Easy Like Sunday Morning.

Here at CTK Durango, we have our worship service on Sunday night. We meet at 6pm. At first, this was just a logistical issue. We wanted to visit other churches, we had dinner together (when we were small enough to fit around my dining room table), and we wanted to get to know the town. I guess we always thought we would eventually transition to Sunday mornings, but I'm starting to wonder if that ever needs to happen. Durango is an active town, to say the least. By meeting on Sunday evenings, we make ourselves that much more accessible to the people who live here. I've also noticed that, by meeting in the evening, there is a very relaxed and laid back feel to our meetings and worship. People seem to be in a restful mood. They're not in a hurry to get home and watch a football game or eat lunch. My favorite thing about meeting on Sunday nights, though, is personal. I've always struggled with the idea of the Sabbath. I've never understood why it seemed that only people who were not pastors or church staff were allowed to rest on God's day. I've always thought the leadership of a church community should model the life they expect their congregation to live. Our habits of worship on Sunday night allow me to slow my pace on Sunday. I can eat breakfast with my kids, clean the house, go outside and do something. I'm not stressed and out of the house by 7am and barely getting home at 2pm only to crash out after kicking the dog and reviewing all the things I could have done differently that morning. Instead, when I get to the worship meeting, I'm relaxed and ready to go. I'm excited to see my friends. I can preach with a cup of tea in my hand and it feels more like a conversation than a sermon.

I don't know that every congregation could operate this way--I'm certainly not saying they should. But...for us, I have to say this way of doing church is downright heavenly! Bring on the Sabbath!!!

Office Space

We've hit yet another milestone in our journey at CTK Durango--we have an office. We are now located downtown in a building that is designed to accommodate small buisnesses. The owners are people who value community, so they encourage interaction between tennants and even have networking parties every month. Our particular office overlooks a big deck on the second story. We're pretty excited about having a space we can work in and the sense of community in the building fits our vision better than anything we could have imagined. My favorite feature is the CTK window sticker Steve made for the door--perhaps because that's about all the furniture we currently have for the new office!

New Location

We had a great time at our new location last night. We are now meeting at the Rec Center almost across the street from where Pickles used to be. It was ironic to drive by Pickles which has now been repainted blue and white, sporting a Kettle sign instead of the giant, spatula-toting pickle. It's almost as if Pickles never existed.

We took some time to talk a little about where we're headed in the coming months. We also talked about what it means to be a church for people who don't belong in church. I love looking around that room and seeing that the likes of us have found a home!

Right now I'm really looking forward to our visit to Salinas. I hope a lot of you can make it to the show-and-tell at Salinas Valley Community Church on Friday, May 4th. We will be sharing a little about what we've been up to for the last year. We'll also be showing a video featuring our beautiful town and the amazing people who are part of our church community. We are also hoping to be able to express our deep gratitude for your support and encouragement in this journey.

See you there!

I'm going to be a house husband!

This past Saturday, Jenn interviewed for a job at a new magnet high school in town. This morning, they called and offered her the job! She will be teaching English at a small high school designed to equip students to be more ready for the work force by the time they graduate. It is a great opportunity for her to be in on the ground level of a very creative way of doing high school.

This new development means a couple things for our family. One is that we will be taking our house off the market. By refinancing and cutting some costs, we will be able to afford our home--staying in our neighborhood will be good as well as keeping our house which has been a great place to host friends and church events. Having Jenn teaching full time will also mean that I get to facilitate the day to day life of our family. I'll be taking kids to school and keeping up with the house. While I've never worked in such a domestic capacity, the flexibility of the schedule will allow me to manage my pastoral duties during school hours.

This is great news for us and an incredible answer to prayer. Once again, God has been faithful to us as we've deepened our commitment to do whatever is necessary to follow through with our calling in Durango.

Easter

Tonight was great. We had to scramble to find a place to meet when Pickles decided to close a week earlier than planned. We ended up at Manna House. I love worshipping with these people--we have such great vocalists that we are able to have quality worship even with a small group of people. Add to that the level of authenticity we value so much at CTK and you have a fantastic worship experience.

