That’s right Ethan had his first day at his new school in Liberty, in his new class, with his new teacher, and his new classmates. This is one of those tough days for Jill and I. The decision to GO to Liberty was a loaded one. We felt compelled by God to make this move. But in this moment when your son has to go to a new school and meet new friends, its difficult to not feel guilty. But, he is the smartest, most talented, & cutest kid.
On our way to school we recount our 3 goals for each school day: Make a new friend, Make good choices, and learn something new. I think he accomplished all of that today. If you watch the video to the end, you will see our neighbors taking their daughter to school. Ethan’s class is right across the hall from her class. It’s a lot of fun actually knowing our neighbors!
Yesterday, was a pretty incredible day at Restore. It’s actually the day that we have been anticipating for a long time. It began with celebrating where God has taken us as a church community over the last 533 days that Restore has been in existence. Then Troy unpacked what it looked like to go.
As a new church that has seen an average attendance of over 500 people, the right thing to do is for us to continue to move forward on the Jesus mission. We have an intense belief that what that means for Restore, is to reproduce. It’s part of our mission: Reproduce artists, leaders, and churches. It’s that whole thing about choosing to embrace change. Every place that Jesus went, he changed things. Lives were forever transformed, withered limbs were strong again, and those who had no hope discovered new hope. So when it came time for Jesus to move on, people begged him to stay. They loved having him around, I mean who wouldn’t? But there were those who needed to hear the good news, and so he would Go. Not only did he go, but was constantly sending his disciples out. I would have pushed back on that, I mean here is the messiah, why would I leave him. But there were those who havent heard.
So Jill and I are choosing to embrace the change, by going to Liberty to start Restore.
For me this is the opportunity to return home to the place where I grew up. But it’s more than nostalgia. We feel compelled to go and help people find their way back to God in Liberty, MO. Since last fall, we have been praying for God to show us what he is up to in Liberty. Where is he at work? Where is the need? Earlier this year we began community needs assessment interviews to begin to answer those question. We moved to town just a month ago and Ethan begins school on Wednesday. We have been trying to get to know our neighbors, because that is where going begins… in our neighborhood.
What has been overwhelming has been the fact that we aren’t going alone. This summer I have had many conversations with those who are at Restore who are embracing the change and going to Liberty. They aren’t going because it is a shorter drive on Sunday morning, but they feel that they are being sent. They have a deep sense that God is at work here that are compelled to be a part of that work. I have had conversation after conversation people are inspired to go and be on mission in their family, neighborhoods, and work place. People like Tracy…
Troy closed out the morning by encouraging everyone to go. For some going meant stay to go by stepping up to serve at Restore. For others, it meant to embrace the change and go to Liberty. Many people filled out cards stating where they were going. It was incredibly affirming and encouraging.
So what about you? Where are you going? Maybe God is speaking to you about that next step that you have thought was too outrageous. Maybe you are keeping change at distance. But, what would it look like for you to be sent, for you to embrace the change, for you to go? If you don’t know where, I have a place in mind…
So, I mentioned a while back that a big announcement was coming. This announcement is life changing. (but it doesn’t involve an addition to the family.) This has been a year of change, really. We finally sold our house, Jill became a manager for Starbucks, we moved to a new town, and this wednesday Ethan begins the 1st grade. To tell you the truth change is difficult. We gravitate towards what is comfortable, don’t we? We want things to be in a state where feel like we have control and understand what is going on. This week I was readin the first part of the book of Acts. It picks up where the gospels left off. The disciples are with a risen Jesus. This is the same Jesus who was crucified and then rose from the dead. Things are going great. The gang is back together again, except for that shady Judas. But, their understanding of a victorious messiah included overthrowing the opressive Roman rule. So they ask him:
This makes perfect sense, right? Why would Jesus come all this way, peforming miracles, subverting authority, and even rising from the dead. This was the idea that they were comfortable with. But, there was a bigger story going on here, and they didn’t have a clue. It was bigger then just them or their people. That is why the last words Jesus left with them was to wait and then to go. Wait for the Holy Spirit and then go. Go and be His witnesses… not just in Jerusalem, not just in Judea, not just in Samaria, but to the ends of the earth.
