02059

it's for real! CTK Durango at pickles restaraunt...it felt so good to finally be meeting in our "place."

aside from the excitement of actually being somewhere for the first time, we also had three visitors tonight. there's a good feeling right now as people are getting to see some of the things we've been talking about actually happen.

01959

in what will likely be an ongoing theme of the ID i offer my first installment of "apartment adventures." last night the roommate walks in and proclaims: "dude, i think we have a problem." he leads me to the bathroom and sure enough our toilet is burping water all over the floor. i made a strategic phone call and myself and the landlords got to spend some quality time together moping and snaking and doing other plumbing chores. turns out some major sludge got backed up and a few other apartments experienced the burping toilet phenomenon. all is well this morning, but something tells me this is not the first and the last adventure! now if only i could get the kitchen light to turn on....

01859

tonight was pretty much my favorite night of church so far. 25 people packed into the johnson home to celebrate our last week in the living room and to commemorate our move to pickles! we had a blast...eating bratwurst, listening to chip talk about where we've come from and where we are going, and then singing our lungs out!

i think my favorite story so far also happened tonight. this dude named joe came with one of the daniels kids. he just moved here to durango two weeks ago. he said he had been to church before but hated the singing. he kept telling people afterwards about how when we started he just really "felt it" and started singing too and couldn't stop! it blew his mind that he could actually sing at church. this week we also continue serving at the local soup kitchen as well as starting up two small groups. this thing is really happening!



i have included a few pictures from tonight in this post...next week i'll have some pictures from the first night at pickles.

01759

lot's of cool things happening here in durango these days....at CTK we are all about three things: central worship, small groups, and outreach. as far as central worship goes we finally have a place to meet that is not chip's living room. we'll be starting at "pickles" restaurant on october 22nd. we tried several other spots and it never worked out...somehow, pickles, the least likely place, turned out to be the right fit. we already have two small groups going right now, but in two weeks we'll be starting two more groups. this is very exciting as we hope these new groups will be "birthing" groups...groups that will give way to even more groups in a relatively short amount of time. finally, this week well be starting to serve our community on a regular basis at the "manna house", the local soup kitchen.

some soccer news to report. i went to the fort lewis match today and it was awesome. ft. lewis (ranked 5th) was playing the 8th ranked team (who also had a lot of fans in the crowd). it was a "chippy", physical match....the fort jumped out to a 2-0 lead, gave away a goal early in the second half and then played tightly contested game until the final ten minutes when they put it away for a 3-1 victory.

arsenal is back in the world power rankings top ten, which is a good sign for my adopted EPL team.

finally, i saw the movie "Goal" this weekend. awesome movie...kind of a classic underdog, over come the odds, rocky story, but from a different perspective than normal (also great themes of family, cross cultural differences, father/son relationships). probably the best movie i've seen this year.

last but not least...check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuECatf6qaw

01659

"hunting the hunters: how to reach specific people groups." that was the assigned topic for my session this weekend at the CTK conference i attended. it was a lot of fun...i talked about durango and how it is so subculture driven, and then brought up paul in acts 17...how he integrated his knowledge of jewish culture when he was in a jewish context and how he infiltrated greek culture and used their language, poets, and symbols to communicate christ to them.

people were digging it! i've never had 15-20 furiously writing down words that were coming out of my mouth (certainly never happened when i was teaching geometry)...i concluded that we need to integrate groups that we are already a part (ie soccer players) and share jesus with those people, but there are also groups we need to infiltrate and learn their ways and customs before we start sharing jesus with them.

then i opened it up for feedback and questions and discussions and i got more strokes! a lot of people were resonating with what i had to say and asking good follow up questions...then, right at the end as i am about to wrap things up, this one dude speaks up: "i'm sorry but i have to totally disagree with everything you are saying...we don't need to infiltrate or integrate anything....we have the truth, the gospel....and the gospel is confrontational, there's no way around it...we need to be getting in people's faces...going door to door...passing out tracts! in fact your title it perfect...these people are hunting for souls and we need to HUNT THEM DOWN!"

after his little speech everyone was stunned...i started to respond but the frazzled host quickly dismissed everyone to the next session. i had a short but good conversation with the guy afterward...it was good to have a little tension in what was an overwhelmingly positive experience....but definitely not going to forget that for a while!

01559

when i was in college an involved with intervarsity we used to do testimony times with the leadership team...after a person talked about what was going on in their life the rest of the team would ask them questions. without fail this one guy would ask everyone the same question: "do you have a heart for a specific people group." it always got a laugh, and after a while people got creative with their answers. i used to think it was kind of a dumb question.

now, here i am, about to speak at pastor's conference on how to reach specific groups of people (evangelizing the subcultures). suddenly that's not such a bad question.

other than that, this weekend should be a good time for chip and i to connect with some key CTK people...put some faces with some emails and phone calls.

i recently read david crowder's new book: "everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die." the guy continues to put out stuff that is not only quality work in the christian world, but good art period. there is a section of the book called "columns" that really makes the book in my opinion. it is a bit of fiction in the magical-realism genre (ala jonathan safran foer) and it is awesome. i'm still waiting for crowder to do something that does not impress me.

if you haven't watched the video in the link from the last blog, you need to!

