What happens when you take 150 backpacks into schools?

Wanna find out what the reputation of the church is in your neighbourhood? Try this...
Take 150 backpacks or something else that will meet some of the needs of under resourced families, at risk kids or just will meet direct felt needs in your neighbourhood, and try to give them away.

Thanks to KidsFest Canada, and a few sponsoring churches, we had the opportunity to take 150 fully loaded backpacks into our schools last week to give them away. Really it wasn't as easy as you might think.
First when we went in the spring to talk to the school principles we got a reserved, 'that sounds good' response. Apparently there has been a lot of promises made to help in the community by 'groups' that never really happen. Seems this is true even though we are told to behave wisely as salt with grace, so that we will know how we should answer those who are not a part of the Church. (Col 4:5,6)

When we followed up this fall with a direct face to face meeting and a sample of the packs that we want to put in the hands of the students we received a better reply. There was a lot of interesting comments and questions though...like what's the catch? What do you want to get out of it? Who have you asked permission to do this with? Apparently there is some 'groups' out there that only seek to meet the needs of the needy if they are going to get something out of it or with a hidden agenda- not just because caring for the needs of our community is true religion (Jms. 1:27)

When I assured the principals that we were hoping to build a community of mentors from Law Officers, Naval Soldiers, Church members, local business owners, and down the road musicians and artists; All of whom we would help to train and do background checks on so they could invest their lives into mentoring at risk-kids at the local schools the question was: "Are you going to have to talk about Jesus?" Apparently there are those 'groups' out there who have parachuted into a community to shout at people in Jesus' name, never really earning a hearing or thinking that their absents of actions spoke so loudly about their faith that the community could not hear what they were saying about their Jesus. (Eph. 5:1,2; Matt. 25:31-46)
Shelby and our five kids (affectionately known as the Fab5); came with us on the first Monday back to school, to hand out these packs. Can't tell you what impact it has made on our kids, on us and on those who partnered with us to deliver these packs.... HERE IS ONE STORY from Shelby's vantage point; there is many more to be told...
One highlight for me on the day we handed out the back packs on behalf of KidsFest was at the very last school. That school is about a block and a half up the road from our home.

Picture if you will an assembly full of children, a stage full of back packs and a vice principal full of enthusiasm.

He was calling out names as though they were the next contestant on The Price is Right and when the students heard their name they were to stand. Luke (a partner with Aerobics First) would run to them and hand them a certificate for a professionally fitted sports shoe and one of the PAXnorth team would run to them with a back pack FULL of school supplies.

The place was nearly vibrating with excitement as they waited for the next name to be called.

Then the name of a little girl was called and no one stood. The principal and VP scanned the crowd for her or her student mentor. Then someone pointed and I looked to see who she was. The mentor was saying, "That's YOU!!" to a little girl with Down's Syndrome who was sitting beside her. The little girl mouthed, "That's ME!" and put her face in her hands and started to cry. Her mentor was crying. I was crying. Luke was nearly losing it himself as he approached her and was gently saying, "Look what you got!"

She was equal. She had as much a chance of having her name drawn as any other student in the room. Everyone was cheering for her. She belonged.

And that was the WHOLE point for me. These children all belong to our community and need to be treated equally. By presenting these four schools with 38 back backs each we gave the kids more a level playing field to belong.

When a child shows up to school and doesn't have the proper supplies with which to do their work they feel that they aren't as good as other kids who do have all those things. The back pack itself is a small part of the gift we give these students. By just having those basic needs, they now are an equal. That does so much for a child's confidence.

I will never forget that one little girl. No matter how many times we are ambassadors for KidsFest that will stand out in my mind. It'll be pretty tough to top.

Prayer Pursues the Prodigal

"The prayers of the righteous are powerful tools"

A street worker friend of mine called me late one afternoon to see if I could go across town and pick up a young lady who was in desperate need of a drive to detox. I made my way across the city, in the middle of rush hour, to meet her and her boyfriend- I put her suitcase into the back of my van and watched as she said good bye to her boyfriend.

As we made our way through the traffic and to pick up my street worker friend- she, little by little unfolded her story. Her and her boyfriend had come into the city from Christian homes, and had soon gotten involved with some very insidious elements. Elements that deliver death instead of the promised high.

She came into the city to be with him. He came into the city to find freedom. Both found addictions and their very life being taken from them.

