A Tough One

Sunday was a tough day for me. I know that with leadership comes failures, and Sunday I felt like I was let down by a friend and in turn, I let down my community. On the personal side, I can apologize for allowing my leadership to distract our community from what was otherwise a great Sunday. On the professional side, I learned a lot and will never let that sort of thing happen again.

It still stings... although with each storm comes new rain, and new soil is uncovered. I am praying that this new soil is rich with nutrients and commitment to the building of Missiongathering.

Sanctuary Tonight

As always, we had a great sanctuary together. I wanted to point out two things that really stuck out to me.

1. Emily shared this amazing analogy that I know that I am going to butcher as I try to put it down in written form. She said that she had always felt that her spiritual journey in other faith communities had been like a small, pre-potted seed that only had a small space to grow into, and that would only ever become one type of plant. When she found Missiongathering, she said that she had found her "meadow" in which she could grow into herself and where the soil was rich. Where she could "hide out" if need be, or shine in the light of the sun. I just think this is a beautiful and brilliant analogy.



2. We were talking about why people are so attracted to churches that constantly make people feel guilty. I think the core reason is that people (especially in Western culture) get accustomed to a God that is only found in guilt. That we feel closest to God in our sin because it reminds us that we are in need of grace. It can almost become a ritual like practice to be told how terrible we are and how disappointed God is in us. Although I agree that we all need grace, and that it is good to be reminded of that... I think that God meets us in much more than just our guilt and that God sent Jesus Christ to no longer make us live in the shadow of our guilt and judgement... but instead to embrace grace and walk daily in that grace.

Recommended Reading

This is a book I picked up in Orlando that I am about halfway through. I would definitely recommend this for anyone who is looking at how a movement of faith (missionally based) can look like.

I especially have appreciated the chapter on discipleship.

For more info, go to theforgottenways.org

AE Love... MG PROMO 1

I had a spare hour or so, and wanted to practice some AE stuff. Here is a promo for missiongathering.com.

Let me know what you think.

Exponential Conference #5: Divine Appointment?

As we were watching the reenactment of Jesus' crucifiction, I noticed a guy who had some awesome hair, chucks and some rolled cuffs and looked like he didnt belong (much like I didn't). I saw Rich talking to him, so I headed over, and it turns out, it was Dan Kimball. How random is it that we ran into Dan all the way out here in Orlando and at the Holy Land Experience.

So we all got to talking about the park, and about our respective churches, and then we all went together to "meet" Jesus and take a photo.

Classic... Vintage... Experience.

Only at Missiongathering.

I found Jesus:



Dan found Jesus:



Happy Guys full of Jesus:

Safley in the South

We arrived safely in Orlando tonight. With a quick layover in Nash Vegas (Nashville) we had really smooth travels. On the way to the hotel tonight, we drove through what I am going to call the "Realm of Disney." Pretty amazing, and I really hope we get a chance to spend a day at Walt Disney World.

We had some Brinner (thats breakfast for dinner) at the good ol' Waffle House, and checked into the hotel. I definately feel like I am now officially in the south.

Here are the official overflow rules for Waffle House... gotta love the south.

Magi in a Modern Nativity

Sanctuary was pretty chill tonight. We hung out at Emily's place and she provided AMAZING snacks. She had these little bite size desserts (that I could eat) that she called "Yum Yums." Haha. It is a family recipe of marshmellows, rice crispys, white chocolate and (I think) caramel. Really good. On top of that, she had eggnog for us all to enjoy. Good Christmas times...

After a really long week... and a challenging one at that, I was stoked to hang out with my sanctuary folks. We has a cool conversation about Joseph's role in Jesus' birth and growth. A man that truly embodied compassion and righteousness. I think it would be awesome to learn more about Hebrew cultural norms in that time.

We talked about the role of the Magi as well and I figured Id share it with all of you:

My thought was that the grassroots movement that became the announcement of the Messiah was done through a group of influential tribal leaders that were committed to telling the story of Jesus' birth. I think we often think about the Nativity as a huge "city-wide" event that everyone attended... but the reality of the story is that probably even the inn-keeper didn't know about Jesus' birth at the time. Probably years later, he had a realization that the young pregnant woman who came to his establishment in need of shelter actually carried the Messiah. Or maybe not. Who knows... but the point being that Jesus' birth was something that kind of happened under the radar.

