The Intentional Conversation

Nearly a year ago our pastoral staff started leading a second church in San Francisco. It has been a fun time but a serious roller coaster of a ride over the past year.

A lot of people ask the question “why add to what you’re doing?” Most ministers have a full plate with just one ministry but at the urging of our senior pastor, we started exploring what it means to be a successful church, what it means to work together, and how small churches can move forward in this modern culture.

So much of Christian church activity seems geared toward the large church that we now look at churches that are between 2-100 attenders as being quite unsuccessful. The mentality in the church is that if the church was going well, if these people really had the blessing of God then their church would be busting at the seams. However, small churches still make up something like 85-90 percent of all churches in the US and the world. We know that mentality to be a fallacy.

But the reality is that small churches are running into an increasing number of issues that deal  with two issues: the cultural mentality that bigger is better and the ability to finance ministry.

So we set out to do something about it over a year ago. We took on a small church that didn’t have much in terms of financial resources and sought to make it a sustainable ministry. Have we gone in there and blown the doors off?!

Well, no.

But then that wasn’t the plan. We aren’t looking to build huge churches; we are looking to create sustainable churches. Ones that are constantly seeking God’s path and that are constantly placing themselves on that path. We want to create a model (of sorts) of a smaller church that can sustain its ministry in spite of the financial escalation that’s happening all around.

Over the next few post’s I’ll tell some stories about the past year that will help people to see how we are doing in regards to our quest to make sustainable ministries.

You may have noticed that there is a new link off to the right hand side of the home page for San Francisco New Start. New Start is a great new opportunity for me and Pastor Joe.

With NSM joining the cluster, that makes our ministry multi-cultural, multi-congregational and now multi-campus! We are pulling double duty to preach and teach at both English Services on Sundays and while it’s a challenge, we are excited to see how God is going to move through this great ministry!

Here is another link to our website. Take a peak at it and let me know what you think about it!

I read something the other day that served as a reminder to me in the area of compassionate action.

Henri Nouwen was a great spiritual thinker and writer. Unfortunately, there are people in the Protestant Christian Church will never hear his work because he was a Catholic Priest. The dirty little secret in Christian Spirituality is that many people still believe that we are truly different in our beliefs. However, regardless of your personal thoughts about Catholic/Protestant relations, Nouwen was a very gifted mind that sought after God’s voice.

Anyhow, the book is called “In the Name Of Jesus” and I had the opportunity to read it recently when my wife was in a HUGE line to get a few books signed by a popular writer who was making an appearance in the area (***side note*** Actually it wasn’t really in our area but had there not been a load of traffic we might have gotten there in less than two and a half hours). I wasn’t much interested in going to see the guy but I was excited about spending a little time with my wife on the ride there and back. So while she waited in line… and waited, and waited, and waited in line, I found a cozy corner of the store and started to read this book.

I know that bookstores are not libraries. Most of the time I don’t go into bookstores in order to relax and enjoy a good read,  but on that day I don’t think they cared because  so many people came to the store and from the conversations that I heard, those people were buying a lot of books. Let’s just believe that the one little book that I read wasn’t going to be the be all and end all of this mega bookstore chain.

The book itself concerns a combination of intertwining motifs that come from Nouwen’s experience living in the L’arche community for the handicapped and two passages in Scripture (Matthew 4:1-11 “Temptations of Christ” and John 21:15-18 “Feed my Sheep”).

Nouwen uses these three elements to describe disciplines that we can adhere to in order to live and act more closely to the commands of Christ that were spoken in John 21: Love Him, Feed His Sheep, Be a Servant to Others. It was in the section addressing Jesus’ command to Peter about feeding Christ’s sheep that Nouwen said something very simple yet profound.

Continue reading →

Stress has a way of catching up with us right? Time and Energy have a way of running down until we just don’t have the juice to move on.

I’ve been feeling it a little bit recently with all of the responsibilities that are on my plate. As I sit and write this there are at least ten other things that I should probably be doing, yet I continue.

This is a reminder to anyone that comes across this post that we need time to recharge. Sabbath is something that God commands of us. However, it’s not just something that He wants us to do simply because He needs to give us another menial task to show we’re under His thumb. Sabbath is commanded of us because it is something that we NEED!

One other quick thing for everyone: Sabbath isn’t just time off. It is renewal through God, it is a recharge of our spirits. But it is these things because in our Sabbath we set aside our regular tasks (the ones that we’ve set up) and we look to God and to see what it is that he has intended for us. Getting more in touch with His spirit and learning more about His nature is what happens when we are truly find sabbath rest.

Just something to think about.

I’m going to take my own advice now!!!

I just hooked up mobile posting. Now, when I’m struck with inspiration I can immediately come here and get it down on… screen?

Anyhow, if these posts make it to the blog, I’ve got to imagine they’ll be shorties because typing on this keyboard is a bit tedious! Oh well, just an update on a blog feature.

If you couldn’t tell, this is the 50th post in my blogging career. Time to celebrate… Woohoo.

Well, that was fun. In fact it’s the most fun I’ve had in the past few days. My wife has been out of town visiting her parents and I’ve come to realize how much I like having her around! She’s my best friend in the world and we’ve always got things going on (even if it’s just griping and complaining about each other). When she’s gone, I just kind of sit around and wish she was home. I guess that makes me whipped!

Anyhow, I’ve been thinking about calling some more and the directions we go if we are fully invested in following God. I’m not talking about the physical location of where we go as much as I’m talking about the areas of ministry that we end up going.

Using my life and walk as an example, when I first started in ministry the last thing I wanted to be considered was a “youth minister”. Everyone in ministry that’s my age is a youth minister and they can get pigeon-holed into that title where people don’t take them quite as serious. When people came to me and asked if I would serve in that capacity I was very resistant to it because I didn’t want to be limited in that role.

I’m called to a more compassionate ministry. I desire to see relationships healed on a personal level but also on a larger scale. I see people who are in pain and I want them to know the power, love and grace of God but I also want the church to be an agent of change in what causes the pain and suffering. In my head, you can’t do that if you’re just a youth minister.

Well, inevitably the time came when my senior pastor assigned me the task of overseeing the youth ministry at the church and begrudgingly, I went to work. Continue reading →

I hate spam… not the canned and potted meat but the useless email. I’m trying a new spam filter to try and make my life that much easier. I love Spam… the canned and potted meat.

- Dude, I am so tired from camp! You would think that a week on houseboats would be relaxing and re-energizing, but dog-gon-it; I’m tired!

We had a great opportunity to speak to students but more than just speaking to them, we had the great privilege of listening to them talk. If you’ve ever worked youth/student ministry, you know the blank stare that comes with it. At times it feels like no one is listening and that your words and preparations aren’t getting through to anyone. But those that do student ministry do it for those few moments of response when someone lets you know what they really think, or what’s really going on inside their head and heart.

Anyhow, camp was good.

- Of note, I’ve been bragging about how many Facebook friends that I’ve made this week and I’ve gotta say, it’s pretty impressive. What’s the point of telling you this? No point, just bragging.

- A new class has started and this go around we are dealing with Systematic Theology. Yup, it’s a doozy. Among the first assignments for the class is to write out a theological autobiography. Talk about a story that most people haven’t written before let alone thought of! I can’t think of a reason to write on that topic unless it was for a class! Continue reading →

Wouldn’t you know that as soon as I get an actual URL I’d fall off the face of the internet.

Guess I’ll get back to posting in a week, I’m up for Houseboat Camp and that should be a blast.

See you all soon!