Prison Break: Escaping Your Fears. I'm so excited to see what will happen as we talk about four of the most common fears people face every day.

On a different note, my computer is still in the shop. I'm really praying that they are going to replace the harddrive on warranty so I can get it back, sell it and buy a mac. I officially hate PC's! I just can't stand the fact that I don't have a computer. All you tech geeks know exactly the frustration I'm feeling. All you mac freaks are cheering me on right now. I'll be in the club soon I hope. We had our farewell at church on Sunday and the board gave us a gift card to IKEA which we used to go buy a new table and chairs set. That made Bek pretty happy.

Other than that, things are still going nuts. I'm meeting with a couple from mission tomorrow to share the dream with them. We're going to the theater to get measurements for signage. We are scrambling to get ready for the celebration of community in mission on the 16th (day before our first sneak peek gathering). I'll do my best to get a new Plunge e-newsletter out tomorrow. We've had tons of new people signing up lately. That's all for now.

I'm out.

Wow...it's crazy to know that I am now done at my former church and am now considered the pastor of TXC. Keeping in mind that isn't a huge undertaking at this time because of our size, it's the idea that different. Even though I was spending a lot of time developing the plan for this church over the last few months, now that I'm not at the office everyday, now I can focus all of my time and energy on it. My goal is to meet with at least one person a day in our sneak peek phase so we can try and work towards our goal of 100 people by January. Seems a little daunting but heck, someone's gotta be the crazy one that dreams psychotic dreams and then lives as though they are actually going to happen. Might as well be me.

Sorry I haven't been blogging for the last few days...I just had "man surgery" on Thursday! Other than that, things are flying right along.

1. My last day at APA is tomorrow. Wow! Time flies! It feels like I just got this dream yestersay.

2. Everyday I understand more and more that this is God's church, not mine. I just honestly don't have what it takes on my own. For that I'm thankful I'm not on my own.

3. As our sneak peeks creep up on us, so do all the tasks. This is where prioritization comes in...possibly an assistant.

4. We are still waiting for quite a few thousand dollars to come in. I'm glad that I'm not responsible to come up with it because as far as I know all the resources we know of are dry.

5. We are getting emails coming in from people who I have never met before. We just put an ad in the mission leisure guide and I'm supposing that's where they heard about us. If that's the case, it was worth the money. I'm meeting with a couple of them this week which is really exciting. Maybe the buzz has begun.

6. I was up literally all night on Thursday and I got some pretty cool ideas. We are going to try some of them in the coming days. We'll keep you posted. One of them is buzz related and if we don't tell you what it is, you're bound to hear about it really soon in some way or another.

Man oh man...I'm like a lost puppy. My one year old computer decided that a virus was going to send it packing. Our tech's zeroed out the hard drive and now they can't load windows back on it! What the?! SO now I take it back to Toshiba to see if I can get it either fixed by them or replaced.

I managed to get all my files off before the whole thing locked up. My issue is that our church has it's first preview gathering in a month and I have no way of view the hundreds of files!

Okay, I'm over it now. On another note...

If you have not read the book "The total money makeover" and you have any amount of debt that seems unmanageable to you, read this book now! It has completely changed my view on debt, stupid debt at that. Bek and I will have all our debt paid off by Dec.2007. We will be in a house that fits us with no debt and investments started by June 2009. Seems unrealistic but if you read it, you'll understand. The concept of not being a slave to money gets me all fired up!

Why does the music that accompanies our songs in church have to be so radically different than music we hear on the radio? I know some people think rock music is from the Devil but that convo is a waste of my time so I'm not going there. Could it be because we don't wanna tick people off so we write songs that are churchy to appease them? Or maybe everyone writing the songs has too much church history and not enough "real life expeience" cause I'm thinking I can only sing about broken chains or grace like rain for so long. What I'm wanting to see is songs that are written from a different angle. Songs that make us think using a different part of our brain. You know how some preachers make us think in a different way? That's what I'm talking about. We're possibly to comfortable with our one line bridges and choruses that get repeated to death. Bring on the change!

The beautiful thing about my wife is that she has the same amount of faith, if not more, that I do. Whenever I start to lose it and freak out about things I have no control over (like how on earth we are going to pay for the start up costs of this church and whether or not I should get a "real" job) she reminds me who is in complete control. Even though I should know these things, it's easy for me to forget because I think I like to feed my need for control by worrying (messed up hey?)

The one thing that was a deal breaker in planting this church was whether or not Bek was on 100%. If she wasn't, there was no way on earth I was gonna do it because I've seen it and heard about it in other places where a dude's wife was completely opposed but he did it anyways. Never have I heard of something like that ending well. Usually disaster is lurking in the distance. I'm so thankful that Bek has a passion for Mission that matches mine. She is going to be an incredible lead pastor's wife. Not because she has a crazy amount of skills (which she does), but because she is an incredible women of character and faith. She is the type of woman that other women, young and old, can look at and pattern their lives after her. Trust me...if they did...they would be wise. I'm definitely a blessed man

Ahhhh...it seems like my equilibrium is a bit more balanced these days. My beautiful bride and kiddies are home. It's fuuny how toys that were once old and lame are once again exciting and fresh just because of a few weeks' absence. I was really hoping to be all moved into our new place as a huge surprise but that didn't happen. I guess it's just nice to have a roof over our heads and have a bit of consistency back in our lives

Man I've been getting nailed with a flurry of different things that have bogged my mind down for the last few days. As our first Sneek Peak Gathering creeps up on us my brain won't shut off. I just don't want to forget anything so I just keep thinking about everything!

