Contagion

I just got finished watching extreme home makeover and I gotta say that it's by far my favorite show on T.V. right now. Ya I know...it's a chick show but whatever...deal with it. The thing I love about it is that you never see a house being built for someone who doesn't need it. Sure the house is over board and there are kids in third world countries that need food but I think there are people that are just in need right in our back yard. This lady had 6 kids, one a 3 month old and her husband died on Christmas eve due to mold poisoning in his lungs because he was trying to renovate a house they had just bought for their family. It rocked her life to the core and this house was just a little taste of a normal life.

But you know what really bugs me? It's the fact that a stinkin' t.v. station has to be doing this kind of stuff! It really gets me fired up to see how much people in the "real" world are doing for people in need and the people that are supposed to be doing something sit idly by watching. Sure we love talking about it and hoping something will happen but a lot of times, that's as far as it goes. Sorry, that just came out of the blue. Maybe I'm more ticked at myself. At how selfish and greedy and conceited I am to think that my life exists for me. That my faith exists for me. That the church exists for me. And I too often forget that I don't exist for me, that once I decide to follow Jesus I'm in on the mission of Jesus - connecting the disconnected to Him.

Today I talked about how generosity gives love a voice and how we can say we have faith all we want and that we love Jesus and others but if we're not doing anything, James says that our faith is dead. Useless. Ouch.

A huge part of our dream for TXC is that we would be an insanely generous church. We want to be a huge part of this community. I'd love to come alongside other churches in town and pay off their mortgages so they can be more effective with their resources. I'd love to drop thousands of dollars into other charities in town so they can be more effective. I'd love to pay for a renovation of a business that is making a positive impact in our community so that they can continue adding to who we are as a community. I'd love to provide an entire village in a country with the resources they needed for as long as they needed until they were fully self supporting - wells, animals, schools, supplies, etc.

Even as I type this I fully realize that this is completely impossible. The beautiful thing about that is that when I look at all the guys/gals in the Bible, a lot of them were losers. They had nothing going for them at all. The only thing that led to their success was obedience and the faith to believe that God was who he said he was. And you know what? That's all I have...or at least I'm trying to have.

I still believe, if not more now, that we are living out God's dream for this church. His dream is huge. And it goes even beyond just physical generosity. It goes into the spiritual. A house is nice but if you're just gonna continue living in hell on earth in separation from God now and the rest of eternity, what good does it really do? It sounds like I'm contradicting myself with my previous paragraphs but I'm not trying to. I'm just trying to make a point that I think peoples' needs are deeper than physical. What I dream of seeing is that meeting people's physical needs will lead them to see that they're real need is spiritual. And it's at that point where true freedom comes. That's when hope they never new existed comes. Peace deeper than any ocean. Grace wider than any horizon. When someone really encounters Jesus...I mean really does...not just those fluffy feelings, but when they are rocked to their core and everything else falls away and all they are left with is looking into eyes that show nothing but love...that's when real life is lived.

If that doesn't get your blood pumping, maybe you should check your head. This is the dream that we are stewards of. It's the dream that I'm giving my life to.

I couldn't imagine my life any other way.

Today was a good day at TXC's Sunday gathering. We saw tons of new faces and just had a plain 'ol good time. The band killed it again (just for those of you that aren't down with emerging language..."killed it" is a really good thing - haha). I think I managed to redeem last weeks' talk with todays. Go figure, I talked about money and generosity...usually a touchy subject but people were stoked afterwards. We showed the miniature earth video and it was surprising to see how many hadn't seen it before.

Upstream Kids was at capacity today with the amount of volunteers we have. So we've got a few options:

1. Rent a theatre for the kids.
2. More people start helping out so we can contain them all
3. Rent a theatre and have more people start helping out so we can grow even bigger.

Renting a theatre costs more money every week so we have to factor that in as well. Our dream has been to expand into the theatre's once we had enough kids to pull it off. We do now, we just may not have the man power to pull it off. So if you're reading this and are a part of TXC and are wanting to help out in whatever way you can, we've got your dream job! You can check it out for a week as an observer and just see how things are run. After that, you are only committed for a semester (spring). From there we can see how things go. ***end of shameless plug.

