Video Experiment

I'm trying something new here - posting a short video to see if it works. This is a bouncy shot of Tsavo elephants taken near sunset inside the Tsavo East National Park in Kenya this summer.

WC Remodel

The WC (Water Closet, or bathroom as you may know it) is coming along! After sitting vacant and empty for 1 whole year, I'm back at it and making progress. The plumbers came about a month ago and got our pipes sorted out, then I've been working on the weekends to get it up to speed. It's hard to take pictures in a 6x7 room with no lights, but here's a few to show the progress.

Working on the floor. I had removed the floor down to the dirt and went back with new joists since the old ones sag and are somewhat rotten.

Working on the door. We needed more room to fit the vanity in, so I "borrowed" the 24" door from the stairwell and replaced the existing 30" door. I suppose any of you who visit in a wheelchair will be out of luck, but it works for us for now! The hole where the old door was is being covered up, since it was useless anyway.

Originally there was a window in this bathroom. Somewhere along the way, the office was added and the window was covered up, but they cleverly left the opening and used it for shelving. I had to reduce the size to fit a standard 18" cabinet that will be recessed into the spot since the new shower will cover part of the old opening.

Jill was a really big help putting up the sheetrock over Labor Day weekend. It actually looks like a room now instead of a dark, dingy cave!

This weekend was spent taping, bedding and sanding the sheetrock. It's definitely coming along and texture is next! While we do the bathroom, we are also going to texture the adjacent bedroom and we also finished out the closet as well. The people who remodeled that closet, who didn't put sheetrock on the inside of it, did the work 10 years ago according to their note on the wall. I added my own note to point out I'm not the only nor worst procrastinator around this house!

Stonebridge Fellowship

September 2, 2007
Most of the churches we have visited so far are fairly large - maybe 500-2000 members. These are the ones that seem to be easier to learn about remotely - i.e. the internet - before attending, and ones that we feel would have good stuff going on with Avery. Stonebridge doesn't really fit that mold. It is a very new church planting effort located in Plainview - it's only been together about a year and has maybe 100 in attendance on Sunday. One of my employees, Aaron Ainsworth, attends there and invited us to try it out - so we did.
As usual, we did a little research on the internet (http://www.stonebridgefellowship.org/). Stonebridge is a church plant by the First Baptist Church in Shallowater of all places. We thought it very interesting that a small town church on the South Plains would be planting another church in a bigger town in the same general area. When asked why FBC is doing this, their response is "For years, we have encountered a number of people longing for a contemporary church, one in which they can identify with. We know that a vast majority of college students, young families, and people of all ages and cultures do not attend church anywhere. We want to offer an exciting alternative." So, they have a neat little church plant going on right in the town where I work and we showed up.

One of the cool things about Stonebridge is their meeting place. They borrow the antique Fair Theatre. "Located in the heart of Plainview's National Historic District, the Fair Theatre was built during the roaring 1920's as an all-purpose theatre for vaudeville and medicine shows.Today, the Fair Theatre's tradition is still alive. It has been restored to its former glory with beautiful balconies and a spacious auditorium that seats over 500 patrons." It's a really neat old building and I really like the idea that this church is recycling it - using a facility that is mostly empty anyway and using it for God's purposes without spending tons of money on a new building. We met Aaron at the front door and he introduced us to a few of his friends that were hanging around the lobby. I was disappointed the concession stand and popcorn machines weren't turned on :). It would have been a cool place to have coffee before church - and I told him he should suggest it. One of the members we met told us about the children's program and that Avery would be with us for a little while and then go to her class after the kid's sermon during the service. He actually went and got her teacher and brought the girl to meet Avery so she would be comfortable going with her when it was time. We really appreciated the extra effort to make us feel comfortable. After waiting for Aaron's wife for a while, it was time to begin worship so we filed into the theater. I was halfway expecting it to be dark and for previews to be showing on a screen!
It wasn't dark, but there was a screen. Not a movie size one, but big enough for us to see the words of the songs. I was a little disarmed by the huge counter running on the screen that ticked off the miliseconds, which i assumed were until worship started and not for when we would blast off into heaven or something. It kind of gave you an edginess that something was going to explode. I'm not sure if that was pursposeful or not, but boy were we ramped up by the time the thing hit zero! And when it did, several college age kids appeared on stage and welcomed us to join them for worship. The worship leader had an acoustic guitar, there was a girl singing back-up (and sometimes lead), some drums and a keyboard I think. It was actually a really good band that led us in a good semi-acoustic worship time. They were really talented, especially considering their age.
The children's pastor invited all the kids onto the stage for their lesson, so Jill took Avery up and sat with her. After they were done, they all trotted off to the upstairs classroom for the remainder of the service and we continued worshipping. The pastor talked about community that morning and important it was to be together and share our lives with each other. Toward the end of the lesson, he invited us to do something really different - and he warned us we'd be uncomfortable and possible not like it. I was thinking, "oh no. This is too much for a first visit!" He wanted us to look around and go find someone else in the church that we didn't know. (That was easy enough for us!) We were supposed to share with that stranger what God was doing in our life at that point in time and then pray together. Then he told us that communion had been prepared down front and he wanted us to come down and take communion together as an experience in community with our new found brother/sister. Some girl came up to Jill immediately, but I looked around and all the guys were already paired up. Being the social butterfly that I am (ha) I started to get butterflys in my stomach. About that time, my friend Aaron popped back in from taking the baby out and we broke the rules and paired up. I must say that the pastor's idea was a really good one and that was a really neat way to experience communion. It's just pretty cool that even though there were strangers all around the room, in acuality they are family because of our relationship with Jesus. That means we aren't (or at least shouldn't be) strangers at all!
While Stonebridge was a neat little church that has a great mission, we really felt like we need to be a part of a more established church at this time. The youthfulness of this church is pretty exciting, but it also means the leadership is very young and there will be lots of growing pains. Not that we are looking for an easy church to just attend and not grow with - just the opposite. We just don't feel like this is the ministry God is leading us to tackle right now. We applaude their efforts and their small group ministry. Aaron keeps me updated on what they are doing - things that are often non-traditional and attractive (like going out and doing community service projects on Sunday morning instead of sitting in their theater). I'm anxious to see what God does with this little group!
Posted by Gabe Moudy at 6:23 AM 1 comments
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CityView Christian Fellowship

