Church Luncheon

Sunday after church we had a church plant luncheon. Everything came together quite well. Melissa McDonald did a great job preparing the food for us! Jeni made some gumbo that went over well too. There were about 20-25 people there who were in attendance. It was a brief lunch and talk just because I hate long meetings. I think if you can’t say what you want to say under an hour than your wasting everybody’s time. Anyway, when I looked around the fellowship hall I said that this could be a great start to a church. We are asking for a few different things from the people of the Rock/La Roca UMC. The first is to willingly be sent out as missionaries for the church plant. There are service opportunities in the following areas: being apart of the launch team, Wednesday night Bible study at the Wesley Foundation, Friday Night dinners, and starting small groups for new believers. We also need folks who would be willing to cook and go out to help conduct our community surveys we will be starting in a few weeks.

Aaron and Dillard think it would probably be a great idea to have more of these luncheons and start by targeting specific individuals. We need the Rock to step up, especially our first service presence.

Great Lengths

I thought Friday night was going to be a pretty low-key night because I was sick all week long. I could not get out and do as much visits as I wanted to do. Before dinner the Lord brought me to read for the third time in the week Mark Chapter 2 where the paralyzed man was carried on a mat by his friends to see Jesus. I read it not thinking much but knew it was something that the Lord was stirring in my heart. I was surprised when we had 16 come to dinner! It seems as if we are bringing different people every week. Ryan Standish is already inviting people and bringing them to the dinner. New converts make the best evangelist because they are not afraid to share their faith. Before we prayed over the meal I shared the story of the paralyzed man. After all I had 16 people in a tight space. I asked them how many more could we fit if Jesus was teaching us and what would we do with the masses waiting outside? Out of desperation and love for their paralyzed friend, the men cut a hole in the roof to lower him into the house. I told the group that we must be willing to go to great lengths to bring each other to Jesus. Our church exist for the broken hearted and wounded because that’s what I am.

Resurrection Power

Easter Sunday was awesome. We had five of our guys show up to the Rock who have had some connection with our Friday night dinners. The Lord is really moving and it is exciting to see what is taking place. Ryan Standish was supposed to give his testimony in the first and second services. Ryan ended up sleeping through the first service and I called Schloemer between services to shake him until he woke up. Ryan gets to church in a daze with circles under his eyes (they been working him hard at Amazon and we stayed up late the night before). I pull him into the choir room and fix him a cup of coffee. At this point Dillard and I are worried because he looks like he had not woken up yet. We talk to him a few minutes and then he gets into the sanctuary. At that moment he taught me something I will never forget. In front of everybody and as genuine as he is, he kneels down to the altar to pray for God’s presence to help him. Aaron turns to me and says, “He’s teaching us all something, isn’t he?” When Ryan got up to speak he did an amazing job. I am glad to see the Rock embrace him. Ryan and I are so different and it’s amazing that he is becoming one of my best friends.

Monday night our church planting launch team hosted a dinner at the UK Wesley Foundation. I am thankful for such a hardworking team with Lacy, the Dillards, and Schloemer. We prepared food for about 50-70 people. I have been feeling run down quite a bit with moving non-stop. Everything is catching up to me. I woke up Sunday morning really dizzy and light headed. I felt like I was going to back out of speaking Monday night to the college students but my boy Jason encouraged me to press on and Ryan Standish said a prayer for me. When I got up to speak I felt the power of the Spirit and felt like the students really related to what I was saying as I shared my faith journey. One guy I met named Thorin related to me quite a bit. Thorin did not grow up in the church and has recently come to believe in Jesus. He has found a community who has discipled him. Thorin was once rough around the edges. We are going to hook up for lunch at some point next week.

Immediately after speaking I passed out for about 13 hours on my couch. Before I passed out Ryan Standish told me that he was feeling like he wanted to share his testimony at the Wesley Foundation. I feel as though he is one of my circuit riders.

I felt as if God was saying after Monday night no more running yourself thin. I am definitely scheduling a retreat time for next week.

Good Friday

I joke around and say that instead of having one office I have three offices, Starbucks, Common Grounds, and the UK Wesley Foundation. A few weeks ago I met a gentleman, let’s call him R. R is always hanging out at the Starbucks. I introduced myself to him and gave him my card in passing. Well what I thought was going to be the “day off” was instead a divine “interruption” as June Tunstil likes to call it. R decided to call me this afternoon asking me if I could help him out with something. I was not able to pay much attention to what he was saying because as I answered the phone Rocky escaped. I tricked Rocky to come back inside by shaking a bowl full of puppy chow. I told R that I would meet him at Starbucks at 2pm. Needless to say we ended up hanging out till 9pm. After I helped R out with something I told him that I want to meet with him on a weekly basis and that his spiritual life was very important to me. R ended up rolling with me to The Rock’s Good Friday service and then to the church plant’s community dinner.

What I thought was going to be a low-key night (I ordered pizza for my turn to cook) turned into more divine “interruptions.” I did not expect 16 people to show up to my little crib and both Ryan Ellis and Standish give their testimonies! Ryan Standish is going to give his testimony this weekend at church. The tight space poses a good problem to have. Ryan Standish may possibly move into the upstairs apartment which can provide another place to expand our dinners, along with the Dillard’s’ apartment as well. It is our dream to have a few houses for community living.

Later in the evening we went to Common Grounds where I met Adrea and Alex. I introduced myself to them and told them I was starting a church in the area. They live close to where I do. After a few minutes Adrea surprised me by giving her card to me. Adrea told me that she is a worship leader and recording artist. She would love to help out in some capacity. Andrew and I looked at each other with our mouths wide open. What is God doing?

Please continue to pray that God would bring us more unbelievers, more places for dinners, a big, big house, and a place for worship.

Shawn is Getting Baptized!

Last week Shawn gave his life to Christ in the parking lot of a Starbucks. It was an amazing time that we experienced. Today I met with Shawn and heard more of his story. Shawn testifies how God has led him his whole life, even when he thought he was all alone. Shawn desperately wants his family to come to know Jesus. He has a wife, Nancy and three sons. Shawn realizes that he has a responsibility to his family in helping them in their spiritual life. Shawn desires to be baptized and by faith I said to him that I would not only baptize him but his whole family. Please pray that Nancy would be open to the Gospel. Since Shawn works on Sunday he is not able to come to church but he said that since his boss is a religious man he would probably be able to get off on a Sunday to be baptized. I will be heading to his house on Easter to visit with him and his family. I believe by faith that Shawn's whole family will come to know Jesus. It will be an awesome day when we baptize the whole family!

Latest Encounters

The past few days I have gotten together with five new people that I have recently met. It seems like the reoccurring theme is that people have been hurt by the Church because they do not fit the mold, are sick of "playing" church, and want something were they can just be themselves. I have said in the past that I am hesitant pulling out the pastor card because once I do the person I am talking to quits swearing, smoking, or telling me dirty jokes. I do not want to make people feel uptight. However when I have engaged in conversation I am finding people are responsive to the Gospel because they are not feeling judged or looked down upon. People do not want to be talked down to but talked with. Even my barber this morning said that she respects my vocation but she likes the fact that I am normal outside of the church. She thinks Christians are not really normal people. They are fake and feel that they have to put a smile on their face all the time. I told her lucky I was Sicilian because I always wear my heart on my sleeve whether I like it or not! I believe our new church is going to be a place for everyday people. I want people to come as they are and feel welcome to come into a new place.

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.