Fishing with the Boy

Yesterday I took Oscar fishing for the first time. He's been with me before when I've been fishing, but this was his first time casting and reeling himself. We didn't catch anything, but he learned how to cast (with a real rod and reel) and reel in a spinning lure. We're going out again today. This spring and summer are going to be a lot of fun--Oscar can do so many things now that we will be able to do things together instead of him watching me have fun. If you know me at all, you know that this time of life has been one of my greatest aspirations. To run down to the river in the afternoon with my son casting lines and laughing when he has to poop in a plastic bag because we are too far from the bathroom! This is going to be one of those summers I will wish I could just wrap up and freeze in time.

Easter

We had a fun Easter service this week. The band was huge (for us) with two guitars, a bass player, a drummer and three vocalists! It sounded great. Stephen, who played bass just started showing up with his wife, Amanda--what a great addition they have been to our group.

My grandma is here visiting. It's pretty fascinating to see her responses to what we're doing here. This is a woman who has been going to church for many, many years. She seemed to enjoy herself, although there were times during the teaching when I could see that her eyes were following the tattoos on my arms as they moved around!

Even though we had a good time, every week that goes by is one week closer to Steve leaving. For two guys who don't know how to express emotion very well, we've grown really close over the last couple years. I'm going to miss his friendship, for sure, but what's really going to get to me is losing my partner in audacious church experimentation. I'm not sure I can live without those conversations that start with some random idea and end with, "why not, let's do it". So much of what has turned out to be an amazing movement of God in our community was birthed from a couple of guys who really didn't have much to lose and couldn't be more in love with the idea of Jesus making great things out of our poverty.

Shared Space (update)

Yesterday we had our first gathering in the new building at Matthew's House. There was a great energy there in the new space with everyone there. I'm sure I will eventually get over my aversion to meeting on Sunday mornings...the benefits will outweigh my hesitations, I'm sure.

After our meeting, a group of us met at my house with some of the people from Patrick Crossing for lunch. We talked about the prospect of looking at what it would be like for us to work together as a team in ministry. It was exciting to see people respond to the concept of biblical unity--especially since there aren't many examples of it working well around us. I can't wait to see what this looks like six months from now!

Let's Brag on the Wife!

I talk a lot about what we have going on at CTK, but the truth is, none of what I am doing in shepherding this church would be possible outside the example and hard work of my wife, Jenn.

This year, Jenn took a job at a local "experimental" high school to support our family so we can continue in our work with the church. It's been a tough year, mostly because the school that hired her has been plagued with poor leadership and serves as sort of a dumping ground for Durango's undesirables (not to mention leaving her babies in the care of a guy who only teaches them about cars and cooks mac'n'cheese). In spite of the difficulties, Jenn has proved her worth on the staff and has become one of the most respected and valued teachers there. She has not held back from the kids and has actually been able to speak into their lives in creative and profound ways.

The other thing Jenn is really into this year is coaching cheerleading. She has been coaching since her teaching days at Watsonville High School in California. What's amazing about her efforts here is that when she started coaching the cheerleaders at Durango High a year ago, the team was small and mostly known for their lack of character and poise (to say the least). I just went to the banquet they have at the end of the season and I was blown away by how she has invested in and shaped these girls. She has produced a team of girls who are being recognized by the school leadership as examples of character, integrity, and charisma. They are attending camps and are now starting to enter the realm of competition. This year, in particular, they had an experience where one girl's health struggles had the potential of jeopardizing a homecoming routine they had been working on for months. The team decided to put aside the routine in order to support their teammate. In the end, the team came together, this girl was able to pull through, and they nailed the routine anyway.

I'll spend my life trying to teach people about the value of serving God by serving people. My wife just does it for a living. Who's the pastor now?!?

Shared Space

This coming Sunday, we will be changing venues for our worship service at CTK Durango. This is not too shocking...it was about a year ago that we moved from Pickles Restaurant to the Community Rec Center. Two things are significant about this transition. One is that we will now be meeting on Sunday mornings. Our goal is make ourselves more accessible to people. We want our central worship experience (which we refer to as the "front door") to be as easy to find and safe for people exploring Jesus. The second reason for the move is that we get to share space with other churches. We are moving into the building currently leased by Matthew's House. Joe Beckler (the pastor) and I have become good friends in the past couple years and through that relationship he has extended an invitation for us to share their space. They meet on Sunday nights, so the mornings are wide open. Patrick Crossing (another church--another good friend) will also begin using the space as they meet on Thursday nights. Before long, three churches will be using the same facility. Not only will we be sharing space, but we are constantly exploring new ways for the churches to share in ministry as well. I am intrigued and excited about the prospect of churches doing life together as well as what it communicates to the community about the unity of God's Church (did that all rhyme?)when we can share resources instead of hoarding them.

