First . . . our classmate, Bryan Bucher, had to return to Ohio to be with his family today. We will miss him and we are praying for the entire Bucher family. This is one of those times when I don't know how much to say because this is such a public forum. I'll simply refer you to his blog (the link is on this page). He will be writing about it in the coming days, no doubt.
Now to the synopsis of our day:
- Woke up early . . . ran six miles with Matt.
- Went to Chapelwood to listen to the story of a former Beeson pastor who attempted a church plant in Houston and failed. Failing in a church plant in Houston is a little like failing to find a french fry at McDonald's (I give full credit to Matt Scholl for this apt analogy). It was a painful thing for him. Sadly, he wasn't given much support in terms of money or people. The guy was on his own. They call this kind of church plant a "parachute drop." Just kick a pastor out of the plane and let him find a way to plant a church. It didn't help that 8 of his top 10 givers were (drum roll please) employees of Enron whose lives went bust.
- Then we went to Street Life, a church plant on the near southwest side of Houston. This is an attempt to reach the urban/hip hop culture. Want to know more? Follow this link: StreetLife. This was amazing. I'll have much more to say about it later.
- We returned to Chapelwood UMC and heard presentations from about 5 of their staff: Executive pastor, Bob Johnson; ministers of Christian spirituality, Jerry Webber and Peter Johns; minister to lead Hispanic church plant, Paul May; and Tim Roth, minister to young adults.
- After that we stayed at Chapelwood UMC for their worship service that is called Mercy Street. This is a church within the church that intentionally reaches out to the addiction recovery segment. This service had a power all it's own. Afterward, we met with the staff that runs this church.
More on all of these things later. Good night. Pray for the Buchers, please.
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