Jesus Fame

I was converted at a Baptist church located just down the street from my parents home in Olympia, WA. I was 15 and at that time my single pursuit in life was success — I really didn’t care the medium by which the success came just wanted it more than anything else. But something changed after my conversion…no longer was money or fame the driving passion of my life. I wanted to help people realize the transforming power of the gospel the way this Baptist youth pastor had helped me. This desire has never waned.

Not long after our conversion my parents started attending another church — I continued attending the Baptist church because of my close relationship with the youth pastor. But most of the adults in this congregation were twice my parents age and they didn’t quite fit in. Their new church was Calvary Chapel Olympia – a church that at that time was about 5 years old and had about 150 adult members. I attended CCO with my parents on a fairly regular basis throughout High School; even had the opportunity to go to Russia with them in 1993. I appreciated their simplicity…I enjoyed their excitement about Jesus…their style seemed to resonate with this aspiring pastor.

During my Senior year I began seriously contemplating where I was going to attend college. My plan was to attend Multnomah Bible College in Portland and then pursue a seminary degree at Western. Then I heard about this small Bible college that was affiliated with my parents church, Calvary Chapel Bible College in Southern California. It was much cheaper than Multnomah and with my meager budget this was good news.

I headed to CCBC in the fall of ’94. My time there was life changing. The Bible was opened to me in fresh and powerful ways, but something else happened. I got the itch. The church planting itch.

I took a class on church planting where various CC pastors would come in and teach about different aspects of pastoring and church planting — I was hooked. This is what I wanted to do with my life. Like the Apostle Paul I wanted to dedicate my life to establishing and pastoring healthy Jesus focused churches.

It was there that I met my amazing wife Andrea and in 1997 the two of us set out on an adventure that has taken us to Washington, Oregon and Colorado. We’ve helped plant two churches and we’ve planted two others along the way.

In 2009 my family and I moved to Fort Collins to plant a church that would be very different from anything we’d ever done. It was outside my experience and training. In fact  this new plant would be outside the movement that we’d both called home for 15 years.

I had grown a bit frustrated with some of the overall direction of the movement (Calvary Chapel) that I loved. In my estimation there had been a subtle drifting away from attacking the gates of hell with the gospel toward attacking other streams of Christianity. It seemed we were beginning to define ourselves by what we were against instead of those amazing things we were for.

This frustration caused me to start looking elsewhere for inspiration and encouragement. I landed on this up and coming network of churches called Acts 29. They were young…they were confident…they knew what they were for…and they wanted the whole world to hear about Jesus. I began to feast upon their resources, like the Resurgence , with renewed vigor and excitement.

This epiphany occurred in conjunction with a stirring I felt to plant again — as I mentioned earlier we made the transition in 2009. At the time I was the lead pastor of a Calvary Chapel in Prineville, OR. As we headed to Colorado to plant a new church from the ground up my plan was to affiliate with both Calvary Chapel and Acts 29. After a few months on the ground we gathered a solid core of people who were interested in what we’re doing, but it became obvious that being a member of both CC and A29 may have been more of a pipe dream than something I could actually pull off. I chose Acts 29.

My three years in Acts 29 have been fantastic, nothing short of revolutionary. I have rediscovered my passion for the gospel, the church, and Jesus’ mission. But I’ve never felt quite at home. It’s been like a foreign exchange program. I have learned a new language, experienced a new culture, and been a part of a wonderful new family. But it’s time to come home. Calvary Chapel is my family, and like any family we aren’t perfect. We have crazy uncles and annoying cousins but it’s a family and as much as I tried to fully integrate into a new family it was never the right fit.

My family and I are in the process of another transition. It’s a season where we have no idea what’s ahead. I’ve been broken and humbled in ways that I’ve never experienced. It seems I’ve learned more in the last 3 years than in all my other years combined. Our time in Colorado has been one of much difficulty and yet tremendous fruit, both in the lives of those we’ve had the privilege of leading and in our own personal lives. I’m not the same man that moved to Fort Collins — I feel like Jacob after he wrestled with God, He’s put a limp in my step, a constant reminder of my brokenness and helplessness.

I don’t know what this next season holds but I know that I want my next venture to be done alongside my family. I love Calvary Chapel and while I’ve learned much in my travels abroad it’s time to come home and share my photos.

This morning I was thinking about Acts 9:31 and how it relates to pastoring and church planting.

“So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.”

There are a host of books written and seminars hosted on the subject of church health and multiplication, two things mentioned here.

How was this early church in Jerusalem being “built up” and “multiplied”? Continue reading

Simply put, a disciple of Jesus is a follower of Jesus. Jesus told his 12 disciples, “if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matt. 16:24)

What does it mean to follow Jesus?

