September Newsletter

Church building update
In my last newsletter I mentioned that our building has been flooded and pretty much torn apart because of water damage. It's been over two months since that has happened and in that time we had been meeting at various places such as the Porter County Fairgrounds and the American Legion. In the meantime we were looking for other avenues, especially aboveground since it limits handicap access, to hold a church service. We found a place and have been meeting there for 2 weeks now. It came together pretty smoothly and it's not in bad shape. It's located right across the street from Valparaiso University and still centrally focused in the downtown Valparaiso area.

9 APEST test takers
Recently I had asked 9 people who are along in their walk with God to take the APEST test. The test asks 50 questions about yourself and you have 10 seconds to answer so you'll pick the one that comes to your mind first and not dwell on the question. The results were pretty accurate but for some it made them think about themselves in light of their role in the body. Next week we're all going to get together and talk about the results. It's not a final say in who you are but it's a tool that will help us along in our journey and the benefits it will be to the whole community. This will also help them look to others in their community that they can in turn build into and disciple.

Intentional discipleship & leadership
For the past couple of months I have been meeting with 3 other guys that are doing house church planting in the Valparaiso area. Our conversations have led us to share a common mission of discipleship in our churches and communities. We are brainstorming future plans of what this looks like and how it can be applied universally to those we're building into. Because of this mutual mission and growing friendships among us we're questioning what this will look like as we grow from our own communities and outward to other cities and states. As we continue the conversation with others were seeing a great desire among those who desire this discipleship journey. There are currently people from Las Vegas and England in on the conversation as well who are looking to partner with us on this mission. These relationships that I'm building here makes me even more joyful with the patience and waiting of what God is doing in Valparaiso. Right now my roommates are still planning to move out West to Idaho to start a house church and this would be a great opportunity to apply this intentional leadership with them and others such as Kris who's in Houston and Brian who's in South Bend. I know there are a few more months left in the year and a whole lot of potential growth in us and what's to come but I'm still prayerfully considering where God is leading me geographically. Please continue to pray for direction and the opportunities that arise. The four of us will be meeting together soon for a day retreat to look and pray for the possibilities that may come from this.

Spring Valley shelter
The Spring Valley Shelter has officially closed it's doors but there are still families residing there. NIPSCO (electric and gas) will be turned off at the end of the month. As of right now every family unit has been placed into new residences but have not moved out of the shelter. Me and several others have been in touch with Housing Opportunities, the organization that acquired the shelter, to make sure the families are still being cared for. The shelter will soon be opened when the grant from the government goes through. We are also trying to raise funds so when new families that come in will have a fresh start with a refurbished living arrangement. The units have been vandalized and could use a fresh coat of paint and furnishings.

Chicago Marathon
Last week I reached my highest amount of mileage with 22 miles! It wasn't as tough as i thought it would be and it also helped that I had someone to run with at my pace. Later in the week my foot started aching so I've been staying off it and was only able to put in 6 miles this week and I missed my long run. I think I also may have strep throat, but that seems to be going away.

Prayer meetings
Every Tuesday the staff at Life Bridge come together and pray for the connect cards that the attendees fill out during the service. We've been able to do this since we've started and it's been a great encouragement to us and the whole body. This weekend we are changing it up so that all the leaders of Life Bridge can be apart of the prayer. The focus is to start helping them to spend their time and energy on the individual as a shepherd more and not as much on the tasks.

Landscaping season coming to an end
The past couple of weeks the work with the landscaping company has been coming to a slow crawl with work. I've stuck with it but I am looking for work during the winter to get me through. I've applied for a job with In Touch Pharmaceuticals and have an interview next Monday. My job would be to deliver medicine to individuals and other pharmacies. So I would be kind of a drug dealer but the good kind. I am still keeping my job with AEC to work at the power plants because that's more worth my time but my overall goal is to make enough to support my living expenses to continue develop into others and Life Bridge. It's been interesting going down this road to do this but it has allowed for some good relationships to be built and priorities to be examined along the way. I appreciate the relationships I do have a lot more and the ones not yet made. This process also makes me question and wonder what's in store for this coming year. If there is more to what the intentional leadership network brings I will focus my time building into others. Within the next few months, if something more comes into fruition I will look to find support individually and locally to cover my financial provisions.

