I’ve been thinking a lot about “Community Wells” this week.  While I’m still learning exactly what this term means, I’m becoming more and more aware of these wells all around me.  Small pockets of people meet in specific locations and do specific activities together, and form relationships through those activities.  Anything from standing in line at the BMV to getting fresh at a local dance joint; people are always in proximity with one another.

Where are the proximity spaces…the community wells, that I am a part of?  Each morning I see the same people at a local gym, mostly communicating through grunts and snorts, but occasionally an important conversation comes up about life, family and faith.  I subscribe to the ACU library’s catacombs.  You’ll usually bump into some regulars in the library, and stand around a copying machine with a cup of coffee in hand.  I meet each Friday for breakfast at B.O.B.S..  Surrounded by homeless, often the only thing we have in common to talk about while waiting in line is the line itself…and the weather.  By proxy (in marriage) I attend art shows and events in town, and I learn to lean on my knuckles and make strange comments about art I have no vocabulary for.  I meet with a group of bluegrass fanatics and make great music together.

These groups are where I find life happening for me and others right now.  As a missionary sent from God, I’m called to find those pockets of life, and NOT infuse God into the mix.  I can’t you see – God’s been a part of that community WAY before me.  His connection not only into the individual lives of each of those in the group, but within the group itself it manifested in amazing ways…if I just enter into the community as a learner, looking for his work.  This is called “provenience” – he goes before us and works in lives well before we have a chance to impact a community at all.

Doesn’t this take the stress off evangelism?  Knowing God has already been raising people up to hear his Good News means we don’t have to do all the hard work!  We simple cast the seed – as far and as wide as we can.  His faithfulness will continue for all time, we simply have the opportunity to look for him.  It all starts around a humble well, and it ends at the cross.

Where are the community wells in your life?  And how can we begin to look for signs of God in the midst of these communities?

I don’t usually pray for anyone named “Abdul” (not your normal Western-type). But today I am. Over in Afghanistan, Abdul Rahman is on trial for converting to Christianity. The penalty? Death. Read the story here.

What might the world become after witnessing a man die on the basis of his Christian faith? How much is the cause of Christ and his Kingdom impacted positively and negatively when the whole world watches someone’s faith silenced in death by another government-backed faith? It really places me in the shoes (sandals) of those living in the first, second and third centuries. This was a common reality for them – and it made their faith all the more zealous.

Would I turn down my Lord if I was to be executed for remaining by his side? What about torture? What if they told me they would torture my wife if I did not put away Jesus Christ? How does suffering and the suffering of those I love weigh in on my devotion to Christ?

You know what they’re saying in defense of Abdul Rahman? They’re saying “he’s crazy, no normal person who talk like he is talking”. They’re saying this because he has stated openly that he is ready to die for his faith. 99% of Afghans are Muslim, and 1% is “other”. With such a spiritual stronghold on a country, converting to the Way of Jesus means something totally different than it would in Abilene, TX. I agree with them – he’s not normal…he’s what I’m striving to become.

I’ve reached a turning point in my education. Today I turned in a paper that was so thick I couldn’t put a staple through it. That’s just nuts. And I pity the professor that has to read the entire thing!

Another pretty huge educational turning point today: my class schedule is now planned out for the rest of my master’s degree. The end of my educational career is now officially in sight, and it terrifies me. I’m in a place of great joy and great discomfort. I really like going to classes, and being challenged in unbelievable ways. I value the overqualified professors who put up with teaching us, and I even secretly get great energy from writing papers so long you can’t put a staple through them. In fact it is mostly just the tuition that keeps me from staying in school forever. Higher education…what an expensive hobby.

As I was looking over my master’s degree plan, I found myself contemplating my next steps after graduation. There are times when my gorgeous bride Katrina hints at how fun it would be for me to get my doctorate. I immediately dismiss that, thinking that there would be no way I’d ever need a terminal degree in ministry…then again, it was about this time in undergraduate when I was thinking a master’s degree was superfluous. On the other side of things, Chicago is looking more and more attractive. Today I discovered two missionary families in Chicago in the very beginning stages of a simple church network!!!

The graduate program at ACU is exactly what I have been searching for, and I know that this is exactly where God wants me to be today. But what about tomorrow? My graduation in 2007 is not that far off. The idea of moving out to begin the process of initiating an organic church planting movement is intimidating, and always will be. When will I ever be fully prepared?

