Bad Ideas

A few months ago Robin and I had a "brilliant" idea:
Start and end the summer with camping trips.
So first thing in July we went to Lakewood for a few days.
And now we are heading off to Cypress Lake for four days.
In theory it idea is still solid- book end the summer to make the most of our holidays, start and end with a bang.
But now that we are frantically packing the car after another busy weekend (preaching, visiting with my cousin Phill, hosting book club) and, more pressing, now that we are less than two weeks out from our first public preview service...
this now longer seems like such a brilliant idea.
But even now, as Robin packs and I write (I am totally hiding right now), this forces me to embrace a number of things:

1. I've said it before- God will build his church, I'm just another worker.
2. We have a lot of other very competent workers on board- while still holding the vision close, I can completely trust the others to do their parts.
3. My family and my own relationship with God comes first- I am actually no good as a pastor/leader if I don't live this stuff. And right now, more than our church needs a pastor trying to handle everything, our church needs a pastor who keeps Christ first in his heart.

I need this- I need to be with my family, to be with my God, to be back in creation, to just be for a few days. The work will be here when I get back, and low-and-behold, a lot of it just might get done without me.

Good bye- I'll be back Friday.

Spiritual Bulimia

I recently read an article in which an economist stated that he only finishes about 1 out of ten books he starts. Finally I felt justified for all the books I haven't finished.
The fact is, I just seem to lose interest once I get the "gist" of a book, or I never get interested at all. But if a book hits me, i can read and re-read it over the course of weeks. This one thing I know about myself- if an idea or thought or story captures me, it really has me. If not- forget about it. Move on.
I seem to take longer processing information, but afterwards, it often has a larger effect on me.

So many folks in the North American church today suffer from a "spiritual bulimia"- they take in so many Christian songs, Christian books, sermons, seminars and spiritual disciplines, but they they never really take the time to process, to digest. They bounce around from idea to idea, truth to truth, and never really let is soak in, saturate, and effect who they really are. They just throw it up to make room for another book.
It's always made me a little sad to see folks robbing themselves of deeper transformation.
All this to say that I recently attended what's called "The Leadership Summit" with our entire Advisory team (minus one). We heard a variety of great and challenging speakers from the church, business, education, politics, media and the public sectors. Names like Jimmy Carter, Collin Powell and Billy Hybels. It was an awesome shared experience- far too much to go into detail now. And, more importantly, far too much to process even during the summit. It was like taking a drink of water from a fire hydrant.
What is so great is that it was a shared experience, and thus something we can return to. So instead of simply stuffing ourselves with all these great speakers, we are taking the time to digest. Taking time to return to the sessions and the points raised.
I've found that the prolonged practice of spiritual bulimia leads to frustration, anxiety, and over time, profound spiritual anemia.
But taking the time to truly process, absorb, revisit and apply leads to great joy and transformation. So for the next several months we'll be taking apart and applying the truths we gleaned from the Summit to apply to the life of our new church.

And if you want, you can read about the Summit here.

The Comets

I realized that I never "officially" shared on the church blog about our soccer teams.
A few months back now, as things were just getting started officially with the church, we were also signing our girls up for soccer.
I called up Norwest to get some details and they asked if I was part of a business or organization interested in sponsoring a team. I told them I was part of a church that didn't really exist yet, but that I'd be very interested in sponsoring if that would be OK.
After a moment of thought I was told there should be no problem.
So, it ended up that we sponsored both of my girl's teams, and I even helped coach Eden's team!





I hadn't played soccer since a few practices with a YMCA club when I was a child. It would be an understatement to say I didn't know much about the game. But the other coaches had experience, and I had fun learning. We made some great new friends and, I think, made a great impression on the league and broader community. By the end of the season we had earned the right to give all the players a parting gift (water bottles and some candy, of course), and an invitation to the new church.

Two things shocked me- one, that we've come to the place where we have to pause and consider if it would "appropriate" for a church to sponsor a community soccer team. And two, that we were the only church sponsoring teams. When did we get to the place where churches make their own sports leagues and only play other churches? Why is it so "unusual" that a church wants to be a part of what the community is already doing?