It's a good challenge to have. It means something's happening. It means kids are loving it and learning incredible truths as well (if you know Tina, you know what I'm talking about). These kids are learning at a level that they will fully understand and be able to begin applying what they learn right away.

All I gotta say is this is a God thing. Like I said today and you've heard me say it before (and it's true), we don't have special powers to make this kinda stuff happen. It's not normal (I don't think at least). Some may say that Mission is a part of the Canadian Bible belt...I don't think that's true. I do think people are spiritually aware here. They just aren't into the hardcore legalistic junk they grew up with. Most people that come in that haven't ever been to church or haven't been in a really long time ask something like "Is this for real?" or "Are you allowed to that?" They are craving life. Like I said before, it gets me amped to see people who aren't Christians coming on Sunday and inviting their friends who aren't Christians because there is something that they are drawn to. They are spiritually ready.

We're on the verge of an outbreak. Can't wait to see who gets infected...

When we were having our monthy sneak previews time was going really slowly. We had time to plan and let the theme marinate in us for quite a while. Now...there is no time. It's just blurry it seems. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just different. Tomorrow is already Sunday and it feels like we just met yesterday but I'm still stoked.

We had coffee with a couple from our church last night and the way things are taking off is ca-razay! I've honestly never been a part of a church where people are inviting their friends that don't know Jesus without hestitation. And then in turn, those friends invite friends that don't know Jesus who invite their husbands, who invite their friends. I mean, I really don't have a clue what's going on because we aren't standing up there begging people to invite their friends. The only thing I know is that from the beginning we wanted our Sunday gatherings to give people confidence to invite their friends without us even having to mention it. We want people to walk away being challenged and changed and have their friends notice and want the same thing.

I think it's happening already (which, to be honest, we really didn't expect). I don't wanna get the cart before the horse but I'm still excited. We'll see what's gonna happen tomorrow.

On another note, I had a "chat" with Donovan Price (who shared his faith story on Sunday) and we are beginning to walk down the road of bringing him onto our leadership team (which is all volunteer right now). Right now it's looking like he will be overseeing UnderCurrents, possibly starting a youth undercurrent network and as well being a part of teaching team. I'm stoked about that because he is high quality. Got has done some crazy things in his life in the recent past and he's got a whole wack load of life experience that gives him an edge when reaching out to people who have had similar experiences. The way our team is shaping up is absolutely incredible and I can't wait to see what happens in the near future...

I continue to be blown away by the response from Sunday! It's quite obvious that God spoke to some people despite my jibberish! I was trying to communicate the importance of being passionate in our pursuit of Jesus and that one of the ways I've found helpful is to tell my story. It reminds me of what God has done and is continually doing in my life. I mentioned that our stories aren't something that happened but something that are always happening...continually evolving. And if we are passionately pursuing Jesus, our story is going to be loaded with stuff to talk about.

The problem is that we often times don't tell our stories. We think they are private. We think that others don't want to hear it. We think that we should just forget everything in our past, especially the bad stuff. And when we do this, we do ourselves and those around us a huge injustice.

Stories bring hope. They catalyze passion. To illustrate this, I brought up Donovan Price (who is potentially going to be on our volunteer leadership team) Donovan has an amazing story of being healed from an extreme case of bi-polar that lead him to attempt to kill himself multiple times and subsequently consider killing himself at least 3 times a day, if not more. The drugs just wouldn't balance him out. And then on Dec 13, 2005 someone in his church prayed for him and it was gone! He shared how for the last year it's been one of total self rediscovery. He's never known what it was like to have a clear mind. He's never known what it was like to feel with having a jaded experience. He's never known what it's like to be loved for who he was. And now, it's a whole knew life.

It was by far the best part of the whole morning. Anyways, this week he tells me that one of his friends who came was challenged by it. He hasn't been to church in at least 6 months cause every one he's gone to has given him a bad taste in his mouth. From my understanding, he was raised in an ultra charismatic church and somewhere along the way something went sour. He's generally withdrawn but one night he had some buddies over and Donovan said it was like he just unzipped his heart and let his story come gushing out. He experienced that power of story on Sunday and something inside of him clicked.

