The Number Two

What does the number two mean to you? Right now, it means the number of days before our Zambia team heads out on British Air for twelve days of ministry and work in Zambia. Two means the number of carryon items I can take with me which will be a small back pack with a change of clothes, some books, and maybe some snacks. The other will have my computer so I can blog from Lusaka. Two also represents the number of checked bags each of us will be hauling. One will be filled with clothes and personal belongings. The other will be filled with some of the overwhelming number of clothes, toiletries, school supplies and book bags that the people of Enumclaw, Rotary and Calvary have donated to this effort. The response has been so incredible that the piles of items are now spilling over into room number two in our office.

Two is the approximate number of weeks we will be gone. We leave on October 15th and return on October 27th. Two is the number of flights it will take us to get to Lusaka. We leave Seattle and fly over the north pole to London. From London, after a layover, we fly directly to Lusaka.

Two is the number of schools we intend to visit while there. We want to stop at Balm of Gilead (where our team worked last summer)to reconnect with some of the students and teachers there. But most of our time and energy will be spent at school number two - The Healing Place. It is a new school that is just getting started and the money that has been donated by team members, Rotary and other faithful people has enabled us to provide a well for safe water. It also will help us get electricity to the site, buy food and cooking utensils so these children can have nutritious meals at lunch, and provide school supplies for the children. We also will be doing some back breaking digging of trenches that will be used for foundations for the first classroom building on this site.

Two is a small, seemingly insignificant number to most people. My blackberry phone just vibrated twice, signalling me that I have just received an email or a text message but not a phone call; not anything urgent that I need to stop what I am doing to attend to. Two is the number of heaping scoops of ground coffee I have found works best in my French Press travel coffee maker (They mostly have Nescafe instant coffee in Africa so I am taking my own).

Two is more than one but it is less than a few. It is way less than a lot. When I think of how much I have here in my life in the United States, I have more than I need or deserve. That is why I am going back for trip number two. I want to share from my life with others who have even less than most.

This week, I received a special gift from one of my grandsons. Inside were two one dollar bills and a note saying he would be praying for me and that he wanted this money to be used to bless the children in Africa.

You be the judge. Is two too small a number? It two too little to give? Is two, too few a number of times to travel to a place to make a difference? I don't know. But I do know that two represented a very generous and sacrificial gift for a nine year old who likes to keep track of his money. Two US dollars is worth nearly 10,000 Zambian dollars or kwachas. Two dollars will buy enough food to feed several children a couple of meals.

Two - what does it mean to you? More importantly what would be the proportional equivalent for you to share with your church, a mission agency, a relief organization or a local food bank? I am inspired by someone who is willing to part with a significant part of his resources simply to bless others who have nothing.

My prayer is that I will use that $2.00 wisely so that it may indeed be a blessing.

Pray for our team while we are gone. Pray that the Lord would knit us together as a close knit team. Pray for our safety and health.Pray that the Lord would use us to encourage, witness to and be of significant help to the people of Zambia that this trip will be worth it. And keep posted at this site as I hope to be posting several blogs from various places along the way. Thank you all for your prayers, support and encouragement.

mealie-meal, nescafe, no water pressure

I am sitting at my desk drinking the last dregs of a cup of Starbucks Coffee that I bought earlier this afternoon. At best it is lukewarm. It brings up images in my mind of Revelation 3:16. To paraphrase, it is neither hot nor cold - just lukewarm and it is close to being spit out. Yechh. Still, it is better than the coffee available at most places in Zambia, the country I will be visiting again in just 9 short days. All you can get there is a cup of moderately hot water and a packet of Nescafe.

The title of today's blog is in reference to life in Zambia, which, once again this year, I will be visiting in a week and a half. Yes, that's right. I am going back to the country and city Judy and I visited last summer (2008). This time, there are 9 of us going as a joint team from Enumclaw Rotary and Calvary Presbyterian Church.

