We sent this letter to family and a few people on February 26, 2009. If you did not get it, please don't be offended. SPAM got a number of people and a poorly compiled email address book limited our list. Many of you were praying anyway. Thank you.
Dear Friends and Family,
I hope that sounds sincere. It immediately implies that this is a bulk mailing which may feel insincere, but we’ve got a good bit of information that we want to send to a good many people and this seemed the best way to do it.
Hopefully most of you have read the recent update on our blog – just about where we are in our decision making process regarding what to do and where to go after graduation. We wanted to share a few more of the details and then make a huge request (no, we don’t need money…yet).
We came out of the church planter assessment with the recommendation that we are “provisionally ready to plant a church,” which just translates that we need a few years of experience before we venture into a plant. This recommendation was not a surprise to us, in fact we had already been thinking in that direction – looking for opportunities that allowed for experience that led to church planting.
We are currently considering two primary options: one in California and one in Chicago. These aren’t the only two we have thought about. After the assessment, a guy from Colorado contacted Mike about joining a church planting work there and even this morning we became aware of something going on in Chattanooga. Mike has also been making casual contact with various works going on in Atlanta and even some other assistant pastor options. I say all that just so you see where we have thrown the net to this point.
Regarding CA: This is an incredible opportunity for mentoring and ministry experience. Harbor Presbyterian Church is a multi-site model church. That means just what it says – one church, multiple congregations (with multiple pastors). It is healthy and stable and reaching the city of San Diego and surrounding neighborhoods in a variety of ways. This is where we interned last summer and they have asked us to come be a part of Harbor. Taking this opportunity would mean moving our family across the country, obviously. It will start with a one year apprenticeship during which, Lord willing, Mike would get licensed and ordained. After that year, we would begin identifying an area for a new plant (honestly, we have already been thinking about this), move into that area and start building a core group. It can take anywhere from 2-5 years for a plant to become self-supporting. A major attraction to CA is the network of pastors (and pastors’ wives) with whom we would be working with and learning from.
Regarding Chicago: This is an opportunity (that has not been extended to us yet – we have just been in conversation with them) with a plant that has already started. The planting pastor has been a part of church plants in the past, but this is his first solo plant. They have a core group of about 20-25 people and have begun worshipping on Sunday evenings. They are targeting the Lincoln Park area – which is primarily white collar and university students. Their goal is to grow to about 200 and then send ½ out to plant another church. This is an interesting opportunity because it would give us experience in the planting process (as an associate pastor) and then provide opportunity to plant in an area that has a demographic more like where we feel called to ministry – the urban professionals AND the urban poor. We have already spent some time with the planter and his wife and connected really well with them.
I know a lot of these details may sound very unspiritual. Honestly, I have struggled with that a bit myself. I keep feeling like I need to have a burden for a particular people group and be longing for them to know Jesus and move to where those people are – already loving them. I do believe God works that way with some people. In our case, however, it is more like God has burdened Mike and me with a general passion for urban and gentrifying communities, even though we don’t have a specific community in mind, and as that passion matches our gifts we are moving forward.
There is plenty more we could say and we certainly welcome questions. For those of you who think in lists and categories, I will share one more aspect of how we have approached our decision making to this point. There are three main categories through which we are weighing our information: The Normative – Is there a Gospel need? Certainly there is. San Diego and Chicago have been identified as the two least churched metro areas in our country. The Existential – What do we (our family) need? A guy at the church planter assessment gave a good example of this. You know when you are on an airplane and they give you the instruction to put on your own oxygen mask before helping others – this is the equivalent of that. Mike and I need mentoring and experience in order to strengthen the gifts and the call God has given us. In order to be able to minister the Gospel out of strength and health it is vital that we put ourselves in a position to receive these things. These are the emotional and spiritual factors. Finally, The Situational – What is the actual culture like where we will be ministering and how well do we fit there? Can we survive in this place? These are all of the practical things you might think of.
But what we are desperate for, even more than the thinking and weighing, is prayer - would you please pray for us? Through this whole process I have just kept hoping that one opportunity would rise to the surface with a pale, glowing halo around it and crescendo-ing music in the background. That has not happened yet – and I think that is to bring us to this very point. This is a new place for Mike and me – individually and as a family. It is a new place of vulnerability and dependence. In the past, we have been able to do pretty well at most we have put our hands to. I don’t say that bragging. God has been good to us, despite our pride. There are a lot of unknowns about this and we are going to be in a place of neediness for the Lord’s strength to be made perfect in our weakness. Honestly, I think this is actually the place that God desires for all of us to be all the time.
Plenty of you have already been praying for us (like my mother since the day I was born). But we are asking for a specific time of concentrated prayer as we make our decision. You all have been part of our lives to this point and will continue to be for years to come we hope – it doesn’t make sense that we should bear the burden of making this decision alone. We would like to make a decision by mid-March. Would you please pray for us every day of the first week of March? That would be the 1st through the 7th (though start today if you like). Pray that God would give us wisdom and quell our fears – and for whatever else the Holy Spirit inspires.
“Make me know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.” Psalm 25:4-5
Much Love in Christ,
Mike, Mandy, Olivia and Joseph
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