We Need Miracle-Grow

I've been dreaming about a goofy, but hopefully effective, summer prayer campaign.

I just (finally!) finished the spring landscaping at our house. I made the mistake of planting way too many small, weak, begonias. I should have bought fewer flowers and invested in bigger, healthier plants. I'm left with some tiny sprouts that are going to struggle without just the right light, water, and hefty doses of MIRACLE GRO throughout the summer.

It didn't take long for my bright mind (?) to make the connection between these beautiful little flowers and ClearView Church. These small plants have much potential to be spectacular with the right care and some MIRACLE GRO. Without the right care and fertilizer, they'll wilt under hot sun and the little feet of two young boys tramping all over them. Like these begonias, ClearView has a start, is growing, is seeing God move, and has much potential. But, we also need a healthy dose of MIRACLE-GROW this summer.

Would you pray with us for Ephesians 3:20 type miracles? Specifically, pray:

• that God would provide us with the right worship leader.
• that God would help us build a great children's ministry.
• that God would lead us to the right location for worship gatherings.
  
• that God would bring us a family from New Albany in June.
• that God would bring us a family from Gahanna June.
• that God would add 50 people to our team by end of September.
• that God would bless our extensive outreach efforts with the fruit of teammates and changed lives.

Answers to these prayers will all be miracles. We need God to dump His magic formula all over us. Certainly He is able. We'll, with you, give Him the glory. Please pray for miracle growth and that God would put the right pieces in place to move us toward a healthy launch this October.

This Made My Day

I was encouraged Wednesday by the opening line of an e-mail I received from the vice president of New Albany's Events Board. I've been corresponding with her about the July 4th parade and ClearView's involvement. She opened her note with:

Hi Andy,
The relationship between the New Albany Community Events and ClearView Church is one that we wish to happily continue.

Praise God for the favor He has given us with key leaders and community organizations! Pray with me that this translates into people loved to Jesus.

Great News!

Yesterday's lunch meeting was a good one! I met with a family that has prayed with us and is now communicating that they are excited to join ClearView's team. Wow... God is good. This is a huge victory for us and a miracle-level answer to prayer!

Those of you who know me might find this amusing. If you know me, you know I'm pretty reserved (to put in mildly). So, as Trish and were talking about this meeting before it took place, she asked, "How are you going to react if they say 'Yes'.?" She was encouraging me to be sure and show my excitement (which is genuine).

So, when our new friends said "Yes," I made a point to get out of my seat and jump up and down right there in the restaurant. :) Praise God!

Pray for more...

Great, Great Weekend!

God came through for us big-time this past weekend. Thanks for praying! ClearView participated in the New Albany Founder's Day celebration by marching in the parade and running a booth at the festival. Highlights included:

• Many good conversations. We were able to share about who we are and what we are doing with several curious/seeking families. We were able to make good connections with other believers that could be sources for referrals.
• We put smiles on many faces. Our objective was simple- put smiles on faces and associate the smiles with ClearView Church. I believe Jesus was pleased today as we ministered to hundreds, maybe more than a thousand, people.
• We gave away all 750 of our ClearView logo Frisbees before the parade was two-thirds over. We should have brought about 1200! It was fun to see kids scrambling all over the parade route to grab one! We had something everyone wanted! There was only one casualty (woman getting hit...buy one of our ADULTS tossing one after telling the kids not to!).
• We had GREAT ownership from our team and friends in helping during the parade and at our both. Friends drove all the way from PA and Cleveland to help paint faces. These two ladies sat in a chair for 5 hours and painted hundreds of faces. The line for face painting was almost always about 15 kids deep. Friends also came from Northwest Chapel and Polaris GBC to help during the parade. And, our teammates showed up big-time and pitched in to help with smiles. My sister and mom helped with our kids so Trish and I could serve during the day. I was pleased.
• We painted hundreds of faces and gave away hundreds of balloons.
• We were able to make many repeat contacts (seeing people we've initiated relationships with from other venues (festivals, pre-school, etc.) and further conversations.

All in all Saturday was a great day. Praise God. Please pray that these contacts would translate into 1) people we can minister to and/0r 2) teammates. Thanks for praying.

To top it off, Sunday we had our highest ever attendance at our home for our worship gathering (24). We're excited to see new faces and praying we can gain another family or two for our next milestone moving towards public launch this fall- getting out of our house and into a rented facility. Praise God for movement!

And, the best for last, Sunday night, Trish and I were able to go out to dinner to celebrate our 11-year wedding anniversary. It was fun to talk and dream together about what year 12 of our marriage could hold. Thanks, my best friend, for your steadfastness in our journey. Our dreams for our family or our ministry would never be reality without your hard work and perseverance!

