A Church Planter's Journal

Day 173 of The Gallery

SCRIPTURE:

 ¹If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ²then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. ³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. ⁴Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Phil. 2

THOUGHTS: 

Perfect verses for a church plant. If we are united in spirit and purpose, are serving not only our own interests but the interests of others above ourselves, then nothing can divide us. There are many enemies of the Church, but none greater than division. Once we begin to look to our own interests above others, we are dead in the water.

This includes me, of course. I can do nothing out of vain conceit. Makes me ponder what part of The Gallery is only my longing for my own ambition to be fulfilled. Hmmm...have to ponder that. I believe there are some safeguards in place to keep me from making this all about me. I am seeing a spiritual director whose been a pastor for years. I have a pastoral advisory team to challenge my thinking. I have a church planting coach in Mike Brown. And I have the four-fold ministry. The values of shalom with God, self, others, and all creation should keep The Gallery focused on relationships over and above the style. The 4-fold ministry is a vision, but it's a vision of relationship rather than style. The 4-fold ministry can last a church 100 years. Style cannot. 

This morning I got up at 4:30 AM to participate in the 24 hour prayer vigil for our 3rd preview service. We had people sign up to pray one hour from last night at 6:30 PM to tonight at 6:30 PM. I try to take an early slot to let people know I'm serious about this stuff. My time this morning was a good time of stillness asking the Spirit to descend upon us. Wonderful. 

I am still yet to finish my message, so I should get to work. 

Prayer: I pray this morning, Abba, only what I've prayed for the last hour: Come, Holy Spirit. Amen.

Day 172 of The Gallery (again, miscounted last time)

SCRIPTURE:

¹⁵Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. ¹⁷And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Col. 3

THOUGHTS:

Dang! I don't have time for this writing and reading right now!!! And what am I preaching on tomorrow? Time! Crazy. God must be laughing. But if I'm going to preach tomorrow with any integrity, I need to take this time today to listen and pray. Ironically, I'm late this week in sending out my prayer email to the core. I don't have time today to send out the prayer email! But I must. Craziness.

Verse 15 above seems to be the thesis of that paragraph. We are to let Jesus' peace, not our version of peace, rule in our hearts for we are one body called to peace. Shalom is the most beautiful thing in all of living. Shalom is God. Bold statement, but if God dwells in our shalom, and if the very essence of the trinity is shalom, then shalom is God. Hear me. I'm not saying a concept is God. I am only saying the right-relationship of shalom is born out of love and God is love.

Now, how does this play out in church planting? Well, a curious turn of events pulls me toward the idea that I am the pastor of shalom. Right now in The Gallery's existence we are thinking too much of the end result--the end result of a worship service, the end result of our outreach efforts, etc. I told my staff the other day that we are first to pastor people toward the transformation God wants to give them in Christ so they find their mission in the world. Writer Steve Ogne calls this Transformissional Coaching. It is so wise. If we pull off great worship services and buzz-filled outreach events but we are not helping people conform to the likeness of Christ, then we are useless to God. God is so much more concerned with the shalom in our community than He is in whether our band sounds good. 

This is pulling back some of my team and helping them refocus some of their priorities. Very good!

Next week I'm going to send out an email to our core asking for their input re: whether we should move to Sunday morning rather than Sunday night. This would be a big change for the core, but we think we might be able to serve more people on a Sunday morning. It works better in terms of getting in and getting the space ready. It'll be easier to move toward two services. It will serve our young families more effectively. Parking will be a potential issue, but not something we cannot overcome. That said, making a big change like this 7 weeks  before launch is risky. Momentum is building on Sunday nights! 

PRAYER:

Abba, give us wisdom re: Sunday morning. Speak clearly to our people so we know what your will is. I pray for our 24 hour prayer vigil. Hear our prayers of supplication for this worship service tomorrow. I pray You will speak through our worship tomorrow and may we testify to who You are. May Your SPirit testify through us. Inspire our people to invite their friends. Make relational connections between us so we will be the people of peace You call us to.

