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).