01459

my first summer at mount hermon, rmac introduced me to the concept of the density of time...time is much more than a measure of the passing of moments. there is mass and volume to it...this weekend was a good example of dense time.

congrats to bruce and connie on becoming one...you have marked my life figuratively and literally =)

it was also fun to be with the old crew again...a shout out to mdh, h squared, vivie, b_lum, LG, glee, kdub, big al, drewyap, peter the great, and all the other fabulous people i got to spend time with.

major thanks to mdh for the suggestion of brett dennen...this guy is going to be huge soon we both believe. check him out...it will change your life.

finally, if you haven't seen this, you must:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ovJ5nWwF5k

01359

have i mentioned that i love living in colorado? i do...i have to go back to california this weekend for a wedding. i'm stoked about the wedding and sharing a huge moment with my friends and seeing a lot of people i haven't seen for a while, but i am going to miss my mountains!

in two weeks chip and i get to go to the annual CTK pastor's conference...where we have been asked to present some stuff about our story and what we are doing here in durango. it seems a little weird to be "teaching" people stuff when i've only been doing this for six weeks, but i think this will be a great opportunity for chip and i to pause and really think about what it is we are doing (and then talk about it too). so i am excited about that, but again i'll have to leave my mountains!

the final big news is that we have found a meeting place for sunday mornings...park elementary (a school we hoped to be investing a lot in anyway) appears to be our landing place. i've loved meeting in chip's living room but this is another one of those threshold steps for our church and i'm exciting to get in there and start worshipping with more people!

01259

first off, thanks to everyone who has been praying for us and also thank you to those who have been posting comments on the blog!

the last few days have been interesting and amazing. we had our first information meeting on friday and one person showed up! this could have been a huge bummer for our team, but the conversation that emerged answered so many of our questions (where can we serve, who is being overlooked by the churches, etc) that everyone was pretty stoked when it was all said and done.

then, last night we had our first (4) durango people come. what a huge moment for our team to finally welcome new people into our community. i was really proud of the way everyone interacted with our visitors and really made them feel welcome. i'm pretty sure we'll be seeing more of them in the future.

finally, this weekend was also a great time to hang out with dave browning the founding pastor of the Christ the King movement. (hopefully, most of you know that we are not just here doing this thing on our own, but are a part of the Christ the King network or churches). dave was really encouraging to us and also very excited by what he sees happening here.

dave has a book out now, titled Deliberate Simplicity, which outlines what CTK is all about. it can be purchased from amazon or barnes and noble. i highly recommend in general, but especially if you are interested in finding out more about what we are attempting to do here in durango.

thanks again everyone!

01159

check this out...

http://web.mac.com/ryanmcrae/iWeb/Colorado/Durango.html

01059

there are moments or phases of life that sometimes have to pass before you can say "yeah, that was a real good time." usually i need some time to pass to have the proper perspective.

then there are times when you know, during every single moment, that this is about as good as it gets. this weekend was one of those moments.

rmac and i packed about as much into one weekend as is possible. we cleaned up at the sky ute casino, we got kicked out of the telluride film festival (where we met many cool people, award winning directors, scored free stuff, and even had time to ride the gondola), participated in an ultimate frisbee tournament (which nearly killed me), ate some of joe's amazing barbecue, and pretty much dominated the entire southwest. lives were changed, ladies swooned, and legends were born. it was that kind of a weekend.

now it is back to work...the next 14 days being important days in the life of CTK Durango. these are exciting times...

00959

the roommate is in...i have survived a month in colorado...a good friend is coming to spend the weekend...life is good!

00859

today i registered my car, received my colorado drivers license, and registered to vote. this seems to be the final steps of the relocation process. i am officially a coloradian. mostly though i am just glad to be rid of the california dl picture (if you ever saw it, you know what i mean).

we have hit a bit of a snag as far as finding a place for our central worship service. we had hoped to get this cool little downtown theater and the owner was willing to talk about it at first and then decided to nix the whole deal. i'm sure we'll find a great place, but that was kind of a bummer. we would have at least like to sit down and talked with the guy. (oh and thank you ryan for your wonderful suggestion on a meeting place...brilliant).

i mentioned earlier that i had made a new life commitment, to follow a professional soccer league with the same passion that i had once dedicated to other sports. i chose the english premier league and the team Arsenal (sort of the red sox of the EPL). anyway, three matches in and arsenal is grossly underperforming and already 8 points out of first. is it my fate to root for underachieving teams or does my support of teams guarantee underachievement? my deep thought for the day.

00759

time for a music and reading update...thanks to anonymous (rmac?) for requesting the really important stuff.

favorite song of the moment: when you were young by the killers

i know i'm late to get on this bandwagon, but i love this dude Matisyahu. he's this hasidic jew who plays reggae music. it's great stuff...deep and spiritual and the music is killer. highly recommended for those looking for something a little different.

i'm currently reading ken wilber's "a theory of everything" and boyd's "myth of a christian nation."

