Day 4 - Alive and Well

Bob Russell was the guest this morning and he did a fantastic job of encouraging us. He pointed out the amazing amount of people who are drawn to the independant churches on a weekly basis. It was awesome to think that 20 years ago the Restoration Movement was basically dead and no one had any answers. Church planting wasn't a blip on the radar screen and for all intents and purposes there wasn't a whole lot of hope. Yet, look how far we have come.

This whole week was overall very encouraging to me and I think I got some serious business taken care of with God and I'm so glad that I came. This wasn't exactly what I was hoping for but I suppose it was what I needed. God has really developed the vision he has been giving me for quite a while. I don't know if I fully comprehend it yet, but this vision is beginning to get legs and is becoming feesable.

I had an awesome couple of walks today. I ventured out into KC, had a cajun chicken sandwich and boy was it cajun. The temperature today was amazing, a couple of times I was sure that I was going to melt. I kind of enjoy the heat here though, it is a dry heat. Oregon can prove to be a little humid when the temperature climbs.

I look forward to seeing my family again tomorrow. I really have missed them and it will be soooo nice to see them. My flight gets into Portland around 9pm. I get to stop in New Mexico on my way home, another state to stop in on this trip. Heading home.

aaron

Day 3 - Church Planting

I have always had the utmost respect for church planters. You can't argue with statistics, church planting is the best evangelistic tool that the church has. So, how do we in Cottage Grove, OR tap into that. First of all I think we need to develop an attitude of church planting. It may not be exactly feesable to plant a new church in Cottage Grove (though I could argue that it needs one) but we could be supporting, or saving up to support a church plant in the local area. Another way we can help is by raising up a church planter. We can hire on staff an associate minister who will be sent out to plant a church in the future. We can be the place he prepares and is inspired. Those are some very legitament ways we can be a church planting church. Those may not be ideas we can put into practice next month, or next year, but I do believe we sshould have an attitude of outreach in the area of church planting.

The mentorship breakfasts for me, have been truly disappointing. I do enjoy the free breakfast and sharing the vision and awesome things happening at Sixth and Gibbs, but there was very little time, or ability to truly be mentored. I sat around a table with a mentor and six other pastor's. Unfortunately, no one got to be very specific and ideas that guys were throwing my direction just don't work for the situation the church is in. It is not their fault, we just really don't have the time for me to sit and explain the West Coast mentality and what our city is truly like. Let's face it, things are different everywhere, what works in one place may or may not work in another.

Individually it has been a struggle, I miss my family and though there are some people here that I know and love, there is no one here from my peer group. I have been kind of loner the last couple of days which by the way, has provided for some quiet times with God and lots of reading to catch up on too.

I worked out a free lunch, breakfast and bought a quick dinner at the conference. I have failed to experience the culture here in KC, I promise to do better the next couple of days. Peace

ae

Day 2 - Hearing From God

I must admit, I was totally set up by God for this one. A couple of awesome things have been going on. Last weekend in my sermon I spoke of a gal in our church who said she knew without a doubt what God wanted her to do. On my flight from Oakland to KC I listened to book I have on my Ipod called "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell. In the 3rd chapter I believe, Rob digs deep into the idea that God is still at work in his miraculous ways, and we today are an extention of this church discussed in Acts. Last night during the main session, the speaker spoke along those exact terms, calling us today the Acts 29 church. (The book of Acts concludes in Chapter 28, meaning God's story continues.)

This is a very deep thought for me. If I truly believe God's word to be living, breathing, then God's story is not done yet. His word lives and moves within my life and within the life of the church. Truthfully then, God is speaking and moving and I have done an excellent job of making myself too busy and playing off the word of God. I believe God has to work hard to get my attention and many times I have taken credit for his direction and his leading.

Almost eerie was our elective class teacher. Speaking yet again on the power of the Holy Spirit in sermon directing. He challenged us today to listen to God, be subjective and that when we truly are tuned into God, our response should be in humility. Often when I think of God speaking to me, I picture the obnoxious televangelist, using the "word" from God to push his agenda, ask for more support, and apply a thick layer of guilt.

I have not heard the direct audible voice of God, but God still speaks to me through my thoughts. I know this simply because his words are not ideas of mine own, but wake up calls or words of encouragement to direct me. I have often passed those off, or taken credit for them myself but today I was challenged, to listen, to take time to be quiet and to apply these things to my life directly.

I have had a couple more interesting thoughts, of which have been mine not specifically from God. I have noticed how sterile this enviroment is. Yeah, I think sterile is a good word for it. It's a little wierd, but I have spent my free time mostly talking to street vendors and people along the road. The rain poured down this afternoon, I mean poured!!! I made it just before it got nasty into one of the vendor's tents. I guy who just wanted to paint my picture for $5. As we were trying to save some of his art work from being destroyed by the elements we had a great conversation. After the storm let up, I hit the ATM and brought him back $10 for a tent fee. He really wanted to draw my picture, but truthfully, I don't want a picture of me.

This whole conference is so sterile, I needed that rough conversation, that rough challenge to truly minister to someone. I love that, I need that. There has been an interesting debate going on in our family, my wife thinks, and she is probably right, that certain personality types are energized by being around there same personality. Extraverts are energized by being around people and introverts by being by themselves. It has been interesting how energized I have felt by being around people who need Jesus. I need that.

No BBQ yet, with the rain I have yet to chance it. Friday I either need to hit a Royals game, or spend some time in a sports bar with tons of memorabilia that I spotted on the way into KC. But the street vendor brauts have been great.

ae

Day 1 - The Conference Begins

Well, I am here in KC, sitting at our hotel at the Radisson, and things here have been awesome. The conference itself actually begins in about 6 hours or so, but we took some time to take a look at many of the boothes and tables. The thing that really blows me away, are the amount of ministries ideas, plans and well, just plain ministries. Lots of quality, needy well meaning ministries. Lots and lots of ministry ideas and tools, many colleges and tons of resources. The difficult thing I am having is trying to determine what it is that will benefit the church and ministries back in the Grove.

I have also ran into many many familiar faces and people. Boise Bible College has a presence this year at the conference and they are doing a big dinner gathering on Wed. forllowing the conference. I ran into an old friend of mine in ministry and I have just really gotten a kick out of the things going on.

I plan on taking a dip in the swimming pool before the conference time tonight and of course, I'm in Missouri and will be looking for some real life good BBQ. I will keep you posted on my trek for the eats. I am really looking forward to seeing Jim Putman too, he is the main speaker on Wed. I believe.

One more thing. I plan on taking some time to visit the youth portion of the conference, things will be awesome!

Aaron

Kansas City
Here I Come

I am off, to KC, to the North American Christian Convention. I do believe that I will be having an awesome and an excellent time. Goodness, as of right now, I have had enough time to actually blog, now that is crazy. I have lay over in Oakland, then I will be in KC around midnight Central time.

I am really looking forward to a couple of things. First of all there is a mentorship breakfast, where a seasoned minister will meet with us "unseasoned" ministers. I am also really looking forward to viewing all of the booths and getting some exciting ministry ideas. The list of main speakers is awesome to see and I am sure I will be learning lots of tons of stuff. I will do my best to keep all of you posted on my experience.

aaron