Seattle Part 2

Do you love your city? This is the phrase that keeps popping up here in Seattle this week, I have come to see that the people of Network Tacoma and those of faith in Seattle are people of intention. It’s funny that I have been surrounded by people who are living lives of intention by loving there city this week, it’s the very phrase that has become my theme from now until I graduate. Don’t we want to be people of intention, the kind of people who love our city in the name of Love. I have seen this phrase lived out this week in a very real way, so let me tell you about two individuals I have come to know this past week.

Greg is the VP of Network and the man who picked us up from the air port on Saturday night, he’s a man with an interesting story that eventually led him to working for Network. He lives for others in the city of Tacoma and he invites others to live with him, he’s a man who has a family and intentionally moved into traditionally one of the roughest neighborhoods in all of Tacoma. He moved into this neighborhood all in the name of intentionality, this absolutely amazed me that someone could love a city so much that he would want to move into the ghetto part to intentionally love that neighborhood and be a missionary in it’s context. He takes it a step further though in the context of Community, he lives in a house with his wife and kids and all together 11 people live in this house to love the community and be community to each other in the name of Christ. I had the opportunity to stop by his house on Monday night and actually seeing this lived out first hand was awesome and humbling, I got to meet one of those he lives with his name is Ben and he to is living a life of intentionality in the city of Tacoma. I left his house that night thinking about what it would look like for me to start living a life of intentionality in my own life and to one day love a city just as much, this question lingers as I write this but it lingers with a vision and a willingness to go into a direction that isn’t cleared yet. I’ll write about this maybe one day but not today.

The second man I want to introduce you to is Robert, he’s the creator and vision behind Network and a very chill guy who loves Jesus and the city of Tacoma. It’s a difficult time for Robert these days just 8 months ago he lost his wife to cancer and you can see he’s still grieving this, he’s a man who goes wherever the wind takes him actually he reminds me of an old school hippie. He started out doing what he does in Tacoma in Seattle, he was ordained on the side of a street in downtown Seattle back in 82 and has seen himself as a missionary and Pastor ever since. Back in 1993 it all changed and he moved to Tacoma just 20 minutes away from Seattle, he did this because no one seemed to care about the urban poor in Tacoma and because no one else would do this he said that they must and they did. He’s loved Tacoma ever since and continues to do so to this day even in the midst of grief, he’s an inspiring individual who has encouraged me this week to seek out some of my intentions concerning Church planting and living intentionally.

I want you to know that the Gospel is real and moving in Seattle and Tacoma, I saw this in the city today and learning from Robert and Greg this whole week. So who do you love? How do you love your city? Or do you need to move to a city that isn’t being loved and love it because no one else is? These are the questions that linger this night as I watch my high schoolers listen to Jack’s Mannequin and play Phase 10.

Grace and Peace be with you.

C-DUB

Seattle Part 2

Do you love your city? This is the phrase that keeps popping up here in Seattle this week, I have come to see that the people of Network Tacoma and those of faith in Seattle are people of intention. It’s funny that I have been surrounded by people who are living lives of intention by loving there city this week, it’s the very phrase that has become my theme from now until I graduate. Don’t we want to be people of intention, the kind of people who love our city in the name of Love. I have seen this phrase lived out this week in a very real way, so let me tell you about two individuals I have come to know this past week.

Greg is the VP of Network and the man who picked us up from the air port on Saturday night, he’s a man with an interesting story that eventually led him to working for Network. He lives for others in the city of Tacoma and he invites others to live with him, he’s a man who has a family and intentionally moved into traditionally one of the roughest neighborhoods in all of Tacoma. He moved into this neighborhood all in the name of intentionality, this absolutely amazed me that someone could love a city so much that he would want to move into the ghetto part to intentionally love that neighborhood and be a missionary in it’s context. He takes it a step further though in the context of Community, he lives in a house with his wife and kids and all together 11 people live in this house to love the community and be community to each other in the name of Christ. I had the opportunity to stop by his house on Monday night and actually seeing this lived out first hand was awesome and humbling, I got to meet one of those he lives with his name is Ben and he to is living a life of intentionality in the city of Tacoma. I left his house that night thinking about what it would look like for me to start living a life of intentionality in my own life and to one day love a city just as much, this question lingers as I write this but it lingers with a vision and a willingness to go into a direction that isn’t cleared yet. I’ll write about this maybe one day but not today.

