I got up at 5:30 to read some of the Psalms, did my at-home physical therapy exercises (my old back injury and sciatica are acting up again), prayed with my sons, kissed my wife, and at 6:40am rode the bus to work so I can support my amazing wife and those precious little boys.

It felt so good to be on the bus to work.  After months of job-hunting, I appreciate more fully that I have a job while so many don’t.  And that the kind of job I have allows me to make a difference in the lives of families who are jobless and at risk of homelessness.

7:30am Start work.  While at work, I met another case worker who is starting home-based churches, referred to me by my supervisor.  Very cool!

5:30pm go home.  After work, I enjoyed some quiet (as quiet as the city gets) time with God on the bus ride home.  I intentionally skipped the second bus so I could add 15 minutes to my walk home (this was painful but I knew the exercise would do my sore back and leg some good).

6:30pm arrive home. Nothing tops the experience of coming home, walking through the door and being greeted emphatically by my three hyper boys with their tight, tight hugs and pretend stabs to my gut with their pirate swords.  They told me all about their first day at their new school.  The long version was so cute but too long to share here.  The short version: They were blessed with a fun and smooth first day (thank you, Lord!).  My beautiful wife also greeted me with a kiss and homemade tamales (made by our neighbor who is selling tamales to make a few extra bucks).  As planned, our family ate dinner with two of Meredith’s former co-workers who brought donuts for dessert, which thoroughly pleased our boys.  Meredith’s friends love to play with our boys, and our boys love to play with them.  So it was one of those social gatherings that you can feel good about as a dad because you know you didn’t leave your kids out of all the fun.

8pm open God’s Word.  These two young women, who are very, very turned off by religion but opening up to the person of Jesus Christ,  stayed for a Discovery Bible Discussion (aka Discovery Bible Study) after we put the boys to bed.  Just before we began, though, my son Isaiah prayed all on his own for Meri’s friends and the time we would be spending reading the Bible together, which was awesome.  If I’m not mistaken, this was our fourth time to explore God’s Word together with these two friends.  It is exciting to watch them discovering what God is like and opening up to Him.  It was also fun to hear one of these young women pray aloud to God, to hear her voicing her faith in God to the rest of us, and to observe her taking on the responsibility of facilitating the Discovery Bible Discussion.  It also was wonderful to hear the both of them identifying people in their lives with whom they will share what they’re learning about God.

10:30pm Time to unwind.  It was a late night so I’ll have to make up for it later with some rest.  But I couldn’t just go right to bed after our guests left.  I needed some additional time to unwind because, unlike my wife who usually gets reenergized by being around people, I typically need some alone time to recharge.  So I’m thankful my wife graciously allowed me some down time to check my favorite blog feeds, read Obama’s speech on health care, and spend some “just me and God time” in prayer.

Now, it’s time for bed.  Thank you, Lord, for a good full day. I’m sure tomorrow will be quite different and still very full and good.

Three new Bible studies just started, and possibly a fourth will begin this week. I am hopeful the individuals requesting these Bible studies will soon gather their family members and/or friends to read and spiritually journey with them.

Two of Meredith’s co-workers in their mid-twenties, who have teased Meredith for being a “Christian,” requested a Bible study with Meredith. So last night they came over for dinner and we read and discussed a biblical story that sparked a lot of discussion about what God is like vs what their impressions of “churches” have been like.  They told us stories of how they felt judged by their appearances (lip piercings, tattoos, all black clothing, etc) when they went to churches in the past.  They said they are looking for people who are really living out their faith and experiencing a transformed life, not just going to church all the time.  They have been burned by religious people, but they are very open to exploring a relationship with God.  One of the girls wants to bring her boyfriend to the study next time.  They also talked about bringing another co-worker with them. 

Today I discovered my email distribution list was wiped out. Until we get that fixed, I’d like to post a modified version of the update I tried to email to folks today. Enjoy!

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A prayer update from your missionaries in East Hollywood (E-Ho), Los Angeles, CA:

Dear Prayer Team,

Wow, the weeks flew by! My apologies for no updates… I’ve been very busy with job hunting. As you know, this July we go from full-time salary to half-time salary as a missionary family (and then to zero salary by January 2010). Please keep us in your prayers as I look for a “regular” job and my family makes this transition from being funded missionaries to self-supporting missionaries in LA. Also please pray for our relationships with supporting churches, as we continue partnering with them in other (non-financial) ways!

How we’re doing:

Meredith and I praise God we celebrated 13 years of marriage last month! We left the kids with Ed and Katie and stayed at a nice bed and breakfast on the coast. Praise God that Ed and Katie are about to celebrate 9 years in July!  Now it’s our turn to watch Ed and Katie’s kids while they go celebrate!  Pray for Meredith and me – this summer we will decide if we’re going to keep our kids in public school or home school them next school year. Pray for our community of faith to trust God as we all go through lots of life transitions and face uncertainty with our finances/jobs.  Especially pray for our children, neighbors and co-workers as they watch us go through times of uncertainty – these become great discipling moments.

