Faith

There are many aspects to the life of a disciple that are very opposite to our upbringing and nature as fallen rebels. Think about it....

Loving people. Really loving them. Sacrificially. Whether or not they love you back. Or if they are even lovable in the first place (never mind that we all fall into this category!). Even your enemies and those who persecute you.

Serving people. Even when it is inconvenient. When no one will recognize the service. When they take advantage of your generosity. When they won't serve you back.

Both of these are hallmarks of Christian discipleship, yet are so difficult for us aren't they? Never mind the difficulty of overcoming our rebellion and inherent desire to worship ourselves. It is also hardwired into our psyche as Americans since we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Really, the American Dream caters to our idolatry and rebellion, but that is a topic for a sermon series at The Vine and the Branches, LOL.

Faith is another major facet in the life of discipleship. I would like to share with you how faith plays such a major part of my life and how a life of faith will be intertwined in the life, health, and vitality of The Vine and the Branches.

I have never really had difficulty accepting some of the more challenging parts of Christianity. The Virgin Birth and how that actually happened. God created everything out of nothing by simply (?!) speaking it into being. Even the existence of God, angels, Satan, or whatever. I have always been OK with those questions and not having all the perfect answers.

If you think about it, we all live lives of faith all the time, we just don't want to admit it. When you get on the freeway, you have some faith that your car won't blow up and that the other cars won't come into your lane and smash into you. You can't explain your confidence, don't have all the answers at your disposal, or at least answers that make empirical sense. But this does not stop you from believing.

Anyway, one part of faith that is particularly powerful is having faith that God will provide all of our needs according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus and that if we seek his kingdom and righteousness above everything else, He will provide all of our needs.

I am going out on a limb here and say that one of the reasons we followers of Jesus are so lukewarm, ineffectual, and lifeless in our faith is that as American Christians (and American's in general) we order our lives in such a way that we never have to rely on God for anything. Perhaps developing that thought further will be another sermon series at The Vine and the Branches....

Anyway, I don't know about all of you, but the times I am most alive in my walk with Jesus is when I don't have all the answers. When I have to rely on Jesus and not myself to live. When I take Jesus at His word and believe that if I seek His Kingdom and righteousness, He will provide what I need, what my family needs, exactly when we need it.

When I moved to Eugene from Philadelphia years ago, I had to live this life of faith daily. Moving down there, I did not know anyone other than my uncle who lived about an hour outside of town. I arrived with my dad to begin my life there with no real place to stay, and not knowing anyone. I figured that I was an ex-missionary, so if there was one place that would take care of me it was a church. We looked in the Yellow Pages (remember those things??) and found First Baptist Church of Eugene. I showed up on Sunday morning with a backpack, a guitar, 250$ in my pocket, and an unshakeable faith that God would provide the miracle. By that night, I was staying in a men's Christian house tied into the church to get my feet on the ground. Needing a place to stay for the summer at least, the next day I went to the public boards at the U of Oregon and saw that God had provided a room for rent, written in marker complete with flowers and Hippy-chick writing. 250$, cash up front. That night, I had a place to stay with a great older single mom and her kids, meals everyday included. Then, I needed a job. People told me there were no jobs in Eugene. Yet that day, God happened to lead me to a T-shirt printing company that had just opened the day before and needed a sales guy. Hired on the spot, at the first place I went to, in a place where there were supposedly no jobs. This is just one period in my life of many times where God has consistently provided for all my needs.

A guiding principle in my life of faith is a quote I heard from a pastor years ago in Eugene OR named Steve McKracken. He said that God wants us to do the possible, so that by faith He will do the impossible. Read through all the great stories of men and women in the Bible and throughout history who demonstrated great faith in God and you will see over and over how they participated with Him in the miracles He performed. It is a great way to approach some of the more familiar stories in the scriptures with a fresh light.

So what does this mean for planting The Vine and the Branches?

This whole endeavor is an exercise of faith. We don't have all the answers.

We have ideas and dreams, but will they work out exactly how we think they will?Thankfully, I know that in His graciousness, they probably won't. Or maybe they will. God knows. But we are called to the possible so that by faith He will do the impossible.

Our model for ministry assumes we will have people joining us. At this point, it is the Beumer's and the Bayley's. We have faith that God is calling us to this and that He has been preparing people (already or not yet Christians) from before the foundation of the world to join us. So we plan the possible and by faith, God will perform the impossible and bring His people.

