Where did the CORE vision come from?

While at Exponential 2008 I had dinner with some church planting friends and was asked the following questions by one of them who was curious:

Where did the vision for CORE come from?
What did it look like?
How do you know it was from God and not just your own idea?

Here was my response:

1. Burden: The vision started as a burden. Long before I knew God would send me back to Troy, the city where I was born and raised, He placed a constant burden upon me. My wife and I bought a home in Schenectady when we were married. We lived there for twelve great years. It was while living in Schenectady that I felt God calling me into full-time ministry. It was in Schenectady that God opened the door to me for inner-city ministry as I joined the staff of City Mission of Schenectady, where I served and learned for eleven years, as God shaped my heart and mind. I was about two years into my time at City Mission when God began to impress upon me the need to plant a church that would incorporate many of the elements of Rescue ministry. God further prepared me through formal schooling at Mid America Baptist Theologiocal Seminary's Northeast Campus. While God was preparing me for all of this I would often drive through the city of Troy and think and pray for the city I grew up in. I had often heard the news reports about shootings, drug raids and gang violence. I found myself praying often for the city of Troy.
2. Vision: As I prayed through the burden God met me with vision; a mental picture of what could be, coupled with the passion to see it happen. I wish I could say He gave me the whole vision in the beginning, but it has come in phases. As my wife and I obeyed and went to the place God had shown us, He began to give me more and more of the vision.
3. Provision: As God began to shape the vision for planting an inner-city church, and as we obeyed and went to Troy, He literally started giving us things; a church building, a house to live in, a once vacant lot (through another church that felt we would put it to good use for the kingdom of God) and finances as we have had need. We are not on any danger of swimming in money, yet we have not lacked anything we have needed to carry out all that God has given us. An oldet, wiser pastor who has been a mentor to me for many years once told me, "Wherever the Lord guides, He will always provide." We have found that to be true.

Re-casting the CORE Vision

At Exponential 2008 Andy Stanley challenged us to make the vision stick. One of the many things he shared with us is the reality that people have a short retention span; that is, they will forget the vision if it is not shared and repeated often. At Northpointe he makes it a priority to communicate Northpointe's vision at least once a month with his staff and his congregation.

At the same time, while attending Exponential 2008 I was asked by at least a dozen people to share the CORE vision. So, to the CORE Church family and to those at Exponential 2008 who have inquired, here is the CORE Vision.

The CORE Church of Troy

Mission and Purpose: To know God and to make Him known in the hearts of people living in the heart of the city.

Vision: How will we make Christ known? As a community of faith united in the bond of the Holy Spirit.

A Connecting community - connecting with God and with other people for the purpose of connecting other people with God

An Offering community - Offering our lives to God as living sacrifices so that we may know His plan and purpose for our lives

A Reaching community - Reaching up to God. Reaching out to our neighbors. Reaching into the community, with His love, mercy, compassion, grace, peace, hope, strength, etc. thereby making Christ known in both word and in deed.

An Empowering community - in the unity and power of the Holy Spirit, as we make Christ known in the hearts and lives of His creation, we will be empowered from on high to make a difference in our communities and our world

Our shared dream...to see His kingdom come and his will be done...in our community, our city, our state, our country, our world...as it is in heaven...as Christ lives and dwells in the hearts of His people and changes their lives, from the inside out.

Our core truth and guiding principle: What is the one thing we will live for and even die for?

Jesus Christ is the core of everything we are and do. He is the reason for our existence, the essential meaning and truth that we can build our lives upon. When Jesus Christ lives in the hearts of His people they will have His strength in their inner being. They will begin to know the full measure of His love and will reach out to their neighbors with His love (Eph. 3:14-19).

New CORE Church sermon series

I've been listening, quite a bit, to Lenny Kravitz' latest CD, "Love Revolution" and savoring the flavor of it. I've been a big fan of LK and his loud blues, funk sound for many years.

The title cut from the CD, Love Revolution has stirred up my thinking. In this song Lenny sings about a love that will not let you go.

This love will never leave you
This love will never let you go
It is time for a love revolution
It is time for a new constitution
You are a child of the most high

As I have been listening to this song I was thinking about what my life would be like if I could learn to love the way God loves and it hit me; that is the essence of the great commandment; to love God and to love others. So, over the next several weeks we will disect the great commandment and, together, learn what this commandment means and how we can apply it to our own lives in our local church setting. What will happen in our community as we seek to live out this great commandment? It is an experiment I am willing to undertake and to lead our CORE Church family through.

Missing Florida but Glad to be home.

