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Overcome Fear! Embrace Courage!

Overcome Fear! Embrace Courage!

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Power of Prayer

God continues to confirm Embrace Church is meant to be downtown. When we started our prayer was, God, why do you need this church? The answer we received was for the city, specifically the broken and hurting people of Lexington. A pastor of a larger church told me he had been praying for a church presence in the Kentucky Theatre for the longest time. Again, it was confirmed to me on Monday night when I talked to a gentleman who has participated in a prayer group that meets on Wednesday afternoons in the Kentucky Theatre. He was excited about what Embrace was doing and felt that the prayer of he and his friends really made away for us. I couldn’t have agreed more!

Skateboard Park

At our Sunday service a young man came up to me that I recognized. It hit me when I saw his face. I met him in the skate park at Woodland Park. Scott and I went out handing bottled waters on a really hot day when we met him. I gave him a flier for a concert a few months ago and didn’t see him to he showed up to Embrace. He told me about stumbling out of bed and finding an old flier fall out his wallet. This young man has not been to church in 7 years until he came to Embrace. I told him with a smile on my face we started Embrace precisely for him.

The Big Day

My thoughts have still been racing in my head since Sunday. My team was ready to kick tail early that morning. Gentry, Scott, and Brady picked up the horse trough and spent a lot of time filling it. Everybody else had everything under control. As time got closer to service I did my walk down to Phoenix Park with Scott and Lacy. We invited our homeless friends to come. One woman, Anna, was hesitant because she didn't want to leave her cart. I didn't blame her because I wouldn't leave all my belongings out in the middle of nowhere. I really wanted her to come so she let me push it down the street. Lacy walked with her while I walked ahead with the cart. I never in my whole life imaged I would be pushing a cart filled with a woman's belonging down main st! However this is the call and now I embrace it. It's funny because one week I'm enjoying a meal downtown at an established restaurant and the next week I'm walking in the opposite direction.

As the service started you could feel the energy in the room. The Holy Spirit brought so many different groups of people together. The worship in song was awesome. Brady gave his testimony and it went wonderfully with the sermon. 2 people made decisions to follow Jesus and our friend Sierra was baptized in a horse trough! It was a special time and probably the first of many baptisms in the Kentucky Theatre.

After service people hung around for a while and about 50 of us went to lunch. Lunch was hosted at Lexington's first non alcoholic bar, "bar none." We are grateful for all God has done so far and look forward to the future.

Embrace the Collision

When Jesus was born, God became a man. He was to part man and part God; he was completely human and completely divine. Before Christ came, people could know God partially. After Christ came, people could know God fully because he became visible and tangible in Christ. Christ is the perfect expression of God in human form. The two most common errors people make about Jesus are to minimize his humanity or divinity. Jesus is both God and man. Jesus could have easily been sent as a man to do his 3.5 ministry but he wouldn’t have fulfilled his purpose. The incarnation was like an indescribable collision between God and man. And I thought about this last year when Andrew and I were watching pro football with the New England Patriots vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers. The patriots leading receiver was attempting to catch a pass in the middle of the field when Steelers safety Ryan Clark collided into him knocking Welker out of the game. The collision caused a huge sound because it was helmet on helmet. Everybody immediately stopped playing and they kept replaying the highlights. I believe the incarnation was an indescribable collision between Jesus as human and divine and also Jesus coming into contact with us. It had the ability of stopping people in their tracks and still does today!

We too are supposed to live within this collision as Bill Hughes pointed out today. When the Holy and worldly collide it makes a sound. Things go haywire. However this is precisely how people’s lives are changed! We must live as a people who will Embrace this holy collision as we interact with our friends/family/culture who do not know Jesus Christ or are apart of a Christian faith community. Embrace the Collision!

The Missional Church

After one of our city-wide preview services on Sunday morning we all walked down to Phoenix Park which is close to the library. It's a place known for where a pocket of homeless people gather in their community. Often times people give them food when walking by. We wanted to do a little bit more by throwing an Embrace cookout. We fed many of our Embrace folks along with 175 of our closest friends! One person commented to me how they enjoyed the service but questioned what we were doing afterwards. They asked me if we were going to be like of those "missional churches"? My response was "is there any other church?" I believe all churches should be missional reaching out beyond the four-walls of a building structure.

The Same Team

I recently had the opportunity to visit a church. I enjoy these opportunities greatly because I can sit back, receive and learn. I am a firm believer that you can learn something from everybody. The church I visited was fairly large and established to say the least. I had the priviledge of being introduced to the pastor. I told him about Embrace meeting in the Kentucky Theatre and his eyes lit up! I didn't know why his eyes would lite because here was a prominent pastor of a large church getting excited about something starting out. The pastor shared with me for the past few years how God had placed it on his heart to pray that a church would someday meet in the Kentucky Theatre! Right after he said that he put his arm around me and started to pray. He told me that he would point put who live downtown to come to our church because we are on the same team.

