Merry Christmas to the Plant Group!

Merry Christmas from Chicago ... Libby and I wanted to send you all a video to encourage you in the work you have ahead of you. Keep on in prayer and building relationships and seeking Christ in all you do!

We miss you all and are excited to return and join with you all in the work.




If you can't view the video here you can download it from this address (you will need to cut and paste it into your navigation bar ... for some reason blogger doesn't let you just click on it):
http://www.sendspace.com/file/pgl2f5

The Journey of the Cross

In grace God offers us forgiveness, cleansing, liberation and healing as he meets us in the places of our lives that are most alienated from him; he is involved in the most terrible aspects our hearts. I think this is what makes this journey uncomfortable. This journey towards wholeness in Christ, or the process of being conformed to Christ-likeness, primarily takes place at the points of our unlikeness.

Why can’t he meet me where I rock? Start where I am doing well? How much of my devos, church life, and worship are set up simply to affirm myself in the areas I am already doing well in?

It is obvious that if spiritual formation is about us in the process of being conformed to the image of Christ, it is going to take place in those spots not yet conformed. As the spirit pushes at some area in our lives it will always be confrontational as he challenges us to come out of brokenness of self into wholeness in Christ. The confrontation will come through various channels like the Word, worship, preaching, a friend, an enemy, a situation. The reason this is such a struggle at times is that this part of unlikeness—this brokenness—is who we are! It is not something we wear that needs to be taken off. It is us!

Christ tells us in Luke 9:23 to “Deny yourself.” I noticed that he doesn’t say deny sin, or deny the world, or deny a particular enjoyment …he says deny yourself. That part of me not conformed to the image is not a thing in me – it is an essential part of who I am. Jesus knew that in order to deny ourselves we would need a radical change. In order to deny our total self he goes on to say, “take up the cross.” All of me must die so that Christ can live through me.

Do we fully get what taking up the cross really means? Those who first heard this call knew exactly what it meant. If you took up a cross you had said good-bye to everything; you were going to die.

There seems to be a new cross in our churches today. It is like the old cross, but different: It comes with a padded shoulder rest; it is more compact and comes in three choices of popular colours. A.W. Tozer talked about the difference between the new cross and the old cross and how from the new cross has sprung a new philosophy of the Christian Life – a philosophy of “redirecting the person”, and offering everything the world does, but cleaner. The new cross encourages a new life but not denial or the surrendering of the old life before this new life can be received. But the old cross would have nothing to do with the world. It meant the end of that journey and a new one beginning.

“The cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human being. The person in Roman times who took up their cross and started down the road had already said good bye to their friends. They were not coming back. They were not going out to have their life redirected; they were going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the person, completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck cruel and hard, and when it had finished its work, the person was no more. God salvages the person by liquidating them and then raising them again to newness of life.”
A.W. Tozer

In coming to Christ we do not bring our old life up onto a higher plane; we leave it at the cross. This is the daily journey … a journey of dying daily to myself and allowing God to raise me up again to wholeness in the image of Christ. And with so many other voices telling me how to have a full life, it is not an easy journey without spending a significant amount of time in prayer in the Word and with other believers, and serving Christ every day.

Prayer and Church Planting ...

I was recently thinking about our church plant and how we may set up the greatest church programs, have the best worship and preaching, reach out to the lost and hurting of Muskoka, and try all we can to foster a community of love and grace … and yet nothing we do physically will change hearts. We need a spiritual work to accomplish a spiritual goal. This is where the power of prayer comes in. John Wesley said that “God does nothing but in the answering of prayer”

I was completely blown away when we visited another Harvest church plant and heard of prayer after prayer being answered. They saw God's Spirit do some amazing things when people were on their knees in a humble place, and in a position to receive more of God. Our church plant group is meeting in different homes tomorrow evening to pray together and hopefully begin a pattern and habit of doing this – humbly putting Christ first in everything about this plant and in everything in our lives.

