Keep Pointing in Waterloo

grace: what only God can do

Happy day-after Memorial Day, friends.  Hope the long weekend was restful and/or productive. 

I wanted to share with you a quote that we discussed this morning at our Tuesday morning Bible study.  We've been walking through the book of Galatians, and have been wrestling with how we sometimes approach our relationship with God as though it rests on our ability to do all of what God commands in his laws - vs. approaching our relationship with God on the basis of what only Jesus can do and has done for us.

I'm starting to read a book on parenting that takes some of these principles from Galatians and applies them to the relationship between parents and their children.  Now, you may be a parent, or you may not be.  But, this quote (and the biblical principle behind it) applies to all of us:

When the apostle John (or Jesus) talks about keeping God's commands as a way to know whether or not we love Jesus, he is not using the law as a way to motivate.  He is simply stating a fact (1 John 5:2).  Those who love God will keep on keeping his commands.

The question is how do we keep God's commands?  What sustains a long obedience in the same direction?  Where does the power come from to do what God commands? 

As every parent knows, behavioral compliance to rules without heart change will be shallow and short-lived.  But shallow and short-lived is not what God wants.  God wants a persistent obedience from the heart.  How is that possible?

Long-term, sustained, gospel motivated obedience can come only from faith in what Jesus has already done, not fear of what we must do.  Any obedience not grounded in or motivated by the gospel is unsustainable.  No matter how hard you try, how "radical" you get, any engine that you're depending on for power to obey that is smaller than the gospel will conk out in due time.

Depending on where you're at on your spiritual journey and in your relationship with God, that quote may strike you either as confusing, frustrating, encouraging, or freeing.  It's been great to journey with those in the study on Tuesday mornings, as we have each encountered all of those feelings and had all of those reactions at one time or another.

The truth in the quote above illustrates this challenging passage from Galatians 2:19-21:

 ¹⁹ “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

So, how about you?  Are you crucified with Christ today, or are you still holding on in some way to your own (in)ability to do what is required of you?

Grace is what only God through Jesus can do for you.  My prayer for you today is that you allow yourself to freely receive it.

it's planting time

One of our Urban Compassion groups took our normal meeting time yesterday evening and went over to our community garden.  It was a beautiful night to sow some seeds.  I wanted to provide you with a pictoral of what we did.

Thanks to both Ryan Smith and Ryan Shatek for delivering some dirt to fill the gardens.  As you can see by the strings laid out on the garden nearest to you in the picture above, Pastor Carl has a knack for laying out things so that they're done right.

Another thing that's cool in the picture above is the kids.  Shalee was there with her son (and the little one who hasn't quite yet made their appearance!); Shateks and Jebes were there with theirs, and so on.  Cool to see families serving together.

To the right is a picture of a local neighborhood girl who was playing in the park just across the street from the garden.  Although here she is seen with Josh learning how to plant, when she first crossed the street towards us she made a bee line to Pastor Carl. 

It was a great illustration of a principle called "cultural mirroring."  Cultural mirroring states that people generally gravitate towards people who look like them - people they can more easily identify with.  All the more reason for us to keep inviting people like Pastor Carl and others to join us, teach us, model for us, and serve in visible and significant leadership positions.  If we're going to become multiethnic, it's going to come about as a result of looking multiethnic (and thanks for that lesson, Pastor Carl).

Another great thing the picture above illustrates is the organic draw of a place like this.  People in the neighborhood will want to know what's going on.  Becuase it serves the community, the community will want to be a part of it.  The goal is to create something that is a natural connecting point between our church and the community of Waterloo in a way that blesses the community of Waterloo.  Just really cool to see it happening already.

Peppers, onions, snap beans, carrots, tomatoes... we planted all kinds of vegetables.  Of course, I was busy supervising and taking pictures, which is why you don't see me working.  (It's not the only reason why, but that's what I'm sticking with.)

I got to hand it to Josh: the simple hose system with sprinklers on metal poles was ingenious.  It's ideas like those that make me grateful that people are wired differently.  If I was in charge of this project, we would have left with a bunch of plants in dry dirt.

In the far right side of the picture above is some rhubarb that we planted in the ground.  Good ol' Iowa soil - black no matter where you put the spade in the ground.