The second man I want to introduce you to is Robert, he’s the creator and vision behind Network and a very chill guy who loves Jesus and the city of Tacoma. It’s a difficult time for Robert these days just 8 months ago he lost his wife to cancer and you can see he’s still grieving this, he’s a man who goes wherever the wind takes him actually he reminds me of an old school hippie. He started out doing what he does in Tacoma in Seattle, he was ordained on the side of a street in downtown Seattle back in 82 and has seen himself as a missionary and Pastor ever since. Back in 1993 it all changed and he moved to Tacoma just 20 minutes away from Seattle, he did this because no one seemed to care about the urban poor in Tacoma and because no one else would do this he said that they must and they did. He’s loved Tacoma ever since and continues to do so to this day even in the midst of grief, he’s an inspiring individual who has encouraged me this week to seek out some of my intentions concerning Church planting and living intentionally.

I want you to know that the Gospel is real and moving in Seattle and Tacoma, I saw this in the city today and learning from Robert and Greg this whole week. So who do you love? How do you love your city? Or do you need to move to a city that isn’t being loved and love it because no one else is? These are the questions that linger this night as I watch my high schoolers listen to Jack’s Mannequin and play Phase 10.

Grace and Peace be with you.

C-DUB

Seattle Part 1

We arrived in Seattle on Saturday March 27 at around 7:00 PM, the evening was tiring as you can imagine and it seemed to take forever to get our luggage. All in all the team was in good spirits and excited about what the week held for them, we met Greg from Network Tacoma that night along with Aaron and Sonia from CIY who we were working with. They picked us up and we settled in for the night back at the Network headquarters.

Before we left I didn’t know what to expect exactly except that we were going to a really cool city in the pacific northwest, so I prayed this prayer “God just break me this week.” I landed expecting this to happen and it does everyday, it’s the art of dying to personal kingdoms and consumerism everyday which is difficult for Americans I’ve noticed especially this one. We love to be in control and think we have everything figured out and we love to be right and will challenge all who oppose us, this is the part of the heart that has to die and I’m reminded of this even here and now sitting in Mandoline’s a local coffee shop in downtown Tacoma. So in this blog let me start out by sharing with you what I experienced Sunday.

On Sunday we got to see brothers and sisters at the Soma community in the morning and the Mars Hill community at night, they are both Acts 29 church plants and both are influential in there own way needless to say I was excited. I went into Soma with Church planters eyes on and got a whole lot more, I’ve been seeking and searching into the direction of church planting these past few years and have continued to feel a calling towards it. At Soma it’s bigger than what it looks, it takes place in a space that looks like an old cafe and this is where about 350 to 400 brothers and sisters gather every Sunday. But that’s the thing Soma is more than Sunday morning, most of there people are being ministered in homes all throughout the week and they understand what it means to be missional everyday and you can feel it. A lot of the people that go to Soma live in community and here’s what I mean by that, instead of a family of 4 living in a 3000 square foot home you would maybe have families of 4 a shut in and anyone else for that matter living in a house, in the words of greg it’s God’s house not ours and they live in community by doing this. Soma loves there city and it shows, in the middle of what was an outstanding hour long sermon the Teacher stops mentioning a sick member and prays for them on the spot, I loved it and it wasn’t fake it was so genuine and so built into the DNA of Soma. Soma is a special place and you can just tell that God is on the move there.

At Mars Hill it’s a lot bigger but it doesn’t feel like it, they meet on about 8 different campuses across Seattle and one in New Mexico, the Ballard campus where Driscoll preaches meets in what looks like an old wherehouse and not very big for mega church standards but what I love is how they use the space. They’re not into building a bigger building for people to come to instead they go to the people, this is why they have campuses instead of building the next biggest building. Mars Hill also is missional and it shows in everything they do, the sermons are an hour long and the service as a whole last’s about 1 hr 40 to 1 hr 45, what’s even more refreshing is that it’s young mostly 25-30 year olds and they want to be there. It’s so refreshing cause I see this happening more and more in the world, Jesus is being discovered and we are currently in a new age of great awakening just see Dallas Willard on that. Needless to say Mars Hill is an inspiring place just like the city and I want you all to know about what the Kingdom is doing out here, I will post more blogs in the coming days on all the other discoveries we are having. Keep praying for God to break me and our team, also pray for the city of Seattle and Tacoma.

