My Worship Revolution

Today we lost my mom to a 9 month or so battle with cancer.
4 months shy of her 60th birthday.
There’s no easy way to lead into that, so there it is.
Walking through that (along with stupid distractions like Facebook games and Catan online) has contributed in part to my spotty – at best – blogging lately.

She took a serious turn for the worse over the past several days.  I was supposed to fly out Tuesday, but changed my flight to today being unsure she would make it til Tuesday.  This morning my sister called me at 4:30 a.m. to let me know that she was gone.

Many of you have been at least somewhat aware of what was going on and have been praying for and supporting my family continually.  Thank you so much.  And for those who didn’t know, no worries, we still need much prayer as we process it all and deal with all the details that come with the death of a parent, sibling, grandparent.  Perhaps I’ll share more from the journey over the past year now on the blog. Perhaps I won’t.  We’ll just see.

So many thought and feelings are running through my heart and mind right now that I can hardly begin to process them all.
We’ve known for a while now that this day was coming.  I lost my father at 16 and thought I’d have some idea what to expect and how to prepare.  But this has proved to be, by far, the most difficult event – or really…process – I’ve ever experienced.

My mother will be deeply missed.
She already is.

I’m sitting right now in the Salt Lake City airport waiting for my flight to San Diego.
As I was sitting on the plane, I asked myself what the date was, knowing that it will more than likely be forever burned into my memory.
8/28.
It took mere seconds for Romans 8:28 to wash over my dome as I recited the number to myself silently.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

There is little that seems good about a time like now.  But what a great reminder that while it may not feel good, and while I definitely don’t understand the master plan, God has one.  My prayer is that one of the good things that can come is that God would be glorified as we, her family, embrace our own brokenness and rest in a peace that has to be beyond ourselves.  I am reminded of a popular quote from John Piper that has deeply impacted me for years, “God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in him…especially in the midst of pain and suffering.” (Perhaps a loose quote.)

As I was on the first leg of flying, I was reading through a great little book by Henri Nouwen, The Life Of The Beloved.
In considering God using this painful time in my own life and in the lives of others, this paragraph from his chapter on brokenness seems insightful…

“The deep truth is that our human suffering need not be an obstacle to the joy and peace we so desire, but can become, instead, the means to it.  The great secret of the spiritual life, the life of the Beloved Sons and Daughters of God, is that everything we live, be it gladness or sadness, joy or pain, health or illness, can all be a part of the journey toward the full realization of our humanity.  It is not hard to say to one another: ‘All that is good and beautiful leads us to the glory of the children of God.’  But it is very hard to say: ‘But didn’t you know that we all have to suffer and thus enter into our glory?’  Nonetheless, real care means the willingness to help each other in making our brokenness into the gateway to joy.”

The reality is that right now, it mostly just hurts.  But through your prayers, support, and friendships, one day it can be redemptive in pointing to God and  bringing strength and joy to all of us who loved and miss her.
In the meantime, we’ll cope by taking this week to remember her life and to celebrate the gift that God gave us, in the midst of our grief.
I love you mom.
You’re missed already.

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This summer has been one with lots of travel in it.  And now we are once again on a whirlwind tour of Southern California.
The picture is a map of our route.
Chula Vista,
Redlands,
Big Bear,
Agoura,
Menifee,
Long Beach/Buena Park,
Escondido,
and finally back to Santa Cruz.
All in about 12 days.
Well over 1500 miles on our poor van.
1 day and 3 hours of it in the car, according to Google (make that up to 1 day 13 hours in traffic).

We’re currently about to leave Big Bear for my half-brother’s place in Agoura.
A lot of friends wished us an enjoyable vacation.
Actually, the trip is about half pleasure, half workin.
Rachel’s cousin got married (one of the most fun weddings I’ve been to-congrats Kim & Ben!), we spent a little time with her parents in Big Bear, we’ll get to stop in with a few other family members, and at the end we get a few days with my family on their vacation.
The work part…lots of support raising being worked into there while we’re in the area.  Primarily the reason for so many stops.

