Forgive . . . Love

"God forgives you, and you must forgive yourself. God loves you, and you must love yourself. For only when you love God and yourself can you love all of God's creatures." --Priest to Frankie in Angela's Ashes

Works versus Effort

I like this description that I came across last night of the distinction between works and effort in the general introduction to the Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible:

"The opposite of grace is works, but not effort. 'Works' have to do with earning, and there simply is nothing any of us can do to earn God's love and acceptance. And, of course, we don't have to. God already loves us utterly and perfectly, and our complete acceptance is the free gift of God thorugh Jesus Christ our Lord. In God's amazing grace 'we live and move and have our being' (Acts 17:28). But if we ever hope to 'grow in grace,' we will find ourselves engaging in effort of the most strenuous kind. As Jesus says, we are to 'strive to enter through the narrow door' (Luke 13:24, emphasis added). And Peter urges us to 'make every effort to support [our] faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love' (2 Peter 1:5-7, emphasis added)."

Ready when you are

In the Gospel of Luke chapter 11, we read the account of the disciples asking Jesus for instruction on how to pray and Jesus teaching to them what we call the Lord's Prayer (vv.1-4). As I've been teaching on this for the last 7 weeks at Emmaus Road Church, one of the more curious things I've noticed about this request is when it takes place.

By this point, the disciples had been with Jesus for many months. So why hadn't Jesus taught them this already? If you or I were in charge of a movement that we hoped would change the world, don't you think we'd start by teaching our followers the fundamentals, like how to really pray to God? Of course we would. But Jesus didn't. Why not?

Simply put, I think Jesus recognized that the disciples weren't ready. So instead of forcing something upon them they could not really apprehend, Jesus simply modeled it for them until they were ready. One writer puts it this way,

"Jesus simply prayed. He just prayed and prayed until [the disciples] eventually asked, 'How do you do it?' By way of answer, He said, 'Try this.' It was so important He didn't insist they learn to pray until they themselves perceived they were missing something."

After reading that, I grasped just a little more fully what the point is of much of our frustration when it comes to life--especially our spiritual life. By not answering our flippant requests, the ones we usually offer Him as we're falling asleep or when we're in some desperate situation, God creates in us a dissatisfaction, a longing for something more and something greater. In this way, he weeds out all things trivial in order that what is fundamental and true can grow tall and strong until we recognize it as that which we most truly and desperately need.

It's not that God's unwilling, it's simply that we're not ready. In fact, God is always ready, but most than that, He's ready when you are.

Trust

This is a working definition for me:

Trust=Calculated Risk

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The Furious Love of God

I recently showed part of this message from Brennan Manning to Emmaus Road Church. It spoke powerfully to us. Perhaps God will use it in your life. I hope so.

It's never the right time, but there's never been a better time

As I've continued to reflect on the journey that has brought us to this point in our lives and the life of Emmaus Road Church, I've become convinced of the following statement:

It's never the right time, because it's always the right time

A simple illustration to explain: As the Allied forces prepared for the D-Day invasion of Normandy, the element of surprise was their greatest weapon. Although they amassed hundreds of ships and thousands of well-trained soldiers, it was only a minuscule number compared to what would eventually be needed to break out of the beaches of Normandy and eventually liberate continental Europe.

The point is this, had they waited until they had every last ship, tank, cannon, soldier, and bullet they thought they'd need, they would never have landed and the outcome of the war would have been vastly different.

There are times in our lives, and I believe they are many, when God calls us to some great and difficult task. We sense it in our hearts and perhaps even long to respond, but the fear that we're underprepared holds us back. "I don't have the right training." "Who will go with me?" "How will I provided for, and how will I provide for my family?" Such questions, while legitimate, can become the antithesis to walking by faith.

I've recently met two women who have stepped out beyond the need for answers to these questions to the front lines of faith. They're an inspiration to me to continue in what God's called us to at ERC. They've chosen to walk at the edge of faith where only God knows the way ahead and He must come through for them.

From time to time, young married couples will ask Barb and I "When is the right time to have children?" I simply tell them that there's never a "right" time--there's nothing you can ever do to fully prepare yourself for the wonderful challenge of parenting; choosing to have children is something you step into knowing that it's a decision you have to grow into.

