arieljvan.com

Jose, Lindsay and Erin tune up

October will go down as the month of church-plant-improv and changed timelines. Earlier in the church planting game, our plan was to gradually build our team until we reached a “critical mass” of at least 30-40 people, then begin downtown services with the numbers to be somewhat self-sustaining.

That plan changed when Crossroads Church Kansas City was offered the opportunity to begin meeting in a landmark downtown studio and gallery building, the Arts Incubator. After praying about it, we concluded that we should go looking for used sound equipment, describe our upcoming services as “informal,” and go for it.

In a nutshell, that’s the story of last month. Our team of 15 people stepped up to the plate and took ownership of the upcoming services. It’s been cool to see our people pool time, energy, and a lot of creativity as we get things moving. Starting November 8, we’ll be holding weekly services at the Arts Incubator, 6pm Sunday nights.

In many ways, the Crossroads District downtown is a community of start-ups—artists starting careers from scratch, small businesses beginning in empty warehouses. As our church plant takes on an even more off-the-cuff personality, we’ve been challenged to rely on faith in a sovereign God rather than in a “large launch” or a windfall of resources.  But the correlation between the roots of this church and the roots of the Crossroads area is a something we appreciate.

Last month we also launched Core groups, 2-4 men or women meeting weekly, which we see as critical in forming the Crossroads culture. By design, these groups will help us hold each other accountable for our mission—Love Jesus, connect people, transform cities—and focus heavily on prayer and Bible. The architecture for City groups (10-15 people) is being designed as well.

Midway through the month Lindsay and I decided there wasn’t enough going on (nod, wink) so we decided to move forward into the second phase of remodeling in the Brick House. This meant inviting a team of highly motivated students in to start demo on our kitchen/dining room. There is nothing like a swirling cloud of dust to make all of life seem more dramatic.

This has been a challenging and somewhat chaotic month, but it’s good to know that we’re in the right place, surrounded by a great team, strengthening our ties downtown and following God’s lead into uncharted territory.

As we continue to gear up for services and invest in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, please pray:

- That God would send a worship leader our way—we’re still looking for the right person to lead music for us long term. See our Craigslist ad.

- For more opportunities to serve. We’re looking forward to volunteering at the Leedy-Voulkous Gallery and Arts Incubator in the days ahead, and will continue to look for ways to meet genuine needs in relational ways.

- That worship services will come together. We’re moving fast, light on our feet and light on resources (ha). So when I tell friends I’m not exactly sure what to expect, I’m more than half serious.

Thanks for your prayers. We look forward to pausing a month from now, letting the dust settle, and reflecting on how God is working as we plow ahead.

This update is a little terse, seeing as it’s about 3 weeks overdue, so shoot us a note if you’d like to catch up. As always, we’d love to grab coffee or talk at more depth about what’s going on. And most definitely shoot us a note if you have a penniless but talented indie rocker living in your basement–we’ll put that guy to work.

Lindsay and Aidan chill with a momentarily quiet Ezra.

Is it possible the dog days of summer have already come and gone? Since it’s currently 60 degrees like October outside, I’m going to hope for the best. But what has definitely come and gone is the due date of our third son, who arrived on August 4 after a short, smooth, delivery.

Ezra Keller weighed in at 6 lbs 13 ounces and 20 inches long with a full head of dark hair. He’s our tallest baby yet, so we have him slotted for the power forward spot on the family basketball team. Lindsay and Ezra are back home and doing well, and Ezra is already popular with his older brothers, who argue over who gets to hold him.

Ezra’s name means “rescuer” or “help is on the way,” and is a head nod to one of our favorite Old Testament heroes who braved hostility and demonstrated great faith in rebuilding the temple and restoring worship after Israel’s return to Jerusalem. “Keller” is a Gaelic name that means “little champion” or “dear friend” and is already a good testament to the little guy’s chutzpah.

Asher is jazzed about "Little E"

“Little E” has of course been the highlight of the last month, but amid trips to the hospital, arranging baby furniture, and the first of many sleepless nights there has been lots more going on.

Crossroads Church helped with a ten-day event called “Mission to the City.” About 70 students, mostly high school-age, arrived in Kansas City from multiple churches, ready to serve and learn about the urban core. Our Crossroads church plant coordinated a service project on the West Side, downtown prayer walks, several remodeling projects in our new Brick House, and a downtown tour to orient the participants to the urban experience and spiritual needs here.

A couple local churches, Lee’s Summit Community Church and Pleasant Valley Baptist Church, provided scholarships to the annual Leadership Summit held at Pleasant Valley for myself and a few team members-we’ll continue to discuss and benefit from those high-caliber leadership lessons in the months ahead.

