cup a joe

I hung out last night with the guys at River of Life. Tom (the pastor) pulled me up in front of the church (without advance warning) and had me tell them what we are up to. I gave our basic story over the past few months, and Tom filled in the blanks of the areas that I missed. He has a way of being extremely encouraging. What was cool about the entire thing was his attitude towards us as a new church. Many pastors that I have met seem to feel that new churches are a threat…additional competition. Tom’s attitude was completely different. He told his people that we (Cindy and I) were going to effect people that they could never reach. It seemed like he looked at us more as partners in the same cause then as competitors in the same race.

I bring this up because Cindy went this morning to Christ Community Church in St. Charles (we went to two different services because of Nathan’s foot…see Cindy’s blog). Cindy and I used to be members of CCC many years ago. According to Cindy, the church has grown…really grown. She said that it felt like Willow Creek in size. While there, she ran into an old friend of ours who happens to be on staff (John). We haven’t seen or spoken to him in about three years, so he was curious to hear what we were up to. Cindy mentioned to him that we were working on planting a church in DeKalb. John seemed somewhat surprised and mentioned in passing that they wanted to plant in DeKalb as well. Now, we are in a totally different stream than CCC. But the thought of a well financed church like CCC planting in DeKalb really freaked us out. They would send their people, they would be a lot more professional…and they would have money…. things that most Vineyard church plants do not have. Then it hit me…I was thinking like a businessman, not a follower of Christ. I know this is Jesus’ church that we are planting, not Joe and Cindy’s. And I know that He sent us here…so why should I freak out about another church? There are close to 100,000 people in this area (including the college). Why would I think that all 100,000 would be affected by our message alone? Isn’t there enough room for the Vineyard, CCC and the River of Life (as well as the other churches in the area)?

I realize that not many churches would come out directly and say that they were in competition…but how many are in their hearts (if not the pastors, then the congregation)? What would the church look like if we really believed that we are just a part of the body of Christ instead if thinking that our denomination / church / group / movement is the body of Christ? We teach people that they have certain gifting’s and that gifting makes them part of the body…e.g. foot, head, hand, etc. Wouldn’t that same analogy fit the church as well? The Vineyard seems to know how to do worship and healing…River of Life knows the campus…CCC knows evangelism. If we all waked in the authority that God gave us and blessed the stuff that God gave others, wouldn’t the church be more revenant to people then it is today?

Once again, maybe this is something that God is trying to teach me or heal me of…but I don’t necessarily think that I am alone in this.

Hey...I just signed up for something called Indie Allies Meetup...it's a gathering of local "Independent Christian Thinker's" (Whatever that means)...I think it's a get-together for people who hang out at the ooze or jordoncooper.com. Sounded neat, although I doubt there will be anyone else from DeKalb (other then my wife!). Check it out....http://indieallies.meetup.com

Well, it's official. I just got a call from my company and my job is coming to an end. I was told to have everything ready to transistion back to them by the end of next week. They still want to me to work for them, but on a contract basis (although they are not too sure what that means). It's all a matter of head-counts and budgets. Ain't life grand!

I talked to Rocky about it. He has come to the conclusion that this just means that it's time to get serious about the church plant....gather, gather, gather, then go public. I've always felt that this job was manna, and that the manna would stop as soon as God said go....I'm beliving that is what is happening now. I know that He has provided for us in the past and that He is going to provide for us in the future...my hope has to be in Him alone.

My system is down again (for work). With all the junk that has happened to my company’s network over the past two weeks, one would be shocked to learn that I work for a network security company!

I got a call from the DeKalb Vineyard yesterday asking me to come on July 6th to preach. My attitude towards that church has really changed over the past week. I have come to the conclusion that Cindy and I have been sent to plant a church, not to take one over. With that said, if the DeKalb Vineyard wants to join what we are doing, great. On the other hand, if they don’t, that’s OK too. I’m over focusing all my attention on “getting a job”. For some reason I want to believe that pastoring is supposed to be more then just a job. When we left Georgia, I never thought that I would look at it as such. But after going through the interview, then the preaching and the other PR stuff, it was starting to feel like one. I really don’t want a job as a pastor. I know from my experiences in the business world that the key to a job is impressing your boss, and his boss, and so on. By turning the pastorate into a job, I think I would attempt to impress my boss – the congregation or the board. I don’t think that’s what God has in mind. I think I’m supposed to listen to Him instead, not to impress, but to obey.

Now perhaps there are pastors out there who are more mature then I and have this all figured out. Unfortunately, the only person I have to look at is me, and I have to take my weakness in to account. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’ve changed the way I’m praying for that church. In the past, I would pray for them to hear God and make a decision. I now am just praying that God does what he wants there. I would be honored if I was a part of it, but if I’m not, that’s ok. It may not seem like much of a difference, but to me, it has taken a load off my shoulders.

Oh well, they got me up and running again…back to work!

Well, we did our first small group last night…I guess the church plant has begun! We had four people come…Mike & Cathy, Carla and Krista. From what I have been told, more are to follow. The night seemed to go well. Right as Cindy finished worship, we heard one of the kids yell from outside “Ready or not, here I come”. I felt like this was prophetic, like the Lord was telling us ready or not, here He comes…Come Lord!

We also started a blog for the church plant. It’s still under construction somewhat. Hopefully we will be able to clean it up a bit by the end of the weekend.

I'm sitting here, looking out my window, watching the soybeans grow. I should be working, but most of our network just came crashing down. So that gives me plenty of time to sit, think, and watch soybeans.....

Cindy’s sister called last night. She is searching, trying to find God and figure out what it all means. She just read the book of John and called with questions, lots of questions. Most were stuff that I had never thought about…ways that God is unfair or offending. While she was talking to my wife about this, I was surfing through a lot of “post-modern Christian” blogs. I found myself getting really depressed as the night went on. On one hand, I was listening to my wife attempt to answer her sister’s questions. The problem was that her sister was looking at God not as a person to build a relationship with, but as a concept or an organization to join. Cindy spent a lot of time trying to explain that it is about relationships…with God, with Jesus, with others…not just an organization or political party or something like that. At least that’s what I think she wanted to say…I’m not sure if she was successful or not.

On the other hand, I started to look through all these blogs. And what I found out was that they were all asking the same questions…everyone seemed to be searching…looking for the best way, structure, or technique to get closer to God…to be more authentic in this emerging generation. While everyone was doing this, I felt like they were all alone in their searching. Now I know many of them are in churches or communities…some vibrant. But it seemed like they were searching by themselves…I’m not sure how to explain it, it just seemed very depressing.

We seem to have all the questions figured out…we just don’t have any answers. Is that what it is supposed to be about, just asking questions? I know that we only know in part, but is our God supposed to be a mystery at all times…is He supposed to be this great question that we are to continually ponder, like a bunch of Greek philosophers? I always thought that we were supposed to follow after God like little children. My kids don’t take the time to ask these huge questions before they do stuff, they just go and do it. Perhaps that’s what we are supposed to do, just go after God, go after Jesus, go after the Holy Spirit, go after other believers, go after other non-believers and just do it…build relationships, love other people and Love God. Maybe that’s what it is supposed to look like.

Perhaps I need to think about that a bit more…