I pray for my family. Give us rest amidst so much change. Give us peace and rest. Give us health and help us take care of ourselves. Amen.

Day 172 of The Gallery

SCRIPTURE:

 ³For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Col. 3

THOUGHTS:

So much theology in so few words!!! Wow. I have died? Really? Here I think we see a small bit of proof of the divine inspiration. This simple thought that those in Christ have died, even though I'm now alive enough to type, means the Spirit has communicated to Paul a certain heavenly truth Paul could not have thought up on His own. I do not think Paul's words here could have simply sprung up from his own intellect. Enough of that.

According to God I have died and my life in now swallowed up, hidden in Christ who is very much alive. As there is an already/but not yet to the kingdom of God, there is an already/but not yet element to me and all those in Christ. The former Brad has died. The now Brad is hidden in Christ, in the "tomb" so to speak of Jesus, and the future Brad will be resurrected in the return of The Anointed Deliverer in glory.

What an amazing hope!

These words give me so much joy on another morning of church planting. Some days in church planting get so wrapped up in the details of the now that I forget there is coming a time when churches won't need to be planted any more. There will come a time when I will not be tired and anxious and concerned about the person who didn't like the music and the person who thinks we should give less to the poor outside so we can give more to the poor inside and the person who wants me to preach more topically and the person who wants me to preach more like John Piper and the person who thinks we should switch to Sunday morning and the person who thinks... You get the idea. I look forward to that future time when all is truth and we live liberated from our own opinions. 

All that said, good things are happening these days. The past few weeks have seen really strong worship services, strong attendance, strong giving. We are doing a Love St. Paul event this week to serve Bill's Pantry, an organization that delivers groceries to people with HIV who live in poverty. We have too many volunteers signed up. That's a good problem to have. We are also even now beginning to think about how we will use the 50% of our giving that will be going out our doors to serve our community. I did some math and after 5 years we will have given away over $250,000 outside our doors. That's good news. That giving will give us an authority in which to speak in the community. 

Much to be excited about, but I'll admit it's hard for some to see this. We have only been meeting publicly for 10 weeks, and a lot of our people want everything to exist as if we had been meeting for 10 years. They forget that even churches that have existed for 10 years have their daily struggles. In fact, those struggles don't really change. The wishes of today will simply be replaced by the wishes of tomorrow.

Last night in my Meal Group as people were wrestling with where we are right now, I had to tell everyone that I cannot live to please them or the congregation. I have to lead in a manner that recognizes if they all leave tomorrow, I still must continue leading The Gallery. If I don't lead that way, I will acquiesce to them all and get this ship off track. 

Life is good, though. Going to see my spiritual director today. That will be restful.

PRAYER:

Abba, Your word is a light to my path. Those words are so true. Where would I be without it? It is such a gift. Words are not enough to express the power of your word. Ironic, eh?

Abba, I pray for 2 important things today. I pray my time with John Ackerman would be fruitful. Give him the counsel he needs to counsel me. I also pray for my preparation and the implementation of the PA Team tonight. Important stuff with good things to talk about. Give us the wisdom we need to lead. Help me lead them.

I pray for The Gallery staff and ask You to help them pastor those in their circle of influence. Help us help others follow you.

I pray for Lisa today and pray she will receive strength and encouragement for her day. I pray for Sam that he will receive the power of an identity in You. I pray for Julia that she will receive the blessing of a baptism in Your Spirit. I pray for Emma that she will find her voice in her art. Speak to her and through her and all of us. Amen.

Day 167 of The Gallery

SCRIPTURE:

³⁵Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."

 ³⁶He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them,³⁷"Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." MARK 9

THOUGHTS:

I've never really noticed the last part of this exchange: "and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." I too often maybe? see Jesus' relationship with the Father as buddy/buddy rather than Father/Son. Even in His relationship with the Father Jesus serves. 

