Monday night we were eating dinner with some friends. They said they would like to be a monthly supporter of what God will be doing in planting churches in the most un-churched state in the country, Utah.

Thanks guys for being the first couple to commit to support us and the work that God is going to do through US. Yes, YOU can and will be a part of this Kingdom work whether in prayer, in giving or in going!

Here we go…and no, I can’t believe I am doing this stuff again. Wow.

God has a sense of humor and heard me 3 years ago when I told Tiff that planting another church made me want to vomit.

Well…baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarf.

It’s on till the break of dawn. No holding back. Giving it our all…again.

This fired me up. I pray that there will be other crazies who will join our team that is heading west as God calls each of them (and some of you) in a way only God can. We have several who are interested and at least 1 commitment so far!

We will be having meetings soon for those interested in hearing more about this opportunity. And who knows, maybe there are a few non-New Hoper’s who read this blog that will catch the vision and join the team…only God!

Check this post from fellow multi-site church planter turned 2nd time church planter who moved across the country to do something crazy:

_____________________________
FIRST: Person In Vegas

A little over a year ago I was asked to do a blog. I said yes, but thought, “Why am I doing this? It will be a waste of time, no one will read it…” I was also asked to write a book, and I said yes, but thought, “Why am I doing this? It will be a waste of time, no one will read it.”

Well, the blog and the book have become more popular than I would have imagined, but even if they hadn’t, I think maybe the main reason God led me to do them was David and Jennifer Tobey.

The Tobeys are from Austin, Texas and somehow became readers of my blog and book. When they learned on my blog that we were moving to Vegas to start a new church on the Strip, they felt like God was telling them to go and be a part of it. Now this was obviously crazy, they’d have to leave their jobs, home, family, and move to start a church with people they don’t know and where they’d have to raise their two boys in Vegas. Crazy. But they know God calls His followers to do crazy things. So not only did they say yes, but they were actually the first people to move to Vegas!

Thanks David and Jennifer, for being crazy.

Washington state, Maine maybe?

Try again.

Utah. (Brad Olson, State of the Church Report)

Yes, Utah.

That is why we are called by God to go there. We wondered why God was calling us away, and now we know. Check out a few of these stats and see if your heart is wrecked as well:

• Utah was the fastest growing state in the country last year.
• But is the MOST UN-CHURCHED in the country! You read it right.
• In Ohio 20%+ attend church on a given weekend.
• In Utah it is 2-3%, making it dead last. The next level up is Nevada at 9%!
• There is a town that borders Salt Lake of 40,000 that has NEVER in the history of America had an evangelical church. Ever. Never. Nada. Zip. Are you freaking kidding me?
• In this area of 2.1 million people (Wasatch Front) we counted 5 churches (excluding LDS). We pass 6 churches in our town of 2,800 in a 3 block area!
• Don’t you hear all the buzz about this fastest growing state that has few church planters heading there? Probably not. It’s the last place on earth that we ever thought we would go!

Our hearts were broken. And we are answering the call despite the odds and challenges. If it is not hard and a challenge, we don’t want it. Here we are Lord…send us!

How about YOU? What is God asking you to do that you think is crazy? (Genesis 22)

pic: http://flickr.com/photos/maggiekedves/2957468834/

What a weekend we experienced at New Hope! Tiffany and I want to thank you for the massive outpouring of support and encouragement you showered on us!

I am also excited that some of you caught the vision as well and will be supporting us with:

*Prayer
*Monthly Support
*Seed Offering Next Month

We are also humbled and overwhelmed that we had other couples express their interest in learning more about joining the team in the work that will take place in Salt Lake City in the near future and moving out with us to help start this new network of churches.

I told you that GOD WOULD LET YOU KNOW if that calling was for you. Now take your time and pray and seek the Lord for confirmation.

Look for more info on all of the ways you can be a part of reaching people in the most un-churched state in the country in the near future.

Thanks again for your PRAYERS, support and love that was showered on us this past weekend. What a great time of corporate gathering for all of us. We needed that badly.

