Spokane At Last!

It's been almost two weeks now since we made the big move and we are absolutely loving Spokane!  There are adjustments for sure, like the sirens in the middle of the night and the fact that we no longer have countless family members in the immediate area, but on the whole we are feeling right at home here in the city.  Practical things like watering the lawn, going grocery shopping, and running in the neighborhood are making this feel more and more like home.

In the book of Deuteronomy we hear the words, "Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse..."  Well, that's a great summary of where we live!  We love the neighborhood and are getting to know a few people, plus we live just three blocks from the Northtown Mall.  The girls practically screamed out loud in excitement when they realized how close we are to "civilization."  And that would be the curse part of this blessing!  We are three blocks from my greatest weakness:  Starbucks coffee.  We are four blocks from one of my favorite steak restaurants:  Outback Steakhouse.  We are about six blocks from Guitar Center, where I just bought a new acoustic guitar amp last Friday.  We are close to EVERYTHING and I'm not sure my wallet can take it!  Ha!

On the music end of things, the two CDs we were working so hard to get done are finished and are both available on iTunes.  We'll get the links and guitar charts up ASAP on this blog so the resources are easily available and useable.  If anyone is at all interested in purchasing the CDs, we actually get the best return from the ones purchased on CD Baby - about 10 cents more per song comes directly to us when they are purchased that way - but we're happy however the songs get used!

Last but not least, since we haven't started regular meetings yet for our Grace Church Spokane team, I was free to speak at Prairie Avenue Christian Center in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho on Sunday.  PACC is a fellow bunch of our Newfrontiers family so it was great to be with them!  I spoke on what has been the key verse for us as we've been preparing to launch Grace Church Spokane:  1 Samuel 22:2.  Here we find David on the run from Saul, living in a cave, and becoming captain over the distressed, the indebted, and the discontent.  400 men gather to him in this place of his own struggle!  It's amazing what God can do and does do in the oddest of situations.  When our focus is Him, He has a way of bringing great joy and fulfillment even in the midst of difficult times.  We know that God has called us to be a gathering place where those in difficult times can find life, hope, and grace that changes them from those "on the run" to those who change nations!  We fully expect and anticipate being a church that takes strong root in Spokane and also sends out many men and women to serve in other cities and nations around the world!

For The Kingdom,
Jon

Two Weeks And Counting...

Well, it's less than two weeks before the big move to Spokane to pioneer Grace Church Spokane!  This has been a long time coming (10 years since Becca and I first started talking and praying about this move - wow).  Our home in Missoula sold for a great price and we just found a home to rent in Spokane this past Monday, so I guess this is really happening!

Cover of "Kingdom of God" studio album

It's been awhile since my last blog update and I've been busy working on the recording projects mentioned in my last one.  The great news is that they are finally done!  The Kingdom of God EP (which ended up as a 4-song disc) is here and came out really well.  These studio versions of some of our most-used songs will be an excellent tool for Grace Church Spokane and they're only $5 to purchase too.  We'll get those songs uploaded to the blog page ASAP so you can take a listen for free!

Cover of "Send Us" live album

The live worship recording is completed and being printed and packaged in Dallas, Texas this week.  "Send Us" should be in hand and online by Friday, July 20.  I couldn't be much more happy with how it turned out!  My good friend Rob Parr engineered the whole project and produced it with me.  His "sweet recording skills" made every song sizzle.  Heather Thomas, the new worship director at Clark Fork City Church, co-led the night of worship, so her voice brings a great Montana flavor to the music!  We are doing our best to have it up and ready to download from iTunes, Amazon.com and most other major web sources by July 20 as well.  We'll get charts up on the blog too, which will be free to download.

These two recordings were done both to make the music of CFCC more readily available and to raise funds for Grace Church Spokane, so know that every song you download or CD you purchase is helping to advance the gospel in the Northwest USA!  Thanks!!

2 New Worship Projects On The Way!

Lead Sheet and Chord Charts for "What Amazing Love"

Well, it’s been a bit of a music frenzy around here the past few days!  Not only were we getting ready for the new single “What Amazing Love” to release via iTunes but we also made the decision on Tuesday to record and produce another live worship album at CFCC for the 35^th Anniversary celebration of this great church!  Two big announcements in just a few days is fun and also brings a lot of details to process.  I love it!