To me, that's what it's all about. Obviously I can totally bomb my part of the morning and God can still rock someone's world...and for that I'm thankful. Cause as the days go on, I realize in a more real way that I just really don't have the ability to be God (go figure...you should all be thankful that I'm not God...we'd have some serious issues on our hands!) Some days I sure like to act like I am but after a few quick slaps across the face and I'm reminded that I'm Dan.

I had this discussion yesterday with someone where we came to the conclusion that yes, indeed, Christianity is narrow minded. Why? Because Jesus even said himself that the way to Him is narrow. But here's the thing: so is every other person and business on the planet. It's just the way we are.

Take Starbucks for instance. They brew good coffee in my opinion. They have it down to a science (literally) and they wouldn't trade their system for the world, no matter how much the whiners say it's burnt! They are narrow minded. So is McDonald's, Panago Pizza and every other business. They've found a system that works and unless they are convinced there is a better way, no one is going to change their minds.

It's the same with any other religion, including athiests. Some claim to be open minded and that all paths lead to God but when it really comes down to it, if you don't claim to be one of "them", you just haven't "figured it out".

What I've found is that more and more people are searching for "narrow minded" because they are being so inundated with "pick your own path" that they find themselves lost and not knowing what to do about it. That fact that Starbucks is so exclusive and expensive makes me think that they have a really good product. They focus on coffee. They specifically don't make sandwiches or soup because the aroma will destroy the flavor of the coffee. And people love it. (True coffee drinkers that is :)

So yes, Christianity is narrow minded because the God of the bible is narrow minded. I'm okay with that...are you?

As I talk with people about our church, I find it kind of funny how, when you preach Jesus, stuff happens. Honestly, if you were there, you would hear two things: A scatter brained speaker trying to communicate and Jesus. I mean, I'm not usually a hardcore Bible thumping preacher, but on Sunday, It was "Jesus, sin and repentance". Some pretty crazy hard stuff to swallow, especially for the people who aren't connected to Jesus. But it was those people who felt challenged to reexamine their faith.

From the beginning, I decided that I would preach Jesus. I've realized that I don't have any "keys for living" or any special persuasion powers to help people live the life they've always wanted. I may not preach as hardcore as I did on Sunday, but I will always point to Jesus. Our lives are so messed up if we aren't at least crawling in His direction. Don't crawl to me because I can guarantee you that you'll be let down. I'm pursuing Him and in need of Him just as much as the next person.

So it's not really a "postmodern" church growth method, but it's all I know how to do. I'm not interested in telling people that it's okay if they keep living the way that they are...cause Jesus loves them just the way that they are. I guess I would ask, then what's the point on following someone if you really don't want to follow them?

So Jesus it is...and I know it's the right direction for us to go

I love it when people say that they are looking for a church that "meets their needs." These people will usually be gone in a few months because something doesn't go their way, or stops meeting their needs. Yes I know...now you're furious. "The church is for me!" "It's for my encouragement and my edification!" "It's all about me!"

Wait a minute! When did the church become what happens on Sunday morning? We are the church! What we do on Sunday is a part of what we do, but it doesn't define who we are.

So as far as I'm concerned, if someone sees themselves as the church, what happens on Sundays will be inconsequential. If something bothers them, they will be a part of the solution instead of part of the problem. They will let their actions speak instead of opening their mouths in protest.

So this week...let's be the church. Stop waiting for Sunday to experience God and play an active part in bringing God's kingdom to earth now.

Some may wonder why we stick ads in the paper, leisure guide or visitor guide. Some may think we are sell outs. Some may think we are cheapening the gospel. And I understand that. But what some think doesn't really matter to us.

The way we look at it is that there are too many people that aren't connected to Jesus who used to be or never were. And these people are searching. The only problem is that the church isn't coming to them. Now I'm not saying that putting an ad in the paper is "going to them" by any means, but it at least gives them starting point, an option of where they could start their journey of discovery.

We aren't in the least bit interested in attracting people from other churches. So far we've been able to avoid this for the most part. Even though this does make it quite a bit harder to get stuff off the ground (because everyone is so new to everything...not just church but who Jesus is), we are solely about connecting the disconnected/disillusioned to/back to Jesus.

