We were rockin' out to some worship music & Siena says, "Watch me dance dad!" Be blessed dad.

South Korea cooked & came to us one Sunday night.

I'm not a good blogger lately. Steve is!!! Wow, that guy has a lot to say. Anyways, blogging is just not what I'm doing right now. Things are going very well here in SC. We just had a small-group this last Tue. & nobody showed up! Nothing out of the ordinary. We're entering the phase of "cool, looked who showed up" & "wow, O.K, I guess nobody's showing up, let's worship God." Everyone at the house is doing amazing. I am so blessed to see everyone embrace God & really press into loving the people God has put in our lives; I couldn't be more impressed with the people God sent to SC with me. The Jones' & us have Korean friends, so we invited them up to cook for us this last Sunday & it was incredible. They stayed for 6-7hrs & we ate, swam, ate, talked, & played with the kids. They even brought a friend, which is a big deal, people invited other people to things they really like. It's funny, they're all Ph.D's (Music, Computer Engineer, Nanotech.) Please pray for us. The spiritual climate here is insane & we are all feeling the effects of being in an area that is openly into the dark side of things. Blessings. Please pray for us. Love you all. Come down & well go surfing & tell people about Jesus!

We're alive & doing great, but time can move fast sometimes! The church is happening & this Wednesnday night we have our first small-group at one of the beaches in town. So far 3 people are coming, 2 who don't know Jesus, & there might be more showing up. It's awesome to see how God is growing everyone, most of all me, & how everyone embraces, after some crying, what God is doing in there life. We still have a great deal of questions as to what God is doing, but, biblically, he has tended to keep certain things hidden in hopes that we will seek him all the more. We are going to host 3 Italian girls for two weeks, which should be fun (for Laben!) & we hope they encounter Jesus while there here. I'll write more when I want to; this is my blog & I do have dominion over it. All said, we are doing wonderful (issues pending).

Recently my wife & I had dinner with Randy Knutson, the Vineyard Churches Regional Church Plant Director. He shared some wonderful things & offered to give us some resources that he thought would help with our church. One of the papers was a definition chart, which included these two definitions: Multiplication: A learned skill. When one person leads several to Christ and then trains them until they do the same thing; &, Spiritual Reproduction: A learned skill dependant upon the Holy Spirit. When one person leads another to Christ. So in our Wed. night "teaching" time I asked if we agreed that these are learned skills; everyone said "Yes." Then we wrote down the skills we thought necessary to grow in Multiplication & Reproduction & the one main attribute that impedes it: Selfishness. My wife turned it into a self-test, I adapted it, & we're almost ready to start taking it monthly.


AM I REPRODUCING CHRIST IN OTHERS?

0 = bad
1 = poor
2 = fair
3 = okay
4 = good
5 = wonderful







0 1 2 3 4 5 Prayer (specifically for others I am reaching out to or discipling)
0 1 2 3 4 5 Time with God (daily and meaningful)
0 1 2 3 4 5 Consistency with people (I actively engage those God has put into my life)
0 1 2 3 4 5 Training (I am personally reading books that make me grow in Christ)
0 1 2 3 4 5 Growing in communication (People describe me as a good communicator)
0 1 2 3 4 5 Transparency (I answer honestly & volunteer negative aspects of my life)
0 1 2 3 4 5 Accountability (Certain people know everything about me)
0 1 2 3 4 5 Time management/self management (I spend my time purposefully)
0 1 2 3 4 5 Discernment (I know the spiritual condition of those I’m reaching out to)
0 1 2 3 4 5 Loving People (My life is shaped by a love for all people)
0 1 2 3 4 5 Grace (I assume the best of others & offer unconditional forgiveness)
0 1 2 3 4 5 Initiative (I take the first step—people describe me as moving past intentions)
0 1 2 3 4 5 Bible study (Serious study of biblical text & addressing it’s questions)
0 1 2 3 4 5 Commitment (I believe God in the face of difficulty, suffering, & trials)
0 1 2 3 4 5 Christ-like Goals (I have clear biblical goals that determine my actions each day, week, month, & year)

0 1 2 3 4 5 SELFISHNESS (Selfishness is the concept and/or practice of concern with one's own interests in some sort of priority to the interests of others, including God, his church, & those who don’t know Jesus; it is often used to refer to a self-interest.) To what degree has selfishness driven your use of time, talents, & resources this week?


