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surrendering your vision

August 23, 2007 in Kineo with 1 Comment

Alright, I know, it has been way too long since my last post. However, in light of recent developments, I have really needed some time away with my thoughts. Here’s an excerpt from an email I sent out today to my prayer team…

"A few weeks ago we met as a launch team in our future
gathering place to practice setting the room up and to pray over it together.
But what should have been a fun and exciting time of preparation was very
disconcerting and spiritually unsettling. Whether it was me, the team, the
location, the timing, or something else, I knew that something felt off…really off. So I began seeking hard after the heart of God. I
specifically asked God to direct our steps and give us clarity in to what He
wanted us to do.

I really don’t want to go in to all the details, but to make
a long story short; we are putting the brakes on Kineo. I don’t understand it.
I don’t like it. I don’t want to do it. But after much prayer and some real
affirmation, this is what we strongly sense God calling us to do. It has been a
very difficult, confusing and frustrating realization to come to. I feel like
God led me down a path only to slam the door shut. I feel like God
gave me a vision and called me to commit my life to seeing it realized…and now,
after pouring my heart and soul into it, He has called me to surrender it.

I am thankful that
it has not been a desert experience, thankful that God is close and that He continues
to direct my steps; but in fervently asking God to lead me, I now find myself
following Him to a place I do not really want to go. I sense that I follow Him
now in to a season of preparation and waiting.

One of the stories that has continued to echo in my heart
and mind through all of this is the story of David, who was anointed to be the
next king of Israel as just a teenager, but who didn’t actually see that
realized until he was 30 years old. I feel that my heart for and call to church
planting has been fueled and affirmed through all of this. But like David, I
feel like I now enter in to a season of preparation and waiting. At least for
now, I sense that God has closed the door…and I am completely in the dark as for
how long.

For the time being, those of us involved with Kineo are
planning on continuing to meet on Sunday nights and living life alongside one
another. On a personal note, I have taken a new job working overnights at the
People City Mission. I will also be continuing to serve at RiverTree part time
while continuing my studies. The last few weeks have been very difficult,
emotionally exhausting, confusing, and heart wrenching. I would sure appreciate
your prayers as I am currently going through somewhat of a grieving process.

I love you and thank you so much for your prayers through
all of this. As much as I don’t understand it all, I have sensed God’s
continued presence and leading in all of this. So thank you."

“um, lord, i could really use some help about now”

July 21, 2007 in Church Planting, Kineo with 0 Comments

I was listening to a message this morning given by a church planter from Raleigh. He talked about just how difficult church planting is. He specifically talked about various hardships that always seem to accompany this particular endeavor. At the time he gave the message, his church had just brought a guy on staff to empower the people in their church who wish to serve. (At their church, a new staff member must raise support for some or all of their salary. Needless to say, it’s quite a commitment.) The day this guy comes on staff, a tree falls onto his car and totals it.

I can relate with that.

Up until somewhat recently, all of the pieces have kind of fallen in place for us. We’ve got a church that has our back and has committed to pay my salary while we get off the ground. We have a nice sound system that was given to us for free. We’ve got a location. We’ve got a great team of missional jesus-loving crazy people. We even had $8,000 that were allocated our way from rivertree to cover our startup expenses. I almost felt guilty because, in all honesty, it seemed too easy…

that is, until now.

About a week and a half ago I found out that we have what some may call a "financial crisis" going on at the mother ship. The church that had committed to pay my salary for the first year can’t guarantee me a pay check next month. Our "startup funds" were accidentally spent and in all likelihood are now gone indefinitely. And all of this comes less than 2 months before we’re planning to launch and just 6 days before I am going to be a dad!

haha. So much for being "too easy"! Honestly, all I can do is shake my head and laugh. "Are you serious? So this is how it’s going down?" If I didn’t feel so strongly that God has called me to do this, I just might be hitting the panic button about now. But God has called me to do this. And He will provide for this work in His time, as He sees fit. Jesus never said, "Follow me and I will make sure that you never endure pain, trouble or hardship for my sake." As we know, His words communicated quite the opposite. If anything, Jesus went to great lengths to help his followers understand the great cost of following in His footsteps. I can almost picture him leaning over and whispering in my ear about now, "Hey, you can’t say I didn’t warn ya."

And so, at this point, it’s not a question of if Kineo will happen, but how. And trust me, "how?" is a question that I am asking at this point.

kineo’s core values!

July 17, 2007 in Church Planting, Kineo with 1 Comment

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been wrestling through our core values as a launch team. We started with brainstorming nearly 400 words that we felt could or should be a part of who we are. Then we began the arduous process of wrestling them down to 5 to 7 statements that would define who we are and what we’re about. These are a really big deal because more than just words on paper, they will be the filter through which we make decisions and the marks that we continually strive for as a faith community. After 5 weeks of discussion and prayer, these are the six things that we sense God specifically calling us to:

Grace. We
desire to be a people who are characterized first and foremost as being agents of God’s grace.

