February 08 - Downtown Dallas Church in the Making

While I could start this blog much earlier than February, more than a year earlier when our small group began, for this group really became our spiritual home from the beginning. But its February when we began to explore what it would mean for us to become a Church. The catalyst for this new venture actually came from a small, but significant challenge in my life. When I shared with everyone what that challenge was, they surrounded me like no other group had done before. A friend of mine cried. She probably won't ever realize how much those tears meant to me. Another friend fought hard to hold back his tears. He'll never realize how much that fight meant to me.

After this, I shared with them my desire to plant a church in Dallas. But the discussion was brief, and I didn't pass around a sign-up list. I knew there was still a lot to be accomplished over the next couple of months, and our challenges were many. For example, I knew that we had to begin working on our own spiritual health. We had just finished a curriculum called TrueFaced. The curriculum was OK, but the subject matter blew the lid off our group. Now, we needed to work on our spiritual condition. We began a new curriculum series simply titled: Spiritual Disciplines. This helped us work through the spiritual disciplines.

But the more pressing challenge for us was location. Due to size (we were running around 20 a week then), we had to meet at the church. Most of us lived in apartments, and if we had a house, it was so far away that it would be impractical. In order to move toward being a church, our group needed a home!

And that was what the month of March was all about.

March 08 - Church Needs a House

For nearly 6 months, I drove past this house. It is right off of Swiss Ave, near Fitzugh Ave in Lakewood. There were several, pavlovian reactions when I saw this house. First, I drooled. Then, I prayed. Then, I begged God. Then, I drooled some more.

We needed a larger house to facilitate what we wanted to do. First, we needed a house where we could begin ministering to the neighborhood as a church. We needed a place to hold meetings, house parties, dinners, etc.

Also, over the year, our group developed a unique model for small groups (at least to us). We learned that there were many good reasons to have a large small group. From sharing resources, to having a good group of friends, to service projects, and on and on, we knew we enjoyed a larger group. But, it was very difficult to share openly on a Wednesday night because of the size. Therefore, we started the night with a short time of teaching, and then broke up into core groups of 5 to 7. And it worked! We were able to enjoy a short time of teaching where the members could get direction and clarification on the Word, then break up into core groups, and share in a more intimate setting, how the Word applied in our own individual story. But, in order to have core groups, we needed break out rooms. A house with several big rooms was more suitable to our needs.

Now, why this house in particular? Well, i had a buddy by the name of Kevin Spurgin who was also planting a church in the area. He used the exact same house as an exchange for service. He got the house at a discounted rate for $750 a month, but it stayed on the market to sell. Kevin lived in the house for a year, and it had never sold. Recently, he moved out, and I knew it was available again. So, at the end of February, I asked if I could get the owner's contact information. Long story short, the owners were very interested.

Now, all I had to do was raise support!

We were living on Jenny's paycheck so that I could church plant. And I'm sure you can imagine how much a private Christian University is able to pay. So, I began the hard but good work of asking people to partner with me in funding for the house. Some people in the group stepped up, and a very generous businessman offered to match what I raised from within the group. Within a couple of weeks, I was able to raise enough money to cover the house and utilities.

Big praise to God!!

We moved in to our new home at 4805 Swiss Ave on March 22nd, 2008.

Now, it wasn't that easy. All of a sudden, I had a 2300 square foot house that I needed to fill with furniture. Even before we moved into the house, I started collecting free furniture off of Craig's list. If you have never heard of Craig's List, or their free furniture site, then you have to check it out! I was able to fill up 2/3 of the house with free furniture by the time we moved in http://www.dallas.craigslist.org/zip/.

We had our first meeting on the 26th. (All of the furniture in the pic is Craig's List!)

The deal was simple. We got a beautiful, Swiss Ave house on the cheap, and they could keep it on the market. We could only hope that it wouldn't sell. Unfortunately, in April, that's exactly what happened.

April 08 - More than a House

I remember the phone call like it was yesterday. I was still reeling from all the great stuff that had happened in only a month. Within a month, we were able to move into the home we needed for the church plant. Our group meetings had become more exciting as the air was charged with excitment about what God would do with our little small group, and we had some new visitors who i really liked. Then, I got the call.

"Sorry Kevin. But the contract was signed last night. We sold the house."

We had two weeks to move out.

Ugh! I think that's what went through my mind. Ugh! Now, there was a redeeming moment. The owner told me that she had a friend that owned a larger home only 5 houses down. She also hadn't been able to sell her home in the last couple of years. Laurie would give us the same deal. While, I was appreciative that we had another place to live, I wasn't too excited about moving into the same situation. This was tough, because I believe in that saying: "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me."

I saw the house, and honestly I wasn't impressed. It was great for smaller meetings, but the livingroom was small. It didn't win me over. It took a week of praying to decide to move forward. Within two days, we had completely emptied out 4805 Swiss Ave, and filled 4835 Swiss Ave. It was hilarious to see us pick up furniture, and carry it 5 houses down! But that was just a few small things. We loaded and unloaded a truck and van.

We are still in the yellow house today. And it has grown on me. But God reminded me of a little lesson there. Church is not about the building. It never was, and it never will be. I was defining success as a leader by the quality of the building. And I should have known better, because I personally believe that we as the church need to put our love, energy and money towards God and people, not buildings and programs.

Thank you Father for your wisdom :).

What is the Church? The Church is the people you see below. Buildings are temporary. We are eternal.

We as a group began to find ways to hang out more and become better friends. We did outdoor lazer tag (yeah, I never heard of it either), and yours truly captured the flag (but couldn't shoot himself out of a tin cup).