Following God's calling, obeying His voice, joining Him in reclaiming the earth for Him requires us to recognize that although it's never the "right" time, according to our standard of how things ought to work, there's never a better time than the present.

Now is the time!

(S)he who has ears . . .

I've offered this thought for reflection before here. But reading Brennan Manning's book "The Furious Longing of God" last night brought me to the same idea in a slightly different way. It's worth reprinting Manning's words here.

"How is it then that we've come to imagine that Christianity consists primarily in what we do for God? How has this come to be the good news of Jesus? Is the kingdom that He proclaimed to be nothing more than a community of men and women who go to church on Sunday, take an annual spiritual retreat, read their Bibles every now and then, vigorously oppose abortion, don't watch x-rated movies, never use vulgar language, smile a lot, hold doors open for people, root for the favorite team, and get along with everybody? Is that why Jesus went through the bleak and bloody horror of Calvary? Is that why He emerged in shattering glory from the tomb? Is that why He poured out His Holy Spirit on the church? To make nicer men and women with better morals?"

"The gospel is absurd and the life of Jesus is meaningless unless we believe that He lived, died, and rose again with but one purpose in mind: to make brand-new creations. Not to make people with better morals, but to create a community of prophets and professional lovers, men and women who would surrender to the mystery of the fire of the Spirit that burns within, who would live in ever greater fidelity to the omnipresent Word of God, who would enter into the center of it all, the very heart and mystery of Christ, into the center of the flame that consumes, purifies, and sets everything aglow with peace, joy, boldness, and extravagant, furious love. This, my friends, is what it really means to be a Christian. Our religion never begins with what we do for God. It always starts with what God has done for us, the great and wondrous things that God dreamed of and achieved for us in Jesus Christ."

It's not me

Recently I heard the pastor of a church living on the edge say this to pastors:

"Don't take credit for when the numbers are up, because if you do, you'll be tempted to take the blame when the numbers are down."

Please don't hear me falling into the numbers game, but tonight we had 24 people at Emmaus Road Church. That's 4 more than we had at Easter (20) a few weeks ago when 8 of those people were my family members--and four people who are there every other week were gone tonight. I'm blown away (but I shouldn't be) at what God's been up to since Easter this year.

What's even more exciting is that we had an awesome time of worship, prayer, and listening to God's word together followed by most of the folks coming over to our house for ice cream and cake afterward. I can see community starting to grow among those who were there, and I'm so thankful that I'm beginning to see that it's not me doing it, but God's Spirit at work bringing to fruition His kingdom right there on Central Avenue.

We've got a long way to go, I'm sure. But I wanted to thank God publicly for what I've been privileged to see Him doing tonight and this entire year.

Last night at Emmaus Road Church we talked about the passage from Luke's gospel 24:13-35 where Jesus appeared to the two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus after the Resurrection. The amazing thing is that even though the disciples had already heard reports of the resurrection, they were still lost and confused (v. 17). It wasn't until they actually experienced the resurrected Christ and their eyes were opened that they were transformed.

So many in our world, even in the Church, have yet to really experience the resurrected Christ--and to have their eyes opened. Our vision for Emmaus Road Church is to be a place, a people, a church, where people com into a life-transforming experience with Jesus Christ--where their eyes are opened to the reality that He is there, and has been there with them all along.

I believe we're beginning to make strides in that direction and that people are starting to catch the vision. Every week since Easter we've had one or two new faces at ERC. I think it's only a matter of time before things begin to snowball. What an encouragement to finally begin seeing something happen.

One more thing, pray for me as I perform my uncle's funeral this week. He and my aunt were there for my family when my father was killed in a car accident. I pray that I can bring some of Christ's hope and peace to them now.

What if . . . ?

This will be quick because I'm subbing in 15 minutes at Oscar's school, but I wanted to offer something to think and meditate on.

I just got back from the Exponential conference in Orlando. Nearly 3,000 church planters from around the country. If you know me, you know I don't say this about very many things, but it was life-changing. If they ever put the messages from the plenary speakers online, I will post them in a future entry for you to hear.

