I got to Denver on Mon night, it was a beating of a drive. I woke up at 5 and drove straight through, because of construction and some stupid traffic, I got here at 7 Denver time. That is 15 hours of fun. I listened to a book on CD most of the way, but that didn't make it a good drive, merely tolerable.
Our apartment is great, I love the town so far. The drivers are crazy, but I feel like they make up for it by have a sweet town. I have spent a lot of time with my friends Chad and Mary. They moved up last spring completely independent of us. They are great people and I am glad not to be completely alone here. Hopefully we can make some connections and begin to find a core group of people.
Other than that, our furniture got delivered fine, the power is on, but the AC doesn't work, so that's a bummer. Again, I love it here, but am really missing Robin. She will be here Friday night, and Tanner and Jessica will hang out until Sunday. Hope you are all doing well, and I will keep you updated here and on my blog. Pray for us that we will find jobs quickly and that God will continue to take care of us as I know he will.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Mmmm, Dublins...
As you all know, we are heading out to the promised land sometime next week. I will be going on Monday to scout the land of milk and honey, and Robin will follow with Jessica and Tanner helping, to complete the conquest. We are pretty excited. The title comes from the fact that my path will go through Dublin. I am going to wake up at 5 AM on Monday, stop in Dublin to pick up a 24 pack, and stop only for food and gas after that. Should be fun.
A few things I have been thinking through as all this is going on, and maybe it can help you all when you make your moves.
The first thing that is really hitting me is God's strange provision. God does not behave like a genie in a bottle or something and just show up and give us our wish. But, he also promises that in the same way the birds of the air and flowers of the field are taken care of, we will be too. And we have been. We don't know where it is going to come from, but we have had several random acts of kind generosity extended to us. We have had people pay more than we asked for furniture, we had some friends take us to ice cream and give us a check for 100 bucks the other night, and today after I played basketball with some old guys, a man grabbed me on the way out and handed me a hundred dollar bill. Its really strange. We didn't ask anyone of them, but each was the presence of God to us by giving us some money. For me, sometimes it is hard to let people do things like that for me, I want to be a "rugged individual" because I am a good American, but that is not the way of the kingdom. We have to let people give to us at times, because that is God's plan. We are so grateful to have such wonderful friends at a time like this. So for you guys that are moving too eventually, it may seem like the money won't be there, but I think you might be surprised what God can and will do.
The second thing is that getting a job is pretty overwhelming sometimes. We both go through fazes when we are upset and feel like we will end up destitute on the streets, and we both go through fazes when we are upbeat because we know that God holds the future. The good news is that we haven't both been really down at the same time yet. Keep your heads up people! It may seem like you aren't getting a job immediately, but just know that God's work is the right place to be. (Plus our whole economy is about to crash down anyway, so we will all just be poor together, find some abandoned farm and eek out an existence there, while we learn to knit our own cloths and generate power somehow to play video games, jk)
The last thing is that I know that as long as I have a few things in life I will be just fine. Robin and a few friends, and enough food to eat and water to drink. A place to sleep and a change of boxers. This has taken a really weird tangent, but I just want to try to reassure everyone, God has promised to look out for us. For Robin and I, help has come from the strangest places (I forgot to mention that a large payment was made to our credit card, and we have no idea how it was made, now that could just be an error which will eventually be fixed, or it could be God providing in yet another strange way). I get hope from strange things, like the fact that we have a good place to live and that they gave us our first month for free... Anyway, we are praying for all of you, as you are hopefully praying for us. I will keep you up to date about our lives on this blog and my personal blog, so please keep in touch. Plan trips to come see us, to come find places to live and places to work.
Last, I want to leave you with something that was prayed for me today. The guys I play basketball with prayed that God would change the city of Denver through us. That is my prayer too. I pray that we will be the light in the darkness and that we would be the ones that are the presence of Christ to a wounded world.
A few things I have been thinking through as all this is going on, and maybe it can help you all when you make your moves.
The first thing that is really hitting me is God's strange provision. God does not behave like a genie in a bottle or something and just show up and give us our wish. But, he also promises that in the same way the birds of the air and flowers of the field are taken care of, we will be too. And we have been. We don't know where it is going to come from, but we have had several random acts of kind generosity extended to us. We have had people pay more than we asked for furniture, we had some friends take us to ice cream and give us a check for 100 bucks the other night, and today after I played basketball with some old guys, a man grabbed me on the way out and handed me a hundred dollar bill. Its really strange. We didn't ask anyone of them, but each was the presence of God to us by giving us some money. For me, sometimes it is hard to let people do things like that for me, I want to be a "rugged individual" because I am a good American, but that is not the way of the kingdom. We have to let people give to us at times, because that is God's plan. We are so grateful to have such wonderful friends at a time like this. So for you guys that are moving too eventually, it may seem like the money won't be there, but I think you might be surprised what God can and will do.