What is the mission of our church?


NOTES: (this is the end)

Any thoughts or suggestions?

I do recommend Dr. G's Theology class to everyone who can take it. It was and still is one of my favorite grad classes. Likewise, I recommend eating his wife's cooking, very tasty!

Here are quotes from Reformed Lutheran Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

“It is a fatal misunderstanding of Luther’s action to suppose that his rediscovery of the gospel of pure grace offered a general dispensation from obedience to the command of Jesus, or that it was the great discovery of the Reformation that God’s forgiving grace automatically conferred upon the world both righteousness and holiness. On the contrary, for Luther the Christian’s worldy calling is sanctified only in so far as that calling registers the final, radical protest against the world. Only in so far as the Christian’s secular calling is exercised in the following of Jesus does it receive from the gospel new sanction and justification. It was not justification of sin, but justification of the sinner that drove Luther from the cloister back into the world. The grace he had received was costly grace. It was grace, for it was like water on parched ground, & forgiveness of all his sins. And it was costly, for, so far from dispensing him from good works, it meant that he must take the call to discipleship more seriously than ever before. It was grace because it cost so much, and it cost so much because it was grace. That was the secret of the gospel of the Reformation—the justification of the sinner.

Yet the outcome of the Reformation was the victory, not of Luther’s perception of grace in all its purity and costliness, but of the vigilant religious instinct of man for the place where grace is to be obtained at the cheapest price. Luther had said that grace alone can save; his followers took up his doctrine and repeated it word for word. But they left out its invariable corollary, the obligation of discipleship. The justification of the sinner in the world degenerated into justification of sin and the world. Costly grace was turned into cheap grace without discipleship. (Cost of Discipleship—pp. 49-50)

“Christianity without the living Christ is inevitably Christianity without discipleship, and Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.” (pg. 59)

“Rabbi El’azarben-‘Azaryah (1st century-2nd century C.E.) said, ‘…if there is no meal there is not study of Torah, and if there is no study of Torah there is no meal.’”

We are having our second BBQ today. We are expecting around 35 people, but I suspect more will be coming up (some Redding college group peep’s are showing up from San Jose!). As I was working at the Wilder Ranch I felt like God told me to invite Alana’s boss to be the BBQer of Honor (they are Atheists). So, I made the call & Matthew is gonna’ come over; he is very excited that we found out he is a modern marvel at the BBQ, very fun stuff. Everyone who is coming is someone God has privileged us to have relationship with. Some are close to God, some far, but everyone who is coming up today has a relationship with our church. I hope they experience Him.

Basically our whole gig right now is to live life as followers of Jesus & see what happens. I have always believed: If the life of Christ is happening in your (our) life, it will happen. What is it? Just pick something from the New Testament & that’s what I mean: Love, faith, grace, sacrifice, community, freedom, repentance, baptism, following, leading, righteous anger, feeding the poor, worship, friendship, small-groups, church planting, etc. As we abide in Christ, fruit is sure to follow. Center your life on Jesus & live life out loud for the world to witness & see what happens; Acts 2:42-47 challenges me when it says, “& God added to their numbers daily.” I take from this that as they lived as followers of Jesus in community God added to their numbers. So, as the pastor of this church, I’m saying, “love everyone & let’s see whom God brings.” Instead of having church events “Today we are going to love people,” I see Jesus & the early church saying, “Everyday, moment, person, situation, & setting is a church event.” My whole life an outreach; everywhere I am, Jesus makes himself known through His church.

We’ve also been talking about our mission, which is: “Love God, Love People, make Disciples; Equip them for the work of ministry, the building up of the church, to demonstrate God’s glory in all nations.” I have been talking a lot about how it all starts by loving God & when you fall in love with God & see how much he loves you, loving people is a natural result. Too, we have been discussing what it means to Love People. I mentioned a few weeks ago how it is not our responsibility to save people, but to love them. Also, it is not our goal to love certain people, but to love all people. I am at a place where if we only loved God & loved people I would be happy. I think it’s God saying, “Sean, be content with me & know there is no higher calling than to share my love.” However, & being thankful for the breadth & depth of Scripture, our love has direction & purpose: Make disciples.