To sum up and combine the challenges from two of the speakers, Craig Groeschel and Francis Chan, I offer this question:

What if we stopped living out of our preconceptions about what life in Christ really is and instead started living out what Scripture reveals it to be? Imagine how radically that would alter our churches and our personal lives.

Well, what if?

A Gift Not Ours

For four months now, we've been expecting our fourth child this July. However, two days ago, we miscarried the baby. Although it was very painful emotionally, we are very happy and blessed to have been able to bury the tiny, 13 week old baby on top of my dad's grave in Lima, Ohio.

Miscarriages are always hard, but for us, I think this one is even harder than the previous two which happened before we had kids, because now that we have other children, we know how precious kids are and what we're losing by losing a baby.

We chose not to name him (he was a boy) because we feel like he was never really given to us. Ultimately he's God's and God's to name, so we gave him back to God to care for and to name.

Finally, we've known God's peace through all of this. We know He cares, that He suffers as we do (probably more), and that He's with us though it all.

Where Were You Born?

Most of you were probably born in a hospital. A few might have been born at home. Maybe one of you was born roadside in the backseat of a car. Probably none of you was born in an animal's food trough. But that's where the Son of God first rested His head on our earth.

As we talked about this last night at our weekly Bible study, I was moved by the brilliance of God's plan. Consider this:

• Mary and Joseph had to travel roughly 100 miles to reach Bethlehem from Nazareth. It was at least a 3 day journey. Had not Caesar called for a census, they most likely wouldn't have traveled to Bethlehem thus leaving the prophecy in Micah 5:2-5 unfulfilled.


• The Hebrew name Bethlehem literally means "House of Bread ." Jesus, who said of himself, "I am the Bread of Life," (John 6:48-51) is born in Bethlehem--the House of Bread.


• Because of the census, the inn of Bethlehem was full. Mary found herself giving birth to the Son of God in a barn, surrounded by animals many of which were destined to become sacrifices for the sins of the people or to provide food. Jesus, the final sacrifice for human sinfulness, and the Bread of Life itself, entered the world amongst the very animals which had served in His place for so long!

If you haven't ever done so, I'd encourage you to spend some time this year really digging into the accounts of the birth of Jesus. Centuries of God's history converged on that little town in Judea in a way that's beyond imagination. There's so much there that will build your faith in God's intervention through Jesus Christ on our behalf. You won't be disappointed.

On Gratitude

I've been reading Brennan Manning's book "Ruthless Trust" lately. Time after time, he reminds me of what God is graciously doing in my life at the present moment--and for that ,Manning's been a good companion as of late.

I wanted to pass along something from the book in light of it being Thanksgiving and all. Here's a quotation from Henri Nouwen that Manning includes in the chapter, "The Way of Gratefulness." Maybe as a way of saying thanks, you might pick up a copy of Manning's book, read it, then express to God how grateful you are for the life He's giving you.

"To be grateful for the good things that happen in our lives is easy, but to be grateful for all of our lives--the good as well as the bad, the moments of joy as well as the moments of sorrow, the successes as well as the failures, the rewards as well as the rejections--that requires hard spiritual work. Still, we are only grateful people when we can say thank you to all that has brought us to the present moment. As long as we keep dividing our lives between events and people we would like to remember and those we would rather forget, we cannot claim the fullness of our beings as a gift of God to be grateful for. Let's not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God."

Happy Thankgiving.

Let's just be real for a moment . . .

. . . some days are better than others.

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.

Coincidence? I think not.

Remember the old Time Life Books commercials for "Mysteries of the Unknown"? They always ended with the phrase, "Coincidence? I think not."

Ever since we've been here in Toledo, there have been so many times where something has happened that left me saying "Coincidence? I think not!" I'm not talking paranormal experiences, or ghosts in our hallways. God has been working in our lives and circumstances in incredible ways--ways I almost wouldn't believe if I weren't experiencing them.

I've already mentioned how I met Dan Rogers here, so I won't go over that again. But in the last couple of weeks, a few more experiences have left us nearly breathless.

