doing dishes

Last night, I again finished a small pile of dishes, after hosting a party. This has become a frequent thing, that I have grown to enjoy. Usually the small, or big, pile of dishes is from a church group of some kind, whether a Bible study, leadership meeting, or worship. I enjoy doing the dishes of my guests. Strangely enough, it has become a meditative activity of worship. In this tactile act, I have a chance to rest, reflect of the evening, and thank God for His goodness, His provision, and His movement among us.

Last night as I did the dishes, I was reflecting on the leadership community meeting that happened that evening. What a great group of folks! They are such a blessing and a source of encouragement. We ate, drank, and shared what was going on in our lives. We talked about our worship gatherings, planned some things (including our next worship gathering on July 25), and discussed names for the budding church we lead. Then we prayed, daydreamed, and nibbled some more. It was a great night, and, as I meditated about the evening over the dishes, a feeling of great blessing fell over me. God is good. He is the source of hope in my life, and it is cool to see Him forming a new community, and bless His people. For this reason, I love seeing a pile of dirty dishes.

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.

plant update

So we've been at this thing for about a year and a half now. This thing being, starting a church. For the first 6 months we discerned where in NW Washington God was leading us to serve. Bellingham kept coming up, and was confirmed, so about a year ago we moved here. Since that time we have made it our priority to simply build relationships and friendships, w/ neighbors, coworkers, fellow church goers. It has been a fun year, living in a fun place.

About a month ago I really felt the nudge from God to begin taking the next step of faith. I believe after a year of living here, it is time to start gathering our initial prayer/planning group, our launch/core team. So for the last month I've been having intentional conversations w/ friends who have walked w/ us for this year. In some conversations my friends said they did not feel the tug to join us in the ambiguity of starting this church, and in other conversations friends had been waiting for such an invitation. In all of them, I feel like friendships were deepened, and God was honored.

So now I am done w/ my initial short list of friends I was going to ask to join us. We have 5, maybe 6, households. Now my hope is to get them all together and have a party, a time when they can all get to know each other better. Then hopefully soon there after we will meet, and pray, and begin daydreaming about what God has in store for us. Perhaps we will decide on a name, a worship time, and how we can serve our neighbors.

I am very encouraged. I am excited to see what God has in store for us this season. Thanks for your prayers and support of us and the ministry God is unfolding.