Emmaus Church

Have you ever stepped out on a limb?  I mean, risked everything?  Well, not everything…just your name, reputation, and future?!  Personally, that is what the Emmaus Project is for me.  It is ripe with risk.  Our worship guy (Adrian) and children’s director (Robyn) and I have set some lofty goals for making the Project a success.  Do I enjoy this kind of risk?  Do I thrive on it?  Well, it’s not very comfortable, but it must be done.  If we are going to be all that God wants us to be, then we’ve got to move forward.

Long ago there was a quote from a song that I heard (can’t remember who) that has impacted me to this day.  I was sleeping on the bottom bunk in college and taped this saying on a piece of paper and placed it on the bottom of the upper bunk so I HAD to stare at it every morning and evening.  It read, “Give me all or give me nothing, but you can’t stay where  you are.”  Well, I find myself transported through time to stare down that same saying.

I believe God wants to do some powerful things in the lives of people and our community through HIS church, called Emmaus.  God is able to do exceeding more than what I could ask or imagine.  I believe that.  As a group of people following God at Emmaus, my prayer is that we will collectively get out of the boat and trust God to walk on water together!

A few people have been asking me what we need lately.  Well, where do I begin.  Starting a church is a lot of fun, hard work, and a little on the stressful side wondering where things/resources are going to come from, but, God has been faithful to us.  So, in terms of priority, here are our needs:

1) Signage from Costco:  We need posters for our A-Frame signs.  If you want 1000’s of people to see our signs, then this one is for you!  Each sign is $33 and we need 10.  This is an absolute necessity if we are going to let people know about our church launch.

2) Doornob mailer from Costco: We need 5,000-10,000 doornob mailers to hang on our community’s doors.  We hope to have mission’s teams from other churches come to help us distribute them.  So, if you want your donation to be noticed by even more thousands, then this one is for you.  The cost of this project is approximately $1000. 

 3) An LCD Projector.  To be frank, the current one we have is pathetic.  We need at least 3500 lumens, so that puts us in the $1500-$2000 range.  So, if you want to “see” your donation to be “seen” by people every week, then, this is the choice for you!

4) Now, for some more inexpensive stuff: Stamps (to U.S. and Canada), HP Q6000A Black Laser Toner Cartridge for LaserJet (www.tonerpirate.com), cool, trendy Bibles, gift certificates to give to people who go above and beyond the call of duty, or to help out people financially struggling (since we have no money to actually give people, it is great to be able to say “thank you”  or help in a tangible way…Starbucks, gas cards, etc), advertising in the Woodinville Weekly (and Bothell Weekly) at about $15 per week), cheap 24 x 36 picture frames (thin, black frames) to be able to put posters in. 

Well, there it is.  Not complete, but some of our pressing needs.  We are very grateful for everybody’s donations.  There’s even one couple in our area that doesn’t even attend Emmaus, however, her and her husband periodically bless us with an amazing amount of supplies that it takes just to run a church!  What would we do without people thinking of all the behind the scenes stuff. 

THANK-YOU! 

 What a cool Sunday it was!  It was our first baptismal service and for me, it was the highlight of my time here in Seattle.  The church planting road has been full of ups and downs, but, changed lives are what it’s all about.  Water baptism is not the end!  It’s just the beginning of new life found in Jesus.  It truly was my honor to baptize these guys and I know there will be more baptisms to come!  God has just begun a good work here and I’m the priveleged one that get’s to serve the people of Emmaus and pastor our community!

Well, to be honest, doing preview services are both invigorating and exhausting!  I spoke the last message in the “Jaded: Time to Rethink” series and talked about forgetting the old way of thinking about God and letting God speak for himself about how he wants to be understood.  Just like us, he doesn’t want to be misunderstood.  The only way we can renew our mind is to aquire a God-knowledge kind of knowledge, and to gaze or stare at God.

 The good news is we had 50+ people in attendance and people really enjoyed the service.  The challenging news is we can’t rest and catch our breath.  At some point we’ll need to move our Sunday night services to Sunday morning or Saturday night to attract more people.  Most people in our culture, when they think of going to church, think Sunday morning.  The YMCA has been great to us and a Godsend, but we can’t rest on yesterday’s blessings.  They can become shackles around our ankles that prevent us from pursing God’s best for us today and the future.

This has been a crazy couple of weeks!  We were “gifted” a CargoSport Trailer with all the carts from a church that has been portable for 16 years!  The trailer and carts are at least worth $15,000 and we are very grateful!  God is good!  Arranging the transfer has been challenging, but good.  Then it was off to Canada for a church planting conference of which I had the privelege of sharing my journey.  It’s funny how we think everybody else’s stories are cool and exciting, but, don’t think of our own stories in the same way.  We rob God of glory when we discount our own stories.  It was an honor to see friends and family back in Canada.

