2008 In Review

Well it's the last day of the year. It seems appropriate to take a few minutes and remember and reflect upon 2008. it was an election year, an olympic year, a "green" year. For me it marks the year that I pretty much fully embraced the internet and technology as a means of communicating ideas and staying connected with people. From Facebook to Twitter to blogging - and all of it happening from my iphone. I guess when I decide to do something, I jump in with both feet. It has been a life changing year for me and my family. In fact, it's probably been the most significant year of my life so far in that regard. I know some people hate these kinds of things - looking back and all of that. But I think there's real value in it. Over and over in the Scriptures we are told to "remember" and "don't...

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Merry Christmas

We had a great Christmas today. It was our first here in Durham, the first Christmas on the east coast - though you couldn't tell it by the weather. It was a beautiful day today, reminded me a lot of a southern California Christmas. A beautiful 65 degrees. We are starting a few new traditions now that Kimi's whole family is here together. We did Christmas breakfast together (really an early lunch), cooking pancakes, eggs, biscuits and gravy, potatoes, and cinnamon rolls. We spent the rest of the day together opening gifts, playing games, jumping on the trampoline, and doing more eating. It was very nice, very relaxing. That's what we did. My friend Dan and his family thought it would be fun to spend most of the night in the ER. How about you? What did you ...

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Who's your Vivian?

Back in Yucaipa I had an amazing administrative assistant. It was one of the coolest things about my job there. I got to focus completely on ministry - while my assistant did all the really hard work of planning events, taking care of details, payments, transportation, promotion, etc. I knew I had it good, but it became incredibly clear this morning just how good things were.One of the cool things about Story Church and the group that is beginning to form, is that there is a real heart for putting into practice the kingdom of God and the things we discuss. So in light of that I planned for us to volunteer at the Durham Rescue Mission for their Christmas community event. I went down to the mission, met with the volunteer coordinator, signed up to volunteer, got my packet in the mail with all...

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Story Church

So I suppose it's time to put an official post on here about our church plant here in Durham. We've made some progress in the last week or two making things official. We've been incorporated with the state, we have a bank account opened in the church name, an IRS tax number - you know, all the fun stuff. So anyway, the church name is Story Church. You can view the website by clicking on the name, or go to www.storychurch.org. So far, there are around 20+ of us including kids who are meeting together each week in my home for dinner, some hang out time, and a bible study centered on Jesus' famous Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5-7. It's been really exciting to see this thing take on a life of its own as it grows in such an authentic, organic way. If you are in the triangle area and looking...

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A busy week

It's been a great week so far. Monday night I got to do a ride-along with the Durham PD. It was an eye-opening experience to say the least. We responded to calls about shots fired, hit and run, and a home invasion robbery. The officer was very helpful to me as he took me on a tour of some of the worst areas of Durham. He introduced me to some people who are seeking to make a difference there as well, and I look forward to how that relationship might grow. I had a lot of fun though, and I hope to do it again sometime.On Tuesday I had lunch with a pastor in Cary who is leading a really cool church over there. We had a lot in common, and it was an encouraging time for me. Then Wednesday I had coffee at a cool little place in Raleigh with Bill Cummings of Lemonade International. I encourage you...

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Surprised by Hope Part 2

A while back I did a post about N.T. Wright's Surprised by Hope and promised a second post later. Well, I almost forgot but some things I've been thinking about lately have brought it back to mind. So here goes.What is God's purpose for the world as a whole? Think about it, that question is probably what drives the way you live. It's a question that Wright brings up as well. There are two common responses to this question. The first is what Wright calls the "myth of progress." This is the idea that the purpose of humanity is to continue to grow, develop, and improve our current state until we arrive at some sort of utopian existence. You can see that this idea is quite attractive. We are constantly changing. We are learning new things as a culture. Technology is advancing and learning to deal...

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"Missional"

A while back I read Frost and Hirsch's book "The Shaping of Things to Come." If you are in to dialogue about the church and it's mission, I can't recommend this book any higher. I came across this video today over at the "Out of Ur" blog (there's a link on the side of my blog) from one of the book's authors discussing what it means to be "missional." It's about a three minute video, well worth your time if you think about these kinds of things. I'd love to hear your thoughts....

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Baby Lauren

Some of you have heard about baby Lauren. She is the daughter of our friends Dan and Rebecca Browne. Today was a long day for the family as Lauren had yet another surgery. Please keep them in your prayers. To read more about Lauren's story you can check out my friend Dan's blog by clicking over on the right side of my bl...

