Join the Launch Team!

// September 2nd, 2010 // No Comments » // Boston, Uncategorized, Vision

We are building a LAUNCH TEAM!  That’s right, we are now gathering a group of men and women who are joining together to help birth a new church in the great city of Boston!

So, you may ask, WHAT IS A LAUNCH TEAM?  A launch team is, well, a team.  Just like in sports, a team has a goal, players, positions, and a coach.  If it’s football, the goal: win games.  The players, positions, and coaches all organize themselves in pursuit of this one, all-important, extremely focused goal.  Similarly, our team has a goal: LAUNCH A CHURCH THAT BRINGS THE GRACE, TRUTH, AND CHANGING POWER OF THE GOSPEL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD AND THE GOOD OF ALL PEOPLE.

Why are we doing this?  Why not just start off having meetings and just see what happens?  Well, we could do that, and certainly many churches have been birthed that way. But the need for a great church around here is so great, and the task of Gospel delivery is so important, that it seems to me WE SHOULD BE AS INTENTIONAL, focused, passionate, and committed to this AS WE POSSIBLY CAN. That’s why.

So what does this mean for you?  WE NEED YOUR HELP! If you love Jesus and want to see the Gospel win in this city, then join us!  Are you a new student in the city?  Are you not currently connected to a local church?  Do you want to do something significant while you’re here?  Then here’s a really practical way you can: COME TO OUR FIRST LAUNCH TEAM MEETING. Here are the details…

WHERE: Cambridge Family YMCA (map)

WHEN: Sundays at 11am

WHAT’S HAPPENING: We will worship, unpack the Scriptures, and have a great moment for kids, and then we’ll spend some time planning!

It’s an amazing, growing, Gospel community, and all it’s missing is you.

Pouring Concrete

// July 1st, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Uncategorized

Planting a church, it’s very easy to let my mind wander to all the fun wizz-bangery of churchdom.  Images and thoughts can flood my mind for hours about what our meetings will look like, what kind of sound system will work, what will band sound like, how should we design the bulletins, what about signage… etc.  After all, don’t we all love to talk about that cool Christian word “Ethos,” and “environment.”  Isn’t it exciting to dream about what the experience of church is going to be like!?

Hmm.  I wonder if in my own heart I don’t have meeting-idolatry.  The dream of a future meeting is a shoddy, poor foundation upon which to build anything, especially a new church.

My dad is a contractor/land developer.  If all he thought about in the building process was where the pictures in the new house would go, and what kind of fridge to buy for it, he’d be a pretty poor builder.  Similarly, if we church planters spend most our time dreaming of how cool we’re going to look with our new face mic, lit by our new lights, cheered for by our new people, and rocking to our new band, then we are bad church planters.

Paul said, By the grace of God given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder… But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Christ Jesus. (1 Cor 3:10-11)

The day to think of wizz-bangery will come. But today is a day to lay foundations. Today is a day to pour concrete. This part is dirty, gritty, and slow. No band to rock to.  No lights.  No face mic.  Just Jesus, and the people whose hearts he wants to change.

Yes, today is a day to pour concrete.

Baby Steps

// June 20th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Uncategorized

Today, Aletheia Church Boston took a baby step forward, and it was exhilarating.

After almost two years of praying, working, worrying, and dreaming, we had our first Core meeting for Aletheia Church Boston. It wasn’t amazing because we had 50 on our first night (because we didn’t), and it wasn’t amazing because someone came to faith in Christ (although that would’ve been awesome), and it wasn’t amazing because I preached an out-of-the-park message (although I’m working on it…).  It was amazing because a bunch of people who had never been in the same room together took a step toward radical, Gospel-unity.

That was amazing.

In some ways, it was like a first date… kinda awkward, some stretches of silence, but very exciting.  And, like a first date, once it got going, it was a lot of fun.

I feel completely honored to lead this church, and to begin to pastor such great people.  I firmly believe that as we experience the truth, grace, and changing power of the Gospel in our Core, then we will soon be empowered to bring the truth, grace, and changing power to the great city of Boston.

Looking forward to next week.

Memorial Stones

// May 19th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Uncategorized

In the book of Joshua, memorial stones were set up to commemorate a moment when God did something amazing. Then, by seeing the stones, the people of Israel were to remember what God had done.

Today, I SET DOWN SOME STONES.

In the last 36 hours I’ve walked over 14 miles, seen over a dozen properties, scoured the internet for hours, and made hundreds of phone calls. In all my work, God was working, and now WE HAVE A HOME IN BOSTON! In one of the most expensive and property-difficult cities in the USA, God gave us a bigger home than we expected in a better area than we expected for less money than we expected… reminds me of a bible verse about God blowing away our expectations.

