Category Archives: church planting

Picking Up Prostitutes and the Mission of God

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You must read this story. You must. This is cross posted from my friend Brian and happened while we were in Orlando for a church planting conference. It begs us to ask the question, what does it mean to embody the good news message of Jesus in a hurt and broken world. Are you up for it?

I had journeyed down to Orlando, Florida. A friend from the beautiful state of Washington whom I haven’t seen in years was attending this conference on church planting. He urged me to attend. I consented in the hope of avoiding the large ramification. i.e. paying the ridiculous conference fee of $275. And even bumming a few nights in a hotel. All of which I accomplished while spending time with this friend and going to a few lectures and classes here and there.

But my last night there. I left the guys in my hotel room to go grab a bite for supper. It was late. After 11 pm. I didn’t tell the guys in my room, but I was in a sort of funk. A little down. I was tired of church talk. Tired of church things. Everyone around me seems to have grand plans and dreams for God. While, I eek my existence as a selfish bastard, completely oblivious to roping people in…as another replica of myself. I have no calling like these people do. For some strange reason I feel the spirit of God furthest from me in the presence of hyped up evangelistic people in mega churches. I can be so full of doubts in such situations. And when i had finished eating I pulled up to a gas station near the hotel. There was this woman standing in the parking lot with what seemed to be her thumb out. Begging for a ride. I told her that I didn’t know just yet. That I had to think about it while I pumped gas. She was a white woman in her 40’s. Maybe older. She might’ve been really pretty once, but this had all been smeared and ransacked into something fatigued and haggard. Her clothes were very plain. And her brown hair pulled back into a frizzy pony tail. She was a wreck of something wholly lost and pined for. The castaway refuse of those Magic Kingdom towers in a shattered Disney World dream. I began pumping gas, while she tried to convince me in what a dire situation she was in. No money. No car. Nothing, but the pleadings of a broken-down Cinderella.
I am no idiot. I knew the possibility of what she could be. But she needed a ride not far from the gas station and I am one that actually considers picking up hitchhikers. Especially when they are female, vulnerable, and liable to be picked up by complete monsters. So I tossed the options in my head. I also wondered if she wasn’t a prostitute she could very well be a cop posing as a prostitute. Which could have me in some serious trouble. Only for helping another person out. But this I soon dismissed because I had seen a Cops episode where the undercover hooker could not prosecute the client until he consented to the business deal. This, of course, would not happen. But it could very well be that she was only a luckless woman that really, really needed a ride to her home.

So, I told her to hop in. And as she shut the door, this pervasive, rich perfume wafted the entire interior of my car which confirmed all my suspicions.
As she directed where I should go, she began talking about how hard life was for her. How she had just gotten a job and she named the place which I can’t remember. And then added on,
“Oh, but I hope you don’t judge me or anything. But I do what I can to get by.”
I tried changing the subject, “Now, how far is this place that you want me to take you? You know I’m not too familiar with Orlando.”

“Oh, don’t worry, dear. I’ll show you. It’s not far. I really appreciate you driving me. Life is really so difficult right now. But I am willing to do anything to get by.
And then she finally threw the question at me.
“So I guess you wouldn’t be interested in THAT, would you?

“Nope, you’re right. Sorry, I’m not interested in that.”

“Oh,..I hope you don’t judge me.”

“It’s not you that I judge. It’s the ones that are using you that I think should be judged. That’s basically what it comes down to. You are being so used. Do you ever think that you could get back what you had lost?”

“Yes, if I ever had the chance to do it all over again…I’d do things different”

“But that lost sense of innocence…” I trailed off somehow not being able to form the words of what I wanted to say.

We sat in silence as the car whipped through the darkness on the outside. She was very, very tired. Her eyes were closing. I wonder how many nights she had been working without sleep.
“Are you going to be alright? You look exhausted. But you must wake up, for how am I to know the way with you asleep.”
“Sorry, I am just so tired.”
Her eyes closed again and she dawdling between the realm of wakefulness and her own dreams whatever they may be. I let her rest and continued to drive on the same highway.