As if that wasn’t enough, now that “What Amazing Love” has finally gone public beyond our own beloved Northwest we’re moving on with the rest of the “Kingdom” EP project that it has been intended to be a part of all along!  The purpose of this is to lay down some studio quality versions of some of my songs that are easily accessible to both churched and unchurched people.  These five songs will be in a radio-friendly format and are packed with some really solid gospel theology and simple devotion with the power to impact and change lives!   Our goal is for this project to be evangelistically useful both here in Missoula and in our upcoming move to Spokane.  “We Are Forgiven,” a song I co-wrote several years ago with Arlina Duong and Heather Thomas is already recorded for the project and ready for the finishing touches and mixing.  It’s a celebration of God’s forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ, and declares our mission to show and tell the world this Good News!

Other cuts on this 5-song EP will be a CFCC favorite, “Kingdom of God,” which is a paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer, and “Send Us,” which emphasizes that when we pray, “Your kingdom come,” we are also agreeing with God’s purpose to bring His kingdom in and through us.  Though He doesn’t need us to advance His will on the earth, in His sovereign purpose He has chosen to move through His people, His church – that’s us!  Another ‘oldie’ that we’ve done for years at various weekend retreats but never done publicly will arguably be the most fun song in the list:  “It’s So Good” is the greasiest, bluesiest (is that a word?) song I’ve ever written and I can’t wait to record it and send it to John Lanferman!  (We just performed it live with a full band for the first time yesterday morning in church.  Yes!)  Finally, we’ll round out the project with “It’s Beginning To Rain.”  It will be our latest tip-of-the-hat to U2, one of my favorite bands of all time, and the band that has more influenced modern worship music than any other, in my humble opinion.

New CFCC Drum Booth!

So, all of that recording fun will be happening right along with the planning for the live worship recording and planning toward Spokane.  The new drum booth has been installed on the CFCC main stage which sets us up really well for future live projects.  Awesome!  Now to get a drummer… and a band… and a church… in Spokane!  (For a minute there, you thought I was slamming our CFCC drummers, didn’t you!  Not a chance… they’re the best!) 

New Single Release!

We are so happy to announce the release of Jon's latest single, "What Amazing Love!"  This song has been a long time in production and we are thrilled that it is finally ready.  You can find it on iTunes, purchase an mp3 from us at CD Baby by clicking on the button on the right, and even listen for free on our Facebook page or youtube.  We'd be very honored for you to leave us some love on iTunes by either rating the song or writing a review (especially if you like it)!  The chord chart is already posted under our "The Songs" tab at the top of the blog.  Jon's working on a post with more music updates for later in the week, so be on the look out for that!

Why Plant Another Church in Christian America? (Part 5)

As we prepare to move to Spokane this summer to begin the process on the ground of launching Grace Church Spokane, we do so from our home church of Clark Fork City Church in Missoula, Montana.  I’ve noticed a funny thing:  as great as CFCC is, not many people make the drive on Sunday morning from Spokane to come to church in Missoula.  I’ve also noticed that though there are Christians who do make the drive to Missoula from nearby towns to come and worship with us, not many of their friends who live where they do are added to our church.  This is just one of the reasons church planting is so important, even in the context of one metropolitan area.

From Neighborhoods…

The city limits of Spokane and Spokane Valley host about 300,000 people.  The metro area has 300,000 more for a current grand total of around 600,000 people.  They aren’t all going to fit in my living room.  Or in any of the existing churches in Spokane.  Or in the largest building we could erect.  This is why we need to have a mindset of church planting even within the various neighborhoods of Spokane.  Since the best way to impact a neighborhood is to be a part of it, I envision not just one neighborhood church of a few hundred people, but gatherings to the north, in the Whitworth and Mead areas; a central location near the University District; one in the South Hill; another in the Valley; another in Hillyard; and still another by the Eastern Washington University campus out in Cheney.  (Unless you too are a die-hard University of Montana alum and Griz fan, you have no idea how cross-cultural it is to talk about planting a church near EWU!)

To Cities And Nations…

As Bilbo said to his nephew in The Lord of the Rings, “It’s a dangerous business Frodo, going out your door.  If you step onto the road and you don’t keep your feet, there’s no telling where you might be swept off to.”  The Great Commission calls us onward from our own living rooms, neighborhoods and home towns to wherever God will send us.  Every people group, every socio-ethnic population in the world, has a place in the kingdom of God.  Jews and Gentiles.  Rich and Poor.  From the Tattoo clans to the Cowboy-booted Marlboro Men, from the urban coffee connoisseur to the tenement-dwelling single mom, these people are all a part of the fabric of Spokane – but they’re also all over the world!  Imagine those people groups within a city uniting under the banner of the good news of Jesus Christ to partner together to reach those same people groups globally.  We’ll send some right from Grace Church Spokane and we’ll also partner with other like-minded churches around the world.  Places like Mexico.  Russia.  Ireland.  Kenya.  Estonia.  England.  Cities like Chicago.  Tacoma.  London.  Rio.  St Petersburg.  We actually have friends in these places who think like we do!  It’s a big world loved by an even bigger God – and He has filled our hearts with His passion to see lost people saved!

