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@sowchiccpastor-blog
I have a growing deep dissonance of watching church planters roll into a new city attempting to launch a church from scratch. Theyâre both p
I feel like someone needs this, so I will post it here for those that care. I am going to use this site to post helpful articles for church planters.
Director of Discipleship and Multiplication
Job Description
The Director of Discipleship and Multiplication will be responsible to assist in developing church planters that are on the ground, and also in the beginnning stages of leadership development. This person will help to facilitate the needed Pipeline intitives and will be tasked with providing the resources to help our planters survive and thrive in an urban context.
Scope of Work
Ministry Area: Church Multiplication/Leadership
Position: Full-time
Accountable to: Pastor or Lead Planter
Position Type: Volunteer/Bi-Vocational Role (Raise support/work in addition)
Spiritual Maturity Level: Tier 1 - 3 Leadership Role.
Spiritual Gifts needed: Apostolic, Shepherding, Orgaization, Administrative, Pastoral
Talents or Abilities needed: Ability to Cast Vision, Execute Vision, and train others.
Paid or Self Funded? Self-Funded with potential for a small bi-vocational or intern salary
Length of time: Indefinite or agreed upon by person and lead pastor/planter
ANTICIPATED TIME COMMITMENTS
1. Doing ministry/preparing for ministry: ten to twenty hours a week
2. Participating in meetings/training, Potential leadership of meetings,
3. Normal weekly discipleship with ledership team.
RESPONSIBILITIES/DUTIES
1. Lead and facilitate all trainings and others dealing with possible multiplication initiatives.
2. To assign and develop coaches for participants in our Pipeline and lead planter discipleship programs.
3. Develop fundraising plan and execute to meet needs of role and ministry.
4. Be able to develop additional aspects of our training as needed by the context
Director of Missions and Community Outreach
Job Description
The Director of Missions and Community Outreach is responsible to ensure all outside mission teams and all inside community outreach is organized and planned. This role also will train and inform all individuals that may engage in missions and outreach activities. This role is also repsonsible for the training and devleopment of active evangelistic engagement activities and ministries.
Scope of work
Ministry Area: Leadership
Position: Full-Time Volunteer Role
Accountable to: Lead Pastor/Planter
Position Type: Volunteer/Bi-Vocational Role
Spiritual Maturity Level: Tier 1 with potential of 3
Spiritual Gifts needed: Apostolic, Evengelistic, Administrative, Organizational
Talents or Abilities needed: Good sense to hustle, good judge of others, skills to organize, discernment.
Paid or Volunteer? Volunteer with potential for bi-vocational salary or self-funded with potential for bi-vocational supplemental income.
Length of time: Indefinite or agreed upon by person and lead pastor/planter
ANTICIPATED TIME COMMITMENTS
1. Doing ministry/preparing for ministry: 8-20 hours a week.
2. Participating in meetings/training: minimal, as needed.
3. Potential to be called to lead meetings at times.
RESPONSIBILITIES/DUTIES
1. Develop plans with potential mission trip leaders/teams
2. Lead and facilitate when teams arrive, and help to organize agenda with leaders.
3. Present a positive image of the church and develop potential for long-term partnerships.
4. Develop plans to send teams and volunteers to our various community service partners.
5. Develop a plan of evengelism for potential teams and current church members.
6. Develop and execute fundraising plans to cover salary and other needs for position and ministry.
Bah, Humbug!
One of my favorite stories during this time of year (besides the actual story of the birth of Christ of course) has always been âA Christmas Carolâ by Charles Dickens. It can be read, it can be on tv, It can be played by Muppets, Disney Characters, or even Bill Murray, but I have always enjoyed the different versions in whatever form it appears in. Of course the antagonist character in this story is a miserable misor who has lost the spirit of Christmas and needs to be taught a lesson. I am not saying I am Scrooge in that I donât want to help others, or even be unpleasant to others, but as far as the whole Christmas thing, I am just not feeling it this year. If Christmas cheer was a real thing, I would be needing to go to bed early tonight just to get ready for the long night ahead of being visited by three spirits. This is the first year, maybe in my life that I can honestly say to all the âChristmas stuffâ, Bah, Humbug.
Historically this time of year has always been a favorite of mine. As a kid I loved this day. I would wait patiently until Christmas Eve and would get all my gifts usually as early as I could wake up Christmas day. I remember being with family, the great He-man toys I received, special gifts I would receive and give, and would say almost every Christmas, âThis is the best Christmas everâ. It was always that magical time you hear about. In my adult life, it has really been no different. Christmas was always special, this is until this year, when Christmas spirit died.
This is not a post to complain. There have been many great things move in the ways of our church, how our community has taken us, and how we have seen God move this year. But there have been struggles this year, some too big to endure. We have had sewage back ups, broken appliances and equipment, and of course worst of all the loss of our baby boy Gideon. This was supposed to be his first Christmas. We had a Santa onesie to put him in so that all of his grandparents could see how adorable he was. We had an ornament to commemorate his first year of many with us, which was coincidentally a combination of the other two boys ornaments we got when they were born. We even planned some of his gifts as Christmas approached, and had to return them as we came to the reality that he would not be here with us. I think not seeing those things has made Christmas lose the spirit for me it once had. I am not sure if it will ever have that magic again, but time will only tell.
