As You Go...

Today a few of us from the church plant went out with Jude. We decided to walk since the day was beautiful. As we were walking a young guy by the name of Raymond started talking with me out of nowhere. Turns out Raymond just moved into the area and is looking for a job. We invited Raymond to come to Starbucks with us and was surprised that we did so. After coffee, we went back to Jude's place to hang out. On the way, we picked up some job applications for Raymond at the different business on Euclid Avenue. Raymond expressed interest in coming to the dinner on Friday night. Raymond is another person who we never planned on meeting. He just sort of appeared! God has a way of encouraging me through these type of "divine interruptions."

Hey Jude

Here's a poem from my new friend Jude who has muscular dystrophy. We met Jude on our evangelism visits and he has been hanging out with us. Jude's poetry shows the rawness of his feelings and emotions. He will be performing at Common Grounds, June 5th, 8pm during open mic.

Gravity

Up: in the air, in the chair, in my lap, in the clasp of my hand.
Down: to the ground, beyond my reach, between these feet, beneath this seat.

So quickly, things fall below me—
It’s not supernatural…It’s just GRAVITY.

Gravity—When all I want is to stay awake, it weighs on my eyelids like some unwelcome blindfold; like I needed to be told, “Bedtime…lights out I say!”

Gravity—What gives you the right? You wouldn’t let the fighter rise to his feet, they had to call it in the 8th. You still try to get the best of people, you try to keep them down, even though they’ve tried to turn their lives’ around. That ain’t right!

Gravity—You’re the reason toothpaste dribbles down my chin after I’ve already changed and am ready to go. Now I can’t, now I gotta face the daunting task of putting on a fresh change of pants. I can’t go out with white spots on my crotch. You never know what people might think. Thanks a lot, gravity, now I’ll never make my escape.

Gravity—You keep me bending, you keep me reaching, you keep me doubled over. I’ve done many a face dive because of you - right to the floor - while I waited patiently for my turn. I bit the dust, took a spill, suffered rug burn…on my forehead.

Gravity—You asshole, remember the time when I came home with a Tiffany and we were so close to bed, but without my strap on I succumbed to the floor instead. I’ve fixed that now – at least – started wearing my seat-belt all the time.

Gravity—A million times my book fell, my Discman dropped, batteries lost. How many times will you make me rinse off silverware? Could you delay me any more? Spilled drinks, over-turned ashtrays, dinner-go-plop – what the hell? - do you really think I can operate a mop?

Gravity—You sick son-of-a-bitch, always taking up all my time. Whether you’re swallowing my cell phone, making off with my money or causing the arching of my spine, it’s always turning a smile to frown.

Gravity—What purpose do you serve anyway? Without you things would always be up in the air, just how I like it. Gravity, sometimes I wish you’d just stay the fuck away from me.

Starbucks In The Park

My life is filled with more than just bland chicken breast and canned tuna but also Starbucks Iced Coffee! I knew that Great Harvest Bread is hard to turn down when conducting our evangelism surveys but I thought an added thing, like free Starbucks would be helpful. Peter White has the hook up at Starbucks and since it is my second home (the manager, Laura, sees me 4-5 times a weeks) I thought we had a good chance of getting a good deal on drinks. Peter put in the order for us wit getting iced coffee for our day at Woodland Park. Peter told me that instead of paying full price they would give it to us for half price. I was thrilled! Surprisingly when I went to pay the barista today she told me not to worry about it. The manager donated 80 cups of iced coffee, half/half, syrups, and cups for free! I was blown away. We didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into today. I told Brady, Alicia, Lacy, and Ron that this is an experiment. We went out there, started off in prayer and developed a game plan. The funny thing it is pretty cool how plans change while your playing the game. We took turns “manning” the table and going out in pairs to engage the people. We met several people today and had a few significant conversations. After about two and half hours at the park. I wanted to thank the group by going out for ice cream. We piled in Alicia’s car and took of for Graeters. After our trip to Graeters the team was ready to do more visits! I was praising God for people who are willing to get out and do the work of evangelism.

