Have you heard of the Tent City in Sacramento? Seriously, after Oprah featured it on her show last February, it seems as if everyone knows about it. However, not everyone knows what has happened after the cameras left and the hype died down.

It’s a sad story really. Millions were pledged immediately following the airing of the Oprah show. So much hype about tackling the problem and bringing some compassion to the issue. In the end, once the dust settled, the problem is actually worse than it was before.

Money was committed to help with permanent housing for the homeless, yet several shelters have had to close their doors since the cameras left. The promise for new housing and shelters has resulted in the loss of beds. There are more homeless on the streets as a result, not less.

The sad thing in all of this is that our new mayor, Kevin Johnson, has just let the Sacramento Police Department cut the lock on a private citizen’s vacant lot and forcibly evict residents off the newest Tent City. Yes, it was the newest because shortly after the media hype died down after the Oprah show came to town, that Tent City was closed and the homeless there were scattered. It took an attorney named Mark Merin, rather than the city council to offer a place for the homeless to go. Mr. Merin opened up his lot and allowed the homeless to camp on his land. At first, the police publicly responded in saying that unless there were some complaints or public safety issues, they would monitor the new Tent City, but let the campers there live freely on the private lot.

Brewing behind the scenes was a political power struggle. Mayor Kevin Johnson said that Mr. Merin’s offer of letting the homeless sleep on his private land was undermining the efforts of the city council to come to a decision on how they would move forward in using the funds given to Sacramento to help with the issue of homelessness. In the political world, it’s okay to address an issue that has gained international media attention by offering ideas on how to spend money pledged 7 months ago to combat an immediate problem. In the political world, it’s then okay to take 16 more months to get action taken on said problem. Mayor Johnson has publicly said that just getting things done within 16 months of the announcement of their plans is something he has to push through as it is faster than what others would ordinarily do. So, in other words people are without a home or food in a city that has homeless shelters continually closing because of lack of funding and it should be viewed as hard work to expect some partial solution 23-24 months after the fact?

The worst part of it all is that even after a private citizen opens up his land to the homeless to give them a place to be safe and off the streets--because it takes attention away from Mayor Johnson’s forth-coming plan of how the city will spend millions of dollars of pledged federal money to erect some temporary housing--the local police were ordered to forcibly evict the homeless campers. Not only were the evicted from private property, but the police confiscated their tents and sleeping bags to be used as evidence of illegal camping! In politics, power has reared its ugly head once again and compassion has taken a back seat.

So, where are the cameras now? An article today in the local Sacramento Bee acknowledged that some cameras were at the eviction to cover the event. However, with the power of the political machine, I highly doubt that any negative national press will come from this incident. I do anticipate though, that once the city council and Mayor Johnson have concluded on how best to use the money to make a small dent in the issue of homelessness in Sacramento, that he will get national attention and praise for his actions. It’s sad that those who have less are being used as pawns in a game of politics. It doesn’t take months of city council meetings to start helping the homeless. It takes someone with compassion for their fellow man and a call to action. Unfortunately, in the end, political office usually seems to be about pushing one’s own agenda on his fellow man and having the power and authority (and charisma) to do so, rather than about what is really best for our fellow man.

Here is a link to the Sacramento Bee article referenced in this post: http://bit.ly/1a00PU

The NIV version of Philippians 4:4-7 tells us to rejoice in the Lord always. Not just once, but it is written twice! It reminds us to let our gentleness be apparent to all and to not be anxious about anything. We are instructed to pray about everything and be thankful as the peace of God will take us beyond anything we ever imagined, and guard our hearts and minds as we focus on Christ Jesus.

As I mentioned earlier, the common thread through all of Philippians is the notion of joy and rejoicing. Some days in ministry, especially in church planting, at the end of the day of being beaten down and weary it is difficult to think of rejoicing. Not only are we faced with battling the community as we represent Christ and faith in him to a world that is in opposition to him, but we also face issues within our leadership and people, anger from those hurt by the church in the past, people that feel we are divisive because they think God’s Word excludes them, working without similar financial compensation that we would get in any other workplace, people committing with their lips yet not with their hands, etc. However, if anyone of us looks at these and wishes they were not in ministry I have some simple advice. GET OUT NOW! Paul explains to us and we need to understand that we are called to rejoice in all things. We are on the side of righteousness and eternal life. We are not working for treasures here on earth. If at the end of the day you can’t get yourself to come around and go face the world the next morning, this probably isn’t the time for you to be in ministry. Go do something else and be happy. Ministry is difficult. Church planting is difficult. It takes someone committed to keep working at it for a cause greater than themselves and their personal feelings. I have gotten to some low points and faced the decision of leaving the ministry or giving up on the vision of seeing a transformational community come together here in Sacramento. It’s easy to give up. Sometimes it feels right to want to give up. We need to work through those feelings and jump back into the fire or really make the decision to get out. Otherwise you will crash and burn and be useless to others, probably even useless to yourself. It’s not necessarily the end of your ministry, but quite possibly it may be a well-needed rest to be ready for God’s timing when he calls you to something new.

