Eric & Tracy were some of the first people to jump on board our Launch Team for Two Cities Church. Eric serves on our board and Tracy makes BOM(b) food for everything we do! They are also Erika‘s parents.

There are more of these videos in post-production and still more that are scheduled to shoot. We love telling the stories of the people involved because collectively, it’s the story of Two Cities.

Past #WeAreTwoCities Posts:
Paul & Jenn
Chris & Erika

One of my favorite verses in the Bible actually encourages us to SEEK JUSTICE, LOVE MERCY and WALK HUMBLY with YOUR GOD. [Micah 6:8] But what kind of Justice is that? Is that the kind that when you hit me, I need to hit you back? I don’t think so. I think the Justice the Bible encourages is more like a social justice, sticking up for those who can’t stick up for themselves.

So what about those moments when someone wrongs me?
What if all the people who claim to follow Jesus acted like the people in this video?

Have some hurts?
The only thing that will set you free is to set them free. Forgiveness. It’s a gift and you can have it too.

Thank you to everyone who has participated in our campaign!

If you have capacity to expand our together results by way of large or small financial gifts, please do. TOGETHER our efforts are multiplied.

Ways to become a TOGETHER partner:

• eGive: Choose the “TOGETHER” option when you give online.
• Mail a Check: 1865 Herndon Ave K304, Clovis, Ca 93611

In 2007 my wife and I each bought Crackberry (I mean Blackberry) Pearls. From the moment we bought them, our lives would forever change. This change would come with both positive and negative consequences. It’s no secret that I love to use technology to accomplish things. Facebook, Twitter, Email, Text, iChat, GoogleChat, or whatever gets the job done. I remember getting what I’ll call “the jitters” during that first year of smart-phone-dom. “The Jitters” came in the form of anxiety. Anxiety that I could feel as soon as I opened my eyes in the morning. It wasn’t over social media or text… my anxiety was actually over work emails, especially the ones that came in after or before working hours or the weekends. I would fight not reading them and if it was something negative I couldn’t not take care of it. So as I fought responding, I got “the jitters.”

During that time I developed a no-read hour when I first woke up, but that discipline has slowly eroded with time.

I recently started to feel some anxiety like that again. So a few days ago I decided to do a 24-hour #techfast. A fast is a biblical term that is all about refraining from something (usually food) in order to refocus your mind on who the real sustainer of life is. My #techfast wasn’t from all technology, as my wife will point out, I used the AppleTV to watch a documentary on Netflix. It was from all electronic communications. In fact I left my iPhone off and by my bedside for the entire 24-hours and didn’t touch my computer or iPad at all.

• social media
  
• email
• text
• phone
• even googling

So at 7:48am on Saturday I sent out this tweet.

It was a little harder than I anticipated, but I made it out alive. JK. But seriously, it was not easy for me. Here’s a few things I learned or re-learned in the process:

• I need designated time away from technology
• I need to remain present in the present, more
• The world still goes on even if I don’t tweet about it
• Instagram really doesn’t care if I don’t post that picture of my kids I’m dying to share
• Facebook friends don’t really expect an immediate response to everything
• People will leave a voicemail if it’s urgent enough
• Vine doesn’t miss me
• Two Cities WeAreTwoCities.com video shoots can happen without me knowing up-to-the-minute updates
• I am refreshed by time offline
• I am refreshed by a clearing of my mind through reading the Bible
• I am refreshed by a more steady and on-going prayer throughout the day
• Technology is a tool to be used for Kingdom purposes and we often abuse the tools God allows us to use
• When I do this, there will be a ton of voice mails, texts, emails, Facebook messages, etc when I turn my phone back on… and it’s ok to miss them for a day

The list could go on. None of these things are revolutionary, but I find it necessary to remind myself of these things and I am going to try to do this once a month, at minimum, just to hit reset on my thought processes.

What do you need to take a break from in order to reset or refill?

Meet Chris and Erika Loach….

WeAreTwoCities.com

To Christians:
Have you ever stopped to think about what it might feel like to not believe in Jesus or what Easter is about?
Easter Sunday for other people might be like any other national holiday. A chance for family to come together and EAT. A chance to take some cute pictures of the kids and grand kids. An all around good ol’ time.

To the other group of People, that I will not put a Label on:
Have you ever stopped and thought about what it might feel like to actually celebrate Easter?
It might be similar to how you might feel around New Year’s. So much potential. So much hope. So much excitement and unknown as to what awaits you just around the corner. That’s a little like Easter. But multiply it by eternity. How do you multiply something by eternity? It just keeps going.

No matter what your family tradition, no matter if your family goes to church, has a family brunch, or just goes on like any other normal day on Easter… I want to let you in on a little secret, ready?

Easter is coming! [Again] In fact, it comes every year. and I want to send out a little challenge to the two groups of people I mentioned above.

To Christians:
If you weren’t pro-active about investing in people this past year and inviting them to Easter, this is YOUR YEAR! Two Cities Church invites you to start investing in your families, friends and co-workers. Invest in those relationships. Invest, Invest and Invest. The payoff, may be eternal. Stay tuned for your invite opportunities, and they will come…

To the other group of People, that I will not put a Label on:
Consider this your first of many invitations. I’m not asking you to drop all of your objections to faith. I’m not asking you to be irresponsible with your reason and doubt. I’m just asking you to come and see why Christians celebrate the holiday of Easter in such a big fashion. Just think about it for a second, if you could ever believe that Jesus died on a cross and he rose from being dead after three days… wouldn’t you make a big deal out of it too? I mean, if that’s true, I think I just go with whatever he says, right? Maybe it’s just me, but I think we’d at least gotta hear the guy the guy out.