Community Group Block Party
This afternoon the two community groups that I've been apart of hosted a block party at the Elmhurst house. There were a number of things that went right today. Our goal with the block party was to meet some of our neighbors that we wouldn't normally have met typically any given day. Even many of our neighbors met each other for the first time or actually got to sit down and have an actual conversation not in passing. With our fenced in lots and garages that we can pull into without even seeing our neighbors this was a great opportunity to break down those walls and meet the people we live next to. Over 40 plus people came over to have some lunch and play yard games together. Below are some pictures from the party and the link here.

August Update

Since the beginning of the summer it’s been quite busy for me:
● The landscaping job has kept me hard at it and worn out by the end of the day.
● I’ve been running roughly 20-30 miles a week to train for the Chicago Marathon in October (17 miles, the most I’ve ever ran, today!).
● For the past 3 weeks I’ve been traveling back and forth to Mt. Pleasant, TX for a job with Acoustic Emissions Consulting. One of the weeks, I was able to fly into Houston, TX for a weekend to visit Kris. He’s doing well in his job but told me it gets a bit lonely. He is still interested in planting a House Church but not on his own. He is currently going to his sisters church, which he tells me is a bit big and gets lost in the crowd.
● 4 weeks ago our House Church made the decision to branch out into two different locations. Since then it’s been great to see the different type of leaders come out and be who they are in the body. This has also been a good teaching moment about the body and why it’s so important to let Jesus lead as the head.
● The Tuesdays that I spend building relationships and praying with the staff of Life bridge has been very helpful. This past week I met up with one of the “evangelists” in our House Church to talk about a House Church Network. The idea is to provide the necessary resources of equipping and encouragement for those interested in being sent to start new House Churches. With an assessment strategy from Alan Hirsch’s APEST (Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds, Teachers) test and an online community to be connected wherever the Spirit takes us geographically. This will certainly need some prayer.
● Last weekend while there was construction being done along the sidewalk outside the church building, two huge rainstorms came through and flooded out the basement which is where the church gathers. We were already planning on doing some renovation but not to this scale. You take a look here for a video of the damage.
● For the past 10 days our church has had a booth at the Porter County Fair allowing kids to pull a sucker from a board and win a small prize. It’s been a good opportunity to meet new people and introduce ourselves to people all over Porter County. Last weekend we had the opportunity to host our church gathering Sunday at the fair for anyone to come and join us. This worked out perfectly since we were flooded in the basement. They also allowed us to meet there today!
● My mom found out a couple of weeks ago that her house is being foreclosed on. She had until this weekend to move out before it’s being auctioned off on the 3rd. She did find a place to move to and is in good spirits about the whole situation. Please pray for wisdom and wise choices to be made.
● I started playing soccer with the community parks league to meet some new people in the community. It’s been a good time and hopefully will lead to some new relationships. Please pray for that.
● Please also pray that I will continue to persevere where I’m at. It can be discouraging sometimes and a bit frustrating. My heart is not always pouring out God’s love and it can seem hopeless or even comfortable to be this way. Please pray that God will surround me with some present “great cloud of witnesses” to encourage and live the life with. Thank you for your love and support! josh

DNA revealed.

Today I was thinking that it’d be a good thing to tell you guys about what we’re trying to plant into our house churches. I’ve mentioned before about the DNA (Divine Authority, Nurturing Relationships, and Apostolic Mission) that is the core of our church. Simplified it means that we are a church that wants to: become like Jesus, care like Jesus and be sent like Jesus. It’s definitely not in sequential order by any means and if you take one out or focus on one more than the others, it’s just not the church.

Divine Authority (Being like Jesus)

Each week when we get together we’ve been going through the book of John. We just landed on John and stuck with it. When I or anyone else leads the discussion we try to make it a point to see what the passage is telling us as followers of Christ in light of the DNA. How are we becoming transformed? How are we caring for one another and building each other up? How are being sent into the world like Jesus? There’s definitely a lot that the bible has to say about this considering it’s at the heart of the church.