I cannot even comprehend what many go through during this time of year. Those who had a rough year, or are now going into a rough year. Those who have fought a disease or are now going into the battle. Those who have lost loved ones this year, or even those who carry the pain each year, never really able to forget what life would be again without them. As bad as this year hurt me, I understand. As crazy as it sounds, I have a solution and he is the reason we celebrate this time of year in the first place. Jesus was born at this time for the sole purpose of dying. God gets our sorrow, he gets our pain, he is not a angry God who punished us. He is a suffering, loving, holy God that suffers with us. But even in all of that, when we suffer it wonât fix our Christmas spirit. Also it is okay to be sad and not be okay.
As far as Christmas as the time we celebrate the birth of Christ, I rejoice. But as far as the spirit that was coined in the Charles Dickens novel, for me, I say âBah, humbugâ!
Worst Month Of My Life
This has been one if not the worst month of my life. We have had our fair share of bad times financially, emotionally, and even physically at times. This has been the most gut wrenching, heart ripping, devastating thing I or my wife has ever experienced. In all of this pain, there has been countless opportunities to share Christ, tell people our story, and minister to many who have been in our position before. For that I am grateful. The support we have seen from our friends and our partners, I am completely overjoyed, overwhelmed, and grateful. But I know we would give it all up to see him laying in our arms right now making cute baby noises. I wouldnât be so irritated of the things I was with Caleb. Caleb would not sleep in his crib. It drove me insane. I would say, âI hope this one isnât in our bed all the timeâ. Now I would give anything to have sleepless nights holding him in my arms. Letting him lay on my chest, as he calms down because of the sound of my heartbeat. I would give anything to see him smile at me, or react that he knew my voice for the firs time. I would give anything to hear him cry all night, and to not sleep for days, knowing things could be worse. I regret all the time with my boys I took for granted. I regret the first few months of the pregnancy when I was in shock and didnât know what to do. I regret all the times I made jokes about how old of a dad I would be.
The days are getting easier, not because I donât miss him. But because my brain canât seem to go through the pain to do so. Any time I start to think about what things would had been like if he made it here this week, I weep. My brain will quickly change and I donât seem to cry as long as I was, but I still cry. Marci will have a bad day as she is still processing. I will be strong for her, but on my runs I reflect, I smile, and I cry. Also I have hope, and faith in a savior which helps. Because of Christ, there is the hope that Gideon is with Christ not feeling the pain and brokenness of the world that he died in. There is hope that because of Jesus our family will see him again. It hopefully isnât just truth but will even drive our family to follow after Jesus even more so. If I write anymore it would just be rambling. Actually probably most of this has been. Thanks for reading...
When God Isnât Good
Sometimes from our human standards we can look on the actions of God as being not good. My family and I are going through something today that l could only imagine could come from a hateful, vengeful, cruel God who doesnât really care about us or anyone else. Or itâs just all chance and God doesnât exist anyway. Most of you that know me can see where my thoughts are now. However I have struggled all day.
When God banished Adam and Eve from the garden after sin had entered the world, it is hard to see the love of God we so desire to see. We want God to love us the way we see love, not the way He does. Love to
God is more complex than feelings or circumstances. Love to God is something more abstract, and His ultimate God like love takes time to show its true self.
To see that the entire world was broken because of the actions of two people, can make it hard to see the goodness of God. As it was happening it looked like the actions of a vengeful, unloving, non compassionate God who had only his own interest at heart. But as we look at it from its entire context we can see God banish Adam and Eve so that they would not eat from the tree of life, banishing them for all eternity, and thus us as well. Godâs true love is more of the long game that we hate rather than the short game that we all crave. We look at Genesis 3:15 which lays out the plan of redemption as soon as the results of the fall were implemented, but how long did this take? We see how God uses messiness and brokenness to bring forth true redemption through His son. But when He uses us to do the same, when he takes something we didnât even know we wanted, when he changes things in our lives or does something we didnât expect or want, we question his goodness.
This was not something God did not have to endure. Even though our God is perfect, sovereign, and yes...good, our question is still why? As Jesus prayed in the garden before his betrayal he knew of the wrath that was going to fall on Him, not just from the pain of the cross, but the pain of betrayal, shunning, shamming, beating, etc. God would know what it was like to lose his son.
For those who do not know Gideon Maurice Coble died in utero sometime yesterday. He will be born in the morning with no breath in his life. We will not get to see him crawl for the first time, walk for the first time, ride a bike, I wonât teach him to drive, I wonât see him get married, because he is dead. I donât know why God let evil and death touch our son. What I do know is that before he was born, he was already in glory, resurrected with Christ our Lord. His name meant, âHe that strikes down darknessâ. Little one, you will strike down darkness. Your name will be what drives me each day remembering why we came to this dark, dead, city in the first place. Without Jesus, my son is dead with no hope. But because of Jesus my son is more alive than I could ever hope to be. Our city is in that same darkness. This wonât make us leave, it will only make me push harder at the darkness. May Godâs glory be your glory little one.
I promise Iâll stop writing about this soon, but right now this is helping me as I process it, so here it goes:
Today was the worst day of my life. I did not cope well, I was not strong for Marci, and any time I looked at our sweet child, I broke down and cried. Our world is so broken, so hurt, so messed up and there is nothing we can do to fix it. We try to do it by putting the right people in positions of power, but it gets broken somehow. We try to do it by doing it ourselves, but we always seem to mess it up. Today as I reflected on our stillborn son I found something I wasnât expecting, Godâs mercy. If God is truly in charge of everything, even the things we canât understand, no matter what I did, Gideon was destined to be used to give God glory through his death all along. If God was going to take Gideon anyway, even when I donât understand it, and maybe never will, this was the most merciful. This was the one that not only shows what true grace and mercy is, but what true love is too.
