Speaking at Chester Christian Church

This Sunday, September 16^th, I will be speaking at Chester Christian Church in Chester, VA. Chester's lead pastor, Neil Wheeler has a real missional mindset and has told me that their church really wants to be involved more in the city of Richmond. Please join me in praying that I will communicate clearly this Sunday to the people at the church, and that this will be the start of a great partnership to help reach the city of Richmond for Christ.

Living in the city

The other other day my wife received an email from another mom in Richmond. When Abby told her where we live, (carytown). This mom's response was basically "I didn't know anyone with small children lived there in the city!" This response is not very unusual. There seems to be an unwritten rule that as soon as you have children you need to move out to the burbs where you can have an enormous fenced in back yard so your children can run and play all day, in the safety of your own corral. Add in the fact that taxes are lower in the counties than in the city and the flight to the suburbs makes sense. I understand this..I really do. We just want to live differently than that. This year, for the first time in history, more people will live in cities than in rural areas. The world is becoming more and more urban, and as I see it, Christians need to know how to live, work, and play, and even raise kids in this urban jungle. It is our hope to raise our kids to love the city, love their funky urban neighbors, and be light in a dark world.

The Project Signs on with Church Planting Solutions

This is big news. Church Planting Solutions has agreed to partner with us to launch the Area 10 Project. These guys are based in Northern Virginia and will be a huge help to us. Pat Ferguson explained to me that what they do is all the administrative stuff for the church planter so the church planter is freed up to be out with people and build a core group. THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I NEED! This is a God send for us. Check out the stuff at their web page. They are unbelievably detailed and thorough which is great for a big picture vision kind of guy like myself.

This is definitely an answer to prayer as we need all the administrative help we can get right now.

Speaking at New Venture

These past two weeks, I spoke at New Venture Christian Church and talked with the people there about our identity in Christ. I think our identity is a huge issue for most people so I was really anxious to talk about it.

Things went well, I think. One guy who attends the church blogged about my visit a little bit. Check that out here.

Quite a few people at the church signed up to be part of the prayer team and be involved in various ways. I think the message of loving the city you live in, resonated with people.

This weekend, it's off to the Virginia Christian Convention to speak. Please pray that the whole thing goes well. I'm really hoping other people will catch this vision to put a Christian Church in the heart of our capital city.

Velocity Church is having a baby

What a great time last night as we had a Velocity church midsummer members family reunion. We got to announce that Velocity will be having a baby- our new church in the fall of 2008. A group gathered and prayed for this new church and for the many that will come to Christ because of it. I got a chance to talk about our vision for the city and what our new church could be. It was awesome stuff. Thanks so much for all of those who were there. We love you all and can't wait to get this thing started with your help.

The great Laura Shibut put together a promo video for our church plant with some photography she did and some video my buddy Zack and I did. It is still a work in progress, but it's coming together nicely. Check out the video here!
(must have Quicktime installed!)

Tomorrow I'm speaking at New Venture Christian Church. That should be fun. More updates coming soon!

Get yer pray on!

Our church plant gets officially announced to our current church-- Velocity Church next Friday. Two weeks after that, it gets officially announced at the Virginia Christian Convention. After that, things are going to get pretty busy. I'm speaking at several churches each month and sharing the vision we have for the city. What we need right now is prayer support. We need people who are willing to step up and start praying for the city of Richmond, for us as the church planters, and for the people we will one day reach. Want to join us in praying for Area 10? If so, post a comment below, and let me know you are in. (include your email address) Or if you want, drop me an email- gsusguy@hotmail.com
More details will be coming soon about speaking engagements, and important dates, videos, brochures, and all that. Check back here for updates.

Love Thy Neighbor...

Yesterday, one of our neighbors came to the door asking for a rubber skull. I am not making this up. He said he was playing with it, it went over the fence, and would we mind retrieving it for him. I don't know who you picture when I say "one of our neighbors", but what you should be picturing is a 50 - 60 year old man dressed in a t-shirt, shabby denim jeans and jacket, balding but with unkempt grayish shoulder length hair, dirty hands, and a rather unpleasant odor. He's one of about 80 residents of an assisted living center that we live next door to, and aside from a few minor details, the description could fit a good number of them. I am positive this is the kind of person that Jesus had in mind when he spoke about "the least of these". These people are looked over, ignored, forgotten, neglected. Sometimes they are harassed, yelled at, and disrespected. Sometimes they yell, harass, and behave disrespectfully. Even after 18 months of living here, I'm not always sure how I ought to relate to them. Pity is pointless. Irritation is insensitive. Rudeness is wrong. How about love? Gosh, that sounds pious. What does it really mean to love your neighbor? Keep your lawn mowed? Don't play loud music at night? Retrieve their rubber skulls when they come flying over the fence? With this bunch, in particular, I'm still working it out. But I believe it's what we're called to, whether they're lovely or not...