I don't know how long they have been in the middle of this 'pig pen' but both have had the prayers of parents calling out to God to pursue them by His Spirit and awaken their hearts. A month ago God led me to them. The very same day I emailed Christ followers in four different continents and simply shared the need for prayer. Over the last few weeks I have received phone calls, emails and questions every week asking what was happening with this young couple. My answer has been, "Keep praying, the cycle of darkness continues".

I sat yesterday at a cafe with a man who I serve alongside of in some streetlevel focuses. He joined into several of these only a few months ago. We were meeting to share java and like spiritual passion, to see the church make a greater impact by living out the gospel among 'the least of these.'

In the midst of conversation I asked him about his family. He told me of his wife, and two boys- one 29 the other 21. With a voice strained with the pain of heartbreak he said his son was an addict in the city. Then he told me the unknown details of the story of two young people who 'escaped' to the city. Yeah the same story that I have just written above.

I waited for him to continue to pour out the pursuit of God's love on these two prodigals. Last week the parents met with the two young people- discovering that they were holed up in a crack house. They were besides themselves with what to do? They prayed, and you were praying with them. Last weekend the ex-hell's angel who owned the crack house over dosed and died; the police came in, closed the house down, putting those hanging out there onto the streets. After a day of being without drugs the couple was hurting physically, mentally and spiritually- they called home. The parents came to the city to find them on the streets and in the rain. My friend told his son that they could come home only if they got help- God's pursuit of us is relentless! He disciplines us because He loves us...yes He loves us. That day on the streets of H-fax two prodigals began the journey of being found!

Both are in separate detoxes out side the city. Both are enrolled in separate follow up programs in Christian recovery organizations. As I shared with this dad my side of the story and that God had used you to pursue this couple in prayer- he and I just sat in amazment. God loves and seeks the prodigal. We were so moved to witness the Hound of Heaven chasing hard after His lost sheep.

THANK YOU!! On behalf of these families, these kids....THANK YOU for praying! Your prayers were a part of the protection and pursuit of God on our streets. These two young people still have a long way to go...don't stop praying now.

"I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him,...
My thirsting mouth.
Nigh and nigh draws the chase,
With unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy ;
And past those noisèd Feet
A Voice comes yet more fleet --
"Lo ! naught contents thee, who content'st not Me." ....

"And human love needs human meriting :
How hast thou merited --
Of all man's clotted clay the dingiest clot ?
Alack, thou knowest not
How little worthy of any love thou art !
Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee,
Save Me, save only Me ?
All which I took from thee I did but take,
Not for thy harms,
But just that thou might'st seek it in My arms.
All which thy child's mistake
Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home :
Rise, clasp My hand, and come !" "- from The Hound of Heaven

PRAYER:: Why Start? Why Continue? What's the Point?

We have decided for PAXnorth blog we would begin to write weekly.

The topic of the Blog will revolve around what is being taught at PAXworship that week, or the developing focus of the church that week. We hope that this way we will enhance the interaction of our community both at home and away.

The month of August PAXnorth is being called to PRAY and FAST at least one day a week all month long! The fast can be in a variety of ways...food, T.V., Internet, media, music while driving, music while running, etc, etc. Then replace that time, or when thinking of the discipline, to pray.

PRAYER:: WHY START? WHY CONTINUE? WHAT'S THE POINT?

"If you say God is Sovereign (knows all things, controls all things, etc) then why do I need to pray? Doesn't He know everything already?"

Matthew 6:8 "Your Father knows what you need before you ask."
Often the only time we cry out to God in true need is when we are IN true need. "Help me God this circumstance is beyond me, this illness is overcoming me, this relationship is so beyond my help...Help me God"
We don't pray to God because He doesn't know what we need, or want. We seek God in prayer because it gives definite expression to our trust and surrender to the truth- we cannot control our lives, we NEED God. We pray because we, the creation, need God the Creator. Prayer expresses and continuing to pray increases our trust in Him.
We don't pray so that we will finally be known by God. God knows you. He created you and delights in your trust and seeking of Him. He is fully a good Father. The best you have ever known or can imagine. Compared to Him even the greatest of Father's is wicked.

"Which of you fathers, if your child asks for a fish, you will give him a snake instead?... If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your kids, how much
more will your Father in heaven give...?" Luke 11:11-13

When you bow in honest prayer to God, seeking Him in full trust, He delights that you, as a whole person, are trusting yourself to Him, as a whole Person. He delights in your trust of Him- His love, His power, His mercy, His grace, His creativity; After all it is through the interchange of trust that relationship is begun. We pray so that we might enter into the knowing of God in our life. We continue in prayer because we continue to find delight in knowing Him more fully.

