This Sunday we will be meeting at Lucy Read for the first time as a core team to get a feel for the inside, pray about what God wants to do in us and through us, and dream about what it could look like. We are really excited!
There has been a passage that I have been reflecting on in John 15:
1″I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful.”
Things move pretty fast when starting a new church and if you blink you might miss it. It is easy to overlook the hand of God that is continually providing and moving and I wanted to take a moment reflect on how God has provided for us over the last 4 months.
Recently I have been stewing on the amount of conferences that are taking place throughout the country / world. It has become especially ironic when the conferences are speaking / teaching on missional living because there are usually thousands of people, charged $300, listening to the same speakers, talk on the same subjects, and not really applying anything in their context.
Okay, that is a little cynical, but really?
In Philemon Paul writes a letter to reconcile a relational conflict between Onesimus and Philemon and in this letter we see a communication pattern that we can apply between church and community.
8 Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I appeal to you on the basis of love. I then, as Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus— 10 I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. 11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.
Toward the end of the apostle Paul’s life he writes a letter to a man named Philemon. Philemon had been intimately involved in the Colossian church and had built a reputation of being a man of character in the community. In the letter the apostle Paul goes on to affirm Philemon’s character and refers to him as a refresher. Leading me to consider, “What if the church was refreshing?”
For the last 6 months we have had a friend living with us and this next week she will be moving out. To be honest, we are a little excited. We will get to walk around in our underwear, we will get some space back in our fridge, we will…well that is all I can really think of because it has been something we have really enjoyed.
When most people find out we have someone living with us they usually say something like, “I’m sorry.” As though we had been taken hostage in our own home and had no choice. In reality it has been a great experience (at least for our family) and the greatest value was the one it will leave on our children.
Sometimes culture seems so abstract it is difficult to determine the best way for the church to benefit culture. To help make that process easier many people have identified 7 domains of culture. These are typically the primary influences of the culture. Below is a list of the 7 domains and our challenge is to identify how the church could benefit the culture collectively and individually.
We got to get together with some people to play volleyball at Brentwood Park and it was a lot of fun. I have noticed as we move forward to see a church and a people that are living on mission that it is easy to get so focused on the mission that we forget about relationships and connecting with each other. I was encouraged to see that even though we didn’t have hangouts every week sense we started meeting together, our group was surprisingly excited to hang out with each other. Which led me to a few observations:
Creating a website has been a bit of a roller coaster. At first we were excited to have a website and then after trying time after time to create a “branding” it seemed impossible. Our context is rather eclectic and it was difficult to find a website that would capture so many different characteristics. It got to the point where we no longer cared about a website.
Recently started reading Philippians. We are going through the book as a core team and going through it with one of our neighborhood gatherings. I have always thought of the theme revolving around joy and just quickly concluded the joy was in reference to Jesus. Kind of that whole “Jesus loves you, be happy” kind of thinking, but it seemed there was always a disconnection. I would read that Jesus loves me, but I didn’t always “feel” joy. I still believe Jesus is the focus, however, recently seeing the practical part of that joy is found in how we live through Jesus.
10. Unless you like being tired, don’t start a church. I don’t mean tired like I need to get a nap, but tired like my brain is spinning with about 100 ideas of what we could do and how we could do what we are doing better. See what I am say’n.
9. People are messy. Including me. Honestly if everyone would just do what I want, when I want, and the way I want it then we could knock this thing out in no time, however, that is not reality. Reality is that people are complicated and no matter how charismatic or passionate, you can’t make anyone do anything for any length of time. Nevertheless, if you try to do this on your own it is impossible or will lead to a really boring church.
This is a question I am starting to get lately. Never before did I wish that I grew up playing the guitar to get girls to talk to me. I could have a one man show that was all about me.
This is one of our challenges right now. There is a part of me that believes it will all come together and it will work out fine, however, there is another part of me that believes I am being naive and need to have more urgency in this area.
Every year a community organization in central Austin, Violet Crown Community Works, hosts a community festival. This year they asked our church to help out and we got to paint little kids faces. No one really kept track but it was estimated 250-300 little faces! It was a great way for us to serve the community and get to know the people.
As I have spent time with people over the last 10 years I have seen a common misconception of who God is. Due to our life experiences, background, family, and religious influences it seems there are at least 4 myths of God:
Santa God: This is that God that we turn to when we are in trouble and we need him to come through for us. We will call out to him in desperation to get a house, car, spouse, job, etc. Or even call out to him on more serious matters like the health of a loved one, relational conflict, or financial strain. We crawl up into his giant Santa God lap and let our requests be made known. When we find ourselves about to get a speeding ticket we think to ourselves, “Santa God, if you let me go with a “warning” then I will be good for the rest of the year.”
In October Austin will host one of the largest music festivals in the country. This year will have well known musicians like Pearl Jam, Beastie Boys, Dave Matthews Band, and up and coming artists like Flogging Molly, Phoenix, and Black Joe Lewis.
Serving North Central Austin 