What does that mean? When we welcome Jesus, we really welcome the Father. When we welcome a little child, we really welcome Jesus. Hmmm...don't know that I know. Perhaps the shalom that ties the godhead together so intimately that we cannot welcome one member without the other. And perhaps that same shalom intimately ties the least of these into the godhead as well. Perhaps the Spirit that binds all in love where all things of love and innocence lead back to God such that the love and grace we give others always ties us to God.

I don't know. It's early on a Saturday morning. Hard to get deep. I have to work on my message now and wish I was back in bed. 

I should mention one thing that really hit me yesterday. I was doing the FREE BEER IF YOU HATE CHURCH thing yesterday and sat there for quite some time without anyone wanting to talk. Thankfully I had a friend there who came by to visit. About 10 minutes before I was about to leave, I caught the eye of a woman at the bar. She looked over and I simply said, "Want a free beer?" She said she didn't hate church, didn't need another beer, but was willing to talk. 

She was early 20's. I asked her the typical questions and she didn't have negative feelings at all about church. She said she had "accepted Jesus into her heart" as a child, and the at she longed for that joy again. She said she didn't trust the Bible to have been "undoctored" over the centuries. I found out she was a potter getting a degree in ceramics from the Kansas City Institute of Art. I told her about my daughter who is in art school and that led to my confession of having an MFA in acting. It was a pleasant conversation. I decided to end the conversation with a new question. I asked her how I might pray for her. Her eyes brightened and moistened. "Yes," she said. "You can pray. Pray for my dad. He has cancer." I asked what his name is. "Tim," she said. 

Prayer:

So, Abba, I again today pray for Tim. I pray for healing in His body. Only You can heal him, Abba. Please bring that healing for Your glory. I also pray for this woman, Lord. Bring healing to her life as well. Give her comfort in this stormy part of her life. I pray You would help her find You in the midst of this chaos. Give her joy. 

I also pray for this weekend's message, Lord. Use it to bring Yourself glory and use it to advance Your kingdom. I pray for our young worship team as they prepare to lead without Ryan. 

I pray for my family, too, Lord. Give us peace amidst these busy schedules. Give us joy too as we serve. Give us faith in the midst of our own struggles to be a family. Increase the shalom amidst us all. Amen.

day 166 of The Gallery

SCRIPTURE:

 ¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. ¹⁸If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"^[d]says the Lord. ²⁰On the contrary: 

   "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; 
      if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. 
   In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."^[e] 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12

THOUGHTS:

I've written so often about these topics. I am sure those who know me get a little sick of it. Here Paul is counseling the believers once again to be in Jesus' words "salt" and "light." God's new community, His priests, His holy nation the Church is to "be careful to do what's right in the eyes of everybody," to live "at peace with everyone." As opposed to the ways of the world, we are to let God have his revenge. Until He does so, we are to love our enemies, to feed them, and give them something to drink. 

Why this is so controversial, why people get so upset at this, I don't know. Jesus' teaching, Paul's, John's all point to love as the best way. Paul is so specific here. Why we have to muddy it up baffles me. It seems to me fear is, of course, the issue. We fear our safety. But our fear of safety is not biblical. Perfect love casts out fear. Am I misinterpreting that verse? I don't think so. It was Jesus' perfect love that gave Him the ability to take up the cross. It is our love of our enemy that allows us to not fear our enemy. Our enemy cannot ultimately harm us. 

What do these words teach me about planting a church? Well, our four-fold ministry is all about peace, reconciliation, shalom. Woven into the DNA of The Gallery is shalom. It is this good news that I believe is so good! The Church is seen as a haven of hatred too often. Yet, if we start with the shalom wrought in the cross, then we become good news to everyone.

That said, we are such selfish human beings (present company included). I want peace, but I want it on my terms. I am a hypocrite like all of humanity. It is only the word of God that moves me to trash my terms and take up the peace of the cross. This is a peace that crucifies myself, but in this crucifixion I find joy, purpose, life, peace. In finding my identity in Christ, my life becomes good news to this world. 

