For the past 3 days, I’ve spent most of my time at the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware Annual Meeting.  Not the way I would normally spend my time.  Typically in Baptist life, these things are the kinds of events I run from.

BUT, I was asked by some key leaders to be there and make my presence known . . . so I did . . . and I’m glad I did.

As we plan for the future, this is a taste of what we are hoping to be a part of:

Not to mention a convention leader bought me $50 in books and then I won the iPod Nano the tech table was giving away. I can’t complain too much about that . . .

I also made some key contacts that might lead to some more church consulting . . . and possibly architecture projects.

Now it’s back to looking for a job . . . a few architecture leads this week, and also following up on some seasonal stuff from last week.

This past week has been a variety show for me . . .

• Spent some time doing some contract work
• Wrote this month’s e-newlsetter
• Did some architecture/design job hunting
• Did some any type of hob hunting
• Did some church planting research
• Did some extended personal study and reflection time
• Spent some great time with my beautiful wife and amazing daughter
• Doing research on retraining out dog — she’s been a little nippy with strangers since going to a local vet 2 months ago

Some other tid-bits of information that you may find interesting:

• Baltimore is listed as the #3 metro area in the US to find a job . . . there’s even some construction jobs starting to pop up, but design jobs are still a bit elusive. (article here)
• #2 on the list was nearby Washington, DC, which bodes really well for our region
• Stanley Tools and Black and Decker merged this week, which means Towson, Maryland, lost its only Fortune 500 company, as the B&D corporate offices will be merged with out-of-state Stanley’s operations. The actual affect on local jobs remains to be seen
• Stoney River Legendary Steaks opened in Towson Town Center, which means Towson officially has a real steakhouse. (Feel free to order me a gift card any time so I can take my wife on a good date!)
• Temperature dropped below freezing for the first time last night, leaving a light frost on the cars in our parking lot

Coming up this week:

• Today, my alma mater, Auburn University, is having homecoming against Furman — they should chalk up win #7, which should then ensure a bid for some cheesy no-name bowl somewhere.
• Tomorrow evening, the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware Annual Meeting begins.  I will be attending several events, including a special dinner for Church Planters with Ron Sylvia, pastor of The Springs in Ocala, Florida
• I hope to network with a lot of other statewide church leaders to gain support and momentum for what we are doing, and to hopefully get some pulpit-supply opportunities to sharpen my preaching
• I have several job leads from this past week that I need to follow up on.

I haven’t blogged much about church stuff recently.  Outwardly, I am spending most of my time looking for a job, doing contract work, and miscellaneous career development stuff.  However, inwardly, my mind and my spirit have been churning a million miles an hour.

One of the requirements for us to move forward with out long-range church plans is to be able to help people with little or no relationship with God or the Church to cross over the line of faith and begin to grow that relationship.  Emily and I have both been far less effective at this than we need to be for what God is calling us to do.  I have honestly spent countless hours awake at night mulling over this issue.  Should we be more aggressive? Are we not being intentional enough about finding people? Is our own faith so anemic that it isn’t worth sharing or is ineffective in building a desire in others? Do we just need to pray more and better? Are the reasons even our own issue or are the purely external . . . such as a person’s attitude toward faith and the church. Are we just making excuses for our failure, or is there something really there?

Trust me, this is no simple issue for me. I have an extremely strong sense of calling and clear vision for what God is doing in us . . . but feel like we are falling far short in one of the most important areas.  I ask God constantly why I feel like he’s called me to something I don’t have the ability to do.  There’s the rub. I’ve heard a million times, “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.” This has to be a God thing if it will be anything at all.

This morning, I read a blog post by a guy who planted and pastored a fast-growing church in a rural area. At one time, reports were that as much as 80% of his church was people who had been genuinely unchurched, instead of transfers from other churches.  He went through a tough time in the spring and is no longer pastoring the church. He has a long road both behind him and in front of him, but his perspective even now has dramatically changed. Although he doesn’t share specifics, he infers that his new non-church perspective reveals that his previous efforts were not as successful as he once thought.  People in the community generally still hate “church” as much as before he started that church.

