The picture above was taken through the window of my plane as we took off from Portland. It is the majestic Mt. Hood that towers over the eastern landscape of Portland and is often associated with the city even though it is 100 miles away. This past weekend I was in Portland, Oregon visiting with Pastor Ivan Trachuk of Voice of Hope Church. Saturday, I had a long lunch with Ivan and his associate Victor. That evening I met with his leadership team…Constantine, Eugene, Andre, Nicolai, Sergei, Paul. All of them have immigrated to the United States from somewhere in the former Soviet Union. All of these guys (including Senior Pastor Ivan) have “real” jobs in addition to providing leadership for a very active church. They’ve got something going on nearly every minute of every day.

I’m on my way back from an incredible visit with a diverse group of new friends in Portland, Oregon. My primary host was Pastor Ivan Trachuck (that’s Ivan in the picture to the right), the joyful 38 year old leader of an exceptional Slavic church that is effectively reaching Slavic immigrants who live in the Southeast side of the Portland metro area. Voice of Hope is only three years old, but they are blessed with a great facility, a wonderful leadership team and a active congregation of over 500. Ivan was gracious enough to invite me to be the main speaker at the Sunday morning meeting of Voice of Hope. What a blessing!

A unanticipated addition to my Portland visit was a call from Oregon Ministry Network church planter John Marvin who serves as the pastor of Portland Metro Church. John heard I was in town, so on Saturday night he invited me to take a lightning tour of his church before preaching to my Slavic friends on Sunday morning. He picked me up early Sunday morning and I got to get a quick close up look at what God is doing in the urban heart of Portland. Previous to leading Portland Metro, John served as a World Missionary planting churches in Antigua and Jamaica. John married a beautiful Jamaican lady named Sarah (John and Sarah are in the picture to the left) and together they are leading Portland Metro back to health and toward multiplication. As it is, Portland Metro is a good example of getting the most out of a facility located in a diverse urban neighborhood. Besides the multicultural Sunday morning gathering in their main sanctuary, PMC also hosts an Ethiopian congregation as a well as a Haitian church. They have recently opened a coffee shop that serves their friends in the neighborhood with a place to connect (both relationally and with free wifi) and good coffee. In July, they plan to launch their first satellite campus in a movie theater at the Lloyd Center, a popular shopping center located near the heart of downtown Portland.

After my whirlwind tour of PCC, Pastor Victor (he’s in the picture to the right) from Voice of Hope picked me up and whisked me over to the Voice of Hope campus. As I already mentioned, this young church has been incredibly blessed with a wonderful facility, made possible because of the faithfulness of the Lord, the generous giving of the congregation and a strategic partnership with AG Financial. These wonderful folks, most of whom have immigrated to America in the last 15-20 years, get a lot of use out of the building they have been blessed with. Something is always going on at the Voice of Hope. When I arrived on Saturday, I spoke to over 50 students who were gathered for an all day session of the Ministry Training Institute. These committed students are the present and future leaders of church ministries and new church plants. They are very intentional about making sure their leadership base is very broad. It shows up in the quality of everything they do. Everything about Voice of Hope is simply outstanding!

I was privileged to be the main speaker. It is customary in Russian Pentecostal churches to have several speakers at every service. The first speaker or speakers usually share short bible lessons of 5 or 10 minutes each. Each speaker is preceded or followed by congregational prayer or singing. There is often special music, always done with excellence. To be the main speaker is a great honor and privilege and the main message is typically 45 minutes to an hour in length. The services commonly last at least 2 hours. In the more traditional churches all of the ladies cover their heads with a scarf or other type of head covering. The Sunday morning services are usually in Russian with interpretation for monolingual people like me. Sometimes the evening services are called the “Youth” service and the main language spoken is English.

After a wonderful time of prayer and fellowship at Voice of Hope, I was picked up by a young couple who plan to be married later this summer. Art and Kat are 23 and 21 respectively. Art was raised in a Christian home in Kyrgyzstan. Kat was raised in a home where following Christ was not part of her experience. They both immigrated to America and ended up at the Stream of Life Slavic Church in Aloha, Oregon. They took me to lunch and we had a fascinating time sharing about our lives together over a meal. Then it was off to the main service of Stream of Life Slavic Church. They are currently meeting in a Lutheran Church building while they search for a place to call home.

I re-connected with Pastor Vladimir Mandich (I had previously met Vladimir at a meeting in Springfield about 6 months ago) and thoroughly enjoyed a powerful evening of ministry and rich fellowship. First, we enjoyed the worship service together. Stream of Life Slavic Church is a smaller congregation that has been built primarily through one on one discipleship efforts. It is probably the most “non-traditional” Slavic church I have been to. Pastor Vladimir is very committed to making sure there are no boundaries to the activity of the Holy Spirit in his church and in the lives of people he leads. The presence of God was strong throughout the evening.

