Being The Church

Sitting in a Starbucks at 9:25am on Sunday and I have to tell everyone about something. I'm witnessing one of the most beautiful things I've seen in a while. When I walked in an hour and a half ago, these 5 men, maybe between 30-40 years old, were sitting around a few small tables talking. As the hour passed and the podcast I was listening to ended, I was able to hear their conversation. These men are sharing their lives together and encouraging one another. One man just shared some struggles about feeling useless in his job; like he wasn't making a difference. The other 4 men fought for his heart, spoke truth to him, and affirmed what God is doing through him in the young men he's working with. When the guy appoligized for taking up more time on him, they all insisted, "no, we care about you. you are not a burden. you are a treasure. we love you."

The guilt of religion tells these men they need to be in a church building singing songs right now. They chose to say no, we will be the church at Starbucks, or wherever they live out the model set out by the early church (teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer) rather than going to a building we have blindly dubbed "church."

I think at the core we all long for a group of people who know us intimately, whom we know intimately, and who regularly fights for our hearts and helps us connect with Father. How beautiful it is to see it lived out.

Big update on the BIG story God is telling

A few days ago we received our official invitation from the South African Navigators detailing what we are being invited into and what our assignment would be. This was equally exciting and sobering. The thing that God has been putting on our hearts for 2 years now is seeming closer and more real than ever! We are still in a season of seeking the Lord for guidance on this journey. He is telling a HUGE story, and we are a part of it! It seems as though His story includes us being a part of the movement of the Gospel in the country of South Africa. Please pray with us!!

Life on Life ministry means laying down your life

Have you ever been given a gift from God and not yet known what for? Maybe you know He's going to ask you to use it eventually. That's what we knew when God provided us with a dirt cheap 2br apartment for much less than we were planning on paying for a 1br apartment, and which we would have been very pleased with. About a week after moving in, I began talking with my not-believing-friend Nick as he had broken up with his long time girlfriend that he had been living with. "Do you want to talk about it?" "Not really I'm doing pretty good" "Ok well when you're ready to, I'm here to talk" 'Ok, thanks Dave. I appreciate it" ... 2 hours later... "Dave, uh can I live with you and Hannah?" It took Hannah and I about 30 seconds to decide; ofcourse you can live with us Nick! What better way to get DEEP in to the lives and hearts of our friends that to literally do life with them. Nick begins moving stuff in this afternoon. We're very excited to deflect God's blessing on us to Nick for the sake of the Kingdom. Why else do we receive blessings from God anyways??

When Nick showed up to start moving stuff in, I couldn't help but laugh and take a picture. He and his bed matched exactly!

The Pilot: Missional Community; Take 1

For the last few weeks, we've been doing what we do best; moving. In fact, in the first two and a half years of marriage, we've moved 5 times. We see it as a good way to stay light on our feet and not be tied down :)

What Are We Doing Here?? Great question. Some of you remember reading about the God's leading towards a large apartment complex in the city primarily filled with 20's and internationals to plant a movement of the Gospel in this pocket of Denver. Well, as time to move was drawing near, the prices continued to shoot up. It was looking like it wasn't going to be possible to pursue this afterall. BUT God's people prayed and He came through, as he tends to do, God answered. He provided a great apartment for $759/mo. that's going for $1175/mo. right now! God's provision is one of the best affirmations of our calling that we get to see.

So What's the Plan? For the first few months, the plan is "to know and be known." We want to be present as much as possible with our radars up for relationships. What has this looked like in the first week here? Here's a few examples: - Going to "trivia night" at the clubhouse and inviting some of our not-yet-believing friends - Frequenting the basketball court and meeting many people (mostly guys) including 3 Africans (NATIVE Africans, that is) - Dave going to Poker Night and meeting a lot of younger guys that have great potential for friendship. - Taking walks around the lake - Talking with neighbors as we moved in (One is a CSI w/ Denver Police!) We're praying that in time, God will draw us in to deep friendship with many people here, and that He will let us be a part of His Kingdom moving forward in this part of the city!

What Does This Have To Do With 20somethings?? Great question. There are a number of men and women in their 20's here, but that's not the only reason we're here. One of the hats we wear is to connect graduating seniors from the Navigator ministries in the region to a community of Kingdom minded 20s in the city. The vision is that as we connect grads into our community, the vision for the advancement of the Gospel that they lived out on campus will be transfered in to this community. We believe that God will use our community here to connect many people with Him. Jesus said the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefor, to send forth laborers. We're sitting in the harvest as laborers. Now we're asking the Lord of the harvest to send more laborers to partner with us. Will you pray for this with us?


One fun thing about being here so far has been the animals. Because of the lake onsite, there are a lot of them! While moving in we discovered a nest below our window that a mommy and daddy geese took turns sitting on. We realized there were eggs in it that soon hatched. We have gotten to see these two little guys grow so much in just a week!