Founder's Day

Pray for us this Saturday, May 17. We'll be walking in the Founder's Day parade and handing out 750 cool frisbees to children and a new communication card to adults (see above). Then we'll man a vendor's booth during the Founder's Day Festival and offer free balloons and face painting. Pray for positive interactions and team building opportunities.

Update To NCO Ministerium

Today I shared a 10-minuted update on ClearView with my fellow GBC pastors in our district. I thought some of you might be interested as it provides a bit of a window into my heart about where we are at today. Here's the manuscript I used in preparation (minus a few names taken out for privacy). Thanks for your interest!

Recently, I’ve done a lot of thinking and soul-searching about why we’re doing what we’re doing. In this process, God keeps directing my mind to faces of people...faces of people I’ve come to love and care for as I follow God down the bumpy road of church-planting. My wife and I took this faith step with the desire to reach people for Christ. That passion is what keeps us moving forward.

ClearView Church exists to reach.... ....is in a management position at the local organization and is one of the most gifted networkers I have ever met. As our friendship has grown, I’ve learned that he has studied many religions and knows quite a bit about Jesus and the Bible. He just doesn’t believe...

I’m excited about ClearView Church because it is being planted to reach Carolyn. She’s a good mom and key influencer of ladies in our neighborhood. While our kids were playing together one day, I learned that to her, organized religion is a farce and the Bible is unreliable.

ClearView exists because of the Maurice’s of the New Albany area. Maurice is an extremely friendly, intelligent Ohio State professor. He’s also a Sufi... an adherent to an offshoot of Islam. As we’ve eaten breakfast together several times, he’s shared how the Bible is a great source of inspiration but of little value when it comes to Absolute Truth.

I’m excited about ClearView Church because it’s being planted to reach Joan. I met Joan while watching my 5-year-old, Seth, taking swimming lessons. She’s a friendly, sweet lady. She believes that Jesus lived but that it’s impossible He could have been anything more than a admirable man.

ClearView Church is needed in northeastern Franklin County because of the 40 homes on my street, of which I’ve met and talked with every family except 1, there are only 3 families that regularly attend church.

I’m excited about ClearView Church because, even though some of Columbus’ largest churches are in our target area, no church plays a significant, discernible role in the cultural or religious fabric of the communities we are trying to reach. Despite the handful of mega-churches within a few miles of us, most people that I meet (like the 6 I mentioned above) don’t have a commitment to a local church or, more importantly, a relationship to Jesus.

I see a need for ClearView Church because as we’ve served coffee on voting days, or participated in community events and festivals, or as I’ve participated in Chamber of Commerce networking functions- ClearView is the only church present where thousands of unchurched people are.

Two years ago, God began building a passion in my heart. It was to be able to echo Paul’s words in Acts 20:22-24:

22 “And now I am bound by the Spirit[a] to go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what awaits me, 23 except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. 24 But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.

I want to finish the work that I believe God has assigned to me-- the work of loving...Carolyn, Maurice, Bobby, Jamie, Joan and thousands of others to a clear view of Jesus and His love and grace. In 5 or 10 years, I dream of looking out on an audience where ...’s and Carolyn’s are now Jesus-followers. They're in community with other believers. Their lives have been transformed. They’re now missionaries to their own spheres of influence. They are making a tangible difference in the community by being the church where people are already gathered. They are planting churches or resourcing church plants in some way.

I believe God is laying the foundation for something special in northeastern Franklin County. He may be laying it slowly, but it is solid. We have a clear calling and a good strategic plan. We have almost 400 people around the world praying with us. We’ve integrated ourselves into the fabric of the community through coaching soccer, Chamber of Commerce activities in Gahanna and New Albany, bi-vocational work, our children’s activities, neighborhood ministries, etc. We’re consistently meeting and serving many people at community activities. We have 5 family units committed to our work. In March, we started weekly Sunday gatherings in our home. These have been going well and are a time of visionizing, worship, teaching, and team-building.

Our hope is to gather one or two more families and then find a public place to rent for weekly gatherings. We’re asking God to provide 40-50 people for our team in order for us to be ready for “Grand Opening” services in October.

Today, I humbly but boldly ask for your help. As my sons (5 and 2) were in the car last night, 2 fire engines sped past with lights and sirens blaring. This is big stuff to my boys. A word picture hit me as I was thinking about this morning and trying to explain to them why two Plain Township (New Albany) trucks were rumbling through a Columbus jurisdiction. I explained that there must be a big fire somewhere- something big enough that Columbus fire had to call for help from another squad.

