My Wife. A Proverbs 31 Paraphrase

I had the privilege today of reading Proverbs 31 in my Bible reading plan from youversion.com.  In this chapter it describes an excellent wife...and it describes my wife Jenn.  Here is my paraphrase of Proverbs 31:10-31

My wife is excellent.
She is far more precious than jewels.
As her husband my heart trusts in her,
and I will have no lack of gain.
She does me good and not harm,
all the days of her life.
She is productive and creative,
and she makes great sandwiches :)
She goes out of her way to provide
nurture and care for the household
Her strength comes from the Lord
and she seeks Him daily.
She is compassionate and longs
to do all she can for the helpless.
She is not afraid of the "what might be"
because she has seen the miracles of yesterday.
Strength and dignity are he clothing
She laughs at the time to come
She opens her mouth with wisdom
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
She looks wel to the ways of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:

Jenn,
Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all.
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but the woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

Give her the fruit of her hands,
and let her works praise her in the gates.

My wife, is an excellent woman.

Confessions of a Portland Church Planter

Church planting is considered by many to be an insane calling.  In fact 8 out of 10 church plants fail within two years.  Lesson?  Be called, be humble, and repent - a lot.  We'll save the "calling" and "humble" posts for another time - this is all about repentance.

So - I've decided to start a blog series called "Confessions of a Portland Church Planter" to prepare me to be a useful instrument for God to use in the city of Portland as we prepare to launch hopecity church in 2011.

Confession #1.  I've lived in the city of Portland for almost 11 years, and I have yet to have a Voodoo Doughnut.  It's simply unacceptable and borderline sinful to call yourself a local and yet not know the world famous creative flavors of what some people liken to heaven on earth.

Not only is this a confessional...but it's a promise as well.  By next Friday, I will have done due diligence and allowed my tastebuds to partake in what is long overdue.  The only question is...which Voodoo shall I choose?

Here are a few options...

• Grape Ape: (raised doughnut with vanilla frosting and grape powder)
• Dirt: (raised doughnut covered with vanilla glaze and oreo cookies)
• Arnold Palmer: (cake doughnut covered with lemon and tea powder)
• Butter Fingering: (Devils food, vanilla, and crushed Butterfinger)
• Neapolitan: (chocolate doughnut with vanilla frosting and strawberry quick powder)
• Triple Chocolate Penetration: (chocolate doughnut, chocolate glaze, and cocoa-puffs)
• Voodoo Doughnut: (voodoo doll doughnut)
• Dirty Snowball: (chocolate cake doughnut covered with pink marshmallow glaze and surprise filling)
• The Memphis Mafia: (chocolate chips/banana/ peanutbutter/glaze big!)
• Portland Creme: (raised doughnut filled with creme and covered in chocolate with two eyes)
• Nyquil Glazed and pepto-bismol (currently on hold)
• VEGAN: (thats right, vegan doughnuts! assorted flavors, come in and eat many)

Ok, Portland purists!!! Help me out.  Text me, facebook me, give me a tweet, or simply reply here.  What is your favorite VOODOO?  May I bear the fruit of repentance this next week.

a new era ::: hopecity church ::: coming 2011

And so it begins.  hopecity church now has legs.  Truelife Church officially announced on March 14, 2010 that Jenn and I would be sent to launch a new church in SE Portland beginning in 2011.  What started out years ago as a restless thought has developed into a clear call as we seek to carry hope and unleash love as we root ourselves and the Gospel of Jesus in our wonderful city of Portland Oregon.

Currently we are praying and asking God to speak to the hearts of the people He wants to join us in this adventure and privilege of serving Him.  Perhaps you were created and positioned for this very moment to join us.  Pray, seek wisdom, receive counsel, and then let us know...maybe our journey will become yours as well!  Some of you have been waiting for a reason to move to our beautiful city - well, here you go!

Thank you so much for all the love and support we have received from godly counsel, friends, and family.  It is a wonderful thing to be sent to plant a church while in great relationship with those around you!  The future is bright.

Brian Becker
lead pastor
hopecity church

The Actions That Produce The Influence

<sup>I continue to wrestle with the lifestyle of influence - the lifestyle of loving our city, rather than merely preaching at them.  Here are today's thoughts:

These kind of actions....</sup>

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
   my justice was like a robe and a turban.
¹⁵I was eyes to the blind
   and feet to the lame.
¹⁶I was a father to the needy,
   and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.
¹⁷I broke the fangs of the unrighteous
   and made him drop his prey from his teeth.

produce this kind of influence...

 ²¹"Men listened to me and waited
   and kept silence for my counsel.
²²After I spoke they did not speak again,
   and my word dropped upon them.
²³They waited for me as for the rain,
   and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
   and the light of my face they did not cast down.
²⁵I chose their way and sat as chief,
   and I lived like a king among his troops,
   like one who comforts mourners.

These verses from Job 29 show us that whether its our neighbors, co-workers, interest groups, clubs, or organizations...if we will live to serve and fight for those amongst us - we will gain their respect and admiration and our voice will be heard.

On the contrary...nobody wants to hear your message, if you are not willing to first love, defend, and serve.  This serving lifestyle is not natural in American culture, so as Christ-followers its up to us to FIND ways and LOOK for opportunities to serve and love as Job did, as Jesus did, and as went have been sent to do.
 

Love the world.  Proclaim the Gospel.  In that order.


These are the convictions that are fueling my life right now.  I'm excited to be a part of a program that mentors fatherless boys, but beyond programs I want to slow down in my day to day life and look for opportunities to serve and love.


Push back: What have you found difficult or exciting regarding actions that produce influence?

Bring It.

"Soon afterward he (Jesus) went on through the cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God."  - Luke 8:1

Conviction:  I can't proclaim the good news if I'm not willing to bring the good news.   

What if Jesus only proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God? He would have still brought truth - it just wouldn't have been as effective or clarified the total picture of God's redemption plan.

We're working really hard right now to equip people to BRING the good news of the kingdom to their areas of influence.  One way that I'm personally getting involved is through The Mentoring Project which taps into the local church to find godly men to mentor fatherless boys.

We must look for open-door opportunities to love and serve our city.  Open-door means there are people and places that actually WANT you in their lives.  Neighborhood associations, volunteer groups, clubs and organizations would love you to be a part of them.  As you are welcomed - you have the opportunity to love, reach out and build friendships with people who are looking for faith, hope, and love.  It's time we didn't just proclaim the good news, but bring it as well.

May the love and compassion that Christ poured out for us, be poured out through us to those in our cities that need it most as we proclaim and bring the good news of the kingdom.

Guerrilla Lovers (not the animal kind)

As a pastor I'm not a big fan of preaching other people's messages.  In fact, I honestly can't think of the last time I used a book to directly influence a message series.  That all changed this week as we dived into Vince Antonucci's new book "Guerrilla Lovers: Changing the world with revolutionary compassion".  I think this book is a perfect fit for our students at truelife church, and I can't wait to see the impact it makes.  I bought 10 books today for my leaders, and I think you'd really enjoy Vince's humorous, yet compelling writing style as he challenges us to reach people with intentional love that exposes the gospel of Jesus.  You can get it on Amazon here.  Do it, and join the Guerrilla revolution.

HOLD, HOLD, HOLD...but not too long...

Agree or disagree:

The right people + The right vision + The right target + Bad timing = disaster.

In terms of timing, what would have happened if they had engaged 5 seconds earlier, or 5 seconds later?