We were visiting Trinity Church of the Nazarene two weks ago. We walked in and were greeted warmly by several people, but then as we entered the sanctuary, a woman came up to us and asked who we were. We told her, and then, out of nowhere, she asked if I might perchance have been a worship leader or could lead worship. Of course I've led worship for over 8 years prior to this, so I told her that. She was elated, said she'd been praying and asking God to bring someone her way who could lead worship at the Toledo Christian Schools' junior/senior school retreat. Barb and I just felt like God had certainly brought us together with this woman that morning. After praying about it, I agreed to lead it. I'm still amazed; who knows what God has in store for us and Emmaus Road Church as a result of the upcoming retreat?

A second, maybe even more amazing incident happened last weekend at the Leadership Summit which was put on by the WillowCreek Association. I had heard about it when we visited a large (8,000 person) church which was hosting the Summit in Toledo via satellite connection (there were 100,000 people across the U.S. involved, btw), but for financial reasons I had decided not to attend. Then, two weeks before the Summit, Dan from the mission e-mailed and asked if I wanted to be their guest at the event--which meant everything was paid for.

So, I went, and God once again worked in an amazing way. The testimonies and teaching of the speakers continued to confirm in my heart that we're doing what God has for us. But more than that, Dan introduced me to about a dozen church leaders from across Toledo who are at the forefront of ministry and ministry ideas. Suffice it to say that I'm now set to meet with several of them in the coming months to talk about church planting, to network with other church planters and leaders, and simply to receive encouragement and wisdom from them.

One such person was Lee Powell who is the pastor of Cedar Creek, the 8,000 person church hosting the Summit. Because I've been to the Cedar Creek, Toledo campus on several occasions, I'd heard him talk about his vision for planting 12 new churches by 2015 (6 would be part of Cedar Creek and 6 would be from other traditions). On Thursday when Dan introduced me to Lee, we spoke for a minute about a shared Nazarene background (his grandmother was Nazarene and his first church experience was in a Nazarene church) and briefly about Emmaus Road Church. But even more amazing was the next day, Friday, when I was talking with another pastor friend, Bill Roman (my local spiritual mentor) from Hope Lutheran, and he once again pulled Lee aside to introduce me. Obviously we'd already met, but Lee went a step further to tell me about their 12 by 2015 initiative and asked me to e-mail him because perhaps we could be one of the churches they sponsor that would not be a part of Cedar Creek itself. I was blown away.

I'm not saying anything is a done deal, or that any of these meetings will necessarily mean huge things for us or Emmaus Road Church, but there was no way that on my own or in my own strength I could have been connected with so many people who have the potential to be friends and helpers on this journey had it not been for God working things out this way.

Finally, I want to briefly mention about the possibility of getting a building for Emmaus Road church to meet in. About 3 months ago, I met Bruce Ott, the owner of a dental lab that makes crowns and bridges. I was out visiting and praying for people in the community when I stopped by his office. I soon found out he was a believer and at the end of our conversation he said, "If you guys ever need a building for your church, let's talk because we have a space for lease next door." I told him I'd pray about it and get back with him.

Fast forward to three weeks ago. I went back and spoke with him again in further detail about the building. He showed me around the space and told me in effect that they really would like to get some good neighbors in there and would love if it was our church. He said they'd really like to work with us on a price. To make a long story short, he offered it to us at 1/3 of price they were asking through their realtor! It's 1,000 square feet down stairs and has 3/4 rooms upstairs. It really would be perfect for ERC because it would provide plenty of worship space as well as children's ministry rooms upstairs. Not only that, but it's on one of the busiest streets in Toledo and only about 5 blocks away from our house.

The last part of the story has to do with the ability of Emmaus Road Church to afford the space. Even though it's an awesome deal, the only income we have at this point is our tithe which isn't enough to cover the cost let alone the utilities and such. But God knows this already. As we were praying about this, and before we even made the need known to anyone, we got a check made out to the church from Barb's grandfather. He said he felt God laid it on his heart to begin giving this amount monthly to ERC! Of course the amount more than put us over what we need for rent and would cover utilities also. Like I said, we hadn't told anyone about the need. God placed it on his heart and provided beyond what we could even imagine.