Missional. We strive be a people marked by action,
compassion, and lives transformed by the gospel.

Creative.
We seek to encourage, nourish, and unleash creativity in the arts, in innovation,
in worship, and in our engagement of culture.

Bold. We will
be bold in who we are, in what we believe, and in what God has called us to do.

Authentic. We
desire to be marked by authenticity in our relationship with God and in our
relationships with one another.

Multiply.
We are committed to multiplying our impact by empowering others through
discipleship, collaboration, and planting new churches.

the crew

July 10, 2007 in Daily Musings, Kineo, Photo Blogs with 1 Comment

Wow, I am really really tired. More than just feeling wiped, I have found myself being pretty stressed lately about Kineo. What if it fails? What if I don’t have anything to say? What if I am not cut out for this? What did I get myself into!? I think part of this is the season that we’re in right now – lots of planning, lots of prep, lots of particulars, lots of stuff, but its mostly just in principle at this point since we’re not up and running yet. Sometimes I wonder if I’m forgetting something hugely important or if I’m worrying about stuff way too much.

Amidst it all, however, there is one thing in particular that God has really been teaching me through this crazy endeavor. And it is the incredible importance of those who are on the journey with you. I love the people I get to do this with. There is no way I could do this on my own. I am so thankful for them. It takes a lot of faith to step out like they are and trust that God is going to intervene. I believe God honors that kind of faith. I am really excited to see what God does in and through this group of radical ragamuffins.

church: not an institution, but an organism

July 7, 2007 in Church Planting, Kineo, The Church with 0 Comments

Tonight I have been putting together some thoughts for our website. I wrote way more than I’m going to be able to use for our temporary one page static site, so I thought I’d share the excess:

The church was never meant to be an institution, but an
organism. When we reduce it to just another institution, we rob it of its
unique capacity for change and fluidity. When we view the church as an
institution, the focus will always be on things like processes, efficiency, and
programs. The challenge then becomes keeping the machine fine-tuned and
well-oiled. The problem with equating church to a machine is that conformity is
necessary for a machine to function properly. What this often means is that
there is no place for the artists, dreamers, questioners, doubters or sometimes
even God himself (for whom the church exists!) Those who often infuse life and beauty
into our every day lives are silenced for the sake of functionality. After all,
“if it ain’t broke, why fix it?”
right?

The problem, of course, is that most of us would conclude that
the church, in general, is “broke.”
In fact, it was broken the moment we started treating the organic movement of
Jesus like a corporation or exclusive health club. We’ve all experienced the
ugliness of legalism, exclusivity, and stale religion. But sadly, many of us
have not experienced the life, beauty, and love of Jesus (the very things that
are to characterize his church.)

When we strip away all the excess baggage that people have
tried to make church out to be, we simply find a group of people who believe
Jesus Christ is Lord and who seek to follow Him together. By its very nature,
the church is a collection of life that, when brought together, makes up a unique living
organism. It lives, breathes, moves, and grows with the people that make it up.
And because those people have all been uniquely gifted and created, the
community of faith takes on a unique personality of its own; changing with each
person that joins in the journey.

Kineo is a Greek
word that means “to set into motion.” Simply put, we desire to set into motion
a movement of God’s love and grace. It is a movement that was begun over 2,000
years ago through Jesus and that message hasn’t changed. What does need to change,
however, is the way in which that message is lived out. Lincoln needs a new
kind of church – not necessarily better – but certainly different; one that is
marked first and foremost by love for God and a love for others; a church that
isn’t about putting on a show but rather is raw, stripped down, and
unapologetically spiritual in their genuine worship of God; where things like
the arts, individuality and creativity are encouraged and unleashed; where all
people are welcome to join in the journey regardless of who or where they are;
and a church that is not concerned with having the biggest steeple in town, or
even owning a building for that matter, if it means we can invest more
resources into meeting the real needs of real people.

This is what Kineo
is all about because this is what we believe Jesus was all about.

why am i doing this again?

July 4, 2007 in Church Planting, Kineo, The Church with 1 Comment

It seems that almost every day I am wrestling through various complexities that exist in the church (or at least I’m trying to). Things like leadership development, missiological considerations, discipleship processes, corporate worship philosophy, the building of community, creative elements, ecclesiology, theological implications, etc. The list could go on and on and on. It can be easy to get overwhelmed by it all. So I thought it’d be healthy to step back, have a smoke, and articulate precisely what dreams fuel my desire to do this…

I want to see Christ transform lives – the lost found, the captives freed, the hopeless infused with hope, the broken put back together.

I want to see us run to where the needs are and see what God does.

I want to live out Acts 2 community (life on life. meals. possessions. needs. growing.)

I want to be a church characterized by LOVE. (for God. for each other. for others.)

I want to forge a new path. (innovate. create. question. reimagine. take risks.)

I want to be a church that listens to the voice of God, not the voices of religion.

I want to be a church known for hanging out in the gutters of society – the places where churches have refused to go.

