arieljvan.com

We’re waiting to get the “official” results of our church planter assessment with the Missouri Baptist Convention, which took place over the weekend. However, a couple of hired informants have told us that the results are “very good.” More details when we get the write-up in the mail, but we’re encouraged and continuing to move forward.

Just in case any of you were waiting on pins and needles.

In a few minutes, Lindsay and I are headed to Jefferson City, Missouri for a church planter assessment with the Missouri Baptist Convention. The assessment extends through Saturday, and if things go well, this will open doors for an internship and planting partnership down the road, as we take step to plant a church in urban Kansas City.

We’re both a little sleep-deprived (Aidan, Asher, Olympics) and I’m battling a summer cold. But if there’s sufficient coffee on hand, we should be OK.

If you think of it, pray for us this weekend. We want to discern God’s will clearly as we try to build bridges for planting.

I’ve been meaning to link this post forever. J. Dodson at Church Planting Novice (a title I thought about stealing for this blog) looks at the episode where Jesus deals with a demon possessed man, and asks what we can learn about Christ. Great thoughts, and here’s an excerpt from his conclusions:

The Masculinity of Jesus: Jesus was radical but not because he was Van Helsing–vanquishing only evil and preserving good. Jesus conquered evil through counter-cultural redemption. In an age of emasculated, Fight Club, Ultimate Fighting voyerism, men do well to learn from the actions of Jesus. His masculinity was shaped, not by violent outbursts or the destruction of weird and wicked foes, but by mercy and redemption. He encountered the evil and suffering of this world with otherworldly wisdom and bold compassion. Is your Jesus this kind of manly?

We’re coming off a couple of great interactions with pastors and people at young church plants. Early last week, I had the opportunity to grab coffee with Troy Campbell, who pastors New Life in the middle of the Crossroads District in downtown Kansas City. Troy told me about his church planting journey and gave me a tour of the remarkable loft-like space currently being developed for New Life on the fourth floor of an office building.

New Life already has its share of stories, as they’ve served in one of KC’s worst neighborhoods, seen people come to Jesus, and essentially worked and prayed their way into the ideal new location, despite the sky-high costs of real estate downtown. I deeply appreciated Troy’s willingness to share his experience (and prayers) with a young buck he doesn’t know from Adam.

Then, this past weekend, Lindsay and I enjoyed a similar experience, as we packed up Asher (travels well), dropped off Aidan at his grandparents’ (travels like a caged Rottweiler), and drove north to Ottumwa, Iowa. A couple months ago, Marty Schmidt, who pastors a young church plant in Ottumwa, had asked me if I’d think about coming to preach at thebridge. When I asked Marty what had possessed him to invite me, he said it was more of a Holy Spirit thing, at which point I clearly couldn’t say no.

Kidding aside, it was an almost surreal opportunity to go preach at a growing church, talk with Marty and others (thanks Brandon and Johna!) about their stories, and get a good look at what these Christians are doing in Ottumwa, which is the drug capital of Iowa, an urban/suburban hybrid city where the two sides of the tracks are pretty clearly marked. Once again, I was amazed at the generosity and graciousness of Marty and others in welcoming us, praying for us, and investing in us during the time we were there.

These types of meetings remind me what an alien, illogical things the faith, hope, and love of Jesus are. Apart from the gospel and grace of Christ, there’s no reason for busy, established leaders to take the time to pour into a dude they’ve never met before. As well, only Jesus makes a lasting difference in neighborhoods riddled with drugs and guns.

Experiences like these will help form our vision as we move forward. As I talked with Lindsay about the last week, we were refreshed by the rare goodness of grace, as people who have been loved against all odds by God extend that same love generously to people they hardly know.

We want to see the same grace of Jesus take root as we serve Kansas City.

(If you missed it, here’s our first update.)

our moderator

I started a group on Google to help folks keep up with our progress toward the dream of seeing KC’s urban arts district transformed by the landmarks of the gospel. Right now, urban KC knows more about bar-b-q, blues, and mediocre baseball than Jesus Christ. We’d like to see that change. (We’d also like the Royals to stop sucking.)

If you’d like to receive the occasional update via email or jump in with questions or discussion, come on over. Membership is open, so you can join on the homepage.