It is not the most ideal time to sell a house and start a new life across the state. That's true. But God is calling us to do this, and He promises to supply all our needs when we seek His Kingdom.

We are raising financial support for this mission so that Amy and I don't have to have the stress of working separate jobs and trying to plant. If you have not heard from me yet, don't worry... ;-). So we do the possible by asking for funding so that in a down economy, God will do the impossible and provide the resources we need.

Where will we meet? In a home or a rent a building? Where will we live? Where on the South Hill of Spokane will the Vine start? Will our house sell in Lynnwood? Don't know.

What I do know is that our God is a provider and that He will take care of us.

By joining the Vine and the Branches, whether in person or through finances and prayer, you are joining us on this adventure.

Join us in this exploration of the dynamic life of discipleship as we place our total faith in Jesus!

So why are we doing this?

So Why Are We Doing This?

This is a question that anyone considering planting a church should spend a great deal of time thinking about.

I am not trying to reinvent the wheel with this post. There are a great deal of articles written about reasons to plant a church. I would direct you to Tim Keller's excellent post about reasons why to church plant here as a good place to start.

Why are we planting a church, though? It is one thing to agree with idea of planting a church, but another altogether to actually do it.

The first way that I can answer this is to share with you the process of how we got here.

As stated previously, I have been called to be a pastor for God's people. Now, some pastors are called by God to perform different functions for His people, according to how they are gifted by Him and empowered by His Spirit. In Ephesians 4:11-13, Paul tells us that God has blessed his church with Apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers to equip His people for the work of ministry, building and strengthening the body of Christ (His people, the "church") until we all attain to the unity of the faith.

Teachers can take on many roles. At Grace, we are blessed with a great teacher named Scott Golike. He is the primary preaching pastor here at Grace, and God is doing great things through his faithful teaching of God's word. Now, Scott and I are great co-workers in the vineyard. He has mentored me and shown me what it really means to shepherd God's people. Through Scott, I can see why God waited so long to fulfill His calling on my life to be a pastor because I was not ready in my late 20's and early 30's. As much as my pride wanted to deny that!

That said, Scott and I are very different. Different upbringing, different backgrounds, different stories of salvation, different communicators, different personalities. I mean, in hindsight, it truly is a testimony of how great God's Spirit is in uniting two very different men together for the shepherding the people of Grace Fellowship!

The problem is, God has called us both to proclaim the Good News about Jesus in the role of a preacher, and as a visionary leader. All of us elders at Grace affirm Scott's calling to lead this ministry here. We all agree that this would be best for Grace moving forward. We are also blessed with another gifted teacher named Kristian. Unfortunately for him, his work is preventing him from preaching more than we think he should. Really, with my calling, there is a redundancy of gifting here.

I have often said that Christians are like manure. Manure is great for causing growth. You have a dead lawn, put manure on it and watch it grow and become alive. Like us Christians. You spread us out and growth happens. You put us into a dead world, and God brings life through our proclamation of the Gospel. But what happens if you don't spread the manure out? The dump truck comes and deposits this big pile of it on your driveway, and you do nothing with it? What do you have on your driveway now? A big pile of.... manure. Not doing what it is designed to do, just being a stinky mess.

To make this analogy really work, I have to admit that I am manure. I have been gifted and wired by God for leading His people by proclaiming His Good News in a public forum. But like manure, someone like me needs to be spread out for those gifts to manifest in the way the God wants, and in the way that is best for the advancement of God's Kingdom.

So the next question was should we plant a church, or go on staff as the preaching pastor at an existing church? I am sure I will touch on this more in later posts, but I can say this much.

I have talked with several godly men who have transitioned into taking over an existing church. I just can't do that. Christians can for sure be very gracious and loving, be we can also be pretty nasty to each other. Especially when someone comes along who is different than the previous leader, or someone who comes in and brings about wholesale changes. Those of you who have been around church ministry for any length of time know how well some people handle change.

We have great dreams of what God can do through the Vine and the Branches, but it is pretty different than most typical evangelical churches. I sense that it would be very difficult to move into an existing work, with all the history, baggage, tradition, etc and bring this new vision. You would spend more than half your time trying to change the mindset and "culture" of the church as you would actually leading people into the mission God has given.

