Okay, so threedux isn't a work, but redux is, and I couldn't think of a word for a third repeat (other than threepeat--but that's not in the same literary category as redux), so I concocted threedux. Add it to your dictionaries folks.
You may remember a young man named Corey I met and wrote about a while back. If not, you'll find it detailed here. He's a guy I have no reason really to have a connection with other than the fact that God keeps bringing us together. We don't live near each other. We're not close in age. We don't have similar occupations. And yet, as I said in that earlier post, "God is in the details."
If you read my earlier post, you'll see that I hadn't seen Corey for several months. Again, no real reason I should have. But two days ago at the Old Orchard Elementary School movie night Barb and I stuck around afterwards to help clean up and also to meet new people. One of the people I met was Fay. She had a son in school there, but she lives in Dayton, OH. She comes up regularly to be with him. She just happened to have some family members with her. She introduced me to them and one of them happened to be her cousin Corey!
I don't know what you think about the fact that God keeps bringing us together. In a city of 300,000 people what are the odds that he would be at my son's elementary school with his cousin and nephew? (It's only a school of about 200 kids, 217 to be exact.) I was able to make a good connection with him that night--even exchanging contact info and me helping him with some job info.
I say this all the time, but when you put yourself in position where God can use you, when you open yourself up to the world outside of your comfort zone, God will do amazing things like connecting you with the people He wants you to connect with--even when it's one out of three hundred thousand.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
I Was a Bookfair Chairperson
So, I'm chairing the Scholastic bookfair at Oscar's elementary school. I know--that's not really me. Anyone who knows me knows I'm about as organized as a pile of leaves. Still, we felt like it was something we should do to help out at the school and to make connections with teachers, students, and their families. It's not really an area of strength for me, but we believe the opportunity was given to us for a reason. Let me explain.
Last week, Barb and I went to a seminar at Mount Vernon Nazarene University put on by the Gallup Organization called StrengthsFinder. Backed by 30 years of research and development, it consists of a battery of 180 questions that lead you to the discovery of your strengths. Some of them may be obvious to you, others may not. There are 34 different ones and you receive a personalized list ranking them from most dominant to least. At this seminar, we received our top 5. Just in case you're curious, mine were: Adaptability, Ideation, Input, Intellection, and Connectedness. That doesn't tell you much, but you can look them up if you're a stalker and really want to know.
While I think there's a lot of good that is going to come from seeing pastors and congregations use this (think: spiritual gifts test tailored more toward personal talents and strengths), I also had to think about the Apostle Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 12:9, "But [God] said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."
In looking at my strengths, there are certainly some things that lend themselves to church planting--Adaptability, Connectedness (seeing things as having a purpose; understanding that all of us are created for Someone greater than ourselves)--but the others aren't quite so strong. In fact, I would think that strengths like the Achiever, Maximizer, Developer, Activator would all be more suited to what we're doing here in Toledo. Then I remembered Paul's words that in our weakness, Christ becomes our strength.
I often tell people that part of the reason I'm planting Emmaus Road is for my own salvation. I NEEDED to be in a place where my faith was challenged on a daily basis, where I was counting on Christ's strength instead of trusting in mine. I came to the point where just going through the motions and playing at being the church were leading me to a place where my Christian walk was dying. The disjunction between what I believed Christ died for and what I was experiencing was too great. It was time for a change.
In stepping out of our comfort zone, taking a leap of faith to a city where we knew noone and had no prospects, doing something we've never done before or even been trained to do, we have come to a place of complete dependence on God and His power through Christ and the Holy Spirit.
I prayed this morning, as I've prayed many times in the last 6 months, that God would do what He wants to do here. That He would fulfill in us what He's designed for us. I have to believe that the many literal "signs and wonders" that we've witnessed are testimony that He's at work in ways more awesome than we can imagine. I also prayed that I would be open and diserning enough to see exactly what it is He's calling us to do. That I would follow each day His direction. That I would work alongside Him rather than being an obstacle to Him.
So, if God wants to be in charge of the Old Orchard Elementary Bookfair, then so be it. Even with my weakness, I'm in.
Last week, Barb and I went to a seminar at Mount Vernon Nazarene University put on by the Gallup Organization called StrengthsFinder. Backed by 30 years of research and development, it consists of a battery of 180 questions that lead you to the discovery of your strengths. Some of them may be obvious to you, others may not. There are 34 different ones and you receive a personalized list ranking them from most dominant to least. At this seminar, we received our top 5. Just in case you're curious, mine were: Adaptability, Ideation, Input, Intellection, and Connectedness. That doesn't tell you much, but you can look them up if you're a stalker and really want to know.
While I think there's a lot of good that is going to come from seeing pastors and congregations use this (think: spiritual gifts test tailored more toward personal talents and strengths), I also had to think about the Apostle Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 12:9, "But [God] said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."
In looking at my strengths, there are certainly some things that lend themselves to church planting--Adaptability, Connectedness (seeing things as having a purpose; understanding that all of us are created for Someone greater than ourselves)--but the others aren't quite so strong. In fact, I would think that strengths like the Achiever, Maximizer, Developer, Activator would all be more suited to what we're doing here in Toledo. Then I remembered Paul's words that in our weakness, Christ becomes our strength.
I often tell people that part of the reason I'm planting Emmaus Road is for my own salvation. I NEEDED to be in a place where my faith was challenged on a daily basis, where I was counting on Christ's strength instead of trusting in mine. I came to the point where just going through the motions and playing at being the church were leading me to a place where my Christian walk was dying. The disjunction between what I believed Christ died for and what I was experiencing was too great. It was time for a change.