One of the highlights of the evening (on a less spiritual plane) was sharing the 30lb chocolate Easter bunny that was donated to us through the soup kitchen. Let's just say that you'll be able to tell a CTKer by the terrible acne we're all going to have tomorrow from all the chocolate we ate tonight!

Amazing Grace

Last night, Jenn and I went to see a movie called, Amazing Grace--the story of William Wilburforce, the British abolitionist in the late 1700's. The movie started with two strikes against it in my movie criteria: it is set in a Victorian context, and it is about Christians (not that I have a problem with Christians, but I've never been too impressed with movies about them--ask me about the "Distant Thunder" series sometime). In the end, I really enjoyed the film. It was definitely a movie about a Christian and his struggle to effect change in the world, but it was more about how this Christian lived than showing him explain his faith. The underlying theme is the song, Amazing Grace written by a priest who had once been a slave ship captain. I was most affected by the elements of the movie depicting a man (Wilburforce) who is consumed with passion for what he becomes convinced is his calling from God. For all the passion and conviction he feels about his calling, he also feels as if it is tearing him apart. He leaves the context of the politics of abolition to try and recouperate only to find that he cannot leave his calling behind. To abandon his call would be far worse than the toll it was taking on him to pursue it.


While I don't endorse burning ourselves out in whatever we are doing, I see in this story the truth that once the Christ-follower encounters God's direction and call on their lives there is no escaping it, as joyous, liberating, heart-wrenching, or discouraging as it may, at times, be. I like the idea of being so captured by Jesus that I can only continue on any path that leads toward him--anything else seems pointless. There is something about the certainty and clarity of the vision that Jesus offers that overshadows the toll life can take on us all.

Anyhow...good flick!

The Evolution of an Adventure...or Ulcer

Well, things have progressed rapidly in the last few weeks as far as our church goes. About a week ago, I had a conversation with the owner of Pickles Restaurant where he had decided he wanted to develop the half of the building we've been using on Sunday nights and lease it to us on a permanent basis--the down side was that he wanted about a thousand dollars more than our entire monthly income and we would be responsible for the construction. I wrestled with this for about three seconds since the thought of our own space and option for permanent signage on Main is really attractive. In the end, however, we decided against this option as it would stretch us so much financially and we would rather put that investment into people over a building (sort of a core concept at CTK).

Two days ago, I was sitting in Pickles (they call the back corner table my office) and the server told me that they were shutting down the restaurant on April 8th. Sure enough, all the Pickle mugs and t-shirts were on sale and they were preparing to lease the whole building to a breakfast buffet chain from Texas. This, of course, made the former offers obsolete and moved our time table forward drastically in terms of finding a new location. As it stands, we have reserved some meeting rooms in the community recreation center where we can meet on Sunday evenings. We intend to meet there as long as we need to until we can find a place that is more comfortable. The Rec Center is nice--don't get me wrong--in fact, they have a video screen in place as well as room set-up and tear down provided...for almost $40 cheaper a week. We are grateful for a place to meet and a little bummed about Pickles closing, but mostly looking forward to what God has in mind for us over the coming months.

Things to pray about are: making a smooth transition to the Rec Center (we've just started having a couple "walk-ins" on Sundays and don't want to miss out on that), possibly a different place for us to me more permanently that is as comfortable and accessible as Pickles has been, and the prospect of some cheap office space for Steve and I (since we could almost afford rent on all the food we have to pay for at coffee shops and restaurants during our "office time").

Spring Forward

We are now beginning to enter the early days of spring in Durango. This is a new experience for me--seasons. I am used to the difference between rain and no rain, hot days and cooler days, but this is amazing. All winter we've been waking up to fresh snow. I have had a great time working at the ski resort. It has been character building to be sure--dealing with thousands of people and learning to relate to my co-workers who's highest priority in life is where to get their next free drink or cheap pot. I have been able to have some great conversations with liftys (the guys who work the chair lifts) and my fellow ticket checkers. I hope I've been able to be a witness to the authenticity and grace I've come to expect from the people of God's kingdom. Now, however, I'm starting to look to spring. With the warmer weather and longer days, the whole town is buzzing. Everyone is making their plans for their next seasonal job. The concept of new beginnings and transition are not foreign to this place at all. It is exciting and it seems you have an inroad with every person you meet, "so, what are you doing for the summer?" I'm even starting to get calls from people wanting to book Hummer tours!

