Alan Hirsch: Communitas, not Community [VERGE 2010 Video] from Verge Network on Vimeo.

My original intent in posting it in relationship to Missio Dei Community is the Communitas idea of being on mission together.
Of being Comrades.
Of having each other’s backs.

But closely tied to that is what he has to say about safety vs. danger.
It’s a conversation I’ve had with several friends recently.
One of my least favorite cliches I hear in church land…

“The safest place to be is in the center of God’s will.”

Ugh.
Bull.
Best place, absolutely.
But I usually hear this in terms of not having to face challenges, peril, or even death.
Try telling that to the Apostle Paul…

 I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones,three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.
2 Cor 11:23-27

The movement of Jesus was one that was subversive.   ALL of Jesus’ inner circle were killed for what they believed.
I hear people talk about the culture having too much influence on the Church instead of vice versa.  It usually revolves around some moral hot button issue.
But I’m way more concerned by the influence the consumer culture and the American dream have had on the movement of Christ.
The idea that Jesus wants us all to live comfortable middle class lives with a nice house and a nice car is bogus.
(I know…easy to say from a middle class faith leader with a nice home and nice car.  The irony isn’t lost on me.)

But I really believe that Jesus isn’t all that concerned about our safety, security, comfort, or convenience.  In fact, if you’re feeling really comfortable in life, I’d challenge you to consider if you’re really stepping out in faith and allowing Jesus to show up.
It’s not very comfortable.
When we left a fairly good paying, secure job at a church over 3 years ago to raise support, take side jobs, and start a new faith community with a couple of people in our living room, I was actually kinda surprised by how many people didn’t get it and thought we were nuts.  Then again, I guess we kinda are.
It’s been the most challenging thing I’ve ever done, and continues to be.  There have been lots of discouraging times and hurts along with some amazing victories and valuable relationships.
Looking back and seeing God show up at every junction has been amazing.

I think I’m starting to ramble.
What’s my point?
I’m not sure.
(Communication 101: know your desired outcome/central purpose from word 1. Fail.)
Except maybe to say that I really don’t think Jesus is that concerned about our safety and comfort.
How that plays out for each of us will look a little different.
But when we start to make safety a core value of the Gospel, we inadvertently remove most of the heart and power of the Kingdom that Jesus proclaimed.
Without risk, there’s not a whole lot of need for faith or God.
And usually that means getting pretty uncomfortable.

Tim Keller:
“My understanding of how you reach a culture is Christians have to be extremely like the people around them, and yet at the same time extremely unlike them… If Christians are not unlike they won’t challenge the culture, but if they’re not like, they won’t persuade the culture. Now, hitting that middle ground is hard.”

I think that’s where we’re living in a lot of ways, personally and corporately, as we blaze a path clumsily (at times) discover the path for Missio Dei as a community.

Many of our churches over the past number of years have emphasized the importance of being extremely unlike the people around us while forgetting about our many commonalities.
Of course, some others have swung the other way and can become completely like the culture without retaining the marks that set us apart as well.
The former has been more of my experience.

Point is, the quote resonated and got me thinking today.  Figuring out the balance is messy, and it’s the most exciting journey to be on at the some time.

How about you?
Do you agree or disagree with Keller?
Whether you are a church-goer or not, what has your experience been, and what positive or negative affects have you seen as a result?

• Good teaching
• Great sound system
• A worship leader
• A school to meet in
• A good kid’s program

That was the formula.
Boom.  Instant church.
He was being somewhat satirical but truthful at the same time.

A friend sent me this video from Ed Stetzer with everything you need to know now in 3 minutes in order to plant a “successful” church.
Pretty funny.

So what else would you put on the list of “needs”?
And let’s keep in mind, this was meant to be satire.
Sorry to burst your bubble if you were hoping this was your ticket to starting your next mega-church.

“Are you 100% sure this is what God is calling you to do?”

It’s a question I’ve heard more than once.
And in this particular instance, I know that she was not asking it antagonistically or doubtfully.  It was simply an honest question about the direction we were traveling with what was on our hearts.
And it was a very easy question to answer.
I confidently replied,

“Nope.

I’m about 93.86% sure.  And I don’t think I ever could get to 100%.”

