Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Church plant..yes but the dream's even bigger.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about changing the world. Specifically, how can I/we change Richmond and make it a better place. It's not bad...it's a fine place to live...I just want it to be better.

This is what I'm called to do. I feel that in my gut. I am a church planter...yes. But really, I'm a society changer/social architect/social entrepreneur. I'm setting out to help people I meet know God better. I'm also setting out to get people together (contracters/architects/lawyers/whatevers) who can come together to work on the big issues in the city like affordable housing or crime or whatever.

I had a great lunch today with like minded people. Whenever I meet people who are tired of same ol same ol religion and want to see new things birthed out of the church, it gets me fired up. Today was one of those days.

I can't spill all the beans right now, until I have final commitments on a few things, but I will have some good announcements soon.

Monday, April 28, 2008

A week in Florida is good for the soul

We just returned from Florida. It was sunny, and about 80 degrees everyday. Today in Richmond it is about 68 and rainy. It's a good day to be indoors and type like a madman. I was in Orlando for the exponential conference. My brain is brimming with good stuff. I got to hear some of the best teachers, and leaders in the church in the U.S. today. It was very cool.

The thing I was most reminded of in the whole experience is that I'm not trying to plant a church. The church should be the bi-product of the whole thing. What I'm trying to do is disciple/invest in people and impact the culture. I will be rethinking some of the things we'll be doing these next 4 months. When the church launches, I pray it will really be birthed out of networks and the mission we are already living out in the community.

Getting back to it today. This is too much fun!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Off to Florida Again

I am loading up the Sienna tomorrow and taking the fam to Florida. The purpose? To attend the National New Church Conference. It's going to be a blast. A few days in Orlando in the sunshine, taking the kids to Disney...seeing lots of friends and fellow church planters--fantastic stuff. This Sunday I will be speaking at my home church- Christian Church in the Wildwood. I'm really looking forward to being with those people. So if you are in Spring Hill, Florida this weekend...(and I'm not sure why you would be!) come see us.

Pray for our trip. I need to network like crazy and have God fill my head some more with his plans. I'm praying this is a fruitful trip for us in many ways.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

The wild ride of church planting


I'm having one of those weeks where you just can't believe what God is up to. I have had several amazing conversations with some people this week that want to possibly be part of this church. I hardly know where these people are coming from. It's exciting. I wonder who doesn't even live in Richmond right now, that will be here when we launch our church in 5 1/2 months. Who else will God call to join us on this wild ride?

This past month has been really cool. I keep being amazed that this is my full time job...starting a church. It has it's challenges, but for the most part it's great. Right now I'm sitting on our porch swing...it's 76 degrees outside and there is hardly a drop of humidity in the air...awesome stuff.

Stay tuned next week for a potentially huge facilities announcement. (no, it's not as big as the Byrd, but it's pretty huge.)
More fun stuff is ahead.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

The value of community

Tonight we had a small group meet in our house. There were about 13 of us meeting in the living room and it was a blast. It's such a great mix of people from diverse cultures and backgrounds who all want to learn about God and grow in their faith.

I don't know if all these people will be part of Area 10 Faith Community some day. People can do what they want. I just want to get to know these people and we'll just see what happens. I think great things happen when people get together and God does his thing in their midst.

Who knows where this group leads...for now I'm just loving the ride.
A day like today makes me feel like I have the best job in the world.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Area 10 gets a bit of Style

Style Weekly, Richmond's alternative weekly paper did a little story about the church in the Byrd. They put a picture of me right there on page 7. Overall, it was a great write up about who we are and what we want to do. It's pretty funny too. The writer, Chris Dovi, I think did a good job of making it funny and informative. The photographer did a good job of making me look like a stalker. I specifically said to him "just please don't make me look like a stalker." and that's what we got. Oh well...not his fault I guess. If you naturally look like a stalker, what's the photographer supposed to do about that?

My favorite line in the article is when the writer refers to me as a "fixture" in Carytown. That's me. I'm a fixture...like a faucet, or lightpost.

Just call me Pastor Fixture.

To read the article click here.