If you missed last weekend’s service, the New Hope team will be making the DVD’s and CD’s available for you next weekend.

love you all.

Have fun with this mini-novel! I want to share as much information with you on everything that we know up to this point about ours and New Hope’s transition.

So, where will you be going?
I know you hate this: BUT WE STILL DON’T HAVE A PLACE, a JOB, not even an INTERVIEW! Sorry. And for those leaders checking in…YES, WE WILL STILL BE COMMITTED TO SMALL TOWN MINISTRY wherever we end up! There are a ton of small towns under 75K around the areas that we are considering. That is a huge part of our calling.

Didn’t you go out west for a job interview or something?
NO. We went out there to talk to pastors and church planters about the region. To put our feet on the soil and PRAY.

What cities are you focused on?
We are still focused on the cities, suburbs and areas around Salt Lake City, UT and Denver, CO. (read the full vision points in the earlier posts from last week) And YES, to be fully honest, we are leaning toward 1 of those areas. Watch for updates coming soon!

Is the Rocky Mountain Region the Region that you will be going too?
I can say a definite YES! The lack of churches, planters, and cooperation startle us. The need is OVERWHELMING. Refer to the earlier posts for more details.

Were you really chased by a mountain lion while finding a restroom in the national forest behind a tree?
NO. If so, I would have a nice pair of mountain lion slippers.

Has this been hard on you guys?
I can’t even describe how hard. Our life, friends, family, and church and people we love are here. But, just as Abraham when he was asked to sacrifice and be obedient, so we must as well. We might not LIKE it, but we are willing to be obedient! Pray for all of us (Tiffany, Christian, Grace and Joi) during this tough time in our lives.

We also know that it has been hard for many of you. Understanding the will of God is not always an easy thing to accomplish. As we seek HIS will and hear from HIM, it makes it much clearer, though not always easier!

We resonate with those of you who feel this pain of our departure, because it is just as hard on us. But obedience is never guaranteed to be easy, but it is promised to be rewarded!

So…you aren’t happy about this?
God’s call isn’t always exactly what we think or thought theyWe are JOYFUL to answer the call, but happiness is not required in Scripture. Being joyful in all things and OBEDIENT is the key whether it is fun or not! We are excited about the work of God in our lives and in those we will reach. But that doesn’t mean that it won’t hurt or be hard!

What is happening at New Hope right now?
The Elder’s met and have laid out their requested transition plan to me. Though we had recommended a longer transition through the end of the school year, we also understand that the elder’s seek what is best for the church at this time. I accepted the plan with submission to the authority that is over my life. (So yes, I do try to practice what I preach!)

What an amazing group of Elder’s we have at New Hope. That is one of the reasons I knew that we were leaving New Hope in great leadership hands! Tough decisions handled with grace is the key to taking ground now and in the years to come!

What are the specific plans?
The Elder’s met last week to make decisions on the transition plans that we will put in place. The Elder’s have requested for the health of the staff and church that Pastor Jeff take the interim role at New Hope and that I turn over complete control of day to day operations to him effective immediately. We look forward to the Elder’s and church undergoing the search process for the next Lead Pastor at New Hope. God is beginning to stir in the heart of someone out there a crazy call like what happened to me, to come to New Hope. (I just pray for your sakes that they leave the horse manure at home on Christmas next year.)

They have asked that I preach a few more times in the next couple of months, but that for the sake of the transition that I not work at the church on a day to day basis any longer as Pastor Jeff assumes my role with the exception of teaching on those occasions. They feel this best for the staff, church and vision that this clean break in transition occur.

We fully accept what the Elder’s feel is best, as I have asked that they take the lead in this transition from here on out. We know that they have heard from the Lord and as we are called to do, I now become fully submissive to the elder’s, staff and team that are in place at New Hope.

God must have something far ahead of our schedule and planning!