Community Garden

As many of you know the Columbia Heights Neighborhood Association was granted permission by the University of Kentucky to plant a community garden in the vacant lot of 544 Columbia Avenue. Despite getting a late start due to rain delays the tilling of the land was done toward the end of June. I believe it rained for two weeks straight! We were under a time crunch and knew we had to get a move on it. On our tilling day we had wonderful participation! We had many neighbors, community volunteers, and Embrace Church volunteers work in tilling and planting together. Though I myself am not a gardener, I knew that if we had the land that the people with experience would come and they sure did! Maureen Saxon was the first person from our neighborhood that contacted me. She has been gardening for several years along with Embrace member Steve Fisher. Also, students from UK who were agriculture majors such as Russ Caldwell became involved immediately. Because of their wealth of knowledge the rest of us would automatically default to them. Our tilling day was quite humorous because many of our volunteers have never used a tiller before. Once we figured out how to turn it on we had to practically wrestle it where we wanted it to go. So again we’d cry for help to our more experienced gardeners for some pointers. I would have to say that this was actually the toughest part of the gardening process, but the most fun and humorous as well!

Russ Caldwell made our wonderful sign to promote our garden. There has been a lot of word of mouth about the Columbia Heights Garden, especially in the garden community in Lexington. As I was on the Lexington Garden tour a few weeks back I heard our garden mentioned a few times. I’m currently having conversations to have the Columbia Heights Garden on the garden tour for next year.

Since our tilling and planting day many still come out once a week on Tuesday evenings at 7pm to pick weeds and other general maintenance. As we have seen the garden grow we too have seen relationships grow between all our volunteers and the beautification of our neighborhood. Presently we are seeing a harvest of yummy vegetables such as corn, squash, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers to name a few.

Members from Embrace church provided the tillers, fencing and along with community members we had many seeds donated to the garden. This first season of the community garden was a trial run and we are hoping that next year will even be bigger. We are hoping to expand the plot and get more involvement from our neighborhood.

Keepin it Simple

When God started to give us the vision for planting Embrace Church we were faced with a few questions. The first was where were we going to meet on Sunday mornings and what was it going to look like? Our decision for meeting in the Kentucky Theatre wasn't to be cool or different. I literally looked for space all over town including schools, bars, and storefronts but every door was slammed shut. However God had other plans and we are thankful that He did! My friend suggested we ask the Kentucky Theatre for space. I was reluctant to ask because I wasn't sure if I even wanted it and if I did would they even want us. God had other plans and when I talked with the Theatre manager the door was opened so we walked through it.

The next question was what would are worship look like on Sunday mornings? I knew that keepin it simple was what we needed to do. There are plenty of churches who do the rock concerts, skits, and other segments very well. We needed to be different. We wanted to do the opposite and look like the early church in our worship. We call are worship style, "ancient future." I take the time to explain each thing we do in our service with the central act of our worship being Holy Communion. Our services are rather short and the best part is you can wear anything you want. So far our congregation is made up of fairly different people which is what I believe is the true reflection of the kingdom of God. Come and check us out to get a taste for what we do on 9.13.09

Awesome Weekend

it has been an awesome weekend. the service had 70 people in attendance and i gave a talk on Jesus @ the wedding feast. for real, it was laid out beatiful by the Holy Spirit. Just amazing what can happen on Sunday morning.

last night i met with the leadership team of 25 people and we laid out a sweet two week plan to launch this church right! you will see us at the events that are posted on the facebook page.

can’t believe that we all get to do this with our one life.

praise Jesus.

_ros

Highlights From Embrace Preview Service 8/16/09

In church planting there are plenty of ups and downs. Though it sounds unusual they can be experienced all in one day. However, as of late, we are experiencing a wave of faith sharing, relationship building, and church/community congruence. This past summer has been a refocus for us to exactly how God desires to build Embrace Church. We have continued with our community service through avenues such as our community garden, passing out bottled waters in the hot sun, Embrace concerts at Al’ s Bar, community dinners, free coffee hours, and supporting local businesses by purchasing their gift cards to use as “acts of kindness” for folks in our community. What started out with a few young professionals has blossomed and grown to bring more of what the kingdom of God looks like. We are growing and have seen almost 100 people at our past Sunday morning service, along with 2 professions of faith. The past few months we have had 6 people come to know Christ and numerous rededications. After the service we had an Embrace cookout at Phoenix Park where we fed nearly 200 people! Many of them come to Embrace and we are so thankful that are homeless brothers and sisters feeling welcome and participating in the life of Embrace. We are excited at the ways God is working and how He is building His Kingdom right in the downtown!