So, our BBQ is a mystery to me. Most people know we are a church; however, many don’t & that’s great for now, I hope they enjoy our community.

When I got done with grad school there was one author I really wanted to dig into: A.W. Tozer. I have not been disappointed.

Tozer on walking in righteousness
“Just let me ask: Who said that you can be a Christian without being a disciple? I don’t think you can. The idea that I can come to the Lord and by grace have all of my sins forgiven and have my name written in heaven, and have the Carpenter go to work on a mansion in my Father’s house, and at the same time raise hell on my way to heaven is impossible and unscriptural. It cannot be found in the Bible.

We are never saved by our good works, but we are not saved apart from our good works. Out of our saving faith in Jesus Christ, there springs immediately goodness and righteousness. Spring is not brought by flowers, but you cannot have spring without flowers. It isn’t my righteousness that saves, but the salvation I have received brings righteousness. I think we must face up to this now—that we must walk in righteousness if we are going on to know the Lord. The man who is not ready to live right is not saved, and he will not be saved, and he will be deceived in that great day.

I cannot believe that a man is on the road to heaven when he is habitually performing the kind of deeds that would logically indicate that he ought to be on his way to hell.” (The Counselor pgs. 127-28)

I love that Tozer went & still goes against the grain of popular Christianity. “Who said you can be a Christian without being a disciple?” “It cannot be found in the Bible.”

Apparently people in Tozer’s day were saying you could be a Christian without being a disciple. Tozer wrote another book called “I Call it Heresy", in the first chapter he says,
“The scriptures do not teach that the Person of Jesus Christ nor any of the important offices which God has given Him can be divided or ignored according to the whims of men.

Therefore, I must be frank in my feeling that a notable heresy has come into being throughout our evangelical Christian circles - the widely accepted concept that we humans can choose to accept Christ only because we need Him as Savior and we have the right to postpone our obedience to Him as Lord as long as we want to!

This concept has sprung naturally from a misunderstanding of what the Bible actually says about Christian discipleship and obedience. It is now found in nearly all of our full gospel literature. I confess that I was among those who preached it before I began to pray earnestly, to study diligently and meditate with anguish over the whole matter. I think the following is a fair statement of what I was taught in my early Christian experience and it certainly needs a lot of modifying and a great many qualifiers to save us from being in error. "We are saved by accepting Christ as our Savior; we are sanctified by accepting Christ as our Lord; we may do the first without doing the second!"

Tozer hits it home. Let us follow Him.

Why theology (knowledge of scripture) is important.

I'm reading a book about the Fourth Crusade. It is an interesting book & it is very discouraging at times. While reading it I can see why so many people around the world hate Christians. Likewise, I am saddend at how far the church in the year 1200 had gotten from New Testament teachings. This is a sermon from Sir Abbot Martin. It is credited with launching this very un-christlike venture. See how many unbiblical comments you can find.

"Heed my word to you, my lords and brothers; heed my word to you! Indeed, not my word, but Christ’s. Christ himself is the author of this sermon; I am his fragile instrument. Today Christ addresses you in his words through my mouth. It is he who grieves before you over his wounds. Christ has been expelled from his holy place—his seat of power. He has been exiled from that city which he consecrated to himself with his own blood. Oh the pain! This land is no dominated by the barbarism of a heathen people. Oh the misery, the sorrow, the utter calamity! The Holy Land…has been given over to the hands of the impious. Its churches have been destroyed, its shrine polluted, it royal throne and dignity transferred to the gentiles. That most sacred and venerable Cross of wood, which was drenched with the blood of Christ, is locked and hidden away by persons to whom the word of the Cross is foolishness, so that no Christian might know what was done with it or where to look for it. And so now, true warriors, hasten to help Christ. Enlist in His Christian army. Rush to join the happy ranks. Today I commit you to the cause of Christ, so that you might labor to restore Him to His patrimony, from which He has been so unmercifully expelled. Whoever takes the sign of the Cross and makes a sincere confession will be totally absolved of every sin and when he leaves this present life, no matter where, when, or by what happenstance, he will receive his life eternal."