We are called to pray and give thanks in everything. However, we aren’t always going to be able to. It’s just a fact. No one can really be rejoicing in the face of adversity, pain, heartbreak or loss. How we handle those times will determine how we move forward and if we will ever get to a place of rejoicing after the fire has come and gone. For me, the biggest saving grace in my life are the friends that God has surrounded me with. As an atheist for 37 years before becoming a Christian, you can imagine that most of my friends are worldly and in some instances atheists as well. During the rough times, these friends of mine will typically encourage me to get out and go back to what used to bring me a six figure income, nice cars and travel. To them, my reasoning for going away from that life never quite clicked in their minds. Most of them envied my position and respected me for my worldly credentials and successes. So, I value my new friendships with people that know my struggles and encourage me. I could not be where I am without them. When I look at my friendships, all of them being outside of my city, I revel in God’s favor on my life. My friends aren’t wealthy and can’t jump in and help me setup sound equipment or invite people to connect with our community of faith, but they are always there anytime I call or email. They always listen before speaking. Whether it’s days or months that pass by without contact, or maybe even just a few hours…they are always by my side and praying to God for me. For this I rejoice even though I face difficult days and rejection at times. It is easy to get back on the horse after getting kicked off and stomped when one has friends like I do!

In my study time through Philippians this week, I find that The Message translation of verses 4-7 speak to me in ways that most fill my heart with joy. It is written in a way that encourages and reminds us that we should celebrate the gift of ministering to others that God has given us. With this gift comes great responsibility, but knowing there is nothing else I could do right now than this, it is a sweet and pleasant taste that I want to savor…to know that somewhere, someone is going to know Christ eternally through something that is said or done in the context of living life as followers of him is an amazing thing. So amazing, that I want to share the experience with others and bring them along in this journey. I want to share the love of Christ in my heart with others and let them know his healing power still works, that miracles happen all around us every day, that Satan is fooling and deceiving a lot of people that are clueless to his lies. There is great power in Christ that needs to be manifested through his people. I’m looking for a team of people that believe that and desire to serve under this powerful anointing on Sacramento. Know that the Lord is near and he is coming soon. Consider our time here on earth to be short…how does that make you feel? Does it move you to do more? Is something stirring in your heart when you think about it? I close with Philippians 4:4-7 MSG…it’s time to stand up and celebrate!

Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

As I ponder what’s next with the call God put in my heart to share the love & grace of the gospel of Christ, I am reminded of the powerful and thought-provoking words of the song God of This City by Chris Tomlin and how I was moved to tears when I first heard this song. The chorus tells us:

Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

Won’t you take a moment to watch the video and let this song speak to you today?

You’re the God of this City
You’re the King of these people
You’re the Lord of this nation
You are

You’re the Light in this darkness
You’re the Hope to the hopeless
You’re the Peace to the restless
You are

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

There is no one like our god
There is no one like our God

[Chorus]
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

As I’ve been thinking more and more about leading a missional community through Revolution Church Sacramento next year, I’ve also had thoughts about video preaching as part of what we do. Coinciding with these thoughts was a blog post by Perry Noble that reinforced his position that video teaching honors God and connects with people.

When we did our first month of preview services to share our vision with the members of our mother church, it was video preaching for 3 weeks, with me preaching 1 week. We participated in the One Prayer with LifeChurch.tv which many of you know about already. I was so totally blown away by the quality of the preaching from Perry Noble and Steven Furtick that I was hooked. I mean, I think I can be a pretty funny guy, but usually I evoke a laugh or two during a message while Noble just raised the roof and kept it up the whole 30 minutes. The guy seems like he isn’t even trying, yet he causes us to fire on several emotions in just one message. All this and he wasn’t even in the building! How can a guy in South Carolina talking about eating big, buttery biscuits and people believing or not believing in the power of Christ connect so well with us here in California? I don’t know how or why, but I just know what I saw and how people responded and it was amazing and incredible. Pastor Furtick is another one of those guys that doesn’t seem like he is trying, yet he can convey passion about watching an ice cube in such a way that you never thought possible all through the power of Christ in his life and his love for seeing people hear the gospel and come to know the saving grace of Christ. I was teary-eyed during the last half of his message and again, he wasn’t even in the building!

