Christmas

Yesterday was one of the greatest Christmas celebrations I've ever had. Our church participated this year in the Advent Conspiracy - a movement to try and reclaim Christmas from the busyness and commercialization that it has become. So my wife and I set $50 limits on what we would spend on each other. With a little bit of money and a lot of creativity, we decided to make gifts for each other. She ended up making me an "inspiration board" with several of my favorite quotations from some of my favorite books. It is awesome. I purchased a nice frame, and then drew some pictures and gave it to her. It made her cry, so I guess I win. Haha.Our church raised over $1600 for the Advent Conspiracy - more than three times bigger than any offering we have ever taken. According to the AC website, it costs...

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Prayer

Just a quick post because it's all I have time for. We are less than 30 days from the launch of Story Church. There is so much going on I can't believe it. Here's the quick list of what this week entails: picking curriculum for kids ministry, establishing some kids ministry policies, planning for our 12/20 preview, preparing my message for Sunday, writing our Bylaws and Constitution, getting funding in place from our friends at the ARC, accounting, planning teaching for the new year, trips to Guitar Center, creating ads for Facebook, creating slides for Sunday, meeting with people regarding a potential new location for Story Church, keeping in touch with supporters, getting background checks done, working on our website, and the list goes on. Pray for me this week. Pray for Story Church. We've...

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Spend Less. Give More.

As a church we are celebrating advent by participating in the Advent Conspiracy. It's a movement of Christians that have decided that the consumerism that comes with Christmas isn't the best way to celebrate the birth of Christ. But it's more of a movement for something, rather than a movement against something. It's not a movement that is worried about whether you say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays". It's not a movement about Jesus vs. Santa. It's a movement that is encouraging people to give more of themselves at Christmas. The idea is to give more relational gifts, that maybe cost less in dollars, but more in time. It's about spending time together, creating memories and traditions. Many of us are making homemade gifts this year. Some are simply choosing to spend less on things we...

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NT Wright on Social Media

NT Wright on Blogging/Social Media from Bill Kinnon on Vimeo.Though...

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Story Church - Our third preview

Yesterday, November 15 was the third preview service for Story Church. It was the first time we attempted this in the morning, going with a 10am service as opposed to the previous two which were at 6pm. We felt it was important to do at least one of the previews in the morning so that we could figure out timing, lighting, and everything else. Overall it was a good morning. We added some signage this time with some banners out front. We further streamlined our setup and adding some light trees to the auditorium. I taught on the parable of the Good Samaritan and tried to teach it in such a way that we heard the story in the same way the original...

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The gospel and suffering

My friend Luke is a prison chaplain. At the prison he works at, there are five different facilities that house inmates, each one with varying levels of freedom. The lowest level are men who work outside, who aren't locked into cells, and don't have gates keeping them there. At the highest level is full lockdown with double doors, double windows, gates, bars, razor wire, the whole thing. As one of the chaplains, Luke gets the opportunity to preach in each of these facilities. Though he is new, other chaplains have described to him something that he is beginning to see as well. Chaplains describe that the enthusiasm for the gospel is inversely related to the level of freedom that the inmates have. Those that have quite a bit of freedom are generally emotionless and subdued in hearing the gospel...

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The long, dark, cold winter...

The day after the Angels are eliminated from the playoffs is a dark day for me every year. There are always the questions of what if, and if they only, and wondering if things could have turned out different. This year it could also mean the departure of three long time Angels - John Lackey, Vlad Guerrero, and Chone Figgins. There is still a World Series coming - which I will watch. But more as a removed baseball fan than a fan of any particular team. I'll pretty much be rooting for the Phillies - I'd love to see a back to back champion not named the Yankees. Pretty much anyone taking on the Yankees is going to get my vote. Next year the All-Star...

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Jerel Law

Check out this great post from Jerel Law on Story. There's a conference coming up in Chicago on Story and Jerel is going. I look forward to hearing more from Jerel and from the Story Conference next we...

