Dreams Unlocked

"Concepts of human rights, justice and of concern for the unborn and the aged are not ethical self-perceptions subject to cultural modification but are constraints on individual and collective actions that would violate the very structure of humanity itself" "Social anonymity without communal identity breeds autonomy and finally anarchy." "Most Christians would be scandalized to be told that abandoning the homeless, overlooking the deep injustices of poverty and systematically excluding the socially unacceptable is the moral and spiritual equivalent of apartheid." - Ray Anderson in Shape of Practical Theology.

Sitting in Southside church listening to Emerging leadership guru - Eddie Gibbs. I have met Eddie a couple of times before - always good stuff. 9:45 AM Session 1 - Context and Calling 5 C's of leadership - character, competence, context, calling, context There's about 50 people here - I should have gotten more people from the leadership team to come - oh well. 10:15 - My back hurts. Took a break - was a big schmooze fest as I connected w. a bunch of planters and pastors - some new and some I hadn't seen in years. Took a bag of cookies for Adam. 11:10 - Session 2 - I'm starting to wander. Not enough sleep last night. Back still hurts. Starting to get some interesting stuff on the household set-up of the early church. Lunch - Indian food. Very tasty, not enough. Now I'm really sleepy - need a double tall skinny latte to keep going. 1:00 - Cam does a brief commercial for Missional Training Network. I have been involved for a year and a half and am now leading the Vanco...

Making some profound missiological insight at the coffeeshop/church. Or maybe just wondering if a slurpee would be a good idea right now. So, today I had my first on-line video conference, which made me feel very up to date, like I work for Wired magazine or something. The thing is, the guy I video conferenced with was local! He wasn't in Sweden, he was in Burnaby, which sort of made the whole thing a little less exotic. If you have skype and a web-cam, let's chat. My parents sent me an e-mail saying they were leaving for the Dominican Republic tomorrow - no pre-warning - they just up and left - very Kerouacian of them - IN THE AIR, instead of ON THE ROAD.

What are we doing here? Make art! Make art! Well, my attempt to read a book a week seems to be stalled by Ray S. Anderson. Anderson's book "Shape of Practical Theology" is taking me more then a week. There are 2 chapters early on which would quite easily discourage one from ever reading anything ever again. Heady Stuff, but now things start to be clearing up. Anderson dialogues with Barth, Brunner and other theological heavy-weights. Like every good theologian, he practices the thesis/antithesis dance, which (hopefully) leads to synthesis. So, in my office today, I actually thought I would need a fan - it was so hot. Nice day off today. Spent the morning with Felicia and Sophia, (Adam was in pre-school). We had brunch at White Spot, and then went shopping - actually more like walking through a mall. I find I have no real desire to shop anymore. I had money in my wallet to buy stuff, but I don't really need anything. The only things I really buy are books and music - a...

My poor parents and sister's family. While Saskatchewan struggled through -20 weather today, Vancouver was a balmy +12 with bright sunshine. I had 3 seperate meetings with guys named John, Paul and Stephen. With names like that, I felt like I was in the 1st C., although I don't think there were any Santosh's in the early church, at least until Thomas got to India. Barack Obama - looks like he's got the Democratic nomination locked up. He won Wisconsin tonight, which I think means he has won 11 states in a row. Hillary will be licking her wounds and trying to think of some miracle strategy to pull her back on top. I don't even think uber-charismatic Bill can help her now. On the Republican side of things, McCain has got the nomination locked. I'm trying to figure out what Huckabee is thinking at this point - he is so far back. Huckabee was my fave - at this point I think I would go with Obama. McCain is not a true conservative.

Well, the first Sunday at the coffee shop went very well. It will be interesting to see how the next few services go. It is a bit intimidating meeting there, - there are huge windows that look out on a very busy street in Yaletown. We had several people read the sandwich board - one lady even took a pic. of our Urban Sanctuary banner in the window! Our plan is to meet there for the month of March, and then evaluate how it is going, and see what we want to tweak. But, so far, so good.