Following the service, Pastor Vladimir invited me to his home where I was treated to outstanding Slavic hospitality and even some special music performed by Vladimir and 4 of his 5 kids! I don’t believe I have ever heard the combined sound of two violins, a guitar, a electronic piano and an electronic drum set. It was as beautiful as it was unique! I got to hear Vladimir’s amazing story of being imprisoned because of his faith in Jesus and spending 4 years in a primitive prison, where inmates were housed together 50 to a room. Men like Vladimir, imprisoned for their faith in Jesus, were mixed in with common criminals many of whom were perpetrators of violent crimes and even murder. Vladimir says that prison is where he learned to trust God and to never give up. After being release from prison, he married at the age of 36 and he and his wife began making up for lost time. He’s now 52 with 5 wonderful and talented children who love their Mom and Dad and they love Jesus too! It was a blessing and incredibly humbling to be with them. They are a testimony to God’s grace and goodness.

My “bottom line” take away after my weekend with the Slavs is that I am very glad that God has brought these wonderful friends to America. We need them! Vladimir told me there are 1 million Slavic’s living in the Los Angeles greater metro area. He said there are very few churches reaching all those people. He plans to do something about that. We look forward to partnering with Vladimir and Ivan and the many other amazing Slavic churches that have exploded into existence across America.

For the second time in a week I’ll be landing at DFW, but this time I’m not just passing through. I’m headed to the North Texas District/Gulf Latin District Church Planting BootCamp to connect with over 100 participants who are planting new or leading existing churches toward vigorous health. I’m looking forward to seeing a ton of great friends. More later…..

OK…it’s later now…actually it’s early on Thursday morning. I’m getting ready to spend about 4 hours with a very energized bunch of planters and revitalizers helping them think about “finding the money” to finance the vision that God has birthed in their heart. Looking forward to it.

Yesterday was stellar. I hung out with US Candidate Missionaries Tim and Rachel Ware (that’s Tim and Rachel in the picture on the left). They’re heading to Dallas to work with Clay and Barbara Wallace at the Dallas Metro Dream Center. We all had lunch together with Rick Dubose (North Texas District Superintendent, church planting advocate and all around good guy) along with Gaylan Claunch (Assistant Superintendent and Missions Director). All these great folks are in the picture to the right… from left to right… me, Gaylan Claunch, Barbara Wallace, Clay Wallace, Tim Ware, Rachael Ware and Rick Dubose.

After lunch I headed down to the North Texas Lakeview Camp and Conference Center. In my humble opinion, they probably should drop the word “camp” from the title. This is not camping. Besides really nice “Hampton Inn” quality guest rooms, excellent meeting facilities and great food, they’ve just opened up a fitness club complete with weight room, cardio room, pool, full size gym, etc. It’s really incredible.

The BootCamp is being held at the conference center. This edition of the North Texas BC has over 130 participants. I was able to jump into a few minutes of the sessions happening in each room. Contagious atmosphere…I’m ready to go plant again!

Last night, US Missionary Duke Edwards (that’s Duke in the picture to the right…Russ Weaver is the guy with the hat) bought dinner for all the facilitators and anyone else he could talk into coming out. We went into downtown Waxahachie to a restaurant that serves down home super good bar-b-que Texas/cowboy style. It was awesome stuff. Then Duke showed us startling stats that indicate if nothing changes America will have NO rural churches 18 years from now. He then threw out a God-sized compelling vision to plant 16,000 churches in rural communities. He got some help from the legendary Russ Weaver who pastors Shepherd’s Valley Cowboy Church, one of the first cowboy churches in America. He’s also got a show on RFD TV. Between Russ and Duke there wasn’t a dry eye in the place and we all left with lighter wallets and a new appreciation for the incredible challenge of the mission field of America.

We left there and went for a quick tour of The Oaks Fellowship pastored by Scott Wilson (That’s Scott in the foreground of the picture to the left. Dr. Tom Wilson is at the far end of the model and Anthony Scoma pastor of a great church in Austin, Texas and one of our BootCamp facilitators is on the left). This is an amazing story. The church is 80 years old and Dr. Tom Wilson became the pastor in 1988. They started a Charter School back in 1998 and in 2003, Tom realized that Scott could pastor the church and Tom could give his full attention to the school. The Charter School has given them a very positive open door to thousands of folks who were completely disconnected from church. As I listened to Dr. Tom I realized that the Charter School approach is yet another incredible possibility for incarnational ministry. The Oaks is now an exploding church and is about to complete a building that will seat 1800 in the first phase and be able to expand to include another 1800 by just knocking down a wall and adding some chairs.