We did not get a definite on how Gideon died but this was the one I will use anytime anyone asks:
The tale of Baby G, the greatest superhero I have ever known.
We had a boy named Gideon. His name meant âHe that strikes down darknessâ. As we labored to plant a church, the spiritual warfare we have endured has been unbearable at times. He has attacked many things, but still we would not leave the dark city to do something easier. But evil knew the thing it could do that would take the biggest blow. So one night, he tried to choke Gideon with his own umbilical cord. But the enemy underestimated the little one, as he fought for his life. Knowing he could not win due to his size, God gave him the strength to rip his cord from his loving motherâs womb, thus not allowing the enemy to win, but to sacrifice himself so that the enemy would not beat him or strike him down. In the mercy and love of the one true God Jesus, the boy named Gideon who was hoped to grow a man by his parents, was born dead in this life, but alive in the next. Even as the brokenness of sin through Gideonâs death took his life, God knew what would happen the whole time. God used this precious life to literally strike down darkness. The rest of the story is not written as this would effect Gideonâs mother and father in ways the enemy had not expected.
I am sad, I am angry, but I wonât stop doing what I can to glorify God and ensure Gideonâs death is not for nothing. This was a hard day, but things will pass. At the end we will see you again if we hold on to that hope.
I know there are those of you who have no idea how I can cling to my faith this closely. How can I believe in something I canât see. To be honest I am not even sure. But through what has been the worst day of my life, I have felt Godâs love through the darkness. I have been reminded of his reality in dreams. I know it is hard to understand, but itâs there. If itâs not then all hope is gone. I canât live in a world like that. I can only live in the one where these is hope that I will see my son one day, even if we will be both too busy to notice worshipping our Lord together. I love you little one, you will forever be my favorite superhero, and you be used to glorify God in ways you could not imagine. The only hero who gives true hope, Jesus. Iâm broken and devastated, but I cling to the cross.
Thought I Was Getting Better
I thought I was getting better
Last night I thought I was getting better. This morning I broke down again when I saw a picture talking about having a great life. The person posting this did not anticipate this would make me feel anyway, so I am not mad at them. However it did make me mad, angry, and even vengeful at those I have come across with many of the same messages (not that I believe the person that posted meant to support those views). Things like what happened to our precious sleeping baby do not happen because someone does not have enough faith. It does not happen because we are to reject sickness as it is not of God. These teachings are dangerous to what it actually means to follow Christ. These teachings are unhealthy, and to those in deep despair can even turn them off of Christ altogether. They happen because we live in a broken world and without Jesus it will continue in its brokenness. That doesnât mean we will have a great life now. The thing Christ has prepared for us that will be great may never come in this life. We still follow him, despite the results he wants to show us while we are here. Paulâs life on earth was for the lack of better terms, hell. He was beaten, died a few times, was rejected, was hated, and was conspired against by his own churches. But because of the mission given to him by Christ he kept moving on. He knew it was far better for him to die and be with Christ, but he had an obligation to stay with those in pain so that they would see glory.
As I woke up yesterday, my thoughts were not positive. Thoughts of âhow am I going to make it without this kid?â, âwhat now?â, âhow am I going to be there for my wife?â, etc. running through me head. Causing me to weep, worry, and have utter despair. I got the idea to get in a support group on FB. It helped me to see the pain other people have. It helped me to talk to other in the group about trusting Jesus when it is hard. I got to share the true gospel, that it wasnât given to us in complete victory, but complete death and then victory. It started to fix a broken world, but left the world broken until later. I learned that stillborn is an unhelpful term, and that âsleeping babiesâ is the way to correctly coin the term. I learned that the majority of people who had dealt with this donât know Christ, which leads to their despair. I donât know why death took my son. I donât know why satan wonât leave us alone. Iâm afraid, but I know what we are here to do.
This morning I thought maybe I had gone through all the emotions of grief and that was why I felt better. But after Marci read me the stages of grief given to us by our hospital, I knew I was still going through all of them, but still in the first stage, shock. This will take a long time, this will hurt, I lost my son and I will never get him back. My wife is in pain, and it is something I canât protect her from. My 14 year old still hasnât cried and it hurting so deeply. My four year old keeps hitting the swing that would be Gideonâs, he is so angry right now but doesnât understand why. Our family is suffering all around, as is all of our church families (not partners we consider them all family), and FB friends we may have never met. This post is not as thought out theologically, or even as emotionally as it should. I know he is with Jesus, but I selfishly still want him with us. Keep praying for us, this will be a hard road. Thank you friends.
One Day At A Time
One day at a time...
I donât feel like normal people feel. I am not sure if this will even be helpful to those who have gone through the hell my wife and I just walked through the past few days. This has been some of the hardest days of my life. I have cried for days, lamented of what my life will be like without him, and ultimately have quickly come to the hard grips that he is not coming back. I have an intense reaction to different events in my life and then try to move on quickly. That is what someone with my personality type does. When we see a particular situation, we look at the issue, the emotions that might come from it, and then move on. This has not been so easy with the passing of my precious sleeping son, and I know it wonât, nor do I want it to be. I donât ever want to forget my son, however I do want to be driven by him, and I want to draw my passion to serve God with all I can upon Gideon being able to glorify God in some way. That takes me to have a bit of grief, but a little more anger at what was taken from us by the enemy we fight every day. This takes time but it is a tough process.