I know this has been a long entry, but I wanted to praise God and also encourage you, wherever you are, that God works in amazing ways when you put yourself in position to see and receive whatever it is He wants to do in your life.

One of the speakers that spoke at the Summit said, "God doesn't want to make you safe. He wants to make you brave." I hope that if you're not already putting your full trust in God by getting out of your comfort zone to a place where God can use you, that perhaps this post might be the encouragement you need to begin doing so today.

More from Solzhenitsyn

So I've been reading a some more of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's writings and came across his address to students at Harvard University just over 30 years ago. It's remarkable how prescient is his analysis of our current state of society--as if he foresaw where America and much of the West would be 3 decades later. I might also argue that this address might be one of the earliest and clearest portents of postmodernism as we are experiencing it today. Finally, his prescription for the way forward preceded and yet stands perfectly in line with where many of our leading contemporary Christian thinkers believe we ought to go.

While I won't copy all of the address here, I would like to reprint his concluding remarks. If you'd like to read the address in its entirety, you can read it here.

Here are his final remarks. Tell me if they aren't spot on.

"I am not examining here the case of a world war disaster and the changes which it would produce in society. As long as we wake up every morning under a peaceful sun, we have to lead an everyday life. There is a disaster, however, which has already been under way for quite some time. I am referring to the calamity of a despiritualized and irreligious humanistic consciousness.

To such consciousness, man is the touchstone in judging and evaluating everything on earth. Imperfect man, who is never free of pride, self-interest, envy, vanity, and dozens of other defects. We are now experiencing the consequences of mistakes which had not been noticed at the beginning of the journey. On the way from the Renaissance to our days we have enriched our experience, but we have lost the concept of a Supreme Complete Entity which used to restrain our passions and our irresponsibility. We have placed too much hope in political and social reforms, only to find out that we were being deprived of our most precious possession: our spiritual life. In the East, it is destroyed by the dealings and machinations of the ruling party. In the West, commercial interests tend to suffocate it. This is the real crisis. The split in the world is less terrible than the similarity of the disease plaguing its main sections.

If humanism were right in declaring that man is born to be happy, he would not be born to die. Since his body is doomed to die, his task on earth evidently must be of a more spiritual nature. It cannot unrestrained enjoyment of everyday life. It cannot be the search for the best ways to obtain material goods and then cheerfully get the most out of them. It has to be the fulfillment of a permanent, earnest duty so that one's life journey may become an experience of moral growth, so that one may leave life a better human being than one started it. It is imperative to review the table of widespread human values. Its present incorrectness is astounding. It is not possible that assessment of the President's performance be reduced to the question of how much money one makes or of unlimited availability of gasoline. Only voluntary, inspired self-restraint can raise man above the world stream of materialism.

It would be retrogression to attach oneself today to the ossified formulas of the Enlightenment. Social dogmatism leaves us completely helpless in front of the trials of our times.

Even if we are spared destruction by war, our lives will have to change if we want to save life from self-destruction. We cannot avoid revising the fundamental definitions of human life and human society. Is it true that man is above everything? Is there no Superior Spirit above him? Is it right that man's life and society's activities have to be determined by material expansion in the first place? Is it permissible to promote such expansion to the detriment of our spiritual integrity?

If the world has not come to its end, it has approached a major turn in history, equal in importance to the turn from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. It will exact from us a spiritual upsurge, we shall have to rise to a new height of vision, to a new level of life where our physical nature will not be cursed as in the Middle Ages, but, even more importantly, our spiritual being will not be trampled upon as in the Modern era.

This ascension will be similar to climbing onto the next anthropologic stage. No one on earth has any other way left but -- upward."

Goodbye Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Alexander Solzhenitsyn died today. God be praised for the life and work of this man. Peace be with you.

Getting Outside the Four Walls

Since Barb and I have been in Toledo (nearly 4 months now) we've had the great opportunity to visit a lot of different churches on Sunday mornings. As a pastor for the last 10 years, I've always been tied to a particular congregation on a Sunday morning, but since we don't have a congregation right now we have the freedom to check out other places to see what God's up to.