Still, we found even more ways to hang out. We had natural opportunities to get together, like Deb and Ramon Padilla's wedding shower. Also, Some of the members were a part of New Food
Tuesday, which the rest of us attended here and there. But, the dudes needed their time. So, we began poker night every Sunday night. While, it wasn't strictly, male-only, it became that way.

Personally, I began to meet with several of our guys in the group for accountability and prayer outside of the study time. I love our Wednesday night meeting, but my most profound self-discovery has been at coffee with Ramon Padilla, Steven Rodriguez, Matthew Hill, and PJ Dunn, Tim Pike and Steve Wade. Godly dudes!

As our small group became more intentional about being the church, not all of them stayed. Some that you saw in February and March are on a different path. As it is in all groups, God calls some people on one path, and other on another path. But they are all still our family.

May 08 - Vision For The New Church

We had to draw a line in the sand.

While that sounds more dramatic than it really was, we as a group knew that at some point, we needed to stop being a small group, and start being the church. Therefore, May was really about drawing a line in the sand, and deciding who would continue on in the church plant, and who would not. In order to have an informed opinion of the church plant, I held an information dinner for the small group. At the information dinner, I delineated my vision for the church plant. It was at this dinner that I shared the name of the church, and my vision for a church made up of neighborhood churches just like ours, planted in the downtown area. These neighborhood churches would adopt and transform neighborhoods all over downtown as we live out Christ's command to tell the good news, and make disciples of all nations. While the goal wasn't new, the method was, and to be honest with you, I was completely scared. I was sure that I would have to do a song-and-dance to keep the group's attention. And I was ready for a series of counter-arguments to defend my position. Of course, that was not necessary (nor should it be). Instead, the group jumped in and began to help me brainstorm.

Wow!

That's all I could think. They want to help me make this happen! Now, not all were on board, but most were. And so the dinner really ended with us planning out the next year.

But, I still encouraged everyone to take the summer and pray through this decision. It was a big decision, and would take people that were committed to the gospel.

By the way. The name of the church is Koine Church of Dallas. Koine is the greek word for "shared", or "common". It speaks of a shared message, kingdom, life. We are in this together.

It is pronounced: coin-aye. Imagine a Canadian is offering you a coin. "Coin, eh?"

Heh. :)

June...

coming soon!

July...

coming soon!

August...

coming soon!

A Church Plant in Downtown Dallas

It is a common belief among many writers that most stories are about “a girl”. The drive of the main character, the purpose of the adventure, and even the tragic circumstances happen because of “a girl”. Well, as we begin this venture of starting a Church in the heart of Dallas, it could be said that the story unfolding is about “a city”. It’s about the life of a city, its occupants, and the force of “tov”, of good that God intends to pour throughout this city. He has, and continues to raise up spiritual communities that’s objective is to bless the city by loving the unloved, caring for the planet, proclaiming the virtues of living the way of Jesus, and showing others how to live in Peace on Earth, or in our case, in Dallas.

IN I My passion is to bring together a community for anyone who drifts unconnected to koinonia, to community. The essential community for human kind is the people of Christ. While organizations and religions have tried to brand their own carbon-copy of a Jesus-centered community, men like Paul the Apostle, Augustine, Martin Luther, Chuck Smith and many others continue to fight and live for the remnant. We remnant, we Christians come together by the power of the Spirit, grounded in the rich message of the Bible, protected by the rock walls of community, that we may carry the grand message of salvation by Word and Deed. We come together 7 days a week, in homes, and cafés, and parks and concerts, and hospital rooms. And in this normal life, we will find the supernatural power of the Spirit as it knits us together in love and grace.

OUT I I pray for the city of Dallas. I pray that this metropolis of singles and families, grandmothers, and college students, are loved by God and by us. And as our nation begins to return to these concentrations of culture, these city states, I pray that this Dallas culture is healed. Not overtaken by the Church; not turned into a Christian nation, but that the pilgrims of Christ within the city continues to seek out this cities pain, and redeem it by the blood of Jesus. God has burdened my heart with people who are displaced in the city of Dallas. The clubbers and shoppers and singers and single mothers and artisans and cubicle-dwellers who wonder how they are ever able to think outside of the box if they always live in one. We believe that the Earth is ours to care for, and all occupants within it. We limit our consumption to be good stewards of the Earth. We give our money and time to the broken and disenfranchised, and wayward. We unleash God's grace by looking after the widows and orphans and drug-addicts and refugees and the over-consumeristic family who wish they could live the pure, simple life again.

We will learn to love God, and love our neighbor.

WILL I This Church will hold up Love and Truth as its standard of community. This Church will develop communities, hot-beds of faith, hope and love throughout the Dallas downtown area. It will send these communities out as spiritual outposts to a lost and dying world. It will charge and empower these communities to serve, evangelize, and care for the city block and zip code in which they reside. It will draw these communities together to celebrate our good God. It will present spiritual services that give testimony of God’s Word, and his work in our lives. These services will showcase the creative power of God and his people.

WILL NOT I This spiritual community will not begin or end its strategic plan based upon the 2-hour Sunday morning event, which represents only a fraction of the life of a disciple. We will not use success as our driving motivation, rather faithfulness, so that we disciples are taught the reality of a faith knee-deep in the problems and pains of this world. This Church will not settle for anything less than disciples of Jesus who are vibrantly active throughout the city of Dallas.

We are followers of The Way. We are Christians.

This blog is a presentation, and broadcast to all of those who want to be a part of such a community in this city of Dallas. Browse around. Learn more about what God has laid on my heart, and the spiritual community that will begin in 2008-2009. I hope this blog challenges your ideas about the Christian life, and encourages you to push yourself inward as we learn to love God, and outward as we learn to love our city, Dallas.