plant and run
Amish Buggies, Phillies Tickets & Forgotten Beauty
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Beauty is a curious thing. Something inside of us insatiably craves things that are beautiful. When we find them we capture them and hang them up on a wall in our houses. But once we finally have beauty in our grasp, it slowly leaks through our fingers. We can’t hold onto it. We find ourselves rushing past it ten times a day without even a fleeting glance. The beauty that initially captivated us becomes common.
And then we have guests over for dinner.
Our friends come over and enjoy the pot roast and the conversation and they marvel at the beauty hanging above the mantle. They stare at it and they oh and ah. They ask, “how in the world did you find this?”
We just smile while beauty comes flooding back and overtakes us once again.
Lawrence and Alf were my dinner guests this weekend in Pennsylvania. We spent four days exploring Philly and Lancaster County, reminiscing with old friends, and eating.
First of all, we met with individuals or groups from five churches (Pike Creek Bible Church, New Hope Community Church, Christian Fellowship Church, Calvary Church, Grace Fellowship Church) and two universities (PBU and Eastern). All sent mission teams down to New Orleans after Katrina.
Spending time with old friends was life giving. It was so thrilling to be reminded of the stories of lives around the country impacted by “the Katrina experience.” We probably have underestimated the number of people whose lives were redirected by a week down in New Orleans.
Maybe now more than ever, we need to be reminded of those stories. We need to know the faces that they remember helping so that we can return to those rebuilt homes and continue the story. We need to beckon them to come back down and maybe knock on those doors with us.
Walmart Parking Lot
Secondly, we team preached at Grace Fellowship Church on Sunday morning. Frankly, it is a ton of work to team teach through a sermon, but it is also a ton of fun. We learned a lot about each other and about team. Once we start the new church, I think that it will definitely be worth our time to preach together like this every once in a while. But on a regular Sunday, we’ll just rotate who preaches each week.
Finally, Alf and Lawrence got a chance to experience Crystal’s roots. We spent a majority of our time in Lancaster County and stayed with my in-laws. We chased Amish buggies into the Walmart parking lot [yes, they shop there], ate at a small town firehouse turkey dinner fundraiser and went to a Phillies game.
got tickets outside the stadium about an hour before the game for face value. Jesus provides. lol.
It was bittersweet to be around all of Crystal’s family and home culture without her, but in a way it was really good and healthy for me. I got a chance to see things through Alf and Lawrence’s fresh eyes.
I love my wife. I love all that makes her who she is. Perhaps part of it is how different her roots are than mine. I know that God has fused our
backgrounds together intentionally.
So a lot of things came together for me this weekend. Team…family…Katrina…calling…
It’s a beautiful thing.
relational learning
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Yesterday on the plane I read another chapter in Practicing Greatness by Reggie McNeal on self-development. He describes what he called “intentional learning networks” as the venue for all of us continue to develop and learn.
The residency program would fall under this category of “learning networks” as opposed to the more traditional classroom environment.
Here is a snippet of the chapter that intrigued me:
“Another factor pushing the development of the learning community is the ascendancy of relational learning in the postmodern world. Intriguingly, this development actually goes back to the way education was done in the premodern world, when teachers and pupils were much more closely bound together in a learning relationship. The mass standardization of the modern era (courtesy of the advent of the printing press) shifted the emphasis in education to curriculum, with didactic instruction that supplemented textbooks. The teacher became central as the disseminator of information, the expert passing on knowledge to those who did not have it. In relational learning the learners help to drive the process by framing the learning agenda (based on the learner’s challenges) and by taking responsibility for learning outcomes. The relationship between mentor and learner sets the ‘load limit’ of information that can be exchanged and the speed limit of how fast knowledge can be developed. If significant trust and authenticity characterizes the relationship, then a broad range of issues can be more easily addressed and at a quicker pace.”
I think this is huge for the way we do church. How does this affect what it means to develop someone as a leader in the church? How does this affect the way we view the discipleship process of every Christian? Good stuff to ponder.
Chase Oaks Trip
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So I’m down in bayou country for the weekend. I just finished a 10 mile race [Middendorf's Manchac Race. Ran a 1:18:07] and just showered up at my Mom’s house in Algiers.
Boy, has it been a good weekend. I wanted to take a couple of minutes and fill you in on what’s going on.
There is a group of 21 people from Chase Oaks Church in Plano down. This is their…I don’t know…seventh or eight Katrina mission trip. Lots of familiar faces and old friends.
But this trip is different. The energy and excitement is palpable.
Chase Oaks sees it.
This crazy idea to plant a church and turn short-term mission work into long-term church work is something that they understand and they are ready and willing to fight for it.
Over the past couple of months, we have been humbled as we have watched this church pick us up and carry us on their broad shoulders. Yes, they are supporting us financially, we are thankful for that, but they refuse to merely mail a check. They are spilling their blood in this city.
