After only being gone for 4 days, it feels like an eternity since I’ve written on here, and I’m excited to share with you what God revealed to us in Austin, TX during our Urban Immersion experience. Over the next four posts, I’ll give you a spotlight on some of the events that took place, as well as some of the creative harvest workers doing some amazing things in that area of the world.

So Thursday morning bright and early (well, sorta…we had a few late bloomers that morning…ME!) we left for Austin in a caravan and made it with only a few potty breaks to Reimer’s Ranch - our first stop on the trip.

This was my first chance to “lead” a climb, which means setting up the course for anyone else who follows. Its a little trickier and admittedly my hands used a little more resin to keep from sweating, but in the end it paid off. We reflected later that evening on the experiences of the day and I realized that I am a leader. That is hard for me to take in sometimes, and most of the time I don’t feel up to the task. But it was helpful also to be reminded that even though I may be a leader, I will never lead alone. Someone is always helping me with the next step; finding the next hook to hold on to. And there is always someone attached by a rope to catch me if I fall.

The next day we drove into Austin and met up with Tony and Felicity Dale. They were doctors over in England and let the Lord use them in helping hundreds of doctors and patients to follow Christ. Back in 1987 they came to Austin to do the same thing, only to be severely disappointed. Over the course of 10 years they waited for the Lord to show them what to do next, and finally he did.

He helped them wrestle with what “church” was really all about. They began to hear that the Church is not restrained to pew sitters soaking in words from the “sage on the stage”. They read 1 Cor 14:26 where it says, “When you gather for worship, each one of you be prepared with something that will be useful for all: Sing a hymn, teach a lesson, tell a story, lead a prayer, provide an insight…”

Father was teaching them that the Church is about each and every person learning to use their gift, both in AND out of the gatherings.

Now they are leaders in with House2House Ministries, a go-to point around the nation (and the world) for helping people learn and get connected with organic church principles and participants.  Their website has the most extensive listing of house churches I am aware of.  They also put out an awesome print magazine by the same name, and help pull of a national House Church Conference every year to help raise awareness that God’s Church is leaving the building.

Felicity taught us about “Storying” which will probably be a blog post all of its own some day. Its a powerful, simple tool for sharing the stories and principles of the Bible to illiterate and alliterate cultures (like the USA). She told us of how God was leading hundreds of thousands to Christ in India and Pakistan, and how storying was a means of developing these new disciples in their own homes, with or without any real education. Pretty sweet!

In part 2, I’ll talk about an amazing renewal going on throughout the University of Texas campus.

One night a young boy falls out of bed and begins to cry.  His mother rushes in and asks, “What happened?”  The young boy replies, “I guess I stayed too close to where I got in at.”

It doesn’t take much searching in this great nation to meet Christians who “stay too close to where they got in at” in regards to their relationship with Christ.  It doesn’t make much sense to hang on the edge of a king-sized bed, hoping against hope that you can ride the line and not fall off.

And it makes even less sense to spend your life supposedly following Christ and yet working to stay fully committed to a secular lifestyle.

Why don’t we WANT to move in as far as we can?  Why do we think we can play this game of nominalism and not fall away?  When new Christians see veteran church leaders riding the line of worldliness, are we not perpetuating the cycle?

I want to move in as deeply as I can.  I want to be as far away from the edge as possible.  I’m not just talking about moral living, I’m talking about living with a reckless abandon for Christ that never looks back.

Lord, tuck me in tight.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, we went down to the small town of Groveton, Texas where I was able (with only minutes of daylight to spare) to locate my grandfather’s grave.  I have been writing a paper on his ministry, his family, and the tragedy that took him from prominent roles of leadership in the church.  It has been fascinating to peer into the heart and life of someone so close to me.  Its one thing to study history, its quite another to find yourself wrapped up in it.

Placed next to my grandfather’s grave were my great-grandparents, Onan and Wilhelmina Willis.  Next to them were Winslow and Hattie, my great-great grandparents.  It was quite a surprise to see my family lineage placed right before me.  An eerie stillness filled the air, and I found myself wondering what stories filled these graves below me.  For one of the first times in my life, I wanted to know, to deeply KNOW the lives and hearts of those who had gone before me.

When Israelites read the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they found themselves mixed into the tale.  I think the average American is not able to fully grasp this because they do not have a story or a lineage that they can link back to.  It is that old frontier-spirit, finally rearing its ugly head.  With all the excitement of this “brave new world” we have forgotten where we’ve come from, and now many of us are lost in the dense thicket of an identity crisis.

If you know who you are because of the stories that have been passed down to you and are planted deep within your heart, you are able to make decisions at crucial moments that grow out of who you truly ARE, rather just reacting to the first whimsical emotion that you might feel.  It’s the art of dealing with the dangers of today with the assurance that “it has all happened before”.  This is why mourners sing the old familiar songs at funerals.  In this strange new day where a beloved has passed on, it is comforting and emboldening to hear the songs we have sung in the past when times were just as rough.  THIS to, is our song.  It’s the story that keeps us strong.

Know your story, but don’t just repeat it.  No one likes a sequel that is so predictable that it falls right in line with the first.  Let your heart interact with the story from which you emerge, but then dare to pick up the pen and scrawl out a brand new chapter.  Find the themes you want to continue, and you want your successors to develop still further, and then get out there and live!  Develop regular ways of returning to your story, continuing to hone in on exactly what it says about you; for without a story, you are history.

