From 12 to 8 in 24

Within a 24 hour period this week we had two couples who were on our launch team call to tell us they wouldn't be able to help anymore. One because they're moving to Minnesota (Do they even have summer in that state?) and the other for health reasons. I think I know how Gideon felt. Right now I'm thinking really God 12 is too many, your sure about that, You do remember we're having a block party/fun fair in two weeks, right? Oh, and a preview service on the 21st you remember that too right. While my my heart knows God's got it covered my brain is scrambling with the math. At this point the Lord should be "Adding to our numbers daily", after all we want to be a "New Testament" church right. ;-)

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I'm Back

Since it's been so long since my last Blog I'll start with an overview of what's coming up for us.

· Informational Meeting Oct 7th-We'll be inviting people we've met that have expressed interest in Kaleo to find out more about us.
· Family Date Night Oct 13th-Our first big promotional event. We will be co-sponsoring this block party/kids carnival w/ American Kids Sports Center (thanks Mike and Sheri). There will be inflatables, booths, food, as well as gymnastic activities provided by AKSC.
· Preview Service Oct 21st-How will our gatherings feel? How long will it take to setup and tear-down everything? How many chairs will fit in the gym? Our first service will help us answer these questions. This one will not be publicly advertised, it's just for friends and family, a sort of dress rehersal.
· 2nd Serving Sunday Oct 28th-We will be partnering with Life Journey Church and helping them celebrate their fourth anniversary by serving those outside the church. We're hunting for a name for these monthly service Sunday's, I'd love to hear your ideas. Right now I think I like "Inside/Out".

Thanks to Courtney, Becky and Marci for nagging me to start blogging again. What is it with women and pushing men to talk, no guy has ever told me I don't talk or write often enough.

A Starr shines in Bakersfield

We knew from day one that if we we're going to plant a church we we're going to do it in community. From the beginning we were thinking and praying about who God might call to be a part of this adventure. Eric Starr has been a friend of ours since he was in a highschool small group we led in Bartlesville. As God started guiding us and planting the seeds of this adventure in our hearts, He was working in Eric's heart as well. After many late night conversations about the Kingdom and the church, over summer and holiday breaks in the years since Eric left High School, we invited him to be a part of what God was calling us to. The truth is when I invited him I didn't know where we were going or wether or not there would be any money to pay him. How's that for a job offer a few months before graduating with your masters fom Duke University. "Come with us to plant a church, we don't know where we're going and we have no money to offer you, but we'd sure love to have you". But Eric took a leap of faith said yes, and now he's here. I'm stoked to start moving forward in this Kingdom adventure with a partner in crime.

Becky is Blogging

Becky decided to start blogging about family stuff check her out at familyprints.blogspot.com or follow the link to the right of this post.

Coming and Going

We had our first Informational meeting about the plant on Sunday. We only invited people from our partnering churches to this one, I had the opportunity to speak at each of the churches over the last three weeks and cast some vision as well as tell the story of how God brought us here. We had prayed God would bring just the right people to this meeting. One of the things we felt strongly about was the need to make sure if people from our partnering churches came that they were coming for the right reasons. The following is my list of reasons to come, not to come, and questions to ask yourself before coming.

Reasons not to come (anyone of these alone are disqualifiers)
• Upset at someone in the church. (seek to restore the relationship)
• I believe the church is doing something unbiblical. (follow Matt 18)
• I’m looking for something that I enjoy more. (consumerism vs servanthood)
• This seems more exciting. (the new will wear off)
• The church I’m at won’t do ________. (am I driven by my agenda or do I feel called)
• If I leave, are there others who would perceive that I left for any of these reasons, ask. (the self deception test)

Reasons to Come (all three of these should be part of the decision)
• I love to serve.
• I have a passion to see those far from God find Him.
• I feel called.

Leaving Well Questions
• Where will my going leave a hole in ministry.
• Where will my going leave a hole in fellowship.
• How can I help fill any potential holes before I leave.
• Who do I need to talk to before I go.

If you have others you think should be in here drop a comment.

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Trukin' Update 1.0

We've got the truck now. It's in great shape and was a great price. We've got the serving window and graphic wrap ordered. One huge praise is that we will be getting the wrap free thanks to Group Imaging www.groupimaging.com. They have given us unlimited banner printing for a year. PTL! We're on the look out for the A/V system, bounce house and freezer to finish it off. We're probably going to need to put new tires on the rear, and new batteries to get it running perfect. We're pulling all the shelving out now. We'll keep you posted as we make progress.

