Working On Us.
Working for God (Proving)
When I daydreamed about church planting I definitely dreamed of hard work, lots of gospel conversations, grinding through each day, and reaping lots and LOTS of fruit. Immediately. So much so that our metaphorical nets would be bursting at the seems. I (Michael) definitely am a zealous person who gets very excited about all of the what-ifs, what-could-bes, imagine-ifs, and one-days of life and especially of church planting. I also am zealous enough to not have much of a grasp of patience in these things.
So when we arrived in Denver and got to work on planting this church I quickly encountered confusion and faced a collision of expectations vs. experience. Now, this is not a problem in itself, but what I did with this collision is what bred the problem. I thought that I wasn’t working hard enough so I naturally began to work harder. Not because of the good work that was before me brought joy in Jesus, but rather to begin to prove myself to myself, to others, and to God. I wanted to prove that I was church-planter enough.
Worked on by God (Pruning)
Naturally that didn’t last long. You can do anything, for awhile, but I was confronted, confounded, and caught by the Holy Spirit and His Body. I quickly was faced with the reality that there was much work to be done on me. When I say me, I do primarily mean me (Michael still), but also Ally and our kids. We as a family of VWs had some stuff that needed to be renovated in the home of our hearts.
If we go to the parable of the four soils in Matthew 13 we see that there is not always room for the gospel to grow because of things like rocks and thistles. These past three months, and especially the month of February, through pro-active counseling, friends, co-laborers, prayer and the Holy Spirit the Farmer, Jesus, has been coming in and ripping out rocks and boulders, thistles and thorns from the soil of our hearts to make room for the gospel of the grace and love of Jesus to grow that much deeper, wider, and someday taller in and through us. Similar to the image of being pruned by the vine dresser lopping off dead branches, branches that aren’t helpful, or that are sick in order that the good might grow Jesus has been making room.
Working with God (Participating)
When I talk about this I do not do so in the past tense. By no means are we done with the pruning stage, but I do now know that this is one of the primary works that God has been up to since we arrived in our beloved City. I now know even more plainly the depths at which I didn’t and still don’t believe that I am a son of God, co-heir with the King, who is called to a good work, working alongside of a loving Father.
In this reality we are not starting something to prove our devotion, our work ethic, or our holiness. We are participants in grace, joining in with what God is already doing here in our city. Functioning more like a child at play than a hired hand. I have nothing to prove with this church plant. I have nothing to prove to the city of Denver. Jesus sprouting the gospel in me and in our family is the proof of his Life, and we will simply testify with our hands and with our mouths that He is the way to Abundant Life.
We are grateful for this process, and I look forward to rewriting this same blog post in the future as we watch God work on us as we work with him.
What’s Been Happening?
Aksel started swimming lessons and is officially Aqua-Man!
Michael got a part-time job at a coffee shop downtown and starts Tuesday. This is not only a joy, but an opportunity to provide greater sustainability financially and most importantly a place in the community to meet many new people.
We have started exploring an awesome ministry and non-profit downtown that works to holistically bless and help those who are trapped in cycles of addiction, poverty, homelessness, and isolation.
Ally joined the worship team of The Oaks and even got to lead the Body.
Michael preached his first sermon at The Oaks. To watch both of these check out the video —>
We are in the process of discerning what exactly our target area is in the city of Denver with goals of meeting 100 people in this area in the next 90 days.
We have begun planning and scheming with a potential team member living in the city about an internship under Capitol City Church.
Numerous friends have come to visit over these past few months, including on Ally’s birthday. For that, we are so grateful!
To remind him of his humanity Michael got his first-ever speeding ticket. Praise God for speed trap parked cars.
Prayer Needs
Pray for unity between Ally and I so that we may lead from our marriage as a picture of the gospel.
Pray for Aksel, Flora, and Frances. One of our hopes is that they would experience a double portion of the Spirit than what Ally and I have or will receive in our lifetime. We pray for their souls and their wellbeing as we seek this insane endeavor.
Pray for unity in our ever-forming team! We want a bigger team, but even more, the right team.
Pray for the spiritual reality of the neighborhoods of Capitol Hill, Baker, Speer, Alamo Placita and Lincoln Park. These places are wealthy and affluent with lots of homeless people, but something they are both tethered to is addiction. There is a dark spiritual presence here that we are actively praying on the streets would be pushed back.
Pray for our neighbors. We have two couples on either side of us who do not know Jesus and are of course very okay with that. Pray for these two couples that we would show compassion to them, the heart of Jesus as gentle and lowly, and that their would be a supernatural encounter that they cannot ignore!
Pray for the longing and aimless souls in our neighborhood, Capitol Hill. We are praying that God would give us divine appointments with the poor, the homeless, the wealthy, the millennials, and anyone who resides in this area. Pray for healing, repentance, and renewal.
Pray for our funding to be fully met. We don’t just ask you to give, but to pray that others would join us! We want a vast network of partners to be in on what God is doing. We feel like we are sharing in the spoils of what God is doing when we gain new partners in any way.
Here is our reality:
223 Prayer Partners
1 team member (that isn’t a VW)
$98,500 raised (90% of the way)
Here are our goals:
250 Prayer Partners
A team of 15 people by 2022
$110,000 raised for Phase 1 (Nov. 2020-Oct.2021)
