Serving Those Who Serve

Last week, I (finally!) began my work as a chaplain for the 3^rd Precinct of the Minneapolis Police Department. I am 1 of 3 chaplains at this precinct. My duties are essentially broken down into three categories:

1. Police Officer Care – I will attend roll-calls, go on ride-alongs, and simply be present around the officers. The goal is to develop trust and relationships with the officers and be available for conversations and counseling . Simply put, I’m there to care for the officers in whatever ways they need it.
2. Community Presence – I will also attend neighborhood meetings on occasion with officers in order to be a chaplain’s presence in the community.
3. Crisis Care – Lastly, I will eventually be on call for crisis situations where a chaplain’s presence at the scene is beneficial for family, friends, and neighbors.

I am truly excited that the Lord has opened this opportunity to me to serve in this way. The fact that these men and women have voluntarily committed their lives to serving and protecting the general public, to the extent of putting themselves in mortal danger, is absolutely awe-inspiring. It is an honor and a privilege to be given the opportunity to care for and love them. Plus, it’s an opportunity to be live like Jesus, who “came not to be served but to serve.” (Matthew 20:28).

I would highly encourage all of you to pray for opportunities to serve those who serve others, even if it’s not your local police officers. However, if the Lord should give you that opportunity (or if you are simply connected personally to a cop in any way), I highly encourage you pick up and read a copy of Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement.

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When Darkness Rejects the Light

Before I get into the details of the story that I want to share with you, I want to make a few things clear - 1) I LOVE my second job at Minneapolis Parks and Rec, 2) I truly enjoy working alongside my co-workers there, 3) I pray that the Spirit would work through this situation to do something incredible, and 4) I don’t know what the conclusion of this story will be.

When I first started at Parks and Rec, I discovered that there is another pastor who works there on the mowing crew. I also discovered that this pastor is teaching through the book of Proverbs at his church. Since I knew that we were about to embark on a journey through Proverbs at Genesis, I asked him if he would ever be willing to study it together at break or lunch. Naturally, he was all for it because any time to study the Word is a good time.

Finally, this past Tuesday, it finally worked for us to start talking through Proverbs at lunchtime. We were barely able to even open our Bibles before a firestorm erupted. Some in the area joked about keeping the Bible away from them because it would cause them to go up in flames. Another co-worker absolutely went off on a tirade, “That thing’s outdated . . . You gonna’ tell me some god is going to judge me? . . . ” Another co-worker vehemently declared that it was against the rules to have anything religious at work. Other co-workers stepped-in to defend our reading of the Bible. As for me, I just sat there listening (mostly because there wasn’t room for anyone else to talk). When all was said and done, we were able to read and discuss 1 verse from Proverbs.

The following day, we tried it again. This time we were able to enjoy our lunches and conversation on Proverbs. However, at the end of the day, my co-worker/fellow pastor was pulled aside by our foreman and was informed that a complaint had been filed and that our studying of the Bible during lunch made this individual uncomfortable.

As I mentioned above, I don’t know how this story will end. my co-worker/fellow pastor did not join me for lunch on Thursday and was not at work on Friday. However, I have 3 reflections on this incident:

1. I will continue to study the Scriptures at work. Even if we need to find a different location to eat lunch, this is an incredible opportunity to grow in the Word and create a space for other co-workers who are far from God to meet Him.
2. I will work even harder and show even more respect to my co-workers. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:10-12, “But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders.” It is fairly clear that many of my co-workers are currently shut off to the Gospel message. No amount of arguing, apologetics, etc. will do any good right now. My only hope is a ton of prayer and life they can see that is both worthy of respect and validates my faith.
3. I will not get angry, but will weep. In Matthew 23:37 Jesus wept over Jerusalem and their rejection of him, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” It is easy for us to respond to the rejection of the Gospel with anger. But when we have the heart of Christ, our response will be one of mourning, because we know what is being rejected.

Please pray for my co-workers, especially those who are far from Christ. And please pray for myself and my fellow believers there, that we may be like Paul in Acts 17 and trust that while some may disregard us and the Jesus that we worship, others may want to hear more and some may call upon the name of Christ and be saved. 

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What Can Church Look Like?

This past month has been very sporadic at Genesis (which is fairly typical for churches in America.) In fact, it’s been about a month since we gathered together in Minneapolis. On August 13, we had our normal Community Gathering. On August 20, we returned to Trinity, Waconia and then enjoyed a potluck picnic at a park there and completed our journey through Acts. On August 27 we had our Acts Party (i.e. relaxing dinner together at Minnehaha Park).

Last Sunday, August 3, we were scheduled to get back on track and launch a new journey through the book of Proverbs. There was only one problem - nobody (except us) connected to Genesis was in town. Everyone was either camping or up north or out of state. So our back-up plan was to invite everyone we’ve gotten to know for a laid-back brunch at our house. We received a lot of responses, but those responses were all basically, “Sounds like a good time, but we’re in (insert name of fun place) this weekend!”

