A garden that's bursting into life...

I dropped in on two other church planting network groups this past week. One was connected with Church Planting Canada out in Bowmanville (don’t ask me where that is).

Very cool, as all the guys here were in the messy midst of the early stages of church planting.

The other group was connected with the resonate, which they call greenhouses in downtown Toronto. Everyone there is in the dreaming and scheming phase of creating new forms of church. Very interesting.

I like the idea of a greenhouse

it makes me think of that overplayed Snow Patrol song, “Chasing Cars”. The one good verse that always sticks with me is where they sing “Show me that garden that’s bursting into life”

I see church planters as people who unleash cities that are bursting into life.

Update: If you haven’t heard it already, here’s an acoustic version of the song.

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Heroes...

I’m not much of a TV watcher, especially after Alias ended. But I’ve found a new favorite show that I finally just caught up with online.

Heroes. It’s about ordinary people discovering extraordinary abilities. Sounds like a call to all of humanity.

One of my favorite characters is Hiro Nakamura. Besides the ethnic affinity, I love Hiro because he naively assumes that he can change the world and yet struggles to be brave enough.

One of the best lines from Hiro was:

“If I’m too afraid to use my powers, then I don’t deserve them.”

What powers have you been given?

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Friday fix...

Some random links that might feed your online addictions…

You’ve probably seen the stats on the global village (ie. what the world would look like if it were shrunken down to a hundred people), here’s a flash video of it.

Quick tool for generating rss subscription buttons like I have on my sidebar.

ziki - helps manage your onine visibility. For the first 10,000 people they will sponsor your name on google, yahoo, and msn for free.

Moby writes about those insane Christians in his journal

Mac Tablet finally coming. If only I didn’t quit my job…

At least I can watch hundreds of tv shows online for free.

Or I can start a charity for myself on Network for Good.

Remind me again why I should plant a church?

DJchuang’s set up an excellent wiki for those interested in Asian American Church Plants.

Otherwise we could just sit around and watch other people create America’s Most Innovative Churches

and twiddle our thumbs waiting for Transformer’s the movie to come out.

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Great post on church planting…

The following is a great nugget from Pernell

To all you young ‘uns (and other assorted riff raff) who have ever thought about - or are thinking about - planting a church: Before you embark on your “rock-star-like” career, I think your perception of church planting may be a little clouded by the bull crap you see in the church, and on blogs, and at conferences.

Allow me to wipe that crap away: being a church planter will not make you cooler nor will it make you any more popular or more attractive to the opposite sex.

It will not make you any more spiritual and almost no one will respect you more for your courage, risk taking, or intrinsic motivation.

It will not make you braver or more disciplined.

It will not teach you to ‘take it like a man’ or ‘be a real woman’, it likely won’t help you to get on TV and it won’t allow you to buy nicer clothes, shoes, or hair gel either.

It won’t allow you to finally be part of the perfect church, or to shed institutional politics, nor will it guarantee that people will accept you for who you are - authentic community.

It will, however, expose every limitation you have and defeat you at almost every turn.

It will bite you on the butt whenever it gets the opportunity, it will choke you, break you, wind you, bruise you, cut you and batter you, emptying any sense of self-sufficiency along the way. It’ll wind you up like a clock until you feel like tearing your own face off and walking away in snivelling submission.

It’s probably the most fun you’ll ever have.

Or maybe it’s just me.

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Urbana 2006...

No I didn’t go this year. But Yu-ling’s been doing some live blogging from the event.

If you don’t know what Urbana is, it’s a missions conference with twenty-thousand or so students every few years. See here for streaming videos of the sessions.

In keeping with blogging more this year, I’ll be posting some archived posts as well as some yet-to-be published thoughts / articles.

I’m too embarrassed to post all of it, but here are some excerpts of an article I wrote after returning from Urbana six years ago:

God wants to do something for us, so that he can do something with us. Although He may be sending us to serve on mission, we are still His mission field.

We are called to be worshippers before workers – A.W. Tozer

Often the greatest thing that hinders us from worshipping God is our service to Him. We do not respond to him by our busyness for Him. God simply wants us, as we are, completely. God has enough burnt offerings. Don’t offer the sacrafice of fools. He wants our hearts.