The second thing is that getting a job is pretty overwhelming sometimes. We both go through fazes when we are upset and feel like we will end up destitute on the streets, and we both go through fazes when we are upbeat because we know that God holds the future. The good news is that we haven't both been really down at the same time yet. Keep your heads up people! It may seem like you aren't getting a job immediately, but just know that God's work is the right place to be. (Plus our whole economy is about to crash down anyway, so we will all just be poor together, find some abandoned farm and eek out an existence there, while we learn to knit our own cloths and generate power somehow to play video games, jk)
The last thing is that I know that as long as I have a few things in life I will be just fine. Robin and a few friends, and enough food to eat and water to drink. A place to sleep and a change of boxers. This has taken a really weird tangent, but I just want to try to reassure everyone, God has promised to look out for us. For Robin and I, help has come from the strangest places (I forgot to mention that a large payment was made to our credit card, and we have no idea how it was made, now that could just be an error which will eventually be fixed, or it could be God providing in yet another strange way). I get hope from strange things, like the fact that we have a good place to live and that they gave us our first month for free... Anyway, we are praying for all of you, as you are hopefully praying for us. I will keep you up to date about our lives on this blog and my personal blog, so please keep in touch. Plan trips to come see us, to come find places to live and places to work.
Last, I want to leave you with something that was prayed for me today. The guys I play basketball with prayed that God would change the city of Denver through us. That is my prayer too. I pray that we will be the light in the darkness and that we would be the ones that are the presence of Christ to a wounded world.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Tumbleweeds
Not much going on at the moment, so that is why I haven't updated too much. We have found a place to live and have started getting all our stuff together for it. For as much as people make out of cost of living in Denver, I think it will be pretty comparable to Dallas or Houston. The average gas/electricity for our particular apt for a month is $93. Not too shabby. We got cable and internet for about 70 a month, so all in all, we will be paying about what we would expect in any big city. So try not to freak out.
We are both trying to get jobs now. I am considering the possibility of working for the post office or something like that. I applied for a ministry job at a nursing home, so if you think about it, pray that I would get it. I don't have much else to tell you or for us to think about. Things are getting closer and I am excited. Hope you are all doing well.
We are both trying to get jobs now. I am considering the possibility of working for the post office or something like that. I applied for a ministry job at a nursing home, so if you think about it, pray that I would get it. I don't have much else to tell you or for us to think about. Things are getting closer and I am excited. Hope you are all doing well.
Monday, August 25, 2008
The happiest season of all...
I am talking, of course, about football season. If you do not share my love, I feel sorry for you... and maybe you feel sorry for me. Anyway, wanted to give everyone a few updates about what is going on, and see what you think.
We met together last Saturday at Tanner and Jessica's place and we had a great time. We had some delicious spaghetti and Dr. Pepper. Then there were some primary things we talked about.
The first is we tossed some names around. It looks like "Refuge Community Church" was the consensus favorite of everyone at the meeting. That isn't set in stone, but I like it and so I think it will be our working name for awhile. There were some other great ideas, and I think we should continue to toss them around, but for now I think Refuge works well. I liked "Levi's table" and "Koinonia" so I was thinking we could find a way to integrate those into ministries at the church. Like maybe we can call seeker Bible studies "Levi's table" or something, and church fellowship times "Koinonia" or something. Anyway, something to think about.
Second, we talked some about leadership in the church. I think most of you have looked some at bylaws, but basically the plan is to do away with committees and elders and whatnot, and just have deacons. I think this will take some red-tape out of it all, and will also help us to be able to have high standards for our leadership. We can talk more about that later.
Then the last big thing we discussed was the fact that we cannot be a church running around aimlessly, trying to fulfill every desire at once. There are a lot of large groups we would really like to reach, such as gay/lesbian, homeless, college students, and single mothers. However, those are pretty different groups. We need to be intentional about which groups we really try to reach first. I think we talked about trying to really reach out to college students and singles at first. If we can somehow help those groups feel needed and wanted, then they will also be good groups to use in ministries to those other groups. This is not set in stone either, but I think we need to beware of trying to do too many good things at once, and sucking at them. For those of you that were there, what do you think or remember?