After driving from the airport near Vancouver, Canada, I arrived home in Seattle but then two hours later took off for Court Street Christian Church in Salem, OR, where I attended the dedication of their new sanctuary.  There was much to celebrate…seeing friends, celebrating the new sanctuary, and just having a great time. 

I’m happy to be back in town to continue on the Emmaus journey.  I am reminded how cool it is to have so many great people in my life. 

Ok, so here’s the deal.  There’s no more U-Haul truck.  I know, I know.  Just a few weeks ago we were celebrating having a U-Haul truck being given to us with all the equipment.  Well, the equipment is still here, but the truck isn’t.

 Now I know that seems a bit odd, but when God takes something away and we don’t grip onto yesterday’s gifts, He gives us something even better.  And God’s done it again.

 We are swapping our 24 foot U-Haul for a 24 trailer including carts that fit perfectly into the trailer which will cut down on our set up and tear down times.  It’s much easier on volunteer help too!  What a blessing it is.  The trailer also comes with a suburban to transport it everywhere. 

We are so very thankful to Seattle Church Planting and God for arranging the exchange!  In the end, everybody profits from getting the optimal equipment. 

I am reminded not to grip anything in this life too tightly.  Phillipians 4:4 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  When we do that, we rest in God’s hands.

The past three Sundays have been a great three Sundays.  In the world of a pastor, you try not to let your highs be too high and your lows be too low.  But as a church planter, you learn to celebrate the small stuff!  This past week, a local church donated almost $20,000 worth of equipment to Emmaus!  While we celebrate God’s goodness to us (half-full), we were sad to hear of another church plant closing (half-empty).  In the end though, this other church has blessed so many other churches, but none more than Emmaus.  We are grateful to them. 

Also, the past 3 weeks have been amazing!  From the very beginning, we’ve wanted to be a church for the unchurched, and a home for people who have not been to church in years, or who have had negative experiences in church.  Even though we haven’t officially launched, we’ve seen six people decide to follow Jesus, many people renew their comittment to Christ, seven people wish to be baptized (we’ll do that soon!), and many others say they want to serve God by serving at Emmaus!

God is good.  Even though we have a long way to go and are making a lot of mistakes, we are depending on God for everything. 

Over the past few weeks the group has been growing! It’s exciting to see all the new faces and people who are beginning to call Emmaus “home”. The most exciting part of doing this plant is meeting people who have been disconnected from church for years and people who are exploring the Christian faith. What is amazing to me is that people feel like they belong…even before they believe in Jesus!

This past week I went through some of the connect cards and was blown away to see 4 people want to be baptized, 4 people renew their commitment to Jesus, 2 people want to learn how to have a relationship with Jesus, and 7 people want to know how they can serve at Emmaus!

I’m constantly astonished at what God is doing at Emmaus and in me. The longer we are into this thing, the less in control I feel…but I’m guessing that is how God wants it…less of me and more of Him. I didn’t know I had so much to learn!

Well…it finally happened!  Our first “public” service was a success!  Thanks to so many people who made it happen!  A guy wonders how everything will come together: the lobby, the kids area, the lighting and staging…what will we blow up?!  I’m thrilled to say that everyone did a fantastic job and no pastor was harmed in the making of the service! 

I was truly overwhelmed at how many people were excited to be there.  There was a sense of anticipation and excitement.  Emmaus is small now, but we are going to grow!  Not because I’m super-pastor, but because people genuinely loved being there and the arrows were pointing outward.  It wasn’t and is not about us, but about reaching out to people who feel disconnected from church.  And we did that well. 

We’re not going to pat ourselves on the back for a job well done, but we are going to give God the glory because he is a God on a mission to find people who think they belong on the outside of the circle when, in fact, God is inviting them into the circle…we feel like we’re just a door.

High Stakes.  Everything in church planting seems like it’s high stakes.  Send out a postcard?  It better work.  Do a Community Dinner?  Will anyone come?  Have a group meeting on the first nice day in months on a long weekend?  Do I even wanna be there?! 

For the next week and a half, life will be crazy.  Our first preview service is on tap.  There are lots of questions.  Will we have enough time for set-up?  What will we blow up? Will our postcard bring people to the service?  Will they like the music, sermon, or kid’s activities?  Will my message be relevant and engaging?  We won’t be a full-fledged church offering all the bells and whistles, but will it instill belonging and vision?  These are all questions that lay on top of my blanket when I go to bed at night.   

But, just maybe they’re the wrong questions.  Maybe the right questions are “have I prayed enough?”  Have I been a decent husband and dad lately?”  ”Have I planted God-seeds” through random acts of kindness in my community?  They’re all behind the scenes kinda stuff. 

So, in the days to come I’ll pray I won’t be a loser and check out of being a husband and dad, son-in-law, brother and brother-in-law to the people who are family in this busy time.