The Front Lines

God has made it clear for a while now that I was supposed to move close to campus. God spoke to Andrew strongly a few years back and told him that he was going to be used to change this area. God brought us together along with our other roommate Curtis into an intense mission field that has been enemy territory for a long time. Like Joshua back in the Old Testament we too want to claim this land for Christ. The task unfortunately is not easy, it rarely ever is. If it were everybody would do it and no one would think twice about it. This weekend proved to speak very loudly to our household. We had about three instances that were out of the ordinary. The first was around 2:30am on Friday night when a drunken college student tried to barge into our house. He insisted on coming in as Andrew was in the doorway asking him what he thought he was doing. I came out and as soon as the guy saw he was outnumbered he stumbled around in the lawn and then went in circles for while…could have been more than just drinking he was doing. I come home late Saturday night to find someone peeing in my backyard…people isn't even this gusty in my old neighborhood (the '05). Sunday morning Andrew and I walk outside to go the car and our neighbor jimmy stops us. A guy who lives across the street started going crazy. He tried to get into 3-4 houses around his own house. He walked on Jimmy's front porch and started rearranging his patio furniture. In the meantime he was talking to someone next to him that wasn't even there! The guy left Jimmy's house and was talking to a parked car with nobody in it. Needless to say the cops came and took him to the hospital. I have invited the guy and his girlfriend to Friday night dinner before…they really need Jesus. This is exactly where we need to be. I believe God has allowed us to live in this neighborhood for "such a time as this."

Already/Not Yet

When people ask me when the "church" is going to start I get confused at first. They are asking when we are going to have services. I use to look at it that way too, unfortunately we only think of "church" as a building or space and not a group of Christian believers gathered together. I think it first hit me that we were already a church is when Scott Denson celebrated his three years of sobriety with us. On that night Scott said he thanked God for his home church. Back then we had no name and still no building, we only continued to gather in Christ's love. On Tuesday night house worship and Friday night dinners we tell people that our church is already in existence. People want to start coming when we have "services" in January but I want to encourage people to get involved now. We are excited at the ways God's working and how He's bringing people in our midst. As we prepare for launch Sunday on January 18th we want to be mindful of living in the present.

Consistency Pays Off!

Sometimes it takes several months to make connections with people and other times it takes a few moments.  Lately, I've been reminded that consistency does payoff when it comes to evangelism.  The first incident this week involves a guy named Ben that Brady and I met many months ago during our passing out bread in the neighborhood.  Ben invited us in for a while as he continued to sip on a few beers and ask questions about the new church.  Ben has a desire to go to a church in the neighborhood and said we were doing a good thing.  Ben seemed very interested and I saw his eyes light up but all a sudden he shut down before we left.  Since then I have seen him drive up and down our street on his little scooter (he's a maintenance man at UK).  A few days ago I saw him at one of my offices, Starbucks on High St.  I invited him to dinner once again.  I could tell that he was more open to the invitation because he knew I wouldn't give up on asking him. 

            The second incident was today, again at Starbucks where a guy by the name of Tradgen walked up to me.  I had met Tradgen a few months ago and explained to him that I was starting a church.  I invited him to dinner but never saw him again.  Tradgen was a bit embarrassed about not coming but he didn't let that stop him from greeting me.  We ended up chatting for a good 20 minutes about philosophy and then the book of Genesis, how to read the Bible, and if the Bible is written literally.  He was asking some really great questions.  We are going to hang out again and go over more of his questions.  I told him about the possibly of Embrace being on Euclid Ave. and he was thrilled. 

            The third incident was tonight at Common Grounds.  This time Andrew and I went there for a quiet evening just to hang out and sip on some coffee.  But there was an interruption, a "divine" interruption as my 89-year-old friend June Tunstill would say.  Henry came and pulled up a seat.  Andrew and I looked at each other, took a deep breath.  We knew what we were in for…conversations about guns, paintball etc.  Typical things guys like but let's just say Henry takes it a little bit seriously.  We have told him in the past that we weren't interested but politely listened to him as he listed how much the equipment would cost if we joined him.  After a while he mentioned something about his personal life and I started asking him questions.  Our conversation all of sudden was starting to go somewhere and we were sifting through some heavy things.  Typically, I am laid back for the most part with my evangelism approach only when I led by the Holy Spirit to do something out of the ordinary.  As Henry started sharing some deep things I told him that Andrew and I were committed Christians who would pray for him.  With tears in his eyes Henry thanked us and left when he got a phone call.  Andrew was amazed at how patient I was at the beginning of the conversation to see it through and actually go somewhere.  Andrew and I rejoiced that we could be apart of what God is doing!