Will Hunting

Friday night we hosted our second dinner in the new house. By the end of the night we had 25 people show up and many first-time guest. We praise God for the work he is doing in our midst. God is bringing people to us from all walks of life like Antonio, Ben, Jude, and Jimmy! The evening ended with Jude reciting some of his poetry for us. He definitely has a gift.
We followed the dinner up with an “after party” at Alicia’s parent’s house. Her parent’s were out of town and we broke out the board games and ping-pong. I know we are a wild bunch. It was cool to get to know some of Alicia’s friends. One of them was a police officer for UK’s campus, his name is Pete. I asked Pete if I could do a ride around with him next week. I figured what better way to learn about the needs of the community than to roll with a cop. At the very end of the evening, Antonio, who usually is pretty quiet told me he had an awesome time. I was blown away by a comment so mundane because of who it was coming from. First of all Antonio is a great man, but a man of few words. It was nice to see him enjoying himself and feeling embraced by the community. Guys like Antonio have impressed me because he has been willing to go visit with us. Antonio is still pretty new to the church, might not have the education or socio-economic background that others do but is willing to do the work that very few people are willing to do…get out of their comfort zone and be a laborer in the harvest field. The guy even went out with us in the rain!!!

All it takes is a willing heart to serve God. When I was in seminary I almost forgot that. People would get so caught up in reading textbooks about evangelism or living in community instead of actually putting into practice what they are reading. Sometimes I think people hide behind books. I’m tired of the talk and hype that books bring. I know you can learn a lot from books and of course it is great to read but if faith without works is dead than reading without acting is also death. When I was thinking about this today the movie, Good Will Hunting, starring Matt Damon and Robin Williams came to mind. Here’s Will (Matt Damon) who is a genius that can quote every book ever written. But Will doesn’t know what life is really about behind what he is reading. I know this is a long quote with some expletives but I think it’s right on to living a life that is integrated.

Sean: So if I asked you about art, you'd probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo, you know a lot about him. Life's work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientations, the whole works, right? But I'll bet you can't tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You've never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling; seen that. If I ask you about women, you'd probably give me a syllabus about your personal favorites. You may have even been laid a few times. But you can't tell me what it feels like to wake up next to a woman and feel truly happy. You're a tough kid. And I'd ask you about war, you'd probably throw Shakespeare at me, right, "once more unto the breach dear friends." But you've never been near one. You've never held your best friend's head in your lap, watch him gasp his last breath looking to you for help. I'd ask you about love, you'd probably quote me a sonnet. But you've never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable. Known someone that could level you with her eyes, feeling like God put an angel on earth just for you. Who could rescue you from the depths of hell. And you wouldn't know what it's like to be her angel, to have that love for her, be there forever, through anything, through cancer. And you wouldn't know about sleeping sitting up in the hospital room for two months, holding her hand, because the doctors could see in your eyes, that the terms "visiting hours" don't apply to you. You don't know about real loss, 'cause it only occurs when you've loved something more than you love yourself. And I doubt you've ever dared to love anybody that much. And look at you... I don't see an intelligent, confident man... I see a cocky, scared shitless kid. But you're a genius Will. No one denies that. No one could possibly understand the depths of you. But you presume to know everything about me because you saw a painting of mine, and you ripped my fucking life apart. You're an orphan right?
[Will nods]
Sean: You think I know the first thing about how hard your life has been, how you feel, who you are, because I read Oliver Twist? Does that encapsulate you? Personally... I don't give a shit about all that, because you know what, I can't learn anything from you, I can't read in some fuckin' book. Unless you want to talk about you, who you are. Then I'm fascinated. I'm in. But you don't want to do that do you sport? You're terrified of what you might say. Your move, chief.

