Thanks Barna
Activity That Does Not Concern Churches

In fact, the survey found some disturbing results concerning the priorities of pastors in how they measure spiritual health.

Stewardship is rarely deemed a meaningful measure of church vitality. Church budgets are typically set based on the assumption that the average congregant will give 2% to 3% of their income to the ministry. Consequently, the fact that only 6% of born again adults tithe is not seen as an indicator of lukewarm commitment.

Evangelism is not a priority in most churches, so the fact that most churched adults do not verbally share the gospel in a given year is not deemed problematic. Only one out of every eight churches bother to evaluate how many of their congregants are sharing their faith in Christ with non-believers.

When pastors described their notion of significant, faith-driven life change, the vast majority (more than four out five) focused on salvation but ignored issues related to lifestyle or spiritual maturity. The fact that the lifestyle of most churched adults is essentially indistinguishable from that of unchurched people is not a concern for most churches; whether or not people have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior is the sole or primary indicator of “life transformation,” regardless of whether their life after such a decision produces spiritual fruit.

Churches are prone to looking for indicators of serving people within the church more often than seeking signs that needy people outside the church are being cared for. In fact, for every two churches that consider the congregation’s breadth of ministry to people not connected to the church to be an indicator of spiritual health, there are five churches that focus on the amount of “in-reach” activity undertaken.

Pastors are nine times more likely to seek reactions to their sermon than they are to assess the congregation’s reactions to visitors.

Perhaps most alarming of all, pastors were 21 times more likely to evaluate whether people showed up (i.e., attendance) than to determine whether people experienced the presence of God during their time at the church.

"But how can people call for help if they don't know who to trust? And how can the know who to trust if they haven't heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it?" Romans 10












"Whom shall I send?"
"Who will go for us?" Isaiah 6












Can you use us?
We'll go.

If the church won't teach them who will?

The final break-through to fellowship does not occur, because, though they have fellowship with one another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. The fact is that we are sinners! Pg 110. Life Together




Pseudo-communities. These are where people pretend to live community. Everybody is polite and obeys the rules and regulations. They speak in platitudes and generalities. But underlying it all is an immense fear of conflict, a fear of letting out eh monsters. If people start truly to listen to each other and to get involved, speaking from their guts, their anger and fears may rise up and they might start hitting each other over the head with frying pans. There are so many pent-up emotions contained in their hearts that if these were to start surfacing, God knows what might happen! It would be chaos. But from the chaos, healing would come…and it is then that the miracle of community can happen! Pg. 33. Community and Growth

Last night we had our Santa Cruz church plant meeting. It was a special time.











First, someone new joined our team and her name is Alana. She has been feeling God’s tug to join up and finally did. She is a great woman of God. At Yaks (our coffee shop) on Monday nights we give all college students 50% off on everything and it’s a chance to meet people. Alana has been coming down and closing with us, but all she does is wash dishes. She washes dishes from 6 to 10pm; most people would complain. We all volunteer at Yaks, but Alana inspires us all. Alana wants to start a church (Ukraine?); we want to equip and send her with a team from our SC church.











It was Laben’s birthday last night. He’s 24, but he’s also 1. We bought him his own German Chocolate cake with a 1 candle on it. He’s been walking with Jesus and walking with me in a discipleship friendship for 1 year. He’s grown. We all took turns telling Laben what things we admired about him and what we see God doing in his life. It was awesome. Most people never experience this within their physical family; most people believe the church isn’t a family. We are the church and we're family.










I shared with Laben what it has been like for me to have him as a spiritual son. It was special because my spiritual father was there, pastor Mike. It was also special because Paul, who is now following Jesus because of Laben, was there too. Four generations of disciples. Four generations of “sons.”

We love each other and couldn’t imagine doing life without one another. We are not hirelings. We are a family and we’re growing: people, who love Jesus and his church. We are the hope of the world.

February 21, 2006
Gunman still on loose in Watsonville's first homicide of 2006
Santa Cruz Sentinel
WATSONVILLE — Police are searching for the gunman in what they say was a gang-related shooting Sunday that left one man bleeding to death on the lawn of an apartment complex on the city's West side.
The victim, Arturo Ortega Cardenas, 31, of Watsonville, was shot several times in his upper abdomen and died at the scene, police Capt. Manny Solano said.