We don't pray because it is a 'good luck charm', a 'magic incantation', a 'mantra' or as a means to finally make God hear.
“Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; if you ask anything in my name I will do it” -John 14:13-14

Did you know there is NO prayer recorded in the Bible that ends with the words, "in Jesus name, Amen?" These words cannot be used to invoke God to greater response, or to make sure exactly what you prayed gets done. Praying in Jesus' name means you pray this prayer because this is what is consistent with the mission and will of Christ, in my life, work place, relationships, debt struggles, need for new things, etc, etc.

We don't stop praying because, 'I tried that and it didn't work', or 'I'm getting no answer on this so God must not care'.

Think for a minute of someone in your life who really seems to have a strong personal walk with God. They seem to radiate with trust and honest 'down to earth' believing faith. It is most likely that they are a person who prayers quite a bit. Is it possible to be a person who truly has a faith relationship with God- seeks after God in such a way that is constantly pressing in on Him, the loving Father- and then be spiritually shallow? A mature relationship with God means you are a person who is continuing, prevailing, constant in praying the prayers that you believe Jesus would pray, even if you don't get an answer with in the first 30 seconds, 30 days, 30 years. Prevailing in prayer means you are taking the present tense progressive actions of ASKING....SEEKING....KNOCKING...

LUKE 11:1-13 Unfolds for us a mature God centered, daily reality, continual, pressing in upon a gracious loving Father instruction on prayer!
You cannot lose out in your spiritual life by being devoted to prayer! It will not leave you with a shallow empty relationship with God. It will leave you asking for the Father to pour out His Holy Spirit into the situations, the circumstances and relationships of your life.

PRESS IN ON GOD IN PRAYER AND FIND DELIGHT IN KNOWING HIM.

Cultures of Repentance

Two weeks ago I was sitting with a bunch of guys over a slab of bacon, two over-easy eggs and about a pot of coffee each- talking about, "Why Evangelical Jesus followers don't repent very easily." This week I hung out with a great friend, who opened up his heart to me about a process of repentance that God brought him too and through that truly saved his life; Also this week our church plant network has been dealing with an issue of repentance that has threatened to kill a young pastor, his sweet wife, three young kids and the church God raised up around them.
I am so teeed off at the devastation of our own sinful behaviors, the power of addiction, and the deep scars that unrepentance can bring; that I probably shouldn't be writing;(BTW- by unrepentance I also mean 'incomplete half repentance') Yet in the midst of this, I am amazed at the beauty, new life, reclaimed love and new found freedom that honest repentance, ownership of sin and accountable recovery can bring by the grace of God!

I think we, churches in general, do a really sucky job at creating authentic environments for true repentance to happen, or want to happen. Why is it that usually the only time we hear about a guy who wants to repent is AFTER he has completely destroyed his own life and the lives of those he loves?! Don't go mis reading me now -I am not o.k.-ing the touchy, feely, mystic church environments that continually endorse that we just let it all hang out, our sin, our addiction, our struggles with deep temptation, repenting openly every Sunday at 'open mike' time, and then lets just see what happens..... Most time what happens is they describe their lust and struggle so powerfully and attractively that three or four other guys get hooked into the same deep sin. -'Watch in case you fall into the same sin'- Something Apostle Paul warned about in the midst of leading others in repentance.
But I do think we have made our faith so sterile in our church cultures that there is no room for the true authentic repentance that should be happening when Jesus followers are instructed to 'confess your sins one to another and bear one an others' burdens.' I do believe a sterile faith is an impotent faith. (Unwilling to engage in the messiness of authentic spiritual relationships in Christ, removes the opportunity for the power of God to press in on those areas of our life).
What is repentance for any way? So that the offender is so devastated and destroyed, bloodied and wounded while the rest of the soldiers shake their self righteous heads and say, "Yeah, I knew it, He was a 'poser- soldier' really anyway, lets all kick him on the way to the pot- luck mess hall called church after the battle." For many situations that I have witnessed and even been involved with, that seems to be the totality of the act of repentance. No wonder guys wait until their lives are completely destroyed, and then are forced to repent or at least to make part confessions.

Isn't the point of repentance so that we can make direct steps away from devastation and towards reconciliation? Isn't recovery and reconciliation- true peace, PAX, shalom- the whole point of repentance. I am not sure how but do believe if we can focus on creating environments of reconciliation, recovery, redemption there will be a natural outflow of relationships of repentance.

