Five Updates

Today I want to share with you five updates from the plant (other than the numerous recent updates on the switch to bi-vocationalism!):

1. Finances - Today (June 30th) is officially the last day of the plant's 2013-14 fiscal year and we will end it with a $40K-$45K surplus. Because God has been so incredibly good and generous to us, we will be tithing from this surplus as a thank offering to our Lord. The Genesis Community will determine where (either a mission or community organization) this $4,000+ gift will be going.
2. Children's Ministry Director - On July 15 I am meeting with someone who is interested in this position. This individual will be a freshman in college in the fall, which is perfect for the position. We had hoped to have someone in place by October 1, but it looks like the Lord may have a faster timeline, which is absolutely fine by us!
3. Large Group Worship - We hope to introduce monthly large group worship in November or December. As I've written before, the lifeblood of Genesis runs through our Gospel Communities. Because of this, the bulk of our time, energy, and resources are devoted to the launching and leading of these Communities of 10-20 individuals who are following Jesus together, living as agents of good together, and meeting together regularly in homes. However, we value and appreciate the large group worship component of Christian community and are eager to incorporate it into our rhythms. Who knows, maybe the Lord has a faster timeline for this as well?
4. Name, Logo, and Website - This is the last week that our survey will be available for individuals to weigh-in on our name, logo, and tagline. If you haven't taken the survey yet, I highly encourage you to click this link and do so now. Over the next month we will be developing our website and are eager to share all of these details with you!
5. Gospel Community Launch - In the coming weeks we will be launching our second Gospel Community! Our prayer is that we have 5 Communities launched or in the process of launching by the end of the year.

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And We're Underway

It’s official – we are a bi-vocational church plant. I started my second job with Minneapolis Parks and Rec last week. I am working out of the service station in North Minneapolis and focus on a general area with a couple other guys. The work that I do is basic manual labor – cleaning park bathrooms, emptying trash, weed whipping, dragging and lining baseball fields, etc. I leave the house at either 4:40 or 5:30 AM (depending on whether I ride the bus or drive), but I’m home between 3 and 3:30 in the afternoon.

I’m very excited about this position for several reasons:

1. I like doing this kind of stuff - I get to be outside all day, doing the type of work that I enjoy doing anyway.
2. It’s very straightforward – I’m the low man on the totem pole, which is a nice change of pace. As those of you in any sort of leadership position know, sometimes there is a desire to just show up, do the work that you’re told to do, and leave work at work. I get all of that in this job.
3. Theory vs. Reality – I get to see if reality matches up with theory. Again, the top two reasons we made this intentional change is (1) missions – finding and engaging those who are disconnected from Christ and have no interest in His church, and (2) leadership development – relating to the lives of current and potential Gospel Community leaders (who all have full-time jobs) in order to best guide them as they apply the Gospel to groups of people.
4. Be a better man – With two jobs, I will have no choice except to become more organized, more efficient with my time, a better communicator with my wife, better at prioritizing my calendar, better at resting, etc. I have leaned heavily on Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians 9 for the basis of bi-vocationalism, and I love the way he ends this chapter – “But I discipline my body and keep it under control.”

It’s only been one week, but I can already see the plethora of opportunities that bi-vocationalism will provide for Christ’s Kingdom and Genesis’ calling within that Kingdom. 

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Just Shrug and Laugh

Every once-in-a-while it happens that we can see something coming from a mile away and, when it finally happens, all we can do is shrug our shoulders and laugh. Such is the case with everything leading up to our biggest transition yet - developing a bi-vocational culture.

As you probably know, I began the application process to become a police chaplain for the Minneapolis Police Department about 4 months ago. It was a VERY slow process. As you probably also know, I applied and was hired for a position with the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board. However, this too has been a VERY slow process - I was officially hired 3 1/2 weeks ago and have yet to start.

Perhaps I should've seen this coming, and to a certain degree I did. See, I was aiming for a nice gradual process with all of this . . . become a police chaplain in April . . . get a good feel for my new schedule . . . find a part-time position that fits nicely . . . enjoy the smooth, steady transition . . . etc. However, God was aiming for something completely different (which I am currently interpreting as patience followed by chaos). After months and months of silence and waiting, I received word that I am to start both positions tomorrow (Tuesday, June 17th) - Parks and Rec at 6 AM and Chaplaincy at noon. I honestly don't know how this will work out. I guess all I can do is shrug my shoulders and laugh. Apparently I needed the reminder that the plant is His, not mine . . my calendar is His, not mine . . . my plans are His, not mine . . . my whole self is His, not mine . . . Thy will be done . . . Amen.

