Everything is Backwards

Laura and I have now been living in Cincinnati for over a month. When we first set out to move here, I had two assumptions.

First, ministry is going to be difficult and we will likely face opposition.

Second, God has given me a great wife and family and our home would be a place of sanctuary and rest.

Ironically, Satan has reversed these assumptions and attacked my strongholds. We have yet to close on our house here, meaning that we are living here but not allowed to really settle in and make it our home. Our mortgage company has been uncomfortable with the fact that our income is from support, thereby increasing the paperwork and difficulty in completing this loan. This has caused incredible frustration and stress because we can’t really settle in, which, in turn, has caused a great burden on our family and marriage. It doesn’t sound like a big deal when I type out this paragraph, but it has been some of the most difficult weeks I can recall.

But the area where we expected the most trouble has been going very well. We have been greeted with open arms by many people in the community and everyone we talk to seems geniuinely excited about our vision for starting a church in this city. God has even blessed us by providing some friends who have a similar desire for Cincinnati, like this guy, and we are working together at building this church.

Its been awesome to network with people in the city and discover just how many people want to see a thriving downtown church plant.

So Satan has conceded the progress of the church for now and gone after our home. We are now praying that our closing on our house will be complete in the next 2 weeks so we can finally make this house a home and start using it for ministry.

Things have been crazy for us! We are trying to get settled in to our new home and get everything unpacked and put in the right place. Our basement couch wouldn’t fit in the basement, our desk wouldn’t fit up the stairs, and so we’ve had to perform a total furniture reorientation.

Next week I have a team of young people from Georgia coming to Cincinnati to help me do pretty much whatever I tell them to do to help me get a church going. They will spend the week doing survey work and “decoding,” which pretty much means learning everything they can to help me become more of a Cincinnati insider.

Priority one is to locate and develop a core group. I’m not a lone ranger. But since God didn’t send me here with a team, I have to trust him to provide the team for me here.

So my first step is to try to meet with as many people as possible over the next couple of months and share with them the vision for this new church and challenge them to be a part of a core group. At the same time, I want to be sharing my faith with neighbors and other people I meet along the way as well, and trying to make friends in the city.

The second step will be to gather the people together that seem interested into some type of a core group. We can dream together about the needs of the city and how to best bring the gospel to bear on those needs. Hopefully, the core group will continue to grow as the core group networks with their friends and so forth. We will meet monthly to discuss what a church is and probably work through a book together on understanding racial issues.

Before we can start hosting people in our home, however, we need to finish getting the house ready. I think I’ll get back to work on that right now.

As of today, we have been residents of Cincinnati for one week. We live about a block from a hospital, which is great if we have an emergency, but not so great when ambulances decide to scream into the ER at 2 am every night.

This pic is the view from our living room. The house on the left is an inner city ministry called “City Cure.” Their president has agreed to help me learn about inner city ministry. The group of buildings looming just above the City Cure roofline is Christ Hospital. They like to wake us up at night.

God has been graciously connecting us with other awesome believers in town, whom I hope will show me around and help me to understand Cincinnati better. I met John a few days ago, who found me by reading this blog. We had coffee and spent a few hours together, talking about ministry, the church, and how to be an effective witness in Cincinnati. John is one of those shave-your-head-and-grow-a-beard types, kind of like Andy Mckee, which goes a long way if you want to intimidate someone. But this guy loves Jesus and doesn’t want to waste his life (thanks, Piper). Fun dude.

I definitely have a great deal to learn and can’t wait to get started.

The move here was quite an adventure. Our front lawn in Louisville was filled with our furniture and other things, getting loaded into our moving truck, when it started raining. The fine fellows who helped us move everything out there was kind enough to move everything back into our living room, only to move them back out again once the rain stopped.

We prayed for the rain to stop. Evidently, we experienced only a light drizzle compared to the other parts of the city, which had bucket sized drops of rain dumped on them. This was an answer to prayer for sure.

Fortunately, a friendly team of local Cincinnatians helped us move in from the soon to be renamed Seven Hills Church (changing their name to Grassroots Community Church; I dig it!), Centerpoint Community Church, and others.

I haven’t had much time to tour the town yet, but I have met many of my new neighbors and some other locals. My next step is to try to immerse myself in the local culture, meet a million new people, try to make some new friends, and wear a sandwich board and tell people they’re going to hell or something.