God doesn’t want our worship… If we’re not going to repent. What has God done for us if He hasn’t forgiven us? How can we worship God while clutching on to sin?

Worship is not for the flawless, but for the broken. Worship is for the wounded. Worship is for the sinners; for those that desire God’s mercy.

“If you want to be a part of people’s healing in the future, be a part of people’s healing now. If you want to love and care for people who are different from you in the future, love and care for people who are different from you now. How you live now, will shape how you live in the future” - Susan Cho Van Riesen

Is what you’re living for, worth Jesus dying for?


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2007 goals...

Some goals for 2007

Family - spend lots of quality time with my two ladies. Become more and more a healthy and spiritual household of influence to our communities.

People - Consistently invest my time and resources into people - extended family, friends, maybe even some Christians

Ministry - I’ll be giving my time and energy for about a year to an yet-to-be-decided internship beginning this summer. If anyone has any good leads, recommendations, connections in the area that would fit a dude like me, please let me know.

Work - I’ve still got bills to pay. Hopefully the internship can be a payed one, but if not, I’ll definitely need to look into some new options. Starbucks is high on my list right now.

Network - I’ve had the aching sense the past year that I desperately need to connect with more people. I’m absolutely certain the dreams and visions I have on my heart are impossible on my own. I hope this year I can connect with more planters, pioneers, peers, heroes, mentors, and emerging leaders.

Club - as in join and be active in some type of non-ministry related club or group this year

Discover my voice by using it - There have been a few books on my mind that I’ve been wanting to write. I wasn’t planning on attempting to publish anything till my forties, but I feel the need to maybe get the process started sooner. I hope to be publishing more via the blog and speaking more as a baby-step towards this for the year.

If anyone has recommendations or suggestions with helping me along any of these goals, feel free to chime in!

Some personal highlights from Neil Cole's Organic Church

People are leaving the church to preserve their faith

Most warm blooded-living things grow to a point and then reproduce

Many a church continues long after the soul of the church has departed because the building itself keeps them going. A building can become an artificial life support system that keeps a church alive even though it died long ago.

In many of the churches in the West, ministry is done for Jesus, but not by Jesus.

Only 4 percent of churches in America will plant a daughter church.

See Tony's blog for a much more in-depth review and additional quotes.

Overall, the book helped me think through what the church really is and re-align myself to the Christ who builds his church.

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Maximum wage...?

Flipping through an issue of the Futurist, i stumbled across this revolutional concept for closing the wealth gap (ie. how in the United States 1% of the population holds more wealth than the entire bottom 90% combined).

In an article by Sam Pizzigati (www.toomuchonline.org) he proposes a ten times rule for a moving maximum wage. In this approach, the income ceiling is tied to the income floor. The wealthy could increase their incomes even with a maximum wage in place. To realize this increase however, the wealthy need only to convince Congress to raise the minimum wage, because the higher the minimum, the higher the maximum. By advocating for the nation’s poorest workers, the wealthy would have advocated for themselves.

There is some innovative income tax guidelines along with Pizzigati’s propsoal, but that’s the gist of it.

Of course, this still doesn’t completely deal with the root issues of greed in the human heart, but at least it would be a step towards helping people see that they are a part of everyone else in this global community.

I find this principle applies in many realms; spiritually, organizational, environmentally, etc.

Can you imagine a future when people embrace the reality that the richness of their own journey in life was dependent upon the last, the lost, and the least that surround us?

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Some Christmas photos...

Family…

A new generation of babies this year, Stellar, Carter, and Evan Noah

Home torched Creme Brule

And what’s Christmas without a present for daddy… Nothing like newborn poo shot out on the sleeve!

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Gandhi and Christmas...

During this Christmas season as the story of God is tossed around, Gandhi has something important to say to us:

“You Christians look after a document containing enough dynamite to blow all civilization to pieces, turn the world upside down, and bring peace to a battle-torn planet.

But you treat it as though it is nothing more than a piece of good literature.” ~ Mohandas Gandhi

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Nobody loves me...

... like she does.