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Thanks

Being grateful is a good thing. I believe it is the primary way that we avoid greed, materialism, despair, worry, self-centeredness, and pride to name a few. So in the spirit of Thanksgiving, here are my top 5 things that I am thankful for today.1. God's provision - He always provides what I need, and that goes way beyond finances. I'm talking emotionally, relationally, etc.2. My family - I am so blessed to have a beautiful wife and two amazing girls. They are a gift from God. Aside from my nuclear family, I have been able to connect with some extended family lately and it's been a huge blessing. Thanks to technology my cousin and I had a face to face chat via skype the other day - 14 years after the last time we had seen or talked to each other!3. Community - Moving to NC was at first a lonely...

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Surprised by Hope

During my recent trip to California, I read N.T. Wright's latest book Surprised by Hope. It was a pretty powerful book dealing with death, life after death, and life after life after death. And no, I didn't just repeat myself. Wright is brilliant to say the least. His knowledge of the New Testament is pretty much without equal. Anyway, there are probably a dozen things I could write about from that book but I think I'll limit it to two posts.Very early in the book, as in page 6, Wright points out what is one of his primary reasons for writing this book: One's view of death and what happens thereafter are critical to how we live life in the present....

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Speechless

Sometimes there just aren't any words to say...

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Home

I flew to CA last week and just got back here again last night. I lived in the same city for pretty much my whole life until moving here to Durham just three months ago. So to go back and visit was kind of a weird experience. I was a little worried about going to be honest. I was worried about being conflicted. Moving across the country wasn't an easy thing to do. Now that we're here, I love it and consider this place home. But for thirty years before that I called my little city of Yucaipa home. I had a great time in CA connecting with family and friends that I miss so much. But after a couple of days - I longed for home. And home has changed. So it was kind of weird being in the place I called home for so long, but not feeling at home. I thank God that in the physical move of houses and...

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Meet the Family

Tonight was an incredible night for Kimi and I. After three years of praying and dreaming about church planting and forming new communities, tonight we had a house full of people who desire the same things. In the picture are 21 of us, kids included, who dream of doing life together in meaningful ways. I can't express in words what it's like to begin to see in reality some of the things that God has been putting in my heart for so long now. Thanks to all of you who are praying and participating with us. If you live in Durham and are seeking a community to share with and do life together, please let me know! We'd love to grow this group and create...

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Church Planting Update

This has been and will be a big week for us as a church plant. A week ago we sent out our monthly newsletter to keep everyone updated on what has been happening. In that newsletter we made people aware that we are still hoping to add around $600 per month in monthly support. Yesterday I got a look at our most recent support records and I was thrilled to see we have added $550 per month in support. Wow! So cool. This extra support is really going to help us as we turn the new year and begin forming our launch team. With that said, we will continue to reevaluate the financial situation for Story Church as we go and make adjustments as they are needed. But a big thank you to all of you out there who support us both financially and prayerfully!The really big news though is that this weekend will...

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Vote

Well, I just voted in what is probably the most significant election ever. I realize they pretty much say that every single time there's an election. But, it is the first time that an African American man is up for president, and a woman is on the ticket as well. No matter how things end up, it will be historical. I must say that living in the south has given me a completely different perspective on just how historical this really is. So anyway, make sure you get out and vote. You want to be able to tell your kids you were a part of this historical d...

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Pray

Here's a great idea that is long overdue. Check out what Carlos Whitaker is doing through his blog. Let's jump on board with this and pray like crazy over the next couple of da...

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Random Thoughts

Today is a great day. Free burrito day at Chipotle if you wear some foil. The World Series ended rather abruptly. So when does spring training start?UNC is unanimously ranked #1 in basketball to start the season - is it too early to switch allegiance?I may be getting a new phone number soon. Hopefully it accompanies an iphone if my lovely wife will give the OK for my birthday.Today is also halloween - and the first time I will be at home doing nothing for a decade or so. I used to help run Harvest Festival at my church and now - well, I get to hand out candy. So nice.Durham is absolutely beautiful in the fall. Seriously.My mom is flying in to...

