Portland, OR - WOW.
Not sure how to describe my thoughts as I get ready to pack up my stuff here at Panera Bread across the street from the K2 Building (Kevin Carroll's office) in Portland. This has been one of the most amazing and FULL weeks of the Catalyst Road Trip.
Yesterday I posted about the conundrum I face in describing the beautiful complexities of this road trip via a medium where sound bites rule! Before the term was coined Mark Twain described the concept of a sound bite as "a minimum of sound to a maximum of sense." With full admission that I will fail miserably, here goes:
(Part 1 of 2)
Rick Mckinley
I forgot my video camera when we rolled in to meet with Rick Mckinely, and it proved to be very fitting our time together...and a perfect beginning for the week ahead. There would be no 2 minute moments caught on camera because what is happening in Portland cannot be captured in 2 minutes. Ken Weigel and Rick Mckinley from Imago Dei took Kyle Zimmerman (worship pastor for Mariners Church in Irvine, CA & host for Catalyst West) and I to lunch and let us pepper them with questions...
Rick shared about his story with the church - 18 yrs old, had never been to church, didn't know ANYTHING about it. One Sunday morning he woke up realizing he needed help...AA, church, something. Rick left his house and just showed up at the closest church near his house; it was Palm Sunday, he didn't know what palm sunday was...thought it might have been something where they were going to read his palm. A kid from the youth group came over and said asked Rick, "Why are you here?" "I have no idea," he replied. 6 months later Rick was in bible college...now he is the Pastor at Imago Dei with a Ph.D and next week will be speaking at The Veritas Forum at Harvard.
Portland Culture? Thoughts from our time with Rick & Ken:
Raw thoughts and unprocessed highlights of our time with Rick McKinley. I will will post more thoughts from a few gatherings we had with different leaders in the Portland area as well as one one one moments with leaders like Luis Palau. More soon...
Hope you enjoy your weekend! I am leaving for Seattle this afternoon...hoping the sun will come out in Washington! :)
LV
It's Friday morning, and I am once again greeted by another snow covered scene here in Portland, OR. I haven't posted anything on the blog over the last two days because I find myself trying to figure out the best way to compress what I'm hearing and learning for a quick blog sound bite, and everythig I come up with falls so incredibly short of reality. It just doesn't do it justice. Maybe picrures and captions...who knows. I wanted to at least offer a quick update and let you know that the week has been incredible. From multiple gatherings of leaders across the PDX area to lunch with Rick Mckinley, it's been an incredibly full week of insight into what is happening in the Portland area.
Thank you for your patience as I process everything. The roads are icy so I am going to get an early start on our journey over to meet Luis & Kevin Palau. More soon from the Catalyst Road Trip adventure through what is often called "the least churched region in America."
Praying for another glimpse of the sun,
LV
Join Eric Bryant, author of Pepppermint-Filled Piñatas and Navigator at Mosaic in LA, and Dave Gibbons, founding pastor of NewSong Church and author of The Monkey and The Fish, for a free, LIVE teleseminar on Tuesday, February 3, 2009 at 1:00pm PT. Eric and Dave will be taking questions from participants and discussing aspects of church leadership, growth and planting. Register here: http://www.ericbryant.org/teleseminar/
The Innovation3 conference was this week and it was cool. Did you go?
There were over 100 speakers, but here are my Top 3 picks for most interesting/innovative (no offense if you're not on here!).
1) Dave Browning - leads Christ The King. It's a church that focuses on simplicity and multiplication. They spread around the country and around the world by starting a small group in an area, and grow that group and multiply. Once they have enough small groups in an area, they start gathering together at a "worship center." They've been doing this for almost 10 years, they now have thousands of groups, mainly in the NorthWest and foreign countries = tens of thousands of people saved and being discipled.
2) John Bishop - God's doing cool things at John Bishop's church up in Vancouver. 3,000 have been baptized in the last 5 years, I think. And he's all about people, talking about the unbridled truth, and being real. I love his heart.
3) Matt Carter - Pastor of The Austin Stone. They've also grown really quickly and admit that that's been a problem for them. While they were growing quickly they were struggling to get people assimilated and into community. They got people in groups and were hoping community would result, but they just got ingrown and selfish groups. But they've learned that when they give the groups a mission, community comes as a byproduct of the group members being on mission together. Just focusing on community, you get neither mission nor community. But focusing on mission, you get both mission and community - they propose.
Go here to get content from all the speakers at Innovation3 for FREE!
Today was my first full day in Portland, OR and i woke up to a snow storm that grounded the Vanagon. Wade Ollinger, a networking giant in the Northwest, helped organize several meetings with key leaders in the Portland area...he drove down this morning from Seattle to help facilitate a gathering of pastors at Solid Rock Church near downtown Portland. Wade will be a staple for the remainder of the Catalyst Road Trip visit to the Northwest, he has been a HUGE help in making this trip happen.
His decision to drive down from Seattle proved to be a necessary component to the success of the day - he was able to come pick me up :)
John Mark Comer, associate pastor of Solid Rock Church in Portland, OR, served as our host this afternoon. John Mark is the consistent voice for The Way, a Friday night gathering of young adults (18-28) that most people around Portland look to as having a pulse on next generation leaders in the area.
Because of the early morning snow and terrible road conditions I think there were quite a few of people that avoided the drive - but huge thanks to Sarah Nashif, Aaron Von Reuter, & Chuck Bomar for braving the elements and joining us for a round table discussion about ministry to young leaders in the Portland area.
Kyle Zimmerman, worship pastor at Mariners Church in Irvine, CA, flew up to meet me today. He is going to join the Catalyst Road Trip for the next couple of days - he just wants to drive the Vanagon! :)
Tomorrow we are meeting with Rick McKinley from Imago Dei Community - a great week in Portland continues...more soon!
LV
