A CTK Christmas

Well, the dust has settled around Christmas. Only a few random cookies and scraps of ham remain of our celebration--although, I have to say our tree is still going strong...I guess that's the difference when you cut it down yourself in the forest!

Christmas Eve was an experiment for our church in relationship over charity. We wanted to invite a few of our friends from the soup kitchen to celebrate Christmas with us at Pickles. Our goal was not so much to "feed the homeless" that night, but to integrate our community with theirs. It was a good opportunity to spend time with our new friends outside of the soup kitchen. We invited three guys to the service. One of them was able to make it as well as the kitchen director who Ruthie has befriended. We had a great time. One of the activities we did was to split up in groups and each share what we thought the Christmas story would have been like for Joseph, Mary, and Simeon. I was in the younger group (17-20 year olds) and we were in charge of the Simeon perspective. I loved watching them process the Christmas story through the eyes of a character they were never aware of before that night.

We had a great Christmas dinner on Monday (even though I had to work at the resort that morning--long story). Basically, the entire Christmas Eve service people where there again. My friend James (from the hill) came and Ruthie brought her friend the kitchen manager and her son. My parents were there and Peggy (Jenn's mom) as well. It was pretty fun to have that mix of people all playing pictionary and unwrapping a huge ball of scotch tape with presents inside it.

In the end, I feel like we accomplished exactly what we were after. It was so cool to spend that time with James in a place other than the soup kitchen. I loved seeing new characters come into our story and watching the people from our CTK community embracing them as family. In my opinion, this was a great Christmas!

Go Ahead, Treat Me Like Garbage

I've always said having a job outside of my role as pastor is a good way to stay honest in ministry. Today I discovered that it also keeps me humble. I check tickets at the ski resort. Today, as I was checking tickets, I came across a kid with her mom who had a 2-day ticket. She had used her first day yesterday, so I marked it "done" as per my extensive training in the ticket arts. I was shocked to have this woman (the girl's mom) start yelling at me. Apparently, she was under the impression that her daughter had a 3-day pass and I had just ruined their entire vacation--possibly the whole year. I tried to explain about the 2-day thing, but to no avail--the tongue-lashing was merciless, even after it was obvious which of us was in the wrong.

An exprience like this puts things in perspective. The next time I have someone thank me for a great sermon or insightful council I'll remember the great resort rant of '06 and put my pride in check.

My Friends On The Hill

Today my friend James took me up on the hill to show me where he and a couple other guys are camped out. The whole time I visited with him I was trying to imagine myself living there in those tents. There is a grouping of three tents around a small fire pit. The snow from last week is starting to melt, but it's still all around. They don't seem to mind too much, but I'm not sure I could have the same attitude about the conditions. One of James' campmates was up there trying to get a drink of water from a gallon jug but the water was frozen solid, so he couldn't get any. He was shivering uncontrollably and he said when he'd gotten up this morning his shoes were frozen to the floor of his tent.

Say all you want about homeless people and why you think they are homeless or what you think they should do about changing their situation, but I realized today that those things don't matter much when it comes to the reality that my friends are up on the hill tonight trying to sleep in a tent and the temperature is declining quickly from 11 degrees. What they really need right now is a blanket--maybe a hatchet to cut some wood, or a jug that won't freeze solid every night.

In some ways, this reminds me of churches and doctrine. We can spend a lot of time and read volumes of books about doctrine--what we believe about God and how we interpret his word, whether we capitalize the word Word, and so on. The bottom line, however, is that while we try and get our doctrine straight, people are dying because they simply don't have real love. They have no Christ-following friends who love them with God's love and therefore are dying for lack of it. Maybe I'll never be a great pastor becasue I don't have a very complicated or well-defined doctrine, but I hope God holds me in the strictest of accountability if I fail to notice the people around me starving for God's pure love while I try and control and uphold a belief system based on things peripheral or irrelevant to that love.

The Hansel and Gretel School of Outreach

We're beginning to look forward to the new year here at CTK Durango. Besides expanding our small groups and making the technological leap to power point, we are making plans to move forward with outreach. Over the last couple months, we have developed a great friendship with Manna House, the local soup kitchen that feeds homeless people. I've described some of the friendships I've personally developed and there are a few of us from CTK who have really connected there (including Ruthie who is their new Program Director). We are trying to decide where to focus our attention from here. Our goal is to establish relationships in several areas in our community, leaving a few people behind each time. At some point in the last two months, almost every person in our congregation has spent time at Manna House. A few people are connecting there to the point that they will probably remain involved on their own. My hope is that wherever we focus next the same thing will happen until we have people from our church serving all over Durango in different capacities.

The one thing that will make this work is the fact that everyone in our church community is realizing their personal responsibility and opportunity to serve people in our community fulfilling Jesus' instructions to love God and love others. We've worked hard to create this culture of personal responsibility and relational unity. I'm anxious to see it continue to develop.

More Small Groups

For the past couple months, we've had two main small groups meeting (which means almost every single person in our church is in a group). We've been reading a book together by Dave Browning called, Deliberate Simplicity. It's been great to read and discuss the foundational elements of Christ the King Community Church. I have also enjoyed listening to the people in my group translate the concepts of CTK into our context in Durango. These guys get it and I am thrilled! Perhaps my favorite thing about these groups, however, is their potential for growth. Already, we've seen new people show up to the groups brought by their friends (who were also new to our community), now we are preparing to multply from two groups to five. More important than the idea of having five groups is the reality that each new group has the beginnings of creating their own community. I can't wait to see what happens with these people who have spent the last several weeks learning to love God and others in a deliberately simple way as they embark on their own journeys...sharing Christ through authentic relationship in the context of a living room or coffee shop!

Personally, I'm excited about a group that I will be trying to establish with a some of the homeless guys who live in the hills above the soup kitchen. Besides looking for relevant ways to communicate Christ with these guys, I'll also be able to keep my eyes on the foosball/chess prize!