Starting a new church in Santa Cruz means we need to put in some time on the front end raising financial support to provide our salary, as well as a bit to supplement the giving of our Missio Dei peeps for ministry budget.  Just like missionaries are supported by those who believe in what they’re doing, so are we.  Right now we are about 46% of the way to our goal for support raising.

The whole process is an interesting one.  Meeting with friends and family to share our excitement about what God’s doing and inviting them in on the opportunity to be a part of making it happen.  Some weeks it’s an incredible blessing as we get to connect with people we love and share our journey.  Other weeks are more discouraging.  But we keep trusting that God will provide and keep on doing what we need to do.

All that to say I’m looking forward to more opportunities this week to see people and share the need and the opportunity, even if all the traveling will be a bit tiring.
I was able to lead worship at Rancho Vista Church last Sunday and share briefly what we were doing.  People were invited to give on the way out.
This Sunday I’m stoked to lead worship at our past home, Revolution Church, and get to share with that family how they have been so tied to our journey.
And then a few days of R&R with Lawrence Welk in Escondido before returning to the daily routine…wait…nevermind.  Routine doesn’t really exist for us in this stage of life.  And for the most part, I love that.  Rachel, on the other hand, is probably a bigger fan of routine.

So that’s what’s going on with us this month and this summer.
Good thing our kids are learning to travel well in the car!
How’s the end of your summer shaping up?

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In case you didn’t catch the news on Facebook already…we have a house to move into!
6th year of marriage, 6th home, we’re getting pretty good at this.  Maybe we should start our own moving company.  Rachel could help you box everything up something fierce!

It’s not perfect, but it’s got some pretty sweet features.

PROS

• Extra room that can be an office, playroom, or third bedroom.
• Small garage, not for parking but for storage.
• A pretty sweet party backyard.
• Vegetable box in the backyard, it is on!
• Washer/dryer
• It’s a house.  I guess it’ll be nice with loud kiddos to again not have to share a wall.
• Oh yeah, it’s .3 miles from the ocean.

CONS

• All the rooms are pretty small.  Living room, bedrooms.  Smaller than they look in the pictures.  Might be time for some possible downsizing.
• No bathtub.  Hope Caleb can make the switch to showers!
• No dishwasher.  And no, I won’t make my wife do all the dishes.
• It’s on a pretty busy street.  But at least the front yard is fenced in.  The back’s a lot nicer for using though.
• A smidge over our budget, so we’ll have to pull a few bucks from other line items.

The owner lives right behind us.  That could be a pro or a con.  Haven’t met him yet.
Was stoked to meet our next door neighbors yesterday.  They have a 5 and 2 year old boy and were hoping for a family to move in.

I’m trusting that God brought us to this house for a reason, and I’m looking forward to what he has in store for this next season.
Here’s some pics to leave you with.
And by the way…we’re moving on May 29th.
Feel free to be there.
Thanks!

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Has it really been almost a month since I posted last?
April has been pretty crazy.
Some quick updates and recap for you.

• Busy month as we entered our second month of raising support.
• Was actually out of town for 19 days since the beginning of April.
• Had a great time leading worship at Rancho Vista Church on Easter and getting to spend the holiday with my mom & sister.
• Unfortunately our family decided to get sick on Easter.  The day after, Caleb ralphed for the first time in his 3 1/2 years of life and was then kind enough to pass it on to Rachel and I who stayed up for hours on end in the bathroom that night.
• Got to share at Oasis church who also hosted a lunch for us to raise support.  Pretty cool for Rachel to stand in the building her dad led the church he planted in, 20 years after he started it, and get to share about God calling us to church plant.
• That night we had a support raising dessert with a group of core families from the Crosswinds days.  Again, so cool to have a bunch of special peeps who watched Rachel grow up since she was 6 years old lay hands on us and pray for us and Missio Dei Community.
• Had a fun trip to Portland where we got to hang with Kari and I got to connect with some really great friends there: Boomer, Lisa, Izak, Linzee, and Noah.
• Went to Catalyst West Coast with Rachel and Katie.  Great time of connecting with others and getting some good nuggets of wisdom to chew on as we all dream about and lead into the future of Missio Dei.
• Today I start training to work the next couple of months for the U.S. Census Bureau.  Perfect job to get us a little more distance while we keep on raising support.  Right now we are about 33% of the way to our initial support raising goal.
• We drove back home last night with Rachel’s little brother, Isaac, in the car with us.  He’s moving in with us for the month of May to help out with the kidlets while Rachel finishes up her tutoring job and I start the Census job.