I enjoyed chances to preach a couple times at Cornerstone Community Church as I continue to get my preaching game in shape. Our team made visits and presentations at a couple partner churches, Northland Baptist and Crossroads Grain Valley as well.

On the home front here at the Brick House, we’re enjoying some great opportunities to connect with neighbors as we take walks and hang out in front of the house. We’ve also started making some initial steps forward in remodeling, as our team and some local partners have begun to pitch in. We’re increasingly grateful for the way God orchestrated this place to live and minister.

Our team continues to meet weekly to pray, plan, eat, and get in the Bible together. This month we got excellent news from friends Kacey and Stephanie Nelson in Illinois, who told us they’ll be relocating to KC to join the church plant. We’re praying Kacey is able to find a job in Kansas City in the next several months.

It’s good for my family to pause after another packed month and reflect on everything that’s happened. With August almost over, we’re considering what new initiatives to pursue as fall begins, and looking for additional ways to connect and serve downtown, as we move toward the point of holding public services. We’ll keep you posted.

Thanks again for tracking the progress of Crossroads Church and keeping us in your prayers. As wild and unexpected as the ride has already been, we know that God will continue to surprise us in the ways he works in the months ahead.

Peace,

AJ (Ariel), Lindsay, Aidan, Asher, and Ezra

Crossroads Church Kansas City

P.S. You’ll find some pictures of Ezra at my blog, http://arieljvan.com.

Party with sugar in the new place

— Note: This post is a little late…our update got posted on Facebook and sent to our email list, but the blog fell through the cracks. Here’s our July update. FYI, the August update will be coming along shortly. —

When, at Lindsay’s request, I put my hands in the air and slowly move away from my to-do list, life takes on a surreal quality. I’m writing this update from our new home/ministry staging area at 1827 Washington, the “Brick House,” and multiple times in the last eight months, we never thought we would arrive here.

Eight months was a long time to wait for the right place to open up by downtown, and our refrain was, Unless God pulls this off, it’s not happening. Well, God pulled it off. Now we’re slowly getting settled in our new digs.

A two minute walk from the heart of the Crossroads District, spending time downtown has never been easier. Our kids have room to play and we’re enjoying opportunities to take walks and meet neighbors, host meetings, and throw parties on our deck. Finally being able to put roots down and become stake-holders in the downtown community is a huge answer to prayer.

We’re continuing to pursue our ongoing goals of building connections downtown and growing our team toward critical mass for public worship services. In addition, we’ve lined out an action plan for remodeling the Brick House so we can use it for living, work and ministry the way we envision.

Summer has been a choppy stretch for us, with vacations and changing schedules breaking up our routines. (Baby #3 is due August 10.) We’re continuing to visit local church plants and meet Sunday evenings with our team. In addition, we’ve started praying together on Wednesday mornings; when we discussed the challenges of summer’s dog days with our team, we concluded that consistent, focused prayer needs to be a priority.

When we experience a victory-like moving into the Brick House-we can forget how risky this whole church plant endeavor is. God’s the one who opens doors, enables crazy plans, and changes lives. Without his powerful intervention we’re just spinning our wheels.

Another step we’re considering is leasing office space in a downtown location called JavaPort. JavaPort is not a typical office; it’s a “subscription coffeehouse” where business start-ups pay for space, wifi, office equipment, and a collaborative work environment (with coffee on tap).

Designated work space is good, but the main draw at JavaPort would be the chance for Crossroads Church to office in a public forum and cross-pollinate with other local entrepreneurs. We’re working to raise an additional $125 a month to pursue this opportunity, so pray that God provides and get in touch if this is a project you’d like to fund.

As the month closes out, we’ll tackle another service project on the West Side, talk with more partner churches, and keep investing our lives here in downtown KC, MO. I’ve enjoyed several opportunities to preach in the last month, and will continue to preach at partnering churches as I work to develop some good disciplines and rhythms. Holler if you know of a good sermon opportunity.

Finally, pray that Jesus will sustain our focus through the summer humidity and haze, and will keep adding members to our church plant team. We think public worship services will be an important “front door” for our friends to get acquainted with Crossroads, but need to keep growing our team until we can pull off services.

We’re thankful for your prayers, and humbly amazed that God uses simple prayed requests and ridiculous people like us to build his kingdom.

Peace,

Ariel (AJ), Lindsay, Aidan, Asher, and Boy #3

ariellindsay@gmail.com

Crossroads Church Kansas City

I realized I should devote a post to the topic of Crossroads Church’s new site, which is now up:

Crossroads Church Kansas City
(www.CrossroadsChurchKC.com)

So there you have it.

We’re doing our best to incorporate Flickr, Twitter, and Facebook to give the place some interactive functionality. If you have any tips or suggestions for us, pass ‘em on!