Chess and Foosball

Lately, I've been spending a lot of time at Manna House (the local soup kitchen). One reason is that it is a blessing to be able to be the pastor of a church and also be able to do things like volunteer my time regularly. The other reason is that most of the friends I've made in Durango are pretty much the homeless guys at Manna House. I'm having a good time getting to know a guy named Jim. Last week he told me he was the chess champion of the soup kitchen and challenged me to a match. I accepted even though I hadn't played chess since I was a kid with my brother and couldn't really remember which players moved where. Somehow I managed to checkmate Jim within five minutes of playing which simultaneously made me the soup kitchen champion and secured me a rematch the next day. Day two didn't go as well. Jim whipped me soundly two games in a row. Trying to salvage my dignity, I made some comment wishing there were a foosball table because I was sure I could beat him at a real game (the 99% of you who don't play foosball are laughing at that irony, I know)--big mistake! One thing you have to understand about homeless guys--they don't always have a lot going on...so Jim immediately seized the opportunity to challenge me to a game of foosball at the pool hall in town. I put up a good fight, but was bested in the end--even on the incredible Jim Fletcher (elder at SVCC and foosball prodigy) worthy Tornado table.

Ego bruising aside, I am loving the opportunity to get to know these guys at the soup kitchen. They are as ostracized by our community as they are fascinating and lovable. Perhaps my favorite thing about these last couple weeks has been that I actually get to be the one in relationship. Jim, Curtis, James, Lenny, and Clifford are my friends. Instead of being "up front" telling everyone how they should go about loving people, I get to do it and then tell them. If I am able to accomplish anything as the pastor of this church community, I want it to be that I am always able to do what I am teaching. I know that sounds simple, but it certainly has not been in my experience. Until now, I've mostly been so overwhelmed by the details of planning and implementing ministry that I've rarely been able to participate--especially relationally.

Charity Without Relationship

So, I've recently read a book by Shane Clariborne called, "Irresistable Revolution" that addresses mostly the issue of poverty--specifically our role as the church in dealing with the poor. To say the book was compelling would be an understatement. Two points he makes in the book were especially poingnant to me. First was the idea that, as a whole, the church tends to relegate caring for the poor to a "minstry area" as opposed to a primary function of the Church. When looking at Acts chapter 2, we see and emulate the fact that the early church met in homes (small groups) and in the temple (corporate worship) and ate together. Clairborne points out that, while the church seems to be concerned with the poor, the language in Acts 2 is much stronger than simply helping the poor. Early Christians sold everything they had to take care of the poor. There seemed to be a general understanding that Christians would all sacrifice what they had for the benefit of those who don't have as much. I don't see this as a slam on the present state of the Church, so much as an interesting revelation that warrants some thought (and dialogue if anyone cares to engage). I sincerely want our church to be inhabited by people who do not simply wish the poor well, or allow for a benevolence fund, but who consistently make sacrifices on the behalf of the poor.

The second idea that struck me was about charity. The author points out that, while giving money and extra clothes, etc. to charitable groups is good, it eliminates the relational aspect of helping the poor. To some extent, donating to charity actually contributes to the gap between the church and the poor by isolating both groups from eachother by means of a "middle man". I took this to heart as our church has been spending a lot of time at the local soup kitchen in Durango. There is no question that I have extra clothes, things, etc. so I decided to try giving through relationship instead of my usual method of making a large clothes donation to Salvation Army. I discovered a couple things...first, it takes a long time to help the poor through relationship because the one guy you meet may not need all your shoes, jackets, old shirts, etc. I'm realizing that it's going to take a while before I can unload some of this stuff (which means, I guess, that the point is more about relationship than "unloading" stuff). Another thing I've noticed is how exciting it is to give through relationship. I met with my friend, Jim at Manna House yesterday when we were preparing food for lunch. Jim is a guy who lives in a tent in the hills of Durango all year (yes, even in the winter with several feet of snow). We've gotten to know each other over the last few weeks mostly by playing "Name that TV Theme Song Tune" (which might make me a horrible kitchen volunteer--mostly messing around with Jim). I was nervous that Jim would feel awkward about me offering him a coat I had brought, but I asked him anyway. He didn't seem to feel awkward. He was very pleased as the jacket I was giving him (which has been collecting dust in my closet for a long time) was a massive upgrade from the one he was wearing. He said he wished he had some way to pay for the coat and I told him maybe he could show me some off-road trails sometime (another thing we've talked about a lot).

I'm starting to wonder if taking care of the poor is more about meeting their needs through relationship than just giving them stuff. I'm excited about what I'm learning and anxious to explore these things more--if for no other reason than the fact that at this point in my life in a new town, playing "Name that TV Tune" for half an hour with a guy pretty much makes him my best friend!

May I See Your Ticket, Please?

Well, I was offered both jobs I applied for at Purgatory and I decided to go with the ticket checking job over the lift-operator position. In the end, ticket checking seemed like a smaller, more tight-knit department. I think I'll have some great opportunities there to get to know the team and interact with all the other people at the resort--not to mention free skiing at Purg, Telluride, and about ten other resorts in this area!

I'm looking forward to the opportunity for relationship with this group of people as well as the chance to be part of a culture that is pretty foreign to me. I went into a snowboard shop the other day and it was surreal--like walking into a surf shop, except it was all snowboards. It's so funny to think back to my Pacific Wave days where I did my best to sell snowboards to people when I actually used a snowboard less than five times a season. This year I'll be in the snow on the mountain a mimimum of 60 days!

Job Interview

I have to say, as much as I believe in working outside the church whenever possible, it has been a rough transition back into the world of counting hours and getting paid by them! $9 an hour just doesn't go as far as it did in college (I was going to say high school, but that was $5.75 an hour).

