Welcome Sam

I'll try to put a pic of sam into this post later, but Welcome to Sam, our newest resident at the Chase House (1320 Chase)... aaw, who'm I kidding. It's Lew and Judy's house... not a program, but a family house...

the mission of Jesus is completely couched in terms of FAMILY. Approaching "mission" outside of a family model is bosh. bosh, I say. Sooooooooo many pastors today are bemoaning the lack of "family" in their church structures, as the structures of their churches work against the reality of the Kingdom of God:

Jesus has made us a family.

So we welcome Sam to our home. He was family even before we met him, and we're glad to have him on the 3rd floor. Since he's come, we've had more Bible at the table, more uplifting conversations, more of Jesus around the house.

We're messy, and sometimes sorry for it. We're busy, and often pulled in many directions, as Judy continues to travel frequently which makes Lew the "single-dad pastor of a family-model church". And sam looks like he's doing well with it...

Love.

Development: Boiler/cincinnati Enquirer

For the last two years, we've known our boiler in the Chase House is on its last legs. When the fire comes on, rivulets of water trickle down through cracks in the big cast-iron thingy-thing.
the plates on the front that seal off the deadly gas's way into the house fell off all the time. I fashioned holders out of coat-hangers and slathered them down with boiler cement to hold them on. so far so good...

Well, a local church pastor with some pull among the Cincinnati connected has managed to get our ministry's name on a list. the "Cincinnati Wish List". This is a list of charities that the cincinnat Enquirer (our local paper) supports with a one-time gift, around christmastime. Thank you, brother pastor. Thank you, all the well-meaning church workers. May you all be blessed richly in the knowledge and peace of Christ.

So there we are. I've had two companies in, this week. There'll be a reporter tomorrow morning to interview me, and next wee there'll be a photographer to catch the "skateboarding pastor" in action. no kidding. hilarious.

Please pray for my heart to hear, my mouth to speak, and my house to get neater, or not, as God wills.

The reality of our messiness is a testimony to the grace of God. The fact that i'm writing this, with the scriptures open on the table, having already had opps to share Jesus with neighbors, is worth the infrequency of vacuuming... inability to do all the repairs and upkeep...

I'd trade the niceness of a well-groomed lawn for a redemptive conversation with a neighbor addicted to drugs, anyday. Would you? If you would, maybe you'd consider moving into a missionary lifestyle and loving Jesus, who is builiding His church in People, outside the camp.

Just old brother lew again

It's been a great last couple of weeks. Going to Lexington, almost visiting Aaron Mansfield, reconnecting with Chris burton from the church i did a spot of youth pastoring at...

...the cincinnati enquirer is looking into replacing our boiler. Yo uall know that our boiler is unsafe and starting to leak and whatnot. bad situation... Well, we've been praying over that for a long time and recently a local pastor who really loves us and what we're about put our name in a drawing for the Enquirer's "Wish List". They selected us, along with a bunch of other groups, and now they're looking into getting us a new boiler...

the total cost looks like 10,000 dollars, of which the Enquirer would provide a portion, up to about 4,000. There is a possibility of a discount or something... who knows what our Lord is up to.

I appreciate the opportunity to talk about Jesus, and being His people, to the newspaper. I'm going to be who I am, mess and all, and keep it real through this. I don't know what to think of us being Jesus people and having the necessary ransom coming from outsiders... I'm uneasy with the missed opportunity for the church to help out...

I'm grateful for the help. but what the heck is this? I thought that the believers would take care of each other. That's what Jesus taught us. This is a shame. isn't it? Will we really be accepting the help of our local NEWSPAPER to keep us in heat while we do hospitality and teach the word of the Lord? The more I think about that, the less easy it sits with me.

Lord, please bless the generosity of souls who are giving sacrificially to support ministry in Cincinnati. Bless hearts.

pray for me, all you guys out there who do the prayer thing, that I could open my mouth for Jesus in all this.

and hey, would you christian types out there please do a gut check to make sure you're living out your religion in keeping with the teaching of Jesus? Please?

November 2007 update

Hi everybody.

Tomorrow I'm going to Aaron Mansfield's church community in Lexington, KY.
Its cold here, now. 30's.
I'm in the sidewinder with a hat, sweater and two shirts...

I still skate just about every day, but since I'm old, and its cold, I don't get too radical.

Our gathered life in Christ is good over here. We're christians and whatnot. it's all going down over here in the hood. We have a baby due any minute around here, too. 'nother in march. Sarah and Sheenah. David and Chris. two new babies by spring. Timmes are a changin' over here...

I've been playing dillon covers in coffee shops, lately. two times now. love it. sometimes i write something, but its mostly all worship and dillon-esque stuff. some social distortion and some other stuff too...

Judy's work is very good. blessed. She's so good at what she does. amazing, really. I am so grateful for this season. it is incredible to in this relative ease.

Sam Weber just moved into our third floor. That leaves one room left to fill up there, with two people. Three on the third. That's the way I feel it. Max it out, live it up.
Sam's a very sweet, holy brother from Cincinnati, whom we met through the vine.

So I'm looking forard to a day out in Lex, experiencing a taste of God's congregation over there...
I'm going to skate a bit before my lunch appointment. be blessed.

Today's Proverbs: Ch. 7

Daily Proverbs

Here
is a BibleStudy i just threw down on a portion of Prov. 6. Today's the sixth. so there...

Leveling: post frequency and NEws

I'm going to level with you. I post to this blog too infrequently. We would all be served better if I were posting twice a week, in a continuous flow of stories and thoughts from the "field", here.

But I don't. I struggle to remain on for a weekly post.

Well, that's the way it is.

But its nice to hear from Germany that I should post more. Its nice to hear from Arkansas and Georgia... yep. So thanks to all you guys who call and email me to let me know you're looking on. Got a call from Texas yesterday, mentioning reading my blog...

so here we are: the Jesus People in Cincinnati.

News:

a local coalition of churches has nominated us to the Cincinnati Enquirer's Christmas Wishlist--for the replacement of our aging and ailing boiler with an energy efficient model. Hopefully, our nomination will be successful and we'll be heating safely and efficiently.

We have switched out community/family meeting time to an actual Sunday Mornign thing. So much easier for all the babies we have among us...
At this point the kid count is:
14
13
10
6
1.5
due this week
due march

Last weekend, we had a visit by Dr. Eric, a "founding member" of our congregation. He was there through the tumultuous days of coffeeshop Biblestudy and kitchen table discipleship... soooo much tea has been drunk over 1 Peter, between us. 5 months in 1 peter, one time...

Now we're 5 years down that road, having been friends since 2002. God has seen us through so much. And things are "sweetening" around us. That's what happens in the wineskin. aging brings the sugars out. breaks them down to a form that makes us happy.

Eric had his two beautiful children with him. How incredibly good it was. Thank you, Eric, for putting us on your itinerary. Eric and his wife Amy reside in Virginia Beach, where Eric serves the Lord as a doctor. Their little ones are
Paul 2 years
Sarah 14 months.

That's a bit of news from us. Some thoughts on Scripture and Kingdom life to follow.