"I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live,

but Christ who lives in me."
Galatians 2:20

As I begin to think more deeply about looking to Christ for a new church my thoughts were drawn to Galatians 2:20. We all need to have Christ in, over, and through us. He needs to be in me … and not just in the "Jesus, come into my heart" sense of 'in me.' He needs to have full access to everything in my heart … he needs to be allowed to see even the dark spaces no one else has ever seen.

He needs to be over me … no more hierarchy of Jesus, family, ministry, hobbies, etc. It is all Jesus … everything else finds its meaning and purpose and place in Him. It is all in Christ … I need to seek Him first and allow His the authority in all of it … then I can stop with the competing needs that pull me in all directions.

He then needs to be able to live through me. I need to be nothing—except Christ like. I need to allow Him to transform the way I live and interact with people. He has already changed me … I now need to allow the change to live out in my life. I can be so prideful sometimes and want people to recognize me for my accomplishments, my humour, my personality, etc. It seems I want to be known for things other than Christ-likeness. This has got to change … I want people to be able to see Christ in me - living out in love, grace, holiness, meekness, humility, and wisdom.

Christ in us, over us, and through us.

A Different Kind of Retreat

When I heard we were going on a retreat I envisioned a rustic setting surrounded by creation with time for quiet reflection and group interaction. Well, when the camp in northern Wisconsin was booked the back-up plan for our retreat was the largest indoor waterpark in the United States. Different? Yes … I am sure McKinley enjoyed this type of retreat much more than the typical living in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.

We went to a place called, Kalahari. More waterslides than had I ever seen! Unfortunately, McKinley is your typical 2-year old … they can watch the same episode of Blue’s Clues over and over AND they can ride on the same waterslide 400 times in a row. “McKinley, do you want to try another slide?” “No, daddy, let’s do the yellow slide again!” No real spiritual insight or analogy from this – a good time, a good break and a sweet day with my girls.

Be Still & Know That I Am God

"Busyness is the enemy of spirituality”
Eugene H. Peterson

McKinley enjoying a break on a busy shopping day

Yesterday, our daughter, McKinley asked Libby, “Why are we always in a rush?” At first we figured it was such a cute thing to say … and then we thought about our poor little girl who felt the hurriedness of our new lives here in Chicago. And then this morning, I wondered if God was speaking through my 3 year-old about something even bigger.

Richard Foster says, "In contemporary society, our adversary majors in 3 things: noise, hurry and crowds. The world screams at us - faster, louder, more. God calls to us - slower, softer, less." Psalm 46 is filled with all sorts of action. The earth is shaking, mountains crumbling, waters crashing … and in verse 10 God tells us to “be still, and know that I am God.” How do we do this? Where do we find time for stillness? How can we slow things down in order to find more time to spend with our loving, gentle Creator and Father?

It seems that in the hurriedness I have missed out on real time with my daughter (obviously, she sensed it, too) and the same thing can be said about my relationship with my Heavenly Father. So, as I look at changing things in my life to have more ‘real time’ with McKinley I also want to begin to see how we all can do the same in our relationship with God.

Firstly, some things have to be cut out of our schedules. Are we just plain too busy to have any sort of deep relationship with God? What about lives filled with good things like ministry? It's so easy for us to assume that just because we're busy with so called Godly things that it's o.k. when the reality is that just because we’re busy with church or religion doesn't make it right or healthy. And it doesn't necessarily mean that you're getting to know God more. The greatest worship takes place when we find ourselves with no agenda other than to be with God … to be in His presence, to love Him, to listen to His voice, to meditate on His Word, to fully enjoy Him.

But we don’t have the luxury of a monastic life of being able to fully cease all activity. How do we live a life of ‘stillness’ and un-hurry … we all have things we need to accomplish in our schedules. It is then that we need to intentionally seek God in the midst of life. We can look to actively worship God in the depth of our soul by praising Him, speaking with Him, listening to Him, looking for Him all throughout the day. It is something that I have been trying (and failing at) for the last while … an ongoing conversation with God.

Scripture tells us to “pray continually”, “whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus”, “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”, “give thanks to God the Father for everything”, “delight in the law of the LORD, and on it meditate day and night”, “rejoice in the Lord always”, etc. A man by the name of Brother Lawrence called it, “Practicing the Presence of God”. Although a humble cook, he learned the greatest secret of living a life of stillness and knowing God: communing with the Lord throughout our daily schedules. He mastered the art of living in the presence of God throughout the day.

