The Royals are undefeated! Today was opening day and the Kansas City Royals beat a great Detroit Tigers team in Detroit. I know it is a long season and the chances of the Royals being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs before memorial day is pretty likely. But, I am back in KC and the I love the Royals. So im looking for the Royal blue in every cloud this season. So expect updates often and when I take my son to a stadium that I used to go to with my dad… brace yourself for a series of sappy posts. But until then for the next day I am basking in the glory of the only undefeated American league in Missouri this season.
This Sunday we talked about Find Freedom, in our Losing My Religion series. Troy and Janet did an incredible job of communicating the freedom that can be found in laying down what we are carrying around. At the end of the message to illustrate how we carry things around with us all of the time we rolled this video. This was a lot of fun to shoot and put together in post. So far I have joined Restore already in progress and I have done what has been asked of me for video. These potentially could have been not great ideas for video or just not translated. But once again, they all seem to work great. (another reason why I love it here) I think a lot of credit goes to Tommy the creative arts director. But mostly it is the art of collaboration that takes place on a regular basis in the big idea meetings. This has been one of the more enjoyable projects that I have done in a while. My friend Andy would say that it is because I am dark and this is a dark video. He might have a point. But I think it is because it is leading somewhere. At the end of the video the guy with suitcase, Adam, walks up to the stage and lays it down at the cross. What are you carrying around, that you need to lay down at the cross?
Several years ago I read a great book, The Celtic Way of Evangelism. This was an incredible book about how the people of Ireland were reached with the gospel in an unorthodoxed way in the middle ages. The Celtic’s reached all of Ireland through building Christ centered community. The people were drawn into these communities and engaged by people who genuinely cared for them. They literally abandoned their pagen ways to follow Christ through the direct influence of the community. The incredible thing is how the communities spread so quickly. They were truly about multiplying It was in this book where I first read the phrase, “belonging comes before believing.”
When I read this phrase it resonated with me in a deep way. This is kind of community that I had been longing to forge in Transit. This became my most overused phrase. I wanted the people that I was in ministry with, to recognize that there might be a better way… people don’t have to have their crap together to come to Jesus. I grew up in an environment where in order to belong, you had pray the right prayer and attend the right class. The problem with this way of doing community is it is based on what you do, there is nothing unconditional about it. I have found that there are times as a leader when you have speak things into existence. This what I tried to do about belonging.
What I love about this place is that belonging is the culture here. Today I heard someone reference belonging come before believing and it wasn’t me! Everyone here wants this to be the kind of community where belonging can come before believing. Restore is about being a place of discovery for people finding their way back to God. What I love, is that this is a battle I don’t have to fight. Just another reason of why I love it here.
Here are some pictures I took on my phone of the kid’s at Penguin Park last week. This was a sentimental moment for me. Remember… going home is spiritual. What these picture didn’t capture was the moment when Ethan was flung from a speeding merry-go-round and was sucked underneath it. I caught him by his legs and pulled him out from under it just in the nick of time. Needless to say we were both shaken up, but he recovered quicker than me and ran off to a slower spinning wheel of terror. This was the first moment that I can rememeber as a parent where I saw the impending doom, but all I could do was watch helplessly. I’m not looking forward to more of those moments.
So we have officially have been in KC for a month. Its time to start posting. we got in town the weekend of the launch and spent friday and Saturday unpacking. Its weird because we have been living with only about a quarter of our stuff. There are still boxes that are missing. It is important stuff like the dinner plates that Jill got when she went to the oprah show. We had a ton of help getting our stuff moved in to our town home. Big thanks to the restore staff for the help. Since then it has been a whirlwind, here are the highlights:
The first Sunday at restore community church was nothing short of spectacular. At 5:30am there was an army of volunteers to set-up guest services, kid’s city, Jr. High, and the auditorium. I have to say that I had my doubts about meeting in a High School, but Park Hill is a great environment. It doesn’t really feel like a High School. The turnout was incredible we had over 4oo people there. What is amazing to me, is that every detail was covered. Looking around, it didn’t feel like our first service.
Moving here and being a part of restore required several shifts in our lives. The most notable one is that Jill has upped her hours at Starbucks. She did this because I am staying home with the kids to be more available to work with restore. I work from home as volunteer staff for restore and I also am working offsite, part time, as a video producer for the chapel. All of this change has been a challenge all around. For Jill, she has to drive over 30 minutes to work and be away from the kids more than she ever has. For me, I am still trying to work out a routine where I get done my 25 hours of work for the chapel, accomplish all that needs to be done for restore and be a father that is present in His kids lives. Pray for us as we work out this major shift in our roles.
Can I just stop to say that I love the culture here at restore. Everything is built on the idea that we are all working ourselves out of our roles. Now I have heard that idea most of my life, but I have never really seen it implemented until now. Every staff person has apprentice for the roles that they carry out. It is never about being an allstar at what you do, it is about making your hard work reproducible by someone else. Never stop recruiting, because there are always roles to fill and potential to be unleashed!
Being back in KC is so much fun on so many levels. Last week we took the kids to penguin park. This is the park that my brother and I used to go to when we were kids. This week I am celebrating my 30 year birthday, so we are going to my favorite BBQ spot that I used to go to growing up. (I hope it is as a good as I remember!) The coolest part is being able to share our journey with people. It is so much fun to recount what has happened since I left town and what has led us back here!
Today was our 4th Sunday service and it was a great morning. We had no idea of what to expect for easter and it seemed like we had more people this week. Which is not the most important thing, what is more important is that people were connecting with the big idea of the morning. We kicked off a new series call Losing My Religion. Check out our mini site at <religionfreakout.com>. Here is what is cool about this series and all of the other ones that we have been talking about… I wouldn’t change a thing. I can’t tell you how many times at different points in ministry that I have thought, “If I were in charge, I would do that differently.” It is exciting be a part of something, that is right in line with who we are and what we believe. When I was planning the series for my last year in transit I really wanted to do a series that challenge people to renounce Christianity to follow Christ. Today, I realized that we are doing that series right now, and it doesn’t sound as heretical. This is fun.
Last thing… it was great to have my friend Joe Ritchie in town this weekend. 5 years ago Jill and I were part of the team that launched Fusion Church. Joe and Jill led worship together most of the time. He was in town with some friends visiting IHOP, a place that I have always wanted to visit. They decided to spend their Easter Sunday at Restore. We had lots of fun hanging out at lunch and at our place all afternoon. I wish Joe would visit more often… maybe even stick around in KC. Joe… there is a place for you here at Restore… in case you didn’t catch Jill’s hints today.
So, we have been in KC now for nearly two weeks and I haven’t posted. Well, we have been crazy… I mean loco busy. There is so much to tell… and it all starts tomorrow. I need to go to bed now. Check back tomorrow to hear some truly amazing things!
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.
This Sunday we talked about Find Freedom, in our 
