New Blog: Rise the Valley

God’s Coward is being retired and a new blog is beginning at Rise the Valley. To continue following along on our journey in Northampton make sure you bookmark the new blog and check in regularly. Thank you for reading…

Click here for Rise the Valley

Connecticut, Church and Moving Forward.

Not many people knew but last night was our last “official” night at St. Paul’s Collegiate Church. We didn’t want any fanfare so we were glad to go out with a handful of friends afterwards to relax and get a few margaritas. It was an odd night though, anti-climactic in a sense, almost as if we were slipping out the back at the end of a bad indy film.

Once Ash and I were back in the car we started going over the memories that were resurfacing. We remembered Imagine Christmas, The Alumni Center (and how long it took to set that place up week after week), Craig Dinsmore leading worship, Steve Barry leading worship, Ben preaching and doing communion, going to Friendly’s with friends after the service, leading the Children’s ministry, making videos for the services, the Coventry Project, weeping and praying on Good Friday services…new community…

The list goes on. We’ve been there a while. Ash was there even before I was, but we were both pretty much there from St. Paul’s birth and participated in our own ways. We would not have met, gotten married or become the people we are today had it not been for the impact of that community on our lives. I am still feeling the effects of a bittersweet realization that our time here has come to a turning point. As with every important step in our lives (our engagement, our marriage), it seemed fitting that Ash and I were serving communion. We served each other through tears then sat back down.

As I was driving this morning I realized that this is the first time I will be living outside of Storrs. I’ve lived in Connecticut my whole life, and 95% of that was spent on a particular road in Mansfield Center. I’m going to miss it. Of course we’ll be back from time to time to make sure that Starbucks is still brewing good coffee and that Uconn is still doing road and building construction…

We’re not “moving on”. There’s nothing to “move on” from. There have been high times and low times here- but there is certainly no jumping ship mentality. There is no lets go somewhere better. Simple put, we are dong the best we can trying to discern God’s prompting and tugging leading us to Northampton. A better way of framing this is “moving forward”. The Christian life, if fully realized, has a tendency to yank us out of our comfy chairs and into the mess of the world- exactly how it should be.

So we’re moving forward into the beautiful mess of the world. When we get sad, or when friends start to tear up, we remind them that Northampton is only a 45 minute drive from Hartford.

Saturday night we will be sleeping in an apartment overlooking Main Street in Northampton. We will have several big windows that allow the sights and sounds of the city to infiltrate our senses. Monday I officially start work. Ash will work from home, or Haymarket, or the Yellow Sofa, and we will begin moving forward. Day by day, person by person, prayer by prayer.

Connecticut, we’ll miss you. Beautiful mess, here we come.

Mike Bickle: Love God

Ashley and I have been spending some time listening to messages via the web from people like Mark Driscoll, Francis Chan and Mike Bickle. All of them have been challenging and enlightening in their own way but there was one in particular that stood out the other evening.

Mike Bickle was talking about the First Commandment. It was part of a series from the Passion for Jesus 2010 conference at IHOP. (Here’s the link to the video). In this message titled “Loving God: The First Commandment Restored to First Place”, Mike challenges us, bluntly, to take the first commandment at face value.

Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

Those are the words that make up the commandment; quite familiar and well-traveled. They may well have lost their weight in your life as they did in mine. The phrase had become so familiar that I would often skip on to something that seemed more interesting or more important. I would look for something that I could commit to that somehow, in my weird world, would be more engaging than this commandment. Boy did I miss out!

If we could somehow wrap our minds around this commandment and start to live according to it, I argue that our lives would be drastically changed. As Ash and I move to Northampton, this was a timely reminder for us. If nothing else, love God with intentionality in every aspect of our life.

Success, according to Mike (and I happen to agree with him) is only measured by whether or not we love God to our fullest potential. The dream is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. The vision may change, the field may change, the size and breadth of our influence may change, our churches may turn to rubble, but if our dream is purely to love God in and with everything we are, we will not be “unsuccessful”.

Intentionally loving God moves his heart more than intentionally loving ideas to grow our ministry, build our publicity or maximise kingdom impact. He can do all of that. He wants our heart. If we could get that down then I really think the church would take one more step towards getting some color back in her cheeks.