For the rest of you, what are your thoughts? The proverb of the week: Proverbs 11.2 "When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but wisdom is with the humble."
We met together last Saturday at Tanner and Jessica's place and we had a great time. We had some delicious spaghetti and Dr. Pepper. Then there were some primary things we talked about.
The first is we tossed some names around. It looks like "Refuge Community Church" was the consensus favorite of everyone at the meeting. That isn't set in stone, but I like it and so I think it will be our working name for awhile. There were some other great ideas, and I think we should continue to toss them around, but for now I think Refuge works well. I liked "Levi's table" and "Koinonia" so I was thinking we could find a way to integrate those into ministries at the church. Like maybe we can call seeker Bible studies "Levi's table" or something, and church fellowship times "Koinonia" or something. Anyway, something to think about.
Second, we talked some about leadership in the church. I think most of you have looked some at bylaws, but basically the plan is to do away with committees and elders and whatnot, and just have deacons. I think this will take some red-tape out of it all, and will also help us to be able to have high standards for our leadership. We can talk more about that later.
Then the last big thing we discussed was the fact that we cannot be a church running around aimlessly, trying to fulfill every desire at once. There are a lot of large groups we would really like to reach, such as gay/lesbian, homeless, college students, and single mothers. However, those are pretty different groups. We need to be intentional about which groups we really try to reach first. I think we talked about trying to really reach out to college students and singles at first. If we can somehow help those groups feel needed and wanted, then they will also be good groups to use in ministries to those other groups. This is not set in stone either, but I think we need to beware of trying to do too many good things at once, and sucking at them. For those of you that were there, what do you think or remember?
For the rest of you, what are your thoughts? The proverb of the week: Proverbs 11.2 "When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but wisdom is with the humble."
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Colorado crazies!
Haha. I know that's a ridiculous title, but it just popped into my head. Anyway, as most of you know, Robin and I recently decided to just sell and or give away most everything we own. If we can't fit it into our two compact cars, we are gonna get rid of it. So, if you are in need of something, we may be getting rid of it. I have a lot of books, if you guys that are coming this weekend would like to rifle through them and pick some out, they will be free for one night only! We have some furniture, a fairly nice TV, 32" for 100 bucks, and a nice TV stand, one year old originally 200 bucks, now on sale for 50. And some DVDs that I would probably just give away. So let me know if you have been envying our couch or blender or something.
Now that I have shamelessly peddled our stuff on the blog... about the meeting on Saturday. There are a few things I would like us to discuss in some detail, and I may think of a few more before then, but I wanted to give you the head's up now.
Church name: this would make some things easier for all of us, so that instead of just saying Denver, we could say the actual name. There have been some suggestions, and some ideas. Grant likes "Levi's Table" Robin likes "Refuge" I have tossed around "Hesed" (which is the Hebrew word for covenant love) and there are probably some more that I am forgetting. Let me encourage you to really try to think of some original ideas and we can toss some around at the meeting. I would like to try to have a name by January or so.
Leadership: This will be an ongoing discussion, but I think it is something we should try to really get a hold on quickly and work together to have a healthy leadership in our church. This is a place a lot of churches and church starts specifically fail.
Reaching the Lost: We need to come to the table together and try to have a good strategy (I hate the word) for reaching those who do not know Christ. We need to be a church on a mission. In addition to that, we need to be sure that we do not have two hundred different missions going on at the same time. We need to pick a few things, especially at first, and do them well.
Those are the three major things right now, I will have a few more by Saturday. Any thoughts?
Proverbs 15.7 "Better is a little with fear of the Lord, than great treasure and trouble without it."
Now that I have shamelessly peddled our stuff on the blog... about the meeting on Saturday. There are a few things I would like us to discuss in some detail, and I may think of a few more before then, but I wanted to give you the head's up now.
Church name: this would make some things easier for all of us, so that instead of just saying Denver, we could say the actual name. There have been some suggestions, and some ideas. Grant likes "Levi's Table" Robin likes "Refuge" I have tossed around "Hesed" (which is the Hebrew word for covenant love) and there are probably some more that I am forgetting. Let me encourage you to really try to think of some original ideas and we can toss some around at the meeting. I would like to try to have a name by January or so.
Leadership: This will be an ongoing discussion, but I think it is something we should try to really get a hold on quickly and work together to have a healthy leadership in our church. This is a place a lot of churches and church starts specifically fail.
