New Blog - New Site - going to Wordpress...

hey everyone - I've disabled this site and started fresh at http://plantingtrenches.wordpress.com.  The new site is focused on unveiling the everyday experiences, battles, and victories of a 1st year pastor & church plant in portland oregon.  Enjoy

why the how is greater than the what

What I've learned as a churchplanter:
It is easier to agree with the "what-vision" than the "how-vision".

For example, here are some various "what-visions":

• "Lead your family well"
• "We need to score a goal"
• "Let's launch this church with momentum!"

Most everyone would agree and buy-in to these "WHAT" visions.

It's when you get to the "HOW" that people start to bristle.  After saying "YES" to the previous "WHAT VISIONS" they may not like the end of the sentence...

• What: "Lead your family well"
• RESPONSE:  YES!
• How:  Stop watching 20 hours of television and playing video games like your still an adolescent!"
• RESPONSE:  "HEY!  That's not being fair..."

• What:  "We need to score a goal!"
• RESPONSE:  YES!
• How:  "We need you to sit the bench for us to have the best chance of scoring"
• RESPONSE:  "Hey!  That's not the strategy I was thinking..."

• What:  "Help us launch this church with momentum!"
• RESPONSE:  YES!
• How:  "Spend every extra hour of your day passing out doorhangers for one week so we can get the word out to 20,000 homes!"
• RESPONSE:  "Hey!  You're asking too much of me!"

If you want to gather a momentary crowd, spend the majority of the time casting "WHAT" visions.
If you want to create a movement, spend the majority of the time casting "HOW" visions.

If people buy in before the HOW prepare for a wave of disillusionment.
If people buy in after the HOW you've got a movment.

Spend 20% of your time casting "WHAT-vision"
Spend 80% of your time casting "HOW-vision"

The team will be smaller at first if you cast "HOW-vision" because less people will like your "HOW" even if they agree with your "WHAT".  But by clarifying the "HOW" your team will also be more powerful, more capable of reproducing, and result in exponential movement.

Understanding Given not Gained

1 Kings 3:4  "Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?"

In churchplanting there are so many opinions, models, books, and networks that it can seem like "success" is simply finding the right formula by adding  A + B + C.  If I just read "this" book, or talk with "that" churchplanter for have "these" resources, we'll be good to go.  So, so wrong.

Once again I read in Scripture that God is the source and that he alone is the one that gives understanding.  The moment we put these other (well-intended) books and people above God - we've begun practicing idolatry - as if those people and books are what we really need rather than God himself.

Let God be your God, and let your friends be your friends - but don't ever get them mixed up in where your source of wisdom and help comes from.
















Prayer:  God be my source.  That I would know you.  Help me.  Give your servant an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people in the name of the Lord without the Lord?  Come Lord, be my source.

God or Bust

"Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.  Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain."
- Psalm 127:1 (the Bible)

"And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground." 
- 1 Samuel 3:19 (the Bible)

"We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but God's purpose prevails."
-Kay Warren

For the past 9 months I've tried desperately to have a great plan and purpose for starting hopecity church.  I've labored to do things the right way and with wisdom.  Understanding the responsibility that has been given to me, I've wanted everything to go as perfectly as possible.


The danger is that plans can become manufactured.  All of a sudden I subconsciously became plan-dependent more than God-dependent.  Not good.


I don't think God was all too concerned about the exact words that Samuel uttered in I Samuel 3...I just think God wasn't about to let one word fall, because it was the plan of God to raise up Samuel.

• Is it fair to say, that God is much less concerned about our plans, 3 year goals, and various strategies than we are?  
• Wouldn't you agree with me, that - more than anything our PRIMARY purpose is to be totally dependent on God, to be desperate to be near his heart?
• If we honestly read the story of the early church in the Bible - can't we conclude that none of them really knew what was next?=

It's not that we don't have plans...it's not that the watchman in Psalms 127 isn't supposed to watch...it's that our primary dependancy must be overwhelmingly clear.  May we all live accordingly.

God or Bust.

Prioritizing Spiritual Disciplines

Quiz for Christ Followers:

Greatest Commandment is....___________
Second Greatest Commandment is...____________
(Hint:  matthew 22:34-39)

Chances are that if you have been a Christ follower for a year or more, you probably got that one right.  Good job.  A+

Here's a second quiz that bothered me today:  What spiritual discipline should be the highest priority for Christ followers?  Should there be a priority list?  Are some more important than others?

As I read the Bible in the book of Acts today, I think there might be a right answer to this...and if life-application is the grading curve, I think I've flunked this quiz. 

It's not uncommon to get excited about the "Acts 2 church" and desire to mimic their devotion "to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers" (2:42).  But these disciplines, being lumped together, don't really provide a priority list for us...or do they?  Turn back a chapter and we get some clarity:

Acts Chapter One Scenario:  Jesus has ascended into heaven...has instructed the believers to go back to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit...and then we read the FIRST discipline, the FIRST priority, the FIRST activity of the Christ followers:

"All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers." Acts 1:14

The first activity the people of God committed themselves to was prayer.  It was the foundation for all that had happened, all that was happening, and all that was about to happen.

You may enjoy the discipline of Theological Study, of Community, etc.  But I believe that what really matters in the end is a devotion to prayer that will align, illuminate, and cultivate the other activities to their utmost potential and purpose.

What priority is prayer in your life?  Me?  It's lumped into all the disciplines & activities of a believer, but I'm more convinced than ever to re-prioiritze, re-position, and renew my commitment to prayer.