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Humility

Here's some more from Catalyst. It was great to hear from Malcolm Gladwell, the author of The Tipping Point and Outliers. I enjoyed listening to him for the first time. But for some reason I kept thinking "More cowbell."What does the financial crisis tell us about leadership?Miscalibration - thinking you know more than you actually know. Overconfidence.In times of crisis we think we need daring and bold decision making, but we don’t. What we need is humility.Andy Stanley's questions:What are the warning signs of an overconfident leader?- The potential for it is in all of us. All of us start to think we are better than we are.- We should be looking for it in everyone who is in authority.- When they stop listening to the people around them, watch out.Humility = the ability to listen to others.Can...

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Catalyst 09

I had the great privilege of going this year to Catalyst, which was last week in the Atlanta area. It was also the first time my wife has gotten to come with me to a conference in a long time (six years we think!). We left the kids at home and had an amazing couple of days listening to some great wisdom. I took notes during most sessions, so over the next few days I'll post my notes on some of the speakers that were there. My notes are kind of sporadic, so if you have trouble following them and want some clarification, let me know. First up, Andy Stanley:Leaders always leave a mark, the question is what kind of mark will you leave?You won’t really...

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Second Preview

This last Sunday was the second preview service for Story Church. Here are my thoughts about what went well and what we learned:1. Setup went much smoother - everyone was assigned a job, and there was a clear priority list in terms of what needed to get done first.2. Our new screen is approximately 1,000 times better than the original. It is no longer a jumbotron and we were able to project straight ahead to the stage.3. Tablecloths made a huge difference! Made our hospitality and check-in areas look sharp.4. The first preview was too bright on stage, so this time we turned out the lights. It was too dark. We need to invest in some lighting.5....

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Thoughts on U2

I was mowing my lawn on Saturday when my wife came outside with the phone. While I hated to stop my masterful yard manicuring, she seemed persistent. What I soon found out was that a friend was calling with news of a lifetime. He had an extra ticket to that night's U2 concert in Raleigh and wanted to know if I would please take it. Hmmm.... Let me think. Heck yes!! Oh yeah, and the seats were amazing. $250 worth of amazing. For free. A couple of years ago I got to see Coldplay in CA on the X and Y tour. It was the most amazing show I'd ever seen. For me there was only one other band that I wanted to see in my lifetime - U2. So Saturday is our...

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100 Days

Today marks the 100 day countdown to the launch of Story Church. Depending on your perspective, that can either seem like a long time, or not much time at all. For me, it's more of the latter. A couple of months ago the plan was to launch on September 13. I had a hard time giving up that date and pushing things back, but I am so glad that we did. I can't even imagine what things would have been like if we had tried to push it. We simply wouldn't have made it.So what is there to do in the next 100 days? Here are some of the things we are trying to accomplish in no specific order:1) 3 preview services - Oct. 11, Nov. 15, and Dec. 20. The previews...

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A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: A Review

I've been waiting for this book for more than two years. It was at least that long ago now that Donald Miller spoke at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, MI on the subject of Story. It was a talk that I have gone back to probably a dozen times. It's a talk that led me to dream, and then to ultimately step out and begin planting a church - Story Church. I must admit that I am already a Donald Miller fan. I've read Blue Like Jazz, Searching for God Knows What, and To Own a Dragon. Each of these books has played a key role in my spiritual journey. But even as a fan, I don't think I was ready for what A Million Miles has done to me.This book...

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First Preview

Now that we're two days removed from our first preview, here are some things that we learned as a team:1) We knew we had a lot to setup, but we didn't really have tasks assigned. So we ended up looking like a 5 year old soccer team - all of us together running around chasing the same problem.2) Flexibility is the name of the game in a portable environment. When we showed up, there were 200 chairs set up and the back wall of the gym was open into the cafeteria. While we ended up getting it closed and most of the chairs put away, right from the start we had obstacles we weren't planning on.3) We needed start times for each of our jobs. What time should we be at the door greeting? What time should the band be done? What time should kids registration start? etc.4) Our screen is too big. Seriously...