Billy Idol Gets It

Friday afternoon a few of us with the church plant went to Jude’s house for lunch. We enjoyed hanging out with Jude and learned more about his story. We asked him to come to Friday night dinner and he said that he would. As we were in the middle of conversation we heard a knock at the door. Jude asked the person to come in. It was a sharp-dressed black man in a suit. Jude told him he was with friends and to come by later. Jude turns to us and says that this guy always comes by unannounced despite Jude asking him to call before he comes over. I asked Jude who the man was and he said it was a Jehovah’s Witness. I looked over at Brady and winked because I was telling him the other day how we can learn from JW and Mormons. Major cults as Mormonism, the Jehovah’s Witness, and some New Age groups have been “busting at the seams” when it comes to growth. U.S. News and World Report recorded the following:

“Today the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, better known as the Mormon Church, is one of the world’s richest and fastest-growing religious movements. Since World War II, its ranks have quadrupled to more than 8.3 members worldwide. With 4.5 million U.S. members, Mormonism already outnumbers Presbyterians and Episcopalians combined. If current trends hold, by some estimates they will number 250 million worldwide by 2080 and surpass all but the Roman Catholic Church among Christian bodies.”

Part of the reason for this growth is they still believe in visiting from house to house. The scary thing is that before there were Mormons and Jehovah’s Witness, there was Methodism! So what’s my point? My point is that before one could be ordained as a Methodist minister they would have to answer some tough questions. In paragraph 336 of the Discipline there is a section on the Historic Examination for Admission into Full Connection. There are nineteen questions asked by the bishop to those that are seeking ordination in an annual conference. These questions are to be engaged in a prayerful manner before being answered by the men or women. However I find it interesting that something as historic as these questions can be reduced by some bishops as only a ritual and not normative for the society we live in today. I believe these questions are not ritual but something that must be committed to by every person who vows to carry them out. Question 15 is “will you visit from house to house?” I think we need to return to something that has received criticism and be willing to do what others are not willing to do. It may look different depending on the context and setting but there is something about it that’s still effective.

Surveying The Land

Before I started the actual “planting” of the church I looked at demographics of the Woodland Park/Chevy Chase area. I have access to Claritas and Percept data but I wanted to also send out “spies” to get the real picture of what ministries look like in the community. I have wanted spies to survey the community similar to the story in Joshua 2 where Joshua secretly sent out two spies from the Israelite camp to survey the land. We have recently started the survey portion of our visits this past Monday. We have already noticed that a majority of our visitors were receptive and remembered our introduction with the bread. It bought us a little credibility right off the bat with our second visit to each receptive house. I have gone out the past few days with my Western NY buddy, Brady. It is exciting to see Brady discover a gift and passion for evangelism that he might have not known was there. Brady’s zeal and excitement has been uplifting for me. Two main encounters stick out where we went in the people’s houses and stayed for a while. The first was Ben, who works at UK’s physical plant. Ben seemed like a friendly guy who invited us in his home for about 35 minutes. Ben desires to go to a church that is right in the community where he sees his neighbors and people he works with. It was great to see that he understands the theology of a church for the community maybe even better than I do.

The second encounter was with Jude, a guy we met the other day. Jude admitted he is skeptical about God because of things he has been through in his life. I am going to lunch with him Friday and he is coming to our community dinner.

Please pray that some of our visitors show up to our dinner on Friday!

Bittersweet

For the past 5 years or so I have been apart of one of the greatest churches in Lexington. God has used The Rock/La Roca UMC to shape me in ways I never expected. The relationships that have formed whether they are with youth, the elderly, Hispanics, or Africans will last a lifetime. I have had people step up and be my family, especially during the last year and half going through a gruesome divorce. I have some people who have stuck by and supported me. During the past two weeks I have felt God calling me in a challenging way. God has been asking me if I am really willing to be “sent out.” I have to admit, leaving the Rock is leaving my comfort zone. I know that the Rock supports me and is my sending agent, however it is still a difficult process. If I’m not willing to go across town than how can I be willing to go across the world?
I will miss many things at the Rock but I know that being obedient to God, even as scary will be worth it.

Hard Core Evangelist by Aaron Mansfield

So last night me and the boys are going out with Roz and the Church Plant Team to pass out bread and do some basic first contact evangelism. As we’re getting ready to go, John accidentally closed the car door on Joe’s thumb. Right on the joint at the base of the thumb. It looked pretty grim. Lacy and Vanessa ran in and got him some ice. I drove off to take him to the hospital. He could not move his thumb, and it was twitching. The skin was broken in two places—not bad, just a little blood.