When she glanced up she wanted to know our location. And noticing the light we were at, she gasped that she didn’t know where we were. The strange idea that I was lost on the highways of Orlando with a tarnished lady of the red lights struck me. But then she said for us to go back the way we came. I thought just to keep her awake by conversation this time. And also I was very, very curious.
“So how did you get into this work?”
“I used to dance. And I would get money thrown at me back in those days. And it was fun and easy to make money. But all this led to other things. Back then, I never would have thought that I’d wind up where I am now.”
Apparently, she had been married and was still technically. Only separated.
Our exit wasn’t too far. And she started warning me about this side of town. It became obvious to me that I was not taking her home but dropping her off at another good location for her business.
“I’ve been working. Doing what I can to pay my rent. I owe $50-$60 for rent and I have nothing.”
When she said this, I almost believe that it was a sales pitch to try me one last time to see if I’d be all at disposed to helping her for a little favor in return. But I dodged the proposition.
I knew that her life was pure misery. So what else could I say? I told her that I was not judging her and I’m trying to evangelize her, but I asked her if she ever tried prayer.
She said that she did sometimes, but she never really knew what to say.
I told her that what you say is not really that important. Prayer has to be often.
And then without, me prodding her, she blurts out, excitedly, that she wants to pray with me. So I say sure.
And I really can’t recall my prayer. But it dealt with calling upon the light of the Spirit to be known right now in this moment to her. For His light to cast itself into all darkness and despair. To take Michelle, give her value, erase shame, allow the spirit of prayer to so lead her. To let her know that she is deeply valued by Him, and the Light to so immerse her life, that she is aware of this great Presence.
By Christ’s name, Amen.
The prayer itself had moved me so I reached for my wallet and (this sounds better than it really is) I gave her all the money in it. Which was only $2.
She was no longer tired. Her eyes were wide open. There was this ecstatic joy found in her movements and expressions. As she got out of the car she kept thanking me and telling me to be careful.

As I left, I seriously wondered how much an effect one prayer can have. I was going to return to my churchy bubble, underneath it all, trying to keep from patting myself on my back due to my interaction, while meanwhile this lady struts her streets locked in a miserable life faced with all types of demons and oppressions. So if you are reading this and you feel at all convicted please shoot off a quick prayer on behalf of Michelle. If you don’t believe in prayer, maybe just send a hopeful wish and that will suffice.

Oftentimes, while we plan and build the Kingdom of God, it moves and falls in the most unlikely places. Among the most unlikely people. And we can only be responsive to it when it comes. All further inquiries of what happened, of measuring the results are impossible. Someone once said that it is very much like the wind. And I believe that.

Orlando

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Well, I’m off to beautiful sunny Orlando, Florida in about two hours! The last time I was in Orlando it was to go to Disneyworld. I was an acne covered, scrawny, and somewhat handsome fifteen year old.

This time around, however, there will be no six foot mice greeting me. Instead I’m on my way to the Exponential Conference to hear some of the greatest speakers in church planting from around the globe (speaking of globes, I really wanted to buy one at Goodwill the other day). I’m looking for any and every way that I can grow myself into a better leader and a more healthy church planter.

Pray for the trip, but most of all please pray for Jess as she’s going to be home with both kids, babysitting another, dog sitting, speaking at church, hosting our home community, going to math class 5 days a week, and saving the world all while I’m gone! Jess and I work as partners, as a team in nearly everything we do, so it’s hard to go to such an exciting event without her. It just doesn’t seem right.

I’ll try to update often while I’m there. Peace out friends.

My Observations on Being a Visitor

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I’ve been excited all day about writing this post. I thoroughly enjoyed my time this morning visiting three different churches. My purpose was simple, I want to see how the churches in our neighborhood (the neighborhood that we will be planting a new church in) were connecting with the community. I tried very hard not to go in ready to make a judgement, as if I would be able to have a clear understanding of what this specific church was all about based on one visit (and it’s obviously not my job to judge these churches anyway!). In the end I visited an established Lutheran church, an established Presbyterian church, and a 10 year old church plant (which is actually out of our neighborhood).