A week ago today I had just arrived in Orlando to 82 degree, sunny weather. I was in Orlando for Exponential 2008. It was an incredible experience for a church planting newby like myself.

To be exposed to the teachings of men like Rick Warren, Andy Stanley, Tim Keller, Ed Stetzer, Alan Hirsch, Dave Ferguson, Steve Andrews, Neil Cole, John Burke and a host of other leading thinkers in the world of missiology and church planting was like an all you can eat spiritual buffet. I walked away from that four day experience with the reassurance that I am where God wants me to be. I don't feel like an odd ball because I believe God has given me a big dream that I am relentlessly pursuing. I met a bunch of others who have had a similar experience with God and are pusuing the vision God has given them.

It was also nice to drive around Orlando a bit and get reacquainted with the landscape. You may not know this, but I have been here before; not just last year at exponential 2007, but I lived in Orlando for a short period of time in the late 1980's while working at Walt Disney World. In my B.C. days I was an aspiring chef and had gone to school for culinary arts and restaurant management. Disney was (and still is) the destination of many culinarians, not because of great pay (unless you work 70 hours per week or more) but because of the vast and varied experience that WDW has to offer. In a year and a half span I was able to learn many facets of food-service, from fast food, to large volume cafeteria/institutional, to fine dining and everything in between.

God has been impressing upon me that what I did in my B.C. (before Christ) days matters. God has had His hand on every part of my life, from the time I was conceived in my mother's womb to the very moment that I am writing this blog post (Psalm 139). Every part of my life has been shaped by God, even the bad things (bad from my perspective) are meant for His glory and used for His good purpose (Romans 8:28).

So, here I am, 24 years of walking with the Lord, and I find myself using the skills I learned in the first half of my adult life to begin a church planting movement in my own assigned field of harvest, here in New York's capital region. In just a few short weeks The Pod Coffee House will be open for business. This will be the next phase of our church planting Journey as the CORE Church seeks to make Christ known in the heart of the city of Troy, New York and beyond.

The vision God has placed within my own human brain has captured my heart, mind, soul and strength. God is moving in Troy, NY. Dare I believe that God would use me to stir up a church planting movement in this city and throughout the capital region!

Meeting John Burke and Craig Whitney at Exponential 2008

I met up with Craig Whitney at Exponential 2008 while he was manning ELI's (Emerging Leaders Initiative) information booth. I initially connected with Craig via facebook and we exchanged a few e-mails discussing some particulars of church planting and ELI's vision, mission, etc. Ihad a chance to chat with Craig for a good 10-15 minutes as he shared additional info with me about ELI.

I had also read John Burke's book, "No Perfect People Allowed" which I purchased at last year's Exponential 2007. So when Craig invited me to a lunch time rap session with John Burke and himself on Wednesday I jumped at the chance. I hightailed it over to AP-1 (one of those modular buildings on FBC's campus) and ate my lunch while listening to Burke and Whitney share their approach to church planter recruiting, assessment, fund raising, etc. I enjoyed their openness and willingness to share their piece of church planting wisdom with emerging guys like me. This is one more tool in my church planting tool box which God is using to shape me. Thank you Craig and John for the info and the fellowship.

My New Buzz Word: UNSTOPPABLE

Thanks to Dave Ferguson I now have a new buzz word to think and pray about. In one of the pre-conference sessions at exponential 2008 I was sitting there listening to Dave Ferguson share some of his multi-site/church planting wisdom when he quoted the author of the Book "Good To Great." Dave shared two characteristics of a level 5 leader; they are "other centered" and they are "UNSTOPPABLE," meaning that they pursue God's vision and mission relentlessly. This one word has stuck with me through the entire conference. If there is one thing I would like to become in my pursuit of fulfilling God's mission it is to be "UNSTOPPABLE."

So, Dave Ferguson, and any other blogging friends who happen to catch this post, hold me accountable. Ask me every now and them how I'm doing at becoming "UNSTOPPABLE" for God's kingdom.

Exponential afterthoughts

I miss my Budget "economy" rental car. I think I should have traded with the family of five that was ahead of me in line at the Budget counter. They got stuck with a Ford Focus for mom, dad and three young children...and a mound of luggage to boot

Me being "Ford Truck Tough." But I'm still a city punk from upstate NY.

Meeting Rick Warren

"One tubby, tubby...Two tubby, tubby,"(if you were there and you heard the man speak then you know what this in reference to)

My son saw these two photos and was convinced I was at a Drake Bell concert instead of in a church at a conference. If you have kids and watch Nickelodeon's Drake and Josh show than you'll know what I mean. The lead singer of the 2/42 worship band looks a lot like Drake Bell.

(Drake Bell)