My local Rotary Club has named Village Steps and its commitment to assisting in educating Lusaka's poorest children as its International Project for 2009 and 2010. They have donated a significant amount of money toward Village Steps and to one of the schools Village Steps supports. With the money Rotary has committed, a well for safe water will be dug, we will purchase equipment to help the staff of The Healing Place School provide lunches for the children, and we will begin digging foundation trenches for their first classroom building. Right now, there are approximately 110 children who attend this school which exists because many of the kids in the Kabanana district cannot afford the $90.00 USD it takes to buy a uniform and books for one of the government schools.

Even for an in tact family, that is more than the average household annual income in Zambia. Most of these children are living with friends or extended family because they are orphans. One or more of their parents has died or is sick with HIV/AIDs.

While there, we will also be seeking to elicit the support of the Lusaka Central Rotary Club for this project which will enable us to apply for matching grant money from our Rotary District and from Rotary International. We read about the extreme poverty and need in the world and, at times, it is almost too overwhelming; we feel paralyzed from doing anything about it. Hopefully, 10 days, 9 people and lots of prayer and support from back home can make some difference in the lives of these children. They are only a small percentage of the orphans in Zambia (over 1 million) and in the world (130,000,000). But each one is an individual. Each one has a name. Each one is an object of God's love. Each one has a right to safe water, a nutritious meal each day and an education that will better equip them to live a productive and healthy life.

So I am willing to drink Nescafe (or take my own supply of ground coffee and a French Press) and eat nsima (also called mealie-meal, it is a staple of the Zambian diet. It is a thickened corn meal whose closest equivalent in the states might be grits). And I am also willing to endure sponge baths or weak showers. It seems a small sacrifice to make if I can do something to affect even one child's life.

From last year's experience, I also know that the greatest impact of a trip like this is the effect it has on the people participating. My life was transformed by going to Africa last summer just as it has been by building houses in Mexico or helping rebuild houses and lives after Hurricane Katrina.

Jesus once said that "the Son of Man did not come into the world to be served but to serve." Sometimes I look at my life and think of all the things I feel entitled to like really good coffee, abundant food, and way too many material possessions. Then I go to a developing country and see the stark contrasts of what is normal, and I am reminded once again that of all the things I enjoy in life, the greatest is the opportunity to serve others in Jesus' name. The Son of Man didn't even have a regular place to lay his head. I guess I can endure - and maybe even enjoy - living a little more like the majority of the world's people do.

Our team will be reflecting on Mark Labberton's book "The Dangerous Act of Worship while we are in Zambia. He says (among a whole bunch of thought provoking and convicting things)that a vigorous theology of worship...is never escapist. It's never about forgetting the neighbor, not least the neighbor who is blond and poor and oppressed and hungry. It is about never submitting again to the wrong yoke of slavery, but instead taking on the yoke of Jesus whose burden is light."

This trip is different in that it is not a church sponsored trip. So I can only speak for my own motives and my own convictions today, but I don't want my "yoke of slavery" to be my own personal rights, privileges and possessions. I want it to be the freeing yoke of servanthood to those the world tends to overlook and forget.

Now, I think I will finish that lukewarm cup of Starbucks. It may be one of the last one's I will have for awhile.

What's inside?

I was out on some errands today and happened to drive by the new hospital that is being built in town. It's not huge but for our small community, it is pretty impressive to see a two story plus structure going up. I love watching buildings being built. We had a house built once and I could hardly stay away. I think I drove the contractor crazy. And when we built a new addition to our church in New Mexico, I got very little office work or pastoral calling done - I was too busy "supervising."

Our new local hospital has been a long time in the planning and once they broke ground, it was several months before there was any real, visible progress because lots of foundation work had to be meticulously laid.

