Lake Hiawatha Gospel Community

Up here in the Twin Cities, this is a very exciting week. There are a ton of events, including the MLB All-Star Game. Personally, the only thing I know about the All-Star Game is that it closed numerous streets downtown and changed my bus route for getting to and from work. However, I am still very excited for this week because on Friday we launch our second Gospel Community - the Lake Hiawatha Gospel Community!

I have shared with you previously about our vision of regularly launching Gospel Communities (groups of 10-20 who meet in homes to live the Christian life together of following Jesus and doing good.) However, one thing we have learned in this process of prepping for the launch of our second Community is that there is a distinct difference between asking God to bless our work and joining God in the work He is already doing. A great Biblical example of this is the account of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-38.) In this account, Philip doesn't determine to do anything. Instead, God simply shows up and essentially says, "I'm doing something cool here. Wanna' be a part of it?"

Charlie and Heather are the ones launching and leading this new Community. I have neither the time nor the space to share all the details with you, but the only way to make sense of their situation is to understand that years before Charlie and Heather moved in, the Spirit was prepping their neighborhood for their arrival to be His instruments there.

On Sunday, we prayed over Charlie, Heather, and the girls and commissioned them for this work (see picture below.) This week, all I'm asking of you is to pray daily for their launch on Friday night. Also, while the Lake Hiawatha Gospel Community launches, the rest of us will meet at my house for dinner and a time of prayer for Charlie, Heather, and the rest of the Lake Hiawatha GC. If you're in the Minneapolis area that day, I invite you to join us at 6. Email me if you're interested or want more details.

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Why Would Anyone Do This?

As a Community, we have been studying through the book of Acts together since last September. In a couple of weeks, on July 20, we will finish this journey. I have absolutely loved going through the book of Acts and it has been very influential both to me and to the rest of the Community.

One of the big questions we are forced to answer while reading the narrative of the life of God's people following the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus is, "Why?" Why would the disciples continue on after Jesus ascended? Why would people continue to proclaim the Gospel after Stephen and James were killed for preaching the Gospel? Why would Paul relentlessly go year after year, from town to town, proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus while regularly enduring beatings, imprisonment, and near-death experiences? Why would anyone willingly go the path of Jesus? After all, His path is the hard path, as He says in Matthew 7:13-14, "“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." And as Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” 

To be honest, there is no logical answer for the question of “Why?” The only answer the people of God can truly give is from the apostle Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68) For us specifically, there is no logical reason for leaving a comfortable situation in order to start something from scratch in the manner that we’re doing it. The only answer we can give is with the words the artist KB, “I've seen the Lord, the same I’ll never be/ Some say they've seen the Lord but live on casually/ I don’t know what you saw but the Lord ain't what you seen/ Once you really seen the Lord, you’re obsessed with what you see.” (Zone Out) Life is all about Jesus. When that clicks, your life may not make any sense to others, but it will make perfect sense to you.

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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.

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

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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. 

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

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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

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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

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

#PlantTheGospel

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