[Photo taken earlier this year.]

You accept us as we are – unholy
But you don’t leave us as we are – you make us holy.   

I was nobody ‘til I met you. 
You brought me out of the darkness. 

It’s more than I dreamed,
Living in your light and mercy.

Only you, Lord Jesus, are worthy of
This unconditional kind of love.

There are no words to express
How grateful I am for what you’ve done for me.

Unholy to holy. 
Jesus, I have you to thank only.

Unholy to holy. 
Now I live my life for you only.

Categories: stuff to pray for
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I don’t remember who is responsible for this quote, but I want to thank Daniel Rodriguez for sharing it with me several years ago.  It has kept me sane and saved my marriage repeatedly. 

“If your purpose of serving others is to meet people’s needs, then you are going to burn out because people will always have more needs.  But if your purpose is to glorify God, then you can accomplish that every day of your life.”

Categories: the how
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Making tweaks.  There are things we’re going to do differently in our ministry in 2009, our third year in E-Ho.  Some include:

• Begin in their homes, not ours.

• It’s about discovery, not preaching or teaching. 

• Let them lead the Bible studies right away, even before they commit to Christ.

• Don’t tell new believers what church is or show them how to do church gatherings.  Point them to scripture and let them discover it on their own.

• Don’t be physically present when the new churches meet for the first time.  Go away, then come back to ask how it went and offer mentoring. Be more obedient.

Removing obstacles.  Additionally, we are going to remove as many obstacles as we can that are getting in the way.  One of those obstacles is my identity and status as paid clergy.  More on that later.

Training trainers and finding partners.  Our third year also will be about seeking an answer to the question “What’s it going to take to see a church planting movement here?”  Asking what it’s going to take is altogether different from the question, “What do we need to do?”  If a CPM is going to happen here, it’s going to take more than just my team and me.  I believe there are critical elements to a CPM that God will bring through lots of people working together.  I want to work with other people who are passionate for the harvest, open to doing church in different (yet biblically-based) ways, and willing to ACT to see a church panting movement.  I want to expose more people to our vision and, as God allows, train more gospel planters in Los Angeles for the harvest and from the harvest.  One of the first steps we’ll take this January is to host a “Planting the Gospel/CPM Mini-Workshop” for folks in this area.  There are lots of other ways we’ll partner with folks in the new year.  Please keep this in your prayers.

Reproduce ourselves.  In everything we do we want to bring someone alongside us so they can learn to do what we do.  We’re each praying God will give us a few people we can invest in who each will invest in a few others. 

Be faithful no matter what.  More than anything our third year will be about prayer and obedience.  As Katie commented in a recent team huddle, “We could be so much more effective if we weren’t selfish, timid, and disobedient.”  It’s not about being successful, it’s about being faithful.  Faithfulness leads to fruitfulness.

I’m excited to see how this plays out! 

Categories: stuff to pray for, the how
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We’re coming to the end of our second year in E-Ho.  As we reflected upon this in a recent team huddle, Ed shared: “But it feels like we just finished our first year of ministry.”  We all felt the same way.  Looking back, we can see why. 

Our first year (2007) was about being shaped for mission.  Our team had several life adjustments happen all at once: a new baby, the loss of a parent, a broken leg, surgeries, fixing up the building we moved into, and getting to know our new mission field.  Another significant change was all the unlearning we had to do.  We were unlearning “church” as we had known it and learning to be church as a way of life.  We were active in ministry those 12 months, and a man gave his life to Christ, but clearly God was doing more in us than through us that first year.  He was calling us to intimacy with Himself, and calling us to obedience.  And it is out of that intimacy with God and our obedience to Him that mission has flowed.

Our second year (2008) has been about discovering our approach to missions.  It’s a lot clearer to us now that it’s not all theory any more.  We’ve been getting some just-in-time training (the best kind).  We’ve had opportunity to practice simple Biblical principles and methods for catalyzing a church planting movement (CPM).  Another person gave her life to Christ, and we’re beginning to find (or be found by) more people who are spiritually curious and willing to expose themselves and their households to the Word of God on a regular basis.  God noticeably has begun to do a few things through us as well as inside us. 

Our third year (2009) will be about doing this approach whole-heartedly and making necessary changes to live it out as a lifestyle.  

…Tomorrow I’ll share what some of those changes will be. 

Categories: stuff to pray for, the how
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A friend summed it up best when he sent this email to me a few months ago.  I posted it on my wall:

“I urge you to be faithful.  Your Father wants that of you.  His Spirit in you is not just about you; it’s about our Father.  John Piper wrote that missions is not the goal of the church, but worship is.  Missions exist because worship doesn’t (yet).  And you are the jars of clay that eternal love is poured out of.  Be faithful as he is faithful.”

Categories: the why
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Thought I’d take a break from my “Home groups and CPM” series to share this simple poem I wrote a few years ago.  Far better than the poem is the experience that inspired me to write it.  That is, the years we spent with a very special and diverse church in Hollywood before they sent us out to love the nations in LA:

Family of All Nations 

We’re a family of all nations
And we join in celebration
Of the One who gave us life.
For we’ve made it our decision
In a city of division
To live as one under Christ. 

We praise you, Lord, for making us one.
To each of us you’ve given your grace.
We praise you, Lord, as many who are one.
Through your Son you bring peace to this place.

You’ve torn down the walls
And united us all
Into one new heavenly race.
For in all our diversity
One thing we’re beginning to see
Is Jesus in every face.

We praise you, Lord, for making us one.
To each of us you’ve given your grace.
We praise you, Lord, as many who are one.
Through your Son you bring peace to this place.

Categories: stuff to pray for
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I’ve been thinking more about this question, What if some of the churches we help new believers to start don’t continue to meet in everyday places or be driven by lay leaders?  What if they use their own resources to rent out a church building and compensate some of their own to be paid leaders?  As I mentioned earlier this week, keeping them home-based and laity-led is not the objective.  That said, regardless of whatever models the new churches in E-Ho eventually develop, I would encourage them to continue reproducing disciples, leaders and churches in the same manner that was done with them – that is, by planting with the seed alone (God’s Word).  No bells and whistles.  No large sums of money to get a church started.  No buildings or big programs, at least not in the beginning.  No paid leaders, at least not in the beginning.  No seminary training, at least not for a long while.  In this way, the people they lead to Christ will learn, just like they did, that Jesus is sufficient to be their leader.  They won’t have to be convinced, they’ll already know from experience that they don’t need all that extra stuff to be and do church.  They’ll get to see that it is the Holy Spirit and their obedience to Christ, not the “right” model and amount of money, that leads to reproduction of disciples, leaders and churches.  I’ve heard it said that the first Christians waited 300 years before they got a church building and clergy and look at how they multiplied… we can wait, too!  We might learn a few things along the way.

[Note: This has been slightly re-worded since it originally posted.]

Categories: the how
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