This morning I'm going to the Durango Mountain Resort Job Fair. The ski resort, formerly known as Purgatory, is one of the largest employers in the area for the winter. The good news is I would be working with a lot of local people and get to snowboard for free all winter. The downside would be the drive (25 miles) and that it probably won't be paying much.

If you would have pulled me aside 10 years ago at Pacific Wave Surf Shop where I was folding t-shirts and selling surfboards and told me that in '06 I would be applying for a job at a ski resort I would have slapped a PW sticker on you back while I laughed you out the door! I love to see God's story unfolding in the most unlikely of places, and yet, it all seems to connect somehow.

I'll keep you posted on the results--I'm guessing I shouldn't wear a tie to the interviews, but there's that little part of me that still wonders!

Speechless

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about my love/hate relationship with transportation. A lot has happened since then. After coasting my Jeep the four miles down the hill to my mechanic (he's mine in the sense that I've invested enough money into his shop that I feel some ownership), we decided it was time to sell off my beloved machine and try to replace it with something that would tempt me less to drive over rocks. It was a difficult decision, but a wise one, so I solemnly made up some For Sale signs for the windows. After two agonizing days of driving around with the For Sale signs, we got some incredible news. Someone who was aware of our transportation calamities had given us an extravagant and generous gift. The only stipulation that came with the money was that we buy a NEW car...we were happy to oblige! After hours of research, I think we found the only car in America that we could drive away for the amount of money we had. We are now the proud owners of a Suzuki SX-4! Imagine a large egg with four doors and all-wheel drive. It's a great little car that fits our family and will have no trouble making road trips and driving in snow. The best part is Jenn is driving the Suzuki, so I get to keep my Jeep!

We are incredibly thankful to God (and our anonymous donor) for taking such good care of us and answering the many prayers grunted out from under cars on wet pavement!


The world is as it should be.

We Relish Your Worship!

Well, we just finished our first meeting at Pickles Restaurant! It was great to meet in town. I'm not sure why, but it just felt more real to me. I think Pickles is going to work out well for us. We may not fit for as long as I'd like, but they were pretty accommodating for us.

We had a few visitors, which was exciting as well. It is so cool to see people starting to show up. I can't wait for more people to be able to experience what we have been living out these last several months.

Church as it should be

Sunday night, we celebrated our last living room church service! Starting this weekend (Oct. 22nd) we will be meeting at Pickles Restaurant in town. We decided to have a BBQ to make things more festive (and because Joe Daniels makes the best pork chops in the world). The whole evening was fantastic. Joe came over early with his son and a friend of his. I sat in the back yard with this guy while he smoked a couple cigarettes talking about fishing and churches that meet in living rooms. Our whole group was there, milling around the house, kids running rampant, eating, laughing and generally enjoying themselves. My favorite moment was sitting next to my neighbor, Dana--each of us with a pork chop in one hand and a beer in the other--when it dawned on him that he was at church. "What kind of church did you say this was?" I will never get tired of answering that question! There really is nothing as inspiring or worshipful to me as hanging out with a group of friends, eating a good meal, talking about what God has done, and worshipping together. It didn't feel like "Christian" fun, either--you know, where you get the feeling that this BBQ is the most exciting thing anyone has done outside the Fellowship Hall in years and people use words like "fellowship" and the men and women don't sit next to eachother. We are not a polished group of people. There are some tough things going on in the lives of my friends (two people had actually got into car accidents on the way to our house!)--but we all know about it. We talk about it, and help eachother--we have hugs and crying at our BBQs to go with the laughter. Toward the end of the evening, I overheard the smoking kid from the beginning of the evening trying to articulate to Joe how he couldn't help but sing along with worship--he couldn't find the words to describe the fact that he had just worshipped the God of the universe for the first time in his life!

Pickles will be fun--a good place to meet that will seat more people than my living room. I only hope we are able to maintain that sense of family and worship I felt so intensely on Sunday night. I am literally desperate for more messed up people in this town to find us out so they can experience what we are so blessed to live with.

Come On Over To My Place

There is some news for us Durangatans with CTK...we are deep in the throes of trying to find a place to meet. I believe it will add credibility and legitimacy to our gatherings if we are able to invite people to a neutral place for worship. Inviting a friend to my house for a BBQ or a small group isn't that big a deal, but somehow telling someone about our worship services and then inviting them to my living room doesn't go over as well.

I've held off on talking about this because we've hit some snags in several places and I keep celebrating finding a new place and then having to take it back when it falls through. At first, we thought we might meet in the Community Rec Center, but it turns out there are already two churches meeting there and I didn't want to create the first church shopping mall. Then, we tried for a movie theatre in town, but they didn't want to rent to us because of cleaning issues from the bands that play on Saturday nights (yes, we offered to be the cleaning crew). An elemetary school gym became available, but after we went through the whole process there, we discovered an unwritten, but non-negotiable rule banning food and signage.

Where we stand now is my favorite place so far, but hard to explain why. I'm working with the owner of a local resaurant who seems willing to rent us a back room that could easily fit 30 people. It is a place I've been going frequently to study because there is hardly ever anyone there. The name of the restaurant is Pickles--they relish your business. I love this place because it is right on the main drag in town--every person in Durango (or who has driven through Durango) knows where this place is, however, very few people have been inside. It's sort of a "Denny's" type place, and with all the fantastic resaurants in town, it tends to passed over in favor of more stylish places.

I'm really hoping things work out at Pickles. I don't know if it's an underdog thing, or the humor of telling people to meet me at a place called, Pickles, but I think it would be great to meet there. So, as a matter of prayer, I submit our search for a place to worship...Pickles or no Pickles!

My Love/Hate Relationship...