PS - If you haven't done so yet, please take a couple of minutes to fill out this survey. It's 5 questions, completely anonymous, and will be a huge help to us.

PPS - If you want to get further connected to the plant, feel free to sign-up on The Table for regular communications, event details, etc.

Invest in us and our work in S. Minneapolis - Click Here

Pray for us and our work in S. Minneapolis - Click Here

Participate in the life of the Community - Click Here or Here

#PlantTheGospel

The Boring Work of Plumbing

Have you ever built a house before? I haven't, and the world is a better place because of that! :) However, I have watched houses get built (in fact, I currently have the pleasure of watching the new Vikings stadium get built with the generous funding of my tax dollars!) and I've noticed something - the bulk of the building process is super boring, but absolutely necessary. For example, a huge chunk of time is spent working on the foundation, making sure the wiring and plumbing are installed properly, putting up the framing, etc. Once these necessities are in place, the fun stuff can begin - the siding, carpeting, appliances, paint, etc. However, it doesn't matter how beautiful the curb appeal is or if you have granite countertops or wall-to-wall carpeting - if your electrical work is a joke or if your plumbing goes nowhere and does nothing, your house will soon be unfit for human inhabitation.

I believe there are so many parallels between this and what we're doing. Currently, we're in the "boring but necessary" portion of planting. We're creating a culture of bi-vocationalism (everyone, including myself, is a bi-vocational missionary). We're laying the foundations of multiplication, evangelism, discipleship, generosity, and diversity. We're developing our identity as communities of individuals who live true life in Christ together as families and invest heavily in the physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being of the City. Soon enough, the fun, flashy stuff will come (cool name, hip logo, large-group worship, etc.) But if we skipped the plumbing and went straight to installing countertops, it would just be a matter of time before everything collapsed.

PS - if you would, please help us out in HUGE way with the fun, flashy stuff and take 1 minute to answer this 5-question survey. Thanks!

PPS - If you haven't done so yet, sign-up on The Table to see what's happening at Genesis on a regular basis.

Invest in us and our work in S. Minneapolis - Click Here

Pray for us and our work in S. Minneapolis - Click Here

Participate in the life of the Community - Click Here or Here

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Four Trends

Back in April, I wrote to you about a 1-day conference that talked about the "Squishy Middle" and the shifting trends in America, especially in regards to the church. Recently, Ed Stetzer (the speaker at the conference) put those words on paper in a short article called MissionTrends: 4 Trends for Churches to Consider. These four trends are:

1. The Word "Christian" Will Become Less Used and More Clear - "The trend is that less people are calling themselves Christians and those who are will take it more seriously."
2. The Nominals Will Increasingly Become Nones - "As the Nones rise in their number, Christian influence on culture will begin to wane. As people no longer claim to be Christians, Christianity will be further marginalized, which should change the way we think about engaging culture."
3. Christians Will Increasingly Change Cultural Tactics - "The next 20 years are going to be a challenge for convictional Christians and churches in many places. We will be engaging in cultural conversations often as the minority we truly are. In biblical terms, we may experience what it means to be salt and light in the midst of an adversarial culture."
4. More Robust Churches will Result from the Death of Nominalism - "Christianity will become more of a minority in culture, but more refined, more biblical, and more missional churches will be the result." 

(If you'd like to read the entire article, you can read it here.)

For us, these four trends are playing a significant role in a myriad of ways - from our strategy (Missional Communities) to how we view ourselves (missionaries in S. Minneapolis) to how we steward our finances (bi-vocational with VERY low overhead) to everything in-between.

PS - here are a couple of quick updates of what's happening in the plant:

• I was hired by Minneapolis Parks and Rec for maintenance and groundskeeping. I hope to start later this week.
• We started using The Table. I would love for you to sign-up to see what's happening at Genesis on a regular basis.
• At the end of this month we will be mailing out our annual summary. If you would like a copy, please shoot me a quick email with your address.
• We are on track to launch our next Gospel Community in the next month or so.
• We have a total of 9 potential Gospel Community leaders who are on our radar. This doesn't mean they will all become leaders, but we are praying over the possibility.

Invest in us and our work in S. Minneapolis - Click Here

Pray for us and our work in S. Minneapolis - Click Here

Participate in the life of the Community - Click Here or Here

#PlantTheGospel