Another trip this week- please pray again!

Thank you so much to all of you who prayed for my trip to Greeley last week. It was awesome to re-connect with a lot of the students that we had been giving our lives to for the past 3-4 years. It was so cool to take a step back and see the bigger picture of the work on campus and a lot of the fruit of it.

One particularly intrinsically rewarding thing was being invited up again a few days ago to hear our good friend Ryan speak at NavNight. Ryan was a guy that came to Christ in an Investigative Bible Study that I led in the dorm that I used to live in! God has done incredible things in his life in the last year and a half and it was so awesome to hear him tell the room full of people about his journey. God is allowing Him to see fruit in his life, and it's so fun to be a spiritual grandparent!

This week, we will take a similar trip to Colorado State University to spend time with Seniors and grads from the CSU Navs ministry. The hope of this time is to connect with many students (the largest Nav ministry in the region is at CSU) who are potentially considering a 1-2 year missionary journey to Denver, Colorado. They would get jobs in the city and trust Jesus to use their lives (sounds kinda like our calling for our whole lives, right?) We, along with the team of staff here in Denver, would be their coaches. Please pray that many students around the region would get excited about taking the vision of reaching their campus for Christ to the city of Denver to labor among the lost here.

Trip this week - please pray!

Tomorrow afternoon, we will drive to our old stompin' grounds- the University of Northern Colorado, for Dave to speak at their NavNight (around 120-150 students this year; crazy!) and then for both of us to spend the day friday with a variety of different students. This is something that we hope to do about once a semester, and not just at UNC but at all of the campuses with Navigator ministries along the front range.
He will speaking on the Kingdom of God particularly:
1. What is the Kingdom of God? (or Kingdom of Heaven)
2. Values of the Kingdom of God vs. the Kingdom of this world
3. How does the Kingdom of God move (or "come to earth")

Please pray for the message to really scratch where the students are itching, and for God to draw many of them into deeper consideration of their lives and God's Kingdom, and how the two intersect. Pray that God's Kingdom would advance in the hearts of the students. Pray for good connecting time with the students and staff of the UNC Navigators during the day friday; they we would all be encouraged by one another and that God's Kingdom would move as a result of our interactions friday!

A February to make your head spin!!

The month of February started off with a bit of a freed up schedule, which really only enabled an unbelievably crazy month! 4 days in was Dave's last day at Starbucks. While the closing of this chapter was sad, it freed him up to step in to a full-time roll in Denver instead of that part-time responsibilities that he had been able to accept. Please pray for the relationships with his co-workers, that they will be able to continue even though he's not there. God opened many doors and we want to continue to walk through them!

Potters Wheel

The next highlight of February came in the form of a 5-day intensive training called Potter's Wheel. This is a soul-care training where we, along with 6 others, packed 50 hours of teaching and practicing in to 5 days. Primarily using Larry Crabb's model of soul care counseling, we spent the week examining our patterns of coping with life and connecting the dots back to where we first bought in to whatever lies birth them. In most cases, some experience or series of experiences growing up leads kids to make vows with themselves as a form of protection. An example would be a child who put himself out there as a kid and was rejected and made a vow to never again risk. His god becomes his image and he serves that above the Lord, Jesus Christ. It's a process to identify these things and break that bond. We saw countless freedoms that week both in us and in others. God is constantly calling us in to a deeper intimacy with Him and out of the slavery that we often place ourselves in. What a privelege to be able to be a part of Potter's Wheel. Praise God for clearing our schedule FOR us and unexpectedly providing the money for us to go!!

Weekend in Chicago

Another highlight of the month was the 3 days we spent in Chicago for the new 20's mission staff training conference. This was for all staff who joined the metro mission of The Navigators within the last few years. It was so great to spend time with the urban workers of The Navigators all over the country. A highlight was meeting Jeremy who uses his rap music to bridge the gaps to inner city at-risk youth. Or Larry who ministers to the homeless of Chicago. He says "I don't call them homeless because really we're all homeless right? Atleast that's what Jesus said."

Laborer's Conference

The month wrapped up with the Rocky Mountain Regional Laborer's Conference which is a conference for the leaders and laborers of the collegiate ministries in the region. This is our best chance in the Spring to put ourselves in front of and among the future graduates. We lead some workshops and had some time to speak in front of the 300+ students about what we're in Denver for and inviting them in! The video below is Mike, another memeber of our 20's mission team, explaining "City Life" to future grads. This is essentially the same message we gave students this weekend.

Stay tuned for the launching missional community. We're so excited to create this landing for grads and to see how God might advance His Kingdom in this part of the city. Keep praying!!