Joe was wailing til about halfway to the hospital. We got into the ER and he kept saying he felt fine. We took the ice off it, and sure enough—no swelling, no bruise, and he could move it all around, even put it in his fist, the stuff that would really hurt if it was in bad shape. He kept saying, “Let’s go, Daddy, I’m fine.” I thought he wanted to go home. No, he wanted “to go back and pass out bread with Rosario.”

The Art of The Wingman

Good wingmen are hard to find nowadays except when their ages are 5 and 7. Aaron’s boys, John and Joe Mansfield add a cute factor during visitation that is very inviting. The boys actually understand what is going on and the point of it better than some of the adults. I have been amazed at how God is using these two boys and a few friends of mine who aren’t even believers to get the word out about a new church forming. These past few weeks has taught me more about the Kingdom of God than anything I ever experienced in seminary.

Bread Visitations

Thus far we have visited 3 times out of the past two weeks, passing out bread and introducing ourselves to the neighborhood. Each night we have had different folks come out. Each night it seems that the team is coming back and reporting how surprised they are at the people’s receptivity level. To be honest I’m a little surprised myself. Last night, my friend “Roy,” came out to help us pass out bread. Roy is homeless and sleeps out of his truck. He has come to our church planting launch team meetings and Friday night dinners. Roy has begun to contribute to the cause of starting a new church for Christ. I paired him up with Jim Foster. As they went out they reassured people that “even though they were old guys the church and its pastor are young.” I started off with little John Mansfield and ended the night with John’s brother, Joe. We had one memorable visit that sticks out. We met Jude, who has a neuromuscular disease. Jude is in an electronic wheelchair and doesn’t have much movement throughout his body. Jude was really receptive to our visit. We ended the visit by little Joe and I kneeling down and praying for Jude. Jude is open for me to come back for a visit and even going out for a meal. There are other stories the team shared that were wonderful as well. If you get a chance talk with Aaron Mansfield, Jim Foster, or Andrew Schloemer about last evening.

S-Man

“S” is somebody we had seen at Charlie Browns, one of the local restaurants in the Chevy Chase area. Every time I saw S, I noticed him posted at the bar drinking a beer. Looking back on my dark days I know that when you start drinking by yourself you know something is definitely wrong. I talked to him a few times in passing last summer and remembered that he had a membership to my gym. Fast-forward a year later to last Saturday. I was finishing up my workout and saw S doing some bicep curls. I stopped and talked with him. He told me he was working off a “hangover.” It’s funny how the Lord keeps putting people right in front of me.

Reaching Out

Last Monday we delivered bread around the neighborhood as a way of introducing ourselves. Robert, a guy I met from the gym decided to help me out, he actually volunteered without me having to ask him. Out of the many houses we encountered one visit particularly was memorable. We met a nice college student who was drinking a beer on his front porch. I told him who I was and what we were trying to do. He seemed cool with what I was saying. Robert reached in the bag to give him a loaf of bread and the college student politely said that we didn’t have to waste our bread on him. He said it in a way like he didn’t matter at all. This interaction has troubled me for a few days. There are people we meet everyday, not just in the 40505 (The Rock/La Roca UMC) but just about everywhere. What is the potential for churches when they reach out to folks who don’t think they matter? The problem is that some of these people will never come to a church unless we either go out to them or give them something to come to. Why did crowds follow Jesus? There was something more to this God-Man than performing miracles and giving a good sermon but I believe it was they way Jesus made them. Jesus looked at people liked they mattered to him. Perhaps the church should do the same.

Jimmy

I have built a great relationship with my friend Jimmy. Jimmy is in his 50s and is the one hired by Mr. McGinnis (my new landlord) to fix up my new house. Jimmy is excited about the dinners we are holding and desires to see good things happen to the neighborhood. The cool part is that Jimmy is going to be my new neighbor. Jimmy is a little rough around the edges and tells me to excuse his cussing and I told him I don’t take offense to it because I need to clean my mouth up a little too☺ When I was moving my stuff into the house he noticed my tattoos. He asked me if I got them before I was a Christian and I told him that I got them afterwards. Jimmy asked me what kind of pastor I was. I told him the type to get along with him!