Not much is known about the prophet Habakkuk. However, his book is powerful, wonderful, filled with honest prayers, complaints, & equally honest answers from God. As I was reading through the book certain things occured to me.

I am amazed that many of our so called "problems" are not new problems. In fact, if we really look at the examples given to us throughout scripture we find God's people wrestling with him in ways that are still common today (Israel literally means "to wrestle with God"). If we will let them, prophets like Habakkuk will lead us down paths already traveled, since people like Habakkuk have a correct perspective on how to deal with problems. No doubt our experiences are unique & important to God, but there are no new problems under the Son.

Habakkuk 2:4
"Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked; but the righteous will live by their faith."

Habakkuk 3:17-19
"Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,
and there are no grapes on the vines;
even though the olive crop fails,
and the fields lie empty and barren;
even though the flocks die in the fields,
and the cattle barns are empty,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord!
I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
The Sovereign Lord is my strength!
He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
able to tread upon the heights."

So, whatever it is we're wrestling with (hopefully it's with God & not against him!) please know it's important to God, but not an original problem. Let us "rejoice in the Lord" no matter our circumstances; let us "live by faith."

Well it’s about time for another post!
Everything is going well here up in the sticks of Santa Cruz. God continues to be faithful, we continue to need his faithfulness, and I go surfing whenever I can.

Easter was great. We invited over twenty people up to the Ranch and, I think, 19 people showed up. It was amazing to see the diversity of people who showed up. We had a 22yr old co-worker of mine, a guy who works for Adobe, his PhD wife (evolutionary Biology), their two kids, two of Rachel’s Latino co-workers, the boss and family of Rachel’s other job, our white Native American neighbors (we met them through a Salsa outreach, a retired contractor and his girlfriend/wife(?) who gives us free firewood (we give him free coffee), and two Christians from a popular local church who were amazed at the amount of people we met in such a short period of time. The PhD got right to business asking me “so you’re the pastor of the church?” I wanted to talk with her, and am sure I will, since we believe radically different things. I know she wants to help me with my erroneous superstition, and Lord knows I’m always willing to be helped. I guess we’ll keep giving her Holy Spirit infused Salsa! Take that! The 22yr old and I had some great conversation. He was blown away we are a church and I’m the pastor. Why is it that so many people are surprised I’m a pastor? I should be nicer I guess. Anyways, I told him all about our church, what we want to do, who we worship, why we worship, etc. He was intrigued, so we’ll see what happens. Our next meal will be an Indian dinner for our college student babysitters and anyone else.

Surfing has been great. I invited somebody from the Coffee shop to go, and he was stoked to learn how to surf. Most surfers don’t want anyone else to learn how to surf, since that would mean less waves for the, so finding someone who wants to take you surfing, has the equipment, and will teach you is a treat. Laben and I invited him again this last Friday, but he go another job. Sounds like we need to start surfing on another day.

We are having an ISI (International Students Inc.) training night at our house Sunday. Peggy, who leads the ministry, will come up with one of her students, and anyone else, to teach us how to hang out with international folks. After we go through the training we can all get an international friend, whom we are then supposed to share God’s love with. Hello!! Alana already has a friend named Mimi from China. I was joking that we could start a Sunday service downtown and have the team and 20 Chinese students. Janine and Alana are getting more involved with this. Janine is excited to go shopping in San Jose with the students and then have them over for a Jesus Feast. We’ll see where all this goes, but Peggy is pretty cool and she wants to see international students see God’s love. Square hole, meet my friend square peg; I think you’ll get along.




The job scene is working out. Here’s where I work Mon-Thur (4-10’s). I’m the grunt worker, but I don’t have to do a lot of crazy stuff (I did move 5000lbs of bricks before lunch). I get paid $35hr, which is clearly too much, but it’s helping out around here. Amazingly I still wonder what God is going to do after this job! I think, “Cool God, 2007 is a wrap, but what about 2008?” Oh, my little wandering heart.


