We had a full weekend here at the house. Thanksgiving was packed; it was an official ISI event, which meant we got to invite all sorts of international UCSC students to the house. We had 20+ people, BBQ’d two birds, chose from 7 different pies, & showed the international students how to get their gorge on. It was fun. Before we prayed we all got in a circle & said what we were thankful for (Thanks Linda!). It was cool to hear how many of us are genuinely thankful for Jesus & his church. Too, we are eager to let our light shine for all to see, with pumpkin pie of course. Here are some pics:













































Larry's body shut down so he could digest his food!


The next day we had Randy Knutson here & got down with our house specialty: Pork Ribs & leftover pie. Randy is the overseer for church planting in the west for the Vineyard Association. The Vineyard church in San Mateo invited him because God is stirring their heart to become more than a “sit & listen” church; they want to become God’s body to their neighbors. Randy shared some great stuff & gave practical ways of “doing the stuff” in the locals we find ourselves in. He’s very passionate about those who don’t know Jesus & he continually went back to “going out,” “taking Jesus to the world,” & “the harvest is ripe.” It was encouraging & challenging. I came away with many questions: How are we reaching out to our culture? Do we think we aren’t a “sit & listen” church because we have ministry time, or I have a Q & A session at the end of the sermon? How are we discipling those who are a part of our church & are they truly making Jesus Lord of their entire being?

There’s a Christmas tree farm 2 miles from our house, so for our leadership meeting I suggested we go get a tree. We walked through hundreds of trees talking about what God is doing & what we were stirred about through our weekend. We found one, the girls cut it down, Jeff & I supervised, & the owners wrapped it up for us! I’ve never seen so many perfect trees; our is a Douglas Fir.




























We are about to have our first weekend intensive as a church. This Sunday we are going to meet up at the house for an all day “retreat.” We are going to discuss: What it means to follow Jesus (Sermon), Our Values (Love God, Love People, Make Disciples, Equipping them for ministry…) What it means to spend time with God daily & how to do it (Exercise), & What it means to be in a discipleship relationship with someone from church (Exercise). Please pray for us. Many of the people attending our church here us talk about these things, but this is where we’re really going to define what we’re all about; it’s going to be a “please bolt-on or bolt-off” time.” Relationships have gathered several people & this is a call to go to the next level as a mature disciple. We want to be a church filled with people who say, “whatever Jesus asks of me; wherever he asks me to go.” We exist for Jesus alone; we’re not a Christian club & never will be.



Jonathan's B-day 1yr!

Finally. It's now 10:50 & we are just able to enter a room at the Vet's Hall. We walk upstairs to the largest Studio as people in exercise garmets are leaving. I see Manuel who is opening up all the windows in the room; why? I'm unsure, but he's in a hurry. When I enter the room clarity hits me in the face; the smell of human sweat, mixed with incense, has been cultivated into a unique aroma that comes about by exercise & high temperatures. Antioch Church, meet your new neighbors: One Yoga. They ask what we are doing & when we tell them why someone replies, "Welcome to our sacred space." What a blessing to be able to love on these people each Sunday.

As I was driving down the hill, the manager of the facility called me & said, "Sorry, but the Rotary Club needs your room, I'll post a sign outside the door." As I arrived I found the sign he so politely posted for us: "Antioch Church & those meeting Sean please meet at San Lorenzo Park at 10am." It's the thought that counts man, thank you. As people start to arrive I'm standing there feeling like my head is about to burst open & my friends would see my brains ooze down the sidewalk as a gooey mess.






Needless to say, God made it happen. Later, we found ourselves in a room & I got to worship God with people who exist as a people, because I was obedient to God; & he is wonderful enough to use me even when I don't think I can walk on water, but I get out anyways. Who new becoming a new creation in Christ could happnen on an hourly basis.

Anyways, later that day...

I’m reading a thought-provoking book by Alan Hirsch. I have been very encouraged by this book, because, to be honest, I continue to judge our church's effectiveness against a theological understanding of church I am in tension with. He shares many prophetic insights within this book. There will be more, but here’s a tid-bit.

“To illustrate this with a bit of living irony, a friend of mine, Michael Frost, was, in 2005, privy to a meeting with three Chinese leaders from the underground church who were smuggled out to a group of Western leaders. When they were asked what they wanted people to pray for they asked for three things: While acknowledging that the government has become more lenient, they were still not allowed to gather in groups of more that fifteen people, and when they grew beyond that they had to split and start a new church. The second issue they addressed was that they were not allowed to have church buildings and were thus forced to meet in homes, cafes, karaoke bars, and social clubs. The third thing they felt they needed a breakthrough with was that they were forbidden to develop separate organizations where they could collectively train leaders; they were forced to train leaders in the local church. Michael, himself a vice president of a seminary, has often said that in all good conscience he simply could not pray for them in this way, because he and the group gathered there realized that in many ways the Communist state was forcing the church to remain more true to itself. Philip Yancey likewise reports on his life-changing trip to China. He says, “Before going to China I met with on of the missionaries we left behind, ‘he said. ‘They had no one to teach them, no printing presses, no seminaries, no one to run their clinics & orphanages. No resources, really, except the Holy Spirit.’” Yancey concludes, “It appears the Holy Spirit is doing just fine.”

This quote got me thinking. I am amazed that although we are looking to China to see what they are doing right, they continue to want to do church as has been done in the Western world; which, ironically, is working in a few isolated situations, but overall, is failing. It’s also remarkable to see how we have filled the Chinese with our cultural concepts concerning church: Buildings, Large churches, and Para-church organizations, including seminaries. Not leaving the Chinese (or anyone we evangelized for that matter: see colonialism) content to walk out life together as believers who then discover what it means to do & be the church in & to their culture, we have also imported the “how to” along with the “because of whom.” Therefore, Chinese believers are still waiting to do church like us & we, some of us at least, pray for Communism.

Check out the website Here.