God Moments

I haven’t written in a while even though there has been much that has happened in the life of Embrace since Easter. Last night I had a God moment. It came at an unexpected time and place. Brady and I were stopping by Redbox to pick up a movie because I got an itch to watch the Soloist. It was late and didn’t make much sense to go when we did however Brady agreed so we rolled up to the McDonalds on S. Limestone. After picking up the movie a man approached us. He came walking fast toward us. “Dwayne” was asked if he could wash our car windows for some change. I didn’t mind. As “Dwayne” was cleaning I asked about his story. “Dwayne” started to tell me about being homeless, new to Lexington, and how nobody wants to hire an ex-con. “Dwayne” told me he couldn’t go back to the Hope Center for at least another week in a half because he got kicked out for about a month because of a discretion he had with another housemate. Brady and I gave him some change, went through the McDonalds drive thru, and gave him a clean pillow/blankets that I just so happened to have in my car. I invited “Dwayne” to our Friday night dinners and he was thrilled that we played cornhole. “Dwayne” had his hands full and as he was about to walk away he dropped a few things he was holding. I helped him pick up his belongings and as we were on the ground he looked up and noticed I was wearing an Embrace shirt. “Dwayne” told me with a grin on his face, “that’s my church!” I was blown away. I asked him, “What do you mean it’s your church?” “Dwayne” said, “I went there a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it.” The Sunday that “Dwayne” came was the first Sunday I had missed since January because I was filling the pulpit at Christ Church and my friend Blake Brodien was preaching for me. I smirked back at “Dwayne” and told him, “I’m the pastor at Embrace.” We both laughed together and the three of us had a prayer. Over and over again “Dwayne” hugged Brady and I and told us how much he loved us. I’m blown away at these God moments and glad I got to share them with others.

Adventures In Easter Egghunt Planning

We have been blessed to have Jordan step up and volunteer to be our children's director.  Jordan has a wealth of experience and her desire to reach young children for Christ is inspiring to others and myself at Embrace.  Jordan agreed to spearhead our Easter egg hunt but she got more than she bargained for, her along with everybody else.  After spending a few weeks advertising the event at Woodland Park I was notified we had to find another location.  As we started praying an opportunity opened up for us as the Dunbar Community Center on North Upper St.  Around the same time the director of the center, Bob Owsley was also praying that somebody would host an Easter Egg hunt for his kids because they had gone through major budget cuts.  Bob was just as excited as we were about the Dunbar Center being our new location.  It was right where we needed to be, especially since the area is such an underserved part of Lexington; an area that doesn't care if we bring a petting zoo, bouncy house, and other fun things.  We only had a few days to get the word out about a change of location.  With everything we went through we still had 200 people show up which was awesome.  Everybody had a great time and we were equally as blessed watching the festivities. We passed out information on Embrace and welcomed parents as they came in with their children.  I think this can be the beginning of partnership we develop with the Dunbar Community Center. 

Embrace Concert at Al's Bar

Life is about taking risk and one person said, "there are no rewards without taking risks."  If you know me, you know I'm crazy enough to take risks.  I have always been a risk-taker.  As the pastor of Embrace we want to be the type of church that is willing to go where the people are and if that means sponsoring a concert with a secular band in a bar then so be it. 

We had two local acts, Goldenrod and Matt Duncan, along with a 15 member pop band from San Francisco, Still Flyin.  When people came into Al's Bar they were shocked there was no cover charge and even more shocked how a church was sponsoring the concert.  It was a great night for music and talking to many of the people at the concert.  It not only helped us with our visibility but also our accessibility to the community.  I was given the privilege to talk briefly in between acts, which was a cool experience.  I kept it short because I knew people weren't there to hear me.  I believe this will be something we do more often and will continue to try new things in the way of our outreach to the city of Lexington.

Jesus Loves Me!

Starting off Embrace we don't have many young families so when they come through our doors we get excited.  Jordan, Christy, and Angie have been praying for the day when our children and nursery area are filled.  As Ronnie and Morgan have been bringing their son Lucca our workers have had a great time with him on Sunday mornings.  I was joking with Ronnie and Morgan about starting a Lucca fan club because all of our Embrace girls brag on him all the time. 
Jordan was telling me about a conversation she had with Ronnie.  Ronnie was telling her that Lucca, whose only 2, has been saying to them, "Jesus love me."  Ronnie and Morgan hadn't taught that to Lucca and it dawned on them that it was the children's workers at Embrace.  To me this is an awesome testimony of not only the dedication of children's staff but also the ways that God sometimes works in subtle ways.

