We arrived in the Northwest as “the Texas Team” and are moving to Spokane, WA as the staff and core group of Inland Church!  The dreams that God began painting in our minds and hearts years ago are beginning to manifest into something tangible: a new church plant.  It is still hard for me to wrap my mind around; it is incredibly exciting to look back over the dozens of blog posts we have written and see just how far the Lord has brought us.

It is hard to believe that our training season is almost over.  10.5 months of training and Mikey and I find ourselves in the situation pictured here.  It seems like we were just packing up to head here and now we are packing up again to go make Spokane our home.

I can not yet articulate what all this training season has held for me. Perhaps in 9 weeks when my turn comes around again I will have processed this…perhaps.  The Lord is faithful.  The boxes that brought us here testified to that in July and this mess of boxes in our room now testify again.

As our season changes please pray for:

• Housing for the team and the provision of a church gathering space in Spokane
• Churches and individuals across the nation who will partner with us in prayer, finances and enouragement
• Grace among the transition of training to church planting, living in Moscow to Spokane and all the other mental, physical and spiritual transition that will accompany the move.

Prayers:

–  Summer plans for the team (that they would be clear and bring peace)

–  Others on the team meeting with churches to talk about support

So, we just experienced another Holy Week with its Palm Sunday, Maunday Thursday, Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday (Easter) celebration. It was a special privilege to join Resonate Church in this season of thanksgiving and remembrance, dwelling on the sick truths that the grave could not contain our King. Death could not conquer him. Jesus is alive.

Interwoven throughout these seven days was a whole lot of prayer. Resonate rallied together, interceding for the cities of Pullman and Moscow with the goal of raising our voices to the Lord for 24 hours, 7 days, 2 cities. With excel documents created and time slots filled in, the Church sought the Lord’s favor and His movement in this part of the country, and more specifically on the campuses and in the coffee shops and book stores and other frequented places.

And let me say, it was ridiculous. It tends to be a good idea to ask God to do what He longs for: to be glorified. Glorified in redeeming and drawing people to Himself; in bringing reconciliation to broken marriages and estranged friendships; in bestowing crowns of beauty instead of ashes and garments of praise instead of spirits of despair.

Holy Week and prayer collided in a really beautiful way. In prayer rooms. In bedrooms. In closets. On the streets.

There’s a rather phenomenal book called Red Moon Rising, that faithfully recounts the stories of re-awakening the Lord is causing throughout Europe (and the world), as the Church gathers in the basements of pubs, spaces too grungy to rent out, church houses and skate parks to pray. Continually. After work and during lunch breaks and 3 a.m. shifts when the entire continent seems to be in a deep slumber. People are tasting and seeing that the Lord is good!

In the aforementioned book, Pete Greig details a conversation he had with Brennan Manning who reminded him that, “’Prayer is not primarily about changing things somewhere out there. It is first and foremost about changing something in here,’ and he patted his chest. The most powerful thing that can happen in the place of prayer is that you yourself become the prayer. You leave the prayer room able as Jesus’ hands and feet on earth. This is what it means to pray continually, to see with the eyes of Jesus and to hear with His ears with every waking moment.”

This concept of “praying without ceasing” that we find in 1 Thessalonians literally means “come to rest.” May we come to rest, knowing “With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days, [The Church] prays as if it all depends on God and lives as if it all depends on [her].”

And that continues to be our prayer as The Church here in Moscow and Pullman-that we would learn more and more what it looks like to live with the conviction that we are free, yet live as “slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying.” May our prayers be lived out on our streets and in our work places.

May we “who call on the LORD, give ourselves no rest, and give Him no rest” till He is the praise of all the earth. Isaiah 62

Dear friends, please join us in praying for Awakening:

1. Awakening in The Church here in Pullman-Moscow, as we learn more and more what it looks like to become Jesus’ hands and feet in those situations we’ve prayed for.

2. Awakening in those whom we know here and in those we excitedly anticipate meeting in Spokane.

It’s been brewing for a while and it may be time to get two cups from the cabinet and pour.

