Video

Cool story on Live Church LA from student at USC School of Journalism:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzrpl2tKy5o

Joshua 1:9

Joshua 1:9 - "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

Whatever challenges or opportunities you are facing today, we are praying for you that God will give you strength, courage, and hope. Remember too that there are many around us (family, co-workers, friends, even enemies) that are facing incredible challenges and opportunities as well. Sometimes God's answer to their prayer is us - be strong and courageous for them as well.

Keep going strong!

This last Sunday we knew there was going to be a triathlon in town, so I requested and viewed the "official" plans directly from the city and LA Live concerning street closures. We were thrilled to know that Olympic would be open to all traffic. Well, on Sunday morning we discovered that not only was Olympic completely closed, but so was every other street surrounding the South Park district. There was mass confusion - even the police didn't know what was going on. AEG employees were shocked to learn that they could not get to work, and they run everything here. Awe - the beauty of living in downtown LA. We sent out word to everyone driving in to not come - the closest parking was three blocks away and Club Nokia couldn't even open. I've never told people to not come to church!! Sorry to everyone who was diverted. This will never happen again, I promise!

We ended up having church at the restaurant below, and it was great. God had other plans for that day. We talked about overcoming obstacles and having faith, perseverance, vision, hope, and surrender. Everyone sitting around the table opened up and shared current experiences in their lives that required these attributes. There were no musicians, but we all worshiped God and His goodness, faithfulness, mercy and blessings in our lives.

Surrendering our plans to God and allowing Him to guide our steps brings true success and fulfillment. Keep going strong!

Grand Opening!

We had a great Grand Opening service! Thank you to The Movement Band, to all the support and encouragement from friends who came, and to Councilwoman Jan Perry for presenting the church with a Certificate of Commendation welcoming Live Church LA to the city.

We are ready to build! I imagine it will be like planting a seed, constantly watering it, giving it time, taking good care of the soil, patiently letting it take root, giving it sun, and watching it grow. It will be a labor of love, a walk of faith, and a true blessing.

Please pray for wisdom, favor, provision, and a constant focus on the goal - loving God and people!

Story

Story about Live Church LA - check it out:
http://blogdowntown.com/2009/09/4703-live-church-opening-its-doors-at-club-nokia

Word is Spreading!

This Sunday, September 27th (10am at Club Nokia at L.A Live) is the Grand Opening service! The word is getting around town - Councilwoman Jan Perry is coming to the service and will do a short greeting. Did an interview and took some pics today with a downtown news source (I'll let you know if its gets published). The Farm of Beverly Hills located just beneath Club Nokia is giving us free coffee and lunch specials so everyone can hang out after. Thank you for your continued prayers. We are a new church start-up and we have start-up needs. We are believing God will provide above and beyond all we could ever ask for or imagine!

New Strategies

When I look at what has made the biggest impact on the city of Los Angeles it has been things like economic development, jobs, small businesses, and lower crime, cleaner more sanitary streets etc. I think that most churches have good models for bringing Christians together and serving each others needs. I am challenged now with making a real, non-Christian attention getting, impact on my city. I want the low income families, the homeless, the police, city council and the mayor to bring up the names of Churches when they are asked what has made this city a better place.
What I typically find is that most models end up putting all their focus and energy into creating these communities and having big gatherings but little time, effort, and considerable resources are put into the tangible touch on the city and its people.
Having a big gathering does not impress the city, it doesn't show them unity, it shows them that there is a bigger group of Christians and they are probably going to use their leverage to unify on voting issues. That's how non-churched, non-Christians think. Until we display that we can really make a tangible difference in our city that isn't a church-growth strategy in disguise or political meddling, I don't think we are anything more to them than a religious gathering.

Cultural Shift

Just read a great book (very challenging and controversial). "Thy Kingdom Come" - An Evangelical's Lament: How The Religious Right Distorts The Faith And Threatens America, by Randall Balmer. In short, this book is a call to Christians and the Church to untangle itself from the distracting propaganda and power of the religious right and to realign with the message of the gospel. The message that God loves us and has made a way - that there is hope, forgiveness, redemption and real power to change the world - the message of Jesus Christ. That is what we should be known for, not for what we are against or who we endorse or what we stand on the corners of streets protesting.

Websit is LIVE!

Website is LIVE - this is really happening!! www.livechurchla.com

Official Name!

The church is now officially recognized by the State of California (what would we do without that) and filed with our officially registered name "Live Church LA". I am working on our website, the address will be www.livechurchla.com just like the name (it should be ready soon). We also have a logo and will send to print this week for business cards, letterhead, flyers etc. A huge 'Thank You' to Sarah Pata who has donated her time and her God given gift and passion for graphic design to help with all of this - her work is incredible! Thank you for your prayers and to many of you the financial support towards establishing this new church in downtown LA!
(P.S. We finally have most boxes empty and worked all day yesterday making it feel a little more like home in our new place. If you are ever in the area let us know and stop by - we will make you a nice fruit smoothie with our new blender....is that weird?)