Then they started laying some steel this past spring and things really began staking shape. It looks like a building. When I came back from vacation having been away for a few weeks however, I was surprised to see that little had changed. To the untrained eye looking at surface level, it appeared that nothing had been done for the last few months. So today I stopped and took a closer look (Don't worry, I didn't go inside the construction gates and bother any workers). Deep on the inside of the building are several massive, slanted, steel bracings. They are made of large circular pipe and they are welded to floor and ceiling in several straategic spots on each floor. Ah, earthquake reinforcements! That's it. Now I get it. The real strength of a building is not what we see on the outside. That is all architectural and cosmetic. The real strength is deep inside, shoring up walls and floors where, once the building is done, very few people will ever see or care about.

While Judy and I were on vacation on our boat, we raided our vault of favorite DVD movies. One night we decided on a movie neither of us had seen for a long time but one we both truly enjoyed. "Chariots of Fire" tells the story of Eric Liddell. Liddell was known as the flying Scotsman. Ultimately he was martyred by the communists in China where he was continuing the mission work his parents had begun.
Before that, he was known as the fastest man in Great Britain. During the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris he made headlines around the world by refusing to run in a qualifying heat for the 100 meters event because it was held on a Sunday; a day he considered to be the Sabbath. Imagine, giving up a chance for glory that few of us can even dream about.

Instead, that very same Sunday he preached a sermon in a Paris church. Based on Isaiah 40:28 - 31 he asked people to consider where the true strength in life is truly found. Isaiah's words echo still for me: Even youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and all but those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint."

I talk with more and more people all the time who are just simply weary. Their strength is gone. Working 70 hours a week, out every night with commitments and family responsibilities, worried about the financial pressures of paying for all the stuff they have, exhausted from strained marriages, broken freindships and worried about the condition of the world, many people - myself included at times - seem to be stumbling along; barely able to walk through life let alone sense any grand fulfillment or joy.

We put so much emphasis on appearing strong; shaping, tanning, dressing and toning the outer self we sometimes forget the need for the inner, strengthening braces of God's power in our lives. We expend so much energy trying to keep up the facade that we are strong and able to cope with life's trials, that we are worn out before one of them comes.

Where does the strength come from? For Eric Liddell - and for Isaiah - the strength comes from God who never grows tired or weary. That God gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak - inwardly. What a great promise.

It has been my observation throughout 37 years of ministry that this increasing of power and strength in life is a joint process where our spirit and will is active and alert to work with God's Holy Spirit to accomplish His purposes and help us redirect our priorities and efforts towards things that are truly important.

I see some of those inner bracing pieces in my life as my relationship with God first - if that is not right, nothing else will fit or make sense. I also see having healthy family relationships, one or two strong friendships, and the fellowship of God's people surrounding me as key ingredients. They may not be part of my outward persona or architectural appearance. But the Lord welds those other, more important, even if less obvious aspects of my life into place and uses them to provide strength in the midst of trial.

Sure I get tired to. Yes, my resolve and my courage wane. After a 60+ hour week of dealing with people and their unique needs and problems, I feel like "crashing" at times. It is then I recall, "Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength..."

"Teach me Lord to wait on you; to put my whole trust and life in your care; to let go of the worry and stress that each day presents and find me hope in you."

Spiritual transformation

Ever feel like you were in need of life support; spiritual life support that is? Machines beeping, lights flashing, ventilators pumping, IV bags dripping: These are all things the body needs when it can't live by itself or until it recovers from a surgery or a trauma. The body and its many complex functions and delicate organs may need assistance - not just to keep a person alive, but to help them heal and recover strength.

We got news last week that the mother of a close friend was in the hospital in a coma and on life support. No one knows if she will ever regain consciousness or be restored to her former vitality. Medicine can do some amazing things. God can do even greater things.