In stepping out of our comfort zone, taking a leap of faith to a city where we knew noone and had no prospects, doing something we've never done before or even been trained to do, we have come to a place of complete dependence on God and His power through Christ and the Holy Spirit.
I prayed this morning, as I've prayed many times in the last 6 months, that God would do what He wants to do here. That He would fulfill in us what He's designed for us. I have to believe that the many literal "signs and wonders" that we've witnessed are testimony that He's at work in ways more awesome than we can imagine. I also prayed that I would be open and diserning enough to see exactly what it is He's calling us to do. That I would follow each day His direction. That I would work alongside Him rather than being an obstacle to Him.
So, if God wants to be in charge of the Old Orchard Elementary Bookfair, then so be it. Even with my weakness, I'm in.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
17 years in 2 minutes
Here's something to pass a couple of minutes. Watch a man age 17 years in 2 minutes here. Not something you see everyday.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Emmaus Road Church Building Photos
Thought some of you might like to see the building Emmaus Road Church is going to be leasing soon. It sits on a busy street corner of Central Avenue. It's not a lot to look at yet (inside), and there's a lot of work to do, but we're excited about how God's going to use us and that building to reach our neighborhood and our community.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Jesus Loves McDonalds
The reason they call them the Golden Arches must be because Jesus works there a lot.
This is the weirdest thing, but I've had 3 significant spiritual encounters at the McDonald's on Monroe and Talmadge since we've been in Toledo. Let me share.
The first one was a week or two after we'd been here. We had a good conversation with a father there, which turned to spiritual matters after a while. Although I've not heard from the gentleman we spoke with that day, I believe it was not a fruitless discussion.
The second encounter was a rather roundabout one. One day, I was to catch a ride with a friend down at the rescue mission to go to a conference together. Well, his secretary told us both different times, so I missed him and was stranded. I ended up walking back toward home. About a fourth of the way I decided to catch a bus. I had a fiver in my pocket and thought I was set. When I boarded the bus, they only took exact change--$1 please. I was about to get off the bus when they young guy behind me offered to pay my fare. (It was a real lesson in humility for this middle-aged white dude from the innerurbs to have his $1 bus fare paid for by a kid from the hood.) We sat next to one another on the bus--he wasn't really talkative, but I thanked him and asked him where he worked. Bingo. McDonalds on the corner of Monroe and Talmadge. Two weeks later, I saw Corey sitting outside of his apartment building as I was driving downtown with the fam. We pulled a uey, and I jumped out, gave him a couple of bucks and told him he had offered me grace, and I wished to do the same. I shared with him briefly that we're starting a church and gave him an info card. I haven't heard from him since, but God's in the details.
Numero three: Today, Barb had a meeting with the Old Orchard Mom's group at our house, so I took the kids out for dinner at--drum roll, please--McDonalds on the corner of Monroe and Talmadge. While we're sitting there, I strike up a conversation with a couple of women who were there with their kids. Shortly after we start talking, one of them says, "Pastor Andy?" It was Nicole, a young mother of a student at Oscar's school with whom I had spoken and invited to our Bible study a couple of weeks ago, but hadn't seen her since. I hadn't recognized her at first because of her new weave, but the three of us struck up a conversation like we were old friends while our kids rampaged on the jungle gym. It ended with not only Nicole, but her sister planning on joining us this coming Sunday evening. You tell me, what are the chances?
I'm not sure what it is about that place, but Jesus seems to love hooking me up with people there, so I guess I'll keep going back. The food's not half-bad anyway. (did I just say that?)
This is the weirdest thing, but I've had 3 significant spiritual encounters at the McDonald's on Monroe and Talmadge since we've been in Toledo. Let me share.
The first one was a week or two after we'd been here. We had a good conversation with a father there, which turned to spiritual matters after a while. Although I've not heard from the gentleman we spoke with that day, I believe it was not a fruitless discussion.
The second encounter was a rather roundabout one. One day, I was to catch a ride with a friend down at the rescue mission to go to a conference together. Well, his secretary told us both different times, so I missed him and was stranded. I ended up walking back toward home. About a fourth of the way I decided to catch a bus. I had a fiver in my pocket and thought I was set. When I boarded the bus, they only took exact change--$1 please. I was about to get off the bus when they young guy behind me offered to pay my fare. (It was a real lesson in humility for this middle-aged white dude from the innerurbs to have his $1 bus fare paid for by a kid from the hood.) We sat next to one another on the bus--he wasn't really talkative, but I thanked him and asked him where he worked. Bingo. McDonalds on the corner of Monroe and Talmadge. Two weeks later, I saw Corey sitting outside of his apartment building as I was driving downtown with the fam. We pulled a uey, and I jumped out, gave him a couple of bucks and told him he had offered me grace, and I wished to do the same. I shared with him briefly that we're starting a church and gave him an info card. I haven't heard from him since, but God's in the details.
Numero three: Today, Barb had a meeting with the Old Orchard Mom's group at our house, so I took the kids out for dinner at--drum roll, please--McDonalds on the corner of Monroe and Talmadge. While we're sitting there, I strike up a conversation with a couple of women who were there with their kids. Shortly after we start talking, one of them says, "Pastor Andy?" It was Nicole, a young mother of a student at Oscar's school with whom I had spoken and invited to our Bible study a couple of weeks ago, but hadn't seen her since. I hadn't recognized her at first because of her new weave, but the three of us struck up a conversation like we were old friends while our kids rampaged on the jungle gym. It ended with not only Nicole, but her sister planning on joining us this coming Sunday evening. You tell me, what are the chances?
I'm not sure what it is about that place, but Jesus seems to love hooking me up with people there, so I guess I'll keep going back. The food's not half-bad anyway. (did I just say that?)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
