The War Wages

At this point in the church planting residency, wisdom and discernment is so critical. Next, Tuesday we are presenting two possible locations for our church plant. It sounds easy enought, right? Choose 2 locations in Austin, pray for them, spend time there, ask God to reveal himself, and follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

However, there is a flesh side that seems to interfere with this process. As we go from place to place, its' easy to confuse my wants and desires with the Holy Spirit's direction. Anything from the cost of living to the demographic reports of an area can play a huge role in my decision to plant in a certain location. I tend to view these places through my own lens. I ask the question, "What can these area do for me?," instead of "What can God do through me in this area?" I want to live in a nice area where people are friendly and I can own a large home. I don't want to deal with crime or poverty. I want to be in an area where people are receptive to the Gospel. The list goes on and on and the war wages between my flesh and the Holy Spirit's direction.

I found some encouragement through a story a heard this week. A few guys in Philadelphia have started a movement of churches. They have planted 3 churches that have 200 people in each. This is a serious accomplishment for a place like Philadelphia, which is spiritual dark. Praise God! However, in order to see God's hand work, they've given up a ton. In fact, one church planter said that his kids can't even go into the front yard alone because there is so much crime in the area. The other day he even saw a bum peeing on a tree in the front yard. All of this for the sake of the Gospel.

As we are looking at locations and praying over areas, I ask that the Lord gives me discernment and wisdom. It needs to echo Jesus, "...not my will, but yours." Please pray that God reveals a specific location to us and we are able to discern between teh Spirit's leading and our own wants and desires. Sometimes the most dangerous and risky place to be is in the center of God's Will.

A baby is on the way...

Well if you haven't heard...Heather and I are expecting a child. We finally came to this conclusion after 3 pregnancy tests. We ended up going to see our doctor this past Friday and found out that we are about 6 weeks along in the process. So the due date is June 2, 2008. We are so excited about becoming parents. Please, keep us and the baby in your prayers!

Vision (Now) - Part 3

So I've already established that there is a huge need in Austin for church plants. There are entire generations growing up disconnected from God and the church and the vehicle that God is using to reach these people the most is church planting!

Taking all this into consideration, we need church plants and NEED THEM NOW! As more and more people slip through the cracks of disconnectness, Austin and other cities within the U.S. are losing touch with God. We will continue to fall further into spiritual darkness, if we don't do something now! The younger generations, who are currently far from God, are becoming the leaders of society and culture. They will be leading out of worldviews that oppose Christianity and Jesus. They need Jesus and need him now!

Further as I stated in my first blog, when the city of Austin is reached the world will feel the impact. Disproportionate influence on the world exists in Austin because it houses the largest university in the U.S., is considered one of the most creative places in the U.S., has a population full of people in the field of techonology (from DELL to IBM to Samsung to game programmers), and is the live music capital of the world. When these cultures and groups within Austin are penetrated by the Gospel, the spiritual vibrations will be felt throughout the world. The world needs Jesus now!

Vision: God would use Heather and I to start a church that truly reaches out to the lost, hurting, and unchurched.
-A church that will love people to Jesus.
-A church that will serve people to Jesus.
-A church that will present and proclaim the full Gospel in Jesus.
-A church that has such a missional and outward focus, that the members give their lives
for the sake of the Gospel and others.

Vision is born out of the idea of what is and what could be.
-I believe that Austin can be a place that is radically transformed by the Gospel and when it is transformed, the vibrations are felt throughout the world.

Vision (Part 2) - The Solution

Like many other bloggers, I have neglected my blog for a few days. But I feel this nagging burden to finish my vision blog, so here it goes.

Vision (Part 2) - The Solution
To summarize my last blog: there is a huge problem within the church today. Here is the deal, most churches have become inward-focused, country clubs and have literally missed the boat on younger generations. As a whole, we have done a terrible job representing Christ and incarnating his teachings. Now, people under the age of 35 seem to have a general distaste for the church and Christianity.

However, there is hope! I truly believe that God is raising up a new generation of leaders that are having a tremendous impact on the culture and spiritual landscape of America. I believe the tool that God is using to do this is church planting. Statistics even show that church plants have a younger congregation on average, than more established churches. Some estimates predict that church plants are made up of 60-80% unchurched individuals, while most churches that are established gain 80-90% of their growth from member transfer. Church plants seem to have a more outward, evangelistic approach to ministry. On the other hand, most established churches program themselves to make members satisfied and meet Christian needs. We have lost our identity as agents of love, mercy, hope, and service for the sake of making people happy.

I am not bashing established churches at all; in fact, I am currently on staff at a church that has existed over 20 years. I have even seen established churches be powerful agents of God in restoring and reconciling His creation. Some established churches are more effective in the Kingdom of God, than church plants. However, time has shown that on a grand scale church plants are the most effective instrument that God is using to reach unchurched people. HCBC (the church I am on staff with) has realized the need for church plants. They have brought me and 4 other church planters on staff for the sole purpose of planting another church. How incredible is that? Building God's Kingdom is more important than their own kingdom. Interesting theory isn't it? A established church can actually give themselves away on behalf of church planting.

About 4 years ago my heart was captured by this idea of church planting. Now God has led Heather and I to plant in the amazing city of Austin, TX. I am so humbled that God has allowed us to participate in this movement. Again, I believe that church planting is the key to these disconnected generations. Church planting is the key to reaching Austin for Jesus.

