'PAPA, please don't remove YOUR hand from us.'

sept. 7th we officially launched as: Missio Dei... a community of JESUS.

i have to honesty say, that the past few weeks of our church's history have been nothing short of phenomenal.
it is hard to even begin put into words how GOD is moving in our midst, drawing us unto HIMSELF. i feel completely humbled and filled with deep appreciation for what HE is doing. so many have been touched. so many are coming alive in HIM.

the past few days as i have been thinking upon SPIRIT'S movement, i find myself praying fervently for our church;

'PAPA, please don't remove YOUR hand from us.'
for one of the first times in my life, i am literally frightened not to have GOD'S blessing continue with us. it scares me. it keeps me awake at night.

'PAPA, please don't remove YOUR hand from us.'
i have a deep unsatisfied restlessness for GOD to fall on us in FIRE. a dead church is without GOD. people without GOD are hopeless.

'PAPA, please don't remove YOUR hand from us.'
we have come so far, it is hard to imagine where HE will take us. could it get better?

'PAPA, please don't remove YOUR hand from us.'
HE has already parted seas, now HE leads us into the good land flowing with milk and honey. i hope to see fortified cities crumble and giants fall face-down in the mud.

'PAPA, please don't remove YOUR hand from us.'
would a harvest be reaped? would hundreds upon hundreds confess JESUS as LORD?

'PAPA, please don't remove YOUR hand from us.'
i have been freed from religion.

'PAPA, please don't remove YOUR hand from us.'
may every chapter be as good as the first.


'PAPA, please don't remove YOUR hand from us.'
we trust in YOU.

at the end of my rope...

so i have been stressed out a little...

actually that is kind of an understatement. i think i have been more stressed out these past two weeks then at perhaps at any other time in my life. i have been consumed with some stuff at work, and since i work for a church it kind of permeates every part of my life. at any rate, it hasn't been pretty. i have been quite a piece of work to be around. those close to me can testify to that. by the way, if you haven't heard pastors aren't supposed to get stressed out...

so the other night me and my family are watching some really bad summer t.v.. we are right in the middle of some show that has 'c' list celebrities when it got interrupted numerous times by a severe weather alert. these are pretty normal in the Chicago land area so i all but ignored it. As our show progressed though, so did the warnings, and as the warnings grew so did the fear in our children's eyes. by this time the wind was howling. finally the weatherman broke in again and this time he named our neighborhood as being one to be in the direct path of this near tornado. my wife and i glanced nervously at one another, trying not to let our kids see our own fear. we sat on the couch the five of us, arms intertwined so that you couldn't tell where one began and the other ended. we sat together.

rain was blowing horizontal, branches were being broken off, and the sky flashed like a light bulb on its last leg. i text close friends to see that they were under cover. later we would hear that the winds were in excess of over 60 miles per hour...

out of the wind, rain, booming thunder, and crackling lightening came a still small VOICE. i knew who it was before it was finished speaking. it was the VOICE of THE MAKER. HE who spun this globe into existence. HIS VOICE threaded the storm that had pounced upon chicago and made its way to my heart; 'I AM' was all HE said... 'I AM' was all HE needed to say.

everybody needs a storm once in a while for GOD to speak to them. to remind them of HIS power, to remind them that HE is the GREAT ONE. once in a while everyone needs to sit on a couch tangled up with the ones you love to remember what is really important in life, and to remember that in every lightening storm is a chance for great illumination.

my city

I often have these moments... i call them Chicago moments. these moments strike me when this great city calls out to me and reminds me why I love living here:

a cool breeze at the lake front, hipsters in Wicker Park, goosebumps at Wrigley, corn hole (bags for some of you) with my boys, paddle boats with my little girls in Lincoln Park, walking hand and hand with my wife down a tree covered street, the skyline in the evening, riding my bike to the office in the cool of the morning, a BBQ after church on sunday night, standing on stage at the Brixen Ivy Community Center and hearing people's voices rise up in worship over my own amplified voice, and on and on they go....

i have these moments frequently (especially in the spring and summer!), but a thought struck me the other day:

do i love the people of this city as much as i love the city itself?

ouch. that one stung a bit. you see the city doesn't talk back, it accepts me for who i am. the city doesn't cut me off when i am driving, it always has room on it's streets for me. the city is easy to love because it almost always gives back. the people on the other hand... well, that is a different story.

suffice it to say, that i am convicted of my lack of love toward the people in this city. Paul said that without love I am like a clanging symbol. last i heard, that just sounds like noise. Chicago doesn't need more noise. it has enough as it is. what it could use is love. maybe the Beatles had it right when they said; 'all we need is love!". love is all we need. but it isn't an earthly love that comes and goes like the weather in our fair city. it is the unending, unfading, unfailing love of JESUS CHRIST. that is the love that forgives every sin, and heals every heart. that love is all we need.

may GOD grant me a super-earthly love for the men, women, children of this city. no matter what neighborhood they are from, no matter what they might look like,  no matter if they deserve it or not. may HE grant me the ability to see them as HE sees them. may HE grant me the ability to share in HIS passion, and may we see the people of Chicago come to know that all they need is LOVE, for GOD is LOVE. 

thoughts on sunday

- we announced our intent to change the name of our 2 sites yesterday. i know this caught a lot of people by surprise, but i am convinced that it is the right decision. i am genuinely excited about the move to Missio Dei.

