Prayer Walking

The neighborhood of Lowry is four square miles and contains around 4,000 housing units.  There are 73 streets not including alleyways.  As a practice, I have divided the neighborhood into 4 major sections and I spend time once a week prayer walking one of the sections of Lowry.  It takes me about 2 hours to cover every street and pray over each house, condo, and apartment community and park that I come across.  It is my prayer that God will work in the lives of those who live, work or play on the streets where I walk and pray.

Lately, Amanda and I have taken on a new form of prayer walking.  We are prayer walking through open houses in our neighborhood.  One day we would love to own a home here and put down roots but, until then, we are asking God to move in the current homeowner’s life and the lives of the next people to call this house, “home”.  We pray for more believers to move into the neighborhood, that God would use us to communicate love and truth to them, and that if they are not Christ-followers that God would use us to bring them into the family of God.

I want to encourage you to pray for your neighbors, pray that God would use you to communicate the Gospel to them, pray that God would bless them and move in their lives.  Plan a time each week to prayer walk through your neighborhood, take time to prayer walk open houses, or spend your exercise time praying as you run or walk.  Be creative and constant in asking God to move in miraculous ways in the lives of those around you.

Urban Garden (Update)

IMG_7316A couple of months ago, we started an urban garden. I want to update you on the progress and some of the spiritual lessons I have learned in the process.  We have planted basil, cilantro, spinach, parsley, thyme, carrots, lettuce, potatoes, garlic, bell peppers, and okra (can you tell we are from the south?). Our back deck is packed and our garden has spilled out on to the front balcony and the front porch.

IMG_7315We have learned a few things in the meantime.       1) Hail, diseases and bugs are detrimental to plants.  2) Not all seeds take or survive.  3) Gardens take time, work and the right mix of sun, water and fertilizer.  As I think about these lessons, I view these things through spiritual lenses.

Here is how I see these lessons applied to my life and church planting.  1) The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy.  But so many times we forget the rest of that verse (John 10:10).  Jesus has come to give us life and life to the full.  We have an enemy but we have a Savior who is greater and gives life.  We must turn to life, not death, and be willing to live to the full of all that Jesus seeks to provide.

image2) Jesus speaks of a seed and the sower (Matthew 13:1-23).  There are four types of soil discussed in this parable and though some seed falls on every type of soil, only one produces a harvest.  We are to be spreading the seed of the gospel and allowing God to move and bring about the harvest.

3) Cultivation of relationships, gospel conversations, and making disciples take the right mix of time, prayer, communication, and God’s move in the lives of others.  We are in the midst of this working and waiting process.  The fields are being worked and we are seeking to provide all that needs to be given for growth and we know that God must bring the increase and the harvest.image_1

I pray that as our urban garden grows and produces, so will our ministry.  Pray with us to that end.

What is Missional?

Missional is one of the hottest terms in the church. And if you were to ask ten people you would get eleven or twelve definitions. So below is my attempt at explaining how we are Missional and how we intend for our church to be Missional.

Missional is not a program. Missional is a lifestyle. We will have missions as part of our church but we are to live on the mission of God daily. This mission includes loving our neighbors, serving others, and discipling our children. All of those things require daily considering others better than ourselves, laying our lives down and being a servant just like Jesus.

In our increasingly secular world we need to live more like the first century church than the nineteenth century church. The first century church lived in community with other believers, lived in the margins of society, and served God through their lives.

Missional is not something that can be learned from a weekend seminar; it is something that must be lived out and caught rather than taught. We are building the foundation for our church by practicing these same principles. We will infuse the Missional lifestyle into our Missional Communities through serving the community in a way the group is gifted and by serving other members of the group.

One of the other tenets of Missional is seeing all Christ followers as the priesthood of believers. Too many times we rely solely on the paid professional holy men to minister, serve and provide discipleship. But the Bible is clear that all believers are Saints, Ambassadors, Servants, and Disciple Makers. Part of being Missional is seeing ways we can minister to others, lead them toward Jesus and live completely for Christ.

The journey toward Missional living has consumed much of my thoughts and struggles over the last four to five years. I am excited to have an idea of how to live, love and lead. And I am excited to see how God will use this type of life to build His kingdom and His church.

Partners

Partners in the Gospel fill my heart with joy! No words can describe what a blessing it is to have prayer partners in many states lifting us up before The Lord daily, and at least one person praying for every single street in Lowry! Wow! It leaves me speechless (which we all know is rare, HA). What’s cool is how reciprocal it is, too. Many of our prayer partners share personal prayer needs and praises with us as well! What a privilege to intercede on their behalf. I often take that for granted, but God is deepening my intimacy with Him through prayer!
Another huge blessing for us is having several church partnerships, not only financially, but Gospel ministry partnership! We were privileged to have the new youth minister from Fairhaven Baptist Church, where we were privileged to serve 8 years before answering the call to plant, here with us last weekend. We were so encouraged to hear how God continues to move at Fairhaven and in “our” students. Having them choose to support us by sending a mission team this summer is huge! It excites me! Loved hosting Tyler and seeing him see Lowry and feel burdened for the lostness of our neighborhood and all of Denver metro. Statistics are alarming and real, but being here is sobering and heart breaking, yet exciting. Pray for this team of youth, college students, and adults from Fairhaven. Pray God will use them mightily, praise God for how exponentially our time and Gospel influence will be multiplied that week, pray for lives to be changed and disciples to be made.
I am overwhelmed when I read these verses now, though I’ve read them before. I am truly thankful for all of our Gospel partners and praying God continues to bring laborers into His harvest!

Philippians 1:3-11
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace,[d] both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Thank you, partners! Thank you!

Urban Garden

We recently made the decision to use the back deck of our town home for an urban garden.  We will soon have a back 40.  Forty square feet, that is.  Our garden will be home to several different veggies and herbs.  And should provide some good food and the opportunity to bless others.  Maybe the green thumbs of my grandparents and mom will show their heritage in me.

Gardening gives so many illusions to evangelism themes to me.  There are three important categories that these themes fall into: essentials, provision, and seasons.  The essentials to crops are seeds, soil and, in our case, containers.  The provision comes in the form of sun and rain and with a little help from fertilizer.  And finally, the seasons manifest as planting, tending, and harvest.

Each of these things can parallel with an aspect of evangelism.  The essentials are the seeds of the Gospel, soil that is ready to receive the seed, and people who will act as willing vessels.  The provision takes the form of the Holy Spirit changing hearts, Jesus taking on sin and death on the cross and rising on the third day.  And the seasons of life are evident as God works to ready a heart to hear the Gospel, the mouthpiece of God speaks the Gospel and then the day of salvation brings about the harvest of God in ones life.

Luke 10:2 says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”  We are praying that God will use us to sow the seeds of the Gospel here and that through His provision and movement in the seasons of life, God will bring the increase and the harvest.