hook, line and sinker

Our latest project has been a new church, launched last October, which we named Oasis Community. This ambitious project was undertaken by the leadership at our home congregation, Knott Avenue Christian Church, in response to what we believe is God's leading for us to be salt and light in part of Anaheim dubbed Little Arabia.  There are a number of reasons for this location and challenge, but that's material for another blog (soon to come).

When we first began working toward the formation of this fledgling flock, our greatest focus was probably the actual launch of the church- you know, that first service or two when we try to put everything together in a way that looks like church.  Whatever that looks like.  Our primary attention, energy and strategy was initially dedicated to getting this thing off the ground, then seeing how it flew and where to patch and redesign so it might gain altitude.

Preaching on our Launch Day

 Well, we had lift-off October 14 and things have been moving well since then.  We began with an awesome launch team of about 40 from KACC and a couple other churches, added a few more as we began, and have seen an average attendance of a little more than 90 adults and kids since that time.  We're excited, but now we realize that launching the church was only the beginning (duh!).  The real challenge is learning how to grow what has sprouted into something that looks, acts and lives as Christ's church.

We were discussing this in last Monday's Task Team Leaders' meeting, talking about how to keep the initial fire of this new work hot and burning.  At some point, our wise teammate, Wayne, looked around the room and simply reminded us, "When the fishermen stop fishing, they start fighting."  That was it, the bottom line of what we want to see as we grow.  If we can keep the main the the main thing (Matthew 28:18-20), then we'll be OK.  But if we take our eyes off that, even for a moment, we run the risk of focusing on things that will ultimately cause our dissatisfaction, division and even death.  Thanks, Wayne, for veteran words that call us to our purpose, regardless of how we choose to get there.  

Anyone wanna go fishing?

2013- it's the write time

I'm resigned to the fact that there are just some things that I'm not real consistent at.  I like doing them and I appreciate the results, but I'm not nearly as good at as I'd like to be. Chronicling my thoughts and experiences is one of those things.  Maybe you've felt the same way.

I've read biographies of notable Christian men and women throughout my life, and it seems that one discipline most of them had in common was that they journaled.  They made regular time in their schedules to reflect and write- not just about daily affairs, but about how they were encountering God in regular life, what He was doing and how they saw Him working in and through them. Regardless of what they wrote about, they wrote.

I've gone through spurts of journaling throughout the years, but they always seem to fade away into the busyness of life, only to be re-ignited and begun again. Now blogging is an accepted way of publicly journaling thoughts, impressions and lessons from life and (if you're faith-inclined), from God. I've blogged previously, (edensdust and whereintheworldiscarman...sandiego? are examples of past efforts), but now I've decided to hit it again from a different perspective.

Call it a new goal (arrggh- I hope it's not just a resolution!) for 2013, I guess. I want to journal some of my thoughts and experiences, but not necessarily connected to a single subject or category, as in the past.  So the title of this blog reflects what I want to share- simply stuff that's running into, through and out of my mind at the moment.  And believe me, there's quite a bit. 

A new church planting endeavor in a unique environment occupies a lot of my attention, but trust me, there's more. And if you're interested in looking in on what I'm processing, I'd be honored to have you join me. At any rate, it should be an interesting ride in the year ahead. 

Write on!