Cross-Cultural Church

I’m not naïve.  Well, maybe I am.  I’m a dreamer and a visionary so I tend to think in giant terms.  I’m dreaming and making plans toward a church of thousands of people locally, representing the various people groups of Spokane and affecting millions on a multi-national scale.  I also recognize that I’m just one middle-class white guy in my mid-30’s who is married to a white girl in her 29-forever’s and that we will naturally attract people who are similar to us.  We have 2.5 children (okay, 3 children) and we have to balance church planting with parenting, homework, Boy Scouts and Irish Step Dancing.

We will have to work hard to make in-roads and relationships with others in Spokane who are older, younger, richer, poorer, darker, whiter (if that’s possible) etc.  However, since the Book of Acts shows us churches like the one in Antioch with a multi-cultural leadership that sent out the likes of Paul and Barnabas to impact the world, I’m asking and thanking God for a church that represents this right in Spokane.  Together we will embrace this vision and see a vibrant church established in this great city – quickly becoming our city.

·        We envision young and old of various socio-economic backgrounds committing together to plant churches and extend the kingdom of God together in the neighborhoods of Spokane and in other cities and nations.

In a nut shell, Grace Church Spokane is going to be a place where our common identity and mission in Christ so supercedes our differences that the people groups, cities and nations of the world can come into clear focus.  Rich and poor will serve together.  Single guys and families.  College students and business professionals.  Grandmothers and single moms.  Nations mixing.  The kingdom of God.

Why Plant Another Church In Christian America (Part 4)

The most common question I’m asked these days about launching a church into Spokane is, “So, do you have a building?”  While this is obviously a relevant question, it definitely stirs my thinking since my own definition of “church” looks like people gathering together to worship and serve, not a building.  I think most people asking me about a building simply mean, “Do you have a place to meet together?” but it also speaks to the need for us to see church life through a wider lens. 

The frequent misconception of church as a steepled building is a big one in North America, where we have all-too-often altered Jesus’ words, “On this rock I will build my church,” to mean building a structure of brick, wood or steel, panes of glass, stages and lights, when He was actually talking about people being drawn together by His grace through faith in His saving power.  We may know this in our heads but here’s a reminder:  Church is people.  Church is a community of believers.  Church is about relationship, discipleship and mission together.  And that church can meet anywhere.  It can also go anywhere since the people aren’t limited to a facility.

Missional community

Every few weeks in Spokane a really cool thing happens.  Instead of holding their normal church gathering Vintage Church goes out on a Sunday morning for a church “scattering.”  They understand something that I hope we as a church will “get” as well.  The whole church, not just an exclusive or elite team, is involved in serving the community together.  There is an understanding that community is important and that a Christian community thrives best when it includes serving others together.

I dream about a vibrant community of believers like this that demonstrates genuine love for one another in the way we relate not only to each other, but also in the way we serve the people and community of Spokane.  Even while it is still barely more than a “twinkle in my eye” Grace Church Spokane already exists to serve.  I envision a community centered around Christ that turns to face outward, embracing neighborhoods, people groups and even other nations together.  I’d bet that many people who have said, “I like Jesus but I avoid the church,” haven’t experienced church like this.  We want to give them the opportunity.

Every Member Involved

While training is important and necessary, it doesn’t take a seminary-trained theologian to tell someone what God has done in his or her life.  While there are always more answers to be found to difficult questions, even the newest believer can share with a friend how God has changed his or her life!  Every follower of Jesus has a unique story to tell, and we want to equip and encourage people to share their own story of how Jesus has impacted their lives.  Through relationship, through service and even through structured invitational events there will be many opportunities to engage friends, family and neighbors with the power and grace of God.

Making disciples

In their book, Breaking the Missional Code, Ed Stetzer and David Putman say, “Making and multiplying disciples involves three things:  (1) living like Jesus lived, (2) loving like Jesus loved, and (3) leaving behind what Jesus left behind.”  To put it simply, we really want to do this!  We want to help others do this!  We want to see the people we love and serve become mature believers who live and love like Jesus, leaving behind things that stand in the way of His calling in our lives. 