It's 1 AM. I'm tired but cannot sleep. A weird sort of nocturnal limbo. A Mennonite Brethren church planting couple dropped by for a visit this morning. They are going to be planting next year in the Dunbar/UBC area. They are very much along the missional line of thinking when it comes to Kingdom expansion. It was nice being with like minded people. I hope and pray our little church can be an encouragement to them. They are coming to Urban Sanctuary tomorrow. They are going to share briefly and then I'm going to pray for them. Speaking of UrbSan - tomorrow we meet for the first time in our new location! A coffee shop! Yep, we now have a cool and public locale, which fits very much in with the Yaletown vibe. What an opportunity! We are working towards our "grand opening" or launch on April 6. I'm working on a message called "Jesus in Yaletown", which is hopefully an enticing enough sermon title. New goal for 2008 - Read a book a week. So far so good -...

Valentines's Day Secret - a dozen roses are only $18 at Costco!!! So I bought 2 dozen for my lady friend. I gave one dozen to Adam to give to Flea, which was quite cute. Had my Missional Training Network out in Surrey today. Today, might be my last one because I will probably be leading the Vancouver hub of a new endeavour called illumin8 . It's a new network for younger leaders interested in missional ministry. There would be 4 zones and I would lead the Vancouver one - looks pretty promising. I've also been contacted by someone in Seattle about something called the Transformational Learning Community. It comes out of Ray Bakke in Seattle - Bakke is basically THE MAN when it comes ot urban ministry. The idea is to take 10 leaders each from Seattle, Vancouver, Portland and San Francisco and have them exegete their cities and then meet once in while to see what they find. The thinking is that there is a lot of similarities between these western cities. I tend to agree - Vanc...

Excellent, productive day. I used to feel guilty about days spent in my home office, doing paper work, writing sermons or planning. But I realize, that this work is as important and significant as the times I spend witnessing, preaching or leading home group. I don't have to feel guilty. Went to the coffee shop to do some last minute things with the manager. Worked out how we want to set things up. I have a lot on my plate right now - MAJOR stuff just keeps piling up.

I love love love this . If you go to youtube, they have people using this chair while working in an office - they actually look like they have cerebral palsy.

This past week, I had been sticking around home, w. a few escapes to the Library or a coffee shop to work, outside the reach of Adam. So, I sometimes forget the "urbaness" of my context. That is, I live downtown, but sometimes that fact doesn't always register - its only when I'm ambling down Robson, or a more congested part, that I come face to face with Urban life. Well, today was one of those days. First, the Chinese New Year's Day Parade in Chinatown, which is about as congested as Hong Kong on this day. Then, I headed up to a "Homelesness Countdown" hosted by my friends at Streams of Justice . Then I ambled on home, amidst the congestion of downtown Vancouver. Had pizza and a Bible Study tonight, instead of a regular service, due to the fact that a majority of our people are away. It was nice - sort of house churchy.

Adam and his much taller friend Hailee. The votes are in - 4 for the beard and 3 for clean shaven. (Someone said I looked hot both hairy and smooth - so I added 1 vote to each side). I think I'll stay smooth for awhile, although Adam keeps insisting I grow it back. Lost is back on the air. In tonight's episode one of the "rescuers" is named Charlotte Staples Lewis, which is very similar to Clive Staples Lewis (C.S. Lewis). Also, she did her undergrad at Oxford, where Clive also taught. Interesting coincidence - one of the writers is probably a fan of the greatest Christian writer of the 20th C. Seriously - I read Mere Christianity every January, just to keep me in line. This blog is now clocking in at 150 hits/day which is just crazy - most of last year I was at 30 hits/day. Realized again how much I hate driving. I go to Surrey every Thursday for a Missional Training Network that I am a part of. Today was the first time I drove because I brought the lunch and didn...

Which do you like better - hairy or clean shaven?

