Good Work.

Hey everyone!

This past few weeks have been busy and good. Here are a few of the highlights:

The Elders

I sat down with the elders of the church, who are excited about what I will be doing and very supportive. We talked about what I was passionate about - pastoral care, leadership development, and spiritual formation. They spent a good deal of time affirming me, calling out the good they've seen as I've been a part of the community over the past year.

They made sure to let me know that this isn't a short term thing, or some way to capitalize on the seminary students in the church. Like, "quick, let's see how much we can get them to do for how little!" Their hope and dream for me is that I will be a (paid) part of the work of the community indefinitely, with their support and mentoring along the way. If it only lasted two years, and then I was planting another church in another city, great! If I stayed as the pastor of the Burlingame gathering for the next 20 years, also great! It is incredible to feel so supported.

Funny rabbit trail on this. I was getting really nervous to introduce myself to the elders, they seemed so mysterious. I kept listing off the elders I knew, and could only come up with six. Who were the others? When Julia and I got to the place where they were meeting, I counted the cars I recognized. It was just the six elders I knew. Did they carpool so that I wouldn't know who they were? Are they really this secretive? I got even more nervous. We walk in the door, and there are the six elders I named. Turns out only Presbyterians elders come in sets of 12!

Good Conversations

Julia and I have been breathing community. Three nights a week we are having dinner with people from the congregation, and it has been incredible. The people are excited to have us, and very supportive of what we are there to do. This has meant the world to me.

The other night we had a woman over to dinner who was an ex-pastor from Dallas. We got to talking about desires and mission. It turns out her story was very similar to mine, burn out at a young age, disillusionment, wondering if ministry would ever be on the radar again. It was great to get to know her this way, and speak into her life the truth, that God still had dreams for her that hadn't yet come to pass. If I have a conversation like that once a month, I will consider this life well lived.

I got on the phone with a man at my church a couple weeks back, who had just posted an intriguing status update on Facebook. For those of you who are hearing those words for the first time, Facebook is a social website where people make a unique page about themselves, communicate with friends, and waste huge amounts of time ;) One of the best pieces is the ability to leave status updates, little snippets on what you are doing, thinking, reading, etc. So his update said, "[Insert Name Here] is considering his vocational future." I gave him a call, and we had a good and long conversation about his hopes to be doing ministry. He works for a restaurant chain as a waiter, just finished seminary, and has a wife and newborn son. He knows that his life is meant for more than waiting tables, but the opportunities to lead weren't readily in front of him. I got to speak words of encouragement into his life as well, knowing that he has been on my mind for different ministry projects that are coming up. After our conversation, we set out a plan to create a new ministry to the elementary school children who are now coming to church. His input at our first meeting was incredible, and I can tell that he is going to do really great things at our church in the near future.

Big Kids

As a church with many young families (we probably have 30 or more kids ages 0-5), we are beginning to ask ourselves big questions. What do we want to pass on to our youth? What will our kids one day say about their church experience? These questions are really important to a church filled with people who have had less than perfect church experiences. They probably should be real important questions everywhere, but I take what I can get!

We got into discussing what to do with our older kids (ages 6-10) during our services, and we pushed around some big picture ideas. One key vision for the spiritual formation of our youth was the idea of parental modeling. We are setting our sights on having this be the goal: that the family is the best place for spiritual formation to occur. This happens best during our Sunday gatherings by watching and participating. Kids get to see their parents responding to God's invitations through giving, discussing, praying, singing, and taking communion. This also happens throughout the week as parents talk with their kids, pracitice hospitality to neighbors, participate in what good the city is accomplishing, etc. It's exciting to dream about what this will mean for children's spiritual development. With this being the case, will they struggle with the same questions we struggled with? Will they meet the same challenges in high school, college, adulthood? I guess it's hard to know, but it is exciting to take steps that will hopefully bring a better spiritual legacy for our children.

Here's a beautiful real life example.

Well, that seems like quite an update, I'll keep you posted. Thanks everyone! We love you all a lot.

Andrew

The Story.

Dear Friends and Family,

Julia and I have been in Portland almost a year now, discovering marriage and continuing our education at George Fox Seminary. It has been wonderful getting to know this city as we get to know each other more fully. God has been very faithful to us as we have been answering His call to take this time to learn and grow. He gave us a great (cheap) place to rent, an incredible school, a good paying job, and a good church, all in the first week!