Yvz is the most amazing woman I have ever encountered in my life. Not only is she a passionate follower of Jesus, she's now a mom. Somewhere in there she finds a way to continuously bless me as my wife.

Honey, it would be impossible to describe how you amaze me... but I'm going to spend my life trying anyways.

Here's a shot of one of her most recent paintings for baby Caleb.

It's a ladybug in the grass reminiscent of the Biblical character his name goes by that chooses to venture into the promised land despite the giants that surround.

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Holiday reading...

During those rare moments Stellar is sleeping I hope to get ahead on some reading over these next few weeks:

Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens by Neil Cole
Worship Old and New by Robert E. Webber
Planting Missional Churches by Ed Stetzer
Worship, Community and The Triune God Of Grace by James B. Torrance
Exploring the Worship Spectrum: 6 Views by Harold Best
Soul Cravings: An Exploration of the Human Spirit by Erwin McManus
Strategic Pastoral Counseling by David Benner

Anyone read any of these yet?

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Yesterday I read "Tracks of a fellow struggler" by John Claypool for a crisis counseling course I'll be taking next semester.

It was especially moving for me as it was the reflections of a pastor who watched his eight-year old girl die of leukemia.

Here are a few contextless snippets:

It has taken this long to get to the place I could handle this material without overwhelming pain. Just like a broken leg, a broken heart heals slowly and cannot stand much touching right after the break.

... Saturday afternoon she breathed her last breath and set out on a journey on which I could not accompany her.

There are no experts on the field of grief, for we all grieve in our own unique ways.

You alone can do your grief work, but you do not have to do it alone.

I had my moments when I understood how a person could raise one's fist to heaven and curse God.

One does not sow and reap in the same day, and, quite honestly, I must acknowledge that if this tragedy were my only conscious experience with God, I probably would not have come out where I did.

I did not realize just how hopeful I really was until that Saturday afternoon as I knelt by her bed and saw her stop breathing.

There were times, when Laura Lue was hurting so intensely that she had to bite on a rag and used to bet me to pray to God to ake away that awful pain. I would kneel down beside her bed and pray with all the faith and conviction of my soul, and nothing would happen except the pain continuing to rage on.

I fall back on the notion that God has a lot to give account for... I believe God will be able to give an accounting when all the facts are in, and until then, it is valid to ask.

The way of gratitude does not alleviate the pain, but it somehow puts some light around the darkness and creates strength to begin to move on

For every one of us - there is no way to avoid the trauma of loss if we love even a little.

A statement that struck a chord with the way I feel about my life, and in particular my wife, was a quote in the book by Hugh Prather during an illness his wife suffered:

She may die before morning. But I have been with her for four years. Four years. There is no way I could feel cheated if I didn't have her for another day. I didn't deserve her for one minute, God knows.

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Who will create and shape the future church...

Stellar’s still completely consuming my life these days, but here’s a portion of an article I recently wrote for the seminary newsletter.

The church is dying in North America. Most churches won’t acknowledge this because there’s still enough money to keep the lights on. Half of all churches did not connect a single person into a life transforming relationship with Jesus in an entire year. The church today is seen as the remnants of an archaic institution for the old, the sheltered, and the fanatic.

Many churches talk about being relevant to culture today because they are on brink of irrelevance. If God is the creator God then the church should be the center of creativity. Churches ought to be leading the culture, not catching up to it. New churches are needed just as much as revitalized churches, if not more. Our country is desperately in need of churches of all shapes and sizes and types. There are homes, warehouses, cafes, pubs, clubs, theaters, and abandoned cathedrals across the country waiting to be redeemed into communities of faith, hope, and love.

The Apostle Paul’s entire strategy was on church planting in urban centers. Miracles, conversions, and lives transformed just happened along the way. Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian states “Nothing else – not crusades, outreach programs, parachurch ministries, mega-churches, consulting, nor church renewal processes – will have the consistent impact of dynamic, extensive church planting”.

It all begins with individuals like you and me; followers of Jesus who are unafraid of risk, adventure and launching into unmarked territory because we trust in a sovereign God who is good; men and women who have caught a vision of God’s heart for establishing missional and redemptive centers of faith – that relentlessly press against the gates of Hades, to bring light into the darkness, and hope to humanity.