Thursday was awesome. The North Texas BootCamp is the longest running annual BootCamp in the Assemblies of God. Superintendent Rick Dubose and US Missionary Dave McNaughton (that’s Dave talking to Scott Wilson in the picture to the right) are an outstanding team providing leadership, inspiration, resources and strategy for multiplying the disciples and churches of their district. As I mentioned earlier in this post, this edition of the BootCamp had over 130 participants (including coaches and staff) and three main track options…English language church planting track, English language church health track and a Spanish language church planting and health track. I facilitated the segment of the camp that deals with finances. We had a great time of interaction and I came away encouraged and impressed by the caliber of the church planters in the room.

This weekend, I’m headed off to Portland, Oregon to speak at two Slavic churches…more later

In just a few months it will be the three year anniversary of Katrina’s unwelcome visit to New Orleans. The impact of this incredible storm was the definition of cataclysmic. Entire neighborhoods ceased to exist and nearly three years later, uninhabited buildings are everywhere. The best laid plans, decades of toil and sweat, healthy and not-so-healthy churches were all irrevocably altered in just a few hours. In many ways, the people and pastors of New Orleans are still struggling to define the “new normal.”

The previous paragraph are some of the thoughts that formed in my mind as American Airlines flight 524 lifts off from New Orleans International Airport. I’ve just spent the last 43 hours of my life on a lightning tour of tragedy and hope in South Louisiana. Louisiana is Superintendent Doug Fulenwider “country.” Besides serving as the District Superintendent, Brother Fulenwider also serves on the Executive Presbytery Board in Springfield. He’s been a great friend to me during my tenure in the Director of the Church Multiplication Network and he is a strong advocate for church planting both in his own district and on the national Board.

My tour guide and host was Al Eden, Pastor of First Assembly of God, Bossier, Louisiana. (He’s the guy on the left in the picture to the left) To call Al an amazing man of God does not adequately represent him. It is an honor for me to be on the same team with Al. He is truly a gift to Louisiana. He has planted numerous churches. He has led numerous existing churches through successful turnarounds. He’s served on the special assignment in the Philippines with AG World Missions. Right now, he’s pastoring a strong “turnaround” church while simultaneously leading the charge in Louisiana as the District Director of Church Planting and Revitalization. He is a paradox of solid “old-fashioned” values mixed with the heart of a healthy “maverick” open to the new things that God is doing. He’s a real friend of the innovators and pioneers who are following God’s leading to invent “church next” to reach the unreached and disconnected folks of Louisiana. In fact, those innovators and pioneers were what my visit was all about. Al wanted me to meet them and see the exciting ways that God is using them.

And so, my tour began on Wednesday night when I met Doug McAllister (He on the far right in the picture above and that’s Doug’s silhouette in the picture to the right) , pastor of Journey Fellowship in Lacombe, Louisiana, and Robert Burnside, about to become the campus pastor of a brand new church in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Doug was pastoring a great church of about 1400 pre-Katrina. The week after Katrina hit, 75 people met for worship. Everyone else was gone and most never came back. Now, less than three years later, a new church has miraculously emerged from the tragedy. Doug took me on an impressive tour of their new facilities which they have just started using in the last few months. But the people of “Journey Fellowship” aren’t satisfied to just have a nice place to worship for themselves. They recognized the opportunity created by Katrina in the Lower 9^th Ward section of New Orleans and decided to take a step of faith and start a satellite campus there. (The picture to the left was taken inside the sanctuary of the old Lutheran church building). Doug tapped Robert Burnside (He’s the middle guy in the picture above) to be the campus pastor and the church purchased a beautiful old Lutheran church building as the location from which to base their ministry to the community. Journey Fellowship and the new satellite campus have partnered with the Church Multiplication Network to energize the launch of the new campus with an infusion of resources. CMN is thrilled to be partnering with these anointed folks!

Thursday morning, Al and I headed north out of New Orleans to Baton Rouge to visit with Pastor Bud Plake and get a close up view of another matching fund project. Bud is the pastor of Freedom Church in Livingston, Louisiana. (Bud is the guy on the right in the picture on the right, I’m in the middle and Carl Kelly, the Freedom Church Executive Pastor on the left.) Freedom is a 20 year old church that has recently undergone some significant remodeling both physically and in its approach to ministry. Bud’s entrepreneurial background made him restless with church as usual and once he got the existing church headed in the right direction, he couldn’t help but notice an opportunity created by Katrina. Even though Baton Rouge was too far inland to be cataclysmically impacted by the flood waters of Katrina, the city was inundated by a different kind of flood… a flood of new residents relocating from New Orleans to safeguard themselves from the possibility of every going through a Katrina-like event again. So Bud and his team are starting a satellite campus closer to the geographic center of Baton Rouge. And they are starting it in a skating rink! (And you thought Mark Batterson was innovative!)