This morning started out bad, with me replaying the last few days in my head and sobbing before the sun came up. I had high anxiety as I knew it would be the day that we would have to confirm the death certificate, purchase the urn, and figure out just how things were going to progress without him in our life yet another day. As the day started, it was tough, and then came the trip to the funeral home. I was surprisingly relieved to see it actually helped me begin to put things into perspective, although it was still hard. Finalizing things helped me to grasp he is not coming back, as much as it pains me now to say. I was able to work my normal functions today somewhat, take kids to school, connect with others, share the gospel with someone, and even consule a friend on a horrible situation of his own. I even thought as I warmed up my meal, maybe Iâll be okay. I even started to panic that I might forget him. Then reality hit me, the kids started yelling, tensions rose, and I remembered just how much I am going to miss him. I didnât cry, I got choked up, but no tears so some progress, but I wasnât about to forget him either, and know I never will. Things are getting better for me emotionally day by day which I am surprised and concerned some about. Iâm not going to be okay for months and it will emotionally hit me for the next year in little times when I start to see his face. But there is hope, maybe I wonât wake up crying each day. I do not anticipate that to be tomorrow. It just has to be taken day by day. My aim is that his memory will always be there to drive me each day I give my life for Christ to be furthered in our community. Even in tragedy, God can still get the glory.
Be in prayer for Marci...I cannot even imagine how this is effecting her. I feel helpless to take her pain away at this point. Yes I hurt, but she is the one who will hurt so much more. I would not put anyone through the hell physically and emotionally she has had to endure. So please pray for her. She is my heart, and when her heart breaks, even as mine is too, it hurts with hers. Thank you all.
Jars of Clay...
Jars Of Clay
Long post...sorry
Not every day is bad, some are good. I have had lots of good conversations about Christ, shared the gospel, and have seen God work in ways I canât explain. These past few days however, especially today has been really hard. It is hard to find the good sometimes, however this situation has helped me to understand the weight of the gospel. I donât mean that the burden to spread it is too much, but the realization that it never was meant to be easy. Being an ambassador of Christ is not easy. This was not realized by reading books on suffering, but by reading scripture (specifically Job, 2 Corinthians, and Habakkuk). The victory of the resurrection and ultimate victory of Christ is not possible without the suffering and agony of the cross. The reality is the weight of the gospel is only lightened when we understand our purpose in showing Godâs glory in suffering, and knowing that we will suffer. We suffer because we live in a broken world, not because we are being punished for something. Urban church planting has many obstacles to navigate. It requires you to understand and experience suffering in various character developing and soul crushing ways. From psychological to physical to emotional, the enemy will try to beat you by distraction, deconstruction, and destruction
When you are called to something like church planting, revitalization, domain engagement (which all of us see as we engage friends and neighbors with the gospel in our workplace, play spaces, etc.) Anything where you are taking ground from the enemy, many times you will experience suffering more than you will experience success. That is because we have to sow the ground before it is ready for the seed to take. This is something I have already known, but I guess I wanted to choose how I suffered. I was okay suffering financially, personally, and even through a lot of hard work, but suffering the way we have the past few weeks, I never wanted that. I have always feared that type of suffering. The suffering I canât control, the suffering I canât choose who it effects, the suffering that comes in and messes everything in my life up without even asking permission. That was naive on my part, since throughout scripture, every person called to something by God suffered in some way. Some worse than others, all in different ways.
In 2 Corinthians Chapter 4 Paul, who was the main guy we see in the New Testament spreading the church to those who are not Jews (called Gentiles here) is writing to the church he helped to start in the city of Corinth. In the first letter things really went off the rails and he had to correct it. This letter has a lot more of Paulâs personal pain from his own suffering, but is more positive in his tone to those in the church. There is lot to learn about suffering in this chapter, I am going to focus on one small but important aspect. Paul uses a great illustration of suffering to those in the church that are suffering. Paul said that they were like clay jars, which is extended to us. He did not pick something like steel, or gold, or some indestructible metal that could not be broken. He used a fragile, moldable, crack susceptible, easily breakable material. He said as followers of Christ we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. We may not understand what it happening to us, but we will not be driven away from Him. We will be persecuted, but not left alone to die. Paul even says we will be struck down, but never destroyed. This is not because of some sort of supernatural protection, but because of the truth of the gospel within us. As all the toils of brokenness is hitting us, so is the life of Christ within us being shown to those who are also suffering, or in despair, or most importantly do not even know Jesus. Being a follower of Christ gives us joy, but it does not protect us from the brokenness of this world. The light of the gospel is seen not in our success, but in our suffering. If we are really carrying the burden of the cross, we will also carry the burden of suffering. We will also not always see success just because we suffer. Our suffering is not for our good, it is for his glory. We donât get success because we suffer, we get suffering because we are being molded like that clay jar to be used for what God needs us for which means we may eventually see the good it is for, but that does not guarantee us success. I have never hated prosperity or faith based teaching any more than I have these past few weeks. If I am suffering because I didnât have enough faith, or because I wasnât sowing my finances a certain way, or because I wasnât believing in Godâs power enough, or looking for the good in the suffering I was enduring, than the gospel is too small for me to believe in. If the gospel means I get success it is incapable of saving me. But if we have been suffering because that is what it means to live a life according to the gospel. If we have suffered because the one we believe in relates to our suffering because of our own. If we have been suffering not because God calls us to suffer, but because following God in the brokenness might cause us to suffer, if we suffer to see His glory and not mine, then the gospel could not be any bigger. Our God could not care for me any more than he already does, because he gets it, He suffered, bled, and died, and He is in as much agony as I am as He sees his child hurting. I am not saying following Christ means you will suffer, but it means if you do, you must cling to the cross and know he is holding you. Today was hard as we picked up Gideonâs urn. I thought picking up the remains would help, but it didnât. I thought I would be okay, but it just wasnât. Today was hard, but I know it will get better. I also see God working in all of this and I am honored to be the plow
He uses even though it hurts to be used sometimes. I am so glad to be called a child of God, I am so glad to be called to his service. To God be the glory. May more know his name in the suffering.