How will you and your family be taken care of?
Major highlights include that the Elder’s have given me 8 weeks of pay beginning February 1, and we are excited that they will be taking a seed money offering for us to make the transition into our next ministry frontier (that will be a HUGE part of our transition funding). They have also offered to continue our health insurance through May, and we all know that I need that

What if you haven’t found a job in the next 10 weeks?
Anyone looking for a former cop turned preacher for some work? Bible in one hand, Glock in the other?

Unfortunately, due to the announcement being leaked [oops, lesson learned there!] before we had secured any sort of direction, funding or job, we had to announce God’s plans in our lives prematurely. Of course, this has made us have to step up aggressively to seek the next move of God, but we will still be patient (not my strong suit, but I am doing amazing in this at the moment) this is a HUGE decision that we want to wait fully on God for.

We have begun now aggressively exploring opportunities that would fill the gap. Church planting is very different from the traditional job that you walk into. It starts with nothing, and you build it up piece by piece as we did at NH! We were blessed to find some funding help from an outside organization for our vision trip last week. It truly is a walk into the great unknown!

Pray that as we haven’t had any official interviews or anything at this point, that we will find employment to fill the gap until the direction is clear! We will need something in 9 weeks, and I do know that God will lead us to something perfect in HIS plan!

How can YOU personally help?
Thanks for asking PRAY! Please pray for us. Here are some beginner requests:

Pray for our family as we seek employment much sooner than we had anticipated. Pray for our kids as we probably will have to transition them in the middle of the school year to a short term location and then on to wherever our long term plans are. (2 school moves in 1 year could be very tough).

Help market our houses! (We own a couple of properties and NO, we are making NO money off of them…trust me! They were LONG TERM investments that we will LOSE money on due to this wonderful economy.) Pray for a miracle, that we might just BREAK EVEN and carry NO DEBT with us! That would be a miracle for us. [Pre-economic collapse, we would have made around $40,000 on the sale of all properties, now we are facing a loss of around $50,000] Ouch! Miracles can happen, and we believe that they still happen! Come on!

We have 2 properties in Ashland. *One is a totally remodeled duplex. Both are 3 BR units. And have always been easy to rent due to being 3 BR.

*The other is a totally remodeled 2,000+ sq. ft. new, contemporary house on 1+ acre east of town that is for rent, lease to own or for sale.
The other 3 properties are in Loudonville. All are for sale.

*One is a very cute 2-3 BR remodeled house on North Adams St. right around the corner from our current house.

*The other one is a remodeled duplex. Both are 3 BR units. Again, very easy to rent and establish some cash flow due to them being 3 BR.

Of course the last one is our personal home in town that is simply an amazing place that many of you at New Hope were so gracious to help remodel for us several years ago! THANK YOU AGAIN!

If you are interested in some long term investments on the duplexes (there is cash flow on both) or one of the 3 other personal family houses, please e-mail me anytime. [charles@newhopewired.tv]

Of course, to make money in real estate, you must buy low! Well, I can tell you that prices have never been better of course! Help spread the word…that would be a huge blessing to get the word out for us, or maybe the word is for you to purchase one.

What else can we do?
Of course, you can be a blessing in the seed money offering coming next month at New Hope, or if outside New Hope, we do have a paypal account that is operational.

You can be a part of our month to month support team. We will be raising (as we did when we started New Hope) funds to support the church plant for 3 years. The needs are large, but just as God provided when we started New Hope, everyone playing a part will help us tap into a region that desperately needs Christ! I will send out more on that later.

We are praying that some of you will also catch some fire, passion and the call of God to help plant new churches in a tough area. We have already had people say they will commit to joining the team that will go out and plant this new work! We are overwhelmed with joy and passion that some of you will HEAR THE CALL as well!

We will share more details about it in the weeks to come. We hope in the next 8 weeks to have definite plans, vision and direction so we can share it specifically with those in the church and those outside who desire to see God’s work go into a very rocky area where churches are needed desperately.