Bullhorn

A few months ago I applied for the Path1 media grant which is a grant given to new churches from the United Methodist Church.  I was notified that we were awarded the grant and the proposal was one of the best they have ever received by a church plant.  The next step was to find a marketing agency to help us with event planning and promotion.  Around that time I met a new couple at Embrace, Ronnie and Morgan with their little son Lucca.  After service Ronnie and I met for coffee where we talked about Embrace.  Ronnie told me how he works for Bullhorn Marketing and so I decided it would be a great idea to partner with them and give them our business.  We have been so blessed getting to know people through Bullhorn.  Ronnie, Brad, and Griffin have a vision to help the city of Lexington.  It has been a pleasure working with them and trust that it's just the beginning of our partnership.

A Little Piece of Heaven

    I have been quite blessed as a friend and a pastor to have Duke Gastos join our congregation with his two kids Gabriel and Michayla.  Duke joined us on our second Sunday morning of worship because he received one of our mass mailings.  I admire Duke for stick with us even when everything looked a bit rougher at the beginning.  Whenever I say that Duke comments how one of the things that stuck out to him right away about Embrace is the people are genuine.  
As I have become closer to Duke it has been equally natural to get acquainted with his kids.  I didn't truly understand this until last month when they both had their birthdays within a day of each other.  They asked their mom if I could come to their birthday party at Kidzone.  I came and had a great time despite being asked which kid was mine out of the twenty kids in the room ☺ A few weeks later after our Easter egg hunt a group of us from Embrace went out to lunch.  I was sitting with Duke and his kids when I noticed Michayla whisper in Duke's ear.  I couldn't help but give them a little grin but kept on eating my lunch when I hear Duke say to Michayla, "Ask him."  I looked up and Michayla asked me if you she could hug me.  I told her of course but only if she gave me a bear hug and then I gave one to Gabriel too.  And with a simple gesture as a hug I had another glimpse of the Kingdom of God.  At times I don't see it much but when I see it I don't forget, it burns in my memory.  Jesus had it right when he said we need to come to him as little children and have child-like faith.

How Far Are We Willing To Go?

I mentioned that I met a new friend at Starbucks, named James who has special needs.  James is 38 and is living at home with his parents.  James struggles with alcohol addiction.  The other night we had a painful encounter.  We have made a deal stating that he was not allowed to come to Friday dinners drunk.  When Andrew and I picked him up a few weeks ago it was obvious he was drunk and still had a bottle of whiskey in his pocket.  I told James as much as it pains me he was not allowed to come over and that we would try again next week.  We had a chance to pray with him and then he asked us for a ride to his house.  We got to his house and he changed his mind about going home and instead wanted to go to a local restaurant.  We dropped him off at the restaurant and he then wanted to go back home.  By this time it was getting late, Andrew had to get on the road to Louisville and I had to get back to the dinner guests.  James refused to get out of the car so I had to be a bit forceful with him, which is not what I wanted to do.  After Andrew and I left James, the encounter with him burned in our minds and bothered us the entire week.

Before you know it the week flew by as usual and it was Friday again.  James called me to get picked up and he was sober!  This was a huge deal for him.  While he was sitting at my house people were amazed at the difference between drunken James and sober James.  James needs some sort of long-term residential living with a Christian influence.  It's different because not only is he special needs but also has an alcohol addiction.  Andrew and I have even flirted with the idea of having him live with us when we move into a bigger place.  A prerequisite would be to find like-minded guys who would be willing to journey with James.  Please continue to pray for James and Embrace as we gain wisdom to know how to journey with him.

Winning Friends and Influencing People

I'm trying to keep a running lists of things that have been going on the past few months…oh yeah, my parents are divorced, I've had chest pains, an infection in my cornea, broke my glasses, had my life threatened, tired deflated, and bike stolen.  As the opposition has continued to grow so have the blessings as humorous as that sounds.  It's been an interesting few months to say the least but during this time I have seen 5 people I have been talking to for over a year start attending Embrace after several invitations.

The attacks and persecution we have undergone has been tremendous.  I imagine if we laid low and did not care about sharing the love of Christ with others we would be off the radar.  I've told the people of Embrace that if they hang out with me they will get a target on their back too.  The people of Embrace have been some of the most courageous people I have ever met, first to let me be their pastor!  Secondly, and more importantly the way they are living the Christian life.  I haven't seen people this serious about the Christian life in a long time.  They have been open to being servants and actually learning to live/love in community together.  Community has been something that we have all worked for with many people coming and going because expectations aren't meant in one way or another. We are not a perfect community but we are certainly a redeemed community; a community that has continued to be refined and sanctified by the Spirit.