Reaching the Lost: We need to come to the table together and try to have a good strategy (I hate the word) for reaching those who do not know Christ. We need to be a church on a mission. In addition to that, we need to be sure that we do not have two hundred different missions going on at the same time. We need to pick a few things, especially at first, and do them well.
Those are the three major things right now, I will have a few more by Saturday. Any thoughts?
Proverbs 15.7 "Better is a little with fear of the Lord, than great treasure and trouble without it."
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
MISC.
Hey everyone, gosh, its been three weeks, sorry about that. I promise I wasn't just waiting on comments to post a new blog. I turned in my last assignment for seminary yesterday and went to youth camp the week before last, so it has been a little busy, but also I have just been a bit beat down with that stuff and I got a little cold last week. Anyway, I know you all don't set your watches by my blog posts, but I do want to be more consistent.
Those were some great thoughts on the last post though. Jessica, you blogged exactly how you are supposed to. We just want a way we can exchange ideas and that is what you did, so if it feels like rambling, you are probably doing it right. And I know exactly how you feel about serving somewhere when you feel called elsewhere later, it is tough. And I really agree with you about helping young couples to strengthen their relationships. I would really love to have regular marriage retreats at our church. I think it will be really good for those of us who are still young and will also help older couples to strengthen relationships.
Tanner, I really like the way you are thinking about things like that. I hope we can have some "seeker Bible studies" at some point. Right now I am kind of thinking of having one once a month. Andy told me there is a really good book about them so I think I will try to find it soon and work on that. It would be a really good ministry in Boulder, I agree with you on that. I also think finding a way to serve the homeless would be really great.
Bethany, I hope you are feeling better. I think the part about habit is true in a lot of our lives. I get comfortable doing the same thing every day, and then when I know I want and need change it gets tough sometimes. Also, I am really excited you have friends that may think about coming too. Especially if one is a musician. I have been praying that God will send us a musician soon, because it would be really good to have one or two around....
Anyway, I met with Dr. Cook and we talked some about our training plan. He said it was really ambitious, but we may want to extend the time period. I agree with that. I think we can get overwhelmed because I put a lot in there. If you haven't had a chance to look it over, just let me know and I will email it to you. If there is something you want to add in, just let me know. Some things I really want to do is to think through some issues well in advance so that we won't be surprised or caught off guard if and when they occur, so if you think of somethings, post em on here.
I have also talked with Andy quite a bit about focusing really hard on the first few months when Robin and I move. I really want to try to get a core group of native Denver people to join our vision when we get there, so I think it will be really important for us to work hard when we move and find connections with people. If we could have 15-20 people in addition to you guys who will be moving next summer, then I think we would have a really great beginning core of people. So pray for that. There are also some people that I have talked to who are thinking about coming and are not sure. Pray that God will guide all those who are considering it. I think it would be wonderful if all the people I have talked to come, but I also know if they are not passionate about this, then they could be miserable. And the last thing I would ask you all to pray for is some church to give us their old facilities. I am praying that either a church has outgrown facilities and will be moving, or that the church is dying and wants to give their facilities to a new work of God in the area.
I hope you are all getting some good rest and doing some good reading. I would recommend "They like Jesus but not the Church" if you don't have anything right now. Great book. Let me know if you need anything, and if you have any thoughts on this stuff.
Those were some great thoughts on the last post though. Jessica, you blogged exactly how you are supposed to. We just want a way we can exchange ideas and that is what you did, so if it feels like rambling, you are probably doing it right. And I know exactly how you feel about serving somewhere when you feel called elsewhere later, it is tough. And I really agree with you about helping young couples to strengthen their relationships. I would really love to have regular marriage retreats at our church. I think it will be really good for those of us who are still young and will also help older couples to strengthen relationships.
Tanner, I really like the way you are thinking about things like that. I hope we can have some "seeker Bible studies" at some point. Right now I am kind of thinking of having one once a month. Andy told me there is a really good book about them so I think I will try to find it soon and work on that. It would be a really good ministry in Boulder, I agree with you on that. I also think finding a way to serve the homeless would be really great.
Bethany, I hope you are feeling better. I think the part about habit is true in a lot of our lives. I get comfortable doing the same thing every day, and then when I know I want and need change it gets tough sometimes. Also, I am really excited you have friends that may think about coming too. Especially if one is a musician. I have been praying that God will send us a musician soon, because it would be really good to have one or two around....