I love cars. I am completely infatuated with anything that has wheels...not just Ford or Chevy, but everything. A pile of rusted parts on the side of the road is a "classic with potential" in my eyes. So how can it be that a man who deeply loves all things transportation can be in such a constant state of crisis with his vehicles? This doesn't have much to do with our ministry here, except that it proves to be quite a frustrating distration from the task at hand. I'm searching for wisdom on how to solve these problems--especially since they illustrate a principle of balancing/coping with the mundane of life while attempting to dedicate one's existence to something much higher in value and eternal implications.

I have dreams of bringing Christ to people--sharing the hope I have and the vision for God's church I've received. I find myself in the role of leader. My heart is bent on bringing people together in their own circles of influence for the cause of Christ. However, I get this horrible "cut off at the knees" feeling when the greatest obstacle between me and my mission seems to be physically getting the six miles down the hill into town! It has begun to represent to me the paradox of serving a Spirit-God from the confines of the material world. The positive points: I am compelled to be creative, I am forced to look to God for answers to seemingly impossible dilemmas, at every point of provision I experience profound gratitude. The downside: I can't get to town!!! I feel like I'm spending valuable time/energy under a car that has no hope of salvation and only promises to break at the next weak link as soon as I get it back on the road. I am finding it impossible to live on a tight financial budget with the costly repairs.

In conclusion, I feel that all I can do is trust that God has a greater plan for me than isolated shadetree mechanic. I have to submit to the process of allowing God to work in and through me in the midst of the mundane (and enfuriating). I will take the required time prostrate on the pavement scratching my head and express my gratitude to God when yet another solution presents itself. I will ask God to speak through me in spite of the fact that I had to get dropped off at the coffee shop an hour early or ten minutes late with grease under my finger nails and leaves stuck in the back of my hair. I will accept the reality that God does not require these things to fit my standards of order to accomplish what he has in mind on his schedule.

However, it IS raining outside and I still have to crawl under a car! *%^$#*@#!

Sweet Resolution

I've mentioned earlier about the name controversy for CTK. It was difficult for some of the members at CTK Lutheran church to embrace the idea of a CTK Community church moving into Durango. I got calls from several people--my favorite was a woman who said it was a fire hazard to have two churches with the same name because the fire department might not know which place to go to in an emergency.

I called and left a message with the pastor of CTK Lutheran asking if he would be willing to meet with me sometime. Long story short, I went in this week and sat down with Pastor John. The man I met could quite possibly be one of the most gracious and authentic people I have ever met. He was not only supportive of our endeavor, but affirming of our calling and quite willing to share the name. I was impressed with his heart and focus in Durango and imagine that he will be a real resource to us as we begin our work here.

I want to thank those of you who were praying about this specific situation. I am pleased and humbled to see that a situation I thought would be characterized by fear and a "scarcity" mentality was met with grace and generosity. Sometimes I am overwhelmed with God's capacity to do things in ways I could never imagine--especially since, in the words of Han Solo, "I can imagine quite a bit".

One person showed up--so, why am I smiling?

I had lunch with Dave Browning, the founder of CTK who is visiting us. We had a conversation about perspective and attitude when it comes to ministry. One way of leading in ministry is to hedge your bets. In this leadership method, you try to anticipate the story God is developing and smooth the road as much as possible by forseeing every contingency or potential interruption and dealing with it ahead of time. I come from a bet-hedging background. I feel immense pressure to anticipate problems and deal with them before they ever become an issue. My natural tendancy is to deal with things as they come--unfortunately I've become convinced that that is the wrong and borderline lazy way of doing business.

Dave and I talked about approaching things differently--his point was that maybe we should allow God's story to unfold as we participate and respond as opposed to trying to "steer" history toward what we guess God is doing. I found this conversation profoundly fascinating and curiously validating. Not only was it validating, but a concept-come-to-life within hours.

I talked to Vi on the phone about a week ago. She was the one person who answered our CTK ad in the paper who wasn't upset about our name. Instead, we had a lengthy (and fairly one-sided) conversation about everything from how political a church should be to why the NIV Bible translation is evil. She promised to be at our information meeting so she could deliver an article on the evils of NIV, but I half hoped she wouldn't show. I never thought (even with all the potential tragic contingencies that kept me up all night all week) that she would be the one and only person to show up to our information meeting last night.

I knew it was her the minute she walked in the door. She had that look of "I'm coming to a meeting, but I have a mission" on her face. She walked directly up to Dave Browning (I guess he looked more like a pastor than anyone in the room) and introduced herself. When all was said and done, without question, we had ourselves an information meeting last night! It was CTK Durango, however, that was being informed. We decided to forego the planned presentation and the ten of us (our team and Vi) sat in a circle.

On the surface, Vi is an abrupt and fairly abrasive person. She talked a lot about all the evil in town and how she hasn't been able to get the church involved. Her vocabulary and methods were what I would expect from a narrow-minded conservative Christian. As we talked, however, I began to realize that Vi has a heart of gold. Better than that, she authentically loves people--all people. When I asked her what she thought should be done with regards to the people she was mentioning (mostly homosexuals and drug dealers), her response was that we should love them, care for them, and most importantly pray for them. My assessment of Vi is that she has Christ's heart for the lost, but all her vocabulary and equipment is all wrong. I came away from last night's meeting with clearer insight and vision for the direction of our church.

We were suspicious from the beginning that information meetings and newspaper ads might not be the best way to bring CTK to the light in Durango. This is a small town driven by word of mouth and a "show me who you are, don't tell me" attitude. I have a feeling it will be the slower (by my preference) relational path to church growth for CTK Durango. In the mean time, I got a kick out of Vi and every person on our team agrees we were exactly where God intended us to be.