I wonder where this guy went to church. I wonder what church in the area was reaching out to him. I wonder if he knew Jesus’ love and forgiveness through God’s missional people. I wonder if anyone ever emerged into his neighborhood.











I wonder if this guy could go to church. For that matter, I wonder if this guy would ever get invited to church. I wonder if this guy could tell you what "missional" people look like.

"Your son' suffering is a challenge to God. India's (SC Gang member's) brokeness is an even greater challenge to Him. What is He going to do about His creation which is now so ugly and so painful? Satan used man and woman to spoil God's creation. God responds by sending His men and women--the missionaries--to begin to restore what has now become so ugly. The New Global Mission-Pg.85-Samuel Escobar
God give us the strength to be that church.

Last Wed. we took carnations to the Mall with tags on them saying, "Jesus thinks you're awesome." I’m not sure how many flowers we gave out, but it was something else seeing people walking in the mall with them. I hadn’t thought about it and admit it was odd handing flowers to other guys! Everybody seemed really appreciative of receiving the flowers though. We even had some people come and ask us for “one for their friend.” This is a great way to (a) get out and show God’s love (without a come to my church attached to it) and (b) show “The College Group” how to evangelize, share their faith, and confront others with God's thoughts about them, since Jesus thinks you're awesome!

Paul confessed Christ two weeks ago and he's about to hand flowers out!





Hasham (in the center) is still checking this whole Jesus thing out, but he was game to help.

This last week was pretty awesome.
Two new guys came to our "The College Group" small group and after I confessed my struggle with lust they opened up about sins they struggle with and have never confessed to anyone in "church."
The other "The College Group" small group never got to their discussion, because they go side tracked praying for Afghanistan and each other!
God has been leading us (Santa Cruz & The College Group) to go to India this summer; we (Santa Cruz folks) are wondering if this will be the location for our first international church plant?! (Dreaming big here folks) God confirmed India in some pretty funny ways. What's better is I won't be leading the trip, but my disciples will be. (See Acts 29)
At our Santa Cruz mtg I shared the values of our little community: Love...Go...Equip...We spent a large amount of time talking about loving God as living sacrifices (Romans 12) especially in the areas of purity and holiness. Looking at Paul's comments of "all things are permissable, but some things are beneficial" we agreed that we will judge things we look at or listen to by asking "is this permissable or beneficial?"
A few of us got together to pray last night and it was an incredible time of worship and prayer. We prayed for the church plants going out from this church (Buffalo NY & Santa Cruz), India, our community here in Redding, The College Group, and for more of a passion for Him and a willingness to give up our agenda for His.
This last week was pretty awesome.

February 7, 2006
Five Santa Cruz churches target of 'hate crime'

SANTA CRUZ — Vandals struck five Santa Cruz churches, a Christian bookstore and the historic Santa Cruz Mission Adobe on Saturday night in what police are calling a hate crime.

The vandals used a stencil to leave specially crafted messages and images about a half-foot across. One depicted a cross with an equal sign followed by a swastika. Church leaders said another stated "Abort Christ," a message one minister called "stunning and distressing."

Well we are off to World Mandate (last years photo) tomorrow morning at 3am! This will be the fourth year in a row I have attended the conference. Each year God totally opens my eyes to what he is doing throughout the earth; God's vision for his church is so much bigger than mine. Last year it was Steve (our church planter going to Buffalo NY) and I, but this year there will be 26 of us going to Waco Texas. Antioch church, who hosts the conference started it as prayer meeting for the nations and it grew to being an international church planting/missions conference. I am eager to see what God is going to do with those we are bringing. They vary from new believers, to older Christians who have attended church without vision, accountability, and community, and mature Christians who want God to ruin their lives at any cost. Everyone from the Santa Cruz church plant is going and I hope we catch the vision of what is possible through the local church (Antioch has planted close to 45 communities worldwide). We are going early to attend their prayer meetings, since a move of God doesn't come through anything else than deep, desperate prayer.