Check out the video linked to above. It’s a great reminder and I hope that it can be a refreshing challenge to you. Enjoy.

RISE A GENERATION: Desktop Wallpaper

Here’s a free wallpaper I made for those of you who believe in the promise of this generation. Feel free to click on the image to open it in a new window. Save it to your computer then set it as your desktop. Based off of the post I wrote a few days ago:

Rise a generation. Rise a watchman. Rise a prayer. Rise a faceless lover. Rise a bride. Rise a generation. Rise a life-giver. Rise the selfless. Rise the joyful. Rise the grace-dancers and justice-singers. Rise the subversive mercy-lovers. Rise a generation. Rise the hope-poets. Rise the forlorn sinners. Rise the perfectly bruised. Rise the laughing children. Rise the adorers and worshipers. Rise a generation. I beg you, rise and live.

Built to Last

I was wearing flip-flops and the dew on the grass was soaking my toes and jean bottoms. It was muggy out already and it wasn’t even nine in the morning- typical New England heat. I moved slowly towards the new structure that I had glimpsed from the road and was surprised to see the beginning stages of an open air theater lit up by the fresh morning light. Marble seats were laid out perfectly in a semi-circle, only a few rows high. I walked through the interior of the front of the theater poking my head through empty doorways and windows. I took the few shots on my camera and began the quick walk back to my car.

As I approached my car the door of the building next to the theater swung open and I heard footsteps coming my way. I figured that someone was coming to reprimand me for taking photos and trespassing (oh the woes of being a chronic photographer). As the man approached, I could see that he was smiling. He had a sweat-stained button down shirt revealing his chest-hair. Before he could say anything I sputtered something about seeing the theater from the road and needing to pull in to get a closer look. He was the opposite of defensive as he gestured towards the new construction site, expecting me to walk with him.

I found out pretty quickly that he was a Greek Professor at Uconn and that his name was Elias which, when looked up, is derived from the name Elijah (thanks Google).

As we walked towards the theater, Elias began to guide me through the details of what the theater was and why he was building it. According to his story, the building is a gift from the Greek community (not the frat houses) to the state. But, as he continued, it really was much more than that…

He invited me to climb up a ladder to look at the theater from the roof. “The walls around the theater are two feet thick,” he explained in his accent, “but most people think they only need to be eight inches.” He went on to talk about the theaters in Greece and how they have been around for thousands of years with their thick walls. “If I built these only eight inches thick, they would be cracking and broken in fifty years.” He wanted this thing to be around for thousands of years. He wasn’t concerned with how much time that was going to take.

Elias dabbled on with his architectural philosophies but I noticed that it was all becoming a bit metaphorical. Before long, he was relating the stable structure of the theater to the continuity of society. “It’s not like it was 30 years ago. Everyone’s in a glass bubble these days. People are so independent. The divorce rate is forty-nine percent, that scares me. Families are the structure of our society and if they are failing then…” Then society is failing, I thought as I finished his sentence.

We walked back towards my car. I listened intently to a man who believed deeply in the importance of family, relationships, and longevity. That theater is going to be there for thousands of years. It’s got a solid structure and nothing is going to rock it. Of course, it is going to take a lot longer to build too. Two foot walls and solid marble seating require a lot more work than eight-inch walls and marble coating.

We stopped by a pile of marble steps sitting on the grass near the theater. He picked up a perfectly square chunk of marble sitting atop one of the slabs and handed it to me. “Here’s a souvenir for you to remember!” he said grinning. “Thanks. I’ll remember; built to last.” I hoisted up the marble with the last part of that sentence and smiled.

As I drove away, I tried to recall some of the pearls of wisdom that Elias had offered in our conversation. I couldn’t remember all of them but I did remember those two-foot thick walls and I wished that there were more people like Elias who wanted buildings and people to be built to last. In a society where speed and innovation are honored, legacy and sound-structure are left behind.

Elias, thanks for being a messenger. You made my day with your simple elegance and jovial spirit.

Let’s build buildings and lives to last.

We Do Not Exist.