Nurturing Relationships (Caring for people like Jesus)

You can’t make anyone be nice. Even if you threatened with a spanking it wouldn’t be true. By fostering an environment that cares for each other by just doing it is the way to go. Just as we strive to become like Jesus it is a byproduct of a transformed life. This also helps when we purposefully build into each other. Trying to help others be better than yourself. Not only does this happen in our community when we gather together but it happens all the time.

Apostolic Mission (Being sent into the world like Jesus)

We believe that Jesus was sent into the world to restore all creation back to Him. As followers of Jesus we strive to partner with God in this mission. This past month with the Easter dinner and a food drive for the Food Bank we had the chance to practice that. As we care for and build into each other it doesn’t stop there. We’re always thinking about who it is we’re being sent to. As far as leadership goes, it doesn’t rely heavily on a lead pastor or minister but the whole community that has Christ as the head of the church. So as we seek to send people out they are DNA planters that carry the church with them.

This past weekend we had a great time celebrating with God. Brian, Amy, and Kris were baptized in Lake Michigan. FREEZING! It was awesome. Even Kim who was baptized a few months back had the chance to baptize Amy. So the life cycle continues building into one another.

click the link for pics!

pain.

Ahh. The paradox continues. It has been exactly 7 months since July that I haven't been employed by Life Bridge. Just as I went downstairs to get my phone I remembered the ache that had been in my hip for quite some time. It's gone now but it makes me think about Jacob wrestling with God. When I had that constant pain it reminded me of that story. My time of wrestling has since went away, as with the pain, from me but i do feel as though it has shifted to a wandering period now. I've expressed that I feel a lack of purpose, or direction for that matter, in my life that just doesn't sit right with me. The work I have been doing, hasn't filled that purpose but it has provided.

Should I be content?

Should I still continue to praise God or dare to ask for more?

Dare! Dare I say!

That is what fills my head. I desire more, not just provision but more purpose, more intentional drive of my being, of the way I'm wired. To challenge me to be a more deliberate leader, empowering others to do just the same.

How? swims around my head, far and in various ways because there is much room in there.

Wandering in the wilderness. Tempted. By sin and the lure to be my own god.

If Jesus were leading and living my life, where would he go from here? To the people, my mind says, but stick closely to your Father. He will show you...

Guide me Spirit of Truth. Grant me wisdom for I have too many brown hairs! Ha. Take me from this wilderness and guide me to a path of purpose. I see your still waters but that is my refuge. Lead me there if you may but light a fire that shows me boldness and light of your Kingdom.

Wrong About Church Buildings 2 | Out of Ur | Conversations for Ministry Leaders

you should read this article about church buildings. It's a good one! I've personally wrestled with the idea of church buildings since it's been a blessing and a burden. We opened our doors as a church in September 2003 without the hassle of setting up and tearing down as a typical church plant would do. We've had the opportunity to regularly meet bi-weekly since that time. It's allowed us to provide classes and a meeting place for pre-marital counseling and other great things. Being a full time staff member up until July of this year I can see that it can be a burden. Would I still be a paid staff member if we weren't in a building? Not sure. But the rent and utilities does add up along with paying for projectors, sound system, children's and student ministry programs, etc. Does this limit the opportunity to help those in our community with serious needs? Maybe. Read these articles and i'd like to hear your thoughts on them as well!

A few weeks ago, pastor and author Dan Kimball posted an interesting entry here about church buildings. In the introduction, he notes that eight years ago he would have said, “Who needs a building? The early church didn’t have buildings, and we don’t need them either!” Today, however, he notes that he was wrong.

I think he still is.

Here is my official response to Dan Kimball.

click the link to read more... Wrong About Church Buildings 2 | Out of Ur | Conversations for Ministry Leaders

URGENT: PLEASE FORWARD TO EVERYONE!

by Keith Giles

DISCLAIMER: Please read the following article VERY CAREFULLY before you do anything
at all. There is more going on here than meets the eye. You have been forewarned. -

URGENT!
As most of us are aware, Christians today need to be more vigilant than ever before.