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We're doing better...

It's hard to express all the concern, love, and support we've received over the last while.

We had another little scare with Yvz's health as she was going through some excessive bleeding, but things have quickly returned to 'normal'.

Stellar's very much a regular baby again, crying, feeding, and sleeping.

I've since found my keys a week later and finished my final exam for the semester. Best of all, tomorrow night, Yvz and I will be sneaking out for a bit to resume some form of a date-night. Thank God for in-laws.

It really does take a village to raise a child.

While Yvz was at the walk-in clinic on the weekend, I was roaming the mall with Stellar trying to avoid all the other sick people. Every parent with a child that I passed by I kept thinking in my head 'What an absolute miracle it is for your child to make it this far'.

I hope to remember this every single step of the way.

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3 Horrible days...

Wednesday

We get called that Stellar needs to be rushed to the emergency unit.

I realized I've lost my keys as I'm speeding home to take our family to the hospital.

We get sent to the wrong emergency ward putting off urgent treatment that she needs for an hour

Stellar is diagnosed with severe Jaundice. Half of newborns get this but her level is debilitating and can result in hearing loss and brain damage.

Doctor's tell us that babies that come in for treatment usually have half of her levels and don't move much. Stellar's strong and moving frantically which is good.

Stellar needs to go through multiple lamp phototherapy for the next 48 hours. Nurse's take 6 stabs at my baby trying to find her tiny veins to plug the IV into. They say she may need a blood transfusion.

Thursday

Yvonne and I don't get much sleep lying together on a single bed/stretcher for the night wondering what we could have done differently.

Stellar's bilirubin levels drop by 300 points which is excellent.

I find a way to finish my final paper in the hospital.

Yvz and I take solace in God, our praying friends, trusting that the medical staff are doing all that they can.

Friday

Stellar is taken off of her IV and the phototherapy treatment for monitoring.

We discover that she is missing an enzyme called G6PD that led to her jaundice. Because she's a girl they traced that the genetic disorder was passed on from me! It's a rare disease and somehow I managed to get through life this far without it showing up.

Stellar's been finger-feeding while in the incubator and is having a very difficult time returning to breastfeeding.

Yvonne and I both get food poisoning. She vomits once, I vomit five times.

Stellar's okay and we're released from the hospital. We need neonatal follow-up to see if she's going to have any development issues.

My keys still haven't turned up and I've spent over a hundred dollars on parking this past week at the hospital. But all that matters to me right now is that I'm back home with the two most precious people in my life.

Stellar in an incubator with IV and phototherapy lights.

Stellar with her goggles on looking like a superhero. And she is.

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The finger and some funky smells...

After Steller giving me one of these...

I had to give her five back-to-back diaper changes to clean up the constant oil slick coming out of her rear...

Just so she can peacefully do this...

Overall, things are just borderline insane. I don't mind getting up every hour, but feeding's been a huge challenge. I think we finally hit milk today though.

I can't believe this beautiful life I live is just getting even better.

Now if I can only get rid of those funky smells...

Here's one of the funniest 9 second video's I've ever seen that captures the essence of this post.

Sweet Links...

Here's my latest round of sweet-links.

Video by youthwork.co.uk did an excellent video interview with Rob Bell, asking tough questions on how the church really started, emergent labels, and not becoming Ted Haggard. Hosted by premier.tv here.

Also here's a link to the entire Mastering the Art of Living series by Rob Bell. I'm not sure how long this one will be around for. I listened through it back in 2004 I believe and thought it was absolutely phenomenal.

Mac Tablet? I've been waiting for this, now if only I had the money.

Someone's daughter got a bit excited playing her nintedo Wii, check out what happened.

Article on Thom Wolf describing seminaries as being counterproductive.

A good listing of helpful church planting links

Seedstories - Appears to be a good hub /forum for church planters as well

Sketch - If you're in Toronto, check it out. I just visited yesterday. They do some extraordinary creative arts work with at-risk youth.

Mosaic Alliance has a preview of their members only site for free currently.

** This one just in. Monkey's kissing on you tube. You've gotta love this one!

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Acts29 / Mars Hill Resources...