I don't have much memory of it. And, I wasn't in need of a breathing machine. Not long ago, I was looking at pictures from my stint in the hospital though, and it struck me just how helpless I was after my unfortunate meeting with a bus. I am told (again, I don't remember this) that I was annoyingly insistant to anyone who entered my little cubicle in ICU. I wanted to get up. I wanted to go back to work. I wanted to get back out on the running trails. I couldn't understand why I was strapped down to a rotating bed, head, neck and legs immobilized by traction. I had no real idea of how utterly helpless I was without the assistance of machines, orthopedic equipment, specialized nurses and doctors and medicines. Without all that, there is no telling if I would be here writing this today. At the time all I could think of, apparently, was how determined I was to get back on my feet and doing everything I had done the moments before I was run over. I didn't realize my neck was fractured and dislocated. I had no clue how the lacerations and road rash on my back posed a huge risk for infection. I wasn't aware how badly fractured my hips, pelvis and ribs were. It didn't dawn on me that even if I had tried to get up, I probably would have collapsed from the neural weakness in my extremities and that I could have done more serious damage to my already compromised spinal cord.

I wanted to be transformed. I wanted to be normal and healthy. No way! Wasn't going to happen. I needed help.

Not long ago, a group of us were up at 6:30 am studying some wise words from the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians. This idea of transformation captured my attention and has been on my heart since. Paul said, "And we...are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (II Cor. 3:18)

I run into people who think they can become better Christians simply by their own determination and effort; that it's possible to pull ones self up by their own spiritual boot straps. "If I just do more good deeds; if I just pray harder; if I just go to more church meetings" are some of the phrases I hear from the people who come and sit in my study or with whom I visit at Starbucks, in living rooms or across the fence on warm summer evenings.

The reality is that we can't do it on our own. "Apart from me, Jesus said, you can do nothing." (John 15:5). There are times when the best we can do is just lie there, helpless and yielded. That's all. Then, at the place of our own greatest weakness, transformation starts to take place from the inside out. Spiritual life support; God's Holy Spirit working in and through us to make us whole; to transform us into the likeness of Christ himself. Wow!

Wait, there's another part to this to. I hadn't thought of it til just now. Part of the healing and transformation does come from the outside. Just like physicians, nurses, therapists and technicians work from the outside to heal the inside, God uses other people to encourage, strengthen, challenge and build us up.

My own experience - and I do remember at least parts of this - was that I couldn't have made it through some of those long nights of pain, immobility and discouragement if it had not been for people who came to read to me, tell me jokes, or just pray over me. My friend Cyril, a Jewish Rabbi came and read the Wall Street Journal. Bill read some of his brother's sermons through one long night. Daryl brought by CDs to play and filled me in on the latest box scores. Bob read Bible verses and left me the small pewter cross he had carried in his pocket since the previous Lenten/Easter season. Melissa told me about her final English paper. Others just came and sat. Like God with skin, their presence encouraged me.

There was one momentous day at Rio Vista Rehab Hospital in El Paso that stands out. Three men from Calvary Presbyterian had come all the way to El Paso to spend three days with me. That church had just called me to be their pastor. I think they wanted to make sure there was some hope of my recovering enough to eventually assume that role.

This particular day was the first day that Gina - my 4' 10" Phillipina Physical Therapist had tigihtly cinched a gait belt around my waist and wheeled my wheelchair in between two stainless stell standing rails. With a sly grin she said "let's see if you can stand upright for 15 minutes." This was the first time in over 2 1/2 months that I been on my feet. As I stood there, it was all I could do to support my weight with my emaciated arms and my one weight bearing leg. Sweat began to pour off my brow. Nausea welled up inside. I came to learn that she was more devious than I gave her credit for and that 15 minute challenge soon became 20, then 25, then 30 minutes - all the time Gina patiently standing there grinning.

Keith, John and Charlie all stood or sat nearby watching this spectacle as well. I have to say it couldn't have been very exciting for them - kind of like watching grass grow. But they were there cheering me on. I think I would have quit much earlier had these three men not been there for me to try and impress. When it was over, I collapsed back into the chair and was bone tired physically. At the same time I was exhilarated emotionally and spiritually. Against the dire predictions of neurologists and orthopaedic specialists, I had stood upright under my own strength (with Gina holding on tightly to my gait belt). I knew I would eventually regain my ability to walk. The support and encouragement of others made that even more realistic.

