In January of 2008 I had the opportunity to meet with Luis and Kevin Palau during a roadtrip visit to Portland, OR...it was then that I first heard about their "Season of Service" campaign.  Now, two years later Kevin shares about how their collaborative effort with other area leaders is literally changing the landscape of an entire city.  Take a minute and be encouraged by this amazing update from Kevin...

Missional Living in Portland
By Kevin Palau


"Two years ago in Portland—one of the least churched cities in the United States—hundreds of churches came together to talk about impacting the region for the long-term. Led by the Palau Association as well as the likes of Rick McKinley (Imago Dei), John Bishop (Living Hope), and John Mark Comer (Solid Rock), the conversation focused around word and deed.

The questions:

1. How do we fulfill the Great Commission and the Great Commandment in a sustainable way?
2. What does Portland look like 20 years from now if we love and serve together?

The initial push was toward an evangelistic festival and huge community service effort. The festival—Portland CityFest with Luis Palau—drew more than 100,000 people to Waterfront Park, giving the Gospel center stage in a city often known for its secular perspectives. The community service campaign—Season of Service—opened doors to civic and corporate leaders and started dialogue that would prove monumental. 

Not only did the Good News go out clearly, but more than 27,000 followers of Christ came together to serve the community. In the months leading up to the festival, projects throughout the area gave Christ followers a tangible way to get involved and build bridges where chasms once existed.

Today, the landscape in Portland—as a result of the catalytic festival and ongoing Seasons of Service—is different: 

•    More than 400 churches have formed partnerships with cities throughout the region to continue to love and serve their neighbors. 
•    Annual efforts continue to focus on key areas such as homelessness, health and wellness, and human trafficking.
•    Annual Advent Conspiracy campaigns have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for community-wide initiatives identified by the city. 
•    Portland-area schools have formally requested churches to “adopt” schools in need.

One powerful effort—birthed out of the first Season of Service—was Compassion Connect. Growing from one medical/dental clinic to a full-fledged initiative serving thousands of individuals, this work has come to be one of the shining stars in Portland.

One of their new ventures—the Apartment Complex Initiative—was featured on the front cover of the Oregonian last week. It is yet another great story of how the Lord is using His followers to have a powerful impact here in Portland—for His glory.

The results speak for themselves."

Kevin Palau currently serves as the President of the Luis Palau Association and helps lead collaborative Kingdom efforts in Portland, OR.

Learn more about Kevin and the Luis Palau Association by visiting their blog, http://blogs.palau.org/.  You can also learn more about the Season of Service by visiting http://www.seasonofservice.com/.

Enjoy a surprisingly candid & authentic conversation with Mark Driscoll, Francis Chan & Joshua Harris on ministry & mostly what Francis is doing next & why. 15 minutes.

Today we are giving away the new book from Kary Oberbrunner, Your Secret Name: Discovering Who God Created You to Be.

We all have one–a Secret Name that is. The Bible tells us so. Yet few of us know ours. Many of us are stuck, caught up in the 'Name Game.' Using the story of the biblical patriarch Jacob as a backdrop, author Kary Oberbrunner calls us to stop accepting the world’s labels and start wrestling with God to discover our true identity.

Jacob spent years living out the meaning of his earthly name: 'deceiver.' Caught up in pretending to be someone he wasn’t, he was unaware that God would build a nation through him, unaware that Jesus would be one of his descendents, unaware of the lands he would inherit.

Then he heard God speak his true name and the future God had for him unfolded. Oberbrunner reminds us that we’ll be unable to discern what God wants to build through us until we discover how God has seen us all along. In Your Secret Name, readers will find the courage to abandon what they know in order to become who they were born to be.

TODAY WE ARE GIVING AWAY 5 COPIES!

Here's how to win:

1. TWEET THIS: Win "Your Secret Name" from @KaryOberbrunner today (5 copies) http://bit.ly/dpniLk

2. COMMENT BELOW: Comment below with your twitter name & your favorite song right now (just for fun)

3. AT 5PM EST TODAY: we will choose 5 winners from the comments below to receive one copy of Your Secret Name.

Contest ends TODAY at 5pm EST, Sept 1, 2010.

"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." 1 Tim 2:1-2

This week in the Catalyst Prayer Journal we are praying for our government leaders. We pray that God would give them the grace to rule wisely & justly, that they would repent of whatever wrong they have done and that He would draw them to himself - that they would know God, submit to Him and rule accordingly.