A Big Night

Tonight is our first informational meeting for CTK Durango! I am really excited about this moment, even though I have no idea what to expect. I don't know if a ton of people will show up or none--I have plenty of coffee and pens, though! I'm mostly looking forward to an opportunity to communicate our vision for communicating God's good news to people in Durango. I desperately want people in this town to see our heart. I'm anxious to get past name trauma, arguing about what version of the Bible we use, and tracking down sound systems. I cannot wait to see small groups begin to grow and hear stories of people who have been unable to worship God for whatever internal or external reasons and find their place in our community. I'm confident all these things will happen--we just have to get through tonight first!

We've come to this point with interesting opposition. I don't know what to label spiritual opposition or simply life as usual, but it's been an interesting week. Within one 24 hour period this week Jenn's car broke down with a cracked head (the one we just bought three weeks ago to replace the Suburban that broke down three weeks before that), I bought some expensive software that didn't work on my computer and can't be returned, people were telling me I couldn't call the church Christ the King, and Steve Irwin (the Crocodile Hunter) died--not to mention anxiety about tonight's meeting and our difficulties finding a permanent place to meet for church stewing in the back of my mind! Looking at these calamities from this distance, they don't seem unmanageable, but let me tell you, it was heavy load to bear in the moment.

My goal right now is to try and focus all this energy toward being authentic and clear at this meeting tonight. This is what we came to do and it will play itself out one way or another.

Some things I'm excited about this coming week are a couple of meetings with local pastors (no, the CTK Lutheran pastor has not called me back yet) who I've met along the way. One of them is Joe Beckler who was key in our process of moving here--very encouraging and enthusiastic about the potential for ministry in Durango. I am hoping these meetings will be the beginning of solid "other pastor-type" relationships that I am really missing right now.

What's in a name?

Friday is on the horizon--newspaper ads have been published, I have boxes of coffe mugs in my hallway, our plan has been set--we are anxiously awaiting our opportunity to introduce our new community to Durango. The phone calls and emails are starting to come in...one problem, though...the phone calls and emails I'm receiving are not curious locals, but patrons of another church. Apparently, there is another Christ the King Church in Durango--a Lutheran church. They have been around for 42 years and have built a good reputation as a place of worship as well as making their facility available to the public. I noticed this church in the phone book a year ago and (perhaps naively) decided it would not be that big of a deal--since, we are part of an organization, we don't have a lot of choice in the name selection. If we were operating on our own, I would be more inclined to try and choose a different name for the sake of distinquishing oursleves, but the nature of our organization is that we are a campus (albeit several states away) of Christ the King Community Church in Washington.

The people I have talked to seem nice enough, but extremely concerned that our presence might be confusing to the people of Durango. My initial thoughts are these:

1. I'm pretty sure someone looking for a Lutheran church will find CTK Lutheran church easily in the phone book and be able to distinguish between it and CTK Community church.

2. Someone looking for a facility to rent called Christ the King will find the correct address since we will most likely never have a facility of our own and CTK Lutheran does.

3. I am confident that our basic mode of operation--worship, small groups, and service will not tarnish the reputation of any church--if anything it will enhance the standing of all churches in Durango to have a community of people pouring their lives into any cause which promotes and serves Durango.

4. Reversing roles in my head, if I were to notice a church start up with the name Christ the King I would, in fact, be interested to see that they were interested in "keeping the main the the main thing" in terms of their faith and mission--that settled, I would want to welcome and promote them as much as possible, not pressure them to change their name.

Something I may regret in this process: as naive as I am, I wonder if I still should have forseen this and contacted the pastor of the Lutheran church before hand to, at least, explain who we are and possibly forgoe some of this awkwardness. I plan to contact him now, anyway--I just hope it doesn't amount to too much too late in his/his congregation's eyes.

My worst nightmare is that this would become such an obstacle to our counterparts in Durango that a God-seeking and upstanding church becomes distracted from their mission (one we share, by the way) by the likes of us.

Time will tell. My goal at this point is to do whatever I can to guide this small community of believers in such a way so as to please and delight Christ the King--oh, and Christ the King Lutheran too.

September 8th is closing fast!

Life seems to be developing nicely in Durango. Our relaxed "vacation" schedule is coming to an end as we get busier and find more to do. Jenn has taken on the role of assistant cheerleading coach at the high school. She coached at Watsonville High for several years in California and is looking forward to developing a new group of girls here. I have been busy managing the Hummer tour business. I started a couple weeks ago as a part-time driver and now I am answering the phone and working on strategies to finish this season (through October) and prepare for next Spring. The guy who owns the business moved to Utah a year ago and has been trying to manage from a distance. The most exciting part of this job is it's potential for partnership and perhaps eventually a buyout situation. Someday, this would be a good business to own because it requires most of the work during the summer and then the rest of the year is background work developing relationships in the community--I think I would enjoy it and it would work well with the schedule of CTK Durango.

Steve is having a similar experience at the local soccer shop--meeting a ton of people in town and finding himself more of a commodity than he initially thought. The rest of our group are getting established as well...Heidi is generating work with mortgages, Daena got hired in her position of choice working with special needs kids at a local school...even my mom, who doesn't officially move here until mid-September has leads on a couple jobs.

Outside of jobs, CTK itself is developing and growing. We have continued to meet in my living room on Sunday evenings. As our relationships expand, we are finding more and more evidence that this is exactly the kind of church this community is looking for. Joe, Steve, and I have been putting the details together for our information meeting on September 8th. We have chosen our advertising and rented a room in the local recreation center where we will most likely meet on Sundays in the future. Our greatest focus right now is praying for people to come to the information meeting who will want to join small groups. I can't wait to see what happens!

Another bit of exciting news is that we will start meeting at the Rec Center for worship on September 10th. We decided that, by meeting on Sunday mornings we would net a greater amount of families who might not be able to meet in the evenings after bed times. We still intend to create a culture where people feel they have permission to "miss church" when being part of the community and people's lives requires it--sounds great in theory, we'll see how it works out!