Wait.
Go.
That’s it for now. Wait for the big news and go to this page tomorrow. See you then!
Some other big news for us this summer is that we actually took a real vacation. Don’t get me wrong, over the years we have always taken our vacation time. But, since we have been far away from family, we have spent most of our vacations visiting family. But, not this year… sort of. We took a trip to Branson for our family vacation. Now there is a bit of a stigma surrounding branson, with all of the country music and all. But, it was a great family vacation. We spent most of our time at the pool. But we did hit the lake, went go carting, caught some throwed rolls, and took a show (which included lip syncing). It was a fantastic time. With mine and Jill’s schedule, life has been hectic over the last year. It was great to check out and not have anywhere to rush off too. I also got some reading in, which I will share more about later. We ended the trip with a trip to Chicago, which I will be sharing more about soon. Here are a few of the pics from our trip.
It’s been a while since I’ve cracked open the blog, but I’m back with a lot of news. In fact, there is some big, huge, ginormous news on its way. This news is life changing and I can’t wait to share it… but I am going to resist. So you are going to have check back here for updates, hints, and finally…in one month… the big news. Can you do that? Great!
So first off… our house.
Two years ago we put our house on the market in South Carolina to make the move to KC to join the Restore team. Things did not go exactly as planned. We moved to Chicago and ended up renting our house out. Eventually we made it to KC, but if felt a little like we were in limbo. Back in April, we got word that our renters were moving out and we prepared to put our house on the market. There were some challenges we faced in doing this. The biggest one was that in the 6 months leading up to April, only 4 houses sold in our neighborhood. To say that the housing market was challenging, would have been a huge understatement. But God intervened through our small group. (What would I do without my small group?) My good friend Jeff, from small group, helped me locate a Rockstar Realtor in SC. She was literally the best in the area, she was selling more houses then anyone. She put it on the market at the beginning of May. It was a little discouraging when we didnt see that much traffic to our house. But my realtor kept reminding me that it would only take one offer. I’m pretty sure that they are trained to say that on the first day at the realtor academy… or wherever they train.
In the mean time, we started looking for a house to buy here. After looking at over 20 homes, my friend Jeff helped us write up an offer the first house we looked at. We really loved the house and it was potentially a great deal. But, the offer was contingent upon us selling our house in SC, so it didnt quite feel real. Without much activity on our house in SC, we were losing hope… It’s so easy to zero in on your fears and before you know it they are coming true. But one day, I got a call from our realtor. She said that someone was writing up an offer. The rest happened really fast. We closed on our house in SC on June 26th! She was right, it just took one offer. Just 4 days later we closed on our house here. We are just now settled in and loving it. It seems like everyday Jill and I comment on how amazing it is that we get to live here. It was really an amazing turn of events. It was obvious that God was in the whole thing. There was so much that we learned along the way, but the biggest thing was that when God come through… he comes through big!
There are so many more things that I want to share, but you are going to have to check back tomorrow to hear more.
I’m in message prep mode today. I am prepping for the teaching this Sunday and I had a thought that is rattling around in my head. It’s more of a question actually…
What if Jesus didn’t come to town to do what you thought he did? What if he came to do something so much more immensely important then you could have imagined? What if that thing didn’t fit in with your picture of what He came to do?
Just a thought, I hope you will be at Restore on Sunday, to see how it turns out. We have been looking at the misconceptions that we sometimes have of Jesus. What do you think Jesus came to do?
In the first year of Restore Community Church I have rediscovered the power of stories. There are so many stories of life change that have emerged from this very special church community. What has been challenging, is to figure out how to continue to tell these stories and keep the audience engaged. We have shared stories live and we have used video. Video seems to be more agreeable with most people who would rather die than stand on stage in front of others and talk. What I am constantly reminded of, is that these stories communicate so much in a short amount of time and they resonate with so many. Here are a couple of my favorites with some commentary.