I tend to think there are very few times that we can be absolutely sure as to where God is guiding.  I am not someone who has ever heard an audible voice of God guiding or directing me to do any particular thing.  He hasn’t showed up in the form of Morgan Freeman with any specific directions, yet.
And too often, I’ve seen that be an excuse for not doing anything at all.
I might even argue that at times God isn’t super concerned that we do one particular thing, rather he just wants us to do something!

Now don’t hear what I’m not saying.
That doesn’t mean we took the decision to embark on starting a spiritual community in Santa Cruz lightly.
We spent months praying intently for God’s direction.
We spent that time fasting once a week in an effort to hear more clearly.
During that time we had about 20 other people praying with us and for us as we tried to discern what the next season of life was bringing us.
We had conversations with trusted mentors and friends in our lives, and I believe that God often spoke to us in the context of those relationships.

But the truth is, even with all of that, I can’t say we reached 100% positivity regarding what God’s “perfect will” is.
I don’t think I ever have.
And it’s possible I may receive some radical divine revelation, but in all probability, I never will.

But I decided a while back to not use that as an excuse for inaction.
I will seek God as much as possible, and when I think I’m on the right track, I wanna look for what God is already blessing and go for it.
It sure beats sitting around waiting.

So, my question for you…
What might God want you to do that you aren’t cause you just aren’t sure yet?
Are you seeking God in an effort to do something about it?
Or are you using that as an excuse to do nothing?
Sure there is a season for waiting, but don’t get caught up in the waiting and let the journey pass you by.

Go live out your dreams and change the world, doing your best to follow Jesus every step of the way.

Several months ago I got an email from my friend Sean.  He’s the pastor of another young church here in Santa Cruz called Antioch Church.
The reason for the email was to let me know about a gathering on July fourth.  Antioch, Faith Community, Gathering By The Bay, and Trinity Covenant – all very different expressions of the church and all fairly young – gathered together on that Sunday morning at the Rio Theater.  As part of the liturgy they were having a commissioning time where they wanted me to come and share our story and allow them to pray for Missio Dei Community as we get started.

I have a heart to work alongside other faith communities and model unity as we help each other in accomplishing God’s purposes, so I was stoked for the opportunity.  Of course, I had already committed to teaching at a church in San Jose that is part of our Converge network, an opportunity I was also stoked about.  So, after tossing around a couple ideas, Rachel and the kids ended up going to that gathering to represent us while I spoke in San Jose.

As I was driving back over the hill I talked to Rachel on the phone and finding out how things went there.  She started to tell me about how they had 4 boxes up front for people to give to their particular church if they wanted to, BUT…the offering being passed that morning was a love offering to go to us!
As she told me, my eyes welled up with tears.
Check out this video Christal took for us from the service:

We had no idea they were gonna do that.
For four other churches to be willing to do that for us spoke volumes to us about those churches and those leaders.
For churches to be ‘Kingdom minded’ like that and even be willing to sacrifice to some degree to bless us was awesome.
I can’t wait to get to do this for someone else someday.  To share that level of generosity even when we don’t have a lot ourselves.
And I’m even more stoked than ever to get to work alongside these churches and others in Santa Cruz County to be Jesus to our community.

Yesterday I got a check for around $1350 from that morning.
Thanks you SO much to each of those church bodies.
We are excited to be a part of whatever God is doing right now in this city.
And this is just the beginning.
Can’t wait to see what’s next!

“So, what made you think Santa Cruz needs another church?”

I’m not positive if the skepticism behind the question was as strong as I thought or if I just perceived it that way cause I’m an artist which puts me on par with chicks on the sensitivity scale sometimes, but it isn’t the first time I’ve heard the question.
In fact sometimes it causes me to wonder the same thing.  In the discouraged moments, I can’t say I haven’t laid awake at night considering if we’re foolish.
But then I start to remember the things that God has called me to be, and how he has called me to go about it, and where I think he’s called me to do it.  That isn’t necessarily a sufficient answer for someone who doesn’t really get the whole idea of church planting, though.

Then I’m reminded of the need for the Gospel, the need for churches, and the need for church planting when someone like John Piper lays it out so clearly.
Check this out:

The best estimates we’ve been able to find, Santa Cruz is in the vicinity of 93% unchurched.
That leaves somewhere over 50,000 people in Santa Cruz city who aren’t engaged in a local community of faith.
Around 270,000 for the county.