The overview is this: Just like our family, you would sell your house, find a new job (thank God that the economy is somewhat better there), and give your passion and vision to seeing a new church established that will start other churches in the region! What a step of faith that some are taking already. Maybe after hearing the vision of where we will all be going, you will catch the same calling? We will be hosting informational meetings in the weeks ahead for those interested in hearing more about this opportunity and calling. Watch for details.

This is too long already, but we wanted to give you an overview of where we are right now. As I said, due to the premature nature of the announcement, we are just now trying to get our bearings in all of this and will be trusting God for the rest!

I hope to let everyone know next week about the city we will be focusing on and the next steps as our entire family prays about this next venture.

I want to say THANK YOU in advance for all of the prayers, support and love that I know you will give to use during this challenging, yet JOYFUL time as we follow our God’s lead! This place has always been so good to us, and we are happy that we can make a wonderful transition that we and the Elder’s are happy about that will put New Hope in a place to continue to reach out to the communities we minister in!

This is just but 1 chapter in this amazing story called New Hope. The best is yet to come because God is the AUTHOR of the book, and we are all the players that he writes an amazing part for us to live out along the journey. Please LISTEN to HIS voice and play the part HE is CALLING YOU to play!

pic: http://flickr.com/photos/stuart_taft/506742410/

I have a full update on our future plans and transition plans at New Hope being posted. I have asked the Elder’s to review the post so that we make sure we are on the same page, and I am waiting on final approval.

I will send out the long-awaited plans for where we and New Hope are headed, tomorrow morning at the latest, after the Elder’s gave me their plans late last week.

Thanks for all your prayers, support and encouragement as we live out this crazy faith call of obedience. We grieve with many of you as this is a very hard thing on us, but being obedient is not always easy as we still are in this heap of flesh.

The joy comes on the other side! And we can’t wait to see what the future holds as we together reach people for the Kingdom together right where HE has called US! Whether across the street, a different state, or around the world!

Thanks for praying. Every day becomes harder and harder to see family and friends and memories that are at every turn, but we are committed to the call.

Blessings and peace! We look forward to the time we have left here, and expect GREAT THINGS TO COME FOR ALL OF US!

If I asked you if you knew a place where 9 out of 10 people were unchurched in a major city, and a place where MOST church plants fail, what would you pick? China? India? Somewhere in Europe?

How about DENVER, COLORADO! (and even worse in the small towns that I have a passion for surrounding her!)

I am overcome with how NO ONE makes a plea about this territory out here. Denver is a HUGE, growing city with so much opportunity and so few churches. And the church plants that are here have some of the highest failure rates anywhere.

Denver is the 4th fastest growing city in the COUNTRY. That’s insane! And one of the least churched and growing by the hour.

Maybe this will help: After talking to most church planters in this area, many of them said: THIS IS NOT THE PLACE TO PLANT A CHURCH! That’s coming from church planters! Many of them are struggling and many have planted several times and many have given up and quit. This area is an independent minded place where spirituality is found in the individual and in the outdoor playground that is the Rocky Mountains.

I am overwhelmed driving this area and seeing HUGE, HUGE development with MILLIONS more people expected and the sad fact is that from 1990-2000 in the entire state of Colorado (with the hub of people between Colorado Springs and North Denver), there needed to be 792 MORE churches started in that decade to keep up with the growth, and that was through the year 2000! In the past 8 years growth has skyrocketed and churches have not at all.

How overwhelming!

As Tiffany and I took in a Denver Nuggets-Detroit Pistons game last night, we were surrounded by young people everywhere, and our hearts broke for them. Each generation is truly removed from spiritual things. (Pistons won in the last second…what a date night with my bride!) The one nicer thing about the east coast and the south regions of our country is that a major proportion of people would probably identify with some sort of church experience, at least as a child. Here…not so at all. Absolutely no church background at all.

Demonic and satanic activity are large here. Stories of witchcraft and satanic worship and influence are heavy as where there is no Christian presence, the evil one has free reign.

