preaching from the hamper

Last night was our first worship gathering as a church plant. It was awesome! We all showed up at our home at 5:30pm and ate a meal together for about 45 minutes. Then the kids left and did their own Bible lesson and activities, while we sang sangs, prayed, had a discussion on Mark 1 (I lead the discussion while sitting on my hamper...funny), and then took communion together. Then the kids came back and we hung out and ate dessert.

It was so encouraging to see so many people in my small apartment (about 40 folks). It was so much fun to see our small community come together and worship and party together. i look forward to seeing what God will do in the future. Our next gathering is on July 11 at 5:30pm. It should be another great time!

prepping

This week is the first week of its kind. The church plant is having its first worship gathering this coming Sunday evening. I've planned many worship services, but this is different. In the past I've planned services, and simply pulled out the blank "worship order" and filled in the blanks, tweeking it occasionally. This time there is no blank worship order to fill in, just a blank sheet.

It's quite cool actually. We can do whatever we want, however we want. There is no schedule or thing to follow, because we are on "day 1". It is a fun process of discerning what is valuable and meaningful to our little community.

At this point I am using the elements seen in Acts 2:42 as a checklist, of sorts. It says, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." So, we are making eating together, praying, a Biblical teaching, and communion a priority. We are trying to keep it simple and authentic. I am excited to see the personality this gathering will take, as we tweek it as we go.

here we go... again

As mentioned in a previous post, on Sunday, June 27th, at 5:30pm, the church plant will hold its first worship gathering. We are very excited to again reach a new mile marker on our journey. Our hope is that we will worship every other week this Summer, in our home (until we out grow it).

We are planning on eating together, maybe singing songs of praise, pray for each other and our neighbors, hear a message of hope, and receive the Lord's Supper together. I anticipate that it will be an intimate, authentic time of connection between us and Christ. If you are in the area, we'd love to have you join us in shaping what God is calling our community to be.

june 2010 prayer letter

The June prayer letter is up. Just click the "prayer" tag off to the left to view it.

leadership community

Last night was a sweet night. After a couple months of inviting trusted friends to be a part of the church plant’s leadership community, we finally got together as a group for the first time. My only agenda was to eat, share our stories w/ each other, and pray. All of those things were accomplished. Over a meal we told each other about ourselves. It was cool to hear new aspects of my friends’ lives and journeys. We spent a brief time prayer for the future of our community, our group, and our church, that God would grant us wisdom, unity, and fun. It was everything I hoped the party would be… and more.

After our official times was over, most folks stayed around, and immediately we began daydreaming together. I had the desire to gather the church for worship over the summer, but did not know when we would begin. I tend to want to move faster than is relationally realistic. So I was playing “the patient card,” waiting to see the timetable of everyone else. And to my very pleasant surprise, the crew last night wanted to start a worship gathering very soon. So we set a date (June 27th at 5:30pm at our house), and began scheming what needs to happen to pull it off. There was an obvious spirit of excitement in the air, as people were suddenly speaking a little louder and quicker, and rapidly throwing ideas back and forth. It was awesome.

I feel tremendously blessed and thankful for how God has moved. The process of forming a community out of nothing is draining at times. And it is moments that I rely on my own efforts that cause me the most stress and grief. But, when I sit back and observe how God is forming the church, and moving in our lives, those are, by far, the most rewarding, productive, and encouraging times. Psalm 127:1 says that unless God builds the house, we labor in vain. It was apparent last night that God is doing some building.

So now our task is to be obedient to what He is forming, and laying on people’s heart. We will be figuring out a liturgy as we go along, how we will structure ourselves, and how God wants us to serve Bellingham. It is a freaky, humbling task. But I am blessed to have some friends to do it with, for His glory.