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Today

Today is the day. It's so cool to work toward something and pray about something for years and then finally get to catch a first glimpse of it. Today is the first preview service for Story Church. We'll be meeting at 6pm at Spring Valley Elementary School. I am so proud of our team. They have worked so hard over the last few months to get ready for this day. They have given of their time, their resources, and have served this community without any negativity or complaining. It's quite humbling to know that there are literally hundreds of people praying for us today. At my home church in CA they will be showing a video from us today, and spending some time praying for us and our service. Many others have committed to pray for us on this day as well. I feel a sort of nervous excitement. Part...

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Fire

In case you missed it, CA is on fire. And I'm not just talking about the economic condition. You may know that I have only lived in NC for a year. Before that, I spent my whole life in a little city called Yucaipa in southern California. CA regularly gets fires this time of year, and right now there is a major fire in my city of Yucaipa and the surrounding hills. Many of my friends have had to evacuate their homes. I have many firefighting friends as well. Please pray that God will send cooler weather and that those fighting the fires will have success and safety. (Thanks to Ron Sheveland for the pho...

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Taking a Break

I've been away from the blog lately. I've been away from twitter, facebook, and just about everything else too - including my "work" of starting a new church. And you know what? I'm not sorry for it. Instead I've been hanging out with friends that came to visit. Last week six former students and another friend flew in to spend a week with us here in Durham. It was so good just to hang out with them. I laughed a lot. I don't think I've been laughing much lately. Now they are gone, but by mom flew in and so did my cousin. My cousin and I are leaving today to drive up to Virginia to meet another cousin. The three of us are going to Baltimore for...

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Art that speaks

My five year old daughter taught me a huge lesson the other day. She was busily coloring on a piece of paper. After she was done, she folded it up neatly and handed it to me. When I unfolded it, I saw a picture of a beach setting. I thanked her for the beautiful drawing and she went back to coloring. Only this time, she wasn't taking her time at all. She started scribbling on the paper with multiple colors. "What are you doing?" I asked. Her answer gave me huge insight. She said "This one is for Joy, this is how she colors." You see, Joy is 18 months old. Hannah is right, when Joy colors she simply puts marker to paper wherever it lands and lets...

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One

One year ago today, I was on I-40 somewhere in the middle of the United States. I had just left the only place I'd ever called home in Yucaipa, CA. I had left the only ministry I'd ever known. I left my extended family, my friends, my security, my paycheck, much of my stuff. Ahead of me there were many more miles on my way to Durham, NC. There was also a new life waiting for me, a new adventure, a new ministry, new friends, new neighbors, new purpose, new challenges. As I sat with the Story Church launch team on Saturday night in my house, I was blown away by all that has happened over the last year. What began as a vision God gave me and my...

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I am not a salesman

When I was little it seemed like I was always raising money for something. (I guess some things don't change - see storychurch.org to give now!) I remember one time standing out front of the grocery store selling candy for yet another church trip. I think this time it was chocolate eggs, large tasty eggs, for $6 a piece. I remember the man who felt bad for me and bought my last 5 eggs which meant I got to go to Disneyland for free. But it wasn't because I was a great salesman. It was pity. I didn't have a smooth sales pitch, an engaging question, or even a sweet catch phrase like "BINGO!" (see yesterday's post if you don't understand)I still...

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BINGO!

I was sitting in Starbucks the other day working on my laptop when it happened. I've seen it unfold probably a dozen times in coffee shops over the years. Some young couple is meeting with some slick salesman who wants them to join his pyramid scheme (close enough anyway) with the promise that what they are about to do is easy and will make them tons of money in almost no time at all. This time, the salesman was selling Identity Theft Protection. He was good I must admit. He knew how to make a sale. He had this young couple saying "yes" a lot. They were excited. It seemed so easy. And to back it all up - he had a catch phrase. "BINGO!" Just about...

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Drops Like Stars

It arrived by UPS yesterday. I wasn't really prepared for what I was about to experience. Rob Bell's latest book Drops Like Stars is a work of art. From the second I opened the box I knew that this would be quite an experience. The book is large. Not in terms of page numbers or content - but in actual size. It's huge. Think yearbook, or coffee table book. It's pages are bright red. Throughout the book you will find stories, incredible photos, and great insight from Bell. In its pages, Bell addresses the issue of suffering. But rather than addressing it in terms of "why?" he instead focuses on the "what now?" that comes from suffering. When the...

