Some weeks have more going on than others and this past week was among the busiest of my life. Here’s what I’ve been up to along with some reflections…
Hanging out with Scott Bruegman and Red Rocks Church
Red Rocks is a phenomenal story for a lot of reasons. The short version of the story is that it is a three year old church plant now connecting with over 1000 attendees every weekend. They just moved into a new location that embeds them into the middle of a shopping area in Lakewood called Bel Mar. A vast majority of their congregants are in their 20’s and 30’s. On the surface, Red Rocks may sound a little like “church lite”- a good show attracting the already convinced to experience a watered down gospel presentation resulting in weak disciples who simply add Jesus as an “accessory” to their already busy lives.
However, a look under the Red Rocks “hood” reveals a ministry with much more depth than first meets the eye. Red Rocks was not built on slick marketing campaigns. Their visual imaging is very well done, but “smoke and mirrors” is not what brings people to the church and to the Lord. Scott and Lori spent three years building redemptive relationships in the community BEFORE they ever had a public meeting. The Bruegman’s and their launch team helped a bunch of folks get to know Jesus and become His disciples as the foundation for the church. The opening day attendance of 110 was composed of a lot of new believers and quite of few pre-Christian folks…very few of the original attendees came from other existing churches in the Denver community. The leadership team at Red Rocks has continued to cultivate an atmosphere that is conducive to authentic disicpleship and strong biblical teaching. So Red Rocks has emerged out of the patient activity of making disciples one at a time and now the cumulative activity means that hundreds of disciples are being made one at a time.
Anyway, I got to spend some time with Scott and his leadership team. I came away inspired, encouraged and enriched. I’d love to see Red Rocks-like stories spring up all over the nation….
Rocky Mountain BootCamp
If you know me well, you know that I spent 16 years serving in the Rocky Mountain District…first as a church planter in Utah and then working out of the District Office in Colorado Springs as the Director of Church Planting and Development. I’m a really big fan of the Rocky Mountain West and I miss the mountains every day…(they keep telling me about the Ozark Mountains, but I’ve never seen them yet!) While I served in the district leadership position I helped start the “tradition” of the annual Rocky Mountain Bootcamp and so far the RMDC has hosted a bootcamp every year (except one) since 2000. Grace Community Church graciously provided their building for this edition of the BootCamp and it was a great one. I go to every BootCamp and I’m seeing a very encouraging trend among the planters…an increasing desire to plant churches that value the Mission of God over a cultural definition of success. As I listened to the planters and watched their reactions to statements I made, it is clear to me that this is a group of church starters who understand that the church is being built by Jesus and they are co-laboring with him. I’m praying that we will be empowered by God to help start thousands of new vigorous churches made up of disciples being transformed by God who in turn are used by God to bring about spiritual transformation in the communities into which they are called.
A side benefit of being in Colorado was visiting briefly with my newly married daughter Lindsy and her husband Craig in Colorado Springs. Lindsy is a first grade teacher. Based on my expected flight schedule, I believed it was possible for me to come by her school and see her in action toward the end of the day on Tuesday. So Lindsy told her class that she had a big surprise for them at the end of the day. However, as the realities of time and traffic began to take their toll, it became increasingly clear that I might not make it. I frantically called Lindsy to let her know of that possibility, but of course she was unable to answer her phone. Incredibly, I found myself outside her school with just minutes to spare, desperately seeking for a parking space amongst the crowd of cars containing parents eager to pick up their children. A space opened up, I sprinted into the main entrance of the school and immediately began telling people that I was looking for Mrs. Harris’ first grade class and that I was her father. I must not look like too much of a crazy person because several teachers graciously pointed me in the right direction and with literally one minute to spare before the final bell, I jogged into her classroom. The kids cheered, Lindsy looked relieved and dismissed the class as the bell rang instructing them to give me a high five as they left the room. They did and all was well. Lindsy said she had already decided that if I did not make it, she was going to do a lesson the next day on dealing with disappointment. Thankfully, she didn’t have to!
Finding the right people
Mixed into all of the activities of this past week was my ongoing process of looking for key leaders to provide oversight to crucial aspects of the emerging Church Multiplication Network. Bottom line is that I’ve been interviewing a bunch of different leaders over the past two months to find God’s man or woman to join the CMN team so we can support the planting of thousands of American churches with resources, networking and appropriate infrastructure. This has been quite a journey involving many hours of conversation with wonderfully talented people who are prayerfully considering being part of the CMN team. I’ve utilized three different “profile” tools- the DISC, the Strengthfinder and the Emotional Intelligence profile to help me understand how they will serve on the team. Unintentionally, the process came down to a lot of concentrated interviewing this past week. In the next few weeks, I’m looking forward to announcing the addition to our team of some key players who will help make the CMN a blessing to everyone involved in any aspect of church multiplication. Stay tuned for more!
I was able to attend the opening of Carpenters House in Willard, Missouri. Willard is a town of about 3,354 just a little northwest of Springfield. I had to drive by two thriving, large churches to get to Willard and the new church. Cherri and I 
sat next to a couple. I asked them how they had decided to come to the church. The lady said she had felt drawn to the little church building 5 months before, but when she and her husband attempted to visit the church, they discovered that it was no longer being used by a church. So they just prayed that God would open a door for them to help start a new church that would use the building. They found out that Carpenters House would open on October 5th from a card she received in the mail. And so she and her husband took the risk of visiting a brand new church on the first day. They felt like God had answered their prayer…and they are excited about what God is going to do in the hearts and lives of the people of Willard.
Carpenters House is the vision of David Arnett, a professor from CBC, along with a group of church planting students. The church got off to a great start with student led worship and drama along with a fully staffed nursery and kids ministry. 75 folks showed up for the first public worship service! David has planted numerous churches and it looks like this one is off to a great start. This church is also a “matching fund” church. As a result, Carpenters House has a lot of friends and fans…not only in Willard, but at the District and National levels as well. It’s great to be in partnership with Carpenters House and the Southern Missouri District!