Our journey together began a while back during the fall of 2008. It began on the night when Ash and I sat in my car behind Starbucks talking about God and what it means to risk everything. We had barely started dating, but the connection was clear; we were willing to go to the edge of the Earth and leap off together into the unknown. That winter we crossed into the valley and spent a day in Northampton, totally unawware of what was about to happen.

Two years later the tips of our toes are peering over the cliff. We look down, against common sense, and feel the effects of vertigo. I blink a few times, realize this is real, and look behind me. Our tracks trail off into the distant hills, winding and looping, tracing from where we’ve come to where we are.

Northampton is in sight. We have a secured apartment with a tentative move-in date. I have a full-time job and Ash will work from home most of the time. We have a hope that is leading us by the hand- further and faster than expected- into the wilderness. We keep hearing of people and events that have traveled into the thicket before us and are waiting for our arrival.

It is all pretty surreal sometimes, but as Ash and I talked before falling asleep last night I smiled while thinking about the past few months, ”I’m glad we risked.” She smiled back and said, “Me too.”

A lot has been accomplished, but this is only the beginning. It’s only the first step. It was really hard. It went against conventional wisdom, but now it is making more and more sense. There are others coming, and amidst our fears and insecurities, we know that somehow this is all going to work. We know it is going to work because of one simple reason, it is not about us. It is not about Ashley or myself, imagine/Northampton or any church.

It is not about what we want because they have needs. It is not about what we fear because there are shackles on their feet, and their freedom always trumps our momentary concerns. It is not about our success because love is always the victor. It is not about us, ever. That’s why this is going to work. That is why we do not need to be afraid. That is why we will succeed. If we do not exist as a factor, then we cannot be turned on ourselves. There is only one goal, to reclaim lost lives through love, and love always wins. Always.

We do not exist. I pray that someday we all realize that our selves lay somewhere in a hole, forgotten and lost. We will pray through sleepless nights and light candles in the dark morning hours. We will offer deliverance. We will offer resources without fanfare and without an announcement. We will offer life and hope, gifts that rise above and beyond all mortal dreams. We do not exist. This is about everything and everyone else. Our hope is secure as is our life. We do not exist.

Rise a watchman. Rise a prayer. Rise a faceless lover. Rise a bride. Rise a generation. Rise a life-giver. Rise the selfless. Rise the joyful. Rise the grace-dancers and justice-singers. Rise the subversive mercy-lovers. Rise a generation. Rise the hope-poets. Rise the forlorn sinners. Rise the perfectly bruised. Rise the laughing children. Rise the adorers and worshipers. Rise a generation. I beg you, rise and live.

Stories

The guy in the shorts swung the door open and stared at the line in front of him. He stepped back, pushed the door open to leave, paused, then looked to the front where the baristas were feverishly preparing drinks and sliding credit cards. He must have really wanted his coffee because he turned and let the door close behind him to wait in line.

The guy with the glasses drooping down to the tip of his nose stared intently at his laptop screen, writing crooked on a yellow notepad. His collar was popped but not because he was a jock; it looked like he just rolled out of bed. He stared out the window for a moment, only inches between him and freedom, then returned to writing and ignoring the light of day.

The girl a few feet away with the tattoo of a colored feather swore under her breath while gazing at a piece of paper. She muttered other things, fleeting expletives for sure, until her boyfriend sat down on the bench and started munching away at his breakfast sandwich.

Two people through the window, with coffees and notebooks, gestured with their hands and faces, talking business for sure- with some pleasure mixed in. The sun was tucked behind some high clouds so they carried on comfortably under a sky that peered out between buildings and trees.

There was a stream of customers, people, moms and dads, moving in and out like city traffic. Some wore ties and others pushed baby carriages with an arsenal of toys and diapers leaving a trail. Blonde, brown, red, and blue haired people strolled across the floor to the counter wearing flip-flops, high heels and Bostonians.

Time carries with it a number of stories, wherever you may be. If you stop, you can watch them all walk by, like 60 frames a second. I happen to be sitting on a bench facing the door of a coffee shop, watching people come and go, mostly keeping to themselves. Every person that walks by was once a child. They once wanted to be an astronaut, a deep-sea diver or a construction worker. They have had different loves. Some enjoy anchovies and others have a peanut allergy. Some are married and others go home alone to an empty apartment filled with toys and temporary bandaids.