1 Cor. 1:27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

Well I'm halfway through my graduate degree in Inter-Cultural Studies (missions) and stumbled upon something really funny.
I have to write about 35 pages per class and most, if not all of this is double-spaced. Yesterday I found out I have written all of my papers 1.5 spaced not double-space. I did the math and I have written, on average, 9 extra pages for each class. I do enjoy writting, but I had to laugh at myself yesterday when I realized my "foolishness;" thank you God.

Reading Jean Vanier's book Community and Growth has been awesome. Jean founded l'Arche, which is a community for handicapped people. He often comments on how much he learns from those he is taking care of and when he serves them he comments, like Mother Theresa, that he is actually serving Christ. He says many challenging and inspiring things. Here are some comments about the poor: "Jesus calls his disciples not only to serve the poor but to discover in them his real presence, a meeting with the Father. Jesus tells us that he is hidden in the face of the poor, that he is in fact the poor...The cry of the poor is threatening to the rich person within us...The poor teach us how to live the Gospel. That is why they are the treasures of the church...Our job is to stay. It is too easy to come and live among the poor for the experience, to exploit them for our own spiritual ends and then to leave." He says this concerning pride, "Inside each of us is a little tyrant who wants power and the associated prestige, who wants to dominate, to be superior and to control. We are frightened of criticism." I hope I can be as bold as Jean Vanier in reaching out to those people who are not like me; reaching out to people who are not naturally included in my life. "God, please challenge and change my comfort zone to include those normally outside of it."

Well our soccer season is over. We started out really bad, but finished in second place! Here are some pic's of our games and the team.












More than that though we made some great relationships
with folks we would have otherwise never met.
The next day we had a BBQ at Jeff's and it was cool hanging out with our team outside of soccer.

Our main goal was to get out of the "Christian Ghetto" and hang with the folks, so that's what we did.


We already signed up for the next season with all of our new friends.

So, at the last "The College Group" we went to the mall and handed out candy canes.

We came with the idea of handing out candy canes with tags on them saying, "Jesus thinks you're awesome! Merry Christmas!" 250 people that night were confronted with the fact that Jesus thinks they're awesome! AWESOME!
One girl, Cheryl, who has been coming to the group and finding a relationship with Jesus, thought it was too cool that we were doing something like this. I was surprised since she is so quite, but she is really falling in love with Jesus. Her passion is really inspiring.

Her group had an interesting experience: This guy with two girls came up to them to receive their candy canes and started talking with our folks. No sooner did they start talking when this guy busts out a blunt (a marijuana filled cigar) and starts smoking it in front of them and blowing the smoke in Laben's (one of the leaders) face! They then read the tags and when realizing that our folks are Christians apologized for their cussing and blunt smoking. Cheryl then steps out and invites them to church. To her surprise the other girls grab a piece of paper and hand it to her and said to call them. Cheryl couldn't believe what happened. She made herself available and God used her.

"The College Group" learned how to be the "salt of the earth" by doing it instead of just hearing or reading about it. Praxis.

We stand in awe of the ocean,
The thunderstorm,
The sunset,
The mountains;
But we pass by
A human being
Without notice
Even though
The person
Is God's most
Magnificant Creation.
AUGUSTINE

My little girl.










What' up with Romeo! This guy gave my
daughter one too many pieces of banana,
so I took him outside and broke'm down.
Needless to say, he left.

BBQ with young folks
Worship in the park
Classroom
Guys room where we slept
Where "China" pottery is made!

This is a back alley at night. Lots of fresh good fruit.
Well China was amazing. In short: I got sick as a dog for 3 days; we invited a lot of college students to hang out with us on Sunday; we had a blast at our fellowship in the park Sunday singing, dancing, eating, and playing football; five people chose Christ at the park; we worked with 45 children ages 7 to 19 who were former prostitutes, drug dealers, slaves, and criminals at an old factory where we taught them English, worshiped, prayed, and celebrated Yeshua together. Hopefully we go back in the summer time to work with the kids. I hope to bring some of The College Group folks for a longer trip. I always have to remember that the door could be closed at any time. Playing catch-up right now with school and it's working me. Practice praxis.

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?