Community

This week marks six months since we launched Story Church. I'm thrilled at where we find ourselves today. In many ways, it's completely different than I thought it would be, but I couldn't be happier with our progress. Yesterday I had the opportunity to reflect with our church on what God has done these first six months, and to begin to dream about the kind of community we can still become.

In just six months, we've seen incredible impact on people's lives. Many of the people in our church were completely detached from God just six months ago. Today they find themselves not only regularly attending our services, but more importantly they are finding a community where they belong. They are connecting relationally with others who are seeking to live like Jesus. Together, we've been able to serve our school where we meet. We've blessed the teachers, we've volunteered hours at the school, and currently we're in the middle of a backpack drive for the new school year. We've had global impact as well - giving so that a community in the Central African Republic now has a clean water well where they once had none. We also saw our community step up and give sacrificially toward Haiti relief when the earthquake hit.

More and more we are seeing our mission take shape - to help people embrace the story they are meant to live.

On Sunday we began to dream together about a different kind of community. One where authenticity was the rule, not the exception. We are beginning to take the risks to be open, honest, and real with each other. I don't want to be part of a community where all of a sudden we hear about a divorce. I want to be the kind of community where two years before that happens, he is able to share with someone about his struggle with pornography. There's too much at stake in our marriages, in our families, and in our communities to pretend we have it all together. We have to be willing to be real with each other and "carry each other's burdens" as it says in Galatians 6.

This kind of authenticity starts with me. It starts with you. And I think we're off to a great start. But the reality is that future generations of Story Churchers will be deeply impacted by the kind of community we shape and form here in this first year or so. I hope and pray that we have the courage to not only talk about it, but that we will be willing to get beyond the fear of becoming vulnerable with each other, and to engage in deep, authentic community.

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Easter Recap

At the risk of being way behind here, I didn't want to let Easter squeak by without saying a couple things about how things went at STORYCHURCH.

First of all, I couldn't be more proud of our team. Many people worked very hard in order to make it a really special morning. We had a really great celebration of Resurrection. We kicked off a brand new series on Easter, called EPIC. It's basically an exploration of the story of God and our role in it. Easter Sunday proved to be like one of those movies that starts with the pinnacle scene of the story, and then the rest of the movie is spent showing the build up to that moment. Resurrection is the pinnacle scene of the Story. It changes everything, and it's the filter through which we interpret everything else in the Story.

We promoted the heck out of Easter. We did a huge mailer in the community, spent several hours out hanging door hangers, had signs up all over the place, and ran Facebook ads like crazy. Despite our efforts, we didn't see the huge number of visitors that we had anticipated. For me it was just one more reminder that you can't manufacture the movement of God. I'm certainly not anti-marketing. I think it's important to let people know we exist as a church and that they are invited. But the fact is, that God doesn't need a mailer to build the church. And for me it was just a gentle reminder that He is in control, and this thing is in His hands. It's so easy to get caught up in the belief that crowds equal success or God's favor. It just isn't true.

The most exciting thing for me about Easter was the growth we DID see. Not numerical growth, but growth that took us deeper as a community. After the service we did an egg hunt for the kids and one for the adults as well. I know, kind of silly. But this wasn't your average egg hunt. It turned into a giant community building day. Aside from the hunting of eggs, people were laughing, playing, joking, and seriously having a great time. I was really proud of our leaders that put it together and even more excited by the relationships I'm seeing form. Community doesn't happen in the hour on Sunday mornings when we gather for worship. I mean, it's part of it, but sometimes it takes a crazy egg hunt to get people to begin to open up and do life together. And that happened on Easter for us.

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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 experience. God has blessed us with an amazing group of people that we are beginning to do life with here.

4. Encouragers - Not sure what else to call these people, because that's exactly what they are for me. It's an amazing thing to know that people believe in me, and are willing to give financially toward that and to lift us up constantly in prayer.

5. Creation - Wow. I've always loved being outdoors. The trees here, the wildlife, the beauty of lakes and creeks and fields. The garden of Eden must have been something to behold. I feel so connected to God when I'm outside wandering through the wild.

So what about you? What are your top 5?

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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 more communities just like it as well.

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