Last week I was interviewed by Chelsea Schneider, a freelance writer for the Chicago Tribune.  Yesterday her article on house churches and the like was published, which focused on several of the organic church networks in the city.  Check out the article here. A lot of co-workers and friends of mine were in the article, and toward the end they pulled a few quotes from yours truly.

Since the article’s publishing, there’s been an interesting influx in people wanting to know more about the Underground Network.  I’m hoping that new friendships and relationships that reflect the Kingdom will develop through the article!

Somethings I’ve been focused on lately:

Been working more on a citywide site for simple church and church planting.  Don’t want to put the link up just yet – still exploring Joomla! and all it has to offer.  I’m trying to find a way to learn from a pro here in the city.

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Found a new cool site called Bookins.  Its AWESOME!  As a free book trading site, you are able to send your read-through books out to those who want them, and receive trading points that allow you to get books from others.  “Huh?”  So lets say you read Moby Dick paperback, and you’re done with it – put it up on your bookins page, someone else gets it – you mail it to them (pay the postage – that’s it) and you get like 7 points.  You want to read the Hobbit and find in another user’s booklist for 7 points!  You request it – and they send it to you free!  They automate the exchange process – so there’s no hassle with bidding or sneaky users or anything.  If this still doesn’t make sense, check out their explanation of it here.  Works with DVDs too!

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Katrina did a great job at the Orchard over the weekend – see photos here.

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Watched two sweet Youtube videos in the last two days.  One is an expose on All Nations, a church planting initiative happening in 20 countries.  I totally recommend checking them out.

Also, watch this video by Brooke Frasier – it reminds me of heaven – all peoples praising the One who makes all things new.

As the semester draws to a close, I’ve started getting antsy.  Katrina and I have been working on finding a place to live, I’ve been raising support and looking for any side jobs that sound feasible, and my papers for the semester just keep looming closer and closer.  I’m hoping to have most of the Paper Beast tamed by the weekend.

It’s really tough to know what to share on here, and what not to – I guess I’m having a “mid-blog crisis”.   I want people to be in the know of what’s going down in the Willis world, just like we want to know what’s going on with our friends.  But it feels like so much of my life is in transition (will that ever really stop?) and much of it would be inappropriate to share half-baked online.  In any case, here’s what’s on the up and up on our side of the universe:

I’ve quit my job at the steakhouse here in town.  The money wasn’t covering the bills, and my hours there were getting to be too much to try to juggle with everything else we’re here in Abilene to do.  Support raising has been pretty good so far.  We’re trying to work through how all that works.  More on that maybe later.

Trina is working full time as an artist.  She’s freakin’ awesome too.  Check her website out here.  By the way, she’s turned her blog into an art blog, but since she’s got some super sweet thoughts to share with everyone, she’s now co-authoring this blog with me!  Finally!  A good writer on Godgrown.net!  Welcome her to the fam!

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Hey, by the way – a totally sweet idea coming from a Denver simple church network.  Since Barna’s Simplechurch.com doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of life, the movement is going all Bill McKibben on the internet by staying “local”.  This map is a picture of where the communities of faith are meeting throughout Denver – and how to get in touch with them.  Pretty nifty.   Think I might do that with JFN.