There you go.
A really quick snapshot of the past month of our lives.

In the middle of all that, we’ve still been able to get together regularly in Santa Cruz with our starting crew for Missio Dei Community.
It’s been cool getting to worship together and ask God what he wants to do with us in this community.
Last week we got together for some planning of the summer, and tonight we gather again to worship, pray, and hang with one another.

It’s a very different season of life for us.
We’re still figuring out our rhythms and there are plenty of uncertainties, but I’m trying to enjoy it as much as possible right now.
Even with all the uncertainties, it’s exciting to be right in the middle of seeing God work, guide, and provide for us and our family.

Now I’ll try and get better at working in the rhythm of blogging again so you can share the journey with us!
Feel free to throw out any questions about any of it in the comments and I’ll get back to sharing our life with you hear on the blog.
Now it’s off to work for “the man!”

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This morning I hop a plane to Nashville, TN to rejoin the fraternity like gathering/unconference that is Recreate.
It’s probably a little late to be telling you this, but if you are in creative ministry and/or a forward thinker, you have got to get out to this thing.
The relationships I’ve made here have been priceless.
The effect that this single gathering has had on my leadership over the past 4 years is beyond explanation.
I didn’t think I was gonna make it this year because of finances.
But after getting a huge blessing for the cost of registration, and God lining up a free flight (thanks Charlie!) and lodging, I am so super stoked to be on my way.
A great jump start to me for the journey ahead of us.

I’ll definitely try to blog as much of it as I can along the way.
If you wanna check out some past blogs from Recreate, click here.
For a glimpse of our week ahead click here.

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Today was the shortest day of the assessment, yet oddly enough still one of the most intense.
It started off with worship again.
I actually enjoyed the song selection way more this morning.
During worship there was a moment that I started thinking about all of you out there who have been praying for us this week.  And I was overwhelmed.  Seriously brought me to tears.  I can’t even begin to express how much it means to feel so loved and cared for.

Church Planting Project

That was what most of today was about.
Wow.  The process of coming usp with an extensive church planting plan with 9 other driven opinionated leaders is quite an experience.
Truth be told, it wasn’t as bad as it sounds from that.
We broke up into multiple teams to put stuff together.
One of the fascinating aspects was how easy it was to get bogged down in lots of the details and forget to keep a good view of the big picture.  But at the same time, a lot of those details were needed in order to put together a strong presentation.

Some of the people who stepped up as leaders did great jobs at delegating based on some of the strengths we had discovered in people over the past couple days.
Rachel’s job was to create the outline for the presentation and to work at getting rid of everything that we didn’t need.
Everyone in the group had to be involved in the presentation in some way.  So for the opening, myself and a couple of the other ladies put together a creative reading that people shared room all over the room, interspersed with everyone else.
People in committees seriously planned out specific budgets, figuring out how much staff we would have, percentage of giving based off the average incomes of our area, and calculating rent for meeting space and office space, and evangelism and advertising budgets.
We had four of us present in addition to the opening that involved everyone.  Our lead pastor opened with the vision, another shared the multiplication plan, another shared the financial plan and made the ask, and then I closed, recapping and reminding the donor of what the vision was, and cast vision for why this was a great Kingdom partnership.

Counseling Interview

Midway through the morning we had a meeting with a counselor.
He asked us some questions about our families where we grew up and asked if we had any traumas or concerns that could effect planting.
He also talked with us a little about our relationship and asked how we coped with being polar opposites on the personality scale.
We seemed to get in and out of there fairly quick, and again I was amazed not to get some tougher questions.  Still not sure if that’s good or bad!  Maybe we were in and out cause we’re that healthy!  On second thought…nah, probably not.