Grace and Peace be with you,

C-DUB

Story

I have this memory growing up when it was about time to go to bed, I'd brush my teeth, put on my pajamas and get into bed but you couldn't call it a day until mom came in to read myself and my brother a book. Every night so it seemed we would take a book off the shelf and our mom would read us a story, these stories were exciting filled with conflict and resolution, wonderful characters who had purpose and you wanted to cheer for them cause you were so engaged into there story. If I were to go to a movie about your life would I be as engaged? What kind of story are you telling with your life, you see we are all living in the midst of our own story but a lot of our stories are mundane and not very inspiring. It seems like we live in a world that has lost the meaning of a good story, I just saw a movie over the weekend that had all the special effects you could want but the story wasn't very good, we have lost the art of a good story.

I say all these things because I'm reading a book currently on story, it's called A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller. Now I hate endorsing a book before I'm completely finished but I think this one is worth it, the book is about writing a story with your life by the greatest storyteller of all God. God has called us to tell great story's with our lives, to live in conflict to always be working toward something that is worth it but the question is what do we desire? What is so important to us that we would die for it? This is a key ingredient to living a good story with our lives. For far too many the story is the American Dream, it's all about buying a new Volvo or building a new house, or how about the dream vacation to Ireland and Scotland so you can play at the Birth Place Golf, ok maybe that's just me but you get my point. So what is something that is worth dying for that can make our stories great?

I would argue that the things that matter are things that take the most sacrifice, relationally, financially, and physically. It's sacrificing your cushy 9-5 job so you can devote your time to building wells in South America, it's leaving your home and job in Central Florida to go be a missionary and live full time in Japan like some of my friends recently did. These are the things that make a story great it's the stuff of movies really, I would love to go see a movie about a guy who leaves his home in Danville Indiana to live on an Indian reservation in Arizona but goes through close to death encounters with the natives, rejection from his family and financial strain to get there. Wouldn't that be a great movie? I would love to see a resolve to a story like this.

So what story will you tell in 2010, I hope it's one that will inspire us all to live a life that is just a little more missional.

Grace and Peace be with you this new year.

Clayton Wheeler

Judge and Jury

I use to believe that God could convict the guilty and not sentence them, then I had this thought is it God who sentences a person or the person himself? I’m wrestling with the subject of repentance and forgiveness which I believe is connected with the subject of conviction and sentencing.

Growing up I would always watch movies that had protagonist and an Antagonist very clearly to, movies like Indiana Jones and the early Batman movies. It was in these films as an 7,8, and 9 year old I learned what evil was and I learned what Good was. What’s even more compelling now is looking back and seeing the fate that the evil one chose, he chose his own sentence, his own death and so on, all there downfalls was pride he would much rather believe that the lie that he was righteous than to let go and repent of his own actions we all still want to be right don’t we? We want to believe in our own realities and our own characters around us, we want to believe that we are the best father, son, co worker, boss and pastor in the world and everyone else is trying to play catch up with us. Then something interesting happens when we fall into our own human nature.

At some point your going to slip up and make a mistake and sometimes these mistakes affect the lives of so many people that an intervention is called for, it’s the moment where you come home one night and your whole family is waiting to talk to you about something. This puts you in a very interesting and compromising situation doesn’t it? You can hand over all that is wrong and seek reconciliation or you can take on a harder grip and run away or even worse ignore the issue at hand, we all want to avoid things don’t we? This reminds me of the story of Pharaoh, he had a choice he could let God’s people go or he could be a stubborn old Mule, this becomes his path as we read in Exodus. His heart becomes hardened and he ends up killing himself in the process, not by suicide but by stupidity and ignorance.

God is calling us into a life that is free, when we are caught he is inviting us into a life that is so much more free than the one we have created. May God reveal this to you on this day, may you see that Jesus is about freedom. It’s all about becoming free and not hardening your heart.

Grace and Peace be with you.