God forgive us for being too busy to notice You. Help us be still, slow down, and take the scripture we read in the morning with us all day long. Let’s join with McKinley and ask ourselves, “Why are we always in a rush?”

“The stillness in which we find God is not superficial,
a mere absence of fidgeting or talking.
It is a deliberate and quiet attentiveness --
receptive, alert, and ready.
I think of what Jim wrote in his journal,
‘Wherever you are, be all there –
live to the hilt every situation
you believe to be the will of God’”
Elisabeth Elliot

Elgin Grand Opening

Matt Stowell Leads Worship with the Harvest Choir

It has been great to see the smaller Harvest Church launches so as to get a good idea of what we can expect in Muskoka. With that being said ... when Elgin opened up the new worship center it was quite an experience! The Jack Bionda Arena and the Algonquin Theatre could fit in the new facility with room to spare. I could go on and on about how cool this building is and yet something much more dramatic happened on this past Sunday morning.

Pastor James is in the second Sunday of a new series (10 Choices to Change your Life Forever) and was preaching about forgiveness. It was incredibly moving to see so many go forward at the end of the service to make a public profession of faith. There were young people, couples, elderly, and whole families that made their way up to the front.
The new Elgin Worship Center
Once again (you may be noticing a theme here), my mind raced forward to the fall of 2008 in Muskoka. We are excited for a new Harvest Bible Chapel in our own community where people will be spiritually fed and challenged to walk with Christ daily ... it will also be an opportunity for us to see God work in the hearts of people He is calling. Jesus said,"Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest." We can begin now by praying now for those in Muskoka who don't yet know of the amazing forgiveness that God offers.

Experiencing New Harvest Plants

What a weekend we just had! We have been able to enjoy the outdoors a lot due to the weirdly warm weather. There are an unusual amount of pumpkin farms around here, each with their own carnival rides, petting zoos, and hay mazes so on Saturday Libby, Ellie, McKinley and I (along with Summer, a new friend McKinley has made … she is an evangelistic machine) checked one out. It was a full day of petting goats, jumping in an inflatable castle and riding carnival rides that looked like they were found at a carnie yard sale.

On Sunday we were able to attend our second Harvest launch in 3 weeks and it was an incredible experience. I have to admit that I found it hard to concentrate on the actual message as my mind continually wandered to future thoughts of Harvest Muskoka. In both of the plant launches they were surprised at the numbers. At the one we were at this Sunday they went from a plant group of 30-40 people to 240 people on that first service. It was great to see the excitement of the plant group as they were able to see the fruit of their labour as the months of meeting, praying and planning came to realization on their first Sunday service. After this past Sunday launch, David Jones (Dean of the School of Ministry) asked me if I could see this happening in Muskoka … he must have caught the far-away look in my eyes and not mistaken it for my usual look of confusion when he talks about the Greek meanings of obscure New Testament words. I told him how hard it was to fully engage in the service as I envisioned our launch this next fall.

Harvest South Milwuakee - meeting in a theatre

I am not sure how God will specifically bring all of the elements together to plant the Harvest Muskoka Church and yet I am still ‘fired up’ (to use a James McDonald word) knowing that God is already preparing the soil. I am so thankful for God's Spirit, who is working in the hearts of people in Muskoka. I am so thankful for the people who are already "on the ground" working so hard following God's Spirit in preparing Muskoka for this coming work. Now the hard part of this whole plant, for me, is waiting. In Acts 1:4 Jesus tells the Apostles to wait ... how hard that must have been. They were in the beginning of a huge "church plant" and they were told to wait for the Spirit to begin the work. I have added so many hours to many roadtrips because I couldn't wait for roadwork or traffic jams ... "there has to be a faster way". God, help us in the waiting as we look forward with excitement for what you are going to do in our hometown.

"The LORD is good to those who wait for him,to the soul who seeks him" (Lam. 3:25).