So, what do you think?  Is that a fair assessment?  Is the activity of prayer MORE important than other activities and disciplines?  Do you think spiritual priorities exist, or should we just lump them all together?

Portland Marathon: Nerd Watches, Honeybuckets, & a Downpour

Running a marathon isn't an event - it's a journey.  6 months of daily runs, sacrificed Saturdays, and an emotional rollercoaster all converge into a race that takes place in a single morning.  Because of this, what happens on that single day unleashes all the emotions and hopes that have stockpiled over this extended season.

Today was that day, and the journey didn't disappoint.  Details started getting interesting earlier this week, when the weather report predicted heavy rainfall for today's race, and for once - the weatherman actually got it right.  We were soaked to the bone before the gun ever went off, and the rain never stopped.  Perhaps the best movie themed title for today's race could be:  "A River Runs Through It."

The most unexpected surprise happened last night when my Garmin 305 GPS Watch (aka Nerd Watch - thanks Jenn...) stopped working for the first time ever.  No charge. No hope. No backup.  For those of you who are not runners, this may seem meaningless, but trust me - running a marathon is all about keeping the right pace.  Strike one.

I thought I could use my new iPod nano, which has a stopwatch, but with all the rain, the touchscreen didn't work.  Strike two.  Never fear, my third plan was to run with the pace group from the Red Lizard Running Club.  They have runners hold up signs with a goal time on it, and then pace everyone to finish in that time.  I looked and looked for the 4hour pace group, but I was in the wrong starting gate, so there was no one to pace me.  Strike three.  For an added bonus strike, I thought I could just look at the posted times at the mile markers and adjust my pace, but the marathon didn't a single time clock until the finish line.  Looking back, I started out way too fast, but without a watch, I just tried to keep an even pace.

Everything seemed fine during the run, until my bladder almost exploded around mile 19.  I had hoped to just get to the finish, but couldn't wait any longer and had to stop at the honeybucket.  Nothing like letting minutes and seconds passing by while hanging out in a smelly, green, closet.  I lost about a minute, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do!

I didn't use my headphones until mile 21.  I need some extra motivation, and I had pre-made a 3+ hour playlist.  Unfortunately, my nano somehow got stuck on repeat to the ONE chill song that was on the playlist...which I ended up listening to over and over again for the last HOUR of my race.

The too-fast first half drained me the last half, and it was all I could do to keep running the last couple miles.  My jog turned into a shuffle, but strangely enough I was in good spirits heading to the finish line.  I crossed the finish completely unaware of what my time was, fairly certain I didn't break 4 hours as I had hoped.  The final results came in:  4 hours, 41 seconds.  I missed it by a Honeybucket.

Overall, I was very happy with the results.  I still P.R.'d by four minutes in pretty nasty conditions.  It still amazes me that its even possible to run 26.2 miles.  It takes me to my absolute depths, it reveals my ultimate pain threshold, and allows me to celebrate a feat that few experience.

The details of my race can be seen with cool graphics, if you'd like to see how I compared to the other marathoners.  I'm pretty sure they don't give out trophies for coming in two thousand eighteenth place, but I'll have to find out.

After recovery, we headed to Claim Jumper to reclaim part (or all) of the 3000+ calories we burned earlier in the day.

Special thanks to the Portland Marathon Clinic for giving me a reason to run on Saturday, and my wife for putting up with my quirky requests - not just on race day, but during this whole experience.

Overall a journey with no regrets, lots of twists, and a finish worth fighting for.

Sobering Success: a small hopecity story

Last night we had our first ever public pre-launch gathering for hopecity church.  It was a tremendous night.  We currently have about 30 people on our launch team, but there was about 50 people who showed up to Papaccino's cafe in the heart of Woodstock to hear the hopecity story and consider joining our team.  We had no marketing, just people inviting people.  It was great to see our team so energized to see God move in our midst.


We had laughter, a few tears, and renewed hope.  We bragged about Jesus and his love for our city.  We tipped our barista over $100.00 for serving us for 2 hours, and people visiting from the community were extremely open and friendly about the idea of a new church coming to this area of SE Portland - despite it being one of the most unchurched areas of our very unchurched city.  


Walking away, I'm very thankful...but I'm also sobered to the deep need of prayer.  After a big event like that I'm more convinced than ever, that our strategies, plans, and efforts are absolutely ineffective in producing life-changing results UNLESS we run to God in prayer and intercession.


 This week our team is stirring up our commitment to prayer.  We must remind ourselves that: 

"Prayer is the primary role of church planters and their core team. Jesus taught that God provides the harvest and the workers in response to the prayers of the saints (Matt. 9:38). Neil Cole writes, “The more prayers we offer, the more workers we’ll see. The more workers raised up, the greater the harvest”. Prayer provides the wisdom and understanding necessary to deal with the monumental cultural shifts created by the advent of postmodernity. Busyness is an enemy to prayer, and church planters’ lives are replete with busy work. "

- THE PRAYER-DRIVEN CHURCH PLANT 

A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary

The first Mon, Tues, & Wed of each month we are fasting and praying over these things:

• Mon:  "Break up the fallow ground in SE Portland"  (see Hosea 10:12-13)
• Tues:  "Draw people...as we go to people." (See Luke 8:1) "Draw people...to the launch team." (See 1 Samuel 10:26; Numbers 11:17)
• Wed:  "Open up the doors for financial provision, that we would be well-supplied" (See Phil 4:18-19)

I'd love to invite you to join us in these prayers.