Although I have not been anywhere near where he has been, I identify and feel much the same way. We now live in an area where people aren’t so much hurt by the church, but have little or no relationship at all with the church.  There’s not as much hurt or disdain in people here, but total indifference.  Our lives need to help them realize the value and need of a relationship with God. No amount of convincing and arguing will ever accomplish this. No great Sunday Morning Show will accomplish this. “Door-to-door” annoyances certainly will not accomplish this.  Genuine friendships and trust-building care is the only way we will accomplish this. Trust is not built in a single conversation.  It’s not even built in a few days. Trust building takes time.

We have now been in our new location for over three months. We have not spent our time cramming the Gospel down peoples throats. We have been meeting people in our community and building friendships–real friendships. We are making friends to make friends–not to make targets for evangelism.  As friends, our greatest desire is for these people to share in the life-giving hope found is Jesus Christ–but they will be our friends even if they do not respond to our faith. Some of those friendships have grown to a point where we can openly share what God means to us and where we see our lives going.  These friends are learning to trust us with their lives. While we may not have the short-term results we want for our greater task, we believe the long-term result will be lives genuinely transformed by the power of the Gospel at work in our lives and the lives of people around us.

I honestly do not feel like we are just making excuses for falling short on evangelism. I think we are being genuine and allowing God to use it.  Although it is frustrating that we are not seeing results the way WE want to see them . . . I believe God will honor it down the road with something very real and very exciting.  The Bible doesn’t talk about making converts. It talks about making whole-hearted worshipers–disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I just read an article about Church Design and perceptions of the unchurched:

http://www.buildingforministry.com/2009/10/rethinking_church_design.html

I have an issue with this article that goes back to my days in seminary.  One of my seminary professors was Thom Rainer, who is now president of Lifeway.  As a leader in church growth theology, Dr Rainer raised a question about church growth in the ’80’s and ’90’s — Researchers have done all these interviews with unchurched people and adjusted what we do to listen to them . . . and they still aren’t coming.

As a result, Dr. Rainer did a series of studies and books related to “newly churched” people — people that had recently started attending church that had either never been in church or been out of church for at least 10 years.

The contrast of results between these “newly churched” people and those who are “unchurched” was quite significant.  Reality is, many of the “unchurched” would not come no matter what the church did, it really depended on the relationships they have with church people that makes the difference.

With this in mind, I would much prefer to see an article talking to “newly churched” people about how the building design affected their decision to attend church in general and the particular church they are attending.

I am only speculating, but I imagine the particular style or design would have no more affect than the paint colors in a house for sale.  There is an affect, but a smart buyer knows a coat of paint will raise the value. However, certain design aspects probably would make a big difference such as ease of getting on/off campus, in/out of building, and navigating through; acoustic issues and intelligibility; appropriate graphics and communication pieces; etc.

As an architect, I have designed traditional churches, contemporary churches, warehouse churches, and more.  I can give examples in each category that are genuinely reaching the unchurched.  That, to me, speaks volumes on this issue.

I’m a little encouraged this week.  I’m still looking for an architecture job in the Baltimore area.  I’ve been in contact with several firms for various reasons . . .

• A couple firms I’ve been in contact with before seem to be stabilizing.  While they don’t have enough work to expand their staff yet, they are at least not in danger of laying anyone off for the rest of the year.
• I’ve seen a couple of jobs pop-up on job boards.  Resume sent.  At least one would potentially be a decent match and a great opportunity for me.
• A couple firms I sent resumes to cold have replied with some ideas for creatively finding a job in other areas based on their own experiences.
• I have expanded the reach of potential churches for facilities consulting.  A large denominational organization is looking forward to referring me some contract work to help churches evaluate and prepare for building programs.  When I get a job and/or my license, it may develop into real architectural work, as well.
• I called to get the OK to register for the LAST section of the ARE (again).  6 of 7 complete, one retake in December.  Should register to take it in the next week once my authorization number is indeed reactivated.

Moving forward!

Currently, the sitting mayor of the city of Baltimore is facing criminal charges that, if convicted, would force her out of office.