PRAYER:

Abba, I thank You for shalom. I give You praise for the hope we live in. You birth in us love that grows and changes not only ourselves but each other. Help us move in this love. I pray for my time today. Help me make the most of this day. I pray also for the movement of Your Spirit this afternoon at the Muddy Pig. May you draw me toward those who are seeking You. Amen.

Day 165 of The Gallery

Scripture for the day:

¹²Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12

THOUGHTS:

These are good words for a church planter. Because of God's goodness and faithfulness I need to be "joyful in hope." The joy of God's presence and love in my life allows me to live in joy and to live in the hope of that joy growing more deeply. And it is that joy and its hope that helps me be patient in the trials and afflictions that come in being a husband, a dad, a pastor. 

Today is one of those days that I see a healthy amount of "affliction." I started the morning with coffee and conversation with someone struggling with The Gallery. I come home to check my email before moving into the day and having more coffees and lunches with people who all have opinions. I have emails of encouragement and emails of criticism on a daily basis. And it'd be easy to get bogged down in the personality conflicts I (and every pastor) deals with on a weekly basis. But because of God's love and faithfulness I can be patient in affliction, living in joyful hope even in the midst of criticisms. 

And, of course, the daily reminder that I cannot do this keeps me faithful in prayer. Am I faithful in prayer? Yeah, I think so. I am in conversation with God throughout the day, in meetings, in the highs and lows. I sense God's presence and feel I am really seeking to listen to God. 

This value of listening to God I think raises a certain amount of anxiety among some leaders. I made many 3-5 year plans as a younger pastor, but more and more I am learning to say, "I don't know." I spoke with a leader yesterday who was wanting some budget and hiring clarity for the future and I had to say, "I don't know. I've never done this. I don't know how much money we'll have in 6 months. I don't know whether we can do x, y, z. We have to be patient and see what God does."

I firmly believe this is the right way to move forward. Our 4-fold ministry at The Gallery is all based on relationship (right relationship with God, self, others, all creation through Christ). It is these relationships that help us navigate the way we move. Some people want to know about the vision. I am more concerned with the relationships.

That said, I have two relationships in the ministry right now that are struggling, and I don't know whether healing can happen this year. That's tough stuff for someone with a mercy gift. 

I have to throw one other word of caution for any church planter who might read this some day. I continue to hear on a weekly basis, "Why aren't we growing more?" And I continue to tell people, "We haven't officially launched yet and we've only been meeting weekly for about 8 weeks in our facility." People are so impatient. Trust me, don't let their impatience drive the ship. Stick to the fundamentals, and don't let numbers get you too excited or too depressed.

I sent out a study of healthy growth for organizations to my team and the healthiest growth is always slow and steady with the largest growth coming after a length of time of good foundation building. No church wants Rubic's Cube growth--huge spike and then huge decline. We are not building a wealthy product we can then sell off. We are building a church for the next century.

Our present numbers are averaging about 95 people on a Sunday night. Over 60 people are in Meal Groups. Over 40 people are involved in some ministry in The Gallery. These are really good numbers for a church plant. We have people gone every week, but those who come bring their friends so we stay right around 95 people in attendance. That's really good for a church plant, but people always want more! It's important I don't let their impatience kill my patience.

Prayer:

Abba, I thank You for Your word which gives such great counsel and perspective. I would be so lost without it. I thank You for the amazing people who are part of The Gallery. I thank You for the dedication and the hard work. I pray Your Spirit will unite us in mission and keep us from allowing the values of the world to become the values of The Gallery. 

I pray for more joyful hope, more patience in affliction, and a deeper prayer life. Help me keep You as my true north. 

I pray for counsel on whether we should move to Sunday morning. I pray for an anointing on my teaching this week. Help us make You Lord of our money. 

I pray for the strained relationships I have in my life. I pray You will bring healing to them. 