Vision (Part 1) - The Problem

Vision is a must for the church. Everyone knows (or hopefully knows) that the Bible says without vision the people perish. As humans we need to know, where we are going? What we are working towards? Vision gives us direction, purpose, meaning, and guidance. As a leader, it is my job to ensure that people understand, embrace, and work towards the vision God has given to His Church and, more specifically, what is the vision God has given to me as a leader. In the book, Making Vision Stick, Andy Stanley helped me to refine, verbalize, and add to my vision for Austin and the church plant. So over the next few days I am going to spell out the vision for Austin and the church we will be planting. Let me know what you think because this is a vision in progress.

Vision (Part 1) - The Problem
Entering into college was a unique time in my life. For the first time, I was "on my own." I didn't have anyone telling me I have to do this or that. The authority I thought I had was me. Naturally, with this type of thinking I began to drift away from the church and from God. The extent of my church involvement was going with my parents to a church service when I was in town, which was about one to two weekends a month. Slowly I began to drift further and further away from my faith. Life was a party and a study. The party was on the weekends and the study took place during the week. I did both intensely.

Looking back this time in my life is very insight to me now. As I gaze into the past, two things really began to stick out to me. First, I had no friends, acquantices, or peers that were living missional lives for Jesus. No one I knew even attended a church service on a regular basis. No one talked about God, Jesus, or the church. College seemed like such a disconnect from the environment I grew up in where the church played an important role in life. Second, no churches, except for one I became involved in late my Senior year, reached out or had an impact on the college life. We were being left out on our own. From my view, the church was almost in a life-less state during my years at college.

But in reality my story isn't all that unique. Millions of people in my generation in the U.S. have no involvement in the church. In fact, the largest segment of the population that is missing in the church is between 18-35ish. Unlike me, most of these people didn't have a "Christian up-bringing." They have NEVER been connected to a church! They have never fully heard Gospel or seen it fleshed out before! The church has done a terrible job of representing Christ and reaching the younger generations.

Here are a couple of major issues with the church:
-The church, as a whole, has done a terrible job of representing Christ
-It’s lost Christ’s love for people (inside and outside the church).
-It’s lost the servanthood mindset.
-It’s lost its’ passion for the mission of Christ.
-The church has become this inward-focused country club.
-The church has traded its' children for its' traditions. (Ed Stetzer)

There are huge implications of this. As these generations grow older, they become the leaders and the parents of our world. Yet, they will not be intimately connected with Jesus. America will then find itself in the same position that Europe and Canada are in now. They are spiritually anemic places. Jesus and the church have been literally removed from their culture.

Ultimately, the gen-X'ers and the younger generations want nothing to do with Christ or the church. Heaven, we have a serious problem!

Standing in the Gap

Prayer is one of the areas of my life that needs to deepen tremendously. If your anything like me, prayer always gets thrust to the side. I don't do this intentionally. My life seems to get so busy that prayer and dependence upon God, not myself, gets pushed to the side. Prayer is neglected to the morning, before meals, and at night. Yet, Paul tells us to have a prayer life that has no beginning or end because it continuously takes place. I think he realizes that prayer and dependence is central in the economy of God. Prayer has this mystical power that unleashes the power of God, when it is in accordance with God's will and nature. Without this power (without God's hand and intervention), we run around trying to accomplish everything on our own. To do this in church planting is sure failure. I have to be operating through and in prayer every moment of the day.

Not only do I need to examine and deepen my own prayer life, but Heather and I need others to pray for us. We have heard stories of marriages being ruined through the stress of planting churches and spiritual attacks. The last thing I want is to hurt and/or permanately damage my relationship with my wife and best friend, Heather. We have also heard stories of church plants doing more damage than good in a community. The point is Heather and I are going to the front of the battles lines. And above money, resources, and any other tangible thing, we need prayer. We need people who will be dedicated to lifting Heather and I up personally on a daily basis. We need prayer for the church plant. We need intercession. Intercession literally means going between or standing in the gap. It is praying to God on behalf of another. I am going to ask people to stand in the gap for us, our marriage, the church plant, and Austin. There is so much value in others praying for us. Also, I am committed to do the same for others.

Please let me know if you are willing to stand in the gap for us and the church plant in Austin. I want to build a prayer base, where Heather and I can frequently send prayer requests.

For tomorrow...

Since in my last blog I pointed out Joshua's initial mistake in leading the Israelites, I want to give him some credit on this one. Today I read an incredible statement that he made to the God's people. After the sending of spies to Jericho, Joshua is preparing to lead the Israelites across the mighty and flooded Jordan River. During this preparation, he tells them, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you." (Joshua 3:6) In other words, GET READY BECAUSE YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE HOW BIG AND POWERFUL GOD IS.

At this point in my life, I find myself finally at the edge of the Jordan River too. My life is at a critical juncture. I am at a crossroads of sorts. For years, I have told people to have faith in God...just trust Him...seek HIM. But now I have to put those statements and thoughts into action. Now that advice is going to have to flesh itself out in my own life. The question that finds itself at the forefront of life now, is how BIG AND POWERFUL is my God? See Joshua seemed to have a sense of God's omnipotence. He understood that in order to take over the land promised to him and his people, God was going to have to do some pretty amazing things.

Here I sit thousands of years later and my story isn't all to different. I know the calling God has placed on my life...to go and make disciples and to baptize and teach them through church planting, which if you know anything about church planting it one of the most difficult and stretching things one can do in "ministry." That's the call, but can I stand and tell those who are going to partner with Heather and I in this endevour, "Prepare yourselves, for tomorrow God is going to be doing some pretty amazing things." We have to expect God to show up in mighty and powerful ways. Left on our own we can expect to fail. As I said in the last blog, Jesus has already promised to be with us, so why wouldn't we expect amazing things to take place?