I love it when my kids come to me to confess their love for me and need of me to care for them, because they are worried something they said or did has possibly hurt my heart. I hate it when I have said or done something that has hurt the heart of my wife or my kids...I just can't let it go...I have to make it right by honest confession and repentance.....so that the love can be restored! Ahhhhhh the secure, joyous, safe place of reconciliation; Looks and smells like relationships of true love.

"Even while we were yet sinners Christ died for us!" Ahhhhhhhh looks and smells like true love- "reconciling us to the Father."

Blessed by a Prostitute

I had a great privilege a few weekends ago to speak at special meetings about an hour and a half north east of Halifax, at Fellowship Baptist in Great Village. This annual event for the church has been a consistent encouragement for the saints who worship here but also as a way to reach into the lives of those who they have been praying for and burdened for spiritually.
Sunday morning we sensed that God had been working in the life of this Church, the place was full, the kids were chaotic, the worship was genuine- a good place to live out Christ- The Theme was 'GET REAL'; and we focused on some passages from Ephesians. Sunday night the crowd was cut to about half; I'd like to think it was the gritty preaching but most likely it was that the church doesn't usually hold a Sunday night service. I thought typically for the next few nights we would have a drop in attendance as it can be hard to make time in the evenings of a week.
The crowd did thin but not in numbers more in 'texture'. People were bringing out family, friends, neighbours who were struggling with loneliness, addiction or past hurts and failures. I am not sure that the messages got 'grittier' but the congregation seemed to. During these three days I received a lot of encouragement from some great and sincere people. God's hand was truly moving on the heart of both religious and irreligious sinners. But no encouragement would match the words of the most unlikely person on the last night of our meetings.
The last night there was a coffee time following the service (did I mention it's a Baptist church); a lady came to me at the front of the church and asked if I would speak to a lady in a wheelchair at the back. I made my way back to the last pew, sat down and introduced myself; There was an evident spirit of love and joy from this lady. She began to encourage me. She was so thrilled that we had moved our family into the north end of Halifax; She told me that she had lived for more then 16 years in the housing project down the road from my house. She spent most of her life as a prostitute in various cities across Canada. She said she had been held in apartments, hotels, moved around by pimps, and she had marks of torture on her body from the treatment she had received. She told me that it was in the midst of this darkness that Jesus found her, the she began to bless me; she said, 'you have the message and words that my friends there need to hear, and on and on she flowed out encouragement.' After a half hour or so of listening and being filled up by her words of encouragement and the reality of the Gospel of redemption; I asked if I could pray for her. I prayed that God would strengthen and encourage her, be close and alive in her life and protect her in the dark moments of physical struggle. After I was done praying she looked at me and said, I want you to know that I no longer have those darkest of days, Jesus is with me now, everyday. By this time I was crying with joy as to her honest love relationship with Jesus, and His care for her. She put her hand on me and prayed a prayer of blessing and protection on me and our family.
I am honestly still stuck for words as to how deeply it has blessed my soul to have come into direct contact with the grace of God at work in Cathy! Pray for her as she lives in a place she can receive care and strength in living with HIV; The heart of Jesus is so surprising to me as He seeks to shape the heart of a self moralist preacher with the words of some one who knows the depth of the love of God. May God help me, the vilest of sinners, to know how deep, long, wide and high His love is!

The Question I Must Answer the Most:

"So like....what are you hoping your church building will look like?"

I was first asked this question last summer. A well meaning lady asked me what our church would look like and I began to answer with words like- eclectic, organic growth (nothing to do with hydroponics btw), missional.. She stopped me, "No no no, what will your church look like? Will it be a little white building in the middle of the city? With things like worship hangings?" Looking her in the eyes, and with, what I hope was a gentle spirit, I replied, "Look lady if you think that is what the church looks like, we are really far from having a meaningful conversation."
We have been on the ground running (mostly up and down stairs unloading boxes) for four weeks now. I have visited four different churches right in our area. Most with decent facilities; most with hurting, dwindling congregations; The big question seems to be, "How do we get people to come to our buildings, and yeah to Jesus too." We have a great facility for them to serve in and to grow into what a disciple of Jesus is to look like. I truly feel for the leaders of these churches, many of which are amalgamating with other congregations (often those they wouldn't fellowship with a few years ago), because they have to find a way to keep the doors open, the pressure is great.
Don't get me wrong, I know that God calls different people, different congregations to do different ministry and fulfill different niches in the kingdom. It is for Him to fit and join the parts of the building, His church. Still I wonder if Urban churches and maybe even suburban churches need to have a drastic shift in thinking- instead of building buildings we have to fill- how about filling spaces within the culture with the Church of Jesus and worship - I read how Paul did this a lot when he was developing disciples of Jesus.
Just wonder how many other people will ask me this week..."So what is your church (building) going to look like?"
Just so you know- our plan for 'space' is to have a space in the midst of the city culture (targeting Gottingen Street) that will be used as a center to meet the needs of a hurting world, and bring value to the place we are planted- then we hope to have access to a worship space that will be a place that is familiar to the people of our city (praying for the Marquee Club).
BUT what we will look like as a church will be radically different then what our building allows us to do. While we are on it- funny how we try and program what should come naturally in an agape love relationship with each other...things like discipleship and mentoring...hmmm gotta go read Acts again see if Paul left us a discipleship program I can download?