I pray for wisdom to lead. Help me find peace in the midst of caring for so many. [I pause her to ponder something. Deep down I am a very sensitive person. For you Meyers/Briggs people I'm an ENFP. I feel deeply and walk into a room immediately trying to sense where everyone is at emotionally. So the hills and valleys of praise and criticism that come every pastors way affect me deeply. I wish I wasn't so affected. I wish I could let things roll off my back more easily, but I question whether this is really what God is calling me toward. The story of the heroes of the Bible is not the story of comfort and ease. Great physical, intellectual and emotional battles ensued in the lives of Moses, David, Peter, Paul, Mary, etc. Maybe I need to embrace the depth of the emotions I feel. Maybe they're okay. Jesus clearly wept and wrestled and was angry. Maybe my Christ-likeness is not found in a mythical constant serenity, but rather in an embrace of loving God and others so much that their weeping is my weeping, their joy is my joy. The text for today added: ^"Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." Hmmm...]

Thanks, Abba. Amen.

Day 159 of The Gallery

SCRIPTURE:

 ⁷The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.⁸Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ⁹Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. ¹⁰Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. ¹¹If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4

THOUGHTS:

1 Peter is filled with instructions for this peculiar new people called Christians. He clearly believes, as did Paul, that the end was coming soon. Therefore, the believers must solidify their testimony as Jesus-people in a dark world. Over and over again he counsels the believers to love one another, don't seek revenge, repay evil with good. This goes for the Jew, Gentile, slave and free. This is a high calling. 

I love the first line of the above verses. Peter calls us to clear-minded and self-controlled so we can pray in the midst of the "end." My paraphrase would be "in the midst of the chaos of things falling apart, don't take your attention away from constant communication with God." 

It's funny. Planting The Gallery has done all the things they told me it would do. I pray more than ever. I wake up every day thinking, "There's no way I can do this." Zechariah 4.6, "'Not by might, nor by power but by my Spirit,' says the Lord," has become my theme verse of late. More than anything in planting The Gallery I must be clear-minded. 

But also Peter calls us to be "self-controlled." What amazing counsel and one I've over-looked too often. There is a truth that must not be neglected as a church planter. When you are giving so much to others, working 6-7 days a week, running on empty too often, Satan works over-time to trip you up and lead you toward a fall. It is easy to say, "I am giving so much, I deserve x, y, z sin. It'll make me feel better. God, won't mind that much. Think of all I'm doing for Him!" This, of course, is pure deception and a lie from the pit of hell. God does care. While He loves us in the midst of our lack of self-control, His will is not that we seek anything but Him in the dark hours of a work week. When we don't seek Him but seek darkness, our relationship with Him becomes cloudy. We are no longer clear-minded. 

There are some major things we are wrestling with right now, and I need to be clear-minded and self-controlled. Ryan and I met with Cliff, the Dean from McNally Smith Music School, to discuss future collaboration. One potential development might be a summer partnership toward a hip-hop school The Gallery runs. I hope that comes to fruition. Hip-hop is a genre creating a wonderful bridge between different ethnic groups. 

In addition, we're really wrestling with whether to move to Sunday morning. Problem is no to little parking because of the surrounding churches. Parking is a premium in St. Paul. Hmmmm....

Another focus in my mind is moving our Sunday expression toward the theme of redemption. The cross we use is made of redeemed junk. What if everything on stage was redeemed junk? What if our screen was made of recycled sheets? What if our lamps were made of...I don't know...cans? That narrative could play through all we do. 

Prayer:

Abba, so much to do. Yet, I realize this is not the way You look at this day. How do you look at this day? Interesting question. You look at it in love. You love Your creation. You love the changing of the leaves. The smell of that good coffee. You love the beauty of all those in the world who will perform small and large gestures of love. You mourn for all those who will wander lost in darkness. 

How do you look at my day? It seems Your hope for me this day is found in my love for You and others. You love the pondering I'm doing right now. You love the emails and contacts I will have that promote loving You and others. Your hope for me today is love. 

This love casts out fear for my day, Lord. It bestows freedom upon me. I don't have to worry today. I need only love. This love is the most powerful thing I can do in any day. 