Transformation comes from the authenticity and care of others. It comes from the respiratory help of God's Spirit living in our hearts. Becoming more the kind of person that God wants us to be does not and cannot happen simply by just trying harder. It is only when we are sickest or weakest and least capable of helping ourselves that we come to realize God's transformational life support.


I don't know about you, but I think I need that today - and just about every day.

WIRED

It was a cool, crisp Friday night in October 1969. I was a young college junior who had just transferred to Wheaton College in the western suburbs of Chicago. What was I doing walking around by myself on these "mean streets" just a few blocks from the Cabrini Greens Housing Projects and not much further away from Old Town. Cabrini Green was a 4 square block area where over 20,000 people lived in cramped, run-down, overcrowded apartments. Gang violence, drugs, and crime were nightly occurances. Old Town was Chicago's version of San Francisco's Haight Ashbury district. It was where run aways gathered, hippies stood on every street corner, tourists gawked and users bought and sold everything from marijuana and LSD to heroin and cocaine.

Just less than a mile to the east was the "Gold Coast" district - an area of expensive, high rise apartments, condominiums and exclusive restaurants, shops and businesses clustered along Lake Shore Blvd.

Here I was - a total neophyte to the big city, wandering around talking to strangers, inviting folks to come over to our coffee house ministry at the corner of Division and LaSalle. We called this practice "fishing." Unlike some other Christian groups who cornered people on the streets with tracts and hard-sell witnessing or else megaphone amplified preaching, our approach was to invite folks in for a warm shelter, a cup of coffee or tea, a place to shower, get fresh clothes, engage in conversation and listen to music. It was there that many, diverse folks were introduced to Jesus and found their lives changed.

That was a long time ago. We had Beatles posters on the walls, black lights everywhere. Wild, vibrant paint on the walls, bean bag chairs and pillows on the floor. For tables we used large industrial wire or cable spools left over from the public utilities company. The atmosphere was about as far different from church or traditional Christian hangouts as it could be.

Out in front, bikers parked their Harleys and on the corner of Division, the greasy but impelling aroma of Sammy's Red Hots was a magnet that drew people right to our door (I don't think it is still there but Sammy's sold the greasiest and best polish sausages in Chicago - smothered in grilled onions and dripping with grease from the hot french fries piled on top. MMM, I can still taste those - literally, I think I can still taste them 40 years later.

Anyway, those memories came flooding back to me as I was walking the "mean streets" of Enumclaw this morning. Funny you should ask "why?" Because I was headed to Lindon Books to meet some folks for coffee and to talk about the vision Calvary has for a coffee house ministry right here in our little town. Yeah, that's right, in this coffee-glutted area where Espresso stands are on nearly every corner and the 'green mermaid' seems to hold a monopoly over every other roaster and vendor of caffeinated beverages, we are joining forces with our local independant bookseller to create a venue for great coffee, good reading, authentic conversation, live music and much much more. It is the 2009 version of what I was doing back in 1969. Wow! Deja Vu all over again, huh?

So, this Friday night (May 15) is the unofficial grand opening and debut of WIRED and it features a group called the PHEROMOANS (I am as curious as you are) who describe themselves as a local, indy, acoustic folk band. In the mean time we are lining up groups for Friday nights during the summer. We also may do some open mike poetry and music. We very likely will have a trivia night or two. And everyday, there is free WiFi and fresh espresso from Longbottom Coffee out of Hillsboro Oregon.