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Plans vs. Vision

"Plans change, vision stays the same." I listened recently to another Andy Stanley leadership podcast that hit me at just the right time. I asked on twitter last week for people to be praying for me as I had some pretty big decisions to make. I feel like God really answered many of those prayers by allowing me to hear this particular podcast. In it, Andy talks about how many of us fail to realize that our particular vision is not the same as our particular plan. I know for me this church planting adventure that I am on is one where my plans and the vision God has given me sometimes get confused. I think this is common for many of us. Maybe your vision is about a particular ministry, or about your business, or even a particular vision for your family. Our plans become so important to us. After...

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Date Night

To all my married friends out there, what's the rhythm of your marriage? How often do you go on a date with your wife? How much do you spend? What are some of the creative things you've done for cheap? My wife and I would like to go out every week, but we have basically no money - so we need some creative ideas. Help a brother o...

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Trust me

I was reading a very familiar proverb today when something occurred to me that I never noticed before. It comes from Proverbs 3:5-6 in the Old Testament of the Bible. It says this:"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight."You see, I've always pictured trust as being one of things we do when, based upon the facts at hand, we make an intellectual decision to go along with the situation at hand. We decide to trust, and in doing so, we trust with our heads. But today I noticed something different. This particular verse says to trust "with all [our] heart." Our hearts are the center of our will. It's the place where we sit on the throne. It's definitely an area of decision making, but it's...

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Declaration of Dependence

Independence is overrated. Don't get me wrong, I love living in a free country, but I'm a bit over the individualized existence so many of us live. Somewhere along the line we as Americans, maybe even as Christians, have come to the conclusion that we are the center of our world, and that we don't need anyone else. We have become our own masters, and even those of us who call ourselves Christians have become very independent of each other - after all, all I need is Jesus, right? In what has been a very difficult, trying, and stressful time - I'm declaring today my complete and utter dependence. I am learning just how dependent I am on others. Kimi and I live and pay our bills because of the generosity of others. We live on their monthly support which allows us to focus on ministry here in...

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Veggie Tales

Sometimes God uses the strangest things to speak to me - like a Pirate who doesn't do anything. There's a movie theater near our house that shows free movies for kids all throughout the summer. Today's movie was the Veggie Tales "The Pirates who don't do anything." I thought I'd spend some time with my daughter today so I took her on a date to see the movie. The place was packed with mom's, snacks, and hobbit-like children. Hannah and I sat down in the middle of the theater and settled in for the movie. To be honest, I was fading in and out throughout the movie - dozing off a couple of times.Anyway, the story was about three "pirates" who really aren't pirates at all. They get magically whisked away to a time and place where real pirates are threatening a kingdom. There is a call that goes...

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10 years and counting...

We got married pretty young. I was 21, she was 20. But in our defense, we dated for four years counting our engagement. It's not like it was a rash decision. I look back at our wedding pictures now and I see it - wow, we were young. But God has been so good to us. We are truly more in love today than we were on that day. I seriously feel like I'm still getting to know her. It's as if layers of depth continue to be unfolded for me, and I see her in new ways all the time. I have friends and family whose marriages haven't enjoyed the same kind of growth and love. I've seen people close to me split and relationships torn apart. I'm not naive enough...

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Advance09

What do you get when you put 3,000 Calvinists in the same room? A conference that was predestined to happen I guess. Last week I had the opportunity to attend Advance09 - a national conference on the resurgence of the local church. The conference was held right here in Durham, where close to 3,000 pastors, leaders, and future leaders descended upon the Durham Performing Arts Center. Speakers included Ed Stetzer, Mark Driscoll, Matt Chandler, Tyler Jones, John Piper, Eric Mason, and JD Greear. While each speaker had their own topic they were teaching, one message seemed to clearly rise from all of them: For any resurgence of the local church to happen, we must have Jesus at the center. We must preach Jesus. We must do what Jesus did. We must embrace what Jesus cares about.Here are a few of...

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What's your favorite story?