How the ministry is doing:

• Bad news: We returned from Asia to find nearly every family with whom we had studied God’s Word is no longer interested in journeying spiritually with us. This is due in large part to a group that has stepped up its presence in the neighborhood. There is heartache involved in gospel planting; it hurts to see people come and go.
• Good news: Yet there also is joy in watching others find hope and deliverance in Christ. Despite this setback we can see God is using us to show people what he is like and to attract people to his Son. For example, a grandma and her grown daughter continue to study God’s Word with Meredith. A school mom who adamantly said she doesn’t like religion can’t get enough time hanging out with the women in our group.  She has begun to pray and study God’s Word with them.  We continue to find people really want to spend more time with us.  They know something is different about us.  They just don’t know (yet) that it’s Jesus who is making the difference.  You’ll recall Wendy’s gangster friend Talia (not her real name) was arrested. While Talia was in jail, Wendy helped take care of her little son. Talia is out of jail now and her heart unfortunately is hardened to God right now. Yet other neighbors noticed. Wendy’s home has become a safe haven for their kids, too. During the school year Wendy had a homework club in her apartment. Now that school is out of session, we will find different ways to engage these homework club kids and their families.
  
• Interns: We are excited about a newly married couple who will be joining our community of faith as interns for the next nine months.  More about this wonderful couple in future updates.
  
• Pray for our Summer Outreach: We will be adding different kinds of outreach activities to our repertoire in addition to what we have been doing, to meet people in different ways and see what other responses people will make to the message of Christ we are living out and telling.

Thank you for lifting up the people of E-Ho in prayer!

This morning I dropped my sons off at their primary center and saw a body wrapped in a U.S. flag in the alley next to the school – the path my family often takes to walk to/from school.  Police were already there and have been there all day.  A woman in her mid-30s.  Investigators are treating it as homicide.  No more details yet.

I wonder who she was and who will be missing her.  This is so horrible… 

http://www.ktla.com/landing_news/?EXCLUSIVE-Womans-Body-Found-Wrapped-in-A=1&blockID=238018&feedID=171

This is not an exhaustive list, but here are some learning experiences God gave us during our city dwelling from 1996-2006 that helped to shape us for the way of life we’re living now (2007-present):

• The experience of falling in love with Jesus like never before.

• The experience of leading people to Christ in our current ministry context, before attempting to do so in another one.   

• The experience of losing new disciples to the Evil One.  Very painful to watch, but we learned invaluable lessons. 

• Learning to relate to peoples of all walks of life, and build mutual friendships with social lepers. 

• Learning to submit to spiritual leaders (a prerequisite to being one). 

• Learning to trust God that I could be a gatherer and leader of people. 

• The experience of having a missionary team nearly assembled, then disintegrating the group with my immaturity and sinfulness, and then seeking reconciliation and having to learn from what I had done.  

• Experiencing raw authentic community with other Jesus-followers from the Hollywood Church of Christ and its Young Adults Fellowship on an almost daily basis.

• Being loved, mentored and equipped by the Christ-centered leadership team of the Hollywood Church of Christ – they provided us a safe space to seek God, try out ministry ideas, and make new mistakes.

• Learning another language (for those of you who’ve done this, you know it’s no small task). 

• Learning to cross cultures (still learning).

• Learning the “urban culture”.

• Learning some street smarts.

• Unlearning and re-learning “church”. 

• Learning to have a “shared lack of things” with the people. 

• Learning to accept help from the people we are blessing. 

• Learning to say “no” to needy people when we need to focus on our marriage. 

• Learning from false starts.

• The experience of losing loved ones to untimely deaths (cancer, miscarriage, and senseless killing).

• The experience of being threatened with eviction from our previous apartment for living like Jesus. 

• The experience of having kids and choosing to raise them in an at-risk community (what a ride!).   

• And more.

This list is not a prescription of experiences-one-must-have-before-starting-a-ministry-like-ours.  It’s simply a description of some of the things that took place before we started this ministry, which I believe God brought good out of.  Some are awful things the evil one did, but God was with us in the pain, revealing his character, teaching us important lessons – some we didn’t realize until we processed things later on.  Creating lists like these remind me of who God is and how far He has brought us.  I’m amazed at how these experiences have helped us in our ministry.  I’m sharing it on this blog because maybe one or two of you reading this will relate to it, and it will help you to notice (or remember) God’s fingerprints on your own life. 

Other things God did before he let us begin this mission: 1, 2, 3. 

One foundation, multiple models.  For a long while I thought the important part of the vision was the model of church (house church vs store front vs mega church, etc).  God has since redirected my attention to the foundation of church (Jesus Christ and his way of life) regardless of the various models that will inevitably emerge as new groups of believers are living an obedient life and learning to put church together in their respective cultures.

Called to a way of life more than a city.  I used to talk a lot more about Los Angeles being a strategic location (“Los Angeles is an urban missions laboratory for the 21st century!”), almost as if LA was the only place to be.  I still love LA and think it is important to prayerfully choose where we will live intentionally for Christ.  God’s people ought to run into places of darkness and poverty, to be light in them, not avoid them.  Yet today I’m convinced almost any place can become a “strategic location” if Jesus’ followers are committed to living strategically for Jesus in the places he has put them. God’s mission is much bigger than Los Angeles or any one city.  For now, we are here, but I could see us living this way of life in other places, too.     

I’m thankful God clarified the vision before we started this missionary effort in E-Ho.  The truth is, he had more things to clarify after we got here, and I’m positive he will have more things to show us and teach us, too, as our hearts are ready for it.  I pray I will be open to seeing whatever he wants me to see.

Other things God did before he let us begin this mission: 1 and 2. 

Other stuff God did before he let us begin this mission: click here.