It doesn't sound very churchy does it. It may not be as radical as my 1969 coffee house. But in the same vein, it will be a place where people can come, relax, have a good cup of coffee, and talk about important stuff; spiritual stuff; whatever. No preaching, no altar calls, no offering plates. Just the kind of place I think Jesus would probably hang out in if he were present on earth today. I think it is often in the market places where people gather - outside the sometimes closed confines of institutional churches - that people engage their minds and their hearts and meet Jesus. We are praying that people meet Jesus because they meet some people who are his followers who live out their faith authentically and are at ease talking about it naturally with others.

While we see the music and wifi appealing to some who are part of a younger generation, it is by no means closed to others who want to come in and browse the shelves, surf the net, share a cup of coffee and conversation with a friend or with a stranger, or simply have a few moments of quiet to themselves - away from the hustle, routine, and pressures of everyday life.

So come on out and get WIRED. Tell your friends and family about it. I had a great cappucino there this morning with my friends. I may go back for another cup this afternoon, just to try the wifi and outline my sermon. Maybe I'll see you there.

Just another day

What do you have planned today? My guess is that, if you are like me and like most people, you didn't stop to think beyond the busy-ness of your schedule; the appointments you have to keep; the responsibilities you have to fulfill; the birthdays or anniversaries you can't forget; the bills that have to be paid. Daily life for most of us becomes a routine. We get into those routines and then seldom pause to think about what life would be like if that routine were interrupted.... especially by some life-changing event, phone call, chance meeting or profound spiritual revelation. If you are like me, you just assume that the plans you have made and the relationships that you have come to take for granted will be constants - maybe even things you take for granted.

"Now listen, you who say ' Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why you don't even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will we will live and do this or that.'" (James 4:13 -1 5)

Who are the important people in your life? Have you told them you love them and that they are special to you? Who, in your life, are you at odds with? Have you sought reconciliation with that person? What important tasks are sitting on your desk...not just the mundane, daily chores of everyday life... but the things that you really value and want to accomplish? Will they still be sitting there tomorrow, waiting for your attention?

Did you pause this morning to pray? Did you say thank you Lord for another day of life? Did it occur to you that perhaps you should submit your plans to God, realizing that in gracious providence, the Lord may have something different for you than what is on your agenda?

May 8th, for the last 12 years, has been the occasion for me to remember that I can't take a single thing for granted any more. It sounds corny, but the slogan seen on some bumpers which reads "Today is the first day of the rest of your life" is true. Each day provides an important reminder to reconsider priorities; evaluate activities; renew relationships and live life to its fullest because, in fact, our lives are a mist and we don't know what tomorrow will hold. In some ways, it could be just as accurate to say that "Today could be the last day of the rest of my life."

12 years ago today, I was living in the delusional bubble that I was in control of my life and that my daily routines, my plans, my goals, and my relationships were all on track and that I could assume I would have the next day, and the next day after that, and the day after that to do what I wanted to and what I had planned on.

So, I was going about my daily routines with that mindset. Getting ready to make a move from Las Cruces, NM to pastor a church in a new place called Enumclaw, Washington, I went through the paces of doing my usual stuff plus preparing for what I assumed would be a fairly non-eventful transition to a new pastorate. One of the tasks on my agenda that day was to show our church's bus to prospective buyers from a church in El Paso.

The appointed time - which I had entered into my infallible day planner - had come and past. Our buyers weren't there. So I was just leaving the parking lot to go home when they pulled in. I hesitated but then went back to meet them as had my friend Bob who was an elder and the mechanic who took care of the bus.

To make a long story short, 30 minutes later, I was being loaded into an ambulance to be rushed to Memorial Medical Center. Bruised, battered, partially paralyzed, and fighting for life, I came to realize that my closely planned schedules and plans for life were tossed into complete disarray. Fourteen weeks of hopsitalization later, several surgeries to mend broken bones back together, and hours of therapy, and I was a changed person...no longer in control of my life.

I can't tell the whole story here. Perhaps if my book is ever published, you can read more about the events of that day and the ensuing lessons our family learned as a result. For now, just let me be a voice of reminder to you not to take today for granted.