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Picking sides

Anyone else tired of all the political banter yet? The commercials are killing me. It's finger pointing, blaming, vilifying, scaring, etc. The candidates can't stop talking about each other, and it seems like many voters are boiling over as well - ready to explode on each other at the drop of a hat. I've recently been reading comments from a couple of friends as they go back and forth against one another, one even accusing the other of not being a Christian because of his political views. It's crazy isn't it?I was thinking about this need to pick sides. Are you with us, or are you with them? Are you in, or are you out? We want to box people in, identify them, and either bring them into the fold or ostracize them. All the while, both sides are claiming that God is on their side. Have you noticed...

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Five

I can't believe it, but my little girl is five years old now. These past five years have gone so fast. She amazes me more and more each day. The thing I love the most about her is her sweet spirit and compassionate heart. She is so much like her mom. Her heart beats for the poor and the ones that are suffering. She has a heart for the orphan. Every time she gets money, she immediately puts it in a jar "for the kids". She saves it in order to send it to help with world hunger. For her birthday we got her a hamster. She loves it. She named it Chocolate. Chocolate doesn't do much yet, but she sits there and stares at it anyway. When we got it she...

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Michigan

We've been in Michigan since Thursday. My wife's grandmother died and so we drove out to Grand Haven for the funeral. It's been a good trip so far. We drove all night Wednesday in order to take advantage of the hours our kids were sleeping. It's the only way to go, but quite tiring. I drove from about 8pm to 4:30am before my brother in law took over for a while. Anyway, the funeral was Friday and it went well. Grandma Kleist was a great woman who loved Jesus. It's always a different feeling when you go to a funeral of someone who loved the Lord. While there is still grief, there is great hope and celebration as well. We've had a fun time sharing stories, looking through old pictures and spending time with family. Tomorrow we'll be driving in to Grand Rapids to attend Mars Hill Bible Church,...

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What's a bomb?

I was listening the other day to my daughter play with another friend. They were pretending all kinds of things. I don't really know the context of how it came up, but the other kid wanted to pretend that a bomb fell and things were blowing up. It was at this point that my daughter dropped the bomb of a question and asked "What's a bomb?" Can you imagine a world where you didn't know what a bomb was? What if there was peace - real peace all over the world? Many will say that day won't ever come until Jesus returns. That may be true, but shouldn't we long for and work toward that day anyway? Think about the innocence of that question that Hannah asked. She has no understanding of a weapon that is made to wipe out hundreds or thousands of lives at one time. She doesn't understand something like...

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Citizens of Virtue

Ok, so I got a weird email the other day about this website called Citizens of Virtue. It was actually an invitation to some sort of game revolved around this website. Some how it was connected to Rob Bell's new book. Thus, my introduction to the world of ARGs (Alternate Reality Games). I don't really know how to explain this whole thing. It's basically like living in a movie like National Treasure - where everything is a clue. The object of this story is to find a guy named Xander Greene, the nephew of one Lila Greene who is concerned about her son's involvement with the Citizens of Virtue. He has gone missing and no one seems to have heard from him. So there's this whole group of people online who are contributing by figuring out the puzzle pieces. Clues have come from a phone number, from...

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Don Miller

I got to meet Don Miller today. He's a guy I look up to quite a bit. His books have meant a great deal to me and my own spiritual growth. He's a guy who doesn't just talk about faith, but is seeking to live out the way of Jesus in every way. He recently completed a bike trip across America in which he and a team raised tons of money for Blood:Water Mission - an organization that builds well in Africa. He is also the founder of the Belmont Foundation, which is an organization that seeks to partner with the church in mentoring kids that grow up without fathers. Anyway, he was in Chapel Hill at UNC as part of the Obama campaign. He led a forum where...

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Reading Binge

I'm going through this phase right now where I am reading a ton. I like these times. I just finished Rob Bell's newest book which is called Jesus Wants to Save Christians. Now I'm back to Shane Claiborne, and his latest Jesus for President. A couple of people commented before about Shane's book, so I'm looking forward to getting into this more and maybe seeing what kind of dialogue we can get going. Anyone read Bell's latest yet? I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'll share mine soon.What about you, what are you readi...

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Late Night

In the early years of our marriage, we used to stay up really late a lot of nights hanging out with friends or watching movies. Since we had kids, that all changed. But ever since we moved to the east coast, we've kind of gotten back into this late night thing. It's weird, I don't know why we do it. Most nights we're up until at least 11pm. But on top of that, I get these occasional really late nights. Nights when I lay in bed wide awake, with a thousand things running through my head. This is one of those nights. So it's 12:20am right now, and I can't sleep. Most of the time when I can't sleep it's due to worry. I worry about finances, about relationships, about our future. Tonight I can't quite place it. I think I'm troubled, not so much worried. I'm troubled for other people. Their burdens,...

