Posts Tagged ‘Bristol’

Reflective Service at Redemption Church

Highlight(s):

1. Valentine’s Day was nice. Not because Amanda and I did anything spectacular, but because I know she loves me and I love her. I’ve become kinda bored with the “flash,” and I simply rest in the love my wife shows me.
2. Reflective, experiential, creative worship service at Redemption Church last night. We had an extended worship service. No preaching. We used stations of Jesus’ sayings and focused on Matthew 11: 28-30: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Pretty comforting words, don’t you think? It was nice to see our church slow down and reflect.
3. Congrats to the Saints! It was a bittersweet Super Bowl since I am a huge Peyton Manning fan. However, you can’t win them all…just ask Brett Favre, Jim Kelly, and Dan Marino. I am really happy for New Orleans. They are a city that has endured a lot. May God continue to work there as he already has done.
4. What about all of this snow?! Philly received over 3 feet in about a week. It’s crazy. If the apocalypse isn’t upon us, I don’t know when it will be. The only thing left is for Sadaam Hussein to resurrect from the dead with the Pope his prophet and Barack Obama his puppet. I think that’s how Joel C. Rosenberg told me it would happen. It’s been awhile since I read those books.

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Re-posting a post from June 26, 2009 because I’ve been asking myself “Why?” once again:

My most recent post on Everyday Liturgy’s website dealing with the question of purpose is now up:

Why?

Recently, I’ve been asked to join the leadership team for a new church plant that will be happening in Bristol, PA. I’m excited about this venture. As of late, we have been struggling over the question, “Why?” Why are we doing this? What’s our purpose? Are we hoping to be the young, cool, hip group? Or are we hoping to reach the poor of Bristol? Or the families of Bristol? The question, Why?, gives us guidance and helps us understand what the next steps should be…

As many of you know, Amanda and I have decided to help plant a church in Bristol, PA. It won’t be easy, but it’s exciting. Right now, the leadership team is discussing our purpose for coming to Bristol. Somehow, I think the homeless man who was killed in a Bristol Township apartment complex has something to do with spurring further conversation about purpose. I post it here as a reminder to us that homelessness is prevalent in suburbia, even though it is removed from the city limits. Bristol needs the love of Jesus, and we hope to be part of that.

Read the article here. It’s very telling and thoughtful. We don’t often think of the homeless as part of a “community,” and we often see them as “less human” for some reason. The article does well to point on the humanity of this group. I remember one recent trip to center city Philadelphia where I was part of feeding and clothing the homeless. I remember staring into the eyes of those individuals and seeing myself. Sometimes we think, “Well, they are there because of drugs or alcohol,” and in some way, “They deserve it.” But I know that this is not always the case. Sometimes, it’s bad support systems. I mean, if it wasn’t for my family taking Amanda and I in after I lost my youth pastor job, or Amanda’s sister recommending her for a position at her school, I may have been homeless. Or, if I fell into alcoholism, my parents and/or Amanda would assist me. They wouldn’t leave me for dead! Often, the homeless don’t have such support. I remember one homeless gentleman who moved from Jacksonville, lost his job, fell into some bad habits, and is on the street. He left his support system for his job, and now he lives on the streets.

Pray for the homeless. Pray that we see their humanity. Pray that we, as Christians, can be a part of physically, spiritually, and emotionally restoring such people.

Question: How have you seen the humanity of homeless people?

If you are in the area, look into a forum on suburban homelessness that The Well is hosting.

It’s been awhile since I gave an update on my life so here’s some things to fill everyone in on what’s been going on.

Highlights:

• 1.   Amanda and I decided that God was calling us to join a church plant in Bristol, which The Well is beginning. This means (a) that I’ve withdrawn my resume from a few youth ministry positions; (b) that I must find a job in some other field; and (c) that we are really excited about this opportunity. It was really interesting when Gary (pastor) approached me about it one day when we had met for coffee. He asked me to join up the leadership team as one who would focus on theology and the like. I loved the idea! But it is volunteer so that means major sacrifices. Eventually, as I prayed about it (and Amanda did too), I felt called to do it, even though it was illogical from a financial standpoint. But I told God he would have to get Amanda on board too. One day, unprovoked, Amanda mentioned that she too felt God was calling us to Bristol. If you’re married, you know that this is a big deal when your wife feels equally called to your place of ministry. So, we are a few weeks in. We are meeting at someone else’s house right now, and we hope to find a building for the Fall. Please pray for us.
• 2.   Amanda finished up the school year. Her first year as a teacher! And I’m very proud of her. It was difficult at times learning a new trade, but she was awesome at it.
• 3.   Amanda also pick up summer work as a Pampered Chef representative. She did really well at her first show. If you are looking to have a show at your house for your friends, she’s the one to call.
• 4.   Giselle’s been learning new things like crazy. She’s walking and running. She knows multiple words, and she’s so wonderful.
• 5.   Our friends, Tim and Susan, are pregnant (well, actually Susan). They are having a baby boy so Giselle will have her choice between Nathan and the other boy. Both must fill out an application, go through an interview process with me, provide 3 professional references, 2 spiritual references, and then they can have a supervised date with Giselle, which will be supervised by me and Mr. T.
• 6.   Our friends, Ron and Juli, became members at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. I’m happy for them. Praying that Juli finds a teaching job this Fall. Ron works at Delaware County Christian School, and he will be looking into ordination in the PCA before he becomes super-famous and takes over Tim Keller’s church (whoops! I probably shouldn’t have told you that).

Something I enjoyed: U.S.A.’s performance in the Confederation’s Cup. I didn’t think they could make it into the next round after poor losses to Brazil and Italy, but after they defeated Egypt (and with help from Brazil’s 3-0 win over Italy), they made it into the next round to beat top-seeded Spain. The final between US and Brazil was a great exhibition of soccer. Unfortunately, after the US was up 2-0, Brazil rallied to win 3-2. Thinking they weren’t even going to make it out of the divisional period, the fact that they made it to the final game is commendable.

Disappointed by: the Phillies. They were doing so well, but recently they’ve been dropping the ball (sometimes, literally). But we are on a two game winning streak so maybe things are looking up. (Good news, the Mets still stink so we are still in 1^st place).

Job update: currently working two part-time jobs. Starbucks about 10-15 hours per week, and I’m a Sales Assistant at Bisco Industries 28 hours per week. Bisco is a distributor of electronic parts for cars, planes, etc. It’s a temp job, but no one has called me “Fire Guy” or “Temp” yet.

Looking forward to: Vacation. I need it. End of July we are going to North Carolina with my parents. When you don’t have much money, you mooch off of your family’s vacations.