James

The word is starting to get out that my office is at the corner of Ashland and High Street, which might not mean anything to people outside of Lexington, but if you live close to Chevy Chase you know it's one of the epicenters of the community.  Starbucks has become the place were I have my meetings, prepare my sermons, and share my faith.  It's also been the location where I have met several people.  I'm convinced people do not come into Starbucks because of the $3 drinks but they come for the experience and simply to be around people.  I see lonely people everyday, lonely people hiding behind their laptops, iPods, books, and newspapers. While others are chatting away and enjoying someone else's company these lonely people isolate themselves no matter the differences.  Some of the lonely people I have met are property owners, real-estate agents, lawyers, and doctors.  Other lonely people I have met are a bit awkward, might be different for a number of reasons.  The reasons are too overwhelming for some of the people they meet, which often results in hurt, rejection, and more loneliness.  Ever since I can remember, even in my pagan days, I had a heart for the people who went under the radar.  When I came to faith in Christ I finally realized it was God who gave me the ability to see and love people.  Now I understand it as my desire to see God's kingdom continuing to come to earth.
   

I have come to see that the lonelier or more rejected a person is by society the more their hearts are open to the Gospel.  When Jesus came to proclaim the Good News it was to people who were not the religious dignitaries or the elite but were the poor, lower class, and those who were unbelielievably burdened. 
Recently, God has taught me more about the kingdom of God through James, a special needs man I met at Starbucks, than I ever learned in a seminary class.  James is a bit awkward, my shake your hand to hard, my hold it too long, but his heart is one that is after God.  After my first time talking with James I invited him to come to my house for dinner on Friday in which he came.  James told me that nobody has ever been so nice to him before and than he told me something that caught me off guard, "I Love you."  When I heard that I immediately thought of Jesus.  I thought something so trivial and mundane to some people but I was blown away to think that Jesus loves James.  Jesus loves me.  And Jesus loves everybody. 


James came to church with me this past Sunday.  I knew he was nervous to meet new people so we went to Woodland Park and prayed that he wouldn't be nervous to come to church.  I was really proud of Nick, Aaron, and Mark who sat with their new friend and made him feel right at home.  Near the end of the service we took communion.  The Dillards were serving us communion and James and I came up toward the end of the line.  I had one of the most intimate times of participating in communion in my life. I put my hand on James' shoulder and explained what exactly we were taking into our bodies and as we ingested the bread and juice.

James enjoyed church and came out to lunch with us after.  The thing that frightened me the most is that James has lived in the Chevy Chase area his entire life and what if he has never been told about the Good News before in his 38 year old life?  This is exactly what drives me, this is what won't let me quit, the thought that Lexington is full of people like James fills my bones with fire.

St Patrick: The Church Planter

Before St. Patrick's Day was about drinking green beer and brawling Irishmen it was in celebration for a pioneer of the Christian faith. I have come to appreciate St. Patrick because of the book that my team and I have read, George Hunter's Celtic Way of Evangelism. Patrick grew up in what is now northeast England in the late fourth/early fifth century. When Patrick was 16 he was taken into slavery. However while in slavery he became a devout Christian who reached his captors. After his traumatic experience Patrick trained for the priesthood. England became the setting were he served the parish faithfully for many years. One night, Patrick experienced a dream that would change his life. At age forty-eight Patrick interpreted his dream as a calling to spread the Gospel to the Celtic peoples of Ireland. Pope Celestine commissioned Patrick as history's first missionary bishop. In 432 A.D. tradition tells us he arrived in Ireland with an entourage of Christian workers to help him in this task. What was the big deal about Irish Celtics? Well the biggest obstacle was the way they were perceived. They were thought of as "barbarians." The issue for many was it is impossible to "civilize" a people such as the Irish Celtics. However Patrick didn't look to evangelize a people simply to civilize them. Prior to Patrick the Church viewed these Celtic peoples as impossible to reach. The reason why Romans thought of the Celtic peoples as "barbarians" was because they thought highly of themselves. Anybody who wasn't Roman was considered a "barbarian!" History tells us that 700 churches were planted from Patrick's mission, and he ordained 1000 priests.

I believe today Christianity is a hard "sale" to somebody who thinks they have it all. It is difficult for people to find a true faith in a nation that is plenteous with all sorts of resources. Despite the difficulty we must trust that God is working in the hearts and lives of his people before we even arrive on the scene. Just because the task is difficult doesn't mean we should stop trying to do the very thing Jesus called us to do. My verse as of late has been Joshua 1:9, "This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." If we trust that God is with us and goes before us then we must not view reaching certain people as impossible. I ask myself, "has anybody ever given up on me?" I have come to the realization that we can't give up on others because we might not be able to see the work God is doing in a person.