The past couple of months have been eventful for the evangelical world. I choose the word “eventful” to be pleasant. Tumultuous might be more appropriate.

The advertising and subsequent publishing of a book by Rob Bell has created quite a stir. So much so that poor @RobBell, of no relation, has been thrown into a firestorm that he, by no means, deserved.

This book has caused people to take sides (side one and side two), to draw lines in the sand, and to say some pretty mean things; all of this involving people that are supposed to be on the same side, of the same tribe, of the same family.

My good friend (or so I like to think) and trusted voice, Scot McKnight, is calling these events a tipping point. Within the evangelical world, there seems to be two camps that have developed: the Neo-Reformed and the Progressives. Each of these camps have their figureheads, their heroes and heroines, and while they can all congregate under the same banner (evangelicalism), there is decreasingly little they actually agree upon. Taken to their extremes (and some are trying), these camps are beginning to look like a new Fundamentalism and an unaffiliated Mainline-ism.

On a side note, I will boldly say that the most regrettable result of the Protestant Reformation has been the lack of anything that looks like unity or commitment. Since that time, the modus operandi has been, “We don’t like their thing so let’s split and start our own thing.” As a result, we now have denominations upon denominations upon denominations. (Now is an appropriate time for a disclaimer: I believe in the cause of the Reformers. I just wish it had been an actual reformation and not something else.)

Is this riff in the evangelical world the next major split? If so, this will be more monumental than a denominational split. I’m not sure what to think about this actually happening. It will certainly have some significant consequences on the face of the Church in the U.S. This is where it goes from theoretical prattle to affecting the church that we’re starting. This is where I get scared.

Today, I feel somewhat helpless against waves of change that are this big. I can’t stop something like this. But, regardless of my power and ability to affect, there is something that I am sure of. In one of Paul’s letters to the church in Corinth, he tells them that, above their bickering, biting, and general nastiness towards one another, love is better. In fact, love is best. You might even say that love wins.

I hope hope hope that love will characterize our conversations, our arguments, our discussions, our thoughts, our collaborations, our everything. Without it, we are nothing.

Please feel free to join us in praying for the following:

• That love would characterize our lives.
• That the Church would find unity.
• That our conversations about the reality we will experience after this life will always drive us towards mission.

We gathered in the upstairs bathroom and filled the tub. As I was standing there, I was overwhelmed by this sweet community that I was surrounded by. I was overwhelmed by all that has led me to this point…overwhelmed by the sweet, relentless grace of Jesus. He has truly called me from death to life, out of the darkness and into the light. It is something that I often have a hard time wrapping my mind around, but oh on the sweet days when I catch a glimpse….it’s humbling and beautiful.

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked,
following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all
once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body
and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—
by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us
with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might
show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing;
it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:1-10

As you may know, we are planning to move from Moscow, ID to Spokane, WA in late June to begin our “official” work towards gathering a core group and creating movement towards a church body. Therefore, our final months here are extremely focused and intense. We are continuing to meet with Resonate’s pastors weekly and a few of us are meeting several times during the week to hash out the details of things like: Vision, Mission, Values, What if’s, Location, Bi-vocational feasibility, Name, Leadership Structure, Model, and so on and on and on.

I can personally say that is has been life giving and challenging all in the same breath. We are getting so close to so many things becoming tangible. We are currently in the process of wrapping up our prospectus, a pamphlet outlining the essentials of our church and how to get involved in supporting our church. This next week, we will tackle budget talks and other new territory in that same vein. It’s funny to think that these kinds of things actually excite me now. I couldn’t have imagined it a few months ago. That isn’t to say that these days bring only sunny skies and easy decisions. There have been several days of gray, with spinning wheels, frustration, and gritted teeth. In the end, it is a joy. It’s a passion that is developing and not without mistakes and re-tries.

Thank you for praying for us. Thank you for supporting us and our dream to see Spokane revived!