This is really exciting! The more people we talk to, the more we hear that what this town really needs is a church who genuinely cares about its community and loves people. It seems that many churches use this "community" vocabulary, but turn out to use community action only as a means of pushing an agenda or promoting their programs as opposed to simply loving people. I desperately want to be different from those churches. I long to see a church that promotes its community, takes care of people, and humbly seeks after God.

Pulling Through

Good news! We found a vehicle for Jenn to drive. Our 1996 Cherokee has done so well for us (even with the lift, tires, and endless trail beatings in the mountains of CA and CO) that we decided to buy a 1997 Cherokee for Jennifer. It looks like it will be a good vehicle for her and I've logged enough hours under the hood of this type of Jeep to be able to anticipate or fix the majority of problems that come up.

This week also marks the forming of the first small group of CTK Durango. Heidi has put together a group of professional women she has met over the last few weeks. Jenn (my wife) and Daena (who just moved here from Salinas as well) will be joining Heidi and four or five other women every Wednesday night for dinner. It is so exciting to hear the stories of how each of these women, in their own way, has expressed to Heidi that they have yet to find a place in "church" or have not felt comfortable in churches. These same women are now becoming part of CTK Durango!

Please pray for Heidi and the girls as they befriend women in Durango. Pray that God would give them insight and passion for these new friendships and that these women would come to know a relationship with God.

Another piece of good news--Steve (my partner and our small groups pastor) arrives some time this afternoon. He just finished teaching summer school in Salinas and now we're ready to get started here! We need to find him a place to live and some part-time work.

Ever step of the way, so far, proves to be more exhilirating than the last. I am really looking forward to building some momentum with this church. September 8th will be our information meeting where we invite anyone from the community to join our project in Durango--I am anxious to see who God brings to that meeting, especially in light of all that is happenning already without being advertised or promoted publicly.

The Road Gets Bumpy

This past week was a tough one. We're still trying to flesh out the details of our finances which is working, but an arduous process for an extreme non-detail person like myself. To add to the financial melee, Jenn's Suburban threw a rod on Thursday requiring a new motor (the one I sold for $200 before we left Salinas because I didn't want to haul it to CO would have worked fine). Friday night, since we were down to one car, I thought I would do a little work on the Jeep so it would be easier for Jenn to drive and I broke more parts trying to fix it--barely getting it together in time to drive to work the next morning. We're trying to keep our composure, but these events have been frustrating to say the least. Church last night was good for me as we are talking about provision and the reality that God's provision does not depend on my capacity to make the right choices so much as it relies on my faith in the God who has put us here and promised to care for his children and his church.

For those of you praying for us, we are trying to figure out how to replace Jenn's car for the moment balancing price and reliability. Mostly, I would appreciate your prayer for our perspective...for grace...for wisdom...for faith.

Ready to Go!

Well, I'm back in Durango! The time has come to actually do what we came here to do. My first good news is that I got a part time job driving tourists through the mountains in a Hummer. I can't think of a better way to earn money than off-roading in someone else's $100k vehicle! I'm looking forward to learning all the trails around here and getting to know the guys I work with.

Last night CTK Durango met at our house-it was the Daniels, us, and my parents who were visiting (considering a move to Durango). It was the first time I tried to include a teaching and worship element into our meeting (we've been having dinner together and just hanging out so far). It was good. I think we are all feeling a sort of "worship vaccuum" even though we've been visiting churches in the mornings. I enjoyed the time to reflect on God's Word and share with each other.

Back from Mexico

I just got back from Mexico. It was a great trip! We finished the house we set out to build and the kids did great. My favorite part of the trip was when I was able to have the students commission Silver (Joe and Heidi's daughter who has been one of my high school students) to our mission in Durango. It was a precious moment to have kids pray for their friend who was moving away to be part of this church. I can't help but wonder what this is all going to look like to Silver and her brothers (and my kids, for that matter) years from now. Church, to them, will be something very different than what I grew up with. I'm so excited to have these young people with us to see what they eventually do with what we are only beginning to build now.
On Wednesday, Silver and I fly out to Durango. I really miss Jenn and the kids who I will not have seen for two weeks and I know Silver is looking forward to seeing her family who she hasn't seen for almost six weeks.

I'll be right back!

On Tuesday (the 27th) I fly back to Salinas to finish out my last two weeks at SVCC. One of the weeks is actually the Mission to Mexico trip with the high school students. I'm really looking forward to the trip. Mexico has been the highlight of my year for the past seven years in Salinas. I love watching the students bond and support each other and experience God in ways they never do at home.

I have to confess that I am experiencing a big range of emotion on going back. I am looking forward to the time with the kids, but I am feeling a great deal of anxiety and stress at the same time. I'm not exactly sure where it's coming from, but it's beginning to have an effect on me. My desire is to push past the anxiety and enjoy the time I have to bring closure to my time at SVCC. My prayer is that I am able to rest into a godly attitude that enables me to do that.

I've been working on our proposals on timing for starting CTK Durango and it is pretty fun. I honestly have no idea what this is all going to look like. Writing down a plan is like making a wish list for Santa Claus--I'm putting down all things I would love to see happen without the benefit of experience to tell me what will likely happen. Is this going to work? Are people going to want to be part of this community? Am I up to the task of leading in this endeavor? WE SHALL SEE!!! I guess I'll have to put that all aside for a couple weeks, but I'm anxious to hit it hard when I get back!

We're Here!

We made it! When all was said and done (and repaired or duct taped) we pulled into Durango on Wednesday the 14th about five minutes before we signed papers on our new house. It was a gruelling trip, but quite an adventure to say the least. The last few days have been spent moving our stuff from a storage unit into the house and trying to create a new life equilibrium for our poor kids. It's hard to believe that we're here to stay. The thing that has made it feel like a homecoming has been reuniting with Joe and Heidi who have been here for two weeks now. We all sit around the table and smile--there just aren't words to describe our excitement in following God's call so many months ago and seeing it all come down to this. We are exhausted, but anxious to start putting down roots in this incredible town!