But as another friend of mine pointed out, Santa Cruz is 93% unchurched…and it wants to stay that way.
In a lot of ways, that’s why I think Santa Cruz, and probably a WHOLE LOT of other cities across the U.S., need not only new churches, but a different kind of church.
I am stoked to be friends and partners with so many different leaders of so many different types of churches in our area.
So the question begins to arise…what kind of church are WE called to be?
What will THIS expression of THE church in Santa Cruz look like?
That question has a lot of answers to it.  It’s probably another 15 posts at least this long.
And then there are the other 30 posts of answers that we are still yet to discover.
Perhaps if I can get blogging more again you’ll get a feel for what that looks like to us.

But what I do know is this: we want to intentionally love and befriend people all over Santa Cruz.  We want to immerse ourselve in the daily rhythms and life of our city.  We want to do our part to make this county a better place to be, all the while being unashamed of our love and devotion to this leader of our lives, Jesus Christ.
And as we live out a passionate spirituality, a gospel larger than life, a life of faith and radical grace, we will see people experience God’s kingdom more clearly and ultimately encounter Jesus in a way that they can’t help but be transformed by him.
Sure, this is a simplification of the whole process.  I guess.
But I think our city needs a ‘church’ like that.
I think your city needs a ‘church; like that.
In fact, I think we need more than A church like that.
And when you run the numbers, I can’t imagine us ever having too many communities of faith that live this way, whether it’s a community of 6 people or 6000 people.

There’s a few reasons I think we need another church in Santa Cruz.

SO – I thought you could help me to pick the best URL for the website.
Poll should be embedded below.
And please feel free to leave any comments here as well.

Thanks for helping!

Today I drive to Tracy for a meeting with the church multiplication team for Converge, the denomination that we are partnering with in our church planting adventure (formerly Baptist General Conference).  This is where things will be officially finalized and kicked into high gear.

Rachel and I have known for a number of years now that God has called us to a ministry of church planting and multiplication.  But we always knew we didn’t want to just go at it alone.  Even in a context where we are simplifying our ideas of what ‘church’ is and using an atypical approach and model to church planting, we recognize that there is great wisdom in 2000 years of church history.  There is great value in being coached by those who have done it before and being connected to those who are in the trenches as well.  So why Converge you may ask.

Over the past year we looked at several organizations and talked with multiple people.  On one hand I give two reasons that I was drawn to Converge…primarily.  One – they major on the majors.  Two – they aren’t tied to one model of church planting (at least not in our district anyway).
But in addition to that, they are a movement with a history and passion for starting and multiplying churches.

Ed Stetzer is the author of several books and a very well known and reputable name when it comes to church planting and leadership.  A few months back he spoke at a Converge event, and this is what he had to say about the denomination:

I have written before that I believe that Converge Worldwide is the leading mid-size church planting denomination in America today. Just a few months ago, I was in California training their church planters. Today, it seemed like most of the attendees at the meeting had planted the churches they pastored. They ooze church planting– and it has changed their denomination for the better.

In denominational life, as in so many areas of life, what you celebrate, you become. Meetings in some denominations are “celebrating” everything BUT church planting. But, by celebrating church planting, the folks at Converge Worldwide have created a momentum that has transformed their movement.

Check out the rest of Ed’s blog post here.
Just one of the many reasons I’m excited about working with the crew at Converge.

Wow.  It really was a long week.
One thing that was told to us by someone who had been before was how stressful it was, yet they had never felt so loved and cared for.
I can understand why they said that.  We were talking to one of the assessors who was there for the first time, and even he was amazed at how much time they spent as a team truly praying over every single candidate and going through everything they had.

This past week was a huge one for us.
As we listened to so many ideas and models of ministry and strategies for church planting, 2 things happened.
First, as we saw some very different models from what we want to do, it just confirmed our conviction and passion for what God has put on our hearts.  Many times we would hear people talk about what they wanted church to look like, and we knew that wasn’t at all what we wanted to do.  All great stuff and needed for the Kingdom…just not where we’re at.
Second, we were surprised and encouraged that several people had very similar ideas and vision for what God had called them too.  We really aren’t totally crazy and these ideas we have of what church can look like is something god is doing in places all across the country.

