I’m glad you read my blog and are interested in and are praying for what we are up to. I’m glad in whatever way you choose to participate you are planting this church with me.

However, the more the merrier I always say!

The more people I have have who care about, pray for, participate in, and give to this new church in Pittsburgh the better. This is where you come in. You see, you know people that I don’t (or you know people personally that I only see in passing!). I need you to get them excited about what God is going to do in Pittsburgh.

Then you can connect them with me. Then you can link them to sign up for the prayer list (click here!). Then you are even more a part of what God is up to in this.

Also – I will be getting cards (Thanks Kat French Design!) with my information on them (blog address, facebook, twitter, and phone number). If you would like a few of these just let me know!

Are there more ways I can help you do this? Let me know – Comment!

Did you know that I’m not planting a church? We are planting a church. I am, and Airen is, and my family is, and my friends are, and anyone who wants to join me can.

What we do in Pittsburgh in 2011 will change the history of the world. A friend spoke this over me before I had ever set foot in the city and I believe that it was a word from God. When we make Jesus known to those who don’t know Him in Pittsburgh it will shake the world. The Gospel will change lives and those changed lives will change more lives.

God has big plans for us in Pittsburgh, He wants us to:

• Be the hands, feet, and mouth of Jesus
• Train the next generation of leaders
• Send out people to the whole world
• Start new churches
• Be the church

Be a part of something that is bigger than yourself. Even if you never visit Pittsburgh you can plant this church with me. Keep reading this week and we will talk about how you can plant a church with me. Be a part of the ‘we’ that is planting a church in Pittsburgh.

One thing I know I need to start is a prayer newsletter. So I’m going to make this easy for you.

Simply comment your email address on this blog and I’ll add you. Or you can comment your email address on the facebook entry for this post. Or you can DM or message me on twitter. Or email me at eriktheintern at gmail.com. Or DM me. Or facebook mail me. Or fill out this form.

I need your help. If you don’t pray I’m sunk!

God wants to be known by those who don’t know Him in Pittsburgh. Will you fight with me?

Reading the last chapter of Luke today made me think about my life. In one chapter Luke summarizes the whole time that Jesus spent on earth after His resurrection.

A chapter is a very small thing to summarize weeks. A chapter is small to even summarize a day.

Luke and the other Gospel authors wrote what the Holy Spirit led them to write, but to be blunt, many of the days that are not recorded in Scripture are simply because they were normal days.

That is where I am at as a church planter. Normal days. Busy days. Pack a box, mow the yard, and meet with old friends. The next few months I just have to accept that its not all glamorous as a church planter, especially before you move!

I dream, I think, I plan… but these things can be frustrating when you want to do. Ever been there with me?

Got to teach last night about the Holy Spirit.

I really appreciate several pastors who have been taking the time to teach on the Holy Spirit lately. A lot of what I said was built on the shoulders of their work.

I think a key concept in understanding New Testament teaching on the Holy Spirit is in the word Baptize.

I don’t think that when John the Baptist said that Jesus was going to Baptize in the Holy Spirit that he was referring to a one time spiritual zapping. If the word we translate baptize actually means “To Immerse” then John is saying that Jesus will immerse us with the Holy Spirit.

To be immersed, to be put completely under water, is to surrender control.

Jesus is the baptizer in the Holy Spirit. He sends the Holy Spirit to be God in us and God acting through us.

The only question is if we will surrender control of our lives and allow Him to do so.

My thanks to everyone who took part in the DCP Live event last night! It was a lot of fun even though I was (and am still) pretty sick!

We had a lot of technical problems – we should have those worked out before we do it again. Also I know I didn’t promote it very well the few days before it started!

The next few times we do this we are going to cut it down to a half-hour live webcast. The point is to keep all of you up to date and until we move there isn’t going to be a hours worth of content to share. Once we are in Pittsburgh we will ratchet it back to an hour!

Today at illuminates 6am group we read Mark 14.

One of the parts in the chapter that always stands out to me is where an unidentified person who was following Jesus runs away and gets his clothes torn off of him. He runs, buck nude.

Sometimes when we make bad choices God allows us to embarrass ourselves a bit. He is perfectly okay with bruising our egos if that is what it takes to get through to us.

This is pretty much the story of my life as a follower of Jesus. I get marching orders, ignore them, and end up naked and embarrassed. I never learn until I end up tripped and on my face. It’s a pattern that by God’s grace I am slowly breaking out of. It’s always better when I listen the first time.

Basically if you run from Jesus, or what He wants you to do, expect to spend some time naked in public.

Isn’t it better just to listen and obey the first time?

Dan Kimball lays out the four stages of Christian life in America like this:

1: We become Christians.
2: We become part of the church life.
3: We become part of the Christian Bubble.
4: We become Jonah.

His conclusion is that we get into a “retreat mentality” where we “think of the church as a protection from the world club”. In the end most Christians know few non-Christians and the few they know they don’t take the time to get to know on a level that would allow a real and relational sharing of our faith.

Jesus did not seem to want the church just to be a subculture… in fact he prayed for His disciples that: “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” (John 17:15).

For sure, He isn’t praying here for what normally happens: We isolate ourselves from those outside the church.

And I would add here to Kimball’s statement that the church also in subtle ways isolates itself from the un-churched. I’ve been to a few church cafes and meeting buildings and I notice something funny. There is nowhere for someone to comfortably step aside and smoke.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the habit is gross. Extra gross really.

However, we tend to quietly support the idea that it’s not OK to be a Christian and smoke (Find that for me in the Bible in any way other than a deduction please if you want to argue about it!), and if you do you dang well better hide it.

So how much more does this make us look like a weird and inclusive bubble culture to the unchurched when we don’t get what major restaurant’s and coffee company’s (you know which one I’m talking about) do. If you want them to come back, you have to make room for them… bad habits and all.

“One day he [Jesus the Messiah] was teaching the people in the Temple, proclaiming the Message. The high priests, religion scholars, and leaders confronted him and demanded, “Show us your credentials. Who authorized you to speak and act like this?” (Luke 20:1-2 MSG)

You take a stand that is unpopular, you buck the traditions of others, and you will get the aristocrats of the people up in your face.

You should read the response of Jesus and remember, you don’t always have to answer your critics.

Just keep right on doing what God tells you to do.

Love expressed in action by the Church is evangelism.

Love opens doors. It opens doors that mailers can’t, that billboards can’t, and (dare I say it!) Christian tee-shirts can’t.

Of course Paul summarizes it better than I ever could in 1st Corinthians when he says that, “Love never fails.”

To reach people who don’t know Jesus our first move should be to aggressively love them. Love them more than they expect, and love them more than they deserve!

How can we aggressively love people in Pittsburgh? (And how could YOU do it in your home?) Some of my early ideas:

• It’s hot in the summer. Give away water at parks.
• Students are poor. Give away food/pizza at the universities.
• People are lonely. Have them over to our homes for dinners and barbecues.
• Talk to the homeless.
• Offer to pray for someone who would never expect it.
• Free car wash. Don’t take tips.
• Help someone do their yard work.

There is so much we can do as a group and as individuals to love others. What are you doing?