I love the idea of starting from scratch. From the ground up. To hard wire into the DNA of God's church the mission He has called us to. No baggage. No "this is how we have always done it" or "that's not how pastor so-and-so did that" comments. To see people come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord and to build into their discipleship process the mission without the baggage of tradition. How cool is that? How cool is it that God is blessing us with this opportunity?

In looking back over my life, I can see that the times I am most alive in my walk with Jesus is when I am operating in faith that He will provide all my needs. The next post will show how this has played out and hopefully will give you another reason why we have been called to plant the Vine and the Branches in Spokane.

From Salesman to Pastor

From Salesman to Pastor…

I have a confession to make. I have known since I was 14 that God wanted me to be a pastor. I was sitting at the church I grew up in, and was listening to Charles Shields preach a sermon. I heard an undeniable voice from God tell me that this was what He had in mind for me. No, it wasn’t the food I ate the night before, either.

Who would have thought that I would finally answer that call 20 years later by becoming a pastor at Grace Fellowship here in Lynnwood, WA? There were times over the years where I thought that God was maybe giving me and my family the green light to be a pastor, but for various reasons, it never panned out.

Surprisingly, one of the biggest hurdles in this process was that I loved my previous job selling water for Crystal Springs. I never thought I would ever enjoy a job that was not paid for by a church. Yet there I was, at a great job that taught me so much about myself, my faith, what motivates me. Plus, I was paid a lot of cash to do something that was easy and enjoyable for me.

Yet all the while, I had that experience at 14 where I knew God wanted me to be a pastor.

In October of 2006, my wife Amy and I were fully on the same page, and were ready to make the leap of faith to join the staff of Grace Fellowship.

I love doing puzzles, especially with Amy. They are great because you get the opportunity to talk with your wife and do an activity together at the same time. My friends make fun of me because I get really into them. They call me the “Rain Man” and that I need to buy some more underwear at Target. But I love it when you match the shapes and textures. When the pieces start to come together and the full picture emerges. When you put the pieces together in the way they are supposed to work. The best part is right at the end when there are like 5 or 6 pieces left. They all fall into place and the picture is complete.

Becoming a pastor was like finishing a puzzle. Everything about my life came together just like the pieces of a puzzle. The picture was complete. I saw my life as it was designed by God to be- serving His people.

This puzzle was not like the other puzzles, though. It does not end with this initial picture. This was only the start of a much grander, more majestic picture that now includes starting a church from the ground up.

My next post will have several parts about why on earth we would plant a church.

The Journey Begins

We each have a story, a journey of how we got to where we are. This is because we are a part of a larger story, the Story that God has been telling since before the creation of, well, everything.

The center of God’s story, the hero if you will, has been and always will be Jesus. Not me. Not you. Jesus.

This is my story of how I first came to know Jesus…

A crucial part of all our stories is that at our heart, we are fallen rebels. We have each chosen to go our own way, to place ourselves at the center of the story. As if we are writing it or something. Sure, some of us hide our rebellion better than others, or we somehow have convinced ourselves and others that we aren't so bad as the next guy or gal. But in our heart of hearts, each one of us is on the same rebellious playing field.

Growing up in Southern California, I was rebel just like the rest of us. I lived my life as if I was in charge of everything. I made decisions based on MY story, not God's. Sure, I was ignorant of God's plan for my life. But that is no real excuse. A short look at my life and it is plain that I was living for my own personal gratification. I abused alcohol, and smoked a lot of marijuana. I lied and deceived my parents. I learned how to manipulate people to get what I wanted. I put up a facade of being generally a good kid, but in my heart I was still a rebel.

When I was 18, college was not in my future. My dad and I remembered that there was a man named Tony Campolo who spoke at a church retreat we had gone to. He talked about a non-profit he had set up in Philadelphia working with at-risk inner city kids. It seemed like a good avenue to pursue.

In reality, it was a miracle that I was able to join this work. One of several times over the years where I can clearly see the hand of God at work in my life. I was definitely not a follower of Jesus. Sure, I had gone to a youth group and was a fairly regular attendee at the church it was tied into. But my profession of faith in Christ was in word only. I was an unchanged rebel, living my own story, my own life.