Can a guy like Noble or Furtick cause things to be stirred up here in Sacramento through video preaching? I think they could. As Revolution Church Sacramento takes shape and launches next year, we are looking to connect with a younger generation for Saturday and/or Sunday evening service. Mostly singles and young couples. However, could we partner with a great visionary preacher like a Pastor Noble or Pastor Furtick (or a Craig Groeschel or Ed Young, Jr. or…) and provide a gathering for families on Sunday mornings and see the kingdom grow even more? Could being missional and putting our faith into practice and sharing the love of Christ with the world be the glue that binds us together, even though we have two different worship styles, with two different meeting times, and two different demographics? I’m beginning to think we could. I’m feeling like the work that needs to be done here in Sacramento is far greater than what I could do even on my best days, and that partnering with another ministry with someone that can lead the way through their preaching and teaching while we work to connect people into service could honor God hugely. Who says that multiple services on a weekend must be the same exact message with the same exact preacher every time?

Maybe this is just another one of those dreams too big for the moment or my abilities. Could be that my mind is wandering and this isn’t what my thoughts should be on these days. However, I just can’t help but feel like this is worth some prayer and discussion and seeing what God would have me do here. My preaching doesn’t really translate well to video, but I’ve seen others with the gift for it and know that it’s being used to make a big impact on people in awesome ways. Just consider me more than a little intrigued at this point.

I invite your prayers and thoughts on this.

Over on Tony Morgan’s blog he posted some “Perryisms” today. These are probably my favorite posts from Tony as I get such a kick out of the language that Perry Noble can pull off in his sermons. He’s simply awesome!

I’ve been posting lately about being missional and how we as Christians can engage and connect with the culture around us without compromising our faith. Here are a couple of Perryisms from Tony’s post that I thought were great:

• “If a Christian can only listen to Christian music, I wouldn’t listen to music because most of it is bad.”
• “For far too long, the Church has gotten mad at non-Christians for being non-Christians. I don’t get mad at a duck for quacking. It’s a duck. It quacks.”
• “We have to be willing to go to places that make us uncomfortable in order to reach people that no one else is reaching.”
• “We need to accept people where they are. Meet them where they are. And take them to a place where they can meet Jesus.”

Somedays I feel like I should pack up and move the family to Anderson, NC and just sit and learn all I can from Pastor Noble at NewSpring Church. However, I believe God is preparing our city here in Sacramento to go to some uncomfortable places and engage our culture and share the love & grace of Jesus bringing light into some dark places.

I feel as if God spoke to me through a blog today. Sounds crazy, right? However, think about this. If God created everything and gave us the ability to utilize tremendous resources in the 21st century, why wouldn’t God use the internet to communicate to his people?

I follow several blogs that help challenge and stretch me as a leader. Today it was a post in Dave Ferguson’s blog that helped me regain a little more focus. Dave’s post was titled, “5 Leadership Lessons it Took A Long Time to Learn.” What do I want to take away from a blog post like that? Simple! I want to learn from Dave today before we even have our official launch service for Revolution Church Sacramento rather than learn way down the road after making unnecessary mistakes.

While sorting through some things in prayer last week, one of the things that weighed heavy on my mind was the issue of finances and how we are behind schedule in raising financial support for our church plant. I was trying to determine what negative impact this would have on our start. However, Dave clarified this for me in lesson #2 from his blog post, which is “Money Always Follows Vision.” As I feel pretty confident that God wants to do a new thing here in Sacramento that gets Christians (and non-Christians) into the community to display Christ’s love for those that need it I believe that God will make a way to fund this vision and I should just be faithful to the vision and not put my faith in money.

As a leader I will be the first to admit that I am not an expert. As much experience as I have in secular, corporate leadership I cannot claim leading a church of thousands on my resume as Pastor Dave Ferguson has done with Community Christian Church. Therefore, I choose to humble myself when possible to learn from experienced lead pastors like Dave Ferguson and seek God to find out how and when those lessons and principles can be applied into the ministry here in Sacramento. So, a big thanks to God for giving us the internet and thanks to Dave Ferguson and other pastors like him that take the time to share their valuable insight on their blogs in the hopes that it helps others like me avoid some of their mistakes

 

The rumors have been swirling around for weeks ever since Starbucks announced that it was closing stores due to the slow economy. It’s been really funny how many pastors actually post about this in their blogs :) Like the only way I even knew the list of closures was out was by reading about it on Scott Hodge’s blog.

Well Sacramento, we are only losing 3 locations. I was surprised by how low that number was considering how many Starbucks we have here, but I guess that means we’re all caffeine junkies that willingly pay too much to get our energy boost or chocolate drink fix on. The 3 locations are: 1) Promenade @ Truxel; 2) Stockton @ Mack; 3) Auburn & Madison.

So lovers of the rich and flavorful goodness from Seattle rejoice! Looks like you’ll still be able to find a Starbucks every 5 minutes as you drive around the city!

PS. If you’re not in Sacramento and are interested in the list of Starbucks location that are scheduled to close, you can download it here.