Simply The Best

Friday night was our first team gathering for our core group of church planters. It was a great time of fellowship. I made boneless Buffalo wings, which turned out pretty good, but I always make too many. I do not know why but I think that everybody is going to eat as much as I do. Of course, Rocky stole the show because he is so darn cute except when he is acting like a devil boxer. As I looked around the room, I noticed how different we all are in personality and gifting. The only way a church plant can come together is it to be a team effort driven by the Holy Spirit. As a self avowed “sports junkie” I often think in terms of professional sports. I was reminded of the New England Patriots who were Super Bowl champions in 2003 and 2004. This year they are projected to win it all. Year after year, the Pats are always in playoff contention and are projected by NFL experts to advance to the AFC Championship game. Sure, they have an All-Pro quarterback in Tom Brady and newly acquired wide receiver Randy Moss but the list of the names on their roster is not the most notarized or even comprised of the highest paid players. What makes them so competitive year after year? They attribute their success to having a team concept, which allows Brady to incorporate the play of all his eligible receivers into one single game. Brady trusts his teammates and is willing to enable them with power and make heroes of them.

The only way this church plant can get off the ground is through the power of the Holy Spirit. God does not just want to use only one person to pull off the work but a team of people. If it were only up to me, I would screw it all up. The thing would have duct tape all over it like my Nissan Altima.

Prayer and Fasting Equal Weirdness

Last Friday was the Bluegrass Festival at the church. It was a good time of listening to music and hanging with people from the community. About 300 people attended the event. The best part of the evening was watching people enjoy themselves as both the Mona’s dancing up a storm. The highlight of the evening for me was talking to Ralph. Ralph came with his mom, brother, nieces, and nephews. Ralph and I talked at the end of the evening for about an hour. It was exciting because he said that the festival was awesome but what he really wanted to do was come to church. We talked about his spiritual journey and his love for the weights. The cool part of it is that he gets in free at LAC and he can hook a brother up! I did not see him at church on Sunday but knew that there was some sort of seed planted in his heart. Ralph was suppose to give his phone number to Aaron on Monday morning when they walk their kids to school but Aaron did not see him. Anyway, Wednesday rolled around, and Wednesdays are difficult days because I have a lot going on, along with prayer and fasting. After prayer and fasting, a few of us decided that Wednesdays would be a perfect opportunity to pray at Woodland Park. This past Wednesday Abs and I where at the Woodland Park for our time of pray. After a few minutes of being there, Ralph and his family pulled up in their car. Ralph and I talked briefly, and then he gave me his phone number. I thanked God and rejoiced for the opportunity to reconnect with him. Things continued to get weirder as we went to Charlie Browns (we break our fast there every Wednesday). Outside of Charlie Brown’s we met a guy named Kevin. Kevin is an interesting fellow to say the least. We got to talking and he told us about his life journey and asked us to pray for him. Kevin ended up joining us for dinner. We ended up getting his phone number to hang out again. While at Charlie Brown’s Abs and I have developed a relationship with the servers. A large part of this is due to puppy evangelism-that is where Rocky comes in! They allowed us to bring him in the restaurant and brought him a dog bowl. Our waitress was the same as last week. her name is Karianna. Karianna loves Rocky and adores Abs. They got to talking and Karianna gave her phone number to Abs. They are going to Woodland Park on Monday to walk dogs. Also, while I was talking with Kevin, Abs was talking to the young servers. We ended up walking out of the restaurant in awe. However, why should we be so surprised when God answers prayer? This situation has really taught me to walk in expectation. God desires to use us to plant seeds for a lifetime.