August 26, 2007

We are a church with a vision toward:

• Becoming a catalyst in bringing spiritual transformation to Lubbock and West Texas.


• Breaking the American tradition of being primarily a “come and hear” church to become a “go and tell” church.


• Equipping our people to see themselves as full-time ambassadors of the Kingdom of God where they live work and play.


• Endeavoring to influence pastors and church leaders through encouragement, friendship and training, to get outside the four walls of their church.


• Penetrating the marketplace with kingdom principles.

We figured a church with this kind of vision must have something good going on. It's located in a new building out on Milwaukee near the new Target - nice building, but kind of unassuming and not flashy with a big sign. You kind of have to know what it is since its not well marked. I kind of like that. We drove into the parking lot and though there were clearly marked "guest Parking" spaces, we opted to be stealthy and parked as though we knew what was going on. I didn't want some greeter guy who spies on the guest parking to prey on us as soon as the car door opened. that probably doesn't happen, but that is what having guest parking makes you feel like will happen when you are a guest. The building is nice and modern, set way back from the street and surrounded by undeveloped land. It was obvious where the entrance was (which is not always the case with a church) so we went in it. I guess our stealthy approach diminished upon entering the building because the man who greeted us at the door immediately asked if this was our first visit. Maybe he asks everyone he doesn't recognize that question, but probably we just looked lost.

He made a little small talk, welcomed us to the church and asked how old Avery was. He personally escorted us to her class area (which is a really cool thing for a visitor in a big building) and introduced us to the children's staff. They got us all fixed up and even let us go beyond the "sacred" check-in desk which parents are not allowed behind. She wanted us to feel comfortable leaving Avery and to meet her teachers and that was really great and much appreciated. I was surprised to find that her teachers (a couple team) was one of my customers. I didn't know he attended church there and we had a nice visit. I hoped she acted nice! We wandered back toward the big room and were again greeted by a guy handing out a paper for the worship service. He opened the door to the room and...

...it was filled with round tables! That is not what we were expecting. Not only that, but there was the smell of coffee and breakfast burritos in the air. We looked around and everyone was eating at those tables! Someone pointed us to the food and encouraged us to load up. We'd just eaten breakfast so, we got drinks and some fruit and cautiously looked for a table. I don't know about you, but I have some anxiety about finding a table in a big room full of complete strangers. We found one that was mostly empty (I'd hate to be told a seat we wanted was "reserved") and sat down. The lady across the table was alone and we introduced ourselves - deciding making small talk was our way to ease the tension. Rather Jill decided this - I probably would have just sat there staring at the stage. Turns out she was a visitor too and was a little thrown off by the circle table set-up. She'd visited one other time and assured us it wasn't like this the first time she came.

