Cold Days, New Days!

It's been a few months since we have updated the blog, partly because of this busy season encapsulating us in its grips. As the seasons turn and the cold Northwest winter sets in, we have a lot to be thankful for and a whole lot of exciting things to share with you!

We have been living with some amazing folks in community the last few months. Cory and Shelby are beautiful people who have incredibly hearts for God and serving people. We recently went through a season of fasting and prayer to gauge our commitments to each other and to our community. We really felt a strong sense from God that this time of living together was coming to its end. As happens often in community, we are having to say goodbye to some dear friends. Fortunately, they are staying in Portland and we will be staying connected with them! Tisha and I are remaining in our apartment complex but moving into a smaller apartment. We will take the next couple of months to take some time to deepen our relationship and to process all the things we have learned up to this point about our Northeast Portland neighborhood and living in community with other believers. We are strongly committed to two other ministries in our area and will continue to live and grow with them as well.

I would like to share a few things with you about those ministries!

HomePDX as you may know from other posts, is a close-knit community of people who live outside and inside. It has been a true blessing to be able to continue to build and form relationships with some of these amazing folks. We have learned so much about community and how to truly love each other from everyone at Home. It's very rare to be able to be yourself and still be accepted by a diverse group of people, and that is what we have found in this community! One of the most amazing facets of Home is that we are learning to love people with a love that transcends all boundaries... The kind of love that Jesus showed to prostitutes and lepers. As we are continually transformed by Christ, we give Him more and more of ourselves and it is only through that grace and love that we are able to love so extravagantly. It starts with sacrificing our own selfish boundaries that we are afraid to even let Christ into. What is the limit that you have set in your life for Christ to work in?

We have continued to grow with Bread&Wine over the last couple of months. Tisha and I have been leading a Gospel Community, which is a sort of house church model for doing church. It has been a great journey so far and we are loving every minute of it. We have several Rhythms that we as a church strive to follow. One of them is Generosity. This is a great challenge to many people, partly because of the negativity that the church in America has garnered from scandals and misappropriated funds and partly because we have such a deep connection to our money in an almost idolatrous way. We have been working as a community and church on a new project called the "Redistribution Experiment." This is truly exciting because we are able to redistribute our giving to those in need all around us. We believe that through relationship, we as a body of believers should use our financial resources to build the Kingdom of God in an outwardly focused way. 50 percent of our giving goes towards meeting needs in our neighborhood. We believe that through investing in people's lives through relationship, collectively meeting needs and pushing our personal boundaries that we will accomplish our goals! This is a radical approach towards giving and we hope that it will become a very integral part of our lives.

These are just a few of the exciting things that are going on in our lives! We hope that you will continue to check in on us! Give us a call or email us! We would love to talk to you!