Huge thanks to Paul and Jan Mitton from Converge Rocky Mountain for taking us through the area and being amazing hosts and connecting us with several pastors and leaders. Their heart for this region is amazing, and their game plan is even sharper. Paul is a man who will get the job done out here…but the missing piece: Church planters.

Paul’s vision is to not plant 1 church with Tiffany and I, but to allow us to recruit 5 church planters and start a ground assault whether here in Denver or in SLC. And his passion and drive will help make it happen. He is a very sharp leader and ready to partner with many out here on the Front Range.

Please continue to pray as we seek the Lord. Tomorrow afternoon we will be heading to the mountains to a room where we can pray and seek the Lord. I also look forward to some time alone with God in a place where I can think…the ski slopes, which is a place where I connnect with God and slow down big time.

I mean…my God, My God…what is happening out here and in the US? We were called to lead the way and within 1 generation we might be a thing of the past as in Europe. The majority of the world is already there…and we must step up and do something about this on the home front and send out others in the world to reach their native peoples. But with the facts that I gave you about SLC and Denver…where would you go? It’s unbelievable in each region. Wow. Pray for us.

We will return on Wednesday, but while in the mountains and the days to follow…please pray as we seek to hear HIM SCREAM into our souls. Pray for visions, dreams, increase, whatever you feel led to pray as we wait on HIM to reveal HIMSELF without a doubt to us.

Blessings as you seek HIM in your MISSION right where YOU are!

pics: Denver and I also included some pics from the I-70 drive we had to and from SLC which was one of the most amazing sights I have ever witnessed.

http://flickr.com/photos/drivebyphotographer/1581355223/http://flickr.com/photos/22189353@N02/2139094169/
http://flickr.com/photos/-zcubed/2767270503/http://flickr.com/photos/denverjeffrey/104378472/
http://flickr.com/photos/denverjeffrey/392506553/http://flickr.com/photos/fortphoto/2266212159/
http://blog.eturner.net/images/denver_skyline.jpg

I am alive. Wow, what a few days it has been. I want to be brief and share some thoughts so far as we put our feet on soil and instead of casting vision like I am used too, I am trying to hear the vision. As we said when we announced to the church, we only had a few contacts, no money and a crazy vision that God had asked us to consider and this was our first stop.

It’s those walks into the great unknown that will really energize your faith, but they also weigh on the soul a bit!

We flew into Denver and made the 8 hour drive across Colorado and Wyoming and then dropped south into Salt Lake City. What a drive! 80+ MPH winds and snow in spots made it very interesting! There were 3 semi’s just blown over in the road from the winds, and that is just par for the course in the winter in Wyoming!

SLC was a totally different picture. It felt a lot like being back home climate wise, but yet due to the dry air, it felt much warmer. All I can say about SLC is that I did not expect anything much from this city…but got way more than I bargained for.

It truly is one of the most beautiful places on earth and with so much to do there, it just blew my mind. I thought because Mormonism is king here that everyone would be walking around in their white shirt and ties and skirts. Ummm…no. It looked like a normal college town and though not as crazy as many big towns, was not at all what I imagined.

To be honest, we flew out here thinking that SLC would be a quick stop, because after all, why plant churches where their is a pre-dominant undercurrent of another religious group? But that is exactly what we soon learned the need would be. Very few have taken up the challenege of going into this place and have left it desolate for the truth. It takes a CRAZY person to come to this place to plant churches. Hmmmm.

Here are some quick facts:

*2 Million or so people, and almost NO Christian churches. Yes, that is not a typo.

*50% of SLC is NOT Mormon! Hear that one! So 50% are totally seeking something!

* Of the 50%, only 2-3% attend church on a given weekend. (Worst in the US! Second worst is Nevada at almost 10%!!!!!!!!!!!!)

*Utah was the fasted growing state in the COUNTRY (economy is still very good and this place is beautiful, and the 2002 Winter Olympics put them on the map).
*But yet as the fastest-growing state, Utah is the MOST unchurched state in the COUNTRY! Are you kidding me?

