A29 Regional, StL

Had a great day yesterday with Pastor Steev at the Acts29 Regional in St Louis. We had to leave REALLY early...I met him at his house at 5:15 yesterday morning. After a quick stop at Starbucks for some coffee, we drove to The Journey and got to meet with other church planters and pastors. This is a twit pic from Ed's blog at the event. You can see me in this pic if you look REALLY hard. I'm in the front row on the left...pretty much right under the stool that is on the stage. During the morning session, we listened to Ed Stetzer share about some things he's learned from the studies that he has done with LifeWay Research. Here are a few one-liners I took away form Ed's talk:

• You don't necesarrily have to convince people that Jesus rose form the dead, you have to convince them that it matters.
• We should embrace the death of cultural christianity.
• If we (pastors) do for our people what God has called them to do, the work of God is hindered, and both of us are harmed.
• BE, DO, and TELL the Good News.

We also got to listen to a sermon from Darin Patrick, the lead planter of The Journey. He preached from 1 Peter 1:10-16. Here are a few things I took away from his message:

• Be astonished by the Gospel. (v. 12) The Angels long to look into such things. They long to look into the good news. They don't tire of it. Maybe it's because they do not get to experience grace as we do. The Angels who sinned weren't offered repentance as we are. Wee must live astonished by the gospel too. Why would God love us and grant us repentance? IT'S AMAZING!
• We are to obey God like a child. (v. 14) Not like an employee who obeys to avoid being fired or getting a pay cut, or like a slave who obeys to avoid punishemnt, but like a child who obeys because he loves and trusts his father - WHY you obey is as important as THAT you obey. Just look at the Pharisees.
• We must preach sermons that are only possible if Jesus rose from the dead.

After the regional, I crashed the Church Planter's small group meeting and got to hangThere I met and talked for a while with Jon Bricker of Charis Community Church in Bloomington-Normal , IL. We hung out and talked for a while, then Steev and I headed back to Joplin. My head hit the pillow at about 12:45 this morning. So, I'm tired, but it was a great trip and a real encouragement to me. Jesus is really working on me right now. and this trip was him continuing to do so. He continues to grow in me the desire to pastor, to lead, to preach, and to see others changed by his grace. It was good to see and meet guys who are or have already gone through some of the same things I am and be reminded that he who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it!

JOplin, MissOuri

So, my sis had a question, "What's up with the name of your blog?" Good question. I had a lot of trouble coming up with an acceptable name for this thing. I started with "Chile Con Karnes" because I thought it was funny. Then I switched to "I'd Rather Be Fishing" That could've worked probably. I could talk about how I'm a fisher of men, I'm a fisher of fish, etc. But let's be honest...that's kinda lame. So I went with JoMo Sapien. Sometimes people refer to Joplin, MO as JOMO. A lot of people I meet aren't really all that excited about being from Joplin. A lot of people who live in Joplin aren't from Joplin. That's why I called my blog JoMo sapien. It might not be where I'm from...but it is where I live. It is where my wife and I started our lives together, it is where we bought our first home. It is where our kids were born. It is, for all intents and purposes the place on earth that I call HOME.

Letters, Letters, Letters, Letters!

I've been working on getting all of my support letters written and mailed. I can't tell you how bad my left hand hurts! I'm not used to writing so much these days. I'm getting one of those writing bumps again on the middle finger of my left hand!
This is such a humbling experience. I hate feeling like I'm asking for hand-outs you know? When I see it rightly, I know it isn't just that. This really is an opportunity for folks to use what Christ has given them to be a part of something bigger than themselves. Maybe you're reading this and that's you. This is one way that Jesus is letting you be a part of something bigger than just your life. I'm reading a book called "A Quest for More" and in it the author talks about the fact that we all have this desire to be a part of something that is transcendent. That's why we get so attached to sports teams, why people summit Everest, why we put so much faith in our political party, etc. We want to be a part of something big.
Jesus offers the opportunity to be a part of the biggest thing ever...His Kingdom. We have to fight against the temptation to make our lives about something smaller...something less. Sometimes we settle for the things we "need". But Jesus tells us that our Father will provide what we need so that our lives can be about something more than our needs. That's what I'm learning in sending out these letters...I'm learning to trust Him to provide what I need so that my life can be about something bigger....HIS GLORY.

Thanks to you all for your support and prayers!

Why Plant Churches?

Tim Keller is a really smart dude...he has an article about why we should plant churches. He says everything way better than I can...so I thought I'd let him speak:

"New churches best reach a) new generations, b) new residents, and c) new people groups. First (a) younger adults have always been disproportionately found in newer congregations. Long-established congregations develop traditions (such as time of worship, length of service, emotional responsiveness, sermon topics, leadership-style, emotional atmosphere, and thousands of other tiny customs and mores), which reflect the sensibilities of long-time leaders from the older generations who have the influence and money to control the church life. This does not reach younger generations. Second, (b) new residents are almost always reached better by new congregations. In older congregations, it may require tenure of 10 years before you are allowed into places of leadership and influence, but in a new church, new residents tend to have equal power with long-time area residents.
Last, (c) new socio-cultural groups in a community are always reached better by new congregations. For example, if new white-collar commuters move into an area where the older residents were farmers, it is likely that a new church will be more receptive to the myriad of needs of the new residents, while the older churches will continue to be oriented to the original social group. And new racial groups in a community are best reached by a new church that is intentionally multi-ethnic from the start. For example: if an all-Anglo neighborhood becomes 33% Hispanic, a new, deliberately bi-racial church will be far more likely to create 'cultural space' for newcomers than will an older church in town. Finally, brand new immigrant groups nearly always can only be reached by churches ministering in their own language. If we wait until a new group is assimilated into American culture enough to come to our church, we will wait for years without reaching out to them."

For the whole article go here.

Getting Started...

Well, I am starting a new journey. Christ has called me to help pastor my church here in Joplin, Mo...a church called Mystery. I am both scared and excited. I'm not sure what all lies ahead, but am confident in Jesus' ability to sustain. I am working this week at raising support. Perhaps some of you who read this are doing so because of a letter you received. Thanks for checking things out!
We had a great Easter weekend at Mystery. There were a lot of new faces and Steev did a great job showing us that Jesus doesn't just give us hope, he IS our hope.

I love my church. I love the people of Mystery. I am looking forward to what this Spring and Summer hold for us as a family!