I pray, Abba, Your Spirit will pour out of me in all I do. May Your love be my love. Amen.

Day 158 of The Gallery

SCRIPTURE:

 ¹²For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous 

      and his ears are attentive to their prayer, 
   but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. 1 Peter 3.12 (Psalm 34)

THOUGHTS:

I am sitting at Shish waiting for a pancake on a Thursday morning. This is a day of good, solid uninterrupted blocks of time. I have a lunch meeting with McNally Smith and a pastor friend to talk about possible connections with musicians at this music school. Ryan Daniel will be there as well. Tonight I have to drive my daughter to rehearsal, so I'll get another 3 hours of waiting and working. It's so hard to find these uninterrupted blocks. 

The verse above is from The Gallery's assigned reading for this Thursday. We have daily Bible readings simply to get our people in God's word. This is the most biblically illiterate generation in the history of our country. There's no substitute for God's word. 

This verse is surrounded by Peter's counsel to the church to be model citizens, united in love, willing to face persecution and not to seek revenge. This speaks to one of the fundamental phrases guiding The Gallery: a community of players performing scenes from the kingdom of God for a watching world. 

It is my contention the Church should be peculiar, a community of Jesus-people living out His strategy for changing lives. That strategy is never borne out of paying evil for evil but in responding to evil with a blessing. Retaliation always feeds the cycle of evil and violence. Responding to evil with love stops the spread of evil. This thinking colors deeply my support of Christian non-violence and my understanding of the atonement. Verse 11 of the same chapter says, "He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it." These are the actions of the children of the God of love.

How is this played out in The Gallery. I believe it begins simply by planting a church in a community that is antagonistic toward the church, specifically evangelicals. We must come to be a blessing. It is for this reason we have begun our monthly Love St. Paul events, and it is for this reason we will move 50% of our giving outside our doors come the new fiscal year. Our love of God and others is the testimony to what Christ has done in us.

What else is on The Gallery's plate now...

We are wrestling with whether we should move from Sunday night to Sunday morning. There's a good argument that even unchurched people want to come to church on Sunday morning. The pros are our community would go for it. The cons are parking. We have parking easily in the evening, not so in the morning. 

Ryan Daniel and I have also talked about moving more deeply into making The Gallery's worship expression give voice to who God is, who Ryan is, who I am, who The Gallery is, and who the community is in which we serve. We have had great musical expressions so far, but it has been a combination of Ryan's previous ministry, our ministry at Sanctuary, etc. We need to move beyond the past and express who we are now. Ryan suggested we move toward making a DJ our anchor rather than a lead guitarist or a keyboardist. I agree. Should be interesting to see how that plays out.

Enough for now. 

Prayer:

Abba, there is nothing more beautiful than You alive in us. Pour more and more of You into us, so there is no mistaking who we are in You. I pray You in us would move us to Your actions in us. As we move through this new sermon series, I pray You will form us into a community whose lives revolve around Your values. 

I pray for our leaders and ask You to mobilize them toward greater devotion and mission. I pray You will guide me to lead them more effectively. I ask for an abundance of offerings so we might best serve You and our community in St. Paul. I pray for wisdom for our CMJ team as they seek to discern how to invest in this community. I pray for wisdom as we seek to discern whether we move to Sunday morning or not. I pray for spiritual protection against anything that would come against us to divide us. I pray for this personality conflict on my plate. I pray You would bring healing to it.

I pray You will bring wisdom to our staff. Unite our hearts and minds in Your purpose. Please protect us from anything that would divide. Protect our families too.

I pray for Lisa and me as we seek to best parent our kids. I pray esp. for our meeting with Sam's team. Please provide the resources at Crosswinds that Sam needs. 

Give me clarity today, and give me an openness to Your movement. In Your name I pray. Amen.

