agri.church

first off, as Chris emailed, I am planning on a blog or video about Mark 6, however after Maya woke up yesterday with bad hives over 100% of her little body, a trip the emergency room, and trying to catch a play or two of the big game… well… I’ll get around to it

something else has captured my imagination this morning though. I recently saw the new commercials that Kleenex company is running under the tagline “let it out…” take a look see:

every time I watch it, I want to jump up and scream, “BRILLIANT”! that is, after I get around to wiping the tears out of my eyes with off-brand… um… tissues. I think that the advert company has hit a home run here by tapping into a deep deep deficiency in our ‘modern’ lives. we as human beings have a deep need to have someone listen to and affirm our stories. we need someone to care.

so, I’m already starting to dream of a saturday when we grab one or two of our IKEA couches and plop them down at a busy intersection and just offer to listen to people’s stories! can you imagine? I can… and I think their right, we’ll probably need a box of kleenex…

one more thing, the Branch has formed a team of elders (we’ll introduce them during worship real soon). one of main tasks for this team is to be just such a listening presence in our community. so perhaps you are reading this or just watched that advert and your saying to yourself, “I wish someone would listen to my story”. well, we’re here to listen. all it takes is a word, an email or a phone call… you could start by shooting me (andy {@} thebranchonline.org) or Chris (chris {@} thebranchonline.org) an email… let it out!

Well, I never intended to take the summer off of blogging… but here it is the end of August. Sheeesh, were did it go… but here we go, back at it.

Now, Chris and I always get a lot of weird looks and plenty of questions when we tell people that we co-pastor a church together. People just automatically assume that someone has to be ‘in charge’. I was beginning to think that we were all alone in this endeavor. That is until I was recently given an article out of a rag called The Banner, that describes the joys and advantages of a team of co-pastors. The authors Peter and Mike do good job of describing the sweetness of life as co-pastors but also break this mysterious phenomenon down into seven principles (did it have to be seven) for team building.

They seem to share leadership and authority in extremely similar ways as Chris and I, so I though it might be interesting for folks to give it a read. I think it will give you a little insight into what Chris and I are up to with this crazy plan of co-pastoring this little community called the branch. Here’s a little quote I particularly like:

Why do we avoid the trend toward titles like “Senior Pastor” and “Lead Pastor”? Mainly because we do not think that fits the spirit of servant leadership described in the New Testament. Nor do we think it fits with the decidedly nonhierarchical tradition of our Reformed church polity.

So we’re actually adhering more closely to ‘reformed church polity’… huh, who knew?

click here to read the whole article

As I’ve been preparing the message for this Sunday, I’ve been looking back over the year. One thing is clear, all is not as it is should be around this rock we call home. Was it a happy year? To tell the truth, it would be easy for me to just look to my own family. Then I could say that yes, thank you very much, it was a pretty good year. But I can’t escape the feeling that I’m connected at a deeper level to the rest of creation. And so, I’m forced to consider the hurricane, the wars, the hunger, the diseases and a myriad of other factors that made this year less than happy. What do we say to all this? How should we think in light of all that we see around us?

I’ve chosen to recite Habakkuk this week. If you get a chance, read it, I think Habakkuk has something to say to us. There is hope friends. Despite all appearances to the contrary this past year and for the year that approaches, I still believe there is hope. The Rhythm of God is not always audible. Yet, like Habakkuk, I will wait quietly for the day…

Technorati Tags: the Branch, church planting, Habakkuk, New Year

I’ve uploaded some pictures of our first worship gathering to our flickr photostream. Thanks to Erica for being our photographer for the morning. Did anyone else get any pics of the morning?

Technorati Tags: the Branch, church planting, flickr

Yesterday morning it happened. By the grace of God, our dreams are taking shape together. Yesterday we picked up our instruments and listened close for the deep pounding rhythm of God. In a moment of beauty that are all too rare, we as a community began our journey of participation in the mission of God. Our call is clear. Love God with abandon, love others with passion and play the wildest game of follow-the-leader after our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanks to Brian for the comment on my previous post. If you worshiped with us yesterday, I’d love to hear what you thought. Have a blessed week and remember that a tiny babe changed everything… and so we celebrate.

We’re 2 days away from launching this thing that has been nothing but a burning God dream in our hearts for so long. Up till this point, the ride has been quite an adventure but also quite difficult at times. On the eve of the official birth of our humble expression of church, I sometimes find myself recalling why I’m doing all this…

I do this because of this burning feeling inside that tells me I’d be miserable doing anything else. I can feel my call to plant churches like a constant ache in my side. I do this because I look around my world and feel deep in my bones that a community of people who follow God on mission is the answer. then, sometimes, when I look at my daughters, it becomes clear. God loves this world. Even deeper than the love I have for my girls is the love that God has for all creation. What else could I possibly give my life to?

Our little community may get it’s start this weekend, but really we are just taking our place in the old old story of God’s love for this world.

For the sake of the world, here we go…

possible first mailing — possible second mailing

On Sunday night we mentioned that we are working on a couple of postcard mailings that we will be sending out as an ‘introduction’ of sorts to our neighbors. You can see the two mailings that we’re working on at the moment by clicking on the links above. They are in .pdf format so you may need adobe reader, if you don’t have a program for viewing pdf’s.

I’m open to any and all feedback about the mailings. Feel free to comment here or in an email to me.

over here, we’ve started to upload some pictures of the branch happenings. Mostly pics of the renovations at the moment but we’ll try to get some pics of the first gatherings up soon. If you click on the ‘browse by theBranch’s tags’ link, you’ll be able to view the photos by categories.

Andrew Jones brought this idea to my attention recently. I can’t help but think the combination of high gas prices and environmental impact is another compelling reason to think ultra-local about communities of faith.

Chris and I originally where drawn towards a geographically focused community because we think that things like community and mission will be easier if a lot of us live in the neighborhoods around the building. I’d never really thought about the impact of thousands of cars driving from all corners of a city to gather in one huge building on our environment. It makes you think… One dream we have for our community is that we would take creation care very seriously. What do you think? Is this a legitimate concern? I’m not sure yet but, it’s really making me think this week. What about you?