I am so stoked as I look forward to what God is going to do in Muskoka ... for now I want to join with those meeting in the small group by seeking God and being involved in preparing our hearts by being filled with the Spirit so that we can join in preparing the soil for the church He wants to plant.

Go Cubbies

Wrigley Field

Yes, I have quickly jumped on the Chicago Cubs bandwagon. Last night I had the privilege of going to Wrigley Field for the first time, to see a Cubs game (Libby and McKinley spent the evening at Awana). Up until then, my only live baseball experience was Exhibition Place or Skydome ... wow, what a difference! The park has so much character (including netting over your head to protect you from deteriorating concrete) and the fans have life (I have never high-fived so many strangers). One game, and I am hooked. GO CUBS! It will be hard to re-enter the sterile world of Toronto sports facilities and the 'businessmen-fans'.

Fred Adams, me, Joe Stowell IV, and B.K. Smith enjoying the game!

A Church of Seekers

“To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul's paradox of love.”
(C.S. Lewis, The Pursuit of God)

The more I think about what ministry life is and what our Church will be, the more I am drawn to the idea that it all hinges on Jesus. “Wow! Three weeks at Harvest School of Ministry and this is the brilliance you come up with!” I realize it sounds so obvious and so simple that we need to pursue Jesus and yet how often today do we sit back and allow teachers, preachers, authors, and speakers do the seeking for us. When church becomes a place where believers are coming and yet not pursuing Christ themselves it becomes a shallow exercise. And a church without life.

Going to church becomes very similar to going to a movie. We chat a bit before hand, watch the show (we are maybe even moved by it), and then spend a short time after chatting a bit about what we just saw. This is not how it was meant to be. Matt Stowell (worship leader at Harvest) was just chatting with us the other day about how the church service is not supposed to be like an event, instead it is to be like a convention. Think about a Plumber's Convention … it is full of plumbers who come and talk about plumbing, hear about different aspects of plumbing, share stories of plumbing … and is a great plumber's convention because they are plumbers before and outside of the convention weekend. The Sunday service is NOT the work … as Matt said, “it is the fire at the center of the factory where we come for warmth, but the real work is elsewhere.”

So what is Church? It is about reflecting a life of pursuit of Christ, the spiritual life. It is a group of believers coming together who have given up everything to seek Jesus. They are intimately connected to Christ and are coming together to worship the one they are pursuing, and to continue to pursue Him. Church then becomes about calling people to a life of a spiritual act of worship, not just a Sunday event.

This life of pursuit (rather than just a Sunday event) is cultivated by putting ourselves in a place of complete trust … which typically only comes when we are putting ourselves in a place where there is a deep need, hurt, or struggle, and you are in over your head as you serve Him … when only God “showing up” brings any answers. We pursue out of a need … if I never step out of my comfort zone will I ever need to pursue God? Put yourself in a place of sitting with someone who is dying, caring for a woman in a pregnancy crisis center, or talking about Jesus to a co-worker or family member and you are now in a place of depending of God … it will promote a seeking heart. You will begin to want to wake up an hour earlier to spend time with Jesus and pursue him throughout the day as you see seek His presence in everything. Now bring together a group of worshippers who are all pursuing in this way and you have a church with life.

When we meet as seekers, God’s presence will be revealed and we will have an encounter with Him. “The Presence and the manifestation of the Presence are not the same. There can be the one without the other. God is here when we are wholly unaware of it. He is manifest only when and as we are aware of His Presence. On our part there must be surrender to the Spirit of God, for His work it is to show us the Father and the Son. If we co-operate with Him in loving obedience God will manifest Himself to us, and that manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christian life and a life radiant with the light of His face.” (C.S. Lewis) This is the church that I am sure we are all praying for in Muskoka. Let’s start now by being seekers.

Hard to Believe it Has Only Been a Couple of Weeks!