Day 154 of The Gallery

SCRIPTURE:

 ⁷Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son^[a] into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for^[b] our sins. ¹¹Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4

Thoughts:

Dang. It's been too long since I've journaled. Not having a public journal makes it too easy for me to let it get crowded out of my life. I've been doing our daily readings, but not as often as I'd like. We use them as part of our Meal Group and Wednesdays in our creative meeting, but still I like to journal on them. Even today I want to crowd it out of my life. It's Sunday morning and I am waaaaaayyyyy too far behind in my message for this evening. I took an extra day off this week to get the house ready for winter. So I worked 5 days instead of 6 like every other week.

Anyway, I keep encountering the 4th chaper of 1 John. It's my new favorite chapter. John seems so passionate about God's love. It's interesting he says "no one has ever seen God," when he wrote "In the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God." One could argue, "Wait. You saw God. You walked with Him!" But I'm guessing he is speaking of God as YHWH not Jesus. It seems John's argument here is loving others is the best way to see God. If we love each other, God lives in us. What is more intimate--a glimpse of God, or God's presence inside us? I'd argue the latter and that seems to be John's contention as well.

If our intimate encounters with God are found in our loving, then The Gallery must excel first and foremost as a loving community. This is a no-brainer, but hard to pull off. A pastor cannot make a community love each other or the community they are called to serve. Yet, I do believe our focus on our four-fold ministry (Through Christ we have peace with God, self, others and all creation) helps steer The Gallery closer to love. As we move toward giving 50% of our giving into investment in our community, world missions, and church planting, we are sending energy and investment toward deeds of love. Deeds form more than feelings. Indeed, God's love was not simply God's feeling but God's action in sending His Son.

Last week we did a whole service on Listening. Paul Tillich says listening is the first act of love. We talked about loving God and others through listening first to God and then to others. I have started going weekly to the Muddy Pig and doing the FREE BEER IF YOU HATE CHURCH conversations. I find these incredibly important and think now I will start a FREE BEER IF YOU HATE CHURCH blog where I can chronicle these conversations. I have a feeling this particular venture has the most legs as we seek to grow the network of knowledge of The Gallery. The thought is to take a particular day every week and camp at The Muddy Pig and even note online that I will be there for conversation. Ryan Daniel created a great video of one of the conversations and we showed it last weekend.

Tonight is the first night where we really have no time to set up. We can't get in the building until 6:00, half hour before go-time. I told the team to create simple, community based worship. I believe our wow factor is far less important than the Spirit's anointing during a community's worship. God will show up. He is all we need.

I attended the Ultimate Compassion Conference at Woodland Hills yesterday and Friday. Great stuff. Love Boyd and what he does. I was struck by the simplicity of their worship space. He spoke of the powers and their systemic influence on poverty. Great stuff!!!

PRAYER:

Abba, Sunday morning is beautiful on Grand Ave. Thank you for Shish and Leo and their food. Thank you for the call on my life and for the purpose You have given me. I praise You for Your love and for the love You call me toward. May my life be filled with deeds of love.

(I took a phone call in the middle of this prayer...bad idea. Sorry, Lord.)

Lord, give me Your perspective on life. Help me see my days the way You see them. Help me order them with Your values. Give me the courage to trust You alone. As I sit to finish this message, Abba, give me the words I need to convey Your truth. I pray You will anoint our humble worship this evening. I pray those who are with us will experience Your great love. May Your living water pour over us. I pray for all of our teams. Give them Your counsel on how to move forward. I pray, like Jesus prayed, for more harvest hands. This can only happen through the power of Your Spirit. I pray for Ryan and Rita and Jane as they prepare for worship tonight. Fill us with Your Spirit so You pour out of us like a might river of life.

I pray You will give my family safety, good health, and deep faith. I pray You will give Julia a baptism of Your Spirit. I pray You will give Emma vision for how she might use her gifts for Your glory. I pray You will provide Sam with the resources he needs to succeed in high school. I pray you will give Lisa and me rest and wisdom and great joy in our marriage and parenting. I pray for provision for our family so we might move out of debt.

You are our life and love. We need nothing more than You.

Amen.