Update 8-01-09

Wow - the move was tuff! Thank God we had great friends come and help (thanks Kaylyn, John, Jasmine, and especially Ryan, Andy and Zach for coming all the way down to LA for the toughest part. Getting out of the house was easy. When we arrived here we had to take everything up a freight elevator one trip at a time, then walk it all the way across the top to our unit on the other side. It will take me a week to recover. Everything is just pilled in our house.
Sleeping here last night for the first time was wierd. Getting used to the new sights and sounds. Looking forward to worship, communion, and connecting at the Cause tomorrow.

Update 7-30-09

I know its been a few days since the last update but things are really moving fast and slow!? We are moving out and into downtown Los Angels tomorrow. Our renters will move into our house in Chino Hills on Saturday. Shelley has been collecting boxes from work and packing a little every night for the past week. Most big stuff we either sold, gave away, or are leaving for our renters so it shouldn’t be too big a job (I hope). Funny thing is, four other people are moving into the same complex in LA so we have a one-hour window from 1-2pm to use the loading dock and freight elevator.
Things with Club Nokia are going well. I met with them last week and we should have a signed contract soon to use their facilities. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers!

Great Meeting

Today I had very important meeting with the GM and Director of Operations for Club Nokia. Meeting went very well, things look promising. Last week I went to the Skid Row development meeting and met a group of non-profit leaders and learned a lot about what the needs are among the poor and homeless in LA. Tomorrow I will catch the Metro Link early early in the morning to attend an LA economic forecast meeting and will have the opportunity to meet downtown business leaders.

Packard Lofts!

So I think we found a place! We have looked all over the South Park District in Downtown Los Angeles for a workable two bedroom/bath place to be that would accomodate us and our future adopted kids for the next few years at least. We found one place and filled out an application, but neither of us were too excited about it. I couldn't bring myself to fax it in. So on Monday, we decided to see a few remaining options. As we were leaving, I saw Packard Lofts, the old location for the Packard car dealership, and had Shelley call. This place was perfect in every way! They had a "two months free" promotion which pro-rated over 14 months made it affordable. So we are getting a lot more for a lot less, without the promotion we wouldn't have even thought about it. www.packardloftsla.com

Not Worth It

Driving and owning a “dream” car is way overrated. Besides the name and notoriety of certain cars its still just another car with four wheels, and it goes forward, backwards, and turns left and right. I’m not recommending that anyone drive a piece of junk, but take for example my situation. I owned a Cadillac CTS - great car but again, just a car. It went forward, backwards, and turned left and right (it also had an aux input, very important for iPod lovers like myself). But I did some research and now I’m driving a brand new Pontiac Vibe (don’t worry, the ’09 has the Toyota Matrix engine and great head room) with 0% interest for 72 months and cut my monthly payments in half! I got it at the Reynolds dealership in West Covina of course because they seriously rock, you don’t feel like your being hunted by sales associates who are foaming at the mouth. Anyway look, my point is, don’t fall into this trap that driving the right car will make you happy or give you some type of fulfillment. Just make sure it’s reliable and that it has an auxiliary jack for your iPod.

One step at a time

We are learning to trust God daily, one step at a time. It's difficult in our human nature - I want every thing and every detail planned in advance - but God keeps leading us one step at a time. Obviously God has spoken clearly enough to us that there is a vision and direction that we are heading towards. But the only thing that's crystal clear is.....God is asking us to trust Him daily, one step at a time. It feels a bit like what he told Abraham - he said go, and I'll tell you what to do when you get there. I'm actually learning to like it, and I'm beginning to think this is how God wants us to live everyday of our lives. Too many of us are living and trusting our own plans and goals. It's very difficult in our flesh to admit that we don't control our future, and we go insane pretending like we can. But there is so much freedom and life when we give it all up and start putting our 'now' and 'then' in his hands.

Rented!

8 days with a "For Rent" sign in our yard and tomorrow we should be wrapping up details for a family with twins to move in soon! Now we are trusting God to lead us to find the right place to live in LA.

DNA

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds". (Heb 10:23-24)

"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved". (Heb 10:35&39)

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see". (Heb 11:1)

Why drive to LA?

Why drive to LA?? The Metrolink is awesome. Free parking in Pomona - 15mnts from where I live now. Then just sit back and enjoy. Read a book, do work, listen to your iPod, do push ups, use the bathroom while in motion etc. In fact, I’m writing this blog now. Impossible to do while driving! Also, big thanks to Stewart for the tip on using DASH – a quick, agile little bus that gets you from one end of downtown to the other for a quarter. And it comes every five minutes to just about every corner in the city.
Today I met with a business owner in the South Park district who is interested in learning about our new non-profit start-up. His salon business and realty company are looking to partner with a charity in our new community. I am really looking forward to living down here and getting to know people. I really like the South Park area. I have to admit, there are parts of downtown LA that will be harder to adjust to than others.

Vision Video

Downsize

Tomorrow is garage sale day! 6:30am - put up the garage sale signs. 7am - start the coffee, the pillsbury cinnamon rolls, and start putting stuff outside. Must get rid of the junk....must negotiate well.....must maximize the cash-ola! Please pray we will make 1 million dollars!

Shelley is Brave!

