I was on a run on Saturday morning with my friend Jeff. Jeff went to Pakistan with me, is 61 years old, and is the one who challenged me with the $250.00 “live for the good of the world” challenge that I brought to Open Door.

As we ran in the mountains together, we came upon a lone oak tree in the middle of nowhere. We stopped. He asked, “Do you see that oak tree?”

“Yes.” I said.

“I know that man who planted that over 20 years ago. Every single Saturday for a number of years, he would fill his wheel barrel with containers of water and other nutrients for the tree. He would then begin the nearly two hour hike to the young sapling oak tree and water it. Now look at it–it’s fine–it’s thriving.”

As I looked at the tree and then as we began to run again, I thought about discipleship. What if you and I were as invested in the spiritual formation of others as this man was in the oak tree thriving? What if you and I consistently “packed a wheel barrel full with containers of water and other nutrients” and made the arduous two-hour hike to invest in the eternities of others?

Who are you discipling like this? Are you a tree that was planted once upon a time and left to attempt survival on your own? If so–I’m sorry. Let’s begin the one-on-one watering.

It was a beautiful tree. It will live longer than any of us…

Greetings Friends!

I trust that tonight was a meaningful worship experience for you as we continue to explore the One Anothers. Take the challenge seriously to know one another’s names, look for the good, and call it out! Don’t go to bed tonight without calling or emailing a word of encouragement to someone in your world!

Whenever I am away from you, I find myself story-telling about you. I cannot tell you how encouraging it is to me when people hear the stories and respond with statements like, “That sounds really refreshing!” or “That’s the type of church I am looking for!” or my favorite, “I didn’t think God really did things like that!” The truth is, the more I storytell about what God is doing through Open Door, the more convinced I am that He is doing something fresh and unique with us. The more I storytell, the more I long to see God reimagine through us what it means to be ekklesia–the enhancing community–for the good of the world! I am encouraged!

The next five days for me–and hopefully for us–are going to be full, rich, challenging, invigorating, exhausting… I will be studying alongside other leaders under a man named Alan Hirsch, author of an undoing, irritating book called The Shaping of the Things to Come. If you have a book budget, or even if you don’t–GET THIS BOOK! I will be reading six other books throughout the week that are going to radically push my and our thinking about what the church was designed to be and what it means for us, Open Door, in our local context.

In an effort to bring you in on what I am learning, I will post on this blog every single evening. My hope is to summarize the dialogue of the day while bringing you in on how I am processing it. I long to dialogue with you along the way. I cannot imagine a more holistic approach to learning than this–being in the classroom with leaders down here will simultaneously being “in the classroom” with my church family. Please read and respond to what you hear. What sticks out to you? What thoughts do you have to add to the conversation–nothing is unimportant–everything is valuable.

Please pray for me along the way. My prayer is that God would continue to reimagine inside of me–that He would continue to reimagine inside of you. My prayer is that we would fall deeper in love with His Son as we know Him more. My prayer is that we would see Walnut Creek and beyond come to know and follow Him.

Blessings on the Journey!