Thursday night Al and I had dinner with Shawn Johnson. (That’s me and Shawn in the picture to right). Shawn is planting Community Church on the west side of New Orleans in a community call Metairie. He’s combined his “trade” gifts with his church planting call to create a unique way of putting food on the table while raising up a community of believers. He and Tonya decided to start a church and a SGT Printing at the same time. Shawn’s church started about one year before Katrina hit and got off to a strong start. They were averaging about 100 regular attendees each week when Katrina rocked their world. After Katrina, they chose to stay when most chose to leave so rebuilding has been slow going but they are optimistic for the future. The printing business is doing well. He has contracts with big organizations like Focus on the Family, but he loves to serve fellow church planters with quality printing at an affordable price. So, his creative church planting methodology provides a unique opportunity for you…you can get your printing done well by a fellow church planter at a very competitive price and help Shawn and Tonya fulfill their calling to raise up a community of disciples at the same time!!

Friday morning I had breakfast with another group of church planting pastors from the New Orleans area. Frank Newfield, church planter, founding and head counselor at Solutions Counseling Center and presbyter of the New Orleans Section of the Louisiana District Council, Frank Bailey, Pastor of Victory Fellowship in New Orleans, Jeff Jeffries, Pastor of Chalmette Assembly of God in Chalmette, Frank Bailey’s sister Leslie and her husband Larry Roques (Leslie and Larry are both wearing black shirts in the picture to the left) who pastor Joy Fellowship Church, a non-AG church, in Slidell, Louisiana. They all had amazing stories to tell of living and growing through the impact of Katrina. Jeff Jeffries (the picture to the right is Jeff Jeffries with Frank Newfield) blew me away with his story. Prior to Katrina, Jeff had served as a nursing home chaplain to the residents of the St. Rita’s Nursing Home in a suburb of New Orleans. Jeff knew each one of the 35 residents who died in the storm and had personally prayed with each of them to receive Christ as Lord and Savior in their lives. So, for Jeff, the tragedy was bitter-sweet. It broke his heart that they died in the storm (and apparently due to the negligence of the nursing home owners), but he takes comfort in the knowledge that they were spiritually prepared to be with the Lord forever. The rest of the story is that Jeff is now planting a church and after a protracted search with lots of dead ends, he just signed a purchase agreement for a post office building right across the street from the old St. Rita’s Nursing Home property. He knew it was the right place when he took his first tour of the building 2 ½ years after Katrina. In one of the rooms he found a bible (remember this is a post office) opened to Jeremiah 7 where he read the words…”If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you live in this place,…” He felt God speak to him with assurance that he would “live” in this place. Now God is raising up a new church out of the ruins of destruction.

The other great breakfast story was that of Frank Newfield. Frank planted a church in New Orleans over 20 years ago. He pastored the church for a number of years but, being a licensed counselor he saw the opportunity to provide a high quality counseling center for the people of New Orleans. With great vision he started a counseling center that is continuing to grow to this day. He even provides assistance to pastors and church leaders who are in need of counseling at an extremely affordable cost.

After breakfast, Frank Bailey, a 29 year veteran of pastoral ministry and a prolific parent church pastor in New Orleans, took me on a lightning tour of his church “Victory Fellowship” that became a distribution center for food and clothing in the months following Katrina. Victory’s building is located on the side of the city that was not seriously flooded (only 18 inches as compared to 8 FEET) so their building had electricity almost immediately following Katrina. Frank’s personal home was on the side of the city that was inundated with serious flood waters. He was “homeless” for 7 weeks before he could get back into his house. Even then, he was the first resident who returned and he and his wife lived by themselves in their neighborhood for months following the storm. Victory decided to purchase an old church building on the “flood” side of the city not far from the famous French Quarter and now have a satellite campus there called the Broad Street Mission (see the picture to the right). Over the years, Victory has been a church planting church and they continue to have a vision to never stop reaching people with the good news of God’s love, grace and truth.

Wow…an incredible 43 hours in New Orleans. I come away excited for what God is doing in a place that many gave up for lost in every sense of the word. But I met a bunch of heroes that God has called to stand in the gap and they are doing it with faith and grace and tenacity!