But through the Magi... (the influential men and women of the time) the nation of Israel began to understand that the world was changing. Their words, to those around them, began to tell the story of Emmanuel. Their journey to find the Christ-child eventually led others to journey toward this same story.

Which leads me to this thought: maybe we are the Magi of our time. We have journeyed to the "stable" and experienced the reality of Emmanuel in our lives. And all of us have a level of influence within our circles of friends and family.

Maybe the message of Christmas... the true message of HOPE... is not something that is meant to broadcast across a large cross-section of people we dont know and probably never will... but instead, the message of HOPE is to be spread from our mouths... to those who we have relationship with... to those that we carry influence with.

I think we are the Magi in this modern Nativity.

FortyOneTwenty.com

This is a new resource I found for cool videos to incorporate into your gathering. Check it out here. Some great videos and I especially like their stills. Enjoy.

Eyes of Understanding

On Sunday we talked about having "eyes of understanding" and were given black and white photos of something to have eyes of understanding for. As I opened my envelope, I found a picture of Michael Vick. At first, it really didn't strike me as something that I needed to have eyes of understanding for. Although I completely disagree with what he did, he is definitely not at the top of my list of things that I dont understand.

But as I really started to think about it, and what God was trying to communicate to me through my photo, I came to a cool revelation of sorts. One of my friends really, really struggles with Michael Vick. I mean REALLY struggles with him and the sub-culture he represents. And I think that God was challenging me to start to see the world through the eyes of my friend. Not on the Michael Vick issue, but on his life, and his struggles and his soul.

It was cool to be challenged like that yesterday. I hope that there are others who were challenged yesterday too. May we all learn to open our eyes.

Ministry is rough sometimes...

As if the title didn't say it all. This journey called "ministry" has my whole heart. I am so devoted to helping us all see a new vision of God and the church, that often times I get so wrapped up in the middle of it that I forget to breathe. The couple of months or so have been extremely exhausting, and all of my energy and focus have been completely on making sure the boat stays afloat. In the midst of that, I don't know if I've been communicating well with my closest friends and brothers. I think I've left some people out, and was reminded of that tonight. There is nothing that hurts more than when a good friend feels like they've been left behind. And there are no worse words than the criticism of those that you love the most.

Sometimes I just feel that I am on a rollercoaster that goes from the greatest ride of my life to the scariest back to the greatest in a blink of an eye. And I am just holding on, letting the ride dictate my moods and emotions. Grabbing the hand rails and praying that the lap bar keeps me safe. I know that God is faithful. I know that God loves me. I know that God is near. And in all of those "knows" I still just need God to wrap his arms around me and tell me that everything is going well. To give me rest and sanctuary from my rollercoaster.

There really is no easy answer to this. There is no quick fix. No words to "make it all better." But I wanted to share these thoughts tonight because they are things that I think we all go through... and things we all will get through. When we are real with ourselves, and real with those around us... when we truly look in the mirror and ask the hard questions.. when we can step back and honestly evaluate our life... thats when we can breathe. We can breathe in the love of God. Here comes my chance to breathe...

Set it up.. knock it down

A few pictures from the set-up of Missiongathering on Sunday. We could always use more help. hit me up -jay@missiongathering.com.

To Missiongathering

Hey all you Missiongathering folks. Thank you for lettting me share my heart with you this morning and being so receptive. Im stoked to be on this journey with you all. Welcome to my blog. Welcome to my digital life. Lets have wonerful and great conversations with this forum.

Much love.

JS

Heart, Soul, Mind

This morning we started a new series at Missiongathering focused on having a "Samaritan's Heart." It was really cool to see so many people stand when Pastor Rich really challenged us as to whether or not we would start to work from our spiritual core. Im stoked to see people at Mission making their faith journey their own.

Worship Cabaret

I just got done with my meeting at Cream (still a great place, come check it out). What an exciting time for the Creative Arts at Missiongathering. Jenn and I talked for about an hour about the possibility of doing kind of a worship collective some sunday where we incorporate musicians, poets, artists, digital artists, dancers, choirs, etc. from our community into kind of a worship collective time where we can respond to what God is doing in our own lives and in the life of our community. Great idea. I am excited about where it could go.