Don’t worry, this won’t be my last invite to Easter 2014, so you don’t have to answer now, but I’m putting it in your head to start thinking about it now.

*Disclaimer: Easter is not about a bunny or peeps. But I like ‘em, so that’s why I chose that neutral ground pictures to represent Easter in a post where I talk to both a Christian and not-Christian audience*

At Two Cities Church our mission is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and our vision is to create a church that unchurched people love to attend.

About a month ago we sent out letters to the people involved with Two Cities Church and asked everyone to chip in for a matching fund campaign. What does that mean? Well it means that if we raise at least $5,000 in this small campaign, Growing Healthy Churches will match that $5,000. So our collective gift will help us knock out 10% of our start up costs.
So here’s where we are at:

• There have been 11 backers in this campaign
• The total gifts are $3,250 so far
• We are over half way to our goal for this campaign
• The average gift is $295.45
• What can you do to help us reach our goal?

Ways to become a TOGETHER partner:

• eGive: Choose the “TOGETHER” option when you give online.
• Mail a Check: 1865 Herndon Ave K304, Clovis, Ca 93611

Let’s do this TOGETHER!

TOGETHER we can introduce thousands to Jesus in our lifetime. Who’s in?

It’s been a very interesting ride through this process since we first found out. She went through Chemo and her first surgery and here’s the latest update from my dad:

UPDATE Cheryl Foster: This morning we had two follow-up Dr. appts and ALL GOOD NEWS. They took out two lymph nodes and three scrapes and they were 100% clear. Of the two breast tumors that she had, one was completely gone and the other had shrunk to less than 1/4″ when they did the pathology report. Dr. Gumina said that the Chemo had done what it was supposed to do. We are confident when we say that God took care of this cancer and we give Him all the glory and praise for her cure. It’s through friends like you who we have leaned on for prayers for Cheryl and me in these five months that we say THANK YOU for your support. God listened and did what we asked, no doubt about it. Dr. Gumina said today that she is of the opinion that Cheryl doesn’t have to do the radiation treatments, but it’s not her field of expertise and would rely on what Dr. Do, Radiation Oncologist says. Again we praise God for this and ask for your prayers to continue the healing process not only physically but emotionally for Cheryl. She has been very brave these months, hasn’t complained one bit that I’m aware of and has never said “Why Me”. She accepted it and is confident that God has something in mind for both of us as His witnesses on this earth. Thanks again and we love you. I will do another post when a final decision is made about the radiation, yes or no.

So, thank you for all who have been in PRAYER TOGETHER for her healing and recovery.

It is on this EASTER morning that I am thankful that Jesus reigns, overcame the grave and yes, my mom is cancer free.

This Easter is a bit of a strange Easter season for me and here’s why…

• I’m the pastor of a new church forming in the Fresno/Clovis area
• We’re not having any Easter gatherings
• I haven’t had an Easter “off” since, well, EVER

I have a confession to make. I kinda like it and here’s why…

• I haven’t had an Easter “off” since, well, EVER
• We’re not having any Easter gatherings
• I’m the pastor of a new church forming in the Fresno/Clovis area THAT is a place unchurched people will love to attend. A guilt-free environment and what’s more guilt-free than telling people our first Easter, “Hey, we don’t have anything for you on Easter this year”?

Now, if you’re in ministry or a church-planter, you’re probably thinking one or both of these things

• “I can’t believe you are missing out of the biggest opportunity possible, Easter MOMENTUM.”
  The thought here is that tons of people go to church on Easter who might not normally go and you have a chance to capture their imagination in this one event and possibly get them to come back next week.
• “How can you possibly be a ‘church’ and not do anything on Easter to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection?!”
  I get that and it’s a pretty valid point, but in reality, we’re just not there yet.

What this unique pre-launch season of church-planting (start-up-from-nothing-church-creating) is it allows me to view things from an outside perspective. I’ve visited a bunch of churches in our area (Fresno/Clovis) and I come away realizing how we accidentally create an “us and them” culture in so many churches. It’s an invisible divide between the “Know and the Know-Nots” the “members and visitors” the “in and out.” It’s a terrible invisible wall and it’s part of the mission of Two Cities Church to tear it down.

Instead of creating a place where just Christians can come, be fed and worship. We want to create a place that unchurched (not been to church in 6 months) people would LOVE to attend. A place where the people, regardless of where they are in faith, who can experience environments that encourage them to take a step. That step might be to be in greater obedience to Jesus, to come back the next week or even to apply a biblical principle to their life. We want to encourage people to pursue 3 vital relationships: Intimacy with God, Community with other people seeking God and Influence with the community around us.

So this season allows us to KNOW OUR NEIGHBORS a little better. To know what it feels like to be on the outside of a church, to come in as a visitor, feel what they feel and look through their lens.

So it’s an odd Easter and I’m celebrating in a strange way… by remembering that our job is not done and there are MANY people in our community who will STILL not darken the doors of already existing churches. We are creating a place, a people, that will hold Easter services in the future, but with the memory of what it was like BEFORE we had a big Easter celebration. And I believe we’ll be better for it.

|| wearetwocities.com

Meet Paul and Jenn Haugen….

WeAreTwoCities.com