Porches and Kisers
Without further ado…
Ryan’s Room
Dining Area
Living Area
Presley in the kitchen area, always near the food
The master bedroom
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.
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.
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.
I’m reading an excellent book on leadership right now called Jesus on Leadership by C.Gene Wilkes. Some notable quotes so far:
- A servant leader serves the mission and leads by serving those on mission with him.
- The leader becomes servant to those who have joined him when he provides adequate vision, direction, correction, and resources to carry out the mission entrusted to the group. The leader serves when he equips others and “teams” with them to reach the goal of mission together.
- Leadership is not something you pursue. Leadership is something others give to you.
- You will never become a servant leader until you first become a servant to the Leader.
- Two distinguishing character qualities of a servant leader are humility and the ability to wait.
- The difference between pride and authentic confidence is the source. God grants confidence to those who trust him.
- More than any other single way, the grace of humility is worked into our lives through the discipline of service. (quoting Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline)
We’re continuing to get settled in at the Dallas digs, and we continue to love it. I promise the pictures will come soon…unpacking is such a laborious task.
The events that took place this weekend were in some ways the culmination of six years of prayer and preparation.
On Sunday morning, we participated in a sending service at South MacArthur Church, our primary partner in church planting. Ryan Porche led worship; I preached. It was a reminder of our work together back at Highland Street Church in Memphis, and also a foretaste of the ways we’ll work together in Dallas in the coming months.
One of the South Mac elders offered a blessing for us; the Mission Action Team co-chair offered a charge; and a Richland Hills Church representative prayed on our behalf as the SMAC elders and staff, Mission Alive directors, and friends surrounded us.
It was a powerful moment.
We’re joining Abram, Moses, Isaiah, Jesus, Peter, Paul and many others in the sending of God for the sake of the world.
On Monday morning, Ryan Porche and I went with a group of five other ministers (a mentoring group led by Grady King, preaching minister at SMAC) to visit Lynn Anderson at his home in San Antonio. Lynn has been in the ministry of mentoring and equipping for the last ten years. For a seventy-one year old, he’s got the wisdom of a hundred-year old man and the mind and passion of a thirty-year old.
We spent a day and a half sharing our stories and talking about leadership, strategic planning, family boundaries and spiritual formation. And we ate. A lot.
Perhaps the most significant question Lynn asked us in our time together was, “Who are you mentoring?” All of us could quickly mention people who were mentoring us, but we were slower to mention people we were ourselves mentoring . But isn’t that the essence of discipleship—mentored to mentor?
Who are you mentoring?
In the Storyline 