This is why what I am about to tell you is SO CRITICAL for each of us. I'm tempted to ask everyone to forward this to EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK right away. (Especially if you "really" love Jesus).

What I'm about to tell you is SO ALARMING, it could seriously threaten Church in America forever!

NEW LEGISLATION
There is new legislation in motion, at the earliest possible stage, which I need to let everyone know about now before it gets out of our control.

First, many of you are already aware that there are forces out there that threaten to take away the non-profit status of Christian Churches in America whenever messages of a political nature are delivered from the pulpit. As desperate as this is, there is a new development brewing now that is EVEN WORSE.

There are people who want to propose legislation that would challenge the non-profit status of any Christian Church simply based on whether or not that Church actually gives a significant percentage of its funds back to the community, as most other "non-religious" non-profits are required to do.

WHAT THIS MEANS is that your church could be in DANGER OF LOSING ITS NON-PROFIT STATUS simply because little of the tithe money goes to help out those poor families who live around the community. EVEN IF THEY DON'T ATTEND YOUR CHURCH!

Of course, there are plenty of churches in America that do care for the poor in their community. They pass out free groceries, they provide free oil changes for single Moms, they host after-school programs for kids in the area at no-charge, etc. Churches who are already "giving back" to the community in this way and serving others the way Jesus would would have NOTHING TO FEAR!

However, if a church in the community were to spend 70%, 80%, or even 99% of its tithe on ITSELF, it would be in danger of losing that non-profit status and would have to pay taxes JUST LIKE ALL OTHER LARGE CORPORATIONS.

This means that a church spending most of the tithe for salaries, or a new building, or the new flat-screen plasma televisions for the announcements in the nursery, or the Starbucks Coffee bar at the back of the Church, or the new carpet, etc., would have to justify their non-profit status on the basis of whether or not they were actually performing any actual "service" to the poor around them. If they couldn't demonstrate a tangible connection between their church and the community around them, their NON-PROFIT STATUS would be REVOKED FOREVER!

REGARDLESS OF THE FACT that Matthew 25 suggests that Jesus takes our concern for the outcast seriously, this attack on the non-profit status of our big, fat American churches is just NOT FAIR!

We've earned the right to collect as many hundreds of thousands of dollars as we like in the name of Jesus and it should be totally up to us how we spend that money. Especially if it's for our OWN NEEDS, WANTS AND DESIRES.

Just because we're not really involved in the needs of the poor around us, the Church SHOULDN'T BE PUNISHED IN THIS WAY.

Regardless of the fact that the Church in America HAS THE POWER and the ECONOMIC RESOURCES necessary provide affordable housing, long-term community development, and primary health care to everyone who needs it, the US Government should NOT be the one to force this upon us through legal means. That should be left up to a Higher Power.

Even though Universal primary education would cost $8 billion a year, which is about half of what parents in the US will spend THIS YEAR on TOYS FOR THEIR OWN CHILDREN, this has nothing to do with those of us who are called by the name of the One who humbled Himself and surrendered His life to demonstrate the compassion of God to the World, and especially to the least and the lost.

So, if you want to protect your church from this kind of judgement, I urge you to write to your pastors, your elders, your deacons and your church leaders and let them know how you feel about this very serious issue that faces the modern Church in America.

We, the Church in America, are dangerously close to the SIN OF SODOM!

Do you know what the Sin of Sodom is? Read Ezekiel 16: 49:

"Now this is the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were proud and did detestable things before me. Therefore, I did away with them as you have seen."

Obviously, the issue facing the Church in America today is WAY MORE SERIOUS THAN SIMPLY OUR NON-PROFIT STATUS! If the Church were to rise up and spend their money this way, THAT WOULD BE AN AWESOME THING, and yes, a lot of people would probably stop calling us HYPOCRITES and maybe they'd take us seriously when we tell them that Jesus loves them, because we've demonstrated that (just maybe) we love them too.

As you may have guessed, this legislation IS TOTALLY FICITIOUS! I have made up the entire thing with the help of my good friend Jarred Romley who first suggested the concept to me.