Over the past couple of days, they have been divided into three teams…
The first team has been at Alf’s House. They have caulked and painted the exterior, installed the hardwood floor and basically put all of the finishing touches on 4910 Arts St. They will help to move-in the Nelson family today. Mike Martin [one of the team members] said last night in our meeting that he is a little dumbfounded with how much work they completed in 48 hours. He said, “I don’t know. It just flowed.”
What I see is a group of people that understand the sacrifice that Alf and Aly have made to return to New Orleans. They are thrilled to play a crucial role in getting the Nelsons into their house and empowering them to focus their attention on entrenching themselves into the Gentilly community. That passion is fueling some serious sweat power.
The second team has focused on helping one of our partners: Crossroads Missions. In fact, Chase Oaks is the reason we are partnered with Crossroads [one of the staff, a guy named Bruce, is related to a Chase Oaks member]. Crossroads has focused them on helping at St. Roch Community Church. [If you recall, I blogged a couple of months back about St. Roch.] The team has focused on preparing St. Roch’s church facility for today’s visit with some key partners from Florida [in town for some football game].
What I see is a group of people who are strengthening some relationships that are important to us as a church plant. We absolutely love what both Crossroads and St. Roch are doing in the city! We want to support and partner with both as much as we can.
The final team as been doing street ministry with Lawrence. Lawrence has taken 5-6 team members down into the French Quarter each day armed with McD’s hamburgers. God has blessed and they have come home with some awe-inspiring stories of doors blown open to minister in a significant way to the homeless population of New Orleans. Oh, and it doesn’t stop there: they might be taking two individuals back to Dallas with them to connect them into rehab programs at Union Gospel Mission.
I see a group of people who share our passion for the homeless population of New Orleans and seek to provide holistic ministry that meets the physical, emotional and spiritual needs that exist in their lives.
In short, Chase Oaks is literally part of the team that is planting a church in Gentilly. We couldn’t be happier.
This is not ya momma’s church plant. This is post-Katrina New Orleans where you can not only partner through prayer and financial support, but you can come down and join the team. This is a movement of God’s Spirit that extends beyond the borders of New Orleans and into churches all over the US.
We need Chase Oaks. And we need you. We can’t do this alone.
running peaks and valleys
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Man, one thing we have learned thus far about the Fellowship Associates Church Planting Residency is that it ebbs and flows. Some weeks are just packed out with activities. We have recently hit a busy season. Thus, I haven’t had time to post here much.
Rather than updating you on what I’m learning in the program [I'll try to do that in a series of posts over the next couple of days], I figured I’d let you know how my running is going. I have recently hit an interesting patch that is probably pretty common for runners.
So let me tell you all about it…
About a month ago, I ran 14 miles on a Saturday morning. It was a great run. In fact, it was the furthest I’ve ever run in my life. I have to admit, I was kinda amazed at the pace I kept up for 14 miles. Not only that, it was the culmination of a really good week where I was setting PRs left and right. I was running on a high. Felt really, really good.
Then I started hitting some snags in my running routine. We went on a couple of road trips, I got sick, I had a couple of bad blisters, the Residency schedule got busy. All that added up to me missing some of my runs and losing some ground. I felt all of the momentum I had built starting to slip away. Thankfully, I was still getting in enough runs to not lose everything, but I definitely felt like I wasn’t at the same level I had just been a week or two before.
I guess that is the nature of running. I guess that is the reason why most runners design these intricate training schedules that lead right up to race day. When you peak, it’s a peak. You can’t hang around on the mountaintop all that long. The key is to peak at the right time.
my new kicks
So I feel like the last week or so has gotten me back to where I want to be.
What made the difference?
First of all, I bought new shoes. [That always helps a runner to be excited.] Part of my downfall over the past couple of weeks was realizing that my old shoes weren’t working for me anymore. It’s time for me to go with something lighter with less support that is more conducive to a mid-foot strike [landing on the middle of your foot rather than on your heel]. I’ve learned that I’m pretty light for a runner, I have an efficient stride and I keep a fairly fast pace. All that means that the expensive shoes with all of the extra cushion and support hurts me more than helps. [By the way, I've also learned that Target is the best place to shop for running socks that are cheap and good. New socks help too.]
Secondly, I simply focused on what I needed to do to get back on track. I ran. I ran even when I didn’t feel like it. Some days, honestly, weren’t fun at all. Then, like magic, on Thursday I was running and all of a sudden it hit me: I feel good again.
I do wonder how true that is in many areas of our life. Do we try to go all out all of the time? Do we ever attempt to figure out how to create schedules that allow us to peak at the right time? The reality is that all of us have busy seasons of life. Do we manage our stress well?
What about from a spiritual perspective? If we are honest, none of us live on the mountaintop, do we? We have highs and lows. Do we think about how our actions and decisions help to determine when those occur? Do we think about what we need to do to pull ourselves out of the ditch?
For me, this year is about learning. I’m learning a lot about church planting and what church could look like. More than that, I’m learning about me. I’m realizing all of the mistakes I have made in the past and seeking God’s help to redeem my inadequacies and use me to bring restoration to New Orleans!