In Philly, I lived with a community of Christian men and women. 26 of us under 1 roof. It was to this day the most radical experience of Christian living in my whole life. We shared meals, money, devotions, life, and ministry. Part of my salvation story is tied into this reality of community. I saw a love present there that was unlike anything I had ever experienced. While I was certainly not convinced that Jesus was the answer, these brothers and sisters had something that was so attractive to me, and as so unlike the "community" I had experienced back home.

But I was still a rebel. In my rebellion, I made the type of request that I would never tell people to do. I told God that He needed to reveal Himself to me or I would go back to LA and live my life for me again. In hindsight, what arrogance, right? What had He been doing my whole life to this point? Being a passive observer?

After opening my eyes to the vitality of Christian life, on December 8, 1990 God performed a miracle to get my attention. I call it "the 2x4 of the Holy Spirit". One of those times we all need where God has to clobber us to make us pay attention.

My friend Dave and I were taking the kids from our community recycling. In Philly back then, people would just drop their bottles of Olde English 800 and Colt 45 where ever they were done with them. At a busy intersection, we had all the kiddos line up to wait for the light. Two girls, Brianna and Theresa, decided to run out into the street. They both got plowed by a car. Theresa flew across 3 lanes of traffic to the opposite sidewalk, while Brianna took the brunt of it and bounced down the road.

Jesus at that point shut off my emotions. Numbly, I saw that Theresa was crying on the ground and figured she was alive. Brianna was splayed out on the road, still as death. Dave and I knelt over her and I did not know what to do. Dave said we should pray, but I was thinking in my head "what for"? She was dead. Dave said something to the effect that God can do anything and that I should pray for her. I was thinking he should be the one to do the praying, because he claimed to follow Jesus and it was lame that he was passing the buck on to me.

But I did pray. I asked God to not let this sweet little 8 year old die. Right after we said Amen!, her eyes popped open, she started to look around in confusion, and asked where her mom was.

After that, everything was kind of a blur. The police wanted to talk to me and drove me to hospital in the back of a car. Being 6' 4", I remember deciding that I never wanted to break the law and ride in the back of a squad car. Ever. We went to the hospital and I was struck by the fact that several people from my Christian community were there for support. So between praying with them and having some smokes with the girls’ parents, several hours passed.

After a while, Brianna's mom came out of the emergency room crying and told me I needed to go see the girls. To this day, I remember dreading that moment. I went to the room they were in, and saw two little piles of hospital gear on the cots, but no girls. Turning to leave, I see Brianna and Theresa with huge grins on their faces. They ran up to me and jumped on me with the squeals that only excited 8 year olds can do. It was then that God decided to remove my numbness. I was so emotional, I almost passed out. But I succeeded in breaking a medicine cabinet as I fell on it, so I guess that is cool.

When we got home about 6 hours later, I found the Community praying and singing, rejoicing that God had worked a mighty miracle. Now remember, I had not told anyone about my foolish challenge to God. One brother made a comment that changed my life. Whether or not he knew what he was saying, he looked me right in the eye and said God had revealed himself to me and provided a miracle. He then went back to singing the song "Jehovah Jireh, My Provider" and was dancing around the room along with the rest of the crazy Christians who loved Jesus, but couldn’t dance.

I went upstairs and wept. I wept for the rebellion in my heart. I wept for the sins I had committed. I wept for the people I had hurt. I wept for the grace of God to a wretch like me. I wept for joy. I wept for the freedom that washed over me.

That night, a broken rebel threw down his weapons, his pride, his self-centered existence at the foot of the one place we are all equals.... the Cross of Jesus. That night I set my hand to the plow of discipleship and I have not looked back.

My next post will be about what happened after that, and what led me and my family to the place where we are planting a church in Spokane.

Thanks for reading.

Hello....

Welcome to The Vine and the Branches!

We are a new church that will be planted in Spokane WA, setting our roots down in the South Hill.

We will officially be arriving in Spokane after the 4th of July, using the rest of our summer time to lay the final groundwork for making this vision a reality.

We will be having our first public time together be

Sunday September 9, 2012.

I am hoping this blog will accomplish several goals:

A way for you all out there get to know me, my fellow planters, my family, and our vision for seeing Spokane transformed by the Gospel of Jesus.

A public journal of sorts to chronicle our journey of faith and trust in Jesus

A vehicle for keeping in touch with friends and family near and far who are supporting us in prayer and finances.