Gym Connections Pay Off Again

Last night was awesome, our first day of doing bread evangelism. I felt I was going all day yesterday and didn’t have time to eat. For someone who eats every two hours this is not a good feeling! I hooked up with my friend Robert who I met in the gym a few months ago to train. Robert is not a churchgoer but it doesn’t bother him to hang out with a “minister” as he calls me (I know, it sounds weird, freaks me out too!). When I picked him up to hang out he noticed all the bread in my little Acura. He asked me what the deal was with all that bread. I told him what the plan was and he asked me if I needed help. My jaw dropped open. Here’s a guy who doesn’t to church, not really a believer, want to help me with this evangelism project! I told him that it would be great, and I could really use his help. After I got done hanging out with Robert I checked a voicemail message and it was from Jason Dillard. Jason said that he was praying for the evening and asked God if people would come to help that we didn’t expect to be there. I called Jason back and thanked him for praying. We can’t be surprised when God answers our prayers!

Personal Training

The past few years I have considered getting certified as a personal trainer. I love helping people reach their goals/potential, not only spiritually but physically as well. I helped a friend in seminary lose close to 100 pounds through helping him with diet and exercise. Recently, I decided to get started with studying for my certification in my spare time. The reality for our Kentucky Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church is that a majority of our pastors are unhealthy. All churches with fulltime pastors have to pay the conference health insurance that cost $12,000! I had the crazy idea of training pastors in the Lexington district and if it is successful propose it on an entire conference level.

While working out at my gym I have noticed a trainer who comes in to work with clients, sometimes he works out there by himself. We always see each other and got to talk the other day. I told him I was training for a contest and he thought that was cool. It turns out he was a former Marine, he noticed my USMC tattoo. He said that his life hit rock bottom because of his drug addiction. He became a Christian and God has delivered him from it. Fitness and nutrition started to become a big part of his life. We are going out for coffee this week.

Church Plant Visits

This is from Aaron Mansfield's Blog:

Tonight was an evening of visiting. We went out to a bunch of houses with loaves of bread to introduce Rosario's new church plant. Everything about the visiting was instructive. First, the bread was baked or provided by many people at The Rock. Then, some people who are key to the church plant (Dro White and Jason and Tawndee Dillard) were out visiting with us. Then there was Jessie, the boys, me, Jenna and Jody, part of the Rock. Antonio is a guy who has been coming for a few Sundays to the Rock, and heard a call to ministry in the community. Then there's Robert. He doesn't go to church at all; Roz met him in the gym, and when he heard what Roz was up to, decided he wanted to help.

What saddened me, though, was that so few people from the Rock came to help. I wonder what's up there? I mean, here we have this precious Gospel, this precious salvation, and we keep it to ourselves.

Two visits stick out to me tonight. The first is a fellow who I can only describe as a puzzled intellectual. He did not want to take our bread. He told us that he is an atheist, that he had thought about it for a long time. You can think about something, no matter how long, and still be wrong. I was ready to just walk away, because knowing these kinds of guys (I was once one), I knew there was not a lot to be gained in such a short time, with no real relationship. But Jessie asked him a little bit about why he was attracted to Buddhism. He babbled on a bit about it not being a religion, being an open, peaceful thing, the Dalai Lama is not dogmatic, and is willing to change his mind if something in his faith is not reasonable, etc. I asked him if he thought that Christians don't do that. He said Christians are arrogant about what they believe. I asked him how it was possible for him to criticize us for arrogance for being certain about what we believe when he was certain that he would never have faith (as he said earlier in the conversation). I mentioned that I, too, had spent years thinking about it and had come to the opposite conclusion. One of us is right and one of us is wrong. I'll admit that up front.

One of our first conversations was with a woman I'll call Agnes. She was so happy to get a loaf of bread free, to have someone talk to her about faith (Joe was the one to hand her the bread and say, "My friend Rosario is planting a church) that she not only had prayer with us, she actually gave us an offering for the work. Wow, someone who does not go to church cares enough, was touched enough to give to the new church that doesn't really exist yet.