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Archives For November 30, 1999

Prayer for This and That

Charles Kiser —  April 21, 2008 — 12 Comments

We’re headed to Orlando, Florida today for the 2008 National New Church Conference. Leaders in church planting from all over the country will be there as resource people. Ryan and I are signed up for the “nuts and bolts” track. It promises to be a powerful event.

Please pray for us as we’re away from our wives…we don’t know how to live without them! Pray that they’ll manage alright, too, in our absence. Pray that we’ll hear from God through the people presenting at the conference.

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We’ve hired an ad firm to help us make a good decision about a church name and initial branding issues. We hit a bit of a brick wall when, after a month of brainstorming and the development of a couple church names, we received consistent negative feedback about the names from many of our Dallas friends.

So we’re back to the drawing board. This is a BIG decision for us, especially given the nature of the context we’re in. Making a good impression is important, whether we like it or not. Please pray that God will give us clarity on the name by the end of the month—by the time we’re ready to launch the first house church gathering…

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We have a timeline for the launch of our first house church. This weekend we’re throwing a big kickball/cookout kickoff party as a way of celebrating the launch. Weekly house church gatherings will start on Sunday nights following the weekend of the party. We’ve had fun thinking through what those gatherings will look like.

It’s our hope that this gathering will grow such that we can start another house church out of it, and that those house churches start other house churches that start other house churches. This is the heart of our methodology for ministry and vision for what church is. Out of the developing network of house churches we’ll start a regular worship gathering that will draw the network together for times of storytelling, celebration and encounter.

Please pray for this initial party and the first house church gathering on May 4. We’re constantly reminded that only God can bring this thing to life.

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We’ve been having some amazing conversations and experiences regarding justice issues in Dallas. I’ll share more about those next week.

In Church Planting, House Churches, Prayer
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Good Foundations

Charles Kiser —  February 25, 2008 — 6 Comments

Time flies when you have too much to do.

What in the world have we been doing in the last three weeks? In short, we’ve been laying good foundations.

I read a story recently about a young guy who was helping his dad build a log cabin. He spent days leveling the ground and setting the foundation. When he had finished with the foundation, he confessed to his father that it didn’t seem like he had accomplished very much. There was no house there. Not even a frame. Just level ground. His father replied: “Don’t worry; you’ve already done most of the hard work.”

I’ve been feeling like the son this month. I find it hard sometimes to push ahead in mission when I’m not seeing the house going up before my eyes. I’ve been eager to get right to hanging out with lost people. I want to start a house church. I want to throw some parties in the community. I want to initiate some justice projects.

But we’ve been trying to build good foundations: whether it be working agreements, staff covenants, office policies, financial systems, cultural research, vision and values, task lists or time lines. I suspect that foundation-laying will be a common theme not just in the next month, but in the next year. Pray for us as we seek to be fully present in the important work of starting well and laying good foundations—especially when we might be distracted from it by other good things.

I am excited because our people time will start to pick up significantly in the next month. On Wednesday, we’re hosting a dessert party to get to know our neighbors. Pray that someone comes; we’re trusting that God’s Spirit is already at work in the people who’ll be there. This night is the continuation of a weekly hospitality rhythm that the Porches and Kisers have started as a way of connecting with new people.

Another night of the week we plan on hanging out in local social hubs—restaurants, coffee shops and pubs (that’s right, I said it—did I mention that Jesus hung out with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?). McKinney Avenue, from Pearl to Blackburn, is in many ways the social epicenter of Uptown.

God has also connected us with some well-connected people—which is huge. One such person has invited us as guests to some significant organization meetings in the community. Pray that God will raise up other ‘people of peace’ who will open doors for the good news.

One last thing: I was eating lunch in West Village one day and wandered over to the Magnolia Theater, a place that shows independent films. I picked up an informational pamphlet inside and was ecstatic to read the following:

Love Gaming?

Play your XBOX, PS2 or GameCube on the big screen.

Call for rates, times and locations.

Can you say connective event #1? (And if it weren’t for our wives, #2, #3, #4. . .) One local told us that if we hosted a Guitar Hero party we’d have tons of people show up. Guess I’ll be getting the guitar accessory.

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On another note, I went with a good friend to the Deep Shift conference this weekend to hear Brian McLaren. It was hosted by the Cliff Temple Baptist Church in North Oak Cliff. He presented ideas from his new book Everything Must Change. It’s a must read for anyone interested in how the gospel addresses the global crises of our time. I’m sure I’ll post more later about it.