As we ate, there was a couple milling through the crowd meeting people, but we didn't notice that before they met us. Jill asked how long they'd been members here and they replied, "Well, I guess since the beginning when we started the church." Jill was mortified to discover that he was the Pastor and we had no idea! No wonder they were circulating and introducing themselves! Soon two other couples joined us and we had a really nice chat with them. They told us a lot about the church, its history and mission. One of them happened to be a farmer from New Deal, so we were able to connect and that made it much easier. After about 45 minutes, the Pastor got up and welcomed us. It turns out that every year the church celebrates their anniversary this way by having a big birthday bash. The church turned 7 this year and it was a really neat thing to see them celebrate their community like this.

Since we had eaten breakfast, there wasn't a musical part of the worship that morning. We watched a video about the the summer basketball camp the church had recently hosted in East Lubbock. It was pretty neat to see them reaching out to the community that way. One of the camp leaders got up afterwards to talk about the experience and to do that, he needed 8 volunteers to help him. Once they got up front, he borrowed an object from each of their pockets and proceeded to make up a rap, on the spot, about those objects. It was definitely my first rap in church! He did a great job and I applauded the church for not being afraid to tap the talents of the membership, even though it be nontraditional, and share that with the body. While he was rapping, one of the girls who is a cheerleading coach had a little group of girls on stage behind him doing their "choreography" to the rap. It was really neat!

The Pastor got up and shared a message with us after that. He had a lot of details about the church's history and God's hand in getting them where they were. He told an interesting story about how they came to own the land where they are and it was a good way to learn about the church and their mission. He introduced a class they offer called "Directions" that promised to help Christians learn their spiritual gifts, ministry styles and find a place in the Kingdom (not specifically in this church) to use those gifts. It was compelling enough that we attended the course on Wednesday nights throughout September and have been blessed very much by it.
Even though this was a very different Sunday to visit the church and we didn't really get a feel for their worship time, we are very glad we cam eon that day. It really gave us an opportunity to see the heart of the church by participating in their celebration, by visiting with members for an extended time and by enjoying the fellowship and their laid back style. This visit has been a highlight for us so far and we definitely want to go back on a "normal" Sunday. If we choose to worship in Lubbock, this is a very real possibility . We enjoyed the warmth and friendliness of the people and appreciate very much the heart and vision they have for ministry in the workplace and "outside" the church. That is what all churches ought to be focusing on!

See more at http://www.cityviewlubbock.org/
Posted by Gabe Moudy at 8:00 AM 1 comments

Thinking About Church (and Faith)

I've been reading a new book that's rather intriguing and am wondering if anyone else out there has read it. The basic premise is that the author, a self-professed atheist, wanted to give Christianity or other religions a fair chance to convince him of their legitimacy. So, he set up an auction on eBay. The winning bidder could have the author attend 1 hour of worship service for every $10 bid. Interestingly enough, the winning bid was over $500 and the winning bidder had the author attend various Christian churches of all sizes and denominations and give his observations in blog format. You can look at this at http://friendlyatheist.com/ . He makes some very interesting observations about how churches approach sharing their faith with those who do not share their church background or upbringing. Stay tuned for more, and send me your comments if you've heard about this book.

Fishing Moguls

It's been a month since my last post, so I can safely add something here without spoiling my reputation for terribly infrequent posts!

One of my favorite parts of living in Kenya was being close to the sea, something totally new for a drylander like me. There was always so much to learn about the maritime culture - the tides, the boats, the fish, the salt air. I think the locally crafted Kenyan dhow's were my favorite. These little boats, or canoes as you might imagine them, were carved from a tree trunk and fixed with a small sail and maybe an outrigger or two for stability. Early in the morning 2 or 3 guys would make their way to the beach and push their boat out into the aquamarine water for a day's work of fishing. It was always such a calm, serene process that happened every morning just down the hill from our house. No noise, just ancient wooden vessels being pushed into calm water and silently slicing out of the bay into the wide blue yonder of the open ocean.

One morning as I watched the dhow's pull onto the beach after a day of fishing, I watched the men pull their catch from the boat and stretch their nets on the beach to dry. These men who were so poor - barely clothed, no income but the sale of a few dollars of fish, no other way to make an income because fishing for a living is a last resort. Fishermen in Kenya are uneducated, they barely survive, they are at the bottom of the career ladder. Then it hit me - something I'd never really thought about before. These are the exact guys that Jesus called to be apostles, his best friends and disciples, as he began his ministry that rocked the world. Peter and Andrew, James and John - they weren't the fishing moguls I'd always imagined them to be. They didn't have a huge boat with a rowing crew. They weren't professionals, just local guys trying to scrape a living from their canoe. You know that story when they caught 132 fish and it swamped the boat? I always thought those must have been big fish! That wasn't it at all - the boat was just tiny!