So far we've been to the following churches:
--Cedar Creek Church (non-denominational)
--First Alliance Church (Christian Missionary Alliance)
--Westgate Chapel (Christian Missionary Alliance)
--Hope Lutheran (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)
--Hope Community (Nazarene)
--The Source (Nazarene)
--Upper Valley Community (Nazarene)
--Bedford Church of the Nazarene
--Vineyard Toledo (Vineyard)
--North Point Church (Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA)
--Joshua Generation (non-denominational)

Each one has been surprisingly different, a fact that certainly points to the creative diversity of God's Spirit moving among His people. It also points to the diversity of human beings and the ways in which we connect with God. I can't recommend enough to you that you take opportunities to visit other churches in your area. It will expand your vision of God's kingdom in ways that few other things can. And it will either increase your love and understanding of your own church or your dissatisfaction with the current state of things. Either way, you'll grow.

In visiting all of these churches, it wasn't until this last week that I felt like I was really sitting amongst "the least of these". Without exception, every church we worshiped in was well organized, well behaved, fairly monochromatic (meaning: predominantly white), and comfortble. Joshua Generation could not have stood in sharper contrast to them all.

Joshua Generation is a new church whose nascency is in a local rescue mission. It began about 10 months or so ago at the building where they feed the homeless on Sunday mornings. Recently, the president of the mission asked the pastor if he'd consider taking the church to the streets in south Toledo, and he agreed.

My first meeting with pastor Chris both impressed and surprised me. Chris stands about 6'2" and is a big African American man. Looks like he played football or something. His arms sported tattoos and gold jewelry. The white baseball cap on his head was cocked slightly to the side. MC Hammer would have been proud of his sunglasses. He immediately welcomed me and said, "We just trying to get out the four walls. We takin' God's love to the streets!"

"To the streets" was right. They'd blocked off the old brick-paved road next to their building which stood next to a boarded up, weed-overgrown Rally's (btw, how does Rally's go out of business in the hood?). A dj blared Christian gangsta rap through the sound system. On a small platform sat three shiny, new bicycles and 3 microphones. I soon found out they were raffling the bikes off as well gift certificates to WalMart (free raffle, of course). 50 or so metal chairs sat in about 10 rows between the crumbling curbs.

The people gathered were a true cross section of the hood: black/white/latino; poor; homeless; drug addicts, prostitutes, old, young, and inbetween; clean/dirty; sober/hungover; and a few of us middleclass urban types sprinkled throughout. To be honest, we felt a bit out of our element.

We arrived at 10:15 for the 10:30 start which turned out to be more like 10:50. Preceding the worship time was JJ's Express Drill and Drum Corps, which, if you've ever been to a parade in an large urban environment, then you know what I'm talking about. It's about loud drums and booty shakin'. (But I think it's also about a lot more--the backs of their uniform/tshirts stated "We all we got!" For some of the kids that was probably true. I praise organizations like JJ's for that.) I doubt that it would have gone over in many other churches, mine included.

Then pastor Chris stood up and with all the aplomb of a ghetto MC began to tell us about himself--from the hood, grew up in church, made some bad decisions, got into gangs and drugs, God got a hold of his life, and now he's trying to help others find the Savior. Powerful.

After that, a couple of guys moseyed over to a drums set and keyboard sitting next to the curb while 4 women and a teen took the stage. Pastor Chris and the singers began to lead us in a few shouts-out to the neighborhood and then moved into the R&B edition of "This is the Day" and a few other songs I didn't know. When this was over it was 11:45. We'd been there and hour and a half and we'd just started.

I confess to you that we had to leave at that point. The loud music, blazing sun, and general bedlam had taken its toll on our 16 month old to the point that she was inconsolable. The other two were content playing in the dirt on the street (sorry mom) and pulling the leaves and flowers off the weeds, but we decided it was time to make our exit.

Since yesterday, I've been thinking about and praying for Joshua Generation and pastor Chris. I'm not trying to say one church is better than another just because it's out on the street, but I can't help but read the Bible and see what kinds of people it mentions as being around Jesus and wonder: Are we missing something?