Listening Exercise

There was also a sheet for us to fill out which they gave us the night before.
To help round out their view of us as they make decisions, they wanted to know what God had been revealing to us, what we were surprised by, and whether we felt like God was calling us to plant a church and if so, when?

Church Plant Presentations

After a working lunch, we all gathered to present our churches.
Team A went first.
As they started, we quickly realized they were starting word for word with our opening reading.
They had found our reading in the copy machine and straight up stole it!!!
It was actually quite hilarious.
They had a great presentation with videos they had created, great slides, and a pretty killer logo.
I was worried.
Afterward, the assessors asked questions and put some heat on em.

Then we were up.
They could steal the reading, but it was all in the delivery.  The opening rocked.
Overall the presentation went way better than I expected.  Way better than the practice.
Ultimately, they loved our presentation, but decided our plan was too unrealistic and gave more money to ther first group.
Sucks for the community of Elk Grove I guess. 

And with that, we prayed for all the assessors, and we were done.
They, on the other hand, all retreated to spend hours on end talking about us and deciding on outcomes.

I’ve pondered whether or not to plan on sharing my outcome on here any time soon.
If I get ‘recommended,’ of course I wanna put it up.
But if it’s anything less, I may want to grieve and not tell you.
But then if I don’t say anything, you’ll know that I got less than I hoped.
So maybe I should not plan on telling you anything so you don’t guess.

But in the end, if I have a value for transparency and authenticity, I figured it best to just share how it goes.
So the next post you see here should be a quick reflection on the overall process, a sharing of what the exit interview was like, and of course my outcome.
But you need to wait a while since I’ll be driving to Tuscon, so don’t assume anything when it isn’t up by noon!

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Alright, after lunch.

Small Group Exercise

Now we went back into our small groups for another exercise.
Same small groups, different set of assessors watching us.
For this one there were two sites (areas/cities) that were described.  We had to pick one and had about 40 minutes to create an idea of what our church plant would look like there.
One of the sites was a suburban midwest city, and the other was a large city on the California coast with a large college in the town with an east side and west side, with college students mostly living on the west side and a high homosexual community and lot of artists and professionals, and not a lot of families on the east side.  Hmmmm.  Sound familiar.
In a way I was hoping we’d choose the midwest town cause I knew I’d be way too opinionated on the California context.
We chose California.

After our last group experience and seeing how different people led, I was a little concerned to tell ya the truth.
I was pleasantly surprised by how well it went and how we worked together as we created this fictional ministry.
We all then presented our church.  We had 45 seconds to do so.

Evangelism Exercise

This was the nice contrived situation to see if we knew how to articulate the Gospel to someone.
Role playing situation.  You meet with someone at Starbucks who has been coming to your church and they let you know that they are ready to be a Christian and want to know how.
To be honest, this scenario was actually not nearly as awkward as I thought it could be.
I was with a great assessor who I liked, so that helped.  I was able to just articulate to her in my own way that I felt comfortable what it looks like to cross that line of faith and follow Christ daily.
Good times.

Golden Personality Presentation

This was the third and final personality profile that we took before coming.
Many of you may have taken the four letter Meyer-Briggs test before.
This one is Meyer-Briggs on steroids.

It’s actually really cool.  Rather than just give you your 4 letters, it also breaks each letter into 4 contrasting options and tells you how your subsets came out, and you can even see where those subsets may have 1 that is out of pattern with the overall.  Also, this one gives more of a degree to just how much you really are each thing.
As usual I am an ENFA – Extrovert, Intuitive, Feeling, Adapting (updated language from perceiving)
My extrovert level is to the max with absolutely no introvert.
And of course, in true form, Rachel is the polar opposite ISTZ – Introvert, Sensing, Thinking, Organizing.

One final note on the personality test.
They have been given and explained by two guys who do this and run their own team building company in MN.  Jerry and Steve Dahl.
These guys are really good.