* There is 1 Christian church for every 5,000 people. In Arkansas (the comparison state for this study it was 1 for every 500!) I assume Ohio is in the same range. Unbelieveable.

*There is a town here of 40,000 people that has NEVER in the history of the town EVER had a CHRISTIAN CHURCH. EVER! If that were anywhere else, there would be 100 church plants and denominations heading into town. But because these are forgotten people in a very hard region to plant, people won’t take up the call to come here.

*This one kills me: Utah is the only place in North America that because of the above information is considered and UN-REACHED PEOPLE GROUP. Are you serious in the US?

WHY ARE PEOPLE NOT TALKING ABOUT THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION? We hear about the Northwest and Northeast being rocky soil, but dang, Utah has the worst stats in the COUNTRY and was the fasted growing state last year and is expected to grow by 1-2 million in the near future! (And no, it is not from Mormon births, but try this one on, there are still 40K+ polygamists in SLC even though the church outlawed it long ago).

People (many non-Mormon) are moving here because of the robust economy, the vast beauty and outdoors scene, and it feels like a small town because though the Mormon theology is way off from Christian doctrine, they practice love and kindness like no other people around. It was the friendliest big town I have ever been it, and of course that translates to a low crime rate.
EVEN IF IT IS NOT US THAT IS CALLED, THERE IS A NEED FOR AN ARMY TO COME OUT HERE! Those facts break my heart, especially when in many places in the country there are churches everywhere!

I need to send out a huge thanks to Dave Nelson (and his wife) who bugged me to come out here and not just tour Denver. K2 is doing an amazing job. Church planting here is like church planting in a foreign country when most of the people around you are of a different religious group. They have done the impossible through the power fo Christ and average 1,300 people every week in 2 locations on their property and are starting their first multi-site campus this fall. WOW. God has blessed them and their staff. Dave is a phenomial leader and his staff and the church was so accomodating as they showed us around for a few days. I can’t say enough or thank them enough. Thanks to ALL of you, but special thanks to Kim and Steve for lodging us, Andy for the long tour and gun pics, Dave for sharing his heart which was the beginning of making ours melt with vision, and Mike for being a cool dude who shared his journey and great insight into K2. (And your CD rocks bro!)

We are looking for a challenge. God has never called us to easy things. We came out here open, but not very open to SLC because of pre-concieved ideals, but we were open and God flooded our hearts. This is way different a vision than I thought we would get when we announced to NH, but we are open to the possibility and could easily make this place our mission field. We are not afraid of challenege or the fact that this would be the hardest place in the country to plant a church. But hey, K2 answered the call, and God is moving big time. Maybe this is it for us too?

And yes, there are nothing but SMALL TOWNS for us to work into in both states. That is our heart and passion and always will be!

After a really long drive (but the most beautiful drive in my life back to Denver on I-70) we are set this morning to tour Denver. I am excited to tour this huge place where 9 out of 10 people are unchurched. You heard me. Anyone else’s heart breaking for this region? We are OPEN to this ground as well…so:

Pray that God would SCREAM to us in the next few days about where the call should be. And maybe it is not anywhere out here, but dang, after what I just wrote, how can this region not be a place that needs the Lord like NO PLACE in the country?

pics: http://www.geo.arizona.edu/geo5xx/geos577/images/SaltLakeCity.jpg//http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.geo.arizona.edu/geo5xx/geos577/images/SaltLakeCity.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.geo.arizona.edu/geo5xx/geos577/&h=311&w=450&sz=87&tbnid=gFYscnvs028FpM::&tbnh=88&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsalt%2Blake%2Bcity%2Bpictures&usg=__ySW8oiPa6sae3LpydBZjGntZQPM=&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=2&ct=image&cd=1

Great question.

I can’t wait to preach my last series at New Hope. Don’t read that wrong. Not to leave, but because I have been waiting to teach this for 7 years. It’s all about how to HEAR THE VOICE OF GOD/FOLLOW HIS WILL. We will start that series in February.