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UnChristian - Part 6

Ok, so this is the last perception that Kinnaman deals with in his book UnChristian: Christians are prideful and quick to find faults in others.Pride. The chief of all sins according to C.S. Lewis. This perception is one that we really need to hear. When we speak to those outside of the church, many feel that we are simply more interested in proving that we are right than we are in sharing about God, or about caring for the person with whom we are speaking. Many said that we simply love to hear ourselves talk, and we have no interest in hearing what someone else believes. "Nearly nine out of ten outsiders said that the term judgmental accurately describes present day Christianity" (182). Later, he says "Arrogance is perhaps the most socially acceptable form of sin in the church today" (191)....

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UnChristian - Part 5

Here's the next perception that Kinnaman deals with: Christians are primarily motivated by a political agenda and promote right-wing politics.In this election year, I've personally really struggled with the level of involvement a Christian should have in politics. I've had conversations with other pastors about how much the church ought to get involved in politics and/or patriotism. Should we celebrate the 4th of July in the church for example? I'm looking forward to reading Shane Claiborne's newest book that deals with this topic. But anyway, back to UnChristian. Where does this perception come from? Statistically, Kinnaman shows that people outside of Christianity "recognize Christians in politics more readily than in any other sector, including music, movies, sports, or business" (154)....

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Thank you!

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone that has been praying with us that our house in California would rent. We just got word tonight that a tenant has signed a one year lease!! God is go...

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It's back!

Fall is a great time of year for many reasons. The cooler weather, the wind, the colors. But let's be honest - this is why we all celebrate fall. The return of "The Offic...

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UnChristian - Part 4

The next perception is this: "Christians are boring, unintelligent, old-fashioned, and out of touch with reality."The perception is that Christians are simple minded people who aren't very educated, believe in some silly things, and basically have no idea what the real world is really like. I have to say that in some circles of Christianity, that probably isn't too far from the truth. But overall, while the perception may not be true, the reality is that it's how we are perceived. Here's the main thing to me - younger generations are more than willing to live in a world without all the answers. Previous generations have prided themselves on figuring it all out, from science to theology. Everything was neatly categorized and boxed. Newer generations are excitedly exploring all the intricacies...

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UnChristian - Part 3

I'm reading the book now faster than I can keep up with the blog, but I'll try and do a couple here tonight to catch up a bit. The next perception Kinnaman tackles is this: "Christians show contempt for gays and lesbians." At least so far, this is probably the most difficult perception to deal with, and maybe a bit controversial in some circles. First, what Kinnaman is not saying. He is not saying that homosexuality is ok. He's also not saying that we should read Scripture any differently or adopt a new theology of any kind. But here's what he is saying. He is pointing out the hypocrisy of the church as it relates to this issue. There are many, many sins in the church that get simply overlooked. Divorce, gluttony, greed, pride, materialism, etc. And yet, homosexuality somehow gets raised as...

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UnChristian - Part 2

The second perception that Kinnaman deals with is this: Christians are insincere and concerned only with converting others. In this chapter he touches on a number of myths about how people come to be Christians. I was going to go over each one, but I think instead I'll just talk about the one that stood out the most to me. That is this - "Anything that brings people to Christ is worth doing." Many churches pay huge dollars to do evangelism efforts that will reach tons of people at the same time. They may mail Bibles, or tracts, or other Christian material to homes in their community. Or they will do an event and then sneak in Jesus at the end. Kinnaman says that the research shows that such efforts will create three to ten times as much negative response as positive. In other words, for every...

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UnChristian

I'm finally getting around to reading David Kinnaman's book UnChristian. I bought it right after it came out, and then it joined the list of books to read at a later date. For those of you who may not know about this book, Kinnaman is a researcher who works with the Barna Group. This book is the result of research he did into the perceptions of 16-29 year olds on Christianity and the church. As someone who has worked with this age for the last few years, I'm finding the book to be an affirmation of so many of the things I have seen and heard in young people both inside and outside the church. So here's the plan - Kinnaman says that in his research there were basically six broad themes that continued to surface from people. Over the next week or two (depending on how long it takes) I plan on...