So, after reading this, you might be asking: How can I get involved in this if I haven't attended a class?

Good question.  A little later in the summer, we'll be holding a barbecue out at the garden, opening it up to the community, and invite you all along to participate.  That will be a great way for you to see the garden in action.  Also, Pastor Carl is working to provide you with opportunities to bless the community this summer through prayer walking and neighborhood chaplaincy - something that we'll be telling you more about in the coming weeks.

That's all for now!

update: next location

Take a look at where we've been and where we're heading concerning the next location of PLC Waterloo:

If you're unable to see the video, try this link.

year in review: PLC Waterloo

This weekend we will celebrate 1 year as a church campus of Prairie Lakes Church in Waterloo.  As I've journeyed from someone supporting this campus on the outside to someone who is leading it from within, I'd like to share with you some insights that have come from my reflection on our journey over this past year.

First, some insights about being a part of a multisite church campus:

• Vision is everything.  A multisite church works, grows, and thrives on vision before anything else - just like any other church.  If you have a clear vision connected to a compelling mission, you can face any challenge together.  If you lose sight of the vision, or if it doesn't seem like you're accomplishing the mission, then the challenges, changes, obstacles, and course corrections seem overwhelming.
  
  
• Context is everything.  We are one church, to be sure.  But in our setting, if we don't continue to wrestle with how our community is unique and how we can uniquely impact our community for God's kingdom, then why not just go back the 8 miles down Hwy. 20 to where we came from?  It's the adventure of following God into our unique community, discovering what He's up to already, and challenging ourselves to get in line with what He's doing that makes what we do worth it.
  
  
• Being a part of a multisite church launch isn't for the faint of heart - especially if you're jumping on the multisite journey from a successful, established, thriving, big church.  Those who are easily frustrated, easily discouraged, or easily tired will most likely end up feeling like the jump to a multisite campus is too big of a sacrifice or adjustment.  Continuing to make a multisite church campus your home, especially if you're coming from an established sending campus, will require you to persevere in a sacrifical way that will test your boundaries and shape your character - often in an uncomfortable way.

So, as we continue into year 2, let me offer you a specific, personal challenge:

View everything about our current reality as well as how we think about the future of our campus through God's vision for Prairie Lakes Church Waterloo. 

He has revealed to us a pretty compelling vision for Waterloo, hasn't He?  A church that is compassionate to the urban community.  A church that is multiethnic.  A church that is in the community.  A church that is building an irresistible community within its walls.  Who wouldn't want to be a part of a church like that?

Now, have we fulfilled God's vision for our church in Waterloo?  No!  Not yet, at least.  But that's where we're headed.  That's what we've taken steps toward. 

So in light of that first challenge, here's a second:

Rather than bowing to discouragement over how we're still falling short of God's vision for our campus, why don't we instead press into God and into one another together and give everything we have so that He can realize his vision for our community through us? 

Remember: God-sized visions take more than a year to complete. 

And, God-sized visions will inevitably come with God-sized challenges. 

But, God's Spirit is leading and is more than capable to meet any of the challenges that come our way. 

Friends:

I want to be on the front lines,
at times winning the battle,
and at other times losing it -
if only for the chance to see firsthand
the mighty hand of God
sweep across our community and change the landscape. 
I don't want to miss it
because I fell back
when the battle grew heated. 
Wounds are worth it,
as long as they are for the King.

I'm grateful to be leading the charge with you all.  Looking foward to year #2.

Love God.  Love People.  Influence the World.

don't miss this.

We've got a couple of big things happening at Prairie Lakes Church Waterloo this weekend that you're not going to want to miss.

First: Happy 1st Birthday, Waterloo!  Hard to believe it, but Easter marked our 1 year anniversary of our public launch.  Now that the busyness of Easter is behind us, we'd like to celebrate.  Join us for a potluck lunch at the Waterloo offices just down the road from Hoover immediately following the services this Sunday.  Bring a dish to share.

 

Second: this weekend we'll be starting a series that will end with a preview of our next big step towards reaching Iowa.  In the fall, we'll be revealing with more detail what God is calling Prairie Lakes Church to do next.  But in the next few weeks, we'll be taking a look at God's ridiulous heart for the lost from the story of Jonah.  Then, on June 5th, we'll be giving you a glimpse of what God is calling us to do, and will be asking you to begin praying this summer about your part in it.