June 27, 2007 in Kineo with 0 Comments

Things continue to move forward in preparation for the church plant. We
are now meeting weekly as a launch team which has been a very
encouraging and exciting experience. God has brought together such a
great group of Jesus-followers whose hearts are already beating to the
same drum. We are sharing meals, praying together, and working hard in
preparation for the fall. Currently we are working on our Core Values
(pictured), have a team working on conceptual design, and another
working on the website.

After deciding to name the church Verb,
we found out that there is an organization in Lincoln with the same
name that encourages high school girls to exercise with their parents!
Come to find out that there are teeshirts, key chains, and duffel bags
all over Lincoln that say, "Verb, it’s what you do."
Naturally, we decided to go a different direction with the name. We
decided to start fresh with a name that is virtually unknown. The new
name for the church is Kineo. It is a Greek word used in the New Testament scriptures that means "to set in motion." (Thus, Kinetic Energy).

fca, divine intervention, & props

May 3, 2007 in Church Planting, Daily Musings, Kineo with 0 Comments

Yesterday was a great day…

#1, I had the privelege of
speaking to the FCA group in Ashland for their last meeting of the year
where they send off the graduating seniors. I talked to them about our
tendency to compartmentalize our faith and only give God a small
fraction of our lives. After all, it is what we’ve seen modeled to us
as our entire lives. Sadly, this just flat out isn’t biblical. Jesus
continually showed and taught that God wants all of us. (For a great
example of this, check out Mark 10.) The only life worth living is a
life recklessly abadoned to God. It is there that we find life, find
our purpose, find God, and find out who we are – for we only find out
who we really are in the context of losing ourselves in who God is.

#2,
A guy who doesn’t even go to Rivertree wrote us a HUGE check yesterday.
I probably shouldn’t say how much it is, but lets just say that his
check is probably the equivalent of what we usually take in over a
period of 6 months, and about what I make in a year! Not only is this a
HUGE blessing to rivertree – a church that struggles to make ends meet
- but it also means that the new church plant now has all of its needs
for startup costs taken care of!!! Thank you, Lord!!!

#3, My dad just found out that he is being named the Evangelical Free "Church Planter of the Year!"
This isn’t city wide or regionally or anything like that, but is out of
the entire denomination nationwide! I can hardly believe it. (Oddly,
one of his good friends that he served with way back in the day, Jeff
Sorvick, won the award last year.) I am really proud of him. He needed
some encouragement and I know that he is really stoked about this!

the land of ten thousand churches

April 18, 2007 in Church Planting, Kineo, Reflection, The Church with 0 Comments

Things here in L-Town are going pretty well. I am finding, however,
that preparing to plant a church is really, really tough. Now I have no
problem working hard. Most know me to be a very driven person who
naturally sets very high goals and tirelessly works to achieve them. I
enjoy working hard to see God’s will be done. Indeed, it is what I
strive for each day and it is what keeps me up each night.

However,
the thing that makes this particular season so tough is that my time
generally consists of lots of reading, studying God’s word, praying,
repeating all the aforementioned, and then (at least for now) rarely
coming to any conclusions. I love it because I love to learn, but it
can be really frustrating to work and work and work and feel like you
really don’t have anything to show for it.

Perhaps it’d be
different if I was starting a new business or something of a more
frivolous nature. But this is God’s church we’re talking about! We’re
talking about the body of Christ, the light of the world, the great
commissioned! That’s a big deal! And someday I am going to have to
stand before the Lord of Lords and given an account for my handling of
his church (among other things). Whew.

I think another thing
that adds weight to all this is the size of the mission that stands
before us. Lincoln is an aesthetically beautiful yet spiritually
devastated place. Indeed, even many of the churches seem devoid of
life. But even if they all were alive and well, those involved hardly
constitute a fraction of the population. There has been a whole lot of
teaching and very little reaching. As is true in most cities in
America, the majority of the churches are slowly dying with their
members, many of the growing churches grow not from seeing new people
come to Christ but from the transfer growth of church-hopping consumer
Christians, and the church continues to fail to engage culture by
meeting the real needs of real people and thus fails to have a voice
outside of its own christian subculture. The impact that the Church has
had on this city and its culture is hardly worth mentioning. The broken
and hurting are everywhere, and interestingly enough, they continue to
search for meaning and connection everywhere BUT the church. This will
always be the case until the church wakes up and realizes that it
doesn’t exist for itself.

It’s sadly amazing that after 2,000 years, in the land of ten thousand churches, Jesus’ words are still true: "The harvest is plentiful (and so are the churches), but the workers are few."

we have a site!

April 9, 2007 in Kineo, Photo Blogs with 0 Comments

It’s official, we have a site for the new church! We will be at The
Villager Hotel located on 53rd & O! So that’s it, Sunday night,
September 2nd at 7pm we will be officially launching the new church at
The Villager! I gotta say that I am pretty pumped about it! Check it
out:

The entryway.

The baptismal.

The foyer.

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