Here's who to pray for:

Your Mayor
Your Governor
The Congressman of your district
Your state senators
President Obama
VP Biden
Any other public leaders

Our friend Anne Jackson's second book, Permission to Speak Freely - Essays and Art on Fear, Confession and Grace releases today! She's giving us a little taste of the book by sharing seven excerpts on seven different blogs, this is the sixth. To read the rest of the essays, check out the links at the end.

Anne is also giving away a copy of her book to two commenters, chosen at random, on Friday. So check out the question at the end and leave a comment to be entered to win!

You can pick up a copy of the book here.

Essay #6 - Ghosts of Churches Past

The confession about the porn and the men and the million other shameful things was the beginning of a spiritual reawakening. Although I wasn’t completely convinced that a sovereign, loving God could just sit by and watch a family get abused by His church, and a sixteen-year-old girl get her heart broken by a youth pastor, there was something new inside my heart that caused me to listen and watch for Him.

I figured if He was who He said He was, maybe He’d show me. Maybe I would give Him another chance.

My best friend Julie, from Abilene, was going to college at Hardin-Simmons and decided she needed a mental and financial respite from university life. I had just left my position managing the Christian bookstore to take a better-paying job in communication design at a trendy dot-com. I invited her to live with me in my cute one-bedroom condo outside of Dallas, and a few days later she showed up with her Nissan Sentra packed full of laundry baskets and clothes.

The weekend rolled around, and I got dressed up to go out with some friends. We had plans to go to a few bars and hear some bands, then head to another friend’s house to drink and sleep over so we wouldn’t have to drive back to our respective homes intoxicated. I asked Julie if she’d like to go along, but she opted to stay behind because partying like that wasn’t really her thing.

It was probably seven o’clock in the morning when I made my way back home, where I crawled into my own bed and cursed the amount of drinking I had done the night before. Julie, as consistent as ever, was already awake and in the shower. I had just nodded off when she came out, dressed nicely, and asked me where we were going to church.

How funny of her to assume that we’d still go to church together like we did in high school. Maybe I was ready to give God another try—but church?

Not a chance.

I muttered some expletives under my breath and told her I didn’t go to church but there was at least one on every corner, so she shouldn’t have a problem finding something to suit her.

She left, and when she came back home, I was still in bed.

This pattern continued for a while until Julie finally convinced me to go to church with her.

She hadn’t yet found a church she was in love with, so I decided if I was going to have to go, I got to choose. We drove up to the Highland Village area of Dallas. A few of my coworkers lived in the area and I figured if I was going to have to go to church, I may as well make a networking opportunity out of it.

We pulled into the parking lot of a Baptist church. It seemed familiar enough and small enough. I recognized a girl from the marketing department of my company sitting on the far right side. We took a bulletin from the ushers and made our way to our seats.

I didn’t feel as uncomfortable as I thought I would. The music was familiar but fresh. Fully expecting to see someone like my father take the stage for the sermon, I was completely surprised when the pastor stepped out. He couldn’t be too much older than we were—maybe in his late twenties or early thirties. And he wasn’t wearing a suit and tie.

Julie asked me as we drove home what I thought. Would I go back?

I shrugged.

At best, I was apathetic, still wrestling with the truth of where and who God was. My logical undercurrent told me the best way to be objective as I attempted to discover—or rediscover—my faith meant I needed to stay away from churches. As nice as the people at the Baptist church were, in my mind, they were the ghosts of pastors and church people in my past that I couldn’t trust.

It wasn’t their fault.

But I still couldn’t move on.

We didn’t go back to church there, or at least I didn’t. Julie may have. However, we did visit a couple of other churches on occasion, usually because of how cute the boys were. Regardless of where I may have attended church the few times I did, I couldn’t let go of the pain and confusion of the past.

Not too long after Julie had moved in, I found out my department at work was being downsized. On a whim, we decided this change of employment was an opportunity to leave Texas behind. A week after my last day at work, we packed up and moved to Kansas City. After all, we were young—almost twenty-two years old at this point—and, except for my family, had zero commitment to anything in Dallas.

In fact, if anything, I felt haunted as I drove through certain parts of town, being reminded of what happened there and with whom.

Maybe a fresh start is what I needed to find God again.

That is, if He was looking for me.

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Have you ever had a difficult time trusting people in churches because of something you experienced in the past?

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For the first essay, visit Don Miller's blog and follow the
chain...

For the next and final essay, visit Anne Jackson's blog, FlowerDust.net.