Itâs Been Two Weeks
Itâs been two weeks...Google Search...Why does God
Below is what auto populates in a Google search when you type in the words âWhy does Godâ This is not some conspiracy, it is done by what is the most searched options. It is hard to trust and believe God when things like darkness and death come to our door. Many people search and just like everything else, rather than use experts we use google and get our own answers. It is important as Christ followers we see how the world views this, so that we as followers of the light can assist others in seeing Jesus in their own darkness.
It has been two weeks since the worst day of our lives. It was about now Marci was getting ready to labor for a gift she and I would not be able to keep. She would labor to the point of putting her own self in danger, just to see our boy who was in a state of eternal sleeping for six hours. We would get to hold his beautiful body, look at his face, hug him as if he was there, sing to him as if he could hear us, cry on him and break down as if he could feel our love and pain that he was gone. He never even opened his eyes to see what we looked like. We never got to see his beautiful blue eyes staring back at us. He was probably too busy being held by Jesus to even hear us. Maybe this is how God creates angels, maybe that is why Job in the third chapter of the book of Job thought being stillborn was the ultimate picture of the best life.
âOr why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light? There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster. The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master.â
ââJob⏠â3:16-19⏠âESVâŹâŹ
Truth is he never got to know us, and I know that view on angels is not backed by any sources and is probably heresy, but itâs a nice thought right? Two weeks and that entire day will play over and over in my head every Friday for a long time. The boys are handling things in their own various ways. Matthew uses the comfort of his friends, as does Caleb. Matthew does not show as much emotion where as Caleb wears his emotions on his sleeve more like myself. Marci and I keep trying to lay the blame on ourselves in someway, knowing that there is nothing we could have done to save him. Marci and I lift each other up and help each other get through this one day at a time, together, and at our own pace. We have gotten angry at the situation, asked why, and for the first time Caleb, our youngest, is starting to come to grips that Gideon is not coming back. Yesterday Caleb asked, âWhy did Gideon have to dieâ? A question I still canât completely answer except with âDo we believe God is Good?â Caleb, our four year old who may not even understand what he is saying then said âBut Jesus diedâ and I replied with âBut He came back, and because of that Gideon is with himâ. Caleb then said, âBut Gideon diedâ. I said âYeah buddy, he didâ.
We have gotten angry at the situation but never at God. We know he is good even in the darkness. We know he is our only light in all of this, and we know our little G is safe in the arms of our creator right now. We are teaching our kids, our church, and our community, and complete strangers. Based on this search it is evident that maybe God doesnât care what happens to us, is vengeful towards his creation, doesnât love us, or doesnât exist at all. Even when bad things happen, it doesnât mean that God doesnât love us, that we are being cosmically punished, or that He doesnât exist. It means his plan is much longer than the short game with quick results we all crave. It means even in the darkness, and he cries with us for what we are enduring, he is doing something. We have to trust He as our creator knows better than us, and let Him be God. If we keep his glory and plan at the aim of all that happens, we can see our faith grow, not lessen in the darkness we might experience from time to time. We will not be better for a while, we will still be processing things for a while, we will all as a family be changed by this event. But we will use it to point to the only light that can truly comfort in the darkness. To Him be the glory and may more know his goodness and truth as we look to point to Him through all of it.
Itâs Been Three Weeks
Itâs Been Three Weeks...
I havenât written a lot this week. Having a few unexpected weeks off, leading a small church plant, volunteering in various ways with friends and neighbors this week, and doing all I can to be there for my family has taken up most of my time. That doesnât mean I havenât written every day this week about how I am doing. It just means I havenât posted any of it because most of what I have written has either not been well thought out, or just wasnât something I felt I needed to share. But I wanted to write an update, because I think it is helpful for both believers and unbelievers to see how Christ followers suffer. It is helpful to see how we look at things differently because of our hope in Jesus. How joy doesnât leave us, even though we may not feel like being happy for a few weeks. Here are some things I have learned over these past few weeks.
1. There are a few, but not many good books written on the subject of grief.
There has been a lot of advice, books, and podcasts people have recommended to us over this time to try and help with grief. First there are not many good theologically grounded books on how to deal with greif, let alone stillbirth. Second, most books written on suffering actually are not dealing with suffering in a situation of intense grief. The most helpful have been âA Greif Observedâ by C.S. Lewis, âSuffering:Gospel Hope When Life Doesnât Make Senseâ by Paul David Tripp, and âWalking With God In Pain and Sufferingâ by Timothy Keller.