Think of me as a brother, better yet- a co-laborer, calling you in as another squad today. To me, the vision is compelling. The need is clearly discernible. A good plan is in place. Foundational work has been done. This being said, we’re a start-from-scratch work. The next few months are critical for us. We need people to team with us to bring this vision to reality. We’re working hard to find them, communicate the vision and need, and invite involvement. However, we’ve discovered the people that we are looking for are the proverbial “needle in the haystack” type people. Not everyone wants to plant a church.

Would you pray for us? Would you consider finding a way to communicate with your people about our work. I believe there is people that you know...or people that you know that know people... that God has appointed to help us. Would you tell them about ClearView?

Relay For Life!

ClearView had a strong team and showing at Gahanna's Relay For Life last Friday (5/9). Despite cold rain, we were able to personally give out a few hundred bottles of water and leave a few hundred more for people to grab throughout the event (it was an all-night event). Positive points were:

• Getting involved in a key event in Gahanna (one of our first in this community).
• Seeing some new teammates assist us in serving others.
• Positive interactions with several people.

Thanks for praying. Please pray that God would use this positive impression and translate it into spiritual movement in people's lives.

What Seems Like A Bad Day Could Just Be Bad Perspective

Yesterday stunk. I'd like to use stronger language than that...but this is a prayer blog! :) Here's a taste:

• In the early a.m., I found out I would not be paid (as I had been told earlier that I would) for the 40 hours or so I had put into being trained as a bus driver. Trish and I were counting on this money for bills and some extra things we want... but we'll leave that up to God.
• Later, I received some feedback from an influential person in my life that was less than positive about my giftedness for church planting and potential to gather people and communicate a compelling vision for people to buy into. In this person's opinion, we would have seen more growth at this point in our work if I were a more gifted leader. Wow... hard to hear. True? Maybe. All I can do is keep moving forward in the calling God has given me and trust God to overcome my shortcomings with His power and grace. Thank God for Romans 8:26 and 2 Corinthians 12:9. I'm stinging from the hurt of this conversation, but trying to find the learning points and asking God for miracles. Pray for discernment.
• Post this conversation, the bill for Sara's stay in the hospital (at birth) arrived. Enough said!
• Finally, to top it all off, Seth's soccer team lost their first (and last) game last night. This is 4-5 yr. old level, not the world cup. So, nothing earth shattering, but still disappointing.

Here's the point: as I processed yesterday, and was feeling a little sorry for myself, God put me in front of FoxNews.com and pictures of the devastation in China (following the earthquake). I saw pictures of people who had lost their lives. Pictures of people who's loved ones were missing. Pictures of mothers clinging to dead children.

My day was nothing compared to this level of suffering. Our work seems hard...but not like that. I have a wonderful family. God is working around us. I have hope for eternity. I'm blessed to live in America. I have much to be thankful for. God is good. One way that He is good is shifting my attention off myself and to others- praying for victims... for comfort, for provision, for life, for Jesus to draw them to Himself.

I Passed!

Sorry for the long delay in communication! Life has been so busy and I'm finding little time to keep up with details like keeping the blog up to date. But, if you've been looking and wondering how things are progressing... thanks for keeping up with our life and work!

Last Thursday, by God's grace, I did pass my bus driving test! So, I'm a certified bus driver in the state of OH. As I'm learning, though, that doesn't necessarily mean you get work. I still have to wait until August to see if New Albany school system will have a position open. We'll see what God has.

Thanks for praying. After 40 hours of training, I'm finally ready to haul students in a yellow bus!

Today... you can pray for...

Some big things for us this week:

• Pray for Sara. She has had some digestive issues. Pray for healing and that we would know the best way to help her.
• Pray for me tomorrow a.m. We've been looking at sources for some bi-vocational income (to help with shortfalls now but also planning well for the future). Our criteria has been a job that allows me to be home on evenings and weekends, allows sufficient time for ministry, pays decent, and allows me to make contacts for ministry. After searching and praying a bit...we decided that I would look into driving a school bus. So, after almost 40 hours of classes and training (even though I already have a CDL from driving Operation Barnabas busses!), I'm testing tomorrow to be certified as a school bus driver. You would never imagine how much book work and skills are involved in this sort of a test- I didn't. So, I'd appreciate your prayers tomorrow a.m. that God would give me recall and skill as I'm examined.
• Pray for upcoming outreach/contact making initiatives. This Friday evening, we're giving out free water at the Gahanna/New Albany Relay For Life. Next week we'll be involved in a parade and festival in New Albany. We'll be trying out some new marketing pieces to find teammates and advertise ClearView. Please pray that we'll impact many people's lives for Jesus AND find teammates!

Thanks!