The Avenue

As I was re tooling the site late last night.  I realized that I the tone of my recent posts is really down so I wanted to give a top 5 list of great things that are happening right now with the Louisville Project!

5) – We have 6 families committed to moving to Old Louisville to live & love their neighbors & to begin changing the community from the inside out.  We are asking for 19 more families to join us in moving into the area!

4) – We have over 30 families already committed to our launch team.  That number should go way up over the next few weeks as we are doing our first 2 fun events for the team before we begin meeting weekly.  This week we are doing a Super Bowl party & next week we are doing a fun night @ the Block @ Southeast.

3) – Every church planting expert tells you to try & hire your A-team (no reference to the BA Baraccas but to the best guys available).  They tell you to realize however that most of those guys will say no quickly.  Church planting is risky & not everyone is ready for it.  The first 3 guys I asked to join me on staff with the Louisville Project all said yes!  I can’t wait to announce the names of these guys (a few should be revealed soon stay tuned this week)

2)- We already have 2 church planting residences through the new thing network & 3 ministry practicum leaders for the next year.  All of them will be trained & sent over the next year.  One of our highest values.

1) – My friend Roy Karl is back (has nothing to do with church planting but I sure love Roy & I know you won’t regret it)  – Please friend him @ http://www.facebook.com

Great Things are happening – God is good!

For simplicity sake I changed things up a bit.

What do you think of the new look?

Please pray for our family we found out Monday there have been some major complications with our adoption.  Our case will go before a judge on Feb 10th & they will decide at that point whether Claire can come home with us or whether we will be denied adoption in Ethiopia.  The news hit us hard as last week we were celebrating what we believed was the news that Claire was officially our daughter.  Apparently, the judge never signed the paperwork & someone, somewhere objected to our adoption for a ridiculous reason and now we are back in the court system worrying we may never bring her home.  You have to love other countries systems of law & justice!

After spending a day in shock & gathering materials to send to our agencies lawyer in Addis we were exhausted.  In the past month my aunt passed away, my grandmother broke her hip, I changed jobs, we are getting ready to sell our house, we got a daughter, we lost a daughter & now we are praying to get that daughter back.  It has been more of a roller coaster month than I have ever experienced.  I think all of our life is found somewhere between hurting & hoping.

We hurt over the brokenness of our world, over the earthquake in Haiti, over the death of ones we love & over the pain of loved ones.  We hurt when things don’t work out the way we planned, or when the path we imagined we were on suddenly twists & turns & ends up being a dead end.  We hurt because of sin!  I hurt because of my sin, because of others sin & because sin entered the world.

But in the center of all of this hurting we find our hope!  Hope that we have a savior!  Hope that the rule of sin & death will one day end.  Hope that God is who he says he is & will do what he says he will do.  Hope not that everything is going to be perfect, not that our lives will be without pain but hope in the kindness of God.

“the kindness of God is the only true hope that we have—and it is all the hope we need to face any situation life can bring.” – John Piper

So yesterday I simply reached a point of submission, a point of realizing no matter how hard I fight or worry or cry or get angry I can’t control the outcome.  What I can do is control my attitude, I can control my heart, I can control my speech & my thoughts.  So today I hurt, I hurt that the little girl I love may never be ours, I hurt that I may never hold her, may never watch her grow, may never get to intimidate the boys that come knocking & I hurt that the world isn’t how it should be.

But I hurt as one with hope!

I trust God,  as Psalms 25:5 says,  “to guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior (& I trust you), and my hope is in you all day long.”

I have found great hope in this song Glorious Day from the village church worship team!  Hope its a blessing to you as well.

So may his glory be revealed when we hurt & may his glory be revealed when we hope & may we find ourselves each day somewhere between hurting & hoping.

Its official.  Just wanted everyone to see some picture of my daughter we travel to get her in the next 4 to 6 weeks.  She is 7 months old & has been at the orphanage since she was a week old.  She is from a Muslim family and her family did not want her since her mother was young and not married.  I’m sure there will be more updates from our family about Claire & I know this is not “church news” but let me be a proud dad!  She is 15 pounds & 28 inches & is healthy & happy.  Please be praying for travel arrangements, court hearings, safety & a good long flight on the way home with a baby.

The question we are getting from everyone these days is simply where are you going to meet.  We have a few sites on our radar but right now the right question is not where are we going to meet but its who are we going to be!

We want to be a movement & not a destination.

We want to be the church 7 days a week

We want to create infrastructures of multiplication

We want to create local training facilities

We want to train & send co-workers all over the world

We want to focus on word & deed

These are the things we are dreaming about now.  So when people ask us where will you meet we usually say, “probably in a building.”   Where we meet is so insignificant compared who we will be!

So the best way to describe my first official week as a church planter is overwhelming.  Within the past two weeks, my aunt who I love so much passed away, my grandmother fell & broke her leg requiring surgery, I moved to a new office & I literally spent 8 hours last week simply getting caught up on emails. Oh yes and our adoption hearing is this Wednesday in Ethiopia & I am freaking out about all the things that could possibly go wrong and I’m praying we can go get our little girl soon.

In the middle of all of this chaos, I am finding moments to lean into God & to rest in his arms.  For some reason the shadow of His wings has taken on a bit of a new meaning for me recently!  I took a sabbath from church planting on Saturday & Sunday & I simply spent time with family, rested, watched sports & went to church.  This morning as I am praying I really don’t even know exactly what to pray for, there is so much happening so fast, it all so out of my control.  I hate those moments when the illusion of my control is taken away.  When the reality sets in that I really can’t control the outcome of every situation, every relationship & every moment of my life.

So for today, I think the simple message for me & maybe for you is He is in control!

He already knows where the funds for the new church are going to come from.

He already knows who will join us in this process & who won’t.

He already knows where we will meet.

He already knows when my baby girl will come home.

He already knows the people I don’t who’s life will be changed because of his church.

He already knows who will join me on staff.

He already knows what he wants to do with my heart & how he wants to grow me through this process.

He knows, the when’s the where’s, the what’s the how’s and most of all he knows me!

He knows how inadequate I feel, he knows how desperately I long to know Him.  He knows how I love my family & worry for them.  He knows what I need everyday.  He knows my hopes and dreams and he knows my heart.  No matter how misunderstand all of this may be by others he knows!

Exodus 23:20 – “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.”

Matt 6:8 “for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

So maybe today for me & for you the prayer is simply let me get out of the way, let me silence myself before God, humble myself in his presence & simply know that he is in control.  Could we just know that we don’t have to carry that weight because its not ours to carry!

So for everyone like me out there who is loaded up with stress, burdened with big questions & worried about the small things.  Maybe the best thing for us to know is that He already knows!  I hate any Christian message that tells us we will be safe, that we don’t have to risk & that no pain will ever come to us.  So when I heard Phil Wickham had a song called “safe” I fully expected to be mad at Phil.  The more I listen to it I find great truth, not in knowing that I will  be “safe” but in knowing I won’t be alone!

“The hands that hold the world are holding your heart!”

These are the hands that built the mountains
the hands that calm the seas
These are the arms that hold the heavens
they are holding you and me

These are hands that healed the leper
Pulled the lame up to their feet
These are the arms that were nailed to a cross
to break our chains and set us free

Today was moving day for the Louisville project as I packed up my things & moved from Southeast to our new office space @ 2429 Crittendon.  I think people are greatly concerned about me because I began receiving a steady stream of emails & encouragements.

Here are a few things that people sent to me in the last day that helped me realize God is in control & that I am not completely crazy.

Great Blog from the village church – Redefining Success

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“he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot loose.” -Jim Elliot

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