Connections

Over the last season of my life I feel that God has really been showing me just how important it is to have people around you that are going through the same things you are, and are on a similar path as you. From mentorship, to friends, to random contacts its such an amazing thing to be connected to someone that is going through the same things.
Which brings me to the concept of worship through music. Being a lead worshipper is something that takes all of your heart and all of your passion. And typically, we as artists and musicians, are very sensitive to how people receive our passion and heart Recently, I received an email from a lead worshipper friend of mine who is reading my blog:

"I also read your post about titled "Encouragement" and it sounds similar to how I often feel about our team here. Its just so fun and crazy and tiring to be allowed to play a role in what God is trying to accomplish in our respective cities. The people we do ministry with makes a big difference. I'm glad you are having a good experience with your team. So many churches dont have that luxury...though it should be the norm."

Connecting with others is so necessary to our spiritual journey and to our growth as spiritual beings. Knowing that there are others going through the same things that you are in not only reassuring, but helps to sharpen your own creative passion and heart.

Street Angels PR

I opened up the new issue of "Risen: the spiritual edge of pop culture" today to find an advertisement for Jedidiah that lists Street Angels as one of their supported causes.

If you dont know, Street Angels is a ministry here at Missiongathering that is focused on reaching out to homeless teenagers here in San Diego. Twice a month we get together and go hand out "backpacks of love" filled with essentials (deodorant, stamped envelopes, toothpaste, snacks, flashlights, socks, underwear, etc.) to homeless teens. Jedidiah has been a big supporter of Street Angels for about the last year or so.

If you'd like to learn more about Street Angels click here, or to watch the Street Angels documentary (highly recommended) click here.

Street Angels getting some Jedidiah love. Awesome.

Street Gatherings #1

Our first installment of "Street Gatherings: music for the street soul," are two guys we got to hang out with last night throughout our rehearsal.

We've been busy in writing new songs for our upcoming album, and in the middle of rehearsal, two guys came to join us on the steps yelling, and whistling and clapping after each evolution of the new song we were writing. After rehearsal, they came over and introduced themselves: Daryl (in the puffy jacket) and Red Beard / ZZ (in the red shirt).
Daryl is a songwriter / poet and shared a few of the songs he's been working on with us into our PA system. Red Beard used to play saxophone, but said he had to pawn it to get beer money a few years back. It was interesting to hear their stories and their dreams. Daryl wants to move to Nashville to write songs and we told him he should totally give it a shot.

They were full of encouragement and had some funny lines to share with us... and I quote:

"You guys are the next Pink Floyd and U2."
- Red Beard
"It's progressive, but its rock and roll. Everyone loves rock and roll. Finally, you guys can put POD to rest."
- Red Beard
"If you want a lyricist, I have all the songs. I have all the songs. I have all the songs. My mother was a singer. I have all the songs." - Daryl

Street Gatherings ROLL-OUT

One of my favorite parts of rehearsal is when passer-bys "join" us for a tune or two.

To give some background, our rehearsal studio is in a nice four car garage in a storage building here in North Park. The garage doors open to the adjacent ally that is attached to a fish market (stinky) an art gallery, coffee shop, and an old church. Needless to say, it can get kind of seedy at times as there is a large population of homeless men and woman in the area.

So I've decided to start a portion of my blog that is dedicated to these people, their stories, and the memories we get to make with them. Im calling it "Street Gatherings: music for the street soul."

encouragement

After such a long and draining day, I got to sit down with our leadership team tonight for our staff meeting. To be honest, I was really, really, really drained and just wanted to go home with some ice cream and a good flick and call it a day. But as I sat and talked about the next season of Missiongathering with our leaders, I was given such a fresh breath of air.

Its amazing to me just how much passion and heart goes into who we are as a team and as a church. I couldn't help but look around the table and just be thankful that God has placed me in this church and as a part and voice on this team. I didn't leave the office until about midnight, but I really didn't even want to leave.

Thank you Missiongathering. Thank you leadership team. Thank you for the passion and grace and heart that makes us who we are.

what a sunday!

Missiongathering: YOU ROCK. We had a great gathering on Sunday, and Im feeling really good about where we are headed as a community. We are free... free to live into who we are and who Christ has created us to be. Marvelous Light.