1. Live as a Worshiper – as image bearers of God, we are created as worshipers. The question is not “will” we worship, but “what” will we worship? Our worship is like a fire hose that can’t be turned off, so the question is where will we point our worship proclivity? A follower of Jesus worships their Creator and repents of any false worship, including good things like family, work, or recreation.

2. Gospel Identity – a follower of Jesus recognizes the sinful tendency to find their identity in their money, intelligence, career, education, children, human relationships, or any number of created things. Therefore a disciple turns from finding ultimate identity in these empty idols (1 Thess. 1:9), to King Jesus and His kingdom of perfect hope, peace, joy, and love.

3. Committed to Community – a disciple of Jesus has a Spirit inspired desire to live life with other Jesus followers, the church. They recognize their membership in the body of Christ and understand the weight of that responsibility by giving of their gifts, time, and money to serve others.

4. Sent on Mission – Jesus said he was sending his church in the same way in which he was sent (John 20:21). A follower of Jesus sees themselves as a missionary sent on Jesus’ mission, in their everyday lives, to restore a broken world through gospel living and proclamation.

A few months ago we were informed that our facility, TPAAK, was going to be unavailable to us on Sunday Nov. 20th. At first our leaders began to scramble to find an alternate venue for which we could gather.

Instead we decided to put together a project called “Church without Walls” where instead of gathering in one location we would spread out through Fort Collins to serve in various capacities.

We had three tracks -

1. Visiting folks at a Nursing Home

2. A work project at the home of an elderly woman

3. Loving on homeless folks

The event overall was a great success. Each of the three tracks had good turnouts and saw good fruit result.

A few of our musicians shared music at the nursing home, many of our children made cards for the folks who very rarely see young people, and even though most of the folks who live at LeMay Ave. Health and Rehab have very short memories they were blessed and so were the people of Missio Dei who showed up to serve the least among us.

The woman we served was overjoyed that complete strangers would show up at her house to do manual labor. We had guys raking leaves, scraping and replacing tile grout, hanging blinds, doing general cleanup, and one of our ladies even took her to the store to help her pick out nutritional supplements to help with some health issues she was having. This woman had been abandoned by her husband of many decades, she lives alone, is broke, and she had no community, until now.

The cops showed up to chastise us for serving the homeless…”these people choose to be here you know? Do you understand the risks? Do you realize you’re actually making this worse?” We all understand that most homeless folks have chosen that lifestyle, but they’re still humans, created in the image of God and therefore have value and worth. Yes we know that there are drug addicts, pedophiles, and drunks that congregate at Jefferson Park but how on earth are we possibly making it worse? By serving people? By loving the unlovable? By going to the very people Jesus went to, which is what the Church gets criticized for doing too rarely? In spite of the opinion of the Fort Collins PD these folks were grateful, friendly, and eager to share conversation with people who typically turn the other way out of fear and shame. We ended the evening by leading the chapel service at the Open Door Mission. The room was packed with 30+ marginalized folks who heard that despite their place in life, or their sinful lifestyle, they too have the opportunity to be rescued by the unconditional love of Jesus Christ.

Yes I’m proud of the people of Missio Dei.It was a great day with much fruit for the Kingdom.

My prayer is that our corporate event will inspire our members to recognize that they can do this individually and as families without the support of the church corporately. There are always the elderly, shut ins, and the sick to visit. Scores of people in this area are living in homes that could use work done that they are incapable of accomplishing themselves. The poor and homeless are all around us despite the opulent facade.

Wherever you live, in any context, urban, suburban or rural there are needs and because of the mission of God (Missio Dei) to rescue you from your certain destruction you should be compelled to join God’s mission and serve the people that God places in your life.

Currently we are going through the book of Acts during our Sunday gatherings at Missio Dei Church.

We’re calling this series, “Be the Church” - the premise being that Church is not a building to congregate in or an event to attend. Church by it’s very definition is a people, who are set apart for the mission of God.

If you’re a Christian, then you’re a member of Jesus’ Church, therefore you’ve been pursued and reached by the mission of God and as a result you’ve joined Jesus on His mission to rescue this broken world.

The question then becomes, not are you on mission, but how good of a missionary are you?

If your life seems to lack missional intention and you are wondering why here is something to think about.

The more intimately acquainted with Jesus and His gospel you become, the more naturally His mission will flow from your life.

When I married my wife Andrea almost 15 years ago I had never watched a classic movie in my life, but a few short years into our marriage I had watched more Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart than I care to admit. Why? Because my wife loves classic movies, and because I love her I naturally began to enjoy the things she enjoys.

The same is true when it comes to missional living.

When Jesus is the love of your life, the things He’s passionate about (people, His creation, and His plan to rescue them) naturally become things you are passionate about too.

Therefore if you’re life lacks mission don’t start with the symptoms and attempt to fix it with more effort but go to the source and once again allow Jesus to capture your heart with His amazing love.

Here is a great article on this subject, by Acts 29 president Scott Thomas, that you might helpful