Community Garden Update

Charlie Smith, the VP of the Columbia Heights Neighborhood Associate who came to one of our dinners during the summer have been plotting about a community garden.  Since I live in the neighborhood we wanted to get people from the neighborhood and Embrace church to participate in this garden.  We met with the neighborhood association and they approved it.  Our next step was this past Monday were we made a proposal to the University of Kentucky to give us the land.  They approved it and were delighted that they didn't have to mow it anymore ☺ We will be getting a Fusion group together to volunteer and help us till the land.  We don't know exactly what to expect from all of this but we do know that we will get a better opportunity to meet new people and share fresh vegetables with people in the community.  We start tilling the land on April 26th.  Jason Dillard had the idea of inaugurating the new land with some prayer before we start the project.

Contra

After our Friday night community dinners a bunch of our friends have been going Contra dancing.  The only way I can explain it in my own words is it's like folk dancing on crack!  You get tired, sweaty, and dizzy if you are not looking directly into your partner's eyes.  It makes for a lot of fun especially if you like meeting new people.  We have been going just to have fun but have had the opportunity to invite people to Embrace.  Our friend Sarah is someone we met at Contra and has been hanging out with us at Embrace.  It has been cool to see how God has been linking us to people wherever we go.  Many of the Contra regulars have asked us where we are coming from since we are "rolling" with such a large posse.  We tell them we all go to church together and then invite them over for our Friday dinners.  I have really enjoyed seeing how the growth in the people at Embrace has been translating to their excitement for God and wanting to share that with others.

John VaDelinde

One evening around the beginning of January Andrew and I went to Common Grounds.  It was a low-key night with not many people there.  We were actually there to get a drink and not stay long.  As we were conversing we met John VanDelinde.  John is from the Rochester Institute of Technology doing an internship at Lexmark in mechanical engineering.  It was truly a divine appointment because I'm from around the Rochester area, and Andrew is a mechanical engineer who did his internship at Lexmark.  We exchanged numbers and invited him to our launch service January 18th.  John came and we were excited to see someone we invited actually show up.  Even though John was only going to do his internship for a few more months he quickly jumped into discipleship and fellowship at Embrace.  I saw a dramatic growth in John in his short time in Lexington. A few weeks ago, John stood up before Embrace and shared his testimony.  By the end of his time with us we didn't want to see him leave and he even wanted to stay!  On his last Sunday we prayed for John as a congregation and commissioned him as a missionary back to his school.  John will be returning to Lexington for his second internship at Lexmark toward the end of May.  We are truly thankful for his life and the time we shared with him.

Growing Deeper

A few weeks ago Embrace started a 10-week session called Deeper.  Deeper is intended to teach people how to be disciples at Embrace by living out our 7 core values.  Jason Dillard has been leading the group and is doing a fantastic job.  Our hope is that teachers/leaders will emerge out of this first group so we can pass the torch on to them for the next session of Deeper in the future.
I have been impressed by the turnout.  Last night we had 21 people in this session that is amazing for a church our size.  We are asking each person in these sessions to champion one core value that they want to live into by developing a goal and strategies for implementing it.  Also, we have 4 small groups going as well as our Wednesday night Applebee's Bible study.  We are trying to not just get people in the door and pride ourselves on "99 million served" but we want to produce quality disciples. Embrace wants to embody it's core values because that is what's going to speak the most as our faithsharing and love for the city of Lexington.

Time in Prayer

In the midst of a hectic few days with having our electricity out, getting stuck in the snow 6 times (time for new tires and a vehicle with 4 wheel drive), and living out of a suitcase it was all worth it to spend time indoors at the Rock (Embrace's sister church).  It's because we were able to have some Jesus time today.  Over the next year we are having a world-renowned spiritual director, Glandion Carney. He works with Richard Foster and Dallas Willard.  Glandion will be conducting staff and personal spiritual retreats in 2009.  Today we were able to sit in on some lectures and meet one on one with him for an hour.