2. Suffering As A Christian Does Not Mean God Isnât Still Good and All Powerful.
A popular theme in the books on suffering I didnât recommend is that if God is good then He doesnât have the power to stop evil, or if He is all powerful and wishes to not stop evil then He must not be good. This leads us to two conclusions. Either He isnât all powerful and evil rules over Him, or He is all powerful and lets evil touch us because He isnât good. Both lead to the conclusion that either God Isnât God or he doesnât exist. This in my opinion is one large reason of why many have a hard time following Christ or even believing in Him in the first place. Something I have known but am even more confident in seeing through this, is that even though we still suffer, it doesnât mean that God canât be both good, all powerful, and still allow pain and suffering to rearrange our world.
3. Suffering As A Christian Doesnât Mean That God Doesnât Love Us.
Another common theme noticed is that if God allows his followers go through suffering than He must not truly love us. I dealt with this in my first post after Gideon died as it was the first lie I was told by the enemy as I wrestled with why this happened. We have given up all financial stability, security, and hope for a conventional ministry career to follow Christ to everywhere, eventually leading us to Chicago. After all of this sacrifice, why would something like this happen to us? Just because Christ saves us from eternal separation from Him, does not mean that we as his followers will not experience the suffering that this broken world allows. It isnât that God isnât in control of what happens, but that his idea of what is good for us and ours is not the same.
4. As Christians we are not kept from suffering, when we follow him, unfortunately we are called to suffer.
Suffering doesnât look the same for everyone. Sometimes it is financial and sometimes it is more emotional. The problem with suffering is no matter how much we want to pick and choose how we suffer, that is not how it is in reality of living in a broken world. That means that sometimes suffering will come in like an unwanted, uninvited, guest that has the sole purpose of changing our lives around. Suffering causes us to look at our life from a higher elevation and also to look at our belief in God and our purpose in His world more subjectively and intently. Throughout scripture, we see that Godâs people endured intense and sometimes even deadly acts of suffering. No biblical writer ever gave us the idea that suffering was something we would be saved from. The bigger narrative of the Bible shows, that as we follow Christ, more than likely it is not will we suffer? but, when? and how much?
5. No matter how bad it hurts, our suffering brings about the greatness of Godâs glory.
Whereas the Bible speaks of Godâs blessings after various forms of trial and suffering such as in the story of Jospeh and his brothers, we should not expect Godâs glory to mean it is something we will experience or even see in this lifetime. The glory of Stephen being killed in Acts 7 is not that Stephen would be saved, but that his death would scatter Christians throughout the whole world. His glory does not mean ours, but that doesnât mean what we are going through isnât good because of the endgame God has in mind that we canât see yet. It is said by many that donât believe in Christ that this isnât enough to see God as good because something terrible happened. The only way to see this as good is if we understand that we not to fully know the mind of God and how his actions are either good or bad. God can still be good, and his glory can still be the endgame even if we donât see it at that time.
There is a lot more I could write on this, a lot more scripture I could go into more detail on. But that is not the intent of these posts at this time. The reason I am writing is because this helps me process, but I think it may be helping others too. If you are not a beleiver in Christ, or you just nominally serve Him, I hope this gives you a snapshot into what it means to follow Christ as we suffer. For those who are in Christ I hope these posts help you to understand how we as followers can get through tragedy and follow him closely despite the suffering we are enduring.
I leave you with this quote on suffering from C.S. Lewis.
âWe can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.â
A Rough Few Days...
Today started out bad, and got better, but it is still hard.
I moved this to a blog, just in case there are some that donât want to read my post. I know the first few days, people usually want to support you. But eventually it gets old and weâre on to the next story. Itâs sad, but unfortunately true. Luckily many of our friends and partners are real and are with us no matter what we go through. We are truly blessed to have many of you.
I donât feel like normal people feel. I am not sure if this will even be helpful to those who have gone through the hell my wife and I just walked through the past few days. This has been some of the hardest days of my life. I have cried for days, lamented of what my life will be like without him, and ultimately quickly come to grips that he is not coming back. I have an intense reaction to different events in my life and then try to move on quickly. That is what someone with my personality type does. When we see a particular situation, we look at the issue, the emotions that might come from it, and then move on. This has not been so easy with the passing of my precious sleeping son, and I know it wonât, nor do I want it to be. I donât ever want to forget my son, however I do want to be driven by him, and I want to draw my passion to serve God with all I can upon Gideon being able to glorify God in some way. That takes me to have a bit of grief, but a little more anger at what was taken from us by the enemy we fight every day. This takes time.
This morning started out bad, with me replaying the last few days in my head and sobbing before the sun came up. I had high anxiety as I knew it would be the day that we would have to confirm the death certificate, purchase and urn, and figure out just how things were going to progress without him in our life. As the day started, it was tough, and then came the trip to the funeral home. Something I thought I would be a basketcase for. I was surprisingly relieved to see it actually helped me begin to put thing into perspective. Finalizing things helped me to grasp he is not coming back, as much as it pains me now to say. I was able to work my normal functions, share the gospel with someone, and even consule a friend on a horrible situation of his own. I even thought as I warmed up my meal, maybe Iâll be okay. I even started to panic that I might forget him. Then reality hit me, the kids started yelling, tensions rose, and I remembered just how much I am going to miss him. I didnât cry, so some progress, but I wasnât about to forget him either, and know I never will. Things are getting better for me emotionally day by day. Iâm not going to be okay for months and it will emotionally hit me for the next year. But there is hope, maybe I wonât wake up crying each day. I do not anticipate that to be tomorrow.