Plane Ride

This past weekend was awesome!  My best friend from college really did marry the girl of his dreams.  I was extremely blessed not only to be the best man but also to preach at the wedding.  On my way down to Lancaster Pa, I was flying out of the Bluegrass Airport where I sat next to a UK college student.  I introduced myself and told him that I was starting a church.  Turns out he lives down the street from me.  I invited him to Friday night dinner and he told me that he would check it out.  He then proceeded to tell me that he hadn't been in church for a while.  He said he wished that there was somewhere in walking distance because he doesn't have a car.  His statement stuck with me the whole weekend.  What if Embrace was a small church but one that reached out to the community?  I know that I need to die to myself and what I want or what I think Embrace needs to be and allow it to be what God wants it to be.

Fusion

A few weeks back the vice president of the neighborhood association asked me to oversee/"stupervise" a volunteer project (Fusion) that UK students were helping out with.  It was cool to hang out with first year students ready to volunteer their time before classes started.  Of course my motives were mixed in helping out because I was going to use it for an evangelistic spin.  I enjoyed talking to the students, finding out where they were from, why they decided on UK, and what they hoped to accomplish in the future.  I told each of them that I was starting a church in the area.  One of the guys I was talking to grew up in a United Methodist Church.  Mark's parents were missionary medical doctors in Kenya, which is interesting because another guy apart of Embrace UMC, Aaron, is from Kenya because his parents were missionary medical doctors.  Mark was looking for a church to plug into and has found a home at Embrace.

Refuge

Andrew and I were starting to get use to living on campus until the students actually started coming back.  We live on one of the busiest roads that is party central.  A few days before school started flocks of students would walk to parties, which seemed like in groups of 20-30.  Of course they were really loud, fights broke out, and the cops were called.  One night at 1am we got a knock at the door.  I answered it and it was two guys out of breath.  They were at a party that was broken out, probably because they tried to fit 300 people in a house (not a good idea).  When the cops came everybody took off running and one of the guys tried to jump the fence and cut himself.  I let him in the house to get cleaned up because he was a little bloody.  After he got cleaned up Andrew and I invited the guys over for Friday night dinner.  I always said that I wanted our house to be a place of refuge for people but didn't expect it in that way.

Tuesday Nights

At Embrace we have been hosting Friday night dinners since January.  The dinners have served as an opportunity to build relationships with people who haven't made a commitment to Christ or a Christian Faith Community.  It's sort of an entry point into Embrace.  We have seen a lot of growth and relationships form but we felt that God wanted us to go deeper.  As a church we wanted to already build into our DNA that we are a worshipping community who is not waiting for a "launch service," but can do it in the present.  As a result we have started Tuesday Night House Worship at my house.  It has been an awesome time of getting together to worship God through fellowship, song, testimony, prayer, and the Lord's Supper.  The past two weeks have been awesome because people are hanging out long after the service is over.

Embrace

We have a name and are no longer referred to as "the church plant." We are Embrace United Methodist Church. We are a Christian Faith Community called together by God to live Christ-dwelling, lives through the power of the Holy Spirit by embracing God and embracing others who have been hurt, rejected, broken, and burned out on religion. We freely love and accept all people where they are and desire to see them grow in wholeness and holiness.

Our mission is to reach out to people who have not committed their lives to Jesus Christ and those who have no relationship with a Christian faith community.

We Embrace:
Extravagant Generosity: (2 Corinthians 9:11) We are a community that practices stewardship through our prayers, presence, financial gifts, and service to God.

Mature Faith Development: (Acts 2:42) We believe making a commitment to become a Christian is only the beginning. We desire to see continual growth in our lives in order to become mature followers of Jesus.

Bold Faith-Sharing: (2 Timothy 4:5b) We want to share what God has done in our lives with others through our words and actions.

Risk-Taking Mission & Service: (Matthew 25:40) We desire to show the love of Christ by meeting the needs of our immediate and extended community.

Authentic Community: (Ecclesiastes 1:1-8) We believe a Christian faith community is about authentic relationships and being real with one another through hurt, pain, sorrow, joy, excitement, laughter, and thanksgiving.

Committed Hospitality: (Romans 15:7) We honor the sacred worth of all people and strive to welcome and include God’s people.

Enthusiastic Celebration: (Psalm 84:1-2) We have an intense desire to not just come to receive but to give of our worship to God and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. We want to be mindful of Jesus’ sacrifice for us as we celebrate communion every week.

A community where people can belong.
Come as you are…