Dude, Where's My Car

Life in the 05: Things they don't teach you in Seminary

There are some things seminary just doesn’t teach you. I paid $50,000 for an education I could have gotten by just living in the 05. Life in the 05 has been my schoolmaster over the past few years, especially the last 48 hours. It all started when I came home from Aaron’s house where we were watching Office Space. I came in about halfway into the movie, and then Peter came by a few minutes later. We were all cracking up hysterically, specifically when I said the boss Lumbergh looked like Ben Witherington. After the movie, Peter took me home. I noticed my roommate was out. I started getting worried because I noticed his bike was gone and it was 11pm. I was alarmed because he’s usually in bed by 9:30pm. I knew something was wrong at that point. I decided I was going to look for him around 7th street because it is a huge drug-trafficking area. I grabbed my keys and left the house only to say…Dude, where’s my car? It was then that I knew Dustin took off with it. I called Pedro back because I knew he was up. Pedro picked me up around 12:30 to go look for my car and Dustin. As we were driving along, we were being solicited for drugs left and right. What are two, young, white guys doing creeping in a vehicle after dark on 7th Street? There was no sign of Dustin so I went home. I decided I was going to call the police and tell them my car was stolen. While on the phone with the police officer, there was a knock on the door. It was Aaron along with Dustin. Dustin had been up all night and wanted a place to lay down for an hour. I couldn’t let him in because I knew as soon as he got up he would need another fix and my whole house would be empty. Dustin told me my car was at a nearby house at the Lighthouse Recovery Ministries. Dustin had taken my watches, knives, some money, and sold my car for $20! Here is where it gets weirder. Aaron and I went on a reconnaissance mission to steal my car back. When I got into my car, I noticed a burned mark on my floor from crack that had been smoked and fallen. As I was pulling out, a prostitute tried to get into my passenger seat. When Aaron and I get back to my house, we called Tey, the director of the Lighthouse. Tey said that the guy who bought my car was complaining to her how two African Americans came and stole his car (This is hilarious because Aaron and I were doing evangelism visits one day and some guys got mad at us, calling us Mexicans). Since I couldn’t let Dustin in the house, I made him sleep in the garage. I came and sat with him a few hours and I could tell how sorry he was. The person who stole from me and sold my car was not Dustin but the grip that the cocaine had on him. I loved him like a brother and still do. I could tell that he was repentant. We ended up taking him to detox. I am still going to work with Dustin because I believe in God’s plan for his life.

What sucks about the situation was people’s reaction. I heard some comments like, “I was a little hesitant about Dustin living with you because of his recovery,” or “sometimes you just can’t trust anybody.” Like Bob Lyon use to say, “Shame on you if you haven’t been taken advantage of in a while.” How far does God’s love call us to care for our brothers and sisters? What an awesome testimony of God’s love if Dustin was healed and helped out at the Woodland Park Church Plant. We, as Christians cannot be afraid to love. Love does hurt and we can experience pain and rejection. How far are we willing to go?

A Walk in the Park

Prayer Meeting at Woodland Park
Thursday - August 30, 2007

Special thanks to Abs for helping me archive special times when God is at work.

There were about 20 people in attendance – all members of The Rock La Roca. It was a surprising and encouraging group. God’s presence was powerful in our gathering. Before the meeting began, we were greeted by a homeless gentleman named Hillbilly and his girlfriend, Karrin. Hillbilly was a bit rattling to say the least…crazily shouting “God loves you as much as He loves me!” and looking like he had taken an ink pen and scratched it into his face. He was shouting as the people arrived to pray. What a great introduction of our new ministry!

I spoke before we went out to pray. The presence of the Spirit of God spoke in a powerful way. I shared about Acts 1:8 – that Jesus told his disciples to reach the whole city and then move out. We were all inspired with the possibilities of seeing all of Lexington come to know the healing power of Jesus. After I spoke, we prayed together as a group. And then we went out in groups of two to pray over the park and to invite the presence of God there, reminding us of Jesus sending his disciples out two by two. As we went out to pray, there was a wind that was blowing like the Spirit of God was pleased to meet us there. (John 3)

As we all came back from praying, we sang together, “We are standing on holy ground”. And we began to share what we felt and saw in prayer:

Ruben said that as he was walking around that he observed the area was as diverse as the Rock.

Megan said that our presence in this church plant was God crying out for his children.

Mona stated that she lived in the area 20 years ago and she wished that our church was there when she lived there.

Even after the praying was over, the presence continued to rest. People stayed at the park to continue talking and fellowshiping. I believe this time of prayer at the park will be the beginning of something powerful that God is doing in our midst.

Puppy Evangelism

Two things people cannot resist are babies and puppies. Since it is impossible for me to have a baby (thank God), I figure the next best thing is having a puppy. I grew up in my household not allowed to have any pets because my Mom was a neat freak. Every time I asked about getting a dog, I would be shot down. It was not until I turned 25 that I got my first dog, Gretchen. I rescued Gretchen when she was 2 years old. She was a beautiful, energetic boxer. Whenever I would have someone over the house, she would go crazy, running back and forth. I thought it was funny but my visitors would be ticked. Sometimes I would get her to go crazy on purpose just to bother Gallaher. I missed having a boxer around the house so I decided to take the plunge. I thought about get a girl and naming her Bella. When I went out to the breeder, I sat there an hour trying to decide on what dog to get. I finally decided on the alpha dog who was pinning all the other puppies. I know that I will have my hands full with Rocky. Even though Rocky looks cute he is the most stubborn little guy. At 6 weeks old, he was twice the size of his siblings.

I have started bring Rocky with me to church and to Woodland Park. It is amazing how many people love puppies. Rocky has been a good way to make an entrance into the community. People will just randomly walk up to me and want to play with him. I never thought something as silly as getting a dog would be such a doorway for evangelism. When I think about the great things that are happening at The Rock La Roca United Methodist Church, I have realized that it will not look the same at Woodland. I am thinking of ways to take the principles that the Rock has taught and apply them to this new context. Any insights would be helpful.