A weekend packed full...

Last weekend the City on a Hill Team had a great opportunity to visit Indianapolis, IN and share the vision for this new church plant. If you're wondering "why Indianapolis" - Matt & Sarah used to live there where Matt was a youth pastor. They still have a lot of dear friends in that town and we are about building bridges into places across the country where people might share the vision for the church and have a desire to partner with us to impact the Kingdom of God.
It was a special time Friday night when about 40 people piled into the intimate space of a living room to hear what we had to say. Mark and Sandy Goff were amazing hosts with a great team of supporters providing an evening meal (and dessert) for everyone there. We got to stay the night at the Shunem House which exists to be a place of retreat for Missionaries when they are back in the area. Much thanks is in order for that great hospitality of that place!! Sunday morning Matt and I got to share in the service at Trinity Wesleyan Church (where Matt was youth pastor) for about 10 minutes.

So many people gathered around us and brought such joy and encouragement to us through out the weekend. Probably the most impactful time for me was Sunday morning when we got to visit KidZone at Trinity. In the children's worship service we were invited up front to meet the kids and share a bit of what we're doing. We were introduced as SuperHeros...kinda cool...and, while you and I know that's not true...what a great image for these kids to associate with people who do the work of the Lord (which should be all of us, shouldn't it??). All that said...it wasn't the super hero part that impacted me. It was when we bowed down up front and every single child in the place encircled us for prayer. Peter, their children's pastor invited the kids to pray aloud, and one bold little guy did...I'm not even sure what he prayed for, but the pure hearted words of a child before the Lord just grabbed my heart and moved me... The power of children in earnest, selfless prayer has never been such a reality to me before. My gratitude to Peter for teaching such a powerful thing to a wonderful group of young people and to God for calling us all to be children in faith!

The trip was altogether amazing! If you might be interested in hosting or having a house party in your area please email me - justin@lovechapelhill.com

Fuzzy View?

Here's my next attempt at a video blog. I have to say I think I must have been half a sleep in doing this one. I was struggling for words a bit more which you can't see when I'm just typing. Anyway, check it out. After the video there are some links and stuff at the bottom.



Ok, I'm not saying that I or these guys at Rhythm have it all figured out or that they are a "perfect" church. What I am saying is that they are doing some "new" things and trying to focus on being the church instead of doing church. They don't have a website right now, but they are using Google Groups to communicate and seem to be using it effectively. Go check out the Google Group, and especially if you live anywhere close to Indianapolis, think about getting connected here and trying something different. http://groups.google.com/group/777-indy?hl=en

There is another organization that Jeanine and I have come to really know and love. I'm not really sure where it is based out of, but it is very much a movement type of ministry. It's called "To Write Love on Her Arms". It is basically about reaching out with the Gospel to people who are addicted to the chemical reaction that takes place in the practice of cutting. The statistics are staggering of how many people are cutting themselves. Check out this their website and prepare to be moved. http://www.twloha.com/