I wonder what it would be like to know more stories. I want to know about someone’s life, their past, their skepticism, their needs. I want to pray for them and walk with them through trials and successes. Don’t you?

I mean, isn’t that where we need to be? How are we supposed to grow close to people, love them and support them, without getting to know more stories? We all have our standbys- the people who we are in a secure relationship with. Those are a vital piece to being human, but I think we need to keep going. I know I do at least. I know that life is about the moments and stories that we exist in and around. It would be a horrible mistake to dwell in the comfort of familiarity without ever reaching beyond the coziness of our complacency.

I want to know more stories and then become a part of them. I think it just makes sense. Don’t you?

Fasting

I just read a letter that “invit[ed] believers everywhere to 10 days of fasting and prayer from September 8-18th.” This is in regards to my last post where church leaders in New England are joining together for a day in Plymouth, MA to pray. Ash and I have felt a pull (as have many others we have talked with) on our hearts for New England these past few months (years too). We believe that this is part of what it will take to unite and strengthen the church and so we are joining in the 10 days of fasting and prayer prior to the meeting on September 25th.

We want you to join us, especially if you are in the New England area and if you have a tug on your heart for the area. But, we want you to know and understand what it means to fast and pray. We can’t really do this together unless we are all on the same page. The following text will be a very brief look into what fasting is so that you can participate, understand, and reap the fruits of this spiritual practice. I will compile general knowledge, previous experience, and some text from Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline. In his book there is an entire chapter that discusses how and why Christians fast.

I hope at the end of this, you will have a better understanding of what fasting is, why it is vital to the life of a believer, and why it can sustain, guide, and humble a community.

Fasting: What is it?

Most of you have heard of fasting before. It’s not just Christians that fast either. There are many other religions and practices, spiritual and secular, that employ fasting as a technique. In this post we will be looking at fasting through the eyes of a spiritual discipline in Christianity.

First of all, fasting often has a negative image attached to it, especially to those who do not know much about it. This is because fasting was, for many years, tied in with the religiously rigid elite and super spiritual odd balls. Unfortunately, this is not at all the image that should come to mind for us.

Fasting was a common practice in Jesus’ day and it continued throughout Christian history until the church became obsessed with ascetics and it became a practice associated with laws, rules, and regulations. In our day, fasting is beginning to resurface as a spiritual discipline, but it is a long way off from being reinstated to its rightful place next to other spiritual disciplines like prayer.

In essence, fasting is choosing to physically refrain from something (typically food) for spiritual purposes. Foster says fasting must be “God-initiated and God-ordained.” This simply means that, when we fast, our sole purpose as Christians is to draw ourselves nearer to God and to fix our eyes on Jesus. There is no other reason to fast as a Christian.

Now, there are certainly things that happen when you fast. Many times, after a period of fasting, the things that control you become clearer. Other times, you will have a more firm connection with God, clean from many of the regular distractions in our fast-paced society. And finally, after some practice, you will grow into a new depth of your relationship with God in the same way that practicing other spiritual disciplines will help direct your gaze and your heart.

There is also something to be said for refraining from eating in a fast-food, eat-out, toxic food society. Food is often presented and made necessary by the world to make our stomachs our kings. Fasting proves to us that we are not enslaved to the three-meal-a-day diet and hormone-pumped insecticide-bathed foods offered to us. It is helpful to reflect on verses referring to God as our sustainer. The hunger pangs ebb and flow, reminding us that we do not live for food or according to food, but for God and under his grace where food is just a blessing and a normal part of life.

“When you fast…”

Foster is clear to point out that fasting is not a direct command from Jesus. Rather, it is something that Jesus implied and that his followers and listeners expected. As I mentioned at the beginning, fasting was a typical practice in Jesus’ day; even the Pharisees and the Sadducees fasted.

Jesus taught about fasting in the Sermon on the Mount where he also taught on prayer and giving. It appears, and it often accepted, that fasting is supposed to be a natural practice in the life of a Christian.

