The Blog Has Been Hijacked, Part 3

Because all of the other resources had completely bombed out on us, Juli and I decided that what we would need to do is just start a church out of the living room of our house. But to have a house, you needed a job or at least the possibility of a job in the near future… Detroit has no jobs for those that are already living there, let alone some outsider like me. Meanwhile, there was a guy up there telling me that he wanted this to happen so badly, that he was fully willing to have us move in with his family. So, we revised AGAIN. “Okay God, maybe you want to teach us about community. Maybe you’re trying to help us to live out that whole ordinary radical community revolution like in that book Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne, and then we’ll grow the church out of THAT. Maybe we need to humble ourselves and be willing to move in with another family…do life with them, start a small group” (by this point we already had around 18 people wanting to be a part of it… so it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch). Juli and I prayed about this, and then less than 6 hours later, we found out that the dude didn’t even talk to his wife about us moving in… AND they were having some wicked problems of their own… a really bad time to have extended company. Once all was out and on the table, their demeanor really changed, and things got awkward. So, I said, “Okay God… THAT’S obviously not the way either. You’re not really leaving me any options here. We’re willing… but we’re following YOU.” My biggest fear is that I would create some sweet plans on my own, and then ask God to be a part of it and put His stamp of approval on it. Instead, I only wanted to go as He led us, wherever that may lead.

While all of this was going on, I was busy forging relationships with a few churches directly in the area that we were looking to plant in. I was going to them for financial support, or any ideas that might help get this show off the ground. Each one was struggling incredibly themselves in the financial department (there are 13,000 person churches in Michigan struggling against bankruptcy right now… that’s insane!!). However, they loved some of my ideas, my passion, and the vision that God had given me for the area. Once they learned of my connection with Vince Antonucci and Forefront Church, they started asking ME to help THEM. They wanted to actually BE the kind of church that I was looking at starting… they just didn’t have any clue on how to get that way. So they got really excited once they learned that I was open to sharing with them how we do things here in Virginia Beach, and how I was planning on doing some things right there. In all, there were 4 churches, completely surrounding the area that I was going to plant in, that allowed me to meet with their staff, and kind of be a consultant for them on how to really become a church for people who are far from God. Here’s the coolest thing yet: THEY LISTENED!!! And now they are implementing some of the ideas that we talked about. Maybe I wasn’t off and running with this plant idea…but the over all mission was being taken care of. SWEET!!

More tomorrow, and how we ended up with a road map to Sin City…till then, stay sexy Forefront.

Chuck