Church Planting Project

That took us up til dinner.
Now, after dinner is when things really get interesting.
We were broken into 2 groups.  So 10 candidates in the group.
We were given the Elk Grove, Sac town area in our group.  Had a folder and demographics and everything.
We were told that a donor called one of us and wants to give us money.  He wants us to plant in that area and wants a presentation on how we will plant 10 churches in ten years.  We were given 2 hours yesterday and will get like 4 today.
The presentation has to be 20 minutes, and all 19 people have to share at some point.

Oh yeah, and during this planning process, multiple candidates are being pulled out to do ministry and counseling interviews.  So be ready to adapt when one of your leaders disappears.  Or more than one.

I was real interested to see how this was gonna go.
10 alpha males in a room asked to lead together.  Woohoo!!
We started with prayer and started to discuss how we would go about this.
Pretty quickly Rachel and I as well as one other couple were the first ones pulled out for an interview.

Ministry Interview

This was an interview with 2 of the assessors that lasted about an hour.
We actually loved this part.  They asked questions about our marriage, about how we do ministry, where we are in the process, how we connect with God, how we rest, and how we anticipate dealing with the stresses of church planting.
Both assessors were great peeps and it really was fun to have conversation with them, and seriously, the questions weren’t nearly as difficult as I thought they might be.

It actually worked out pretty awesome in my opinion that they pulled us out at the beginning when they did.
Basically we missed all the chaos of trying to figure out how to get the ball rolling with everything.
So as we walked back in, they had picked a lead pastor and working through the values and vision of the planting movement.
We definitely felt disconnected and it took some listening to figure out where we were at and get cought up, but once we did we dropped right in and gave our contributions.
We created some teams for the next day, myself being on the team to develop the strategy for planting the first church, and we finally wrapped up around 9:30.

Definitely were pretty wiped by the end of that day.
So we head back to the hotel and blogged, and didn’t last much longer beyond that!
Thus the end of day two in the life of an assessment center.

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Literally, I have like 3 minutes to post this.
So no edits.  Just off the top.
Here we go.

• Have 3 minutes cause we’re about to head out for the Converge Church Planters assessment center.  3 days of intensity.  Psychologists, pastors, assessors, coaches, all inspecting us to say whether not they think we’re capable.  Errr…called?  Anyway, BIG week for us.  Please be praying.
• Visiting Patience in Perris right now.  The amount of space you get in a house compared to costs in Santa Cruz is freaking insane!
• Went on the first run in months yesterday.  Felt good.  Well, it hurt so good.  Time to start training again for this years triathlon schedule!
• Speaking of triathlon, Friday, as soon as we’re done with the assessment center, we drive to Tuscon Arizona to lead worship at the ICTN Triathlon Camp.  looking forward to it.  A bit frightened though since I’m a bit out of shape and will be working out with really IN shape people.
• Gonna try to teach Rachel how to swim for reals this week while we have a pool to help get her ready for her first triathlon in June.
• Did I mention we are without kids for a whole week?  Kinda miss em, maybe more worry about em, but overall just stoked to experience what it’s like to just enjoy my wife without distractions for a week!  Even if it is the midst of a stressful week.
• Last week was my last full wee in the office at CLC.  Only 3 more opportunities to lead worship there.  Kinda bitter-sweet.
• Looking forward to leading worship at Rancho Vista Church in Chula Vista on March 7th and on Easter this year!

OK.  There’s a random mind dump for ya.
Now that my head is clear, I’m out of here!
If I can muster up the energy, I’ll get out a full report when I can as the assessment progresses.
And maybe a triathlon post in my head later in the week about triathlon and gateway drugs.

Thanks for the prayers!
See ya soon!

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For 7 or 8 months now, our life group has been heading out to San Lorenzo park about once a month for a barbeque.
We show up with the BBQ, 2 big jugs of water and lemonade, and about 50 burgers and 50 dogs.
Then we share the food with whoever’s around and just get to know the people, many of whom are living in the park or nearby streets.

We chose San Lorenzo specifically because of it’s reputation for being a place that many homeless hang out.
There is a dynamic that I’ve noticed as we’ve hung out there that fascinates me.
At the park, in addition to a market that happens during part of the year (and that has a story in and of itself, but we’ll save it for a different blog), there is a lawn bowling court.  (is it called a court?)