I'm not going to knock church leagues- I'm sure players have tons of fun and people invite many friends. But in my mind, and in what I want our church to be about, we'll stick with the community. It is, after all, a part of our name. And central to our mission is connecting in ways like this.

Northwest FunFest

It's been so long...sorry.
So much has been happening that I can invoke the proverbial "Where to start?"

• We gave out 2000 balloons over the long weekend.
• Our website has been launched.
• We bought an obscenely awesome sound system.
• We got a 28 foot trailer (but don't know where to put it yet).
• We paid for renting the movie theater through the fall.
• We've put in our application for charitable status.
• We've added several new vital members to the launch team.

And today we had an awesome experience with the first annual Northwest London Funfest. Check it out...

Eden even helped paint faces!

I'd make this our connections band album cover, except I'm not in the band

Yeah, more balloons

Mark directing traffic like a pro, perhaps a future job for the new church?

Things are happening, folks are getting excited, and dare I say, lives are being changed. So this is exactly the time when I try to take a step back and check out health- if lives are not begin changed, if God is not in this and if people are not coming to know Jesus, all of our efforts are for naught.
But with that caution I fall back on this assurance- Jesus will build his church.
And if it doesn't sound too strange to say- it's all been so easy.
Work yes, but still easy. I worry about a few things, but all in all, I sleep pretty good at night. Each "mistake" simply becomes another lesson to learn.
Mot importantly, God continues to bring the right people at the right time. I keep thinking of Jesus assuring his followers,

"My yoke is easy and my burden is light."

When we know we are in God will and doing His work, there is a peace, a comfort, and an excitement that simply can't be matched. I still wake up nearly every morning feeling that I must be the most blessed man in the world to have this awesome opportunity.

Connecting with the World

The past two weeks Robin and I opened our home to two Japanese exchange students- Saki and Mai (Mai is pictured above with Eden at Balloonfest). As one woman said when I preached at local church, "I guess moving to London, planting a church and homeschooling three kids wasn't enough for you!"
While it was very consuming, it was completely worth while.
We have been blessed with a beautiful home, and it was a blessing to share it with these girls.
I hope by now that everyone who has followed this church-launching adventure is aware that part of our mission is "Connecting with the World."
The past two weeks gave our family a small taste of this mission, and a taste for how difficult it can be. On one level it was awesome- we laughed until our sides hurt and seized every moment to explore our city. We went bowling, to story book gardens, to the beach, to soccer games, to church and swimming pools, to the shopping mall and to get lots of ice cream!
But it was also very frustrating on some levels- our entire schedule changed, life revolved around the girls schedules, our family dynamics had to adjust, and after ten days we still couldn't understand a word each other was saying!
Life had to recalibrate to the most basic level- food, bathroom, shower, sleep. But after a few days we started to get the hang of it- an even enjoyed it. Soon the girls were jumping on my back, having tickle fights, and taking food right off our plates.
Connecting with the world is central to our mission- it's not and add on- it's essential. The proverbial third leg of a three legged stool- take it away and the whole thing falls. Connecting to the world is perhaps the most difficult, but in a real way, the most rewarding part of our mission. It brings us right back to God, experiencing the joy of being His hands and feet in the world.

Balloonfest follow-up...

2500 balloons- $700
1000 invitation cards- $175
45 shirts- $350

More than 30 volunteers helping out with our first big outreach-

PRICELESS!

Many thanks to the many volunteers who helped make this possible.
Many thanks for all the prayers that covered this event.
Continue to pray that God will bless this outreach and that one small gift might ripple through our city and people's lives.

Balloons for Balloonfest

Last year when we moved to London one of the first things we did was go to Balloon and Ribfest on over the August Holiday weekend.
A year later we are ready to go public with our first major outreach event-

2,500 balloons and invitation cards

are ready to be unleashed upon London at this years festivals. We have crews of people ready to go out on the streets of London all weekend long, giving out balloons for kids and invitations for everyone. So keep us in your prayers this weekend:

• Pray that folks will be receptive to our outreach;
• Pray that doors might open and "connections" will be made;
• Pray that people will check out our website and find out more about our church;
• Pray that people will come to our "Sneak Preview" services, starting September 9 in the Silver City movie theater;
• Pray for our launch team as we continue preparations for this mission!

And now, go check out our new website!

www.connectionschurch.ca