Weakness and Glory

…“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (1Cor. 12:9-10)

It's been one of those days. The administrative details are piling up. I'm emensely thankful for the planters who have gone before us, and the people and organizations who have gathered best practices and are passing them on. God has blessed us with relationships with people and organizations who are dedicated to helping Church planters in general and us in particular. PTL!
However, there are always details that have to be addressed by the planter, this week is full of those and I can see no light at the end of the tunnel. So many administrative tasks… so little administrative ability. And so I hang on to the truth of this verse. I told God several years ago I wanted to be a part of something bigger than me by a long shot, something that could only be accomplished if God came through in a big way.
I'm feeling that prayer being answered. If Kaleo goes on to reach hundreds or thousands of people with the message of God's love it will be because God moved beyond the gifts and abilities He's given me, our staff, and launch team and made it happen in His strength. So I'll boast now in my weaknesses because my desire and prayer is that God will do something so amazing that it will be obvious that He made it happen; that no one will ever think for one moment that we had the leadership skills, charisma, organizational sense, creativity or any other abilty to make it happen.

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Lion Chasing is the Best Part of Life

I just finished Mark Batterson's book In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day. I give my highest recomendation to this book. As someone in the middle of his own lion chase, planting a new church, I resonated with so much of what Mark said. But more than just resonating with it I was challenged to go even deeper with my trust in God and to go even bigger in my leaps of faith. I read alot of really good books but this one has challenged me the most lately. Pick this book up and read it, it may just rock your world. Mark is the pastor of National Community Church in Washington D.C. www.theaterchurch.com, home of an old friend of mine Chad Hayward and what I've heard is the coolest coffee house in D.C.

I See People

In the movie The Sixth Sense (great flick btw) Cole Sear, played stunningly by Haley Joel Osment, sees dead people, he discovers as the movie progresses that they're not there to hurt him, they just need his help. Now i have no desire to see dead people, but my prayer right now is that i would really see live people. i was on the phone with a friend the other day and he told me he was about to order coffee so he would need to call me back in a few minutes. When he called back he explained that after his stint as a barista at Starbucks he's made it a point to get off the phone and pay attention to the person behind the counter whenever ordering anything. He said he was amazed at how often people would come in and order their drinks while in the middle of a phone conversation and that he never felt more invisible. "It was as if it was an inconvienence for them to have to talk to me at all, as though they would prefer to push a button to get their coffee and forego the trouble of exchanging words with me." i have to admit i was fairly convicted, how many times had i done the same thing. In fact i would guess more than half the time i could leave a restaurant and not be able to describe the person who served me, even at a sit down meal.
i'm afraid too many times we as Christ followers either fail to see those who are still missing from the Kingdom at all or if we do we are scared of them. We are worried they may change the culture of our country, or corrupt our children. And so our fear causes the flight or fight response. We either segregate ourselves from them or go on the attack.
Maybe it's time we realize that those who are far from God need what we have. My prayer for myself, my family and the new church we are planting is that we would have not a sixth sense, but a Spirit sense that would cause us to really see everyone we come in contact with and look for opportunities to share (both tangibly and verbally) God's love with them.

(if your not a Christ follower and wonder what I think a Christ follower may have to offer you, or about God's love drop me a comment and we can chat)

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Faith vs. Insurance Revisited

I spoke with our insurance agent again this week and we found a work around to make the ministry vehicle available to other organizations. We will have to send a volunteer to drive it, but that in it self could be a ministry to those organizations.
God always finds away, thanks for your prayers about this.
I also heard about another organization that is using a bus to do some great Kingdom work check them out at www.bigredbus.org. A very cool ministry.

Faith vs. Insurance

One in a list of many things I wish I didn't have to think about as a church planter but do, is insurance. Specifically insurance on our ice cream truck (see previous post). A friend of mine and church planting supergenius Patrick Furgerson recently blogged at plantingspace.com about insurance, churches and bounce houses.
One of our visions for the ice cream truck is to make it available for other churches and community service organizations to use, in fact we're designing it so our name can easily be deleted from the vehicle so no one assumes we're loaning it to them for the free publicity . My hope is that everything our church ever owns will be considered Kingdom property and be made available to Christ followers to use for God's glory. However, after a conversation with our insurance agent and the two Patricks in my life–Furgeson, the afformentioned supergenious and Colaw, my brother the Lawyer and fellow supergenious. It appears that if we choose to allow people outside our church to use our stuff we do so at great peril of having our pants sued off with no coverage from our insurance company. Having no pants and being exposed is apparently a bad thing.
So, what to do? Follow our heart and Kingdom values and make the ice cream truck and everything else available for Kingdom purposes having faith that God will provide all the coverage we need, or, follow the wise counsel of godly insurance agents, lawyers and supergenious'?
I wish it was as funny as it sounds, but it really is a conundrum. God certainly encourages us to seek counsel which we've done, but He also tells us not to live in fear, which lawsuits certainly encourage. Anyway we know that God has the answer already wether it be a step of faith under a heavenly policy or an insurance a company with flexible coverage. Either way we'd appreciate your prayers.