·        We aim to be a missional community where every member is involved in making disciples of Jesus.

The more I think, dream, pray and plan toward leading and serving a church that embraces being a missional, disciple-making community the more excited and full of faith I become!  Please pray for my family and for those that are planning on coming with us into this new adventure in God.  Pray that God enables us to live out what we believe He is challenging us to do!  Allow me to be so bold as to challenge you to consider whether you may be called to be a part of this team!

Why Plant Another Church in Christian America? Part 3

Do The Words “Church” And “Passion” Really Go Together?

When I was a kid I was passionate about baseball!  I was a Kansas City Royals fan and was especially proud of my George Brett rookie card.  On occasion I would join the enthusiastic crowds of Royals fans who would do the wave, catch peanuts from the vendors and cheer wildly for the team.  I spent most of my allowance money every month for four years buying trading cards, and spent many Saturday afternoons playing ball on the make-shift diamond my friends and I had created behind our house.  I even tried running a baseball card shop out of my bedroom.  You could say it was my “first love.”

Then there were things like golf.  And tennis.  And bass fishing shows.  For some reason my dad loved to watch these on TV, yet to me they seemed to involve a lot of sitting, waiting and being quiet (except for John McEnroe, whose antics broke the monotony!).  In my young view of the world, this so-called entertainment was best described by words like “dry,” “boring,” “slow” and “un-fun,” remarkably similar to the way many people think of church.  With that in mind, as Grace Church Spokane:

·        We purpose to develop passionate worshipers of Jesus who continually grow in grace, truth, gifting and service to God and to people.

Developing Passionate Worshipers

Wholehearted, passionate enjoyment of God and of the people of God is His plan for us even though, as I stated above, that’s probably not what would come to mind if one were to ask the average American his or her thoughts on church!  However, the Bible is clear that throughout our daily lives and when we come together to worship Jesus, being with Him should be characterized by words like “joy,” “amazement,” “celebration,” “awe” and “vision.”  Our songs should reflect that.  So should everything else we do.  So, what changes “stuffy religion” into a life of genuine passion about Jesus?

Passionately Growing in Grace

Understanding and experiencing the undeserved forgiveness and favor of God produces a grateful people!  The truth that we have been saved by God’s grace rather than our good works sets us free, and the reality of friendship with God will be increasingly demonstrated through our lives together.  As a gathered community who knows that God is pleased with us and actually likes us, we’ll be a “dangerous,” contagious bunch!  We hope the contagion of God’s grace inspires everyone who encounters Grace Church Spokane, and that our life together rings with the vibrant worship that comes from confidence in Christ. 

Passionately Growing in Truth

The message of God’s grace and love receives its potency by remaining firmly rooted and grounded in the teaching of the Bible.  In fact, if a people were to lose the moorings of Scripture they would soon find themselves losing the very freedom it declares!  Learning the depths of this freedom is no dry theoretical study but is rather the opportunity to engage with God Himself through His own words; to learn how He feels, what He thinks, and what His plan and purpose is for us and for the world.  It’s from growing in the truth that we find out about His plan to save sinners, heal the sick and broken-hearted, reconcile families and nations, and ultimately restore all of creation for His glory!  For this reason, we know passionate followers of Jesus will desire to continue growing in their knowledge of God. 

Passionately Growing in Gifting & Service

Jesus is a servant and He’s really good at it.  He came to serve through sacrifice, doing what only He could do – living a perfect life, dying as the perfect payment for our sin, and rising again from the dead, forever victorious over sin and death.  He knew His unique purpose that no one else could ever fulfill, yet He also served people in practical ways like washing their feet and feeding them, because He wanted to demonstrate God’s heart of love.  Now, as we spend time with Jesus we discover more and more the unique purpose for which He has created us.  We also find that we reflect more and more of His heart to serve others.  Not only do we find fulfillment when we develop what He has planted into us, but others are encouraged as well when we serve them.

I Want To Be A Part Of This

The people of Spokane are uniquely created by God.  We want them to know it, and to know God’s heart for them.  I believe this is best revealed through a Christian community that is passionately alive in Christ, rooted in the truth and power of His Word, and that serves the city in love.  I want to be a part of a church community like this.  I know there are people in Spokane waiting for something like this, even though they may not know it yet…  Next time, we’ll develop the idea of being a community on mission together in this wonderful city.