This morning, the following article appeared in the news:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-md.ci.naacp13oct13,0,7415069.story

If you think by moving here from Alabama that we were leaving a large part of racism behind, let that story reveal reality. I am appalled. Racism of any kind disgusts me. We came here to be agents of change, and this is one of many examples of why.

I don’t like to post on political issues . . . but this goes way beyond politics. This is at the core of who we are as Americans and residents of the Baltimore region.

I had a whole blog post written on my thoughts, but I just can’t even bring myself to post them. I don’t want to stoop to that level.

What do you think?

We live across the street from a mid-rise retirement/semi-assisted living facility.  The number of emergency calls to the building is high, which really isn’t surprising.  We hear sirens at al hours of the day and night.  Sometimes, the trucks go to this building first, only to realize the call was to another nearby building, so they have to move to the right location.

Right now, I am looking down at four fire trucks as they respond to a call.

The first-responders to most of these calls is the “rescue truck.”  These are the guys that have the basics of every major emergency on-board.  They go in and assess the situation and call for appropriate backup. Sometimes the backup is other fire trucks. Usually it is an ambulance.  Depending on the details provided in the emergency call, the backup is often on the way before the rescue truck fully assesses the situation.

Today’s call was apparently a fire call of some sort.  The rescue truck loaded guys up with hoses and other gear and they hurried into the building.  Other guys began hooking hoses up from the truck to the standpipe system.  Other trucks began arriving, preparing and waiting for further instructions.

The hoses were never charged. Just about the time everything was set up, they began cleaning it up.  The situation was aparently not severe.  Only two trucks remain and most of the gear is packed up.

I’m sure the emergency-responders get tired of getting calls from that building.  Especially when the situation sounds worse than it actually is.  But, some of the calls are genuine emergencies and need the full response the situation requires.  The first-responders can not delay, nor can they approach any call half-heartedly . . . because they don’t know which calls are more serious than others.

I am reminded to approach my life the same way. I can’t always assess up-front how much effort and energy it will require.  I need to stay prepared to go all-in every time.  I also need to know how to quickly assess the situation once I’m in to know how many resources it will require to get done.

Four trucks showed up today, but only one got all of its gear unpacked.  The four trucks demonstrated an appropriate preparedness to go all-in, but the follow-up actions demonstrated the ability to assess and act appropriately.

I was a Boy Scout, and the Boy Scout motto is “Be Prepared.”

How can I learn from this today?  How about you?

Yesterday, I finished my post on prototypes and architecture with the sentence:

Life happens locally.  In some way, architecture should, too.

My thoughts on prototypes and context do not end with architecture. Churches are the same way. Even many new church plants take on a “prototype” mindset where they model after one or two other churches.  Those model churches could be hundreds of miles away in vastly different cultural and sociological circumstances.  We hear church planting coaches and leaders scream “contextualize” all the time . . . and yet they aspouse their methods and models in the very next breath.

As we’ve been meeting various church leaders in various parts of the Baltimore region, we’ve become very aware that there are varying contexts even within this larger area.  The church planter I met with last week is doing things very different than I have seen in a lot of other places. But he’s being successful and reaching the area around him in a way that is appropriate. While he has “models” he is following, they are modified for his area.  Another church planter is launching a new church this coming Sunday about 15 minutes up the road from us.  His context is more suburban than Towson. Several of the models he has shaped his ministry around would be in comparable contexts, but he is also doing some specific things that only he can do and he could only do well in Baltimore.

We have a basic framework for what we think Towson needs in a church plant. However, we are meeting people who know this area better than us. We are listening to them. Especially people we meet who do not currently go to church. Many of the things we are learning are shaping the vision into something very different than some of the models we began with.  At the same time, some of the things we are learning are confirming to us that we are in the right place for us and the vision we have.

One thing I have learned in architecture is that you start with a basic set of rules and guidelines (or codes and a program) and breathe life into the project through creativity and contextualization.  We’re starting with the basic rules and guidelines we have gleaned from the Bible and experience.  But life happens locally. The church should be a place for life, so the church should be shaped and born out of a local context.