I’d like to tell you a little bit about me before I share my observations. I’ve always gone to church. Always. And I’ve always enjoyed church for the most part. I’ve visited a few churches before, but generally it was with other people I knew and it was at a church that I felt very comfortable with or already knew what to expect. So with that said, a few observations…

  • It’s a scary thing going to a new church where you don’t know anyone. I know that’s kind of a “duh” observation, but I’ve never been in that situation before (I’ve always at the very least had a wife or friend with me). I’ve always know this but it’s been a more cerebral understanding than a heartfelt one. We’ve got to invite our friends to church and meet them for coffee beforehand so that they can walk in with us!
  • Being a welcoming place starts at the parking lot. At two of the churches I visited I was uncertain as to where the entrance was. I didn’t know where to go and had to sit and watch people for a second to figure it out. One of the places actually had signs pointing to the sanctuary entrance, but as I started heading there I realized that I was the only person using that door. Everyone else went to a different side entrance. Apparently that door (where the guest stuff sits) is a way to know if you’re a regular or a visitor. We’ve got to be careful about orienting people as soon as they drive on the lot!
  • Planned “meet and greets” during the church service are horribly awkward! The two established churches did formal greeting times during the service and at both I shook hands with about 8 individuals. But in both I then awkwardly stood there as people talked all around me. It’s just awkward. I’m sure in some settings it works better. And I’m sure if people make a point to have a conversation with you it might feel different. But my situation told me that it was time to pretend to read the bulletin again.
  • Guest care (welcoming/greeting) is important. It sounds boring, its pretty routine, but it’s crucially important. And there is a difference between just greeting people and actually welcoming people. Greeting people means that you hand them a bulletin and tell them good morning. Welcoming means that you make them feel welcome. This might include giving them a tour of the place, telling them what will be happening that morning, pointing out the bathrooms, having a genuine conversation, or at times just giving them space because they obviously prefer that.
  • At only one of the three churches the following things happened: they talked to me enough to find out I’m a minister, I’m going back to school, and I’ve got a wife and kids. They invited me to lunch. I learned the names of two different people. I was oriented as to what was going on that morning and where I could sit. Guess which of the three churches it was? Yup, the church plant.

Please don’t come away from this thinking that I’m harping on the two traditional churches while heaping praise on the church plant. The reality is that the two established churches were very warm feeling, seemed like a very loving environment, and seemed to have a heart for Jesus and sharing him with the world. But the reality is that those two older churches do not really have the dna and structure in place to serve the needs of unchurched visiting people. They had many great ministries aimed towards helping people who don’t know Jesus, but it seemed to me that it it was still an us and them mentality. From my brief observation I think that it would take a lot of personal energy and initiative for someone to come to know Jesus and become a core part of those two churches. They just are not set up for it. They’re set up to feed their members. And that’s ok.

The church plant I visited, however, is completely and (pretty much) solely aimed toward reaching unchurched people. So when a visitor, like me, comes into their church they take priority. It’s a different starting place, a different purpose, and I think the differences are ok.

I could be way off in my observations, but this was just a few of my thoughts. I have so many more thoughts that fall under the “they did what!?” category, but those are inappropriate for sharing here. I look forward to visiting more of the churches in my neighborhood over the next month or two. What a blessing to worship with Renovatus in the evening!

Offering

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So i’m trying to process something here and was wondering if y’all (my loyal, fairly good sized, and yet completely invisible readership) had any insight.

When I’m a lead church planter i want to be supported by my church. There are many reasons both Biblical and practical for this, but for what I desire to do it seems like the most effective and best way to plant a new church. Obviously in the beginning there will be a need for outside financial support, but the goal would be to get paid by those to whom God has sent the church to.

So while that is true, I’ve also got this other idea germinating in my head. What if the church that is planted in downtown Vancouver carries some of the early churches tradition of using the money given to the church to distribute among the poor and needy. In the early church we see a tradition of people taking money to the apostles feet to be shared among those in need. Renovatus shares some of these values too, which is wonderful. But what if we took it to the next step and made a huge portion of the “first fruits” of the churches income go toward those who are in need. Could a church pay its bills? What sacrifices would need to be made? Is that incongruous to paying a lead ministers wages?

Let me see if I can paint a picture a bit more clearly. Using percentages, money offered to the church might be broken up like this:

  • 10% would go to Kairos church planting support– so that we will always be involved in planting new churches and reaching more people for Jesus.
  • 70% would be considered benevolence (please give me a better synonym!) and would go to those who are poor and in need, first within the faith community and then those outside the church.
  • 20% would be left for wages, facilities, printing, advertising, etc.