Well, it feels like forever and yet it also feels like we just arrived yesterday! A lot has gone on in our little family. We have spent some good time getting to know the area and getting adjusted to living in a big city ... Libby may not want to leave:) McKinley and Ellie have already had some fun times at a beach (above) and a local fair (below). Our apartment is small but very nice ... my kayak was in our bedroom for awhile but has found a new home in the closet (I gotta hold on to some of my outdoor life!!). We have also been blessed to be living in the same apartment complex as the rest of the Harvest School of Ministry families so we always have people to hang with and our girls have some great friends to swim with in the pool (yes the place has a pool!! ... although these crazy Americans think it is too cold so it looks like they are closing it down!).


good times at the carnival

Libby, other HSOM wives
and some mentors

Libby has been having some sweet times with the other wives in the program and with those who are going to be pouring into her life. She was excited to find out that one of the mentors was our host when we visited for our interviews. Her and her husband were a big reason why we decided to pursue the School of Ministry ... they lived lives of love and grace and Christ shone so brightly through them.

I could write 20 posts on what I have been learning ... I will keep this much more current in the future so as not to have to sum it all up like this. All the learning aside to say that we are even more excited about what God is going to do in Muskoka. I had the cool privilege of going to another Harvest launch in the area and it really got me excited about what Harvest Muskoka will look like. It was a service filled with authentic worship, powerful prayer, bold preaching and true community. I am beginning to see the four pillars of Harvest (check out the link at the bottom of the blog page) lived out and it only serves to build more excitement for our future back home in Muskoka.

To share just one of the pillars: Years of working with young people at Summit College has shown me that many are missing the boat by trying to make the gospel more palatable. The students I saw come through our program wanted something to die for. They wanted to hear that in order to follow Christ they needed to give up everything! They were tired of seeing Christians not live out the full gospel and hearing sermons without the Spirit. I believe it is through Spirit empowered preaching, preaching with urgency and a call to action that lives are changed. We don’t need more eloquent preachers, we need more empty preachers, filled with the Spirit. After the Spirit came on the day of Pentecost look at Peter’s first sermon … 3000 converts!! I have a lot to learn about what it means to bring a biblical message of authority and urgency and yet I prayerfully seek this pillar.

Although we have left Muskoka, our hearts remain there and we prayerfully anticipate the culmination of this present training, learning, and growth in a strong church plant. We are constantly praying for the small group and those who are "left behind" to continue the groundwork.

One Journey's End is the Beginning of Another

It was eleven years ago that I began a one year wilderness Bible college called, Summit College. Early on in the process I asked God if he could be really clear if he wanted me to move on into another ministry and out of Summit and that the “still small voice” wasn’t going to work. I loved where He had put me and could never see myself leaving this place. Many more years passed and there were super tough times, unbelievable growing times, absolutely hilarious times, learning times, and memories and friendships that will be with me forever.

Then this spring God began to speak … and it was not a still small voice. This whole time, as I fasted and prayed my heart was beginning to look outside of this ministry. Because of some changes that were coming down the pipe from Summit's parent ministry, I fired off a resume to Harvest Bible Fellowship as I knew they were looking for a pastor for a new church plant here in Muskoka.

In June I was asked to apply to the Harvest School of Ministry to be trained to be the pastor of the Muskoka Harvest. Five phone interviews and three in-person interviews later I was on a plane to Chicago (the location of the school) for five more interviews. Even though the interviews were a chance for the big dogs of Harvest to evaluate me, the weekend was also an opportunity for Libby (my beautiful wife) and me to pray and seek God (Lam. 3:25 became our favourite verse) and to ask Him to put up any red flags if this was the wrong place for us. Well, not only did God not show any red flags, he totally took care of the concerns we brought with us about the Harvest ministry and showed us that the heart of the churches was one of love and grace, out of which truth could be spoken.

So that brings us to today … I was accepted into the school and I and the whole fam are living in Elgin, Illinois … anticipating coming back to Huntsville in April to begin a Muskoka Harvest Bible Chapel. Since beginning this journey, my desire has not wavered from doing what He has called me to do and will continue to be my primary passion. “But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” (Acts 20:24). As I look ahead to pastoring a church, I am thankful for the main lesson I learned while leading Summit: the fact that a grace filled community is the key to reaching the world (John 13:35; John 17:20-21) and it is the arena out of which comes the ability to challenge people with the truth of God’s Word and His call to radically abandon everything for Him (Luke 9:23, 24).