The other reason for our ads is for the new people moving to Mission. We are at the beginning of a massive surge of new residents and if they were looking for a new church, where would they go? If they have friends here, they'd probably go with them. If they got a recommendation from someone they trust, they'd probably go there. If they have a certain denomination or allegiance, they'd probably go to a church they "fits" them. But we stick the ads in the paper for the people who just show up. Perhaps they work in Vancouver and live here. They are looking for something to get connected into and if our ad can be of any help, it's served it's purpose.

So far, this has been incredibly valuable for us. We've had a good percentage of our first time guests hear about us in the paper. This was a risk because it's not cheap and I figured that no-one read the paper. But after hearing people tell me that residents in Mission read the MCR, we gave it a shot. If it stops working in the future, we'll pull out. We aren't stuck on it but if it helps us accomplish our mission of connecting the disconnected, I'm all over it

Today was awesome at TXC. At first I wasn't sure what to expect. I was just feeling off and for some weird reason I was nervous and that definitely came out in my message. I memorize my messages and usually every flows pretty smoothly through my wee little brain but today it was like a traffic jam of tons of different ideas colliding. Nonetheless, I made it through.

The band brought it like it was 1979 and sounded amazing. Dave is such an amazing worship leader/guitar player, and accompanied by my rockstar brother and "Tony", it was just phenomenal.

The projector was working this week which was an answer to prayer because we are pretty media heavy in what we do so not having that projector was pretty lame last week.

I also gotta say that the vibe of the theatre from the moment we show up to set up to the minute we live is just buzzing. People love being there. Tons of people are coming early to grab a Starbucks and are also practicing our 15 minute exit (staying for 15 minutes to meet some new people) I think this is one of our strengths for sure. I hate playing games and I'm terrible at wearing masks and pretending to be someone I'm not and I expect everyone in leadership and our volunteers to be the same. We just don't have time for it. So when guests compliment us on how friendly we are, I know that our "strategy" of being "normal and real" is working.

I think the highlight every week is seeing how many new people keep showing up. They don't all come back the next week but we are seeing a good section of them returning (look at me...we've had two gatherings this year so far! Haha). The thing I love is that a huge majority of our guests are either disconnected or disillusioned with church. It's not uncommon for me to talk to people who haven't been to a church for a year or so but grew up in the church. This is an answer to prayer for me because from the start I didn't want to attract people from other churches. My intention has never been to stir the part and make some other church in town fall apart because all the people are leaving. There are so many people that are disconnected from Jesus in Mission that I can't waste my time trying to appeal to other Christians. It just doesn't make sense.

One more story, and with this I close. At the end I met this guy and girl who just got engaged and struck up a conversation with them. After talking with them for a few minutes I asked them if they went to church anywhere and they both said that they used to go to the catholic church when they were kids. And then she proceeded to tell me that she was a scientologist. Now, I don't read PEOPLE magazine like my wife does so I had no clue that she was talking about Scientology, Tom Cruises' cult. I figured she was some kind of science major or scientist or something! And when I thought about it later, she said it in a way like she was expecting a negative response from me like "Ohhhhh...you're one of them" But instead she just got a blank stare.

But later as she was talking to Bek she also told her that she was a scientologist but that she was now rethinking her faith and what she actually believed! We're meeting later this week sometime to discuss (in her words) "spiritual issues". So my message wasn't a bomb afterall! But that is just a story of what God is already doing right in the middle of us. If you knew me, you'd know that I don't have any special powers. What is going to happen here will be a complete move of God. Dave and I were joking earlier today that what we are is "Awkward". We're just a bunch of wingnuts that are crazy enough to believe that God can use us to do some crazy huge things in Mission.

How I would love to go to this conference . The joys of being a church planter with more important things to figure out. I've also made the choice that I won't go to any conference in another city without taking another guy with me. There are too many instances where pastors fall apart on trips by themselves and give into temptation. I do not want that to happen to me. Sooo...that means we would have to pay for two of us...and it's in Orlando, so that can't be cheap. Anyways, just dreaming. I'm no pro at planting a church and can use as much direction, inspiration and encouragement as I can get...Next year for sure.