I’m writing a paper this semester on my grandfather, Cecil Willis for Adv. Restoration History. He was an editor for a Church of Christ journal entitled Truth Magazine. He made quite a splash among the most conservative branches of the fellowship…preached all over the country, wrote a book, and most importantly for this blog post, did a lot of research into family history.

Recently, my father sent me the pages out of the Trinity County (Texas) history book. My grandfather wrote about 10 pages worth on my family history, writing not just names of my ancestors, but actual stories of their lives. I now have with me, a detailed narrative of my own family line going back almost 450 years! It is amazing to see the issues that my family members cared about, fought for, died for. Their faithful devotion to their family is compelling, and their stories as I read them began to weave mysteriously into my own. I am not walking this journey alone.

Did you know that my googleplex-great-grand father Joseph Willis was the first man to preach the Gospel of Christ West of the Mississippi River?!?! They called him, the “Apostle of the Opalousas”!  (What would happen if someone were called “Apostle to the _____” today?)
One last little tidbit - this has been particuarly huge for me today, and I’m still in the process of unpacking it.  I now know the meaning of my complete name:
Mark - Brave, Strong

Gregory - Watchful, watchman

Willis - Son of resolution

A name claims you. You inherit your name, and your story, from your family. Right now I’m working out the name I have been given, and committing to live deeply by it. Resolved, brave, and watchful…a balance of commitment, courage, and caution.

I won’t be the first in my family to take on the Gospel of Christ - Shoot - I’m not even the first guy in my ancestry to have a blog! (what you do think those old CoC journals were back in the day?)

I go out as a man carrying the torch that has been lit for centuries. I hold it high, resolved to carry it bravely into new places, adding a new chapter to the story. Not just the Willis story, but THE STORY. What’s your family history?  How are we affected by it?

Traditional Christian weddings are the norm for the majority of the developed world.  Regardless of your religion, there is something spectacular about the long flowing white gown, the handsome tux, the candles, the crowd…it is envied and mimicked all around the world.  In Japan they have a saying, “you are born a Buddhist, you are married as a Christian, and you die a Shinto” referring to religious roots of the typical ceremonies one encounters in life. 

This past weekend was an interesting one for me.  A Japanese friend married her American fiancé and incorporated several Japanese twists, including the groom reading a letter in Japanese to her parents in front of everyone…HOW NERVE-WRACKING!  The wedding was of course totally wonderful, and there was plenty of chances for me to reflect on my own marriage and recommit to Katrina in a new way as I once again saw the two of us standing up before our family and friends making covenant with God and with one another.  I am not afraid to admit: I cry at weddings!

Something about the story that is played out during a wedding ceremony must speak to the very heart of humanity, seeing how universally the ceremony has been accepted.  Imagine, before a sea of crowded faces, a man stands up with searching eyes, letting them wander over the familiar crowd.  None of these faces seems to fully satisfy his longings, not even his closest companions near by who are watching his back, keeping him strong.  He stands next to a much older man, a man who has walked the road of searching and finding, a man who knows how it feels to be alone.  This older man also represents God, who stands next to the young man.  In dogged pursuit, this young man learns God’s Word when He says “It is not good for man to be alone.”  God knows that we are meant for relationship, because it is in the image of our Triune God that we were created.  It is not good for a human to be alone, because God has never existed alone, but always in an interdependent relationship.

The music swells, the lights raise and crowd rises to their feet in utter amazement.  They make room for her to walk down life’s path toward the man she has also been searching for.  Out of respect they make a flowered aisle for her to penetrate the crowd and arrive at the man she loves.  Her father clutches her arm with joy and grief, knowing that this is the last time she will be his.  In a way, his commitment to loving, honoring and protecting his daughter is now complete.  He now hands her off to the young man who can barely believe his eyes.  This is his very own gift from God. 

The best of ceremonies treat the time spent as an opportunity for worshipping the Lord God, and for entering into covenant with him, as the man and woman enter into covenant with each other.  Truly, every witness of the wedding is a participant in covenant for the protection and care of this relationship.  God does not treat marriage lightly.  In a mysterious way, he allows man and woman to experience just a slice of God’s relational nature through the marriage covenant. 

Candles have been lit by the parents symbolizing the lives of their two children, and the two families they represent.  As the ceremony rolls on, the man and woman proclaim their commitments to each other through word, element (the rings), and light.  The last of these is the lighting of the “unity candle”, symbolizing a reconciliation of two families that now are ONE.  The deepest need of all humanity is the need to escape isolation and return to relationship.  In these and other ways throughout the ceremony this deep fear of isolation is completely extinguished. 

The older man speaks, and worlds are created.  Much like God’s world-creating power, when the older man says “I now pronounce you, husband and wife!”  Suddenly something new is born.  A fresh creation of God’s sits before us in a bold way.  Onlookers peer over the tops of tall, funny hats and feathers to catch a glimpse of this new victory in God’s creation, and the only response is praise and applause!  The man and woman are now joined forever in relational ONEness, and their faces are beaming with joy. 

The girls and guys that stand behind them now serve as accountability to this relationship.  It is their responsibility to honor and protect that marriage from its individual parts.  The groomsmen and bridesmaids stand as reminders that no marriage can stand alone, but that there is yet another circle of community that surrounds it.  Relationships are always wrapped up in conjoined circles. 

I love thinking about how symbol and icon speaks to the deepest parts of us, and regret that our culture does not recognize the power of the meta-narratives in which these symbols are a part.  It is such a great joy to be joined into the greater story, and still greater that God has given us pictures and emotions and actions to tell the echoes of his Greatest Story, which has yet to be completed.