I’m the youngest guy on the job (everyone’s over 50), which makes things really interesting. They used to call me Lad, but now I have a new nickname: Preacher! Believe it or not, but I’ve always wanted that nickname because of one of my favorite movies: Pale Rider starring Clint Eastwood. He rides a white horse and is called Preacher. He was one bad dude.
Anyways, the one guy who drives me nuts always asks me what I preached on. “So, Preacher, what’d you preach on yesterday?” I just go for it and tell him everything I spoke on, sharing the gospel with him. What’s more is Laben and I are going to go Kayak fishing with him; a relationship has started.


Jeff got a job with Bethany University as the manager of their bookstore. On his first day he runs into a guy who went to high school with Jeff. Jeff takes him out to lunch and ministers to him. Since Jeff is a surfer now it sounds like they’re gonna’ hit the waves pretty soon.

Anyways, still don’t know what God’s gonna’ do, but from the looks of it, he’s gonna’ do what he’s always wanted to do through a bunch of misfits like us. And remember: Early morning+strong coffee+the Bible+the Holy Spirit=a great perspective on an otherwise typical day!
Blessings.

Well things are moving along in Santa Cruz. We just got done with awesome 70 degree weather. We didn’t use the wood stove for about a week and a half (the Buffalo team is experiencing something different). Last week Linda and I invited some of our friends from San Luis Obispo to do some ministry with us. There names are Casey and Linnea and they are into deliverance stuff (praying for people to get free from spiritual bondage, etc.) Since we’ve been discussing the Kingdome of God Linda and I thought it would be a good idea to bring in people who do a lot of healing, praying for the sick, the dead, and other power oriented Holy Spirit things. We had a great time and they prayed for most of us. Casey shared a sermon on Sunday, mostly prophetic words for our church, and then we ate big. The experience prompted a lot of good discussion on praying for people and miracles. We discussed: what we agreed with, disagreed with, would like to try, and would never try. In all, our desire to demonstrate God’s Kingdom through love and praying for people increased. Casey and Linnea are crazy for Jesus.

Everyone has jobs. Rachel and I are working two jobs and both of us feel that God has given them to us and doesn’t want us to leave either of them. Jeff looks like he might get a job a Bethany University as the bookstore manager, which would give him access to many students. Laben is continuing to do odd jobs. Alana is doing nanny stuff. We all prayed for jobs and God gave them, now we are trying to align schedules with our values. It’s fun.

When Casey and Linnea came up we had our babysitter Sara come up. We were having dinner, so I asked my wife to invite her and tell her she could bring a friend, so she brought her friend Kaley. We all ate together and Casey asked them if we could post flyers on the campus for a Bible study. They said we could and they could post them for us! It was pretty funny. Kaley said she has a friend who would be interested in coming to it. Afterward, Kaley started asking me about our church by asking, “Where do you guys meet?” I told her I was the pastor and we met in the house. She seemed indifferent, but we sent them home with Salsa(!), pizza, and other goodies. They said they like Indian food, so guess what’s on the menu.

We are going to have a BBQ & Easter Egg hunt at the property. Our property is so big that we figured it would be a great idea. Plus most of the folks we will invite to church would be the ones coming to the BBQ, so it seems like a great idea. Our house is 20min out of SC, but it is really incredible. Please pray that people would follow the prompting of God and join us.

The fact that I am a pastor is leaking at the coffee shop. One night a co-worker asked me if it was true that I was a pastor. I said, “Yes” and then did some cool karate moves. He asked me what that meant because he had no idea what a pastor was. I told him and he seemed pretty intrigued. He is trying to find another job and he and his girlfriend are making rent, but not really eating; we’ll see what comes of that. Anyways, he really wanted a cigerrette, but didn’t have any money, so I gave him $4 for some smokes. Evangelism! I made a batch of salsa and gave it to another co-worker whose father I have been praying for. She loved it and is sure to get an invite to the BBQ, since we’ll have more salsa. Seeds are being planted.
Things are good, people are being stretched, those who don’t know him are being loved, and God is being worshipped; sound like church to me. Oh yeah, surf is definitely up.