So, here is some view into our lives for the world to see. We have finally been led to a region that we will consider for church-planting. It is not a given, as a matter of fact, we could EASILY come back and know the answer is NO. So don’t send us there yet.

Here goes: 2 years ago we were at a conference in the Rocky Mountain region (Denver Area) and we loved our time there.

That’s it? That’s certainly a start. What? No angel visitation, stars exploding, mysterious calls or letters in the mail. No…after calling several people and praying, we found out some interesting things about the Rocky Mountain Region that coupled with a like for the area will lead us to further investigation.

*9/10 people are un-churched. We are losing this battle bad folks.
*Churches aren’t connected very well at all.
*Church planters feel very much alone and there isn’t a large movement to connect them.
*And when I say Salt Lake City, need I say more?

9 out of 10? Are you serious? We then found out that Colorado is the 3rd most un-churched state IN THE COUNTRY. Wow. Especially as Denver is expected to grow by 2 million people in the next 20 years.

And Utah is the fastest-growing state in the COUNTRY. UTAH? Yes, you read right.

When you hear that stuff, how can you not say, hmmmm. But then again, we ended up in a town that had not seen growth in a long, long time. Only God. Only OBEDIENCE.

The region is ripe for the harvest. And the region New Hope is in hasn’t made a dent yet, so we still have a long way to go here as well and the mission that was started must carry on!

So one call led to another and we will be touring both Salt Lake City and Denver next week. We will spend 2-1/2 days in each city and 2-1/2 days praying in the mountains asking God what to do next. Yes or no. Close the door or keep us pursuing.

Reading Scripture, fasting, praying, working out some of the ancient practices gathered and explained for connecting with God that I have been immersing myself in from this BOOK. And as mentioned, going to someplace where you hear God (beach, mountains, skiing for me…where is your sacred space away from the ordinary?) Isn’t it supposed to be hard, whips, chains, carry the cross, fast everyday and sit in silence atop poles to head the will of God? Ummmm. No.

We will also have 2 travel days, so this is no short trip.

We will go and hang out and talk with as many people that we can. Churched and un-churched. We will hand in coffee shops, malls, bars, wherever we can find people who will talk. We are goong to try to take in a Nuggets/Pistons game and be around thousands of people and see what we can stir up. Anything to be around people and immerse ourselves in the culture.

As far as open doors go, I believe Satan opens a lot of doors…so I look more to watch God to CLOSE DOORS, because there are open doors everywhere around me! So there is my take on OPEN DOORS.

We will also wait for other calls, requests and e-mails from people to come check out regions and pray on that as well, but we will focus on 1 region at a time, and then narrow it in from there.

It truly feels like the Abraham call in Genesis 22, where God asked Abraham to have radical obedience and sacrifice his son. He told him to go “to the region I will tell you about…” but just set out first, and when you get there, you will know. WOW. We are on that same journey. God always leaves that HUGE element of DEPENDENCE ON HIM as a mark of faith.

So…get with the people, rub shoulders, get into the world unless you are looking to plant a church for the churched people to come to, in that case, go talk to the already convinced.

And then get alone and seek GOD. Then trust HIM to say yes or no, and I promise that a passion will burn within you. It will make your heart race, your blood-pressure rise…and keep you up at night dreaming about the possibilities. You won’t be able to stop talking about it.

That’s what happened when we came to LOUDONVILLE, our first “region that God told us about.” And we trust the same for the next steps.

Pray for us as we leave next week. For GOD to SCREAM to our souls.

And if you have any other suggestions for us to pray about or suggestions in how to better discern the Lord…let me know! We have had Hawaii, Alabama, Phoenix, New York City, and London thrown into our hearts and will certainly pray on everything as we seek HIS will.

Follow me on twitter or facebook as I chronicle our journey…and thanks for shouting out a prayer or 10 for us.

pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildcountry/119970662/