I married the best girl in the world! She is beautiful, intelligent, compassionate, loving, and full of faith. I'm not gonna lie, the conversations about moving to LA, renting out our house, stepping down from being on staff at the best church in OC, transitioning from our Chino Hills (suburban mecca) 4 bedroom home to renting an apartment in the city was not exciting. It took awhile for us to wrap our minds around what that means and what that changes. But it didn't take long to realize that this desire and dream that God has placed in us cannot be ignored and if we chose to stay where we are now it would become our prison.
That's just one of the many reasons why I love Shelley, she loves God way more than she does stuff. She would much rather follow God wherever He leads us than choose an illusion of safety, security, and empty attachments. When something ignites Shelley's passions and drive, you better watch out! Good things will happen.

Journal entry 6-17-09

Just got back from downtown and the LA Live area to get some footage and photos of the area and its surroundings (with John Mediana Photography) plug! This Sunday at our home church (The Cause Community Church - I am proud of my church, and we love our Pastors Bob and Sherry and our entire church family! Everyone's love and support has been so encouraging) I want everyone to be able to see visually what and where we are talking about.

Here is the video script - watch John Mediana work his magic!

60 Second Vision Video
Los Angeles

Opening City Scenes with Demographic Text:

-Map shot of Downtown and south park area
-Day Scenes, people walking, streets etc.
-Night Scenes, buildings, freeway etc.
-Shots of LA Live

Text: Downtown Resident Population is 40,000
Text: Weekday population is 500,000
Text: Annual Visitors to Downtown is 10 million

V/O:
-Since 2001, when the City of Los Angeles passed the adaptive reuse ordinance, the downtown area of Los Angels has tripled in its living resident population.

-Most of us are aware that the city is home to the most extreme economic and physical needs of the poor and homeless. (shots of need)

VERSE:

ACTION: Establishing a non-profit foundation that partners with the City (Los Angeles), business leaders (The Chamber of Commerce), and other agencies (The United Way) to provide affordable medical and drug treatment and educational services to supportive housing units.
(Keywords to flash: Medical Clinic, Drug Treatment/Counseling, Education)

-But there is also a much larger population of people who’s needs are less obvious to the naked eye but none the less real. The spiritual and emotional needs combined with the lack of a caring, accepting, and loving community within their neighborhood are

VERSE:

ACTION: Immediately move into the neighborhood. Begin the organic process of building relationships with people. Establish community book clubs in new condominium/loft high rises in the South Park area.
-Begin the spiritual process of establishing a local Church! Through prayer, planning, and spreading the word
(Keywords to Flash: Move into neighborhood, build relationships, establish a local Church)

The Goal:
-To inspire everyone to live the greatest commandment: To love God with all our heart and the thing that God loves most – others! (Matt. 22:37-39).
-To be a Church that grows, adapts, and partners with the city while continuing to be the love and hope of Christ to the world.

By December 2010:
Loft Groups/ book clubs in every high rise within a 2 block radius
2 gatherings a Sunday at Club Nokia (or other venue)
Monday thru Saturday – missional activities happening EVERY DAY!
At least one successful non-profit missional organization founded and supported by the church and it’s foundation.

Mantra:
REAL LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING!

First Steps

First Steps:
Have a moving sale!
Find renters for our home in Chino Hills
Move into the neighborhood-Become part of the community
Start book clubs in condos/high rise buildings
Establish a foundation/non-profit
Write articles/bylaws etc for church and foundation.
Register as a 501(c)(3) corporation
Attach to city initiatives and organizations making a difference
**see http://www.ladowntownnews.com/articles/2009/06/01/news/doc4a2018b123ada660484714.txt
Secure contract with venue (Club Nokia - in process)
Create names, branding, websites etc.

The call

-To inspire everyone to live the greatest commandment: To love God with all our heart and the thing that God loves most – others! (Matt. 22:37-39).

-Partnering with the City (Los Angeles), business leaders (The Chamber of Commerce), and other agencies (The United Way) to provide affordable medical and drug treatment and educational services to supportive housing units.

-To establish a non-denominational healthy and vibrant church in the LA Live area that is a reflection of its surroundings socially, economically, and in its diversity.

-To be a Church that grows, adapts, and partners with the city while continuing to be the love and hope of Christ to the world.

The Answer

Yes, what I am hearing clearly is it's time to move/obey swiftly and decisively. No question of calling or need now– God wants something to happen in this area. LA live is coming to life, people are coming to live there, and they want and need community. There is no church in this area.

Journal entry 5-18-09

Scary time of life, keep going along and ignore this passion or risk everything and step out in faith. I spent the day in downtown LA. I’ve always found myself drawn to the city, being around people, the aliveness of everything around me, the variety of people, places, sounds, etc. At the same time the city is vulnerable, congested, lonely. I’m keeping my mind, ear, and heart open. The question I can't shake: is God leading us down here? And what does He want to see happen here? It would be like God to set up the impossible so He could work miracles. Bad economy getting worse - getting ready for international adoption of our children from Ethiopia - the value of our house has declined – not the optimal time for many other reasons. But I still feel God saying now is the time. So I’m here listening, waiting, seeking, asking.....here we are. The best part about it is Shelley is ready too.