Acts 29 is a church planting network that was founded by Mars Hill Seattle and helps plant churches that plant churches. It is a resource I draw on that I would say is very different from the Mosaic movement and Mars Hill Michigan. In fact Mars Hill Seattle would probably enjoy a street fight with Mars Hill Michigan.

Much of this is fueled by Mark Driscoll, who people simply love or hate. I have no problems seeing past most of the peripheral issues and drawing from most 'camps' in the church planting world. Whatever your thoughts on Driscoll are, he sure does make biblethumping almost seem cool again.

I visited Mars Hill during the summer when I was in Seattle. It's definitely a young crowd. And as anti-femenist as they are pegged to be, there were just as many girls there as there were guys. It's amazing what they've done in their short history.

I also had a chance to meet up with Scott Thomas the A29 church planting director the following day. I love how theologically-driven they are. Mars Hill Seattle and the A29 Network would consider themselves first Christian, then Evangelical,then Missional, and finally Reformed.

They have an adapted model of Leslie Newbegin's Gospel <-> Chruch <-> Culture and what they call a ministry matrix that shapes how they do things, from Christology -> Ecclesiology -> Missiology -> Ministry.

I've learned quite about both theologially and practically through their resources over the last several years. While I understand how many ministries need to recoup costs, one of the things I love about Mars Hill and all things related, is that they make their resources free.

There's much more if you dig through their primary websites, but I'll list off some of my top picks here. Again, I'll try to continually keep this page updated. Let me know if you've got some excellent finds.

ARTICLES

Here is a digital copy of the Acts 29 Church Planting manual that I acquired which gets handed out at the bootcamps.
Mars Bars - Article on Mars Hill and the Paradox Venue
Interview with Mark Driscoll 2006
Church planting trends as seen by Mark Driscoll - Notes from Steve Addison's blog

MEDIA - They are all audio mp3 links and video where specified

The Ox - Qualifications of an Acts 29 Church Planter - Mark Driscoll
Reverse Engineering your life - Mark Driscoll
Church planting resources and timeline - Steve Tompkins
Theology - Knowing God's mission - Mark Driscoll
On Mission as One - John Ryan
Art Gospel and Culture - Ed Marcelle
Jesus-Centered Reformed Theology - Chan Kilgore
Death by Love - Mark Driscoll @ Reform & Resurge 2006 / Video
Gravity: The weight of pastoring - Matt Chandler @ R&R 2006 - A must listen! / Video
Preaching the Gospel - Tim Keller @ R&R 2006 / Video
Humble Orthodoxy - Joshua Harris @ R&R 2006 / Video
Breaking the Missional Code - Ed Stetzer @ R&R 2006 / Video
Life and Death of the Missional Leader - Darrin Patrick @ R&R 2006 / Video
Mars Hill in Acts 17 - Mark Driscoll
The Whole Glory of the Gospel of God part 1 and 2 - John Piper @ Reformission 2004
Reformission: Reforming Christian Mission - Mark Driscoll
Holy Hospitality - Mark Driscoll
Theology of Alcohol - Mark Driscoll

Some pictures from my visit

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Mosaic Ottawa Blueprint...

In the middle of taking a break from writing papers in the library today, I did a bit of dreaming and scheming for the future church plant. Inspired by the leadership synergy diagram from origins, I decided to flip it around and plot out some values of what I've been imagining. It's been on my heart for so long, it only took a few minute once I had a framework to map it out in.

- At the core of every human being is the intrinsic desire to believe, belong, and become.
- We believe that these longings call people out on a journey towards drawing on Christ, deepening in Community, and being driven by the Cause
- Each of these are driven by values throughout in the culture. Both the divinity and the humanity of Christ, the individual purpose and corporate movement of the cause, and the unity and diversity of the community.
- This develops an environment permeated with visionaries, missionaries, and passionaries
- Collectively this is what forms a community of faith, hope, and love.

I wanted to take this a step further, and include another layer or additional overarching values of Reconciliation (faith + love), Beauty (love + hope), and Meaning (faith+hope), but it might be a little overboard.

What do you think? Any suggestions, tweaking, or major overhauling required?

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