"I keep praying for you, that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ will give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation that you may KNOW GOD!" -Eph 1:17
Pray for us too...

Truth Secular or Sacred?

Is there any truth that is secular or is all truth sacred? As a person engages philosophy, this a question that continually encroaches into the conversation. Can we see truth in the natural world? Can we hear truth in the words of those who have not encountered spiritual truth? Can we understand the deeper truth from the world that surrounds us or are we only able to encounter this depth of truth in the sacred? Can we find truth that brings true meaning in the secular?
I once heard a speaker describe the search for truth in culture as a guy stranded on an Island in the middle of the ocean. The guy is searching for answers to life and why his world is as it is. He finds a cache of bottles and begins to write his questions, answers and impressions on little pieces of paper. Sticks them in the bottle, seals the top and sets them out to sea. Bottle after bottle, impression after impression, question after question, some in pain, loneliness and some in joy and celebration he exhausts the amount of bottles he has but not the questions. A week or so goes by and the man sees on the horizon a bottle making its way on the surf towards his little Island. He sits and waits, and follows the progress of the little bottle. With excitement and anticipation for answers he wades out, and swims against the currents to reach out for the little bottle. Then battles back to his little island with a great deal of effort and with the promise of hope breaks the seal on the bottle. He dumps out the little note inside. With his hands shaking he reads the writing on the paper only to realize that it is his own question, his own answer.
Generation after generation seeks to know the answers to life or at the very least to describe those elements of life that give deeper meaning to one’s existence. The 21st century is no exception.

“All the creatures, on the beaches

Makin' waves in the motion picture

Won't you keep this, in between us

Search and seizure, wake up venus

The dollar bill will

Return the ill pill

Mom and Dad take your 'dont be sad' pill

Turn the screw and twist my language

Don't forsake me I’m contagious!

There’s a reason for the twenty-first century...

Not too sure but I know that its meant to be

And that it's meant to be

It's my favorite combination

Comin' down with the favored nations

Deep rotation, mutilation

Learn to give and take dictation

Oh, oh, oh, oh-oh

Like the Cain and Able

Oh, oh, oh, oh-oh

Time to run this table

There's a reason for the 21st Century

Not too sure but I know that's it's meant to be

And that it's meant to be

Read me your scripture and

Read me your scripture

Read me your scripture and I will twist it

Show me your wrist and I

Show me your wrist and

Show me your wrist and I'll

Kiss it kiss it

Oh, oh, oh, oh-oh

Like the Cain and Able

Oh, oh, oh, oh-oh

It's time to run this table

Simple Soldier, hand it over

Stop and read what you just told her

Strangulation , altercation

Of all the sex and good vibrations

There's a reason for the 21st Century

Not to sure but I know that's it's meant to be

And that it's meant to be yeah

There's a reason for the 21st Century

Not to sure but I know that's it's meant to be

And that it's meant to be

- Red Hot Chili Peppers

Secular poet after secular poet; Secular prophet after secular prophet (don’t get me started on quoting Matrix type movies); secular priest after secular priest (from Sophists, New Agers, to effeminate metro-sexual politically correct postmodern spin doctors) each tell us there is a way to discover true happiness, and world contentment, that is uniquely satisfying to each individual. Through love songs, social restructure, getting in touch with our inner child, seeking for the greater essence of global harmony, and complete tolerance of everybody’s embodiment of ‘truth’ we can find the answers. Or are we just writing questions and impressions to ourselves with little hope of discovering the greater irreducible truths? The truth that humanity can only find its true dignity, value and worth from out of the foundations of Imago Dei, having been created in the image of God.