Hope to see you all this weekend!

living and leading through setbacks

What a depressing title for a blog entry, huh? 

Nobody wants to talk about "setbacks."  Instead we want to talk about moving forward, celebrating successes, building momentum, keeping up optimism, growing, and everything else that is rainbows and lollipops.

But the reality of life on this side of heaven is this:

Sometimes we go through setbacks.

And other times, we go through a season of setbacks.

In the last few weeks, here's what I or those around me have been walking through:

• a terminal diagnosis
• a start to the battle with cancer
• a marriage that is crumbling
• a faith that is waning
• ministry momentum that is slowing
• a lack of clarity about the future
• shrinking back from a difficult decision
• ministry fatigue

And I could go on.  All of this to say, this season has prompted me to ask myself and God this question:

What does it look like to live and lead faithfully through a season of setbacks?

I'm reminded of a pretty serious setback that Joshua faced in Joshua 7.  On the heels of a supernatural, against all odds, shout-til-the-walls-come-down victory at Jericho, Joshua suffered an embarassing, humiliating, crushing defeat to the little town of Ai. He even lost 36 of his men in the process.

And get this:

It wasn't even his fault.  He couldn't have prevented the setback, even if he had wanted to.  It was completely out of his control.  In fact, it came on the heels of some incredible courage and faithfulness on his part.  And now, instead of basking in the glow of this incredible victory, he was facing a nation of people whose "hearts... melted in fear and became like water."

So, what can we learn from how Joshua lived and led through this setback? 

1. He threw himself first not at the problem but at God's feet.  Before he goes to analyze the problem, and before he tries to solve it, he rips his clothes, puts himself in a prayerful posture, and puts it to God full force.  Authentic, honest, and even accusatory - but all focused on God.  I think it's safe to say that underlying Joshua's prayer was a deep and abiding conviction that God already knew what was going on and had a vested interest in seeing his will be done.
   
   
2. He didn't just pray; he prayerfully listened.  Sometimes we have this bad habit in times of prayer - especially prayer for clarity in times of setbacks - of praying for wisdom, saying "amen," and then proceeding to solve the problem as if God will use us as his magic Ouiji board.  You know, "Well, we prayed for wisdom, so whatever we end up deciding therefore has God's stamp of approval de facto." 
   
   Not so with Joshua.  The man said his piece, and then listened for God's response.  And God did.  Boy did He respond.  Joshua acted not on what "seemed to be right," but rather on what God had explicitly revealed to him in prayer.  I'm not saying that God always does this - that he always reveals himself and his will in this way.  However, I am saying that He'd probably do this more often if we more often gave him the space to do so - by listening.
   
   
3. He acted boldly on what God told him to do.  In this case, it was a process of spiritual discernment that ended with a confrontation.  Once the direction God wanted him to go became apparent, he led into it with focus, confidence and conviction.  No wavering or second-guessing.  He faced the setback head-on in faithful obedience.

I'd much rather live and lead through times of success than times of setbacks.  No doubt about it.  But I don't want to miss what God has to say during times of setbacks.

how well do you know your community?

That's the question, PLC Waterloo: how well do you know your community?

Below is a survey of 5 open-ended questions.  You're welcome to simply give your thoughts and opinions.  But you're even more welcome if you're able to back them up with facts, figures, and personal experiences.

As you begin to ponder, consider this quote from Church Unique:

Your community has all kinds of specific challenges.  Do you know what they are?  Defining your local predicament answers the question, "What are the unique needs and opportunities where God has placed us?"  Understanding your local predicament is about having an intimate grasp of the soil where God has called you to minister.  It is about walking firsthand your countours of locality.

Can your vision be separated from where God has soveregnly embedded you?

The answer to the question raised at the end of the quote is, of course, a resounding "No."  I shudder to think of how many churches have a God-sized, Bible-shaped vision that is totally disconnected from the physical place in which God has set them.  How many of us are guilty of not "walking firsthand" the countours of our community - north, south, east, and west?

So, what do you think?  What challenges and opportunities has God put in front of us right here in Waterloo, Iowa?

Note: if you can't see the survey below, then follow this link.