I'm not a huge fan of school. Not because it's not important...it is. And not because I don't like learning...I do. I think it has something to do with the pressure to perform a certain way. I have a way of learning that I don't think fits into a system. One of the things that I wasn't a fan of was papers. I'd always start out great but towards the end I would fade off and not really care what the outcome was. Here's the thing...I have to write a paper every week now...possibly for the rest of my life! The difference is that I can't fade off at the end...in fact, the end is the most important part! And because I memorize my messages I desperately need everything to flow as smoothly as possible so that I can internalize what I'm speaking.

I had a block yesterday. Nothing was flowing. It was chunky and all over the map. The funny thing is that this week I'm speaking on passionate Christian spirituality and I was anything but passionate about it...until this morning. It just all clicked and man do I love that feeling...when it all lines up and you feel like God has just given you divine wisdom and insight to communicate in a way that will make complete sense to people.

Now we'll just have to see if I'm off my rocker or if this actually does make any sense!

If Sunday defines our faith we're really screwed. It's gotta go way deeper than that. How this happens I'm not sure.

I'm not a huge fan of the typical small group structure where everyone is told that they have study the same thing. The is just so rigid and stuck for my liking. I'm dreaming of something far more organic but it's so hard to see organic because it's something that just happens.

We've called these sub communities UnderCurrents because they are going to be the life blood of the church...to the point that if we were ever to decide to, or need to, shut down Sundays, our faith community wouldn't just survive...it would thrive. At this point, I don't really have a plan. I know that's pretty lame when I'm the lead pastor and should have all the answers...but I don't. At this point, we are going to have a little shin-dig at my house sometime in the beginning of March for anyone that's interested in getting in on this movement. Here are some of my dreams for what it could look like:

• They can happen anywhere, anytime. Coffee Shops, work, the mall, homes, etc.
• They encourage the people in them to live out their faith in a very real and practical way.
• Those in them see themselves as missionaries to their neighborhoods and cities. They have their eyes open to what is going on around them and are actively thinking of ways they can step in and serve
• They always stay outward focused. The danger of small groups is that they can quickly become little "get fat" clubs...where the people in them are at church on Sunday as well and they just keep taking and taking and there is never anything that is given
• They will live out our core values which leads to the fulfillment of our vision which causes our mission to happen naturally.
• They will be very broad in what they are about. They could be affinity, age group, life stage, service, sports, etc....
• They are where people can let their guard down and be themselves.
• Jesus is central to every undercurrent and we are always moving towards who he originally intended for us to be. It just may not happen the way that it traditionally has in the past.
  

There's more but it's just coming to me right now. Hopefully you get the idea. I'm still processing everything so this might seem kind of random and way out in left field...that's because it is. Just start thinking about how you might see yourself getting involved and let's make this dream a reality

It was really good to meet so many people that came to check us out that haven't been to church in a while. For the most part, they were all raised in the church but have just phased out. This is one of the areas of our community that we are trying to connect with...they are already connected to Jesus, but not to a faith community they can journey with. I'm not a huge fan of taking people from other churches...all it does is create animosity between pastors. It shouldn't be that way but it is. The other demographic we are trying to reach are those who haven't ever followed Jesus or did a long time ago. We've also been seeing this happen and can't wait to see it take off even more. Now what I'm really trying to figure out is how to connect with everyone and get them connected in. It's the fight to not get all wrapped up with Sunday's to the point where they define everything that we are. When we gather on Sunday's we want to have a good time but, like I said on Sunday, it's one hour out of 168.

Our new website is up and running! I have to say that the guys at Emerging Productions pulled this one off beautifully. It communicated who we are in real life perfectly and I'm stoked that our "virtual front door" is congruent with who we are. I actually think that the people looking at our site from our community will be curious to check us out just by what they see. Some of the content is a work in progress but the design for the most part is done.

Warning! If you have dial up internet (like I do), this site will take light years to load (like it does for me). In fact, it's a complete waste of time! It's also viewed best on a wide screen and if that isn't possible, a higher resolution on your screen.

Last thing. If you have looked at our old website before you may find that the link takes you to our old website. If so, you need to clear your cache in your web browser, shut your browser down and restart it and you should be good to go.