Kim and Terrance’s Story was one of those that we wanted everyone to hear. They had never been to anything like small group before. Then their neighbor, one Tommy Bowman, invited them several times and the came. We decided to shoot it on their front porch mostly because we didn’t have a light kit. But it worked great because their neighborhood has been the setting for their group. Tommy helped me shoot this and I was really happy with the angles that we got. I wasnt happy with the white noise from Barry road. But, I had some fun with the color correction and the text. In the end we hope that it inspired people to get connected and inspired other to invite their neighbors.
A lot of times in our big idea planning meeting the one thing that sparks the most creative ideas is an intense conversation about the big idea that we are planning for. That was the case when we were talking about the Holy Spirit in the story of everything series. But we ended up going back and shooting that conversation, because by doing this we were able to briefly give a snap shot of the very different experiences that we all had with the third person of the trinity. In retrospect, I would say that we tried to emulate the espn 360 news show a bit too much. However, the end result was a 4 minute video that shared a lot of different stories.
Tough Times: Look Ahead from Restore Community Church on Vimeo.
Ed’s story of tough times that he went through was the center piece of our Tough Times series. Ed’s willingness to share some very dark moments and how God has used him has reminded me why I do what I do. His story has been a catalyst for starting a Divorce recovery group at Restore which he leads. Honest stories of God showing up in flawed lives speaks volumes more then any message that anyone could deliver.
Small Group 2.0 from Restore Community Church on Vimeo.
This last one is where I think stories that havent been told yet are headed. It recounts how the reproducing culture has taken hold even in relationships in small groups. It follow the relationships of 3 ladies and the life change that ensues. To me this is the next generation of stories where we tell more than one because they are intertwined in community. Its also the future because my Video Producer apprentice, Jonathan Cox edited this entirely. He does great work and he is the future of video here at Restore.
It blows my mind, but Sunday was the one year birthday of Restore Community Church! It’s been an incredible year and there are lots of stories to recount, but for my family and I this has even more significance. It was a year ago this past sunday we left a secure life behind for adventure of church planting! It has been a difficult year. We have had to make plenty of change to be in KC, not all of them have been easy. But as I recount the stories of life change and the twists and turns to the story of restore, I can’t help but think it’s been worth it. Over the last year I have learned so much. I thought it might be fun over the next few weeks to look at what has changed in me and my family. But that might require me to blog more than once a week. We will see…
I thought it was time to update the header of this blog with a pic that was taken this year. The one that has been on the header was showing it’s age. The kids look a lot older these days. We just celebrated Abbey’s 3rd birthday! Jill just talked about it on her blog. Anyways, here is the updated pic of our family.
For me one of the most inspiring things about Restore Community Church is one of our mission statements:
“Mobilizing Christ Followers to Change the World”
This might seem over optimistic or even naive. I mean seriously… change the world? But I think at our core we all want to make a difference. Some of us convince ourselves that the difference is by making a name for ourselves and others of us give up on the idea that we can make a difference all together. But the overly optimistic rhetoric of changing the world resonates with me and it seems to resonate with a lot of people who now call Restore their home. On our communication card that is attached to the program that is handed out every week, we even have a “change the world” box to check.
All of this must have something to do with us actually becoming a community that is a catalyst for change. Granted it starts small with over 40 service projects last year. But those projects awakened this inner desire to make a difference in me and others. The next step was giving to build a facility in Haiti that would house and educate orphans… and it’s a church too. But is hasnt stopped or plateaued. It seems to be snowballing in so many different ways.
What has been very exciting, is to have people join us who are already changing the world. People like Mike and Beth Fox of C3 Missions. They were changing the world one orphan at a time long before we came along. But their hearts resonated with the people and mission of restore so much that it seems that C3 and Restore will forever be linked. They make changing the world accesible, literally. For $40 a month you can meet the needs of an orphan. Watch their story… just try to not be inspired to make a difference.
I am a lot of things... a stay at home dad... an off site video producer for the Chapel.. a media arts director for Restore Community Church and a wanna be church planter. Read here to see what happens when all of this collides.
