BIG GOD. BIG NEWS.

Wow. The past few months have been a blur and the past two weeks… where did they go? So much has happened and I am excited to share with you what has been going on. But first a little back story…

When we were in Pittsburgh looking to move back to Ohio and plant a church, we were in need of a place to meet and begin gathering people together once a month just to begin the conversation. We knew it would be awhile before we could fully move back to Ohio, but we wanted and sensed God already moving in the lives of our friends and family. But how do you rent a building in Cincinnati when you live in Pittsburgh and have zero dollars? In a way only God works we ended up in the living room of a pastor IN PITTSBURGH whose best friend runs one of the buildings we thought it would be awesome to rent IN OHIO. He calls him up from the living room that night and secures the building for us rent free for six months! Coincidence? Nope. There are no coincidences. Only a BIG God with BIG plans.

Read more

do something

The problem in Haiti is continuing to grow as supplies are having a hard time finding there way to the people who need them. To make matters worse, the infrastructure in Haiti barely survived when things were “normal” but now that things are in utter chaos it is near impossible to use the old system in any way. Right now there are agencies and churches, governments and neighbors all trying to figure out how they can help the hurting, dying, and broken. But what about us? What about the people like you and me who live in the middle of Nowherenearhaiti? What can we do?

Read more

what a november!

November brought a lot of craziness… from a computer crash to getting sick to The Feast to Thanksgiving. Life has been crazy for everyone, including you I am sure with all the Thanksgiving food and fun. But I wanted to share some of our stories from The Feast last week.

The Feast was our massive (pre)Thanksgiving meal of around 70 people who gave $1000 worth of Kroger gift cards to feed 40 families for Thanksgiving! It was a great night of live music, good smoked turkey, and meeting new friends. But the real fun started the next day when we went out to buy all the meals…

Read more

Move-in Day (part 2)

We finally moved all of our stuff from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati a few weeks ago. It was good to get home and have a house full of friends ready to put all the boxes away and help start the unpacking process. I can honestly say Tiffany was most happy to finally be reunited with her beloved Louie (the cat) and Louie was his normal laid back i’m-just-gonna-chill-here self (picture below).

Read more

The Celtic Way of Evangelism

A while back I read a book about St. Patrick called, The Celtic Way of Evangelism. It was one of those life shifting books that made me stop and think about what evangelism truly was. At the core of the book is the contrast between the Roman model for evangelism and the Celtic model for evangelism. Most of us have naturally inherited the Roman model for evangelism based on logic and reason, but St. Patrick and the Christian community that developed under his leadership opted for a different world of evangelism. In the end, they created a culture shift so large that the entire country of Ireland was “Christianized” within 2-3 generations. St. Patrick alone was responsible for the development of over 1000 pastors and planted over 700 churches at a time when the established church argued over what date Easter should fall on and what the hair-do should be (I’m not kidding!).

Check out these contrasting excerpts from The Celtic Way of Evangelism, by George Hunter:

“Bluntly stated, the Roman model for reaching people is: 1) Present the Christian message; 2) Invite them to decide to believe in Christ and become Christians and 3) If they decide positively, welcome them into the church and its fellowship. The Roman model seems very logical to us because most American evangelicals are scripted by it! We explain the gospel, they accept Christ, we welcome them into the church! Presentation, Decision, Assimilation. What could be more logical than that?

The Celtic model for reaching people works like this: 1) You first establish community with people, or bring them into the fellowship of your community of faith. 2) Within fellowship, you engage in conversation, ministry, prayer, and worship. 3) In time, as they discover that they now believe, you invite them to commit.”

Read more

Stories.

I Am Second is a collection of raw video testimonies that are real and powerful. These are amazing stories worth watching and sharing with others. Leave some comments about the videos that stirred you the most.