However, at the last minute we had two families say “Yes” to our invitation. But these two families are actually related and in the middle of a move and house rehab project. So here’s what we did: We met at the newly purchased house that is being rehabbed. The kids played and had a great time. We sat on the only chairs in the house (which had just been brought that day) on top of semi-installed carpet. We spent an hour or so sharing what God is doing in our lives, discussing Luke 10:25-28, and praying for each other. We then sang a song and, 6 of us in all, Communed together. When we were finished, we worked on the house for a couple of hours, installing a mounted microwave and fixing a step.

So, the question is - Was this church? The beauty of Jesus, His Gospel, and His gifts is that these things are always available to us. It is perfectly good to hear the Word, pray, sing, and Commune in a formal setting on Sunday mornings. But it is equally good to do these things spontaneously alongside a handful of brothers and sisters in Christ in house being rehabbed.

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Reflections on Acts

Last Sunday (July 20th) was the finale of our year-long look at the book of Acts. This journey through Acts had a profound impact on me. While I'm sure I could list more than these, here are my top 5 take-aways from our travels through the book of Acts:

1. The power of the Spirit - There is absolutely NO way someone could read through this book and come to the conclusion that we humans are responsible for individuals coming to faith and the growth and expansion of Christ's Kingdom. Again and again and again we read about how the Spirit did mighty things as the Church grew and expanded. Nothing has changed - today the weight is off our shoulders as the Spirit is the one who continues to do the work of bringing people into the faith and growing them in that faith.
2. The power of prayer - I LOVE how prayer was not a fringe activity of the church. Rather, prayer was foundational to everything they did as they were faithful to the leading of the Spirit. We are to imitate this centrality of prayer, both as individuals and as the Church.
3. The power of community - There were no "Lone Rangers" in the early church. Even during instances of individual mission work (i.e. Philip and Peter), those were short lived as they quickly returned to be fed by and rejoice with the larger church community. Perhaps it's not such a bad thing for us to want each other, need each other, and deeply love each other as we live this Christian life together?
4. Relentless Perseverance - Paul faced rejection so many times. How did he respond? Go find the people who will listen. Every time Paul was rejected in a town, he simply moved on to the next town in search of anyone willing to listen to his life-saving message. If, and when, we and our Gospel message are rejected, we are to be like Paul and keep going instead of being stopped in our tracks by rejection.
5. Joining vs. Asking - This ties in very much to point 1, but throughout Acts it is clear that God is about His work and invites His people to join Him in that work. When we look at our lives in this way, things switch from "I'm going to do this and hope that God blesses it" to "I'm going to listen and pray in order to figure out where God is at work around me and then join Him in that work." And I'll be honest, this way of doing ministry is MUCH less stressful!

Next we will embark on a journey through Proverbs, but I am going to miss Acts. As commentator William Willimon wrote to conclude his commentary on Acts, "You and I live in the continuation of the story of Acts. Acts must close in an open-ended fashion, with the door still open for work and witness rather than closed by death, because the Spirit is still active. Luke is not simply writing history. He writes the story of the Spirit, the Spirit incarnate in people like you and me. Living here between the times, as we always have, there is work for the church to do. We need not be gazing into heaven when the Spirit is active here on earth. The period of the world mission of the church is now. There is still time to tell what has happened on earth. Since Pentecost nothing has been able to silence the tongues of God's faithful witnesses. In your church and mine the story continues. Nearly two millennia after Luke wrote to Theophilus, Acts reminds us that despite rejection, persecutions, setbacks, and our own lethargy or cowardice the gospel proclamation continued to the very end of the earth, by God's grace, unhindered.”

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Momentum Is Fun!

As I’m sure you’ve encountered, life is quite enjoyable when you’re experiencing momentum. When things are heading in the right direction at home, work, in your personal life, etc., then life is pretty dang good. This is the case for Genesis right now. And I’ll be honest – it’s a ton of fun!

Here are just a few ways we’ve experienced momentum at Genesis recently:

1. Launch of 2^nd Gospel Community – As I mentioned last week, this past Friday we launched our 2^nd Community – the Lake Hiawatha Gospel Community. Just like the Morris Park Gospel Community, this group of 10-20 individuals will enjoy life together as they discover and follow Jesus and do good in the City. 
2. New Apprentices – As part of our strategy, we identify and develop apprentices who will one day launch their own Gospel Community and apply the Gospel to a group of people. Now that our former apprentices have launched, we have new ones who have stepped into this role. 
3. New Families – Not only did we launch our 2^nd Gospel Community, but we are connecting new families to the Morris Park Gospel Community.
4. Finances – We ended our first fiscal year with a good-sized surplus. As a thank offering for the Lord’s generosity we are tithing from that surplus and dividing that money to give to our four key community partners – MVNA, Engage Global, Little Earth, and Prison Fellowship.

All of this is living proof of James’ words from James 5:16, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” Thank you for your continued support and may the Lord continue to guide and bless you as you work for the Kingdom wherever He has placed you! 

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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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