I was watching the Giants / Browns game last night.  The Giants’ QB, Eli Manning, was driving his team down field just before the end of the first half.  The defense blitzed and he picked up on it in time to find the open man and deliver a perfect pass for a big first down.  On the replay they showed the blitzing defender hitting Eli just as he threw the ball and Eli straining to see if the receiver caught it.  I noticed that Eli did not have a look of elation even though he made a great pass.  Instead it was a look of pain.  You see, earlier he had been knocked around in the game, even sacked a couple of times I believe.  After almost a full half of “playing” football his body was sore, battered and bruised.  The look on his face said “OK, that’s one more good pass.  Now let’s line up and do it again.” He knows full well that the next play may not be as successful.  He knows that when he goes to pass the ball there are five possible outcomes and four of them are bad.  But he does again.  And again.  And again.  Not every pass is a touchdown.  Not every play goes for big yards.  But with enough perseverance he’ll get in the end zone.  He’ll succeed.  

And then he’ll have to do it all over again.

That’s a little like what it’s like being a church planter.  By no means is every Sunday a “touchdown” Sunday. Some weeks you make a little more progress toward the goal.   Some weeks you feel like you get sacked.  But you get back up and get ready for the next week.  You do it all over again.  And again.  And again.  Eventually with enough perseverance you get to see some really good things happen.

Morgan is sick today so I’m staying home with her.  As eat my breakfast I’m watching the History Channel.  There is a show about life in the southeastern mountains known as the Appalachians  - a show about “mountain folk.” Billy Ray Cyrus is narrating.  This episode is about churches in the mountains and especially about snake handling churches.  As I watched I noticed that for a couple of interviews with people who had thick southern “hillbily” accents the History Channel felt the need to add subtitles - as if they were speaking a foreign language!  I looked away and just listened to see if I could understand them.  No problem.  Maybe it’s because I spent the last ten years in western NC.  Words like “stretchin’ up”, y’all, yonder, reckon, and fixin’ to need no explanation to me.

I wonder if Christians and Churches could use subtitles?  Are we speaking a language that we’ve grown accustomed to hearing that makes little or no sense to the rest of the world?  Just something to think about. . .

So tonight Madison, my 4 yr old, picks up my big Bible - the one I got when I was ordained; it could double as a coffee table Bible; it could almost double as a coffee table!  She asks me to “read her the words in the big Bible”.  I told her there were a lot of words but moslty they teach us about how much God loves us and how we can love God.

As though I had forgotten to say it and she was completing my sentence, Maddie then said “. . . and love people!”

I was amazed.  I stopped what I was doing and just beamed with pride.  ”Love God and Love People” is something we’ve been talking about for over a year as we’ve been in the process of starting this new church.  It’s on our card’s, our signs, our brochures, I even talk about getting it tattooed on me sometimes - Briggette LOVES that idea.

The point is this:  I know that I get.  I know that Briggette gets it.  What’s really cool is when you see other people get it.  I look forward to the day when “Love God and Love People” is second nature to the people of The Foundry.

Ash

Week 2 at The Foundry was good.  We had a few less people here than we did at the launch but that is very normal for church starts.  Launch day for a new church is a lot like Christmas and Easter Sundays for other churches - you get a lot of people there and then you don’t see them for a while.

Even though we had fewer people here Sunday, most of the ones who came were from Corona.  In weeks past we’d been having some friends from other churches showing up to help.  Recently they’re coming less and less and people from our community are showing up more and more.  I think it was like 80% last week.

WOW!  This week went by FAST.  There was a lot going on at work (I work part time at the local middle school) and a lot to do for the church now that we’re meeting every week.  I got spoiled meeting once a month during the summer!

Looking forward to tonight to see what God does. 

Ash

We started a church Sunday night but this is not an update about how things went.  If you want an update check out  launch update  

I got home Sunday night after everything had wrapped up and it hit me.  Wow. We just started a church and I’m the pastor.  It reminded of when Briggette and I were newlyweds.  One day early on, the realization of actually being a husband made me pause.  I was married, I was now “responsible”.  I was responsible for our safety, our financial security, for fixing things that broke even if I didn’t have a clue how, for what we made of this life, for the family we’d have, and for explaining difficult math problems to my kids with a history of the numerical system when a much simpler answer was all they needed.  I think I grew up a little bit right then.  Not out of fear of failure, but out of a sense of duty, a calling, a maturing.  And yeah maybe also because Briggette’s dad owns a lot of guns. . .

The full realization that I am now the pastor of a church is one that caused me to pause.  It probably also causes a wide range of responses from those of you who have known me over the years. . . I had those same feelings of being responsible.  Of knowing that so much was riding on me.  Yes this is God’s ship and he’s directing the wind and waves but for some odd reason he’s put me at the helm.  He’s made me “responsible” for this new church.

Sunday night I think I grew up a little bit more.

I got home today to see a freshly poured 10′ x 24′ slab of concrete right by my existing patio. I was not surprised to see it.  The guys had set the forms the other day and told me they’d be back today for the pour.  What did surprise me was how unfinished it looked.  Edges were rough, there were no expansion seams, there were holes and nicks in various places.  I was really hoping this was not what they were going to leave me with.

Then the guys came back.  I watched as they smoothed out the edges, cut the joints, wet the concrete to make it workable, and filled in the holes and nicks.  They got to a point where I thought they were done but they kept working on the new patio, wetting and brushing and smoothing until it looked really good.  When they were done I was very impressed.  These guys took pride in what they did.  It was 104, there was no shade in my yard but they worked until the job was done right and done well.

As we get ready to launch a brand new church this Sunday, their commitment served as an example to me to strive for excellence.  I know things are not going to be perfect and we’re not going to be able to “offer” all that a lot of other established, larger churches can.  I just pray that as we’re starting and growing, we will do the things we do with excellence.  Wether it’s worship, kids ministry, tech, setup, greeting, or whatever I hope people will see that all we did was done right and done well.

Tonight we got together with the launch team (as many as could make it) and had a cookout at the park.  It wasn’t a team meeting, a Bible study, or a recruitment gimmick.  I just felt like we needed to hang out together.  It was cool - relationally that is - it’s never cool in Tucson in months that end in “uly”.  It took the pressure off the wives to cook a meal, the dads got to shoot the bull, the kids played on the playground.  All in all it was very relaxing and fun.

We met a couple of families as we just hung out and invited them to worship.  We need to do more of this.  It’s good for us and it’s a great way to get to know our neighbors.  Maybe we’ll make it a once a month thing? 

Last night we lost friend, a student, and a wonderful life full of potential.  Her future was snatched away by a senseless act.  Words fail me.  

As we’re just getting started with this new church, The Foundry, I have no idea how to gauge success.  I came from a church where the Middle School ministry alone was larger than most churches out here.  I’ve been attending church at Common Ground where God is blessing in a HUGE way.  But then I hear that the national average for church start attendance is 25.  We’ve got a solid 30 in our Launch Team so maybe we’re already a success.

Then a friend reminded me: “Numbers are good.  They tell you how many chairs to set up.”  It reminded me that first and foremost, ministry is about people.  It reminded me as to why we came out here.  We may have a great turnout next Sunday.  We may have far below the average.  Whatever happens, our success will not be determined by how many people show up.  It will be determined by how many people we send out.