How you fast.

There are different kinds of fasts and different lengths of fasts. As I said before, we are talking about a food fast so we will continue in our discussion assuming this.

There are periods of communal fasting, much like the first line mentioned in this post. There is a collection of people who believe strongly that now, in this age, God wants to do something, and we should be positioning ourselves before God to be moldable, attentive and humble. They are doing this for 10 days before a large meeting.

This is not always how it has to be done. In fact, fasting is often an individual practice between a man or woman and God. If they feel the urgency to fast, they do so without drawing attention to themselves.

I have heard of people doing a fast for the first three days of every month, the first day of every week, or on a need-to-fast basis.

Foster continually reasserts the fact that fasting is one of the most powerful disciplines in his life. Because it is often tied with prayer, regular attentiveness to fasting can result in deeper spiritual maturity and a closer connection to God’s heart. It helps with intercessory prayer and reconnection.

All that said, fasting takes on different forms. The most important thing to note however, is that no one should jump into a long-term fast without experience and preparation unless they feel a certain calling. One should always begin with short fasts, often leading into them after slowly eating less and less (going to a fruit and veggie diet) a few days before and after. If you are unused to fasting, jumping in head first could result in light-headedness, headaches, etc.

Fasting rarely ever cuts out water. There were only a handful of extreme examples in scripture where that happened, so let’s leave those out for now. The human body can go weeks without food, but water is vital to proper functioning during a fast.

If you are like me, and have fickle blood-sugar, you can do fasts like a liquid fast (juice, water, smoothies) or a Daniel fast (fruits, nuts, no meat, no drinks besides water). As Foster repeatedly reminds us in his book, this is not about law, so there is no “perfect” or “right” fast. This is about fasting in such a way that we can come closer to God.

Now what?

So now, pray. Prayer and fasting are tied at the hip. They are both to be solely focused on God and both, when used together, encourage the other more. As you fast, you want to pray. As you pray more, you are strengthened in your fasting and reminded why you are doing it.

Ashley and I will be doing the 10 day fast in September. As I said, we would love to have you join us in prayer and fasting. Churches across New England (and I expect the nation) will be praying and fasting during this period, praying that God will move in us and through us to revive the church and this land which was once a place known for its nearness to Christ’s mission. We will be focusing on New England in general, but also on the city of Northampton, the churches in the city including imagine/Northampton, and for revival in the streets of a city where a man named Edwards once had a similar vision.

If you have more questions, or if you have anything to add, please leave a comment or email me.

Something is on the Move

Did you think I was joking? Apparently I’m not the only mad-hatter running around thinking that a revival is about to unfurl and bloom in New England. I got this letter today from some other Christian leaders in New England inviting individuals who feel a call to revival to show up for a meeting after a week of prayer and fasting in September…right after we move! If you are interested, check out the text below:

July 30, 2010 

Dear New England Believer:  

For years our hearts have been stirred by the stories of New England Awakenings that have influenced the nations of the earth. Our imaginations have been captured by the legacy of awakeners, theologians, missionaries, and evangelists that called New England home.   

In recent years, God has spoken to many of us and confirmed His word that He is planning to pour out His Spirit on our land yet again. Like Simeon, whose eyes grew dim watching and praying for the promised Messiah, there are those standing among us who God has told, “Your eyes will see what I have promised you.” At the same time, young ones moving in the Spirit of John the Baptist are rising up beside them, sounding the trumpet and calling the Church into the fulfillment of God’s promises and our legacy. 

As Proverbs says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” At times, we have hoped falsely in quick fixes or man-made solutions, only to see the promised outpouring pass us by. It is easy to become cynical, when year after year we have heard of, “revival, awakening, outpouring …” yet we have not seen the fulfillment. Callousness threatens to deaden our hopes. Yet, the promise from God remains, and God cannot lie.   

It is our conviction that we are in season similar to that of the book of Joel. In the book of Joel, we find great promise and great hope concerning the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Yet, it all hinges upon the response of the people of God. The prophet Joel addresses the people after they have experienced the judgment of the locust devouring their crops. He urges them to discern what the Lord is doing in their midst and respond appropriately to Lord, lest in His desire to get their attention, He come with even greater judgment.  