The chance to play some jazz with my group for a Ladies' Tea this weekend seems like a great gift. Being able to go work out at the gym - even though I don't like spending 45 minutes on an elliptical trainer and stationary bike - is a special privilege I didn't think I would ever have. Just being able to walk downtown to hand out some posters and flyers for our church's new coffeehouse venture seems like a blessing today and and activity that twelve years ago, I would have taken for granted. The coffee I bought from Starbucks tastes just a little richer to me today. So, I think I will stop writing and finish it while it is still warm. Thanks Lord for the gift of life today.

Soul
Café
A place to connect,
reflect and discuss

Do you like espresso? How about a casual, relaxed atmosphere where you can read a book, listen to live music or meet friends? Do you like the challenge of engaging conversation about relevant issues and sharing stories of faith? Have I gotten your attention? Are you sitting on the edge of your seat? Then read carefully. Big things – new things are “brewing “at Calvary (sorry, that was too easy a pun).

SOUL CAFÉ – doesn’t that sound cool? Last night (Tuesday, April 14th) your Session approved a plan to try a new outreach ministry this summer. And, we need some folks who feel called by God to get involved in order to make it work. More about that in a minute!

I don’t know if you realize it or not but Western Washington has one of the highest (some say the highest) per capita rates of non-churched people in the country. Though many if not most of these people – particularly younger people – would say they believe in God, pray and even think Jesus was a person worth following most studies suggest that 75 – 77% don’t attend church.

Is there a way of reaching people like that? Is it possible to engage those people without telling them they have to come to our services at our church? We think there is and that is what SOUL CAFÉ is all about. It’s not intended to just be another place for church people to hang out (although no one is turned away at the door) but a place that would attract people who are non-churched.

Beginning in June, our church is entering into a unique partnership with Lindon’s Bookstore. They are going to keep their doors open on Friday evenings for just such an opportunity. Each week there will be live music, a thought provoking movie, or some kind of discussion venue back in the lounge/stage area. There will be comfortable seating, warm lighting, and a very relaxed atmosphere. It is simply a gathering place that would be inviting for folks to come, drink coffee and, perhaps, play a game of chess or backgammon, pick a book off the shelf to read, or share a conversation about something deeper; maybe something spiritual.

Up in front of the store, there would be a coffee house atmosphere with café tables, comfortable chairs, and – this is really key – free Wi-Fi and, of course a coffee bar. Out in front would be a sign telling folks that SOUL CAFÉ is a joint venture of Calvary Presbyterian and Lindon’s Books. It would also be advertised on the church web site, and with posters around town too.

During the Lindon’s regular business hours, that same atmosphere would be present – minus live music or any programming. But on the tables, there would be a small card saying free Wi-Fi compliments of your friends at Calvary and maybe some thought or verse for the day.

When Paul visited Athens he headed up to a place called the Aereopagus (Acts 17). It was the hill where all the philosophers, all the curious, most of the non-Christians hung out to share thoughts and ideas. He didn’t wait for them to come to the synagogue or to one of the house churches – he engaged them on their turf and talked to them freely in language they understood. He said, “I see that you are very religious and that you have markers all over that read, ‘To an unknown God.’ I want to tell you about that God.” That is the idea behind SOUL CAFÉ – reaching people where they are at.

I am praying that there would be 8 – 10 people who would see this Friday night outreach as God’s calling to ministry in their life. We would train folks in ways of naturally sharing faith, running the espresso machine, and planning for ongoing Friday “programs.” These people would work closely with Lindon’s owners in a unique partnership that will help a downtown business as well as allow Christ’s body and opportunity to be salt – not in a saltshaker but poured out. For those who commit, it will not mean an every week commitment on your part. You would be part of a greater team. It would also not be a substitute for your attending worship and being part of the regular fellowship of our church. We hope to begin a trial period for this ministry June 5. How about it? Are you in? Let me know as soon as you have had a chance to pray about it and feel God’s call.