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Acts

I've been reading through the book of Acts. I figured that's it a good thing to be doing seeing as how we're trying to start a church here in Durham. It's amazing to me the way things were happening in the early church. Entire paradigms were being shifted. There is the shift from Old covenant to New, the extension of God's grace from the Jewish people to include even Gentiles. There's the shift in dietary rules, the movement of the Holy Spirit, a well known terrorist becoming one of the apostles. Wow. Why do we tend to think that all the cool stuff happened way back then? I mean seriously - is God still moving and active or isn't He? Didn't Jesus say that the gates of hell would not be able to hold back the church? Didn't Jesus say that we would do even greater things that He did? It sure...

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2008 Western Division Champs!

That's right, my halos just got through polishing off the Yankees to capture their 4th title in 5 years. Bring on Boston or whoever the heck comes out of the East. I may be on the east coast now, but I will always be an Angels fan. Now, let's keep the best record and get home field advantage. How about 100 wins? That would be ni...

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A Franciscan Benediction

The church we went to this morning here in Durham was awesome. They ended the service by reading this Benediction together, and I think it is one of the most amazing prayers I've ever heard. May this be true of all believers everywhere.May God bless you with discomfortAt easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationshipsSo that you may live deep within your heartMay God bless you with angerAt injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.May God bless you with tearsTo shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them andTo turn their pain into joy.And may God bless you with enough foolishnessTo believe that you can make a difference in the world,So that you can do what...

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You throw a baseball like a girl!

I don't usually venture into politics or discussions about politics. But I have been really blown away by what is going on in our country over the last couple of weeks. Regardless of what your specific political views are, this last week has been a history making week for us as a country. One party has nominated an African-American man to be their presidential candidate, and the other party has nominated a woman as part of the presidential ticket, meaning she could be president if McCain keeled over, or potentially after his terms are up. Wow. How far have we come? But as someone who works in the church, I am quite intrigued by the incredible support for Palin coming out of the conservative Christian ranks. I don't think it's a bad thing at all, she is pretty impressive. But it is interesting...

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Look at these girls!

Holy cow they are gorgeo...

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Good Times

I've realized lately that I tend to focus on the negative a lot. So today I wanted to comment on all this is good. Durham is really cool. I love the combination of living in a historical, old city and also one that is growing and progressing - full of college students and people moving into the area. We walked the other day down at the American Tobacco District - a really cool restored part of the city that was once a thriving tobacco industry, and is now a bunch of restaurants and businesses. It was really fun to hang out there and to explore.The storms here are really cool. Lightning and thunder like you wouldn't believe. The trees are unbelievable. For those who live here they probably don't realize how different this is from the rest of the country. The green here makes my home town look...

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The Job Search

So my hand is getting tired of filling out applications, I've done quite a few of them lately. I think so far I've applied to Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, Lowes, Chili's, 2 different golf courses, a cafe, a restaurant, Dick's sporting goods, and I'm sure I've forgotten something in there. So far, no takers. I would love to work at Barnes and Noble, and I've had two significant conversations with the manager, who happens to be from Fontana, CA - so that was cool. But it looks like there aren't any openings right now. I'll keep looking though! The goal is to get a job that will not only help us pay the bills, but that will allow me to get to know people in the area and to better understand the community. So I'm trying to get jobs that will allow me to interact a bit with other employees as well...

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Rain

It's funny how you have a certain perspective on things from living in one part of the country your whole life, and then suddenly you see something that shakes that. Last night it rained. I'm talking serious rain. Like Noah and the Ark kind of rain. I realized one thing for sure. I had never really seen a thunderstorm before. I have now. WOW! The sky was lighting up all over the place. We thought Kowe was going to die from a heart attack. She was panting, her heart was racing, her eyes were totally bugging out, it was pretty crazy. I wish I had a picture of that. I tried to take a few pictures of the rain but nothing seemed to capture the severity...

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Kindergarten Part II

Kimi and I have to make some decisions about Kindergarten for Hannah. She didn't score the necessary 98th percentile, though she did get in the 90th on the reading portion of the test. So we are still going to try and get her in to kindergarten as the psychiatrist felt that she was definitely ready. However, if she is turned down by the district we still have some decisions to make. We could simply say ok and wait until next year. Or we could pursue homeschooling for a year. But that would definitely add a lot to Kimi's plate. So - just pray that God makes it clear to us what we should ...