We made some relationships that I trust will last, on some level, for a long time to come.  Especially with the help of Facebook.
I sat in the room this morning, and I looked at Rachel and said, “Wow.  I just realized, I’m actually going to really miss these people.  Even the ones that may have bugged me a bit at times.”
Not that anyone bugged me at all, of course.
There is something about going through a week of that intensity with like-minded people that really makes you feel bonded and close to people who you may never have connected with if it weren’t for this sort of experience.
It was so encouraging and inspiring to be in a room full of people who in some way or another were like minded.  Who understood each other.  Who “get” church planting.
Often times when we share that we will be starting a new church, we get the blank stare in return.  You’re doing what?  Why would you wanna do that?  Fun to be with people who have been around it, to hear stories from those who have done and are doing it, and dream with those who will be doing it.

So, the update…

The Lead Up

Last night we went out to Elephant Bar with a bunch of the candidates.
Pretty much all the people who went were from the other team, whcih ended up being one of our favorite parts about it.  We hardly knew they existed from the way things were set up during the assessment, so it was so great to connect with some other people and get to know them a little better.
After returning to the hotel, I had the worst night of sleep I had all week.
I woke up a good 4 or 5 times during the night, and every time I had a new dream about how the next morning would go.  Some really weird ones too.  And I’m pretty sure I got all four outcomes at some point in my sleep last night!

We talked about it when we woke up.  Here’s what I came to realize.  An assessment like this is something that many church planters experience, and we’ve known about it for years.  For the past 6 years we’ve felt called to church planting and everything we’ve done has been to help us grow in that direction.  This was a major milestone on that path.  This was like the culmination of the past six years of our life for us.
But it was good to remember that this truly was about another piece in discovering what God has for us.
It was an opportunity to humble ourselves and ask 12 other individuals, as a group, to tell us what they see.
And this is one of the few times that we would be told the truth in love in order that we could really grow from it.

So we got to the church, and after a short devotion/message time, it was time for exit interviews.
We were told to just hang out and assessors would come grab us for interviews.
Paul, who we’ve known for the past 7 or 8 months and is the one who sent us, let us know that he was gonna do 2 others then ours.
Those 2 took a while, and we were the very last people to finally do our exit interview.
It kinda felt like American Idol, with people coming out and disappearing and us just waiting for our turn as the room emptied.
I though about singing “Pants On The Ground” when I got taken out for my interview.
It was also kinda awkward, cause you kinda wanna know how it went for people, but you sure don’t wanna ask cause you don’t know if their happy with it or not.

The Exit Interview

So finally it was time for us to hang with Paul and talk about the outcome.
We sat down and he started by asking us how the week was for us, and then talking about their process.
He reminded us that there were 12 of them involved, so he couldn’t make it come out the way he wanted.  He couldn’t sway it by himself.  All these people had observed us for 3 full days.  And this outcome was the culmination of our application, references, an assessor interview, a counselor interview, our presentations, and multiple small group experiences.
With that he invited us to open the report to see what it said.
I don’t have it right in front of me, but it looked like something along these lines…

Assessment disposition:   Recommended

So there you have it.
It said underneath that they think we are able to plant a church and ready to do it now.  And that they believe we would be successful in ministry and encourage us to get coaching to help the process go well.
You would think we’d be all stoked and full of excitement.
I mean yes, inside we were.  But more than that, we were just relieved to know the outcome and have it all behind us now.

That definitely wasn’t the end.
From there we went through the report, and they let us know where there are growth areas that I need to work on and some suggestions on how to do that.
It’s amazing how well they are able to pin you down in a matter of 3 days.
Just about every area in need of growth was so true and totally made sense to me an Rachel.
It also outlined the strengths they saw in both me and Rachel and encouraged us to foster those.

Finally, we talked with Paul about some next steps and where things go from here.
There’s a church multiplication meeting next week, but for the most part, our partnership with Converge is now a done deal.
The green light has lit and this journey is really beginning in a crazy way.
Next stop…fund raising.

Thanks again to all of you who prayed for us this past week.
It was an amazing week that God has and will use in amazing ways.
Please continue to pray for us as we continue on this path.
For that matter, if you don’t mind, say a quick prayer for all 20 candidates who were at the assessment center this past week.  God is guiding each of them in unique ways, regardless of the outcome of the week for each of us.
And keep with us on the journey.
You’ll hear plenty about it here.

And now there’s a little something at my blog to give the next guy an idea what he’s about to walk into!