Here’s a little update from SC!
Well we’ve decided on a church name: Antioch Church. We received a 501c3 (a $3000 gift!) and needed to come up with a name. Our choice may seem to be an obvious one given the influence of Antioch Community Church in Texas on, well, my whole understanding of church, but there’s more to it than that. Because we live in such a polarized area & Christianity is looked down upon in SC we wanted a name that meant little to nothing to the people in this area. We could have chosen the name Vineyard, but there is already a Vineyard church close by & they have cultivated a name for themselves, so we thought it best to allow them sole rights to that name. Antioch, for the people of this area is a town outside of S.F. & little else; therefore, we get to start with no presuppositions attached to our little church.

We have started worshipping together on Sundays. We meet at 10:30am, sing some songs, & then this crazy guy gives a sermon. We started this up because we wanted to get together and worship God. Not getting together to fellowship seemed kinda’ dry, so we church it up on Sundays. I don't think we've invited anyone to this yet, but it will happen.

We also get together for a teaching time on Wednesday nights. We’ve done this twice now & it’s a time where I have been teaching through the theology of our church. We’ve covered: The Mission has a Church-God’s mission of reconciliation & how the church fits into that; &, The Methods of that Mission-Church structures, Pastoral vs. People ministry methods, Program vs. Lifegroup methods. It has been fun, but I need to refine my teachings! Luckily I have a pretty captive audience; sleepers get excommunicated. “Yes, it’s true, I am Nacho.” Next week…The Kingdom of God, but some VLI dude is teaching that one, I ain’t no fool!

Laben, Jeff, & I all have painting jobs. Laben & Jeff are painting the inside of two condos for $3000, which is nice. They start on Monday. I start painting for the State of Ca on Monday too. I get paid $30hr, which is cool for me, but kinda’ high when I think about taxes. All of us have been freaking out about $, but God has totally come through every time Ps. 37 “I was young, but now I’m old, yet I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken.” Me neither, but I always think I’m gonna’ be God’s first slip-up. I still work at the coffee shop, which is a blast. I’m starting to get some real relationships with the other folks & our conversations are a lot different than the ones I had at Yaks! Our coffee shop is right next to a bar & when I close the shop at 12pm I see some interesting stuff. The manager who is openly gay asked me why I moved to SC, & I told him I'm here with a group of people to start a church. No joke, the tension was thick enought to cut with a knife. It was weird for about 20min, but we started joking later about "his people" liking Madonna. He's told me a little about his life (he's from Chico!) & it is really sad.

Linda via. Siena has had two play dates with other moms. She has been going to a library reading time & has run into other moms who have initiated times for our kids to get together. One of the moms came over here & another mom met Linda at the park. Another mom met Siena while she was in SC at the Farmer’s Market with the Jeff & Janine. Siena & her son got along so well the mom asked for our number. Way to go Siena!

Rachel went to the AIDS group here in town & volunteered. She’s not sure if she is going to volunteer there on a regular basis, but she is exploring different community oriented groups in town. Each night I close at the coffee shop & we have extra soup left over. No one takes the soup, so I take it. There are a lot of homeless folks on the streets when I get off, & I figure their hungry & ask if they want the soup. This last time I gave the soup out one of the guys said, “Are you the soup guy?” I guess a little food goes a long way downtown; we’ll see what this turns into. I think we’re gonna’ bake some cookies before I go to work from now on; no brainer.

Since we’re getting together regularly we decided to hire a babysitter. Normally somebody from the church does that, but everybody’s involved. So, we put an add in at UCSC. We had 3 interviews today & it was cool to tell them we were a church to find out if they had a problem with that; nobody did, & one girl whose ride was late sat in the living room with Bean & Laben asking questions about the church. We’re paying $20hr & we’ll see where this leads…global church plants anyone?

For Damien’s 13th birthday we had a right of passage. All of the men got on the Tom Sawyer raft, paddled to the middle of the pond, jumped in, & swam to shore. No we don't live in Buffalo, & yes the water was cold, not frozen, but plenty cold. It was an awesome experience following Damian, the man, into the pond. Afterwards we had a BBQ with our landlords & one of their daughter’s family.