Our first Sunday in Portland we attended Evergreen, a church plant focused on the values of community and mission, and it has been on our hearts ever since. We have grown in community with the people of this church, getting to know their stories, their passion for God, and their passion to bring a real hope to Portland. Evergreen has a mission and vision to be a place where people can move together on this spiritual journey, discussing, exploring, wrestling, and serving. The most beautiful thing about it is the people who end up walking through the doors. Evergreen is the back door to a relationship with Christ. The people who stop at Evergreen are either headed out of the church (due to hurts, disillusionment, etc.), or are entering it for the first time. This has made it a place where deep and transformational healing is taking place in the lives of parents, college students, seekers, even ex-pastors.

Evergreen has two gatherings in local pubs (who ever thought church could happen in a pub?) on separate sides of town, each with about 100 people in attendance. A year ago the church made the decision to plant their second gathering, and the size of the church has grown in the last year from 120 to 200 people, not including kids! Thinking towards the future, and to how to impact other parts of the city, we have just planted our third gathering in a local church in SW Portland, and Julia and I felt called to be a part of it. Already, there are 40 people attending, and it is gaining momentum every week.

The founding pastor invited Julia and I to serve in a bigger way, pastoring the new gathering. Thinking and praying on this has been humbling and honoring all at the same time – exciting and anxiety producing. What could God use us to accomplish? How can we make it work? After a week of soul searching we accepted, knowing that the desire of our hearts was deeply tied up in the mission of Evergreen. It has been my passion to meet people in the thick of their questions about God – their hurt and their doubts – to re-enliven hearts and invite people to take next steps in that essential, life-giving relationship. And that’s what I will be doing.

This pastoring role meant an end to working for the hearing aid company. This piece is painfully scary, because the new gathering isn’t yet at a place where we can be supported through the giving. Julia and I are stepping out in faith to serve Portland, and answering God’s call to serve this community of people who haven’t found a home anywhere else in the church, and we are asking you to step out with us.

Recognizing the times, and the ministries and churches all over the world that you are already supporting, Julia and I ask that you prayerfully consider partnering with us in this dynamic and beautiful mission that God has put us on. There are a number of ways that you can help us follow God’s calling:

1) Pray for us. This is the most important and valuable thing that you can do for us as we answer God’s leading. Pray that God would bring people to us in need of healing, in need of hope. Pray that God would bless Julia and I as a couple as we navigate ministry and family. Pray that God would supply us with the finances we need.

2) Invest in us. One of the biggest challenges in doing ministry outside of the box is financial support. Each pastor at Evergreen started their ministry by prayerfully asking friends and family to consider partnering with them financially. This is humbling in so many ways. Julia and I trimmed our budget, and in order to be on secure financial footing, we need to raise 1600 dollars a month – that’s 19,200 dollars for the entire year – which will pay for living expenses and health insurance. Please prayerfully consider either a one time or monthly contribution to the work we will be doing. Whether you can give 20, 50, 100, or more, it all helps us to reach our goal – and the best part – it’s tax deductible!

3) Network for us. Don’t let our church and our mission be a secret. Tell friends and family about Evergreen and what we are doing in Portland. Maybe you know people with a passion to pray, or people who live in Portland who need a church home, or a rich uncle….

4) Serve with us. Come to Portland for a weekend to see what we are about at Evergreen. Help us share God’s love and spread the word of our church by serving with us in the community.

We appreciate all of you, and the support you have already been to us as a couple. We understand that not everyone will be able to help financially and that is more than fine, we cherish our relationships with you more than anything. Please consider partnering with us in whatever way you can, and most of all, please pray!

Love and Best Wishes,

Andrew and Julia Rodriguez

(831) 239-5145

Andrew@evergreenlife.org

Beginnings.

Hey Everyone!

Julia and I have been asked to come on staff at the church plant we have been a part of here in Portland.   You can check out the website here.   It's called Evergreen.   This opportunity is honoring and humbling, it is exciting and anxiety producing.   That is how we chose the name for this blog: The Good Hard Path.

We love all of you, stay tuned for details on how you can partner with us, updates on the ministry here in Portland, and more!

We love all of you.

Andrew and Julia Rodriguez