Kaydance and Santana Pauchay froze to death on Tuesday. The 2 sisters were 1 and 3 years old. On Monday afternoon, their father started to drink and drink and drink. By early Tuesday he was drunk. So drunk, that he decided to walk to his sister's house with his 2 young children, despite the fact that it was -50 outside. His kids were dressed in diapers and onesies. As he stumbled in the bitter cold, fighting snow drifts, he blacked out. He was discovered by police, suffering from extreme hypothermia. After the alcohol wore off and circulation began to return, and blood began to flow to his brain, Christopher Pauchay asked where his daughters were. This started a frenzied search throughout the reserve. The snow and cold stunted their efforts. Eventually both girl's bodies were discovered - frozen to death. The entire reserve is now convulsed in grief, anger and despair. And a shocked nation recoils and starts to wonder who or what could have prevented such a tragedy. Of course w...

I have a beautiful home office with floor to ceiling windows, which overlooks Yaletown. But, now that Adam's idea of fun is climbing on me, I need to start working away from home. I now work at the Starbucks in the Pivotal building - 1/2 a block from our apt. I also go to the top floor of the Library - the special collections floor - its so special I never see anyone else up there except Library staff. It's working out well, I have internet and my cel phone - everything I need. I am preaching through 1 peter - my last sermon was on ch. 1:13-25 - I think by the end of this series, I should have enough material to write a book. It would cover all the themes in the letter - especially the identity of believers - the purposes of the new community and the engagement of the new community w. the surrounding culture. I have done a fair bit of writing for various publications - with some decent editing, I think I could be better. Also the blog is now reaching a whopping 100 hits/day whi...

National Post ran a story w. the headline "Vancouver and Prairies in deep freeze. Uh, it was like -3 here with some snow, and -50 in Saskatchewan. It wasn't exactly a deep freeze here - people were shoveling their walks in their shorts. When it snows in Vancouver, it's a major event. 2 big items for Urban Sanctuary: 1. We are now incorporated as a society. One step closer to obtaining charitable status. 2. We have now secured a publicly accessible location in a prime spot in Yaletown. A very nice coffee shop has agreed to rent to us on Sunday nights - this is a HUGE deal for us- I just hope and pray we use this wisely. Other then that, life continues to move on by.

3 films have come out recently that explore the depravity of humanity: American Gangster, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood. Out of the 3, There Will Be Blood paints the bleakest picture of the dark side of human beings. Daniel Day Lewis blows the screen away with his formidable acting skills, proving once and for all that he is in a very small and elite group of the very best actors alive today. He dominates the screen as this single minded oil man, out to own as much land and make as much money as possible. On his journey he shows disregard and contempt for those closest to him, including his own family members. There is an interesting character of a young pentecostal type preacher who appears to have stepped right out of a Flannery O' Connor novel. The preacher confronts Lewis' character at different times. This film has some hard scenes to watch, but surprisingly it is rated PG. One reviewer said the final 10 minutes of the film will stay with him for a long l...

George Verwer challenging us with the opportunities for global missions. This weekend is Missionsfest at Canada Place. Missionsfest is an amazing event - several thousand people come to hear about global missions. They bring in excellent speakers. This year George Verwer spoke. I first heard Verwer speak at Urbana 87. His message 20 years ago changed my life. Now, 20 years later I had a chance to hear him speak again. Verwer looks great for a 70 yr. old! He is as dynamic, humorous and challenging as ever. I think you would be hard pressed to find anyone as passionate about global missions as Verwer. Back is much better - thanks to time and prayer. Had our monthly community dinner tonight - Lowry's supplied Guitar Hero for our entertainment - what an awesome game! And it's even better in a large group. Also - the leadership team made an important decision about the future Urban Sanctuary, without me there! It was a decision about me, and I had to excuse myself so they could dis...

It's 4:20 AM - I've been up for more than an hour because my back is hurting so bad -same thing happened last night. Going to a medical doctor today to see what's what. Did not leave the apt. today. Worked and moaned in pain. I'm even considering acupuncture - anything to get some relief. Please pray for me.