If I were to stereotype the typical users of the lawn bowling facility, it would be primarily well of older white people.
Between this crowd and the shady homeless crowd is noting but a chain link fence.
In essence, they are standing within feet of each other, but they really couldn’t be further apart.
One group hardly even acknowledges the existence of the other.
Here’s a few pictures I snapped trying to an image of the divide:

I wonder, how often do we walk through life, walk right by people in need or people just not like us, and even though our eyes are wide open we choose not to see the humanity around us.

We’ll be out at San Lorenzo again tomorrow at 11:30 (provided it doesn’t rain).
Feel free to come and hang with us!

I leave you with the lyrics of a song from the musical Big River.

Worlds Apart
I see the same stars through my window
That you see through yours
But we’re worlds apart
Worlds apart
And I see the same skies through brown eyes
That you see through blue
But we’re worlds apart, worlds apart

Just like the earth, just like the sun
Two worlds together are better than one
I see the sun rise in your eyes
That you see in mine
But we’re worlds apart, worlds apart

I see the friendship in you eyes
That you see in mine
But we’re worlds apart, worlds apart
Together, but worlds apart

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For those who didn’t get one, or if it got lost in the mail (as I’m sure yours did), I figured I’d go ahead and post our Christmas letter as a way of quickly looking back on 2009…

Another year has passed and it’s time for the third annual Marchessault family Christmas letter.  We recognize that in this age of Twitter and Facebook statuses, it’s become difficult to read anything too long, so in order to help you out, we’re writing Twitter style.  A summary of the year in bite sized pieces of 140 characters or less.  Here we go:

• Started 2009 with 40 members of our church, building a house and serving the working poor in Mexico. Great way to bring in the New Year!
• 02/09/09 we had healthy baby boy #2 – Micah Robert Marchessault. He’s super cute and Caleb was stoked to be a big brother.
• Bobby continued his triathlons racing his first half Ironman at Wildflower in May. Took him 8 hours, but at least he finished, eh?
• Many city storytimes ended ($$$). Rachel & friend Kendra started SCcreative play.  Moms keep comin & great connection w/community.
  (santacruzcreativeplay.com)
• We raised over $3500  4 Hemophilia in Zachs name & Bobby rode his bike from San Fran 2 San Diego. Thanks 2 all who supported #coastalrace09!
• Caleb started preschool this year w/Santa Cruz city. He loves getting to go to school & Rachel loves the 1 on 1 time w/Micah.

Hopefully that kept your attention.  In all seriousness, as we look back on this year we have seen our family grow and have had some great adventures, both with ministry and family.  We sensed a time of transition coming and spent lots of time this year asking God what that meant.

As we look ahead to the coming year it is certain to be one of huge transitions.  We recently announced to our church that Feb. 21^st will be our final Sunday on staff at Christian Life Center and we will be starting a new church/movement here in Santa Cruz.  This is a dream that God planted in our hearts over 5 years ago and we are both nervous and excited to see what the coming year has in store.

We have been discussing partnership with an organization called Converge USA and they will be sending us to a 4-day Church Planters assessment at the end of January.  We ask for your prayers as we head into that final step before really starting this journey.  We look forward to sharing more with you in the coming months.  And maybe there are some of you who would want to prayerfully consider joining us here, as well!  Can’t find a better place to live.

We hope that this year has been great for you as well.  We’ll include our contact info and would love to hear from any and all of you.  Also, as usual, stop by our blogs and dialogue with us regularly.  We can’t wait to see what next years letter will look like!

God bless.  Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I don’t like to join in on the hype of a New Year.
But at the same time it truly does provide a great, natural opportunity to look back and reflect on the past year, and to consider what God has in store for the year ahead.

This year more than ever for me, the change over in year actually feels like a significant transition point.
I am incredibly excited, anxious, stoked, and nervous to see how God is going to pull things together in our lives over this next year.
So this year I’m thanking God for 2009, for the great stuff and the tough stuff.  And I’m saying goodbye to ‘09.  It’s been nice knowin ya!

Now bring on 2010!!
Thanks for livin it with us.

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