simplicity

I am obviously a music guy so this message if for those of us who are inspired to the core by music.

I used to love to pretend on the playground that I was a superhero or a cowboy or something other that myself. I loved just playing by myself for hours. I was able to explore the deepest parts of my imagination and find what was hiding back there. I miss that. I could act like a complete fool when I was a kid and it was cute. Now if I act like a complete fool I’ve lost my mind (I’m a firm believer in losing your mind from time to time, it is only then that you can really find it again).

Now I love to explore my imagination in a more sophisticated way…with music. I love to write and I love to listen to everything I can get my hands on. I connect with artist who say exactly what I have been thinking for the longest time but I couldn’t bring myself to say. I love metaphors, word pictures, and frustrated agony. What a beautiful world God has given us that we can paint over and over agian to inspire and still never really get it right…And start over again. I wanted to take this opportunity to give you some new music to listen to if you are like me and you are hungry for new music all the time.

Derek Webb
Sleeping At Last
Copeland

I have become a familiar face here in South Beach by now. Its a small place and I see many of the same faces day to day. I have good relationships with those familiar faces but I am longing to get past the familiar and get to the heart of people. The heart seems buried by hurt, loss, and bitterness. Its strange sometimes I see myself in them. I want to be more than the “nice christian guy I work with”. I want them to realize why I am here and what is important to me, and why it should be important to them. That conversation is far past “hey, what’s up”. I know that I need to be patient but I am restless instead. We must find a way to get to the heart because that is where Jesus can change lives.

This article gave me chills, but this is the very reason that God has called us here. The devil will not take this city because God has a plan for it. Please pray for the people of Miami.

Here is the article: Miami New Times Article

Our faith community is just getting started here in South Beach. We have one connect group started and we are moving towards starting more. I thought about incorporating a movie club with a new small group. The group would watch a particular movie and come together and discuss it in a spiritual context. Keep in mind most of our new group would not be believers but I would strive to move the conversation to the more spiritual meanings of the movie, not just the surface. I expect that I would have opportunities to share the gospel through the conversations. I know that some of the people I have met would be more likely to come to a “movie club” rather than a bible study. I think this would be a good idea but I need some help fleshing it out. Please leave your thoughts and any suggestions for movies or other creative ideas that have worked for you.

I heard this song the other day and it made me stop in my tracks. Sometimes we don’t stop to listen long enough to hear what the world may be saying to us. This is a song by a band called Sleeping At Last. The lyrics are powerful and can give us some insight into what a relationship with someone who doesn’t know christ could do for a lost person. I don’t think that is what he is talking about in this song but this could be the testimony of one of our new friends if we would take chances and reach out to the world around us.

currents

In this sea of change, understanding is our shore
I disappear....with no control
The current is strong, my arms are weak
But you are the branch within my reach
Though I cannot catch my breath....

Pull me back to shore
I'll never reach my place
Pull me back to shore
I'll never reach my place, I'll never reach my place

The current is strong, my arms are weak
But you are the branch within my reach
In this sea of change, understanding was swept away

Pull me back to shore
I'll never reach my place, I'll never reach my place
Pull me back to shore
I'll never reach my place, I'll never reach my place

With everything I have, I reach out my hands
There's nothing to give
I seem to have no direction, I have no control
No way to know where currents pull
All the weight of my intentions
Are making it so hard to breathe the air at all
I see in you, coastlines reaching out
When there's nothing left to reach....

Pull me back to shore
I'll never reach my place, I'll never reach my place
Pull me back to shore
I'll never reach my place, I'll never reach my place

I wanted to write basically to introduce myself and to talk about something heavy on my heart lately. I read the Rant by joseph today and it echoed much of what I feel now too. I am a church planter in South Beach in Miami, Fl. and my christian buble doesn’t exist anymore. Honestly sometimes I long for it. However when I’m not being selfish I love the fact that every conversation I have here is with someone that likely doesn’t know who Jesus is. Its very exciting and challanging. I am very fullfilled when I am surrounded by wanderers. I feel like I have purpose. When talking to these people I have concentrated on keeping my words simple and to the point and mostly listening. I try to keep my words few and speak straight to the point and I have found that to be successful. I am frustrated mostly when we christians gather around sometimes and talk in circles, literally and metaphorically, about theoretical evangelism and hypathetical scenarios all trying to teach each other “how to do it”. My frustration is with myself in those situations, because I know that I have a lot to learn from leaders that are around me. But I find myself leaving those situations sometimes saying “ok, what in the world did I just learn?” I am learning to keep it simple with everything. I find that most of the time God just wants me to listen. To Him first, but to other leaders, and to wanderers as well. Many times what they are saying is not really to be taken a face value. We must look deeper to see what feelings are there that might cause someone to say this. Many times those feelings are exactly the same ones that we feel daily. What a great way to connect with someone, to have the same feelings as they do. Anyway, I’m kind of contradicting myself, I am trying these days to keep it simple. Simplicity is the best form of communication