My hope and prayer is that in this home God will work in and through us, our church plant team, volunteers, friends, and family to birth a great church in this great city. God has given us an amazing place, and we are so thankful.

To my awesome team: thank you for praying. Walking by this memorial stone, may your faith be strengthened.

Church is… on Mission

// April 20th, 2010 // 5 Comments » // Uncategorized

It has been said that church shouldn’t be a country club for saints but a hospital for sinners.  I think that is a false, unhelpful dichotomy.

Church shouldn’t be a country club, catering to the wishes of it’s members.  Neither should it be a hospital, simply concerned with healing hurting people. Church should be more like a triage unit on the field of battle. That is, the point of a triage unit is to get soldiers patched up and back out on mission.

Mission should mark every church that truly believes the gospel.  Why?  Because God is on a mission.

I can hear some objections.  ”But Adam, shouldn’t church be about helping hurting people?  Sometimes people need to take a break to be healed and helped.” And I would say, “Yes, yes, yes.”  Absolutely.  Church should be about helping hurting people, but helping them do what?  Feel better? Have a healthy self-image? Health for health’s sake isn’t health at all, it’s idolatry. Similarly, church for church’s sake isn’t church, it’s something else… something indeed worse.

If church is a mission-focused entity, then the logical next question is, “What is our mission.”  After all, soldiers don’t usually go out to fight without orders. Builders don’t start building without a reason. The mission of the church?  That’s a great topic for our next post.

My Message at Campus Harvest

// March 29th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Uncategorized

This past weekend, I had the high honor of getting to speak at Campus Harvest, a gathering of over 2000 college students in Durham, NC.  I was asked to speak on the mission of God.

I hope you enjoy my brief sermon, Missionary God.

Missionary God

(If you’d like to download it, just right-click the link and select “save”.)

Are You Going to Campus Harvest?

// March 3rd, 2010 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Are YOU going to Campus Harvest? Aletheia Boston is, and we want to see you there. Stop by our table, give us a shout out. Heck, you may even get a T-shirt.

See you there.

Church is… Real

// February 16th, 2010 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Church is full of nice people.

Nothing wrong with that.

Sometimes, though, our nice, clean exterior can keep others from feeling as though church is at all real. In fact, to the outsider, it can seem fake, plastic, and unauthentic.

However, Jesus was never interested in creating fake people. He skewered his critics for their religious performance detached from a changed heart. He said things like “take your cross and follow me”, “come to me when you’re hurting”, and “I want to lay down my life for you.” That doesn’t sound too fakey fake to me.

Aletheia means “truth.” Part of being true is being real. Jesus said “I am truth.” Jesus was real. If we’re his people, then we should be too.

What is Church?

// January 19th, 2010 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

“We’re going to be a (fill in the blank) church!”

If you talk to many church planters, you hear that all the time.  Usually they are filling in that blank with some reaction to a poor ministry experience they’ve had, words that describe some other church they love, or words that illustrate their own preferences and biases.

Just so you, I don’t want to plant a (fill in the blank) church.  I think the word “church” has enough meaning all on its own from Scripture, and I’d just like to plant one of those.  You know, a church.

So, for the next few entries we’re going to trying get a handle on a few of the aspects that make up a church.

THE CHURCH IS JESUS’ BODY

Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. (Ephesians 5:23)

First off, the Church is Jesus’.  It belongs to him. It doesn’t belong to a denomination, to a pastor, to a board of elders, to the people, or to anyone else. He is the head of his body, and the church is that body. This has a lot of implications, but here are just a few…

• Jesus is in Charge – Because he is the head of the body, he calls the shots.  We follow what he says.  When was the last time your head obeyed your spleen or your index finger?
• Jesus is Savior – Jesus physical body rose from death as a down payment for our resurrection, and as a picture of what would happen to his church, his spiritual body, that they too would rise from death.  He lives, therefore his body will too.
• The body is interconnected – Your body isn’t a pile of parts.  If it were you’d be dead… and messy.  So, as a church we are to realize and live out our interconnected roles and relationships under the headship of Christ.

It’s my dream for Aletheia to be a church, a real church; a local expression of the global, eternal body of Christ.

2 Days left and only 25% to Go!

// October 26th, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

(Reposted at My Missional Confessional)

Here’s where we are as of now…

CAN YOU HELP US BRIDGE THIS LAST 25% GAP to take us to our next mission field? We have been blown away by the level of support and selfless generosity of you all. We know that God will get us past this last little hurdle.