In a moment both comical and lamentable, the catholic church, which sat on the corner opposite our little street scene, let out their services just at the time JJ's drummers were banging away and the dancers were shakin' it. To quote a popular syrupy Christian song: "I can only imagine" what those people thought. Were they disgusted, amused, dismayed, confused, angered, joyful?
Did they recognized God at work there? Did it make them grieve that they'd missed out on such a large segment of the population around them?

What about me? Did I really care for these people like pastor Chris did? Like those serving did? Like Jesus did? Were many of us there simply out of shame--like we should be doing something? Out of fear--"whatever you've done unto the least of these you've done unto me"? Out of guilt or sense of duty--I ought to do something because I'm white and privileged? Out of hubris and pride--I can fix these people? My guess is that it's a little bit of everything all mixed up together.

I don't know if we'll be back. I would guess we will, but I don't know. I can't guess what's going to happen to that little church, but I believe God's in it.

Still, I know two things: many of the people gathered there wouldn't have been in another church that day if it weren't for Joshua Generation, and, if He could have only chosen one church in Toledo to be, I doubt you would have found Jesus anyplace else either.

Garage Sale Providence

So, the amazing God-moments continue to happen.

Recently, Barb and I were at the Old West End Festival here in Toledo. It's sort of like a mini Mardi Gras sans the nudity and general drunken stupidity. The neighborhood's comprised of beautiful old homes (some you might call manions) nestled blocks from the downtown and surrounded by the ubiquitious urban blight. Still, this small section continues to shine. The makeup of the people is as complex as the architecture they reside in--white/black, gay/straight, rich/poor, religious/secular. Barb and I felt like we were back home in Kansas City. We loved it.

Besides the live music venues, food vendors, artists' tents, and Mardi Gras-esque parade (complete, I might add, with strands of beads tossed to passersby) the neighborhood sported dozens of garage sales!

Now if you know Barb and me, probably half of what's in our house at the moment is from garage sales. We loved a good garage sale. We figure, why pay full price when you can pay 10%. Pluse the stuff is a lot more interesting than what you will find at a box retailer. Indeed, it's a bit like a treasure hunt because you never know what you'll run across.

Such was the case this day. But I'm not talking about items we purchased (although we did pick up some Sango Japan china for $30 valued online at 10x that amount, two new Bombay Company lamps for $22 originally $90 each, and an antique prayer kneeling bench in great shape for $30). Instead we came across yet another gift from God.

As we were getting ready to leave, Edie was yelling that she had to go to the potty, loudly enough to be heard half a block away. Just as I was about to tell her to just get in the car, a man on the porch of the house we had parked in front of said she could use their facilities. So Barb took here up to do her thing. In the meantime, I thought I would just go up and be neighborly and talk to him. As we talked, I got around to the point that we are in Toledo planting a church. When I finished telling him our story, he looked at me somewhat astonished and said that was exactly the same thing him and his wife had done 25 years ago! As a matter of fact, they had planted 6 churches in 23 years. I couldn't believe how God had brought us together. After he shared his story, I asked him what he did now since he had stepped down from the churches he had planted. Currently he is the President and CEO of the Cherry Street Mission in downtown Toledo.

God has really placed it on my heart that Emmaus Road Church is to be an outward focused church and Cherry Street Mission had been one of the places I intended to connect with in the coming months. Now, instead of me looking him up and going through the loops, he's already contacted me about when we can meet and wants to connect us with 6-8 others who are interested in the same kinds of things we discussed that day.

There are so many other stories I could share, likethe one about the evangelical Lutheran pastor I had lunch with yesterday who promised to help us any way he can, or the owner of a dental lab I met when I was out calling who offered us a place to meet in the building he owns, or the owner of the tattoo parlor who thanked me with tears in her eyes for my prayers when I stopped in her shop to talk to her.

The reality continues to be that God is already at work all around us. We simply need to ask Him for the vision to see where that is and then join in. It's when we put ourselves in a position where He can use us that things like garage sale providence happen. (A friend of mine is in a similar situation in Bolivia. You can read about it here.)

My prayer for you is that you will seek God's vision for where you are and then get involved in the work He's already doing.