Calling All Peacemakers

On a Monday Morning like this one you have more questions than answers, questions like why does Cancer exist? Why is there no peace on earth it seems at times? Or why do I hate the holiday’s especially when this is the holiday where we should be celebrating the life of sacrifice some 2,000 years ago. On most Mondays I wake up a day after the busiest day of the week for me, brew some coffee and get started on the new week. Today however I’m trying to figure out how I can be a better peacemaker.

Last night at the X where I Pastor we talked about bringing peace on this earth, how can this be when we have troops in Afganistan heading out a week before Xmas? Or when we cant give proper health care in our own country and Insurrance Company’s can turn you down for proper coverage because they won’t make money on you? I have to admit that all the above anger me that is when I turn into my flesh, but isn’t there another way? Cant there be peace in the midst of all this hell that seems to exist on this earth? What would it look like if we were a movement of peacmakers, we brought peace to our surroundings and those who need it most?

For me this becomes personal, for those of you who know me well you know I don’t have a great relationship with my father and most of that comes because of moral failure. This post is not about exposing my Father’s nakedness though because I think there is a deeper question to ask here, this is about tuning into an energy beyond my own and seeking a better way, perhaps a way of peace and Love. I will be spending 5 days over Xmas with my dad and I have to prepare my heart for that environment, I have to be ready to be a peacemaker rather than a War Mongler but that’s not going to be easy is it?

Whether you are dealing with illness or strained relationships, or maybe your like me and you can’t figure our why we live in a country that is so fast to bomb and make War? Whatever it is you know like me that we need to bring peace in all circumstances, we need to be peacemakers because Christ himself was a peacemaker. When Christ came to change the world he did something very interesting, in past the world was changed and revolutionized by the sword and chariots and not much has changed to today has it? Rather he came and lived a life of peace and sacrifice, he didn’t use a sword he didn’t say an angry word to the Ceaser rather he sacrificed his own life and gave us the example for what a peacemaker is and does. How can we be peacemakers? You can be a Peacemaker by listening, by being quick to listen and slow to speak and judge may we do these things and be these kinds of people especially at this time of year.

This world will not change until we embrace God’s call to be Peacemakers, he is calling all Peacemakers because whenever something significant happens it’s through peace. Look at Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, and what about Jesus. He is calling us out from comfort into a life of revolution and significance, he is calling us to be peacemakers. He is calling ALL PEACEMAKERS!

WONT YOU JOIN HIM?

Who do you serve?

So have you ever had those moments in your life where you have found it to be easier to serve something else? Something that wasn't your father in heaven? Now I'm not talking about serving another God as much as serving something that is visible, maybe it's an I pod, maybe you play too much Golf, maybe you put friends or work above your own family, whatever it is you see what I'm saying here. There is this story in 1 Kings 18 about Elijah going up to Mount Carmel, he goes there because they are serving other god's and Elijah decides to challenge King Ahab to a duel of sorts. So they go up on the mountain and they find out who the true God is, he tells them you call out to your god's and I will call out to my God. Let's see what happens.

Elijah first's asks them to choose a bull but to call out to the bale's to light it on fire, they dance around it, they call out from morning till night but nothing happens. It says that later on Elijah begins to taunt them, he says things like maybe he's on vacation or busy, shout louder, or perhaps he is deep in thought. When he says deep in thought it actually translates on the toilet, so Elijah is basically saying that your god is on the toilet, great stuff. So here is an account of the first ever trash talker in human history and it's Elijah, if he was around today he'd be that annoying guy in your fantasy league who is always talking smack even when he losses ever week. Let's see what happens after this.

So Elijah build an altar and makes a trench around it, he then orders them to fill four jars of water and fill this trench. They do this a couple of times, when the trench was overflowing Elijah went to pray to the LORD and asked him to reveal himself to them on this mountain. then all of a sudden God sent fire down around them and it burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the trench, it also dried up the water that was there. He did this so that there hearts might turn back to him and that they may come back to the one true God.

How many times do we live this story in our own lives? We find ourself worshiping something else because it looks better, it's easier, or maybe it makes you happier and after all God wants you to be happy right? NO! God is more concerned with your joy and your holiness than your happiness. You see God wants to reveal himself to you today just like he revealed himself to Elijah on Mount Carmel, come this weekend to one of our services and allow God to reveal himself to you as we study this narrative more in depth. I hope to see you there.
Grace and Peace,
Clayton Wheeler