I couldn't resist mimicking the style of those alarmist Christian email messages we all get forwarded telling us that we must send it on to everyone we have ever known in order to prove our love for Jesus. Please, also forgive me for all the CAPITAL LETTERS I USED!

Seriously, I think if my friend Jarred were to introduce a Bill like this one to our Congress it might put a fire under our churches to wake up and realize that their Bibles are full of commands to care for the outcast, the poor, and the needy who are all around them. If nothing else, it would create an amazing open dialog in the media between the leaders of the Church, the members of the community, and the man on the street about issues of compassion, Christian charity, and the calling of Jesus to care for the poor as we would care for Him. (see Matthew 25)

Until that legislation comes to pass, I will have to resort to stunts like this to try to wake people up and realize that God's heart is for the poor and that He has taken this issue very seriously.

The truth is, the idea of their church losing its non-profit status is more likely to spur Christians to action than the fact that there are thousands of homeless, and poverty-stricken human beings suffering a few blocks from their front door.

"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?"- GOD, speaking of King Josiah in Jeremiah 22:16

Keith Giles

Big love in November.

This past month was full of love. But before we got to November Life Bridge has been preparing to do great things. It started this past summer when our student ministry took a trip to Holland, Michigan for the CIY MOVE conference. This year at the conference \the students were challenged to go out and MOVE in the kingdom of God and serve something more than themselves.
This year, sealed envelopes were handed out which contained cards with a mission written on it. Those with an envelope were asked to pray about it and asked NOT to open the envelope unless they were sure that they were going to complete the mission God had called them to do.
Adults could grab an envelope, but were not compelled to. Jeni Bolton, who has been working with me as a Sr. High Youth Leader, grabbed one. It read:

500 TURKEYS

Organize a food drive for Thanksgiving this year. Make it your goal to raise enough food and funds to feed 500 families.

The goal was to raise 500 turkeys but she took it way past that. She was able to raise enough money and other donations to provide 500 turkey dinners including all the fixins’ for Thanksgiving. You can read more about the process and the organization of it all at www.500Turkeys.com and in the local newspaper here http://www.post-trib.com/news/neighbors/1905063,01n5001126.article.

All the while this was happening, our community group that meets at my house felt compelled to raise some funds for the Rapha House. The Rapha House is committed to rescuing young girls who are victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and prostitution. They provide these young girls a safe home to heal; receive an education; and to empower them to make good life choices.

Our community group thought about all the ways we could go about in raising funds and awareness and landed on the idea to put a race together. Since a few of us are active runners we were able to start spreading the word about it to our running circles. We were able to work with the guys who run the timing to organize a 5K run/walk and 10 mile race. The race was able to raise almost $2000 to help the Rapha House. With over 100 runners we were able to promote awareness and rally together around mission and justice. You can read more about it at www.rapharace.com and in the local newspaper here http://www.post-trib.com/news/neighbors/1878115,01nwoycik1112.article.

Valparaiso may not seem so diverse of a city but if you look close enough, you can see many sub-cultures dwelling within it. We have commuters traveling to Chicago via the train or car. Local business owners making a buck or none. Veterans of the steel mills. Farmers growing and maintaining their crops. Local and out of state students attending V.U., PNC or Ivy Tech. The economic balance within the city is askew and you'll see pockets of racial diversity as well. Just a few blocks south of Life Bridge "the Hill" is known for it's poverty and low-income housing.

As Christians we're called to be sent out into our hurting world and join God in the renewal of all things. Bearing the image of the invisible God, being His Ambassadors, called to peace, mercy and love. Just as Jesus was sent, so are we.

As we recognize the diversity in Valparaiso we also need to recognize who it is we're being sent to. We are to do this by engaging our culture (in the world) without being absorbed by the culture (of the world.) This means we need to tear down our private fences and open up opportunities to know and love our neighbors.

Our mission exists for that purpose: to engage our culture with the image of the invisible God building relationships that transform lives. Each community is unique as is the diversity Valpo has to offer. But at her core are the Word of God and a nurturing community building each other up. When we rally together around mission you see God at work in our community and outward, even to Cambodia.