Pray for us, but more than anything pray for Marci. Because she has so much physical pain, it has been hard for her to suffer as emotionally as I fear she eventually will. We know Jesus is holding us, however this is really hard and will continue to be for both of us. It has to be taken one day at a time.
The places you leave behind
Place 1 (The Home)
The trick to church planting in the city is that there are no tricks that work. You cannot be someone that is interested in the short game in Chicago. My wife said it best yesterday. âChicago church planters need to view themselves as missionaries sold out to the long mission of God rather than start up entrepreneurs trying to see a quick turn on investmentâ. Whereas handing out flyers, doing evangelism things in parks and common spaces can help in building relationships, it does not do much to further the mission of the church. A church plant can start a lot of different ways. It can start by coming with a core group that meets, has Bible study someplace and begins to entice others to come until the point the team is large enough to launch. The thing with this is while it will attract a lot of Christians, it still does not do much to reach the truly lost locals of the city. As we have tried this approach, the best approach for this is to join up with those who have already paved the way for others to join already. While getting Christians from other churches is an option, the question is will it really help if the vision is to reach those who donât go to church?The other way is a lot more lonely and a has a much lower success rate in our city. This is to build the church from the majority of evangelism to the community and reaching out using the different spaces which are in our urban environments. I discussed these three spaces in the blog last week. As we look to take the hard approach, I want to start hashing out these spaces.
There is no place like home
This first space is the one God has given us to dwell with our families, friends, and even at some times those we disagree with. This is the space we open up that is the closest to us. This is the space many of the people we want to reach are reluctant to let us into without building trust with them. These are the spaces we are not normally going to get invited to until some trust is built. This is also the space we tend to guard with our lives. The first space is our home. The problem with opening this space up for mission is we like comfort, rest, and a place to get away from everything. Inviting others into this space means we invite them into our messy homes and messy lives. It means as those in the church we have to show we donât have it all together all the time. The idea is not to invite people into this space to try to build our church, or to even bait and switch them into being followers of Christ. It means we really are to care about them as Jesus did, even if they donât beleive in what we do. It means we keep inviting them and keep pursuing them as neighbors until we canât anymore. Jesus did not just call us to use this place for those we are close to, but those we are far from.
The key to our home is attached to the gospel
I cannot give this subject the honor it deserves. There is a book recently put out by Rosario Butterfield that goes into way more detail than I can over a subject I am still trying to figure out. The image above is one of the many great quotes from this book. Please read it, it will give you a much better overview of this first space than I can. The premise of the book is to explain how messy hospitality or as Butterfield calls it in her book, ordinary radical hospitality can be used by the Holy Spirit to change lives and soften hearts for God. It also means opening up our backyards, front yards, and dining rooms to those we wouldnât normally. This means to summarize Butterfield, that we eat with sinners, hang out with sinners, but we donât sin with sinners. This is one I am still working on, this is one that is the hardest for me, but it is also the most important space given to us by God to be used for His glory. In the next blog I will discuss what it means to use the second spaces. The places we work and intearact with people outside the home.
Disclaimer: Maybe this will help you out as you think through things. But as mentioned before I am writing these to help myself hash out things. While I hope they help you, they are an outlet for me to think and try not to go nuts. Ha ha!
The Importance of knowing your place in church planting
As God created us in His image, he created us as Himself displayed in the trinity to be in community. But after the fall, after sin entered the world, this perfect community was shattered. Not only was it shattered, but we would be unable to solely rely on God to provide our needs. We would have to work for what God had for us. Our needs became no longer just Him, because sin created the idolatry we have now in our hearts. Because the Imago Dei (The image of God) was tarnished with sin, it created the places we now must engage for home, work, and play. As a follower of Christ it is imperative that we have a good theology of place.
What is the theology of place?
Places are the locations God gives us to engage his creation. The theology of place is the idea that God has created us to be in these domains and to engage His creation. There are three domains I like to engage in this theology of place. The first is called a first space. This could be our own home which we should use to create hospitality with guests and family members. There are the primary spaces, or private spaces in which we spend time. The second places are the secondary locations we spend most of our time. This could be the places we work, or the places we engage with the most people. These could also be neighborhood organizations that we engage, farmerâs markets, yard sales, etc. The last place are the third spaces. These are the spaces we engage on a normal basis. This is the local coffee shop, grocery store, restaurant, Park, and other places we like to frequent. Place making is the act of placing ourself in these spaces for the glory of God.
What is placemaking?
In the book âNo Home Like Placeâ placemaking is defined as putting ourselves in different domains for the purpose of Godâs redemptive mission. This means if we really want to reach people, we as His children are expected to engage these domains as ambassadors of Christ. We are to care about our neighbors, pick up trash, beautify our schools, our communities. We are to offer to clean businesses around us, paint a coffee shop, etc. The trick is we canât do this to plant a church, or try to convert our neighbors. However as we build trust we will get the opportunity to tell others why we engaged them. That is because we love them, as God does. Without preconditions and without an agenda other than that they know Christ. As we do this, there will be more they join us in domain engagement. These domains will become saturated with disciples, and it is in that when the Kingdom of God becomes visible upon this earth. As we continue we will look at what a good theology of place means to church planting. Until next time!