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Kindergarten

So we're trying to get Hannah enrolled for Kindergarten, and apparently things are different here in NC. The rule here is that if you aren't 5 years old by Oct. 16 then you can't go to Kindergarten yet. Hannah's birthday is the 21st of October, so she just missed the cutoff. We got a packet of paperwork from the office that will allow us to appeal to get her enrolled, but the lady pretty much said that once people see the requirements, they never come back. Well, we may be the first. Hannah is required to be evaluated by a psychologist (at our expense of course) and she has to take an aptitude test as well as a math/reading test and score in...

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Friends

I am so glad that we are here. I don't really miss our house, our neighborhood (haha), our little city of Yucaipa. But I'm realizing more and more I miss people. I miss seeing familiar faces, running into people I know, going to church with people I know, hanging out with friends, etc. I miss people walking in my front door and knowing they can hang out as long as they want and eat all my food. It's weird to be in a place where everything is new. Every face, every place, every church, everything. I'm praying for friends. If you think about it, pray with me, pray for ...

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Durham

So here we are. It's been a week and half since I arrived here in Durham. Kimi and the kids arrived the next day. I had a great trip out here driving the truck with my friends from Yucaipa - a group of guys I've been trying to disciple over the last six plus years. It was seriously a fun time. Almost every day was at least 500 miles, with only one exception - our short day of 350 miles. We stayed overnight in St. John's, AZ at my dad's place. It was great to see him and his newly opened restaurant. I'm happy for him, but I hope he doesn't work himself too hard. The next night was Erick, OK - which is just inside the Oklahoma state line. We had dinner that night in Amarillo, TX, and the guys were determined to get out of Texas as fast as we could. So we went another 100 miles and stopped in...

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Yesterday

Yesterday was a pretty hard day. I preached in the morning service - my last Sunday here at First Baptist. I got through my message ok, toward the end some tears came. But then during the prayer time - I pretty much lost it. The church gave me a standing ovation for a long time, and so many people came up afterwards in tears to tell me really nice things. I described it to someone as being at your own funeral, where everyone says nice things about you and cries a lot. The reality of leaving is really starting to set in. Leaving our friends and my family behind is tough. Leaving the students here at FBCY behind is really tough. I'm fortunate to have four or five guys traveling with me across the country to help me move. It will be a fun time with them, sort of a last hurrah. This week is basically...

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God on Caller ID

As we've been preparing ourselves to move across the country and start this adventure of church planting, we have continued to pray that God would add people to our team. One particular family has been on our hearts since day one. Up until now, God had not given them the same vision. However, they did feel that God was stirring them to move, to go, and to be a part of something new, but they didn't know what that was. This week we had dinner with them again, and we connected like we never have before. It was an incredible night. It is so clear that God has been working in their hearts and changing them into something even more beautiful than they already were. After that night, they went home and continued talking and praying with the feeling like maybe God was in fact asking them to go with...

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Countdown

The plan is to move in 11 days. I just got back from my last youth outing - a 12 day mission tour up the coast. We served in shelters and on the streets with the homeless. It was a great trip. But 11 days? Wow. It's coming fast. Everything so far is falling into place except for the renting of our Yucaipa home. It's the last piece of the puzzle. So we are praying hard for a renter in the next few days so that we can stay on schedule. Some high school (I guess they are college now) guys are planning on driving with me across the country, so it's kind of important to get this all nailed down soon. We have to buy airline tickets and all of that. If you read this, please pr...

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The ESPYs

So I love sports. Last night I watched the ESPYs and it was a great show. I was actually quite surprised by Justin Timberlake's hosting. He did a pretty good job. I've never been much of a Timberlake fan, so to see him in a sports show, I was a bit leery. But he did a good job. JT and I have a bit of a history. A few years ago I went to the Bob Hope Classic golf tournament. It was the celebrity round and I went primarily to see Roger Clemens (pre-roid allegations). JT was playing too. So at one point between the 9th green and 10th tee box JT came walking by within a few feet of me. Some teenage girls stopped him to sign some autographs. There really wasn't anyone else around. After signing the autographs and posing for some pictures, the girls ran off and all that was left was JT and I. He...

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Monsters Inc.