By the way, St. George is actually a Mormon saint who definitely had nothing to do with our pilgrimage across the country. The Jeep, as it turns out, only had a cracked rotor in the distributor which was fixed easily and we were on our way (for those of you who are non-mechanical, imagine going to the doctor because you think you broke your arm and he tells you it's only a hangnail--good news!).

Who's St. George?

Right now I'm really hoping St. George is the patron saint of fixing Jeeps on the cheap! I'm sitting in a hotel room in St. George, Utah about 600 miles from Salinas and 450 miles from Durango. A couple hours ago, I was driving along in my Jeep with Jenn and the kids following in the Suburban when I heard a loud explosion and Jenn said fire blew out the exhaust pipe. I got it off to the side of the road before it died and was able to get a tow to St. George of all places. I'll find out what the damage is in the morning, but I'm assuming it will take more than a minor adjustment to get us back on the road. We'll see what happens, but I have to say I'm feeling a little stress over this!

Prepare for Lift-off

Papers have been signed, carpets are being cleaned and bags are being packed...we're almost out of here! On Sunday, I pack up my family into the Jeep and the Suburban and we head to Colorado after church. We're taking it slow (three days) to save the vehicles and go easy on the kids, so we will arrive in Durango on the 13th if all things go as planned. I am excited about the trip, but sad to leave. My greatest struggle right now is that I am so overwhelmed with the details I end up feeling emotionally exhausted when the time comes to say goodbye. I am really hoping that people are able to hear and see how much we will miss them. It feels so inadequate to just hug and say goodbye--I wish there was some new word or gesture I could use that would really communicate my love for my students and the people in this church. It feels dry and awkward.

This reminds me of when I was sitting next to my four year old son as we pulled into Disneyland for the first time. He was trying to think of the words to describe how excited he was and he turned to me and said, "this breaks my heart". I know what you mean, buddy!

The Beginning of the End

We had a whirlwind of a weekend! Sunday was my last time preaching and Jenn and a few people from the team were able to lead worship. It was really fun--I enjoyed teaching and I felt like I was able to honor the people of this church who have been so gracious to us in the past seven years. After church they threw us a "going away" party and I was surprised at how many people turned out to hug us and tell us how much they would miss our team. It was a good time--I think we all felt loved.

The next couple weeks are all about closure. I don't know if I'm going to be able to fit in all the last minute meetings with different people, but I'm working on it.

Coming up for air.

The pace is beginning to pick up as we come into the home stretch in our transition to Durango. We are working on the final details of selling/buying and moving. The Daniels leave on June first and Jenn and the kids and I drive out on the 11th. We are still waiting for Peggy's house to sell as well as the Daniels' properties.

This weekend (May 28th) is my last chance to preach at SVCC as well as the last opportunity for our worship-leading team members (Heidi, Daena, Jenn, and Steve) to lead worship. Last week I found out that the church is going to have a special offering for our team and throw us a party after church this weekend. I am grateful for the gesture--especially in light of our process with church leadership over the past several months. For me, it is an indication that we have, indeed, handled ourselves wisely in this transition--to the point where the SVCC leadership feels they can support us in this way.

I can see that, while our team is excited about the transition, we are also beginning to feel the stress of the move. I am really praying that God's peace prevails while marriages, parenting, finances, and relationships are being stretched to their max. I am also praying that I am able to be wise and insightful in the way I lead this team through this time. I'm not entirely sure what I have to offer them, but I sincerely want to serve them and honor the incredible risks and sacrifices each of them is making in pursuing this call.

We are still praying for the funding to show up and for the provision of jobs when we arrive. The next time I post here, I will probably be living in an empty house out of a suitcase in Salinas hoping all our stuff made it into storage in Durango safely! Thank you to everyone who has been following our journey here and supporting us in prayer!

The Johnson's Have A House!

It's true! Jennifer was successful in her mission of picking and buying our new home in Durango in three days over this past weekend. She managed to find a house that she really likes, fits our needs, has a large enough man cave (garage) for me AND fits in our price range. Perhaps one of the best features of this home is it's location in a great development surrounded by neighbors who we can get to know and may potentially be impacted by CTK. Peggy also put an offer on a home contingent on her Salinas house selling.

So, we have the Daniels moving on June 1st, I will be moving Jenn and the kids on the 14th of June and I will rejoin them on July 13th followed shortly by Steve the first week of August (Peggy will move as soon as her house sells--please pray that that happens soon!). We are all anxious to get there and begin construction of our new faith community. I feel a little like we are all jumping from a plane. We're jumping at different times, but all going to the same place--and I won't feel right until we are all safely on the ground!

We are still watching the support come in. So far we have an amazing group of people supporting us prayerfully and financially. Right now we stand at about 25% of what it would take to support us for the first year, so we could use prayer for more support and for quick hiring at new jobs in Durango for Steve and I.

House-buying Mission

Jennifer and Peggy left today in the wee hours of the morning for Durango to take a whirlwind tour of all the (six) houses in our price range, intent on making an offer on one of them by Monday! This is, of course, exciting and mildly terrifying. I am really praying that Jenn is able to make a choice with confidence that she is informed and wise and Spirit-led. I'm looking forward to this experience for Jennifer--naturally, I want her to find the right home, but I also want this to be an opportunity for her to grow in trusting her intuition and experience God's blessing in a personal way. I can't wait to see what I am able to post here Monday!

Yippee!

I just got back from a meeting with our realtor making a counter offer on the sale of our house! We are very excited to see this go through and simultaneously overwhelmed at the thought of what it's going to take to get us out of our house by June 9th when my job here isn't really done until July 15th. In any case, we are extremely grateful for this to be happenning. Along the same lines, it seems that Peggy has a potential buyer for her house as well (she should know this week) and the Daniels are waiting to hear about the financing for their home.