Last Thursday morning I got up early to pack and prepare for my trip down to Austin, Texas. I went down with the MRNA crew for an “urban immersion”. The first day didn’t really seem like much, we spent most of it climbing all over the rocks of Reimer’s Ranch, and diving into Lake Travis (at least the crazy ones who were interested in hypothermia got wet!). Friday evening we met up with Bob Carolton and John Berryhill, church planters who are part of the Emerging Church Network for some grub at Chuy’s (make sure to try their creamy jalepeno!) Throughout our conversations with them, we learned that they canvas an entire city, surveying hundreds of people and strategically determine where the unreached people groups are.
Friday evening, was spent out on the streets of Austin. It being St. Patrick’s Day and South by Southwest Music Festival, there were plenty of people out “having a good time”. It was the first time I’ve ever been to a party that MTV showed up at.
Saturday was awesome. We enjoyed meeting with Justin Christopher, who with a team of students and other campus ministers is strategically working to see the entire University of Texas campus brought to Christ. It was amazing - they had broken the whole campus down into 460 “pockets of people” and were specifically praying for different groups each day. So far, they have 80 authentic faith communities meeting throughout the campus, I guess they have 379 to go.

I came home from the weekend totally in awe of the intentionality of these missionaries. They take prayer to a new level when they apply the tools of culture mapping, and strategic surveys of an area.

As I reflected further, I felt God cautioning me in how I weild these tools. How often do we as Americans find a new technique for something, and immediately import it into our own setting, figuring that this will be the “quick-fix”. It is no different with American evangelistic efforts.

“The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.” - Proverbs 21:31

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” - Proverbs 19:21

Paul himself understands this when he says, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.”

My enthusiasm for saturation church planting has been slightly tempered with a reminder that it is truly God who brings the transformation in lives, not the techniques and strategies for church planting that I bring to the table. I am blessed to be used as God’s tool, and he wants me to plant the seed, till the soil, keep it watered and so on - but I cannot break open the seed and call out a healthy plant. That is God’s victory.

So much has happened over the last few days!  I’ll have to spread my reactions to it over the next several just to try to take it all in.  For today I’ll just comment on what happened last night at the church I currently work for.

Last night after the time of praise, the communion, and a sermon, one of the elders addressed the congregation.  “From the very beginning of our church, we had conversations about what our goals were.  If we were to grow in number, we decided right then and there that there would come a day when we would plant another church, rather than growing to become just another megachurch in this city.  The time has come to do that.”  They brought Katrina and I forward, and they did their best to explain what the Lord had called us to do.  Afterward, they spoke a blessing over us, laid their hands on us, and sent us out into God’s mission field.

I could not have asked for a more amazing blessing from the leadership there.  I wish I had had a voice recorder… this elder called on God to bless our personal lives of faith, and a special blessing on our marriage, he blessed our hands and feet, asking God to make them instruments of his in the work of the harvest in this city.  He blessed us and reminded us that nothing is more important than seeking out balance, of giving and receiving, of spending and saving.  Our whole lives are maintained in the tension of multiple balances.

After the service, lots of people were coming up to give us hugs and to wish us well.  Lots of others hung back and didn’t say anything at all.  I’m sure that for many it came as a huge shock to them.  “Why would they leave this great church?”  “Where will they go?  What church will they be a part of?”  “What will happen to our church now that they are leaving us?”  My prayer for the last two weeks has been that our church would ask these questions directly to us, and that we could share with them our vision for saturation church planting and missional living in words they could understand.

As I think about it, I still can’t believe what I’m doing.  I’ve got a degree in youth ministry, and yet I will never in the traditional sense ever put that degree to use.  I had a great job at a local church; one that other grad students would have gone to great lengths to keep at all costs; I even had a great paycheck that was supporting us from that church - and yet we turned it all down to step out in faith.  It IS a step into the great unknown, no matter how much Katrina and I prepare for it.  We’ve never NOT gone to church every Sunday, and we’ve never really been the church for more than an hour or two each week.  I’ll keep you posted on how all that goes!

Tomorrow: reflections on Urban Immersion in Austin, Texas.  South by SouthWest + St. Patty’s Day = CRAZY!