Some implications of this would be less print, less advertising, less cool and functional equipment (sound, computers, etc.), less potential for additional staff members, less money for the lead minister, restrictions for potential facilities, and lots of other things like that. I can tell you one thing, for better or worse it would not lend to being a “cool” church…but I don’t do cool very well anyway!

I’m not certain this is even feasible and I’m only just now thinking about what something like this would look like as a discipline rather than just an ideal or idea.

Any thoughts.

Rejecting Church

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I know quite a few people who love Jesus but hate the church. It’s a fairly common theme ’round here to be a Christian but to not “go” to any church. And I think that those people often have a valid point.

The way that we do church today is not what God intended.

The church is screwed up and has completely missed the point.

The church is filled with hypocrites and people who simply want to project a certain image but in reality make no effort to live and act like Jesus.

Why do we have to meet on Sundays? Why do we have to sing? Why do we have to sit and listen to one orator telling us what God says? Why does any of it have to be some big official corporate gathering?

Wouldn’t Jesus be more pleased if we stopped cloistering ourselves on Sunday mornings telling him how awesome he is and instead use that time and effort to show people with our actions how awesome he is?

I don’t need the church to practice my faith. My faith is between God and I.

While these are not direct quotes, they are summary statements from different conversations I’ve had with friends about the church. I don’t want to spend time trying to refute all of those statements, and in reality I think that some of those might be right on and accurate. We could spend some time in the Scripture reading about how the church was God’s idea not mans, about what some of the basic ideas God desired to be true of the church, and what the early church looked like (both good and bad), but I don’t think that would really answer the question that’s being asked and I’m not sure it’s my friends lack of Bible study that I’m questioning. Rather, I am growing quite dissatisfied with the alternative to the church that most of these people present. By rejecting the church “as it is”, my expectation would be to find an example of the church “as it should be”. Instead it seems like I find many people who have become somewhat stagnant in their faith or at the very least apathetic in their efforts to practice it. They don’t like what they see in church but they don’t seem to have found a healthy (spiritually enriching) replacement for it. Maybe they’ve found some outlets to serve people, but it has become quite unconnected with the message of Jesus.

I’m going to just stop right here because I don’t want to get too critical. That’s not my point.

My point is this: if you’re dissatisfied with the church as it is why don’t we work together to search the Scriptures, to look to Jesus, to listen to his Spirit and re imagine church as it should be. Why don’t we begin re imagining an alternative to the two extremes that we are tempted to polarize to of rejecting the church or trying to change the church. I would suggest that church planting is the answer. In church planting we are able to dream new dreams and receive new visions for a different kind of church without having to reject church as we currently experience it and without wasting away within a church system that may not be created for you. The challenge is that it must start with personal transformation before anything else. God is not fully honored when we dream new dreams out of anger and frustration, but what if that anger and frustration was transformed by the Spirit of God into purpose, intentionality, creativity, and adventure.

What if we partner with the church of today to create a new church expression for tomorrow. Maybe that church expression could borrow from some of those critical quotes previously mentioned. But instead of being critiques of the church as it is, it could be transformed into a vision for the church that could be. Here’s my positive spin of the above statements:

I see value things in the Bible that the previous generation did not. What would it look like to be a part of a church that carried some of those values?

The church is screwed up and has completely missed the point…thank you Jesus for grace! I would like to start a new church that invites people into a messy community of imperfection.

The church is filled with hypocrites and people who simply want to project a certain image but in reality make no effort to live and act like Jesus…you’re damn right we’re hypocrites and I’m proud to be honest about my hypocrisy as I invite others to find forgiveness for their screwups.

What would church look like if we did things differently? Can Bible study happen without a preacher? Then how? Can mobilization to change the world happen without a central gathering? Then how? What does church look like with new purposeful practices replacing some of the old?

How do we reinterpret the idea of worship to include more of life?

“I don’t need the church to practice my faith. My faith is between God and I.” I’m sorry, I’ve got no positive spin on this one. I consider this a straight up fallacy that destroys people…but that’s just my opinion.