So if you know anyone with connections in Spokane let us know, because we would love to meet them. Also, if you are part of church who cares about mission and church planting, contact us! We would absolutely love to share our vision and passion with whomever will listen. Several of us will be traveling to Texas (not to exclude non-Texans, of course!) in May and June, so if you live there we can come see you personally.

Things you can specifically pray for:

• Prospectus progress (aka P-talks) brought to completion.
• Housing arrangements in Spokane.
• Raising support and sharing vision with clarity and passion.

To be honest, I’ve been groping lately. It’s been one of those seasons where you feel like your pressing after the Lord and there just seems to be silence in return. For me, these seasons always come during a major life decision. Convenient, right? It feels like the Lord just isn’t speaking loud enough (ya know, audibly speaking or writing it in the clouds!).

Well here goes the major life decision…is our timing right for going to the Northwest?

I had a hard time even writing that. I hate that we’ve even considered changing our timeline, but when Blake and I were honest with ourselves, we were both feeling doubts. We immediately started praying over the doubts and asked the team to join with us in praying. My prayer was, Lord whatever you want, despite the cost, I’ll follow. Just make your will clear! This is where the silence kicked in.

After weeks of frustrating silence, I started to focus on what the Lord has already told me, not what I haven’t yet heard. He’s told me I’m saved, I’m His no matter where I live or what I do, I’m called to submission, and that His eternal plan is better than mine. Amazingly, I started to have peace. Peace even without a decision. My yoke is light because I am saved, not because I have it all figured out!

Last Sunday Blake returned from a day of solitude with a decision. We’re staying in Texas for another year. Already being at peace, submission was a joy not a fight. Yes, we’re mourning everything we thought this next year would be, and a little embarrassed to have changing plans, but at the end of the day we’ve sought the Lord and had plenty of time and space we’ve needed to actually find Him.

Prayer Requests:

-That the Lord would be preparing a way for the team in Spokane

-Strength for the group to deal with upcoming changes

That is how the city’s slogan reads on all the visitor brochures.  However, the pervading attitude toward the city of Spokane does not seem to match up quite so well.   A good number of the people we talked to from Spokane, or who have lived in/around Spokane, encouraged us to find a better city to move to, often referring to the city as Spokanistan or Spokompton.

And to be honest, Spokane does not have an overwhelming amount of curb appeal compared to some of the other cities we were considering.  Cities like Bellingham, Missoula, and Portland seem to be far superior and enjoyable.  We had really marked Spokane off the short list, until just a few weeks ago when the Lord began to change some hearts regarding Spokane.  I say the Lord began to change hearts because in our rational mind, this was not the city for us.

So for spring break, we left for a week long trip to Spokane to get to know the city we felt like God had for our team.  We began to pray that God would give us His eyes for the city and show us how He feels about Spokane.  The first few days those prayers did not work.  Mackenzie spent most of Sunday crying that we were going to spend the foreseeable future in Spokane.  But (thank God) the week did not end that way.  We were able to meet with a few pastors from different churches in the city, and hearing their heart for the work there began to change some of our perspective.  The more we got to know the city, the neighborhoods, and the people our dreams for the city began to develop.  We began to see how Spokane is, perhaps, the perfect place for us.

Opportunity abounds here.  It is the 3rd largest city in the Northwest, 6 significant colleges, relatively little Gospel work compared to its population, reasonable cost of living, large economic diversity, and fun things like 4 distinct seasons and an abundance of recreational opportunities.  Above all of that, we have the confidence that this is God’s leading and not our best human efforts.  I am so thankful for that sense of calling, because I know that when it gets hard God will continue to perfect what he is beginning here.  I’m excited to see what that will look like!

We have much more to say about Spokane and details about what we think this will look like.  And we would love to tell anyone about it who will listen.  Throughout the next 3 or 4 months before we move to Spokane, our team will be coming back to Texas to meet with churches and individuals about joining in what is happening in Spokane.  If you are a part of a missionally minded church or organization that would be willing to listen to us, speak wisdom into what we are doing, partner with us, or pray for us, we would love to hear from you and set up a time to meet together!  Leave a comment, email us, or call any of us.

Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement.  We love you all.

Prayer requests:

1. Thank God that He has given us momentum and vision for a city!

2. That details would continue to fall into place, as we still have lots of decisions to make.

3. Jobs and housing and such.  (We have also started praying for a free meeting space/building in downtown Spokane, so join us in that bold prayer!)

Last July we moved to Moscow, Idaho eager then to know where the Lord would lead us.  We have spent the past 9.5 months asking that the Lord would speak clearly.  We have considered more than 10 cities in the NorthWest.  Looking at them through the lenses:

Where will the team fit best, What is the Lord currently doing in each place, What could the Lord use us for in each place, Where is there need, Where can reconciliation and restoration be facilitated (the list of lenses we looked at each place through goes on…)

After much prayer, anticipation, meeting with pastors and current church plants in each location and times of just sitting to hear the voice of God, we are walking in faith that we have heard the Lord speak.

He has told us to move to…

So off we will go, in 2.5 months to live in Spokane, WA!

Please pray:

• Provision of insight into the needs of the city both spiritual and physical
• An excitement and confidence for each team member in where the Lord is leading
• Ability to break the city down and zero in on the right neighborhood for us to move into and share Christ’s love (with that, provision of housing and other practical needs for the team there)

(Thanks to D.O. for the beautiful letter collage.)

There is something incredibly appealing to me about people who love their cities; and more broadly, the idea of loving a city at all. Not in a haughty sense — the way people from Houston get when speaking with people from Dallas — but in a genuine, “I know and love my city” sense.

Every time my friends in New York City tweet about their rooftop parties or life in Brooklyn, or when I hear Ryan Adams reference his old apartment on Avenue A or pausing on 5th Ave to look at east and west Central Park — not to mention listening to the greatness that is Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” — it adds a layer to the romanticism I’ve placed on The City for years.

I love nearly all expressions of love for one’s city: Eminem’s representing Detroit in a Chrysler commercial during the Super Bowl; when Sleeping at Last changes the Silver Bells line “it’s Christmas time in the city” to “it’s Christmas time in Chicago” on their Christmas EP; when my friend Brian calls me from Dallas while I’m visiting his hometown Portland to offer countless options of things to do/see/eat in town. I love all of it.

Knowing and loving a city is a beautiful thing, and if my limited experience is any indication, it isn’t something that just happens upon arrival.

For example, nobody shows up to Dallas knowing that people are referring to 635 when they say “LBJ”, and they certainly don’t know to avoid that highway like the plague if it is even remotely close to rush hour. And while I’m sure a handful of people arrive in Dallas and immediately love it, my story looked nothing like that — nor did the stories of a lot of my Dallas friends.

I lived in Dallas for nearly three years before I could even say I liked it. But when that happened (by a ton of grace), it wasn’t long before I would proudly — and much to the dismay of most my friends — claim that I loved that city. And in the process of falling out of hate and into love with Dallas, I grew to know it. I knew the best coffee shops, who had the best burger, the best pizza, and how to best maneuver the not-bike-friendly city on a bike. This knowledge of the city helped my forward progress on the hate-love continuum.

Now, as we gear up to make one last visit to each of our potential planting cities next week (Missoula, MT; Spokane, WA; Bellingham, WA), and in a few months to move to the city to which the Lord leads us, I can’t help but long for the day when I feel as strongly about it as Ryan Adams and Jay-Z do about NYC, as Brian feels about Portland, and as I grew to feel about Dallas.

I realize it may take time. It will be a process, but I pray the Lord expedites the process as much as is possible.

Pray:

• For discernment in hearing the Lord’s voice as we travel to these cities next week
• For safety as we travel (lots of driving in a short period of time)
• That the Lord would pour out his heart for our team, and that we’d walk in it.