I've been working on one point messages and memorizing them and I'm stoked..basically because it works. I've thought for the longest time that I tried to ram way too much into my sermons. When I listen to other people speak I rarely remember what the first point of the sermon was but I will often remember the last point. Go Figure. When a sermon has one central theme and one main point, he only thing to remember is the only thing that has been highlighted the whole talk. I can't take credit for this though. I just read Andy Stanley's newest book "Communicating For A Change" and it is phenomenal.

Not only is the one point method going to revolutionize my preaching but the fact that he gives an amazing method of memorizing your whole talk totally rocked my world. And the fact of the matter is that it works. The other day I rehashed my whole talk to my friend without a hitch. I didn't relay it word for word but that's okay because the goal is just to lead people to your one point, not to dispense a whole lot of information. Anyways, I'm excited.

Well, my time as a bachelor is finally coming to an end! And I won't miss it for one second. I haven't been on here this week because I've been addicted to the first season of Prison Break on DVD. I heard all the raves about it but didn't get how they could make a show of some cons breaking out of prison that interesting. However, I must say they did a phenomenal job. I've been glued to the couch.

A little update on our housing situation: our landlords are letting us stay. So that is quite a relief. Life can go on as it has for the last few months. It won't be the same as living in Mission, but it will have to do.

On Wed. we ordered the sound system and today we bought a new drum kit for our church plant. The bills keep on coming in and the money hasn't yet but we are confident that because this is God's dream he has a plan that is going to play out in the near future.

I had a conversation with one of my good friends last night and we were talking about the finances and I brought up one of our core values, Life Altering Adventure. I really believe that comfort is one of the biggest enemies of any Christian and we all say we have faith in God and yet, many of us never do anything that requires us to have faith in him. We desperately want the ethos of our church to be one where failure is never an option. One where we are taking risks that are so huge that God is required to be at the middle of it in order for it to succeed. I want everyone who is in leadership to be able to step out on the limb and experiment with new ways of doing things. I want the people in our church to live their lives contagiously where the people around them can't help but see their faith in God.

After that conversation we went back to my house and I got a phone call from another guy I know and he said that he wanted to help pay for the drums. I couldn't have asked for a better way to illustrate exactly what I was talking about. God came through then and I know he will in the future. He has to cause if he doesn't, we're done!

Did I mention I can't wait for my wife and kids to come home?

Being a bachelor is lame. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against bachelors. I just hate being one. I've been married for 6.5 years and have had a beautiful companion by my side the entire time (go figure!). For 2.5 of those years I've had an amazing little boy running around and for .5 of those years I've had the cuttest little girl rolling around. Needless to say, I'm on my own for the next week. Not cool. The fridge is empty and the house is quite. I've gotta little bit of lost puppy syndrome going on.

I think I take everything that Bek does for granted. She is absolutely incredible (which she proved once again as we went camping with a grumpy little girl who wouldn't keep quiet and Bek just kept her cool and went into mommy mode - amazing). I honestly could not have asked for anyone more perfect than her. And let me say this with all honesty - there is nothing that I don't love about her. I'm dead serious. I'm not sure how many guys can say that but I can, 100% guaranteed. She makes me incredibly proud to be her husband. And my kids are stinking amazing.

My son has got the sweetest personality ever. People tried to convince us that he would get jealous of Emma and we haven't seen a single drop of jealousy. He never talks to her in a normal voice. He always gets this high-pitched cutesy little voice when he's talking to her as if he ablsolutely adores here

My little girl has two sides to her. She's got her mommy's sweet personality when she's happy. But when she's tired, look out. Daddy's nasty side comes out and everyone needs to duck. I'm just thankful it only comes in spurts (for right now at least). Nonetheless, she's got me whooped already. Being the worlds cutest little girl doesn't help the situation either.

So, because we aren't moving anymore (I had planned to move into our new house while Bek was away and surprise her), I'm gonna be bored stiff, especially at night. Maybe I should find some friends.

Remember how I said we were moving to Mission? I lied. Kindof. I came home from holidays (without my family) today to get the message from our potential landlords that the suite is now unavailable. This came as a surprise and at that same time it was expected. When we agreed to move in it was under the stipulation that we understood that their daughter was going to be building a house and in meantime she may need a place to stay. Understandably, family comes before outsiders. We talked it over and decided we would take the risk. Little did we know that their house would sell 3 days after being on the market. Soooo...we are kind of in a pickle now. We have a few options.

1. Move into the place and live there until Oct.31st. This option probably won't happen.

2. Stay in the suite we are currently in. The only problem with that is we have given our notice and one of our landlords' (we have 3 architects working in the upper part of the house) sons may be moving in. The suite in Mission will be available again once the new house is built which will be around December.

3. Find a different place in Mission.


Oh sweet bliss. Nonetheless, we are in a tough spot. If we aren't able to stay, we would understand seeing we gave them our notice and the suite is fair game. That would really suck though. Moving in to a place to move out again in a few months really sucks. And because it will be ready sometime in Dec, the wait may be merited. We are apprehensive to find a different place just because this place is so sweet and we can trust the landlords.

I think the biggest challenge is just to know whether or not we should get out to mission right away or if staying where we are will be okay for the first 4 months. Bek and my fears are probably quite different - her's having to do with the house, mine having to do with the church plant. I mean, being homeless isn't that appealing but neither is jeopordizing the momentum for the church plant. These first 4 months are critical for us to begin to form a foundation for the launch in January. We'll keep you posted.