00659

ctk-durango is only three weeks away from "going public." we are blown away right now with the way things are unfolding and coming together. the last three weeks have been one of those integration/illumination moments where you can actually see things happening right in front of you. september is going to be a big month for us...pray for our information meetings, small group leaders training, and our first central worship experiences.

last night after our meeting the "cadre" was reconvened. we ended up in a big long awesome theological/philosophical discussion, much of it stemming from a book chip and i are reading called "The Myth of A Christian Nation" by greg boyd. this book has been very challenging and thought-provoking. it goes way beyond an indictment of evangelicalism selling out to a political party and is really about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. a lot of it is his exegesis of the sermon on the mount. really interesting stuff and great fodder for great conversation.

i also have a confirmed roommate...he started moving in today. exciting stuff.

00559

there are several thresholds, or important markers, in a church planting endeavor (probably more that i even realize). for us, one was just getting us all here...and this has been an exciting process to watch everyone start to get settled and make some initial discoveries about where the will "fit" in our new community. the next big one is going to be september 8th when ctk durango goes "public." in the meantime we are meeting tons of people who seem to be interested in what we are doing. a big moment will be when a "local" joins us for worship. once that happens i think a lot of things are going to start taking off.

in other news it looks like i should have a roommate by the end of the month which is going to be huge.

finally, i've been reading through some of the "classic" (lots of quotes in this post) books that have shaped my thinking and are in some ways responsible for this adventure! last night i was reading some Velvet Elvis by rob bell...so here's my deep thought for the day, courtesy of rob bell (paraphrased by me): "i knew it was time [to start the church] when i no longer cared if it was 'successful.' better to try and fail, because at least you are being true to yourself."

00459

blogger.com asked me for my occupation when i signed up to do this...how is one supposed to answer that? am i only what i do or what i produce? is my occupation only a title? is my occupation only what i do when i am on the clock?

i don't like these kinds of questions. so i went for something deeper than just a title or a role because i am occupied even when i am not "working." so i told blogger.com that my occupation(s) are illumination and integration...because i am on a quest for both no matter what i am doing at the moment.

so, on the topic of integration...world cup 2006 really was a life changing event for me. about a month ago i made a major life decision: to give up the following of all sports with two exceptions, soccer and baseball (although my fantasy baseball league might say i've given up on that).

a major part of this move for me is about integrating things that i am passionate about into a greater whole...the eradication of dichotomies, to quote John MacMurray.

all of this randomness to say: i took a job at the soccer shop...i am the pastor who sells soccer balls! i also get to hang out with the ncaa division II coach of the year, the dII national championship team, not to mention the outfitting of the high school teams and the local youth soccer league.

it's not glamorous or lucrative, but this is what integration looks like (it is all starting to come together).

00359

i should talk about our church a little bit...after all that is what this move is all about! sunday was my first time to worship with our team since landing in durango. it was really sweet to be together, worship, and talk about what kind of church we are trying to be. also, some of the women have started our first small group, which is awesome! pray for them.

also, if you want to know a little more about what we are doing check out this site: www.ctkonline.com

last thing, this is a big week for me...i should be hearing something from three job leads i am pursuing at the moment. i hope it becomes obvious where i should land...but it probably won't!

00259

i have a place to live...not the classiest joint in town but it will do for now. it feels to finally have a sense of home even if there is still a lot left to do to be settled. i also opened a bank account, did the change of address thing...so some things are finally getting checked off the list.

the next major thing is the job...one of our goals (for chip and i) is to be bi-vocational for as long as we can. right now, though, i'm just vocational.

i'd like to end this posting by promoting the book and bands that i am enjoying very much at the moment. i'm reading this book by george hunter called "the celtic way of evangelism," and it is pretty good. the book is part history, part missiology, and part critique of the modern church's evangelistic approach. i hate summing a book with so many great thoughts in one statement but i guess the best way to describe the celtic approach without giving you the whole book is this: "helping people to belong so that they can believe." that should be enough to pique your curiosity.

then the band of the moment (or the last two months) is "angels and airwaves." i didn't think i'd like this band at first, but the music is very enjoyable and all the more so after visiting their website (www.angelsandairwaves.com). anyone who interested in "exegeting the culture" should check their page out.

that's it for now.

00159

so, i'm here...made it to durango safe and sound, thanks in great part to the man, my new hero, JP. thanks bro for all your help.

i have three applications completed and in the system for job opportunities, i seriously pursued buying a condo but it didn't work out in the end so i am still looking for housing. i got a cell phone. i took the penske to grand junction. i saw Ouray, CO for the first time and someday when i write my bestseller i will buy my vacation home there.

i still have a ton of things to do: find a place to live, find a roommate, learn more about real estate, get a new bank, get a job, register my car, blah blah blah blah blah.

i am very tired!

but i am stoked to be here.