Jesus picked the local guys, the ones at the bottom of the career ladder so to speak. He picked simple guys - guys with little formal education, guys that maybe tried to make it in rabbinic school but failed because they just didn't quite have what it took, guys that knew hard work and weren't afraid of it. Why? Why didn't Jesus pick the educated, or religious, or upity? Why were these guys willing to drop their nets and follow him? Why did he pick them?

And what about me? I don't really fit the mold that Jesus picked from. I'm not at the bottom of society - I have money, I have an education, I've grown up in the church. I don't have a shady career like Matthew, I'm not a revolutionary like Simon the Zealot, I'm pretty plain. Does he pick people like me? Does he pick people like you?

I'm convinced that he does! Jesus picked normal folks from all walks of life to be men and women that abandon everything to follow him. Can Jesus pick a wine-tapper who spends his time atop palm trees collecting the ready-made brew for his buddies? Sure! Can Jesus pick the American Mom who spend her time wrestling kids and running errands? Sure! No matter where we come from, who we are, what our background is - Jesus has picked us to join his team. What a great privilege to know that even in spite of our inadequacies, He asks us to join his mission in the world and make this place better for everyone. That is what fishing for men, I think, is all about.

American Citizens, this line. Welcome Home!

I never thought the US Immigration Service would hire impersonators to work for them, but that big man in the green jacket and golf hat at DFW airport sure did sound like James Earl Jones! His greeting sure has a nice ring to it - Welcome Home! I always enjoy my travels, especially my international ones, but it is always good to come home - to know that I have a home to come back to. There is something to be said about belonging somewhere - whether that be in a family, a church, a city or a country. It's a basic human need that God created us with and, oddly enough, one that can never really be satisfied while here in this life. I'm always reminded as I travel that even though Texas feels like home, it really isn't. We are all foreigners here - those of us that belong to the family of God, anyway. We are here for a visit, and then we get to go home - our REAL home - to be with our Father. I just thought the airport welcome felt good! I can't wait to here those words from God - Welcome Home, Son!

We had a great trip to Kenya and really saw God at work through the people we invested so much time in during our stay in their country. One of the highlights was visiting the Maarifa Chrisitan Resource Center - Kaloleni and seeing what God is doing for youth in that area. We traveled with two of my good friends, pictured above, Jeremiah Muramba and Duncan Ziro to visit Fredrick Kaingu, the director of the center. Jeremiah leads a similar organization in Malindi, Kenya and Duncan is the new coordinator for Maarifa Christian Resource Center - Kilifi. MCRC-Kaloleni has built a permanent building for activities in the area and we helped by building some much needed benches for the center. The structure still needs completing - a concrete floor, plaster on the walls and other items, but they have made a great start and hope to host the first area wide youth conference during the school break in August.

One of the things that is different, which you can see in the picture, is that nearly everyone has a cell phone now. 9 years ago when we moved to Kenya, cell phones didn't exist there. I imagine 50% of the households have access to a phone now - even those in remote village locations. I had 5 bar service from the national park and called Jill to let her know I was watching a couple of lions (just so she'd be jealous!) It really is amazing and phone service is one of the techonologies that helps economic development progress extremely rapidly. Now if they'd just fix the roads....

These are the board members of MCRC from left to right - Fredrick Kaingu, John Kenga, Duncan Ziro, Daniel Kahindi, Mike Thethe, and Luganje Nyale. They are providing some awesome leadership for this initiative in Kilifi and Kaloleni and I really anticipate seeing God do some amazing things through them. Just a little more information on MCRC: it originated from two different directions and has merged into one organization. The Kilifi project began while I was in Kenya when I moved my library into town and opened my office for the general public to have a place where they could come and access all sorts of educational materials - from community health, to agriculture to biblical studies - for free. We called it Mijikenda Christian Resource Center and it was open for anyone who wanted to come. Pastors and leaders from the community did come and spent many hours preparing lessons and studying in our office. When I left Kenya, the board voted to change the name. They felt Mijikenda, which refers to the people group who live in the area, was too limiting and exclusive. They chose the Swahili term Maarifa, which means knowledge. I admit - their name is MUCH better than mine! This is a project they have valued enough to staff and maintain on their own, with little outside help, after I left. I am super excited to be a continuing part of this project and we have determined some great ways to support their ministry into the future.

The Kaloleni side of the project began while I was in Kenya as well. Our mission team, along with local church leaders, determined that a regionally positioned center for youth ministry would really promote church development into the future. 3.5 acres of land was purchased and slow but steady progress has been made to develop that land since 2000. Fredrick Kaingu has spearheaded the project and its now positioned to lead youth and promote leadership development in local churches. It was decided by the local leaders to combine the two projects as MCRC and the future of them both looks bright indeed.