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!

New Digs

We just moved into our new office this weekend. We're moving for a couple reasons. One is that we have more space now for less money. Another is that we get to be across the hall from CJ and Sheila with Patrick Crossing--a similar ministry in town. CJ has been a real friend and mentor to me over the past several months. It will be good to have access to these guys--especially this summer when I lose my office-mate!

One of the best parts of the move is that I can look out my window to Smelter Mountian (one of the coolest hikes ever!) and room 222 of the Strater Hotel where Louis L'Amour wrote many of his books.

We've Seen Too Much!

To add to the previous post, I think there is one other perspective we are aiming for at CTK Durango and Farmington. Having our witness of Christ come from our own experience is paramount to reaching the people around us with the Good News.

The "other half" of our witness, I believe, is illustrated in a story in the book of Acts. As Peter and John are going into the temple to worship, a crippled beggar asks them for money. Instead of giving him cash, they heal him! They literally tell him to get up, then help him up and all go inside the temple together. The response of the church leadership is to arrest Peter and John. They don't know what to do with them since the crippled guy is standing there next to them. Finally, they decide to play the heavy with Jesus' disciples. They tell Peter and John that they can leave, but they must never preach or teach in the name of Jesus again. Peter and John basically respond by saying, "after what we've seen God do in the name and under the authority of Jesus, we couldn't possibly stop preaching his Good News.

If you are living in relationship with Jesus, the authority with which you preach the Good News comes from your personal experience with him--like the blind guy Jesus healed. There are times, however, when you are experiencing crisis, or catastrophe, or things just aren't going well. It sounds a little strange to people when your husband just died to be talking about the miraculous things God is doing in your life. Sometimes, we don't have something current to point to in terms of God transforming us--we are in process. It is at these times when I believe the testimony of the maturing Christ-follower is to say, "I don't know what's going on right now, but I've seen too much to not trust God to walk with me through this."

Our goal right now, is to live in balance (tension, maybe) between these two attitudes toward Christ. We either share from the experience of transformation and healing God has extended to us, or we are modeling faith in light of those things we've experienced in the past. The Christian who embraces and lives out these concepts will be miles ahead of the person who "knows" everything there is to know about God.

We Should All Be Blind Guys.

I've been spending a lot of time recently thinking about the idea of witness--using our story to share the Good News. Growing up in church and going to Christian colleges, I've had my share of training on how to share the gospel--all the different reasonings and arguments.

I know that if you filled the state of Texas two feet deep with silver dollars, marking one with an X, the odds that some random guy would wade into it and randomly pick the same coin are the same as the odds that one man could fulfill eight of the many prophecies in the Old Testament about the Messiah.

I've heard compelling evidence for the scientific possibility of Noah actually fitting all the necessary animals on the ark to survive a flood.

I haven't heard much about talking snakes, so Adam and Eve still confuse me to some extent.

All this to say that as fascinating and compelling as some of these ideas are, I'm not so sure they are very effective in leading someone to a place where they meet Jesus. The more I think about it and look at the Word, the more convinced I am that a relationship with God is less about learning his "stuff" and more about meeting him.

Jesus healed a guy who was blind. The guy really didn't even know who Jesus was. We know this because the religious leaders grilled him and his parents forcefully to try and figure out who healed him, how, and with what authority. Finally, the guy blurts out, "I don't know who he was or what authority he has, but yesterday I was blind and now I can see!"

How do you argue with that? What use does it serve to question his theology? Can you further convince this man of his new ability to see by revealing to him the secrets of the true age of this young earth?

At CTK, we are trying to make a move toward being blind guys--or, I guess, ex-blind guys. In our culture in Durango, there is a lot of spiritualism and a lot of compelling intellectia (is that a word?). There are a ton of smart people with good arguments to support their opinions and conclusions. I wonder what a bunch of former blind guys who have been healed by Jesus, even before they know all about him, could do in a culture like that? Maybe we'll find out.

Experiencing the Power of Prayer

Oscar started stuttering during the summer. We figured it had something to do with anticipating a new school year--starting kindergarten. Our basic tactic was to not bring attention to it and see what happened. Once school started, the stuttering got worse. After a couple weeks, though, things seemed to settle down and he was able to find his words again. Oscar has been doing really well academically and socially at school. You can tell he is about to break into the world of reading and he really loves to learn. He's also found a few good friends and seems to get along well with most of the kids at school.

This is why a week or so ago, we became concerned when the loss of words seemed to come back--with a vengeance. It wasn't so much that he was stuttering, but you could tell it was really bothering him. It was almost like he was being oppressed or held down by some weight, which is hard as a parent and especially tough with a kid who is pretty introverted to begin with. Last week, Jenn and I had been talking about some of the things we've seen God doing around us and while I was in Farmington for the worship service, it occurred to her to pray for Oscar. I'm a little embarrassed that this didn't occur to us sooner, but there's not a lot I can do about that! Anyhow, Jenn prayed for Oscar and you could instantly see a difference. It was as if something had been lifted from him. He spoke clearly (even on the phone to tell me what happened) and his entire countenance improved. For the past several days, we've continued to pray with him every morning, asking God to help him find his words and give him the peace he needs to be able to relax in his talking. He still gets caught up sometimes in what he's saying, but the amazing thing to me is the difference in his spirit. He seems more calm and less "turned in" on himself.

The best thing about this for me is the fact that Oscar has always been our thinking kid. The whole concept of God as been a little strange to him and he's always hesitated to pray (in fact, he still doesn't like to pray out loud). I love the fact that God had mercy on us and met the boy in a very real and very tangible way. Whatever Oscar does from here on out in his faith and relationship with God, he will always be able to remember a time when God moved in a big way in his life. It inspires me to seek God out in my own life as well.

Settling Down

Things are starting to settle down a bit for our family. Jenn is getting a rhythm at school and developing relationships with the kids. Oscar just celebrated his sixth birthday (we had a couple kids over and carved pumpkins), and Piper walks around all day saying she loves you to "bits and pieces". I'm even gaining some equilibrium as my mom has offered to take the kids to school M-W-F which gives me a little margin in the morning to do work. It's good to see the kids feeling more secure and Jenn and I are able to communicate more and bring each other down less.

I also bought a car. After ten years of living by the philosophy of, "I'd rather fix it than make a payment" I finally caved and decided I'd rather have a payment than spend my life under a car on the side of the road. I opted for wisdom over ego and ended up with a Mitsubishi Outlander (imagine a minivan and a station wagon having a baby). It's a good car, but by no means what I am used to. I'm realizing that part of my comfort level with driving kids to school and buying groceries has had a lot to do with the fact that I still drove a badass Jeep. Now that that's been stripped away, I'll have to find my identity in something more appropriate.

Church is going great. Last night we had Food Night (can you guess what happens there?). I love just hanging out with our community "on God's time". There is no sermon or program we could launch that could ever legitimize relationship like a food night! Farmington is going well too. We are about to start some small groups out of the main worship that's been happening on Wednesday nights. It's pretty neat to have these guys coming to me saying, "hey, we're ready to start some small groups!"