So I was talking to a friend the other day over lunch. We were talking about the church and culture and how the two relate. I left that conversation thinking about "Monsters, Inc." Have you ever seen it? It's the story of a bunch of monsters who work at a power plant of sorts. All of Monstropolis runs on the power that is captured from the screams of young children. The monsters go in to work, where doors are brought to their station. They open the doors (which are sort of like doors into another world - think Wardrobe and Narnia), go inside and scare kids. The kids scream, their scream is captured and converted to power. It's a rather clever story line. However, there is one thing about this job. It's a dangerous job. The monsters believe that any contact with humans or human things requires...

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Art

Ever wonder what you look like in the eyes of children? We went swimming this weekend at the home of one of our students. Hannah was in the pool the whole time. She drew a picture of the day. She's the one with girl hair and a tube around her waist. I'm the square guy with huge nipples and lots of hair. A classic pictu...

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Father's Day

I love my wife. She is awesome. She and the girls made me this amazing Father's Day gift. She had each of these pictures strung up across our living room. I went ahead and put them all together here. So co...

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Teaching

Tomorrow I get the opportunity to teach three times. First, in the morning I am part of a team of pastors who will be teaching a Father's day message from Ephesians 6. My part is the first three verses and asking the question "How can children build up their fathers?" It should be fun, but I have to keep it short, as three other pastors are doing a part of this too. After that, I'll be leading the high school ministry in a discussion of 2 Timothy 1-2. There's a really cool thing happening there where Paul continues to remind Timothy of his spiritual heritage, and then calls him to become part of someone else's heritage too. He tells him to take the things he has heard from Paul and entrust them to reliable men who will pass it along to others. The gospel is meant to be relational and I think...

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Blogs

Over the last few months I've been getting into this whole world of blogs. There are several that I read every day now. What I've noticed is that most blogs are way cooler than mine.Haha . Besides that, these people are dedicated. I try and write on here as often as I think about it, but it is still way sporadic. These other bloggers are writing at least once a day and Carlos writes like 3 times a day. That is some crazy dedication. I just don't have that much to say. I could give updates about every little thing I do (which I guess is what Twitter does) but I just don't think that would be very interesting. Anyway, I think in the future it will be a great way to stay in touch with supporters, and with our church. But for now it's more of an outlet, a place for me to put my thoughts out there....

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Fundraising

We are in full on fundraising mode at this point. After a couple of weeks of accumulating names and addresses, our first letter has been sent off. We need to raise quite a bit of money - something like $3000 per month of support. It's quite a challenge and quite overwhelming. I hate asking people for money. It's really difficult for me to do. Aside from letters, there are some people that I have set meetings up with and have begun to share our vision for what God wants us to do. That's kind of fun because I get to talk about something that I have a passion for. I hope that people get a sense of what it is that God is putting on my heart and catch a vision for how they can help make it a reality. It's really important to me to have the support of my family and friends and so I'm looking forward...

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Family Picture

This is what we're thinking about using as a communication piece with our supporters as we leave to plant a church. It was taken last weekend at my cousin's wedding. It's a pretty fun picture, unlike the standard post card perfect family photo. I like it. We'll probably make it into a magnet or something like th...

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Team Leadership

I read an interesting blog today. You can find it here.It follows up and even references another article that I read that can be found in the newest issue of Leadership magazine. Apparently there is a trend among younger evangelicals toward churches with a team leadership structure, rather than a hierarchical or senior pastor model. Of course, this intrigues me as I'm getting ready to set out and launch a new church. I really resonate with the idea. I don't want to be the guy in the spotlight, and I certainly don't want a church that is "Jeremy's church." I guess what I wonder though is how you do this in a practical sense. How does it work? How are decisions made? Who sets the vision for the church? Who holds people accountable to their particular ministries? Who does the fundraising for...

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Church Planting is Hard

We haven't even moved yet. And I feel swamped by this. I've been buried in budget planning, fundraising, team building, house selling, and ministry. My stress level is pretty high right now. I'm a worrier, and I think that's because I am kind of a control freak. I want to have everything figured out and planned out and yet so much of this is simply a step of faith. I don't get to have all the answers. It feels like everything I was holding on to for security is being yanked out from under me. The people I was totally sure were coming with us are now in question. The places I was sure I was going to be able to fund raise are now being pulled away from me. The money I was sure we were going to get from our house selling is now slipping away as the price continues to drop. My plans are falling...

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Tim Keller

This is a video I ran across today by Tim Keller on the Missional Church. I thought it was really good, so have a lo...

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