My time with him presented some surprising moments as I talked about my spiritual goals for 2009.  The Lord started connecting some dots for me.  The first is when I felt called to start Embrace it was for the broken, hurting, and rejected all of which I have experienced and I'm sure you have too.  Lately, I have been challenged at how to accept those who have caused the brokenness, hurt, and rejection.  At one point or another we all have rejected and hurt Christ, we even have been the "other man" or "other woman" in our relationship with Christ.  This week has brought up a lot of emotions for me.  I know I have forgiven those who have hurt me but I believe God wants to bring continued healing in my life.  Sometimes I experience intense suffering off and on, especially the past few years for a number of reasons.  I understand that God wants to use my suffering as a way to humble me.  Suffering keeps the balance of humility.  No matter what has happened or continues to happen in my personal life and at Embrace I am persuaded God is the only stable reality one can have in their life.  As I was being hit with this in my prayer time with Glandion I received the image of Joseph in my head.  Joseph was hurt, rejected, and broken by his brothers and others who came into his life.  In the end he was given a position of authority to bring change and help those who were "hungry."  Also Joseph extended forgiveness to his family.  I'm still processing all of this…

The Measure of Success

Mark Driscoll describes a church planter as the guy or girl who isn't going to wrap themselves up with a blankie and cry in the corner.  It's somebody who has a wild look in their eye, somebody who's scrappy, the kind of person home invaders would fear to face.  While the average pastor wearing a sweater vest would try to counsel the home invaders, the church planter would go a little UFC/MMA on them.  In the world's eyes you have to be brain dead to be a pastor or in ministry.  At least when you are pastoring an established church no matter if they are on the decline or not you know you have some people that will be there every Sunday.  As a church planter, you not only need to rely on God but there are times you need to make opportunities happen and bust down doors.  For me planting Embrace has been my dream.  I am living out what I have always dreamed or what God has put in my heart.  The world measures success differently than followers of Christ.  The world thought the Cross was a big failure and yet it is the symbol of our faith.  I have to look in the mirror everyday and ask myself the question: would I be willing to do the right thing despite looking like a failure to the world, or my denomination, or even the people I'm leading?"  Even though I'm living out my dream and call it doesn't mean it's been easy.  If it were easy everybody would plant a church and they would all succeed.  I get tired and my knuckles bleed at times from knocking on metaphorical doors.  I've been rejected, mocked, misunderstood, taken advantage of, and have taken a pounding.  In the midst of it God has sustained me and given me a team of people who are making the vision their own.  Have we succeeded?  Absolutely!  Will it look like what we envisioned?  Maybe or maybe not, I'm not sure, but time will tell.

Why Do We Need Another Church?

People ask me all the time that we are targeting at Embrace.  First of all we are targeting people who are burned out on organized religion and if you want to know what I mean by that check us out☺ The second are people who do not know Jesus Christ.  People have gotten offended that we would dare to plant another church in Lexington and when I say people I mean other well-intentioned Christians.  The fact of the matter is we need to plant new churches because many of the ones we have are not getting it done as Missiologist Winn Arn states "… of the approximately 350,000 churches in America, four out of the five are either plateaued or declining." "80-85% of the churches in America are on the down-side of the growth cycle.  Further, of the 15 percent that are growing, 14 percent are growing as the result of transfer rather than conversion growth."  If American churches continue on this downward spiral, we will have more churches closing their doors. The key is to reach new people with the Gospel and plant new churches:
•    Church Planting responds to Jesus' Great Commission:  An intentional pursuit of lost people and evangelism are two major components.
•    Far too many American churches have missed their mission because people are not accepting Christ.  It was disheartening to be at Annual Conference and hear that many of our UM churches didn't not have a profession of faith or new people come to their churches.
•    New churches grow faster than older established.  63% of all UM churches in Kentucky are under 50 persons in membership and have an average attendance of 25.
•    New churches evangelize better than established churches
•    People are more open to change in new churches

The third population we are targeting are people who are virtually nonexistence in the church, people between the ages of 18-35, especially men.  I think the Church has a challenge ahead of itself to show this population why it is relevant to not only "go" to church but to live a life of "worship."  We have the privilege of being in the center of Lexington and Embrace can be a city within the city of Lexington.  We can influence our culture and show that the Christian life can have real meaning in our universities and work environments.

Launch Service

All Saturday night I did not get a wink of sleep because of our launch service that we have been waiting for the past year and a half.  The night before Andrew and I put everything aside we needed to load in the van.  It was an early morning but we were ready for it.  I was disappointed when I walked outside and noticed how slick it was from the snow.  I dismissed the thought right away knowing that God was going to bring who needed to be there that morning.  We arrived at the KY Theatre at 8:30 and the launch team trickled in.  I have the best launch team ever!  Sarah, Andrew, Jessie, Jason, and Aerial helped out with the sound.  Lauren, April, Stephen, Ryan, and Mark ran around like crazy people.  Abigail was her cheerful self, welcoming people as they walked in.  One person, Kenny, arrived early and Aaron Renfroe sat with him the entire time, which I was happy to see.  Tawndee and Alicia helped out with the refreshments and décor of the entire theatre preparing it as a place for worship.  Gentry had a huge smile on his face when he brought all the balloons in.  Joseph was rockin it out in the hallway as people walked in.  Jordan, Angie, Jenny, Christy, and Jenn helped transform a few hallways into one of the best children's areas I have ever seen.  Danielle was also a big help running around and fitting and need as it arose.  There were a lot of moving parts but it was awesome to see the excitement.