In Books, Community Connection, Gaming, Prayer, Uptown
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Office Space

Charles Kiser —  February 11, 2008 — 5 Comments

After three weeks of non-stop transition, things are starting to settle a little bit. The pad will for sure be hospitality-ready by tomorrow, when Julie will host a jewelry party for friends and hopefully neighbors.

Soon after that, you’ll have pictures of the place (but no sooner, as I operate under the directives of a higher authority, if you know what I mean).

The other big news in getting settled in: we have office space! Ryan and I started searching about a month ago and found a great office building right off McKinney Avenue, a major thoroughfare in Uptown. God certainly opened the doors for us to walk through—the price we’re paying for the space is nearly half what we were originally quoted.

CK Office

The main rationale behind securing office space stemmed from a value for our families, believe it or not. I officed out of my home for most of the 18-month apprenticeship period. Hands down, the biggest conflict in my marriage in that time was family boundaries: When does work time start and family time end? When does work time end and family time start? It sure gets fuzzy when both take place under the same roof. It works for some, but not for me.

RP Office

That said, I think office space will allow us to be more productive in our ministry and healthier in our family lives than we would otherwise be. It’s already been such a good thing.

Please pray for us as we begin our first full-fledged week on the job. Pray that God will give us clarity to see the vision and dreams he has for Uptown; pray that God will open doors to relationships with lost people; pray that God will raise up committed followers of Jesus to join us.

In Family, Prayer
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Go Time

Charles Kiser —  January 19, 2008 — Leave a comment

We give thanks to God for all of you who prayed for us in our decision about the housing options. We decided this morning not to wait on Apartment Life to hear back about which community it was. There were too many variables and uncertainties to keep us waiting, especially when we’ve found a place we really love and all the doors seem to be opening for us to move there.

So we’re moving.

My dad and I got the keys at lunch time and painted until dinner time. We’re getting a truck in the morning and we’ll have crews to help us load/unload at both places.

Needless to say, we’re stoked and feel a lot of peace about the decision. We can’t wait to get settled and post some pics of the new pad.

Until then, we’ll be up to our eyeballs in brown cardboard boxes.

In Family, Prayer
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Curve Balls

Charles Kiser —  January 17, 2008 — 2 Comments

Two things have consumed our time in the last couple weeks: 1) relationship building at South Mac Church; and 2) the logistics of moving to Uptown Dallas.

On the first front, we’ve enjoyed being back around the staff, elders and members of the South MacArthur Church of Christ, our primary partnering church. Grady King, the preaching minister, and I are in the midst of tag-team preaching in a series on prayer last weekend and this weekend. It’s been a blast doing sermon prep and preaching with Grady. I’m also working through a story-oriented evangelistic curriculum, which I helped to create, with a class of people on Wednesday nights. We’re also developing a support team of South Mac members who will pray for us, visit us occasionally, and serve as our relational liaisons to South Mac.

Our last day at South Mac is January 27. Ryan Porche will lead worship and I’ll preach—on discernment in prayer, of all topics! It’ll be a great foretaste of the ways Ryan and I will get to work together in the future. We’ll have a special time of sending and blessing from the elders and staff as well. Beginning Feb. 1, we’ll be on the job in Dallas.

Speaking of Dallas, we’ve had no small number of curve balls concerning our housing situation. As I’ve mentioned in previous emails, we were pursuing a free housing option with Apartment Life. We heard the first week of January that there would be no openings for 4-6 months. So, after much prayer and fasting, we decided that if nothing miraculous happened with Apartment Life in the week that followed, we would move on to other options.

Almost immediately, we found a place we loved right in Uptown. We put in an application, were approved and decided to move this weekend. We’re ecstatic…except. Except is such a significant little word. Except…we got a call yesterday from Apartment Life saying they have a lead on a property in Uptown/Downtown that needs a CARES Team. It would require us to sign a 3-month lease at the prospective property in hopes of becoming a CARES Team there later.

The only catch is that we don’t know exactly what property it is. It could be studios or lofts, for all we know (not quite conducive for a family of three).

We hope to know the name of the property today or tomorrow, but who knows. What should we do? We’re asking God to make it clear.

Please pray with us that God will give us wisdom, discernment and a clear sense of leading from him.

In Family, Prayer, South Mac
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