Just curious. Maybe it's a movie, a book, a historical event, a sports story, or a personal story. I think about the idea of story quite a bit, and I'd love to get beyond the idea and hear some real life stories. So tell me your favorite, and then tell me why it's your favorite. What about it makes it stand out to you? Why do you love ...

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Cookout

This Saturday May 30, Story Church will host our first public event. We're having a free cookout at Brier Creek Community Center from 11-2. That makes this a pretty busy week. It's been great for me to watch our team function from their giftedness and to pull all the details of this event together. We are hoping to feed more than 100 people, and to hopefully share with them the vision of Story Church. If you live in the Triangle, we'd love to see you there! Please pray with us that this event is a success and that we will come into contact with the right people - people who are longing for community, and eager to be a part of a life-giving church.Hope to see you there!By the way, for my west coast friends... You may be asking, "What's a cookout?" A few months ago, I would have asked the same...

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Visioneering

I'm reading Andy Stanley's great book Visioneering right now and it is really hitting me at just the right time. As we get further along in this church planting adventure, and closer to our launch, I feel more and more inadequate and less and less prepared. I just thought I'd post a few of my favorite nuggets from the first few chapters so far and let you think about them. "Vision is always accompanied by strong emotion. And the clearer the vision, the stronger the emotion" (10). "God ordained visions are always too big for us to handle" (42)."You are not responsible for figuring out how to pull off God's vision for your life. You are responsible to do what you know to do, what you can do. And then you must wait" (56-57)."If it is just a good idea, you have to make it happen. When God gives...

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The greatest moment at Exponential 09

Francis Chan, one of my favorite guys, introduced to the tune of "Back in Black". Check it o...

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Exponential 09 Day One

Erwin McManus, Alan Hirsch, Larry Osborne. That's a pretty good day. Today was the first official day of the conference, though yesterday I attended an intensive on forming a launch team. But that's pretty specific and you probably don't care about it. I have tons I could talk about, but McManus was too good not to share. So here it is.This guy is amazing. I have seen him a couple times before (though probably not for the last 10 years) and I've read two of his books, both of which were life changing (The Barbarian Way, Unstoppable Force). His talk centered on a passage from Acts 17, a pretty well known one in church world where Paul goes to a place called Mars Hill and begins to talk to people there about the living God. He talked about three "spaces" in which Christians interact with the...

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Crazy Month

Time to shake the dust off the old blog. I've been pretty busy lately, here's a rundown of what I've been up to and what is coming soon. March was a month of figuring some stuff out. We began to zero in on the location of our church plant. Our application for the school facility has been submitted and as of right now we are still waiting to hear back on that. I've been doing lots of talking with lots of pastors, church planters, and leaders over the last couple of weeks. I'm asking lots of questions and taking lots of notes. As we get closer and closer to September, my list of questions is growing more and more. We are still trying to raise several thousand dollars, and over the last couple of weeks some interesting opportunities have opened up that may result in some big time gifts. Last...

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Wingsuit Base Jumping

Are you kidding me?!?!?! These guys are absolutely crazy. Some days it feels like following Jesus is like this - a thrill ride that could get you killed at any second. Pretty swe...

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Walked out on Prayer

Have you ever walked out on a prayer? I've been places where someone in front has been speaking or teaching on a particular subject that was controversial, and witnessed people get up and leave in a sort of protest. What was being said was offensive to them so they left. I get that I guess, though I've never done it. I've always felt that we need to hear people through completely before we make assumptions about them. That reminds me of a time I was in chapel at Biola University when a speaker did his whole message as though he were Muslim. He argued for the Koran, and did the whole thing. Well, one student sitting near me was clearly getting agitated. He happened to be Asian - English was not his first language, and he clearly wasn't getting the fact that this guy was pretending to be Muslim...

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Durham is cool

I've lived in Durham for about 7 months now. It's kind of hard to believe. But I came from Southern California, the place on the cutting edge, the place where everything is always happening. And yet, I've found that in a few short months here in Durham, NC that maybe SoCal isn't quite as cutting edge as it wants to be. I guess what I mean by that is that there is a lot going on here, way more than I expected there to be. Let me give some examples. In these seven months I have had the opportunity to see Donald Miller (author, Blue Like Jazz), Shane Claiborne (author, Irresistible Revolution and Jesus for President), Mark Driscoll (church planter, author - Vintage Jesus), and this week Ed Stetzer (church planting guru, author Planting Missional Churches). And all of this has been within 15-20...