As people started coming in there were a lot we didn't recognize, Praise God!  They were people who had seen our fliers, ads in the Kentucky Kernel or Chevy Chaser.   We had a total of 150 in attendance.  We are reaching a population of young people, 18-35 who are entirely missing from our churches in the U.S.  God has made it clear that Embrace is His church and does not belong to the launch team or me.  It is awesome to meet people and invite them into the life of Embrace.  The next few weeks I will continue my preaching series:  Are You Burned Out On Religion?

We will be starting our discipleship series on Tuesday nights called "Deeper."  It is 10 week sessions of how to be a disciple and apart of Embrace.   We are going to continue to have Friday night dinners at our house on Columbia Avenue.  We are hoping to get more small groups and other programs off the ground as needs arise so we are needs driven instead of program driven.

Our biggest challenge will be to continue to let people know that we are in the KY Theatre.  We need to get the word out and focus on our evangelism strategy. 



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Last night I had the privilege of being a guest speaker at Southern Hills UMC.  The pastoral staff, Bill Moore and John Hatton desire to partner with Embrace and support the church planting initiative of our conference.  Prior to speaking we all shared a meal together and I had the opportunity to hear stories from early days of Southern Hills.  Southern Hills was planted in the 1960s in the founding pastor's home.  It was encouraging to hear of Southern Hill's rich heritage.  The pastor remained there for the next 38 years after planting the church.  I believe a coalition of local churches can partner together to start a new church planting wave with a concentrated effort of pooling financial and people resources.  The only way this can work as if pastors make it a priority to think outside of their own congregations and look toward the greater scope of the Kingdom of God.  Embrace wants to continue to have church planting in our DNA that we would be a congregation that would continually reproduce congregations.  Imagine what it would look like if people were sent out to plant churches beyond our district, conference, and jurisdictional lines to meet the needs of the harvest?

Lexington Is Our Parish

Right now I'm sitting at one of my offices in Starbucks sipping on my espresso.  I amazed at what God has done the last few days with people I have seen "coincidentally" that I have met over the course of the past year.  Even in the midst of receiving my first stretch of questionable emails I am encouraged that we are doing the right thing.  The prevenient grace of God is at work in the hearts and lives of His people and so we are persuaded that the city of Lexington is our parish.  As we anticipate our launch our energy level is high and we are trying to remain vigilant at the attacks of the evil one

Shooters

I was hanging out with a few friends the other night at a place called Shooters.  I have been hitting the late night scene doing some faith-sharing and passing out my Embrace cards.  In walks in one of my buddies, Kegan, who has been doing the same thing when he goes out, faith-sharing.  He was with a group shooting pool and throwing darts.  I think Kegan has the gifts/graces for ministry to someday plant a church.  Kegan has a heart for church-abstainers because he was once one of them until he came to faith through Alpha at Centenary UMC.  He came over to me during the course of the night and said a guy got right in his face and told him how bad he was at pool.  Kegan just looked at him and agreed in a non-confrontational way.  However, the gentleman, who was 58 years old and was not intoxicated, kept saying it over and over again.  He told Kegan he wanted to fight him and of course Kegan said no and kept saying it again.  The guy eventually walked away from him and Kegan came and told me what had happened.  About twenty minutes later the guy came up to both of us and got in my face, I mean right in my face.  He kept calling me some nasty things and at one point I thought he was going to hit me.  I told him I did not want to fight him.  I was getting really annoyed but the Holy Spirit began to tell me that there was something seriously wrong.  I started praying out loud and as I prayed Kegan started praying… I knew the guy was battling some inner demons.  I don't know a whole lot about spiritual warfare and nor do I claim to know but I knew this guy was in bondage to Satan.  As we started praying he got quiet and there was a conflict going on inside of him but once we quieted down he would start again.  I have experienced something similar to this before at a prayer meeting Embrace held in it's beginning stages at Woodland Park.  When "Hillbilly" came around bringing his ruckus before we started praying.  I knew something was wrong and I began to pray.  When I was praying he would back off and leave but as soon as I stopped and someone tried to talk with me Hillbilly would come back with his craziness.  I told Kegan that I didn't think it was a coincidence that he picked the two guys he picked to mess with out of a place filled with at least 100-125 people.