I preached my first message at the Journey Community Church yesterday - well, my first two messages actually, since we have two services. That was also my first time to preach twice on a Sunday; I confess that the second time was better than the first! At the end of the service, Michael introduced Daphne and I and explained my new role as "Executive Pastor". We both felt very affirmed by Mike and the church team - and a number of people who came up after each service to greet us. There was one thing Mike said that really struck both Daphne and I: he was talking about his perspective on the qualifications for leadership in this church, and I would have expected him to say that you need a seminary degree, or X number of years as a missionary - but he didn't. The only qualification he talked about is that someone be a broken person - and that's what he's looking for. He has hired and fired two seminary graduates in the past who both had their doctorate degrees. He hired them because they seemed to know so much... but then he quickly realized that they'd never experienced significant life pain or brokenness. Now he looks for broken people more than those with theological degrees. He calls our church the "Island of Misfit Toys" after the animated Christmas movie that many of us used to watch as children: we're in the People Business - Salvage and Repair. I love it.
We (Journey Church) opened a restaurant two weeks ago called "The Angry Llama Diner" - I know, everyone asks, "What's up with that name?" The name comes from an interesting fact about Llamas: When a llama is placed with a flock of sheep, it seems to feel that it now bears the responsibility for the protection and welfare of the flock (maybe because of its size?). Apparently, the llama will protect the sheep from any intruder, including bears and mountain lions. It will lose the fight, but it WILL fight for the sheep. Mike loved the analogy with the church, and the name stuck. We have run out of room at the restaurant at least 20 times, and we probably have 200 people a day coming to eat either breakfast, lunch or dinner. But here's the best part: for the last two Sundays, we've had 20-25 people at church who came only because they were so curious to find out what kind of crazy Christians would run a restaurant like the Llama. It's working!
Two days ago (Saturday) I spent the morning helping our neighbor cut down trees on his property. He owns 60 acres that he wants to subdivide and sell as lots for homes. The forestry department guy came out and used up three different colors of spray paint marking the trees that have to be cut down to mitigate the fire risk - somewhere around 1000 trees. I learned one thing from the experience: cutting down trees is a HUGE workout! I probably cut down 20 trees, and man was I sore yesterday! Brian is a great friend to have as a neighbor, because he has all the cool stuff that men like to play with: bulldozers, A wood chipper that grinds up whole trees, 4X4s, a huge walk-in freezer to store deer and elk meat... what else could you want from a neighbor?
All for today
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