Well I'm leaving for Beijing tomorrow at 7:25. I'll be back Nov. 4. Keep loving Jesus and loving your neighbor. Practice praxis; it's easier than you think!

I was gone last week in San Francisco at one of my Grad classes-Urban Ministry-and it was pretty awesome. We had the opportunity to go through SF and see some of the great things that God is doing through his church. The class was held at City Church, which is a blossoming Presbyterian church in SF. I have been to their church once and it is a really cool fellowship. Our teacher, Dr. Carlo is from New York and he brought a bunch of his students, who were, and still are, all black and Latino. Having them in the class was great since they brought a fresh perspective to the class. We had the chance to hang-out and talk a lot, which was part of the learning experience. Plus I stayed with my friend, who is basically like a brother to me, and he doesn't know Jesus. We had a great time going surfing and had good conversations about the faith.

The College Group was last night and we had a great time. We had two new folks there and we hope that they will plug-in. Rachel, who oversees the ladies, and I are going to get together to talk about assimilation and how we are approaching that. If people feel called to go somewhere else, that's great, but we want to make sure that we make every effort to let them know they (regardless of where they're at in the journey) are welcomed in our fellowship.

We're off to China in 4 days! I'm stoked since this will be a first for many of the people going. I'm also stoked since our fund-raising (basically misc. work days on Sat.) will be over. I would and will do it again this way since working for your money builds character and we've all had our "character" grow (especially me!) "Thanks God, don't be confused by my attitude, I want to grow."

We had a great time at group last night. There were 12 people and a couple of folks were not able to join us, so that puts us at...a group that's getting ready to multiply! Allen, who is interning with me, helped lead discussion and he did a great job. I'll be gone in China soon and he is going to lead the group with the help of our small-group pastor from the church who will coach him. I hope to multiply by Jan. which will provide more room for the folks that we are reaching out to. Plus it gets me out of the way so our new leaders can pastor, lead, raise and release other leaders.

We talked about community and looked at Acts 2:14-47 as our text. One of our main goals in our discussion is APPLICATION. Here are some question we used: 5. Do you believe this style of community is normal or abnormal? Why? 6. Would you need to change your lifestyle to achieve this type of community? 7. Are you willing to adjust your standard of living so that you can experience Christ-centered community like this? Why or why not? 8. What can you do to take part in Christ-centered community?