The next step for us will be for Jenn and Peggy to fly to Durango and pick out new homes. We could really use prayer for the orchestration of this home transition. At this point, it looks like Jenn and the kids will have to move in the middle of June and I will be staying here until the middle of July. This is not my ideal scenario, but we are willing to do what we have to in order to leave Salinas well and get ourselves to Durango.

I am filled with a sense of relief at passing this milestone in this process. I'm thinking that it will be important for us to stop and acknowledge this moment before we become inundated wtih the details of "the next step".

Getting Practical

As the weeks wind down toward our departure, I am seeing more and more of the practicalities involved in our transition. There are things that were once part of the distant landsape--details that I envisioned happening, but never considered how--that are now quickly approching as relevant needs. Steve and I need computers. There are other things we need too...a moving company, a way to transport our cars that won't make the drive to Durango, etc...but right now I'm thinking about computers. The CTK office in Durango will basically consist of whatever chair we find ourselves sitting in. The good news is that our ongoing expenses will pretty much be hot chocolate and coffee (depending on who you're talking to). On the other hand, we will need at least computers to be able to maintain communication as well as manage small groups and teaching. Now that we've come to this place, I'm really not sure how this is going to happen. We are looking to God to provide what we need, of course, but I'm very curious as to what that will look like. I am facing the reality that, in a couple months, some other guy is going to be sitting at this desk in front of this computer and my "palm pilot" will be what I say when I'm referring to writing things down on my hand with a ball point pen. This is not to say that I am afraid we will not get what we need to accomplish what we've been called to do--on the contrary, I am excited and look forward to it. I guess it's just interesting to be in this place where these things are no longer ideas...dreams...concepts, but realities. I like making plans. I love to dream up how things could or should be--infact, sometimes I think I'd rather plan and dream than make the plan or dream happen! Well, it's time to make things happen and implement the things God has shaped in my heart and mind for so many years up to now. Whew! What have we got ourselves into!!??!! In the timeless and eloquent words of Mike Yaconelli, "What a ride!"

I have never felt more alive than now--trusting God to put legs to a vision that is so pristine, so beautiful, so reckless and dangerous that you're almost afraid to actually live it out! I'm on the edge of my seat...I'm my brother, Tim, when he was six years old standing up in the theater in the middle of the movie because the story is too intense to sit down. I'm terrified that this will all fall apart and I will fail some of the most amazing people I've ever known and at the same instant the thought of what could be is too beautiful to pass up!

That's good stuff...I'll have to put that on my palm pilot!

New Partners?

Well, tomorrow Steve, Jenn and I are driving to Truckee, CA (about four hours away--near Tahoe) to meet with some people from a church there who might be interested in partnering with us in Durango. One of Peggy's friends (Jenn's mom) from a long time ago is now attending a church in Truckee which turns out to be a town very similar to Durango in terms of size and tourism. I guess the church in Truckee is starting to put together their missions program and is interested in what we are doing because of the similarities in the two communities. This is an exciting proposition not only for the potential financial implications, but for the inspiration of having other church communities interested in our vision for Durango. Just the thought that someone would want to hear more about what we're doing is incredibly validating. We are praying that this will be a fruitful trip and that God would use this new relationship to build up the kingdom in both communities.

Matters of Prayer

Well, we are in the downhill portion of our journey to Durango. Houses are on the market, replacements for our jobs are being found, and opportunities for closure are being sought. Right now, the matters of greatest concern are the sale of the Johnson's and Daniels' and Peggy's homes. The housing market is pretty slow (for this area) right now, so we are really hoping the sales go quickly so we can then turn our attention to buying homes in Durango. Peggy's replacement as admininstrative assistant to the worship pastor at SVCC has been found! Fortunately the replacement is willing to wait until Peggy moves to step in, so Peggy has that income until she is ready to go. Steve has set up the Nexus (college/career ministry) with new leadership that is already beginning to assume responsibility. The search continues for a new youth pastor to replace Chip at SVCC. We could use prayer that they are able to find someone who will not only do a good job, but specifically someone who will be able to bond with the group of local youth pastors in the Salinas area.

I could personally use prayer for wisdom and discernment as I complete my final months as youth pastor. I am really struggling with the dynamic of making plans and laying the groundwork for a program I may or may not be present for in the coming months. I would appreciate prayer for clarity and direction as to the status of my job and continuted favor with the leadership of SVCC.

Another matter of prayer is the ongoing discussion of what Chip and Steve will do for work. We are having some great conversations about our philosophies of bi-vocational minstry. Right now, we both feel pretty strongly that we don't just want to work to supplement the church's ability to support us, but we want to do work that will establish cerdibility for us and CTK in the community of Durango. I've even met with a local tow truck company owner to see if I might be able to get some training to qualify me for that line of work should it be available in Durango. Heidi is also trying to figure out what her work situation will be when we move. She wants to find the right balance between community connection and bringing in the funds necessary to live and invest in the church.

Overall, we are excited about the coming transition--impatient even--as we count the weeks until we get to move. I am especially excited about the Daniels' trip to Colorado this coming week. They will be seeing Durango for the first time since commiting to be part of our team months ago! I am praying that they will be overwhelmed with a sense of affirmation of their decision to trust God in this great adventure.

Introduction

If you read the intro to this blog you know the basics about what I’m about right now. My goal is to use this as a forum to flesh out some of the concepts and ideas I am thinking about in the formation of what will be Christ the King Community Church Durango. If you need more background on CTK, visit the website at www.ctkonline.com which is quite extensive in communicating the values and focus of the organization. Suffice it to say that our church community strives for "deliberate simplicity" and cultural relevance over tradition and religion.

I will also be using this blog as a place to voice our specific prayers and matters of concern—both to inform people and to create a record of our journey in establishing this church community.