As a nation and as the Church, we are experiencing measures of the judgment of God. Yet, we are largely unaware and unconcerned. Moral deterioration of every kind afflicts not only the world, but also the Church. We hear on every side of wars, slavery, every kind of immorality, economic instability, ecological disasters, a breakdown of the family among rich and poor alike, and laws and policies that take no thought of God. In essence, our nation is saying to God: “Depart from us, we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways” (Job: 21:14).  

As a people, we should be greatly alarmed and concerned over the rapidly deteriorating moral condition of our nation. The signs of God’s judgment are upon us, but instead we are pacified by an abundance of self-gratification. We, largely, are a people at ease during times of unrighteousness.   

As the present times of shaking increases, the wisdom of man, apart from acknowledgment and reliance on God, will be exposed as utter foolishness. Joel gives the biblical prescription during times of crisis … to gather together in fasting and prayer to repent and to cry out for mercy.  

In response to the Holy Spirit’s stirring, we will gather on September 25^th in Plymouth MA, and we are inviting you to join us at the location of the first Pilgrim settlement where they implemented their covenant with God and one another.   

Just as God has a dream, a purpose, a calling for each one of our lives, we believe He had a purpose in the founding of America. Our nation was intended by God to be a “city on a hill”, a place where the light of the gospel can shine to the ends of the earth, a joyful experiment in the simplicity of devotion to Christ. We’re returning to Plymouth in fasting and prayer to rediscover and reclaim this legacy and renew our covenant with God. 

In preparation for this holy day, we are inviting believers everywhere to 10 days of fasting and prayer from September 8-18^th in their own churches and homes. The goal of this time of preparation is to draw closer to the Lord, turn away from corporate and personal sin in our communities and in our nation and prepare our hearts for the Solemn Assembly.   

See what I mean? There’s something that has been tugging on many hearts for a while now, and it’s starting to come together.

Quotes from Awakening Cry

 

I’ve been reading through Awakening Cry by Pete Greig, and it doesn’t seem to have a large following in the U.S. except for some niche communities. Because you probably won’t buy the book, and because you probably heaven’t heard of it, I’m going to put some quotes up here for you to check out. I have found this book to be one of those books that excites me, gets me dreaming, and forces me to get off my couch (after finishing the next chapter of course…)

“There is undeniably a genuine longing for revival in the hearts of thousands of ordinary Christians who realise that an outpouring of God’s Spirit will be branded by brokenness and not trumphalism. Their is a hunder and thirst for God to act – not just in the pages of history or in centuries beyond, but here and now, in their families, their workplaces, and their world. Such people fine themselves sobered by their own spiritual im[ptence, saddened by the state of the church and sickened by the sin of the world. They love God’s people and grieve that it is increasingly easier to be “Christian” than a follower of Christ.”

“Scripture challenges us to transform society from within but tragically we have often done just the opposute, retreating into a religious ghetto. At such a distance we fail to season and illuminate society, and are seen as irrelevant by the rest of the population”

“Our prayer is not just for a series of individuals to be rescued from society, but that the fabric of society itself might be changes. Any gospel which engages hearts and saves souls without transforming society, falls short of the gospel of Jesus displayed in the scripture.”

“Thus revivals come and go because we are in a battle and not because God intends the church to endure seasons of sub-normality. Revival history reflects the ebb and flow of spiritual warfare rather than a succession of preordained seasons of growth and decline.”

“In fact, there has only ever been one preordained season of revival and it began with the resurrection and has hoevered over us ever since. Some genereations have realised this but many more have missed it. As a result they have no done greater miracles than Jesus (though he said they would) and they have not found the harvest plentiful (though he said it was), and they have not applied his victory to the specific battles of their day.”

There are many more quotes, but this was just to give you a taste. I highly recommend you pick this up if you have been feeling like we (the church) have been missing out on something. You can get it used on amazon.com for only a few bucks… (get it here)

Also, to see more about what they are doing in the UK and across the world, check out their site at Prayer 24-7.