Prayer

Last week Laura and I took the girls to beautiful Malibu, CA, for the Pepperdine Lectureships. We arrived a day early so we could take our girls to Disneyland. Disneyland was not the purpose of our trip, but it certainly was the icing on top of a wonderful week in sunny So Cal.

Laura and I were blessed to be on the program this year at Pepperdine. On Wednesday evening we, along with two other couples (Borchers and Thomases) were given the opportunity to share some of our journey into church planting. Each couple was given roughly ten minutes to present a vision of a new church that God has placed on our hearts. The Borchers painted a wonderful picture of Providence, RI, and the struggle to bridge a highly intellectual population into the story and experience of Jesus. Jonathan Thomas shared a vision of a church that is intentionally calling people off the mountain top experiences and into the valleys of life where God is reaching into people's hearts and transforming them with love and compassion. Laura and I shared our goals for our time here in Nashville:

1. Build 1-2 Missional Communities (30-70 people) that are going on a journey of faith together
2. Engage our community by using tools such as: Financial Peace University, Alpha, H2O, service projects and more.
3. Create and participate in regular preaching experiences
4. Develop a system of discipleship and leadership development using the Emerging Leadership Training (ELT) that Kairos Church Planting has developed.

While each of the presentations had elements of sharing goals and discussing strategy, the consistent theme running through each was about sharing the reality of the crazy journey of becoming a church planter. This is the most difficult part to present because it opens us up and allows people to see directly into who we are...and the struggles we have.

The Borchers shared a bit of the challenge of moving to Rhode Island and the journey God was taking them on to develop a deep love for God's lost people. Jonathan and Dawnette Thomas shared their fears about entering into this mission and how God used their children to both rebuke their feelings of inadequacy and to affirm their calling from God. Laura and I shared how God is using our time in Nashville to reevaluate our vision and draw us back to himself and his ultimate vision, which is to see lost people enter the Kingdom of God. We are refocusing our eyes on Jesus and weighing our future through the lens of Christ.

It is my prayer that people were able to see the journey...to see the struggle. Planting a church is not easy work. It takes us deep into the heart of God and forces us to bare our lives. But it is well worth the cost to see thousands of people come into the Kingdom of God.

I want to leave you with four challenging prayers from fellow Kairos church planter David Clayton's keynote on Wednesday night:
 
 Pray...

1. That God will help us become a movement that is desperate for Jesus again.
2. That God will help us trust His plans when they don't make sense.
3. That God will give us the courage to sacrifice our life for His mission.
4. That God will make us true worshippers of Jesus, in Spirit and Truth

This is my prayer as I work here in Nashville. Pray with us. Pray for us. Pray for the thousands upon thousands of people who will hear the gospel of Jesus because of the new churches that are being planted and the established churches that are experiencing revival.