(Note: These blogs are my own crazy rumblings and thoughts to help me process things around me. They will not be perfectly cited and are not intended to be an academic project. If they help you too great! If you think it is complete rubbish awesome! But I hope they help you process maybe how God is calling you to engage your own community)
Becoming a Chicagoan
There are a lot of things many think you have to be to be a Chicagoan. It means you need to hate ketchup, call the Willis Tower the Sears Tower, get irritated when people call Chicago Chi Town, The Chi, or any other stupid nicknames people have given it who donât live here. It means you root for the Chicago Cubs, it means you talk like the guys from the Saturday Night Live skit âSuperfansâ (Da Bears, Da Bulls), eat deep dish pizza and hot dogs, ride the âElâ train, know what âdibsâ are, know why a burger is called a Cheeseborger, etc. It means you talk like a Chicagoan, act like a Chicagoan, and live like a Chicagoan. Here is thing, acting like a Chicagoan does not mean you are a Chicagoan and most true Chicagoans know an imposter very quickly.
Building Trust
Deep relationships with people anywhere are built over time, but in Chicago, it seems to be even more important then I have witnessed in previous places we have lived. That means it doesnât take a few months of loving people and caring about them for them to let you in, it takes years. It takes building trust, and consistently keeping that trust true as time goes on. It means not trying to make friends with others so that they will be a part of your church. It means actually investing in others, sharing the gospel, and keeping that investment just as strong when they reject you and your church. Not because you are trying to build a church, but because you are actually trying to reach the people nobody else is reaching. When Jesus is talking about loving our neighbors, He is not just talking about loving them based on an agenda other than them knowing Him. The same relentless and audacious love God has for our neighbors is the same relentless and audacious love we should have for them as well.
Collaborating With Locals
This city was built and is continuing to be built upon creative people who have been able to collaborate from all walks of life and all cultures. There are only two ways to be a Chicagoan. The first is to either be born here, live here, and die here. Chicagoans donât take kindly to those that leave and try to come back either. They almost have to go through the whole process again. The second is to be adopted as a Chicagoan. That means not only that you have created the relationships in which others trust you and see you as one of them, but it means that it is acknowledged by those who are true Chicagoans. In that adoption you become one as well.
Being Adopted
Why am I writing about this on a blog that is supposed to hash out my crazy ideas about church planting and being a missionary in a city? Because too many times we (we meaning me) come into cities thinking we have it all figured out. We have a church name, mission statement, vision statment, branding, etc. We think just because we have been called here that we are here to save it. How do I know this? Because as bad as I did not want to be the person that thought this way, I was and have been. I had a church name, mission statement, outreach plans, and community exegesis. I knew I was not the savior of Chicago, but I thought, âhey I plant a church, people will want to be a part of it, and things will change because of that!â The newsflash is that they donât, and they wonât! In a city which is really about 2% Evangelical (meaning beleif in grace by faith in Christ) most want nothing to do with the church. That is why most churches in the Chicago metro area only run about 60 or so in their Sunday worship gatherings. The trick is not to plant a church, but to disciple others into a saving relationship with Jesus. Church planting is not about creating a gathering, it is about creating a culture of discipleship and sending. It is about teaching others how they can be adopted into a place not earned, to be a child of the most high.
As I continue to go through this set of writing we will hash this out in pieces. I will talk about the importance of knowing your community, but also the importance of hospitality, loving your community, and collaboration with your community. I got slapped in the face with something this week and I want each and every one of you who are planting to do something this week. E-mail, call, whatever you feel comfortable with, and set up coffee with each and every one of the pastors in your community despite their beleifs theologically. Talk to others and see what you might learn. You might be suprised, I was.
âIâm putting a team togetherâ - Batman
I hated the Justice League movie, however there were some good illustrations and some good points in the movie about building a team that at least make it watchable. In the movie, as Batman looks to defeat the coming evil, after the real hero Superman was defeated, he goes to each hero he thinks would fit. He informs them he is putting a team together, casts the vision for them of why, and informs them they will probably die.
Building a church planting team is a lot like that. There are many different ways one can build a team. You can join a force that has already been successful and join them. This is a very attractive way to go. You will be able to use their resources, direction, and sometimes even leadership and people. There are still obstacles, however the path has already been paved before you.
However despite the success of these other forces, God still needs others, who can think differently, be creative, reach other people these forces canât, and build another kingdom concept that can add to the glory of God. This way creates other issues though. Many times you are dropped in on your own, many times your team will not look as you envisioned, and it will take a lot to get people involved who know they are heading for possible death.
I have only been planting on my own for a couple years and have really been fully focused on it for the past few months. I have no business giving anyone advice on what is the best options when planting. I have already made a lot of mistakes, and will never had it even close to figured out for a very long time. This post is the first of many where I plan to talk about the types of people we are targeting, why, how we can be a church that reaches the lost, and how I try to use the lessons God is teaching me to better recruit, develop, and disciple a team of multiplying leaders that will plant churches in our city for the glory of God. This week I will post about the types of people a church plant needs in order to build this team that will sacrifice for Jesus to be known I our city.