- worship @ wrigley was so much fun. it was great to see so many really engaged in connecting with GOD.

- attendance was great, especially for the 2nd week of july! we almost broke the 300 mark at wrigleyville, and the 80 mark in wicker park.

- i am learning a lot about leadership recently. mostly, that at times it is really difficult. that often you feel alone. this teaches me the necessity of staying close to JESUS. i cannot lead unless i am led.

- david taught yesterday. he really did good. when he was teaching, i felt i saw a glimpse of the future. he is going to be really used in this movement. how exciting to be a part of it :-)

- the bbq down in wicker was fantastic. i think almost 70% of the people stayed after service and hung out.  community was real and beautiful.

- now that we have the announcement over with, i am excited to dive into things. this is the final part of the transition to a multi-site church. time to stop talking, time to start doing. 

change

we recently announced some major changes taking place in our church; in a couple of months we will make the move to unite our two churches under one name. we will no longer be named The Church of Wrigleyville or citichurch, instead both communities will be known as Missio Dei. (more on the name at a later time)

this announcement caught a number of people off guard (deer in the headlights!), as any significant change usually does, and it got me thinking about change.

for some reason we are leery of changes (myself included!), and yet i have begun to think that change is something that GOD not only helps us through, but something that HE wants for us on a continual basis, and something that HE will often force us into.

here is the deal:

- change causes us to learn full dependence on HIM.

when we are faced with the option of trusting GOD and trusting something else, we will almost always go with the latter. it is just our sin nature. we are infatuated with the here and now, what we can taste, smell, see, etc. sometimes GOD causes change to show us how temporal all those other things are, and thus learn complete and total dependence on HIM. it is called trust.

- change causes us to listen to HIS voice.

remember when GOD told Abraham to go, but HE didn't tell him where? Abraham was forced into a constant state of change. this caused Abraham to learn to listen for the voice of the FATHER. for he was to be guided by that VOICE and that VOICE alone.

- change brings something new.

GOD is always doing something new, something fresh.  there is a verse in Isaiah that i love (chapter 43 i think), where GOD says HE will do a new thing. that springs will bubble up in the desert and that HIS work will always be brought forth. i am always looking forward to the next thing GOD is doing. HE is always wanting to work is HE not?

- change is evidence of relationship.

people or churches that don't change are often  married to tradition. tradition breeds ritual and regimentation.  conversely, relationships are always liquid. evolution and change within relationship is always necessary, therefore change is evidence of relationship. i want to be in intimate relationship with GOD. i want to always be evolving in the rhythms of knowing HIM. ritual and regimentation is for the religious, not for those who are bound to GOD with the singular desire of knowing HIM.

my two cents...

may GOD bring us change always, 

j

i wanted to share this...

http://capturingtheinfinite.blogspot.com/2008/07/missio-dei.html

what a weekend!

this has to be one of the best weekends for our church since we moved here to chicago:

• we kicked the weekend off with our second BaseCamp (leadership gathering) on saturday morning:
• attendance was great. we had around 67 people taking time out of there saturday to hang with us!
  
• we took the opportunity to break down 'missional church'
• this was easy to talk about because it is my passion.
• it was fun to see people really 'get it'. i think this is going to be foundational for us as we move forward on the mission of GOD.

• our sunday services we're amazing as well
• it was hot and sweaty at both locations (in wicker park we handed out popcicles!) but people turned out to meet with GOD. we had 278 @ the wrig and 67 @ wicker!
• i felt like even though it was hot and somewhat hard to focus people were really engaged. the response time in wicker was really intimate and beautiful. it made me proud to be a part of this community.

• if that wasn't enough, we also hosted a kid karnival for wicker park on sunday morning!
• it had the works: face painting, giant slides, bouncy houses, etc.!
• the neighborhood kids had a blast :-)
• our volunteers were amaaaaaazzzziiiiinngggg! they were really phenominal. we had over 40 comprised of folks from both our locations. they really displayed great hearts; serving this neighborhood on behalf of JESUS.
• even when the rain came (in a big way) everyone stuck around and served with amazing hearts.
• i was extremely proud to be a small part of this event. YOU ALL MADE IT HAPPEN!
• p.s. - david wagner kicked butt on this one. way to go waggy!

here is to many more weekends like this! thank you JESUS.