Lord, Save Us From Your Followers

On Monday night, we teamed up with Patrick Crossing (another church in town) and screened a movie called, "Lord, Save Us From Your Followers" at the Abbey Theatre--picture a small little independent theater with couches in the balcony and a full bar.

The movie basically brings up some of the disparities between Christian culture in America and the life Jesus taught us to live. It was very well done and it sparked some good dialog between Christians and people who would normally too angry at Christians to talk.

The best part for me was a conversation I had with a woman afterward who said she had stopped going to church because it seemed like people were more concerned with being right than actually helping the poor and oppressed. She was really excited about the prospect of finding community with people who worship God and consequently long to reach out to the abandoned people groups with love, acceptance, and forgiveness.

I'm looking forward to where these conversations lead. The movie is supposed to hit theaters this summer, so look for it. It will definitely create some great inroads to conversations about Jesus.

Last night was one of those nights that reminds you of why you're here. I got to kind of cast vision for where we're headed in the coming months. It is an exciting time for us and I can't wait to elaborate in the coming weeks. Suffice it to say that we have a great group of people in this community who are bursting with potential to uncover the Kingdom all over the place!

More to come!

101 Reasons Not To Leave Durango In Winter

This past weekend, Steve, my Dad, and I flew to Seattle for the annual Arrows Out conference for CTK. Once a year, everyone from all the campuses get together in one place. It was so good to catch up with people who I've only been talking to on the phone for the last twelve months. Some highlights were great conversations about the future and focus of CTK Durango/Farmington and a private beer tasting with our supervising pastor, Rick Snodgrass.

Some low-lights were getting bumped from our flight from Seattle to Phoenix, being re-routed to Denver, sitting around the airport watching flights being canceled, spending the night in a hotel only to discover our flight was rescheduled for 24 hours later, renting a car and stretching the six hour drive from Denver to ten hours.

It was a long trip.

We got a ton of snow in Durango while we were gone (hence the travel issues). I finally caught up with the shoveling this morning, so it'll probably snow again tomorrow!

It's good to be home!

Juno--Not Alaska

Jennifer and I went to see the movie Juno last night. This is basically the story of a sixteen year old girl who gets pregnant and the process of dealing with the obvious as well as the relationships around her. The best part of the movie for me, however, had more to do with the four teenage girls sitting behind us.

The movie was adorable, despite the fact that no one wants a kid to have to deal with some of those issues. Several key moments in the movie brought on four simultaneous sighs from the row behind us. With each sigh, you could tell that these girls (I'd guess they were in junior high) were being sucked into the story. They were obviously picturing themselves as the humorously quirky, attractive teenager making the best of being eight months pregnant. You could tell they could almost picture themselves waddling around their school campus, joking with their step mom and chatting with their best friend about gestation and ultrasounds--being pregnant at sixteen was almost cool!

Then came the delivery scene at the hospital. The sighs continued up until the very moment when the baby came out and the nurse held it up--covered in blood and stuff. The rest of us adult-types were quietly taking in the depth of the moment, so the quadruple "eeeeeeeeewwwwaa" from behind us echoed through the room, followed by the instantaneous belly laughter of every woman in the room who had ever given birth.

The movie was really well done. The actress who played Juno, the teenage mother, was fantastic and the theme of the story having to do with the idea that similar interests are far from the foundation of a lasting relationship was well-put. The girls sitting behind us, however, will be why I will always prefer to see a movie in the theater on a crowded Saturday night.

I suppose none of this has much to do with church, however, if you want to get a glimpse of what a culture of authenticity and experiencing life together with real people looks like, Juno actually does a pretty good job. That, or you could show up to the rec center in Durango some Sunday evening and see it for real!

Time To Take Out The Trash

I haven't posted in a while...good to be back!

I recently had a noteworthy conversation with one of our crew from Farmington. We were talking about reaching out to the people who don't get much attention and she described a conversation she had with a woman who is developmentally disabled, but living on her own. They were talking on the phone and Christine (my Farmington friend) asked the woman if anyone was visiting her. The woman's response was, "The Mormons show up sometimes. They want to tell me about God, but they won't take out the trash." In that moment, this woman described the problem with so much of what we call "outreach".

How often do we, as Christians, look at outreach as an event, or even a sport. We think of all the people we want to reach and we start playing a numbers game so we can keep score of how many times we share the gospel. Sometimes (maybe all the time), however, in order to be able to have the opportunity to share the good news about Jesus, we need to be willing to share the good news that we are willing to serve. Taking the time to get to know someone and learning how to serve them can make the difference between sharing/modeling Christ with someone and simply annoying them.

The end of the story is that Christine invited her new friend to lunch (who just so happens to like the $20 shrimp platter at Red Lobster) and was able to help her with some groceries and even tracked down a stroller for her Pomeranian! Good on ya, Chris, for practicing true religion and authentic outreach!