Anyway, I met with Dr. Cook and we talked some about our training plan. He said it was really ambitious, but we may want to extend the time period. I agree with that. I think we can get overwhelmed because I put a lot in there. If you haven't had a chance to look it over, just let me know and I will email it to you. If there is something you want to add in, just let me know. Some things I really want to do is to think through some issues well in advance so that we won't be surprised or caught off guard if and when they occur, so if you think of somethings, post em on here.
I have also talked with Andy quite a bit about focusing really hard on the first few months when Robin and I move. I really want to try to get a core group of native Denver people to join our vision when we get there, so I think it will be really important for us to work hard when we move and find connections with people. If we could have 15-20 people in addition to you guys who will be moving next summer, then I think we would have a really great beginning core of people. So pray for that. There are also some people that I have talked to who are thinking about coming and are not sure. Pray that God will guide all those who are considering it. I think it would be wonderful if all the people I have talked to come, but I also know if they are not passionate about this, then they could be miserable. And the last thing I would ask you all to pray for is some church to give us their old facilities. I am praying that either a church has outgrown facilities and will be moving, or that the church is dying and wants to give their facilities to a new work of God in the area.
I hope you are all getting some good rest and doing some good reading. I would recommend "They like Jesus but not the Church" if you don't have anything right now. Great book. Let me know if you need anything, and if you have any thoughts on this stuff.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Is this thing on?
Seriously, where is everyone? Well, last week I put together a tentative core training plan. Sounds kind of intense, but I don't think it will be. I think it should be a really good time for us to sit down as a community and figure out whats going on in our world, what we believe and what we want to do. I plan on us getting into that next fall, 2009. Obviously projections don't always work out, so I know we will have to adjust it.
Last week I read "Sexual Ethics" by Stan Grenz. It wasn't really a delight to read, but it was good. I think his attitudes can really help us to minister to the homosexual community. I was also thinking I want us to have a really strong singles ministry. I think that is a group that is really under-appreciated by many churches today. One thing I have also been thinking through is a ministry to parents that we try to give them time every month or every couple weeks to be by themselves. I know it is hard these days to get that chance, but I think it would really help strengthen marriages and I think that is something I want us to be about as a church.
Basically, I laid out five major purposes that I think we should have as a church. I know these aren't ground breaking, but I think they are the Biblical purposes for the church. Mission is the main one, all the rest fall under it. By mission I mean helping the world to know Christ and helping the church to know him better. Service, worship, community and discipleship are the other four. I think you can see how they fall under mission but are distinct in their own right. I think most would agree that those should be the main purposes of church. What do you guys think? I want us to try to make everything we do be represented by those things. So, something like a parent's night out ministry could fall under community, because the couple is developing community and the kids and the people watching them are developing community. It could also fall under service because it is a service to the families to have a strong marital bond. Anyway, I could go on but you get it. We can express this in another way, that is just the way I am thinking about it right now, hopefully it evolves some and becomes better. You guys have any thoughts on all that?
We are trying to get together in August. Anyone up for that?
Proverb of the week: "Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." Proverbs 3.3
Last week I read "Sexual Ethics" by Stan Grenz. It wasn't really a delight to read, but it was good. I think his attitudes can really help us to minister to the homosexual community. I was also thinking I want us to have a really strong singles ministry. I think that is a group that is really under-appreciated by many churches today. One thing I have also been thinking through is a ministry to parents that we try to give them time every month or every couple weeks to be by themselves. I know it is hard these days to get that chance, but I think it would really help strengthen marriages and I think that is something I want us to be about as a church.
Basically, I laid out five major purposes that I think we should have as a church. I know these aren't ground breaking, but I think they are the Biblical purposes for the church. Mission is the main one, all the rest fall under it. By mission I mean helping the world to know Christ and helping the church to know him better. Service, worship, community and discipleship are the other four. I think you can see how they fall under mission but are distinct in their own right. I think most would agree that those should be the main purposes of church. What do you guys think? I want us to try to make everything we do be represented by those things. So, something like a parent's night out ministry could fall under community, because the couple is developing community and the kids and the people watching them are developing community. It could also fall under service because it is a service to the families to have a strong marital bond. Anyway, I could go on but you get it. We can express this in another way, that is just the way I am thinking about it right now, hopefully it evolves some and becomes better. You guys have any thoughts on all that?
We are trying to get together in August. Anyone up for that?
Proverb of the week: "Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." Proverbs 3.3
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