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Truckin' for Jesus

One of the out of the box ideas a couple of church planters in our network have used to help promote their churches is to purchase an ice cream truck and take it to community events and give out free ice cream and water. We loved the idea but felt we could do alot more with it. Our vision for this type of vehicle centers on four areas that are high values of our church: incarnational ministry, unity of Christ followers at large, being present where our community gathers and drawing in the young and getting them excited about following Christ.
This vehicle will serve as a rolling billboard, an ice-cream truck, a food/drink distribution center, a mobile movie theater and performance venue. It will be equipped with a freezer and fridge, a retractable awning, a mobile A/V system, an inflatable bounce house and movie screen. It will be wrapped with high impact graphics making it highly visible. It will have one reversible billboard identifying our church and Serve the city that can be swapped when in use by another organization.
In line with this vision, the vehicle will be a centerpiece for Serve the City (our incarnational service ministry which will focus on one week of service to the community each year, but point people to continuing service opportunities). We will make this vehicle available to other Churches and community service organizations for any community service event or outreach event in which two or more churches collaborate in order to encourage unity. We will take it to as many community events as possible distributing free water, popsicles or ice cream depending on the type of event. It will also be used by our youth ministry, childrens ministry and individual small groups for outreach events (block parties, movie nights, VBS alternatives, etc.).

While we were at family camp a couple weeks ago, a family there heard our vision for the truck and volunteered to buy the truck, the graphic wrap (see pic) and the freezer. All we need to round it out is a bounce house, a/v system, and video screen. We can't wait to start using this incredible ministry tool.

BTW the pic is just a mock up of what the vehicle could look like, we are now searching for the right truck.

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God's Story

I was asked to speak at NorthEast Christian Church in Bakersfield last Sunday just to tell "our story" and our vision for Kaleo.
I had planned on just winging it as I know my story pretty well and I've been eating and breathing Kaleos vision for about two years now. However, my wife reminded me that I tend to be a bit long winded when talking about myself or Kaleo and that maybe an outline would keep me on track. SoI started walking through chronologically the turning points which lead us to this point in time and the decision to plant a church. It was a very powerful experience! I could see God's hand in so many critical moments guiding, loving, redirecting, disciplining and delivering large portions of His Grace. I am so blessed, so many people have played crucial roles in my development, I am grateful to so many people. I know I've barely begun to scratch the surface of God's moving in my life but I'm determined to identify more and more and let this drive me to gratefulness and worship.

Where can you see God's fingerprints in your story?

A Home for Kaleo

If you’ve been reading our prayer emails or our newsletters you’ve heard me say that God’s fingerprints are all over this adventure. Well this time His print is in the form of a meeting facility. We passed by this place the first time we were in Bakersfield and David Limiero the pastor of Life Journey Church in Bakersfield mentioned that it might be worth looking into as a place to meet. Then we passed by it again with our realtor, an elder at NorthEast Christian Church, and he said he knew the owners because they attended his church as kids. Then when we hit town we were visiting Christ Church of the Valley and noticed they were having an event there, Becky asked Amberly Neese, the lead pastors wife, about it and she said the owners attended and were active at CCV. So about this time (I’m apparently a little slow on the uptake) I decide maybe God’s doing something and call the owners Mike and Shari to see if I can come and see the facility and talk about the possibility of renting it. After touring the place with Mike and realizing we couldn’t possibly hope for a better place. Mike tells me they would love to have us in the facility and they wouldn’t charge us anything to use it. After picking my jaw up off the floor, Mike explained to me that he couldn’t charge me rent because he didn’t own the building. After pausing just long enough for me to start wondering about sub-leasing problems, He tells me that the owner is God and he’s pretty sure He won’t mind. : )
You can see more pictures of the inside of the facility at http://web.mac.com/sbcole just click on A Home for Kaleo.