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Faith

I was reading from Mark 6 this morning. Jesus is in his hometown and people are questioning his credentials and his abilities. He's the guy they've all known their whole lives. He grew up with many of them, they had hired him to do carpentry. And now suddenly he's the Messiah? I guess I can't say I blame them for their comments and their questions. It would be a little tough to wrap your mind around. But aside from that, there's a really interesting thing that Mark tells us at the end of these few verses. This is what he tells us:"He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith."A couple of things stand out to me about this. First of all, there is a direct link between the amount of faith people have, and God's...

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A revealing question

What won't happen if we don't do what God has called us to do? I've been listening lately to a leadership podcast from Andy Stanley. In a recent episode, he asked this question. From a leadership standpoint, it's important he says to get people thinking about a problem that needs to be solved, and that this question helps do that. I've been thinking a lot about it in terms of my own life, and in the life of Story Church. A couple years ago Don Miller gave a talk at Mars Hill (Grand Rapids, MI), in which he talked about story. That message is the basis of where our name came from. Anyway, he said that the way you tell whether or not a story is good is to ask the question, "What would happen if this story wasn't resolved?" He asks how would the story resolve if the hero got hit by a bus. He...

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Big Decision

I'm really wrestling lately with a decision that I have to make regarding Story Church. At some point, we have to pick a location - a spot that we will sort of set up shop and seek to impact the area around us. I'm torn though. I love the downtown area, and the proximity to Duke and the opportunity that gives us for ministry to students. And yet, it feels like the area that we live is ripe for a church plant. There are several newer housing developments, very few churches, and no one who is really doing anything new. I know that no matter where we end up, God will use us. My heart and my vision has been to have an influence on the city, and on the campus. But I'm beginning to wonder if that's a bigger vision than where we are at right now. And I wonder if that is my vision, or if it's God's....

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Sick

I don't get sick very often. But I've got it pretty bad this time. It started on Monday with a bit of a sore throat. Monday night I was up during the night with a fever, going from shivering cold to sweating and back to shivering again. Tuesday the throat was getting pretty bad. I also had some pretty bad headaches, and the occasional fever. Tuesday night - shiver, sweat, shiver, repeat. Wednesday, my throat was awful. More headaches, more fever. I haven't had much of an appetite either, since it hurts so bad to swallow. Wednesday night I ran a lower fever. This morning (Thursday) my throat felt like a bomb went off inside. So I finally went to the doctor. The first place I went was a little clinic, who tested me for strep (which I was convinced I had) and it came back negative. So they sent...

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Kicked in the face

I was just reading a blog post that might as well have been God sticking His foot right through my computer screen and kicking me in the face. Here's what it said:GIVE UP YOUR GOOD CHRISTIAN LIFE AND FOLLOW CHRIST I'm pretty sure the greatest deterrent to following God's leading for most of us is not disobedience, but rather the deep sadness that comes with moving hundreds of miles away from family and loved ones... the paralyzing fear of risking financial security... and the pant-soiling faith-leap of trying something new. But consider the alternative... Posted by: Ben Arment, Risk Taking I'm so thankful for reminders like this. The reason Kimi and I dove into this whole church planting endeavor was for that last line - "consider the alternative." I couldn't keep doing the safe, easy, no...

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Gran Torino

I love stories of redemption. Yesterday I got to see one of the most powerful movies I've seen in a long time in Gran Torino. I'm amazed at the power of a good story. As a Christian, I found this movie to be one of the best redemption stories I've ever seen. It's a story of love, of regret, and of hope in the midst of pain. Unfortunately, many Christians probably won't see this movie. To start with, it's rated R. And for good reason. It's not a family movie. The language in the movie is disturbing, from the very frequent F-bombs, to the unending racial slurs - and those from the hero! And yet, I found myself enthralled by this character, captivated by him, and wishing I was more like him. Clint Eastwood is unbelievably good. Before I go much further you should understand that while I highly...

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