I think I could get used to this seasonal life--enjoying the season I am in while looking forward to the one to come. I'm curious about this spring and summer. I'm wondering what people God will bring to us and how he will equip us to care for them.

My prayers right now are focused mainly on people. It seems that recently every single family in our church has been going through some sort of crisis. These situations are not fun in any way, but they do have a way of bringing us together. There is also our house transition (selling this one and buying a cheaper one) and finances for the fall. I've been reading a book by Dallas Willard called, The Divine Conspiracy which is basically a book about the Sermon on the Mount. It has a lot to say about how to live in the Kingdom and the importance of making our requests known to God.

I am most grateful right now for all of you who have followed our journey and taken care of us from a distance. I have been inspired and humbled by every one of you who have kept up with us and prayed with us over the last year. You remind me of what it is like to relate to Jesus. It is a precious yet lopsided relationship. What you bring to our lives here, the ways in which you have supported and cared for us, I could never adequately reciprocate. Instead of this being a shameful deterrent to our relationship, however, it seems to endear you to me all the more. Steve, Jenn, and I are going to be in California the first weekend in May. We'll be sending out the details soon, but I have to say that this visit is one of the things I am most looking forward to this spring. I can't wait to come together with as many of you as possible and share what God has done in our lives and in Durango over the last year. Thank you all for your sacrifice and friendship.

Entering the Podcast World

http://web.mac.com/ctkdurango/iWeb/Site/Podcast/Podcast.html

So, we're trying something new at CTK Durango--podcasting. For those of you unfamiliar with the podcast, it is basically a recording posted on the internet. Last night, we started recording the teaching from our worship service to podcast weekly. There are a couple reasons for this leap in technology: one is that we have a couple who is going away for two months and they wanted to be able to keep up with our worship. Another reason is for all of you who are not in Durango who have been supporting us and following our journey.

I hope you enjoy it and we would love to hear your feedback and response to what we have going on. Soon, we will have things set up so you can subscribe to the podcast through iTunes. For the time being, I've included a link to the website.

It's quite possible that we are the only church in America where you can hear kitchen noises in the background of all our teaching (courtesy of Pickles Restaurant)!

http://web.mac.com/ctkdurango/iWeb/Site/Podcast/Podcast.html

Let it all hang out!

Why is it that the story of many pastors today reads of amazing leadership and dedication and progressive pursuits followed by a catastrophic moral failure that brings it all crashing down over night? Why is it that revealed weakness or real struggle in our spiritual leaders is so shocking and disappointing? Could it be that the church's pursuit of excellence and execution has superceded the values of authenticity and accountability?

Jesus didn't hold it together when he walked into the temple and saw people making money off worship. He didn't act cool when Lazarus was dead. He never pretended it was all good to be crucified. Jesus blew up...he wept...he wondered if there might not be an easier way to do hard things. Jesus' life seems to have been a roller coaster of emotion, improvisation, compassion, empathy, and obedience. I don't read the gospels and see an upward trajectory of increased excellence and execution--I see Jesus responding in the moment every moment. Sometimes he is angry, other times sad or compassionate or abrupt with the truth. He seems to be honest with what he is feeling and experiencing--even if those feelings are not the most effective way to "win people over". He seems to care more about loving people in the midst of life as it happens as opposed to projecting that he is impervious to his surroundings and circumstances.

My greatest hope is that the people in our church understand that my failures often match (and usually immediately follow) my victories. I want them to see that, while I strive to obey God in every moment, how I get there can be sketchy and indirect. I want us to witness and experience a process of transformation as messy and unpredictable as it is God-inspired and beautiful. I understand about disclosure and being appropriate and wise in how we share information. I don't feel compelled to "prove" my brokenness for effect or reaction--I do, however, believe that it is authenticity, more than excellence, that honors God and inspires people. I believe I have done my congregation an incredible disservice if they are shocked to find out that I have real difficiencies and struggles.

I realize that healthy, stable people will probably be turned off by this way of doing business. I suppose in the end I may end up surrounded by only hurting and broken people searching for God in the midst of their complex and unpredictable lives...but I have to ask, is that really such a bad thing?