Connections.

It seems true to me that times have changed. There was a time when your credentials told people who you were. A man or woman with a PhD had something to offer us. When it came to church, that was the pastor. Growing up Presbyterian I've had a lot of opportunities to experience this paradigm.

My father wears collegiate robes as a pastor because they communicate something. 100 years ago it was unquestioned: this man has something unique that I need. Information wasn't readily available through the internet, and information was king. So if you wanted an "in" with the powerful, you would go to those who could bestow knowledge. It was an assumption (and remains one, often enough) about God as well: to get closer to God we need to gain more information about Him.

As the culture becomes more distanced from the need for information, we begin to value others differently. Take our church for example: the powerful people are the ones with life experience. The wise among us, who have lived a life that we admire... those are the ones to look to. And, beautifully, the way we get to know who those people are is through connection.

As a church, we have a high view of humanity's innate need for community. Much of what I do as a pastor is connecting. I am connecting with new people, I am connecting deeper with people I seek to disciple. The voice I have to this community comes from my willingness to connect and my willingness to reveal who I am to them.

Here is a truth I am living in: the reason God is able to use me the way He does in this community, is the fact that I have been broken. At age 23 I have experienced severe hurt, burn out, and disillusionment. I have experienced dry times with God where I said, like Elijah, "I have had enough, LORD, take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." (1 Kings 19:4)

Although it is never enjoyable to experience the worst that life can throw at you, the hard experiences are the ones in my life where God's hand has been most evident - and I say that in absolute retrospect. The hardest thing I have experienced in this life happened 4 years ago, and I didn't begin to see the redemption and restoration God is working in me until last year. I am (and will be) a good pastor because I hurt and God did something through it.

All this to say, if you looked for my robes you wouldn't find them. And, you wouldn't know that God is making me into someone worth hearing. Connection is the place where people's story gains ground, and where we see God active and powerful - through the redemption he is doing in our good, hard lives.

California!

Julia and I got back this week from California, and are off again tomorrow to San Antonio for the Renovare Conference and a little anniversary get away. It has been a year!

Our trip to California, while cold, was good. We were fortunate to have the opportunity to reconnect with our various faith communities, and we got the message: we are loved. It is a big world out there, with lots of opportunity to feel small and insignificant. So, being among people who love and support us was so meaningful.

We talked with some people about financial support and reached a milestone: 200 dollars a month! It may not seem like much, but it is means a lot! It means that people care about Portland, a city in desperate need of good people showing them the good way, and it means that people love us and want to partner with us in ministry here. So, that feels good, and we are excited for what is yet to come! This next week we will be preparing and mailing support letters to people we didn't get the opportunity to connect with, and I'll make sure to put out another update as things come along.

Thank you so much for partnering with us! Talk to you soon.

Andrew

Time Management.

It is amazing how many different places you can devote your time and energy in a church community! And, to be honest, it will be harder to limit myself to part-time hours than it will be to fill them. There is a real truth about ministry anywhere you engage in it: there are always more things that could be done.

This week I went to my first staff meeting, and I was to prepare my job description in advance. It is difficult to narrow and focus what I will "be about" at the church. And, Bob Hyatt, the founding pastor, told me that I wanted to "be about" too much! I wanted to spend my time in discipleship, spiritual formation, community building, Sunday worship, home groups, children's ministry... Writing out the list should have made me realize it was ambitious, but I can be slow on the uptake.

I "fudged" my hours. As the list of desires got longer, I thought, "Well let's just tack on an extra five hours..." It didn't fly, thankfully. Now is also a time to be about seminary, being newly married, and getting to know our city. I wasn't holding all of those things in balance the way I should, and I got called on it.

It is nice to be in a position where the leaders of the church are actively calling me to slow down, do less, focus more. These are all things that will help me to last as a leader, and I thought that I was going to be the one fighting for them!