We had our first gathering as an "official" church today and it was awesome. At first it was looking like it was going to be a train wreck. Our set up crew was an hour late so there were 3 of us setting up but we made it happen. Our sound guy that we've been getting to help out with some training didn't think we started till next week. Soooo...we set it up and figured it out ourselves! Phew...that was a tough one but we did. Then the projector wouldn't work! It was just one of those days. Six weeks since our last gathering was a little too long and I felt really rusty with getting everything done before the gathering. Nonetheless, we pulled it off. We never did get the projector working, which was a little depressing because of all the video that we had, but we made it work...no video/lyrics and all!

The vibe after the gathering was great. we are trying to employ a 15 minute exit strategy...where everyone takes fifteen minutes to get out of the theatre and meet at least 1 person they've never met before...so far it seems to be working.

I'm just stoked that we are meeting weekly now. Now it feels like there is some consistency and we can build some momentum from week to week instead of month to month.

Well it's been 10 months since the dream for TXC was birthed. It's been an awesome ride up till this point. We've seen so much happen that just didn't seem like it was possible. We were so blessed to have an amazing launch team with ridiculously amazing talents and abilities and now 3 of them are volunteer staff! And now tomorrow is the big day...our launch. We are super excited and nervous at the same time.

We're not sure what will happen tomorrow because of Christmas break and all but we're anticipating great things. We've had phone calls and emails and stories of people inviting strangers and strangers saying they'll come all week. It's just crazy. People are actually excited for Sunday's which is a pretty odd thing in my world. Most times it's just what you do...go to church. But when people are excited about it and their life is changing and the lives of the people around them are changing they just can't shut up about what's happening. That's what I love. The fact is that I love coming to SilverCity on Sunday mornings with the rest of our church. I love it!

The future is still wide open and largely unknown. We've got some huge dreams but how we are going to achieve those just takes the courage to take another step into the unknown and let God keep piecing it together. We'll fill you in on some of those details tomorrow.

Welcome to The CrossCurrent...where life is meant to be lived

I just stumbled on a new blog that looks like it's going to be an interesting one to follow. It's the chronicled journey of a girl who claims to be an agnostic but is exploring faith. She's going to church each Sunday and blogging about it. I'm not sure if she's going to different churches or the same one but it's cool to see how someone who is disconnected from Jesus is thinking about church. It's good to keep me thinking through the lens of the disconnected. I never want to get stuck being comfortable and think about how I feel at the expense of our guests. We are all about connecting the disconnected to Jesus and all costs. The day we stop doing this, I want out.

It it possible for a church to be remarkable? When we meet together, is it possible to do things well? Can we have good music and engaging media? Is there anything wrong with having people actually like gathering together on Sunday mornings? Do we have to sit around in a circle and have everyone share in order to connect with the disconnected?

Read this post and see if you think any of these things can be applied to church? Are there any that shouldn't be applied? (And just so you know...I know the the church isn't a business)

Wow...I've been following a church called Newspring church for a while now. They planted the church in 1999 and have grown to around 7,000 since then. Last year they grew from 4,000 - 7,000 and saw a ridiculous amount of people get connected to Jesus. All of this in a city the size of Mission (maybe a little bit smaller - it's possible!) It's totally a God thing and other churches in the city are ticked. Well, this morning the pastor, Perry Noble, let it loose. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing but it's funny nonetheless. And in all honesty, I would want to say the same things. This church gets me amped for what the possibilities could be like in Mission. I'm not too fond on building a church building but we are intent on growing and we have a preliminary plan in place to see that start happening right out of the starting gate. Anyways, Check out the post here.

This pastor has some real cahoonahs (not sure if that's a real word or not) for posting this, this and this and I love it. What he says is so true and I just wish I had come up with them first. I'm sure we're gonna have our fair share of these types of people but that's okay because we are in the process of defining our "Relocation Specialist". This person will remain nameless but their role is simple: finding new churches for people who aren't happy with ours! That way everyone remains happy and we don't have to get derailed from our vision to coddle people who aren't getting their own way. Should be interesting...

Look for the write up in an upcoming bulletin.

"If we believe terrorists are beyond redemption, we can rip out half of our New Testament, since it was written by a converted terrorist who became an extremist for grace. It’s what happens when we discover that God has a desperate love for losers just like us." - Shane Caliborne (ht: jonathan herron)

What do you think about this? In light of the execution of Saddam Hussein, where do you lie? Do you think that forgiveness was too far out of reach for him? What about Paul?