Don’t get me wrong. God is the creator of life, so ultimately anything we do will be leaning on His guidance. But as the Creator, God is also the author of creativity and of our context . . . so our pursuit is after God and those things He has given us. Both in the church and in architecture.

Last week, I went down into downtown Baltimore to meet with a church planter about what they are doing and to gain some insights into the culture.  While I was there, I drove around a little, just looking at the city.

Baltimore is an interesting city. Except for the primary financial/inner harbor area, most of the city is about 3-stories tall — mostly rowhomes. Many of the communities have a distinct look-and-feel, but they are still mostly row homes — block after block after block.

In the area where I was driving there were two areas where a corner was carved out to put a typical prototype Burger King restaurant, parking lot and all. While this exact prototype is quite familiar all over America, it seemed extremely out of place in the downtown urban environment of Baltimore. In contrast, they just shut down one of these prototype Burger King restaurants here in Towson to prepare for some urban redevelopment.  Its replacement is a few blocks away and has a lot of the look-and-feel of the newer BK prototypes, but had to be significantly modified to fit the lot. Interestingly enough, the modifications help it to “work” in its local urban context.

As I think about these things, I can’t help but compare these experiences to going to a Burger King in Manhattan — anything but a prototype experience, restaurants there have to fit into the existing urban fabric much more than their namesakes have done here in the Baltimore area. The cost of the dirt to put it on simply leaves no other option. Plus, the parking situation is much different.

Early in my career, I worked in an architecture firm that created the prototypes for some major grocery and pharmacy chains.  I could walk into one of their stores, name the protoype and the exact square footage of the store.  But the exteriors were often contextualized.  However, that same firm was responsible for a lot of creative and innovative retail and entertainment environments in their region.  The prototypes may have been great for income . . . but the life of the firm existed in innovation and contextualization.

Life happens locally.  In some way, architecture should, too.

I have to be honest. I have a love-hate relationship with technology. 

I grew up in a computer-savvy family before computers were common in homes.  In fact, at one time, we had about 16 computers in our home for my dad to teach others how to use them.  Up through version 11, someone in our family owned every single version of WordPerfect since 4.3. I’m pretty sure we’ve owned at least one of every generation of Intel processor, from 8088/8086 to present. I’m self-taught in almost every software package I know.

I’ve always been a little bit of of momma’s boy . . . but the advent of email in college actually brought my mom and I even closer together, as we could communicate more regularly despite my crazy college-life schedule.  I communicated with her via email so much I once forgot to call her for over two months.  AIM and other technology interactions only compounded things.

I’ve had my own web site since the mid-90’s.  I had a stint as a DMOZ editor. I could go on . . .

Yes, I love technology.  But I also hate technology.

Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Text Messaging, and several other forms of technological interaction are a major part of our culture today.  I know several people who practically live attached to these media outlets.  At times, I spend considerable time on them, too.  But I don’t always understand why.

When I have something to do, I don’t think about these interactions nearly as much, unless the something I need to do is related to them.

I spent the weekend with family traveling. Nobody had to tell me to focus on my family instead of twittering, texting, or Facebooking. I didn’t really think about them.

Since we got back, I’ve been following up on contacts, finishing up some work, and job searching.  It’s been 10 days since my last blog because I honestly was focused on other things.  I haven’t twittered much, not because I don’t have things to say, but because I’d rather use my time getting the things done than twittering about them. I tend to do these things more when I’m stuck, bored, or waiting on something.

I use technology in every way I can to move forward and get things done. Technology is a wonderful tool. But I refuse to become a slave to that which helps me. Technology is a terrible master.

Have you ever noticed that every “sin” is really either an excess or a perversion of something good?  Gluttony is excess of the necessary act of eating. Idolotry is excessive attention on the creation which is intended to point to the Creator. Adultery and other sexual sins are excesses or perversions of an act that God blesses and considers holy and beautiful within marriage.

I personally believe our society flirts with “technology sin.” The Church is no exception. God has allowed smart people to develop these technologies to help us. Instead we tend to orgy ourselves on them and wind up being slaves to them instead of maximizing our potential by using them as tools to accomplish our individual calling and giftedness in this world.

Anyway, now back to your regularly scheduled program . . .