We’ve been going through firewood pretty fast in the mountains & bought a chord for $361, which is crazy; I though it would last us longer, but 3200sqft is a lot to heat with a wood stove. Laben & I have been scavenging for wood when we drive up or down the hill. This last trip we noticed some freshly cut logs on the side of the road & decided to ask the owner if we could have the wood. We drive up to the house & this guy comes out. We ask him about the wood, he tells us we can have it (it’s about a bed full), & asks what we need it for. I tell him we’re running out of firewood, so he says, “You need firewood? See that pile of wood over there? It’s Oak & you can have it all. You see that other pile over there, I don’t need it & you can have it too.” All said he’s gonna’ give us about a chord & a half of wood. More importantly, Laben & I agree this guys a lonely old bachelor who could use some friends, so we’re gonna’ bring him some SC coffee & see if we can’t drink a cup of mud with they guy.

There is more to tell, & God is doing great things in all of our lives. My disbelief in what God had called us to has in no way canceled out what he is going to do, or what he desires to do in & through disbelieving willing vessels like us. We are having a wonderful time as a church, seeds are being planted, & we only have to believe Luke when he says, “& God added to their numbers daily those who were being saved.”

We've been praying for God to send angels to guide and protect us. So, I wasn't surprised to finally see an angel downtown. It's evident that God has sent us battle hardened angels that are tough enough for this area.

So I got a part-time job at Santa Cruz Roasting Coffee shop. It is right downtown and so far a pretty cool place to work. We sell a lot of coffee beans, as you might suspect since we're a roasting house, and I get one free pound a week, which is pretty cool (Ethiopian was my first pound). The length of employment at the roasting house is pretty low, the employee who has been there the longest? 3yrs. I don't know if anyone else there is a Christian, although the manager, Kacki, is sober and has gone through A.A. I assume the people I work with represent a typical slice of Santa Cruz, and what they lack in their representation the customers are sure to make-up for. I have only worked two shifts, both of the closing (we close at 11 and 12pm) and it has been fun. Most of the employees are students, but some are not. Most of the employees are straight, some are not; most of them have tatoos, and, so far, everybody's favorite words are four letters long.

My first night I worked with a gal who moved here two-months ago to get away from a bad marriage of ten years in Wyoming; I was blown-away when she told me twice in two seperate conversations that she had also left her four children; the youngest being 6 or 8 months. She is starting afresh in SC and has already found someone who she is interested in.

Last night I worked with a new guy who is back in town as he waits to be accepted to a law school. As we took the garbage out I asked him why he wants to be a lawyer and he said, "I'm tired of being poor," a novel ambition. He asked me what I was doing in town and I told him I was here to start a church, which really didn't get much of a response. In reality I just don't think people have any sort of grid for starting a church, since it is equated with a building instead of a group of people. We'll see where God takes these relationships.

A big eye-opener came as a result of us not having a public restroom. It was converted into a storage area because of the graffiti and drug use that happened in there. One of my co-workers told me of finding needles, razor-blades, and other stuff in there. But last night one of the girls revealed it was finally closed when some overdosed on Heroin in the bathroom. Come to find out, SC has one of the highest rates of Heroin addiction, per capita, in the U.S; I had no idea. One of the employees told me she can tell when a bad batch of dope is on the streets because the nightime customers come in all messed-up. Here is an exerpt from a local newspaper about the issue:

"Ten years ago, we had one student hooked on heroin," he says. "Today, one-tenth of our students are dealing with heroin addiction. More than half of them are female."

Those in the know agree that girls are more likely to be recruited than guys because once they are addicted, "they are not only working for the drug itself, they often end up prostituting to support their 'boyfriend,' the dealer who got them hooked in the first place," says Garcia.

Over the last few years, especially here in Santa Cruz, the ages of the addicted have continued to drop. Now, there are cases of addicted 9-year-olds and 12-year-old girls prostituting to feed their habit."



No doubt we need to do something.

Mi Casa.