Aaron Loy's Ragamuffin Blog

Adventures in Portland

Last week I took a little trip to Portland to connect with a church planter from Vancouver and to take in an ARC 'Church Planter's Round Table' - one of the steps in their assessment process. It was a great trip. Not only is Portland probably the 'coolest' city I've ever been to, but it is home to my beloved Rogue (which I made sure to tour while I was there) and the surrounding area is just as beautiful as everyone says it is. While I was there I also had the opportunity to hang with my buddy Jon and spend an evening with my brother Josh, making for one stellar trip.

For anyone interested in potentially planting or partnering with ARC, let me just say this: this organization is the REAL DEAL. It's no coincidence that prolific leaders like Craig Groeschel and Mark Batterson have chosen to get on board with ARC even though it isn't "their baby," or that the fastest growing churches in the country the last two years were the first two churches planted by ARC. It's not by chance that 92% of ARC's church plants succeed, compared to the national average of less than 20%.  These guys are legit.

And more than just knowing what they're doing, just as importantly, they are exceptionally wonderful people. There was no aura of "we're right and everyone else is wrong," but rather, they graciously gave props to other great church planting orgs (which was very refreshing). When it comes down to it, it seems that they just love Jesus and people and as a result, want to help church planters plant great churches. The entire experience was gracious, personal and genuine. I left thinking, "These are the kinds of people I want to be associated with." I can't recommend ARC high enough to anyone personally considering planting a church and to existing churches looking to get involved in church planting.

Here's a little video I shot for fun while I was there. Really wish I would have gotten more footage of the city and some of the conference, but oh well. Next time. (And yes, I did actually whine about the weather the entire time. SoCal has spoiled me!)

Adventures in Portland from Aaron Loy on Vimeo.

Speaking of Prayer...

As we move closer and closer to planting Mosaic-Lincoln, I’ve found myself praying less and less for “my” church. At first it seemed coincidental, but I've since made a point of keeping it up. I suppose you could call it a practice in Kingdom-mindedness.

Instead, I pray for the city of Lincoln. I pray for its people, for the families, for the local businesses, for the next generation of leaders, for the churches that are already doing great work there and for other new churches that will be planted there in the near future – churches like One80 and 2 Pillars.

And you know what? As I continue in it God is beginning to shift my heart from self-centeredness to others-centeredness. Rather than being so focused on what God might do in “my” little church, he is giving me a passion for what he desires to do in His Church. And I think that is a good thing.

What moves you?

This past week the proteges and I had to create a piece of art in response to the questions "What moves you?" and "What do you desire?" It was fun. Some did spoken word pieces, some created videos, some wrote songs and some of us created photography pieces. The poster below was my piece. All of the photos are of Lincoln, NE and can be found here. 

Admittedly, the real work of my piece had little to do with my fine motor skills. (I used a really cool free program called Shape Collage and printed through my new favorite online printing company: Poster Brain.) No, the real work came as I paged through over 8,000 photos of the city of Lincoln. As I perused the work of so many talented photographers, I found myself captivated by the city to which Megan and I have been called. And as I paged through picture after picture for hours on end, I began to pray for the city.

I prayed for the people of Lincoln who today find themselves without hope. I prayed for those trapped by poverty. I prayed for those drowning in religion. I prayed for those who have succumbed to the apathy of a life without dreams. I prayed for those who will join us in creating a new movement in the city of Lincoln. And I prayed for those who will shape the spiritual landscape of Lincoln's future, many of which do not yet know Christ.

Father, may your spirit blow like a mighty rushing wind throughout the city of Lincoln. Prepare us and the city of Lincoln for all you are preparing to do.

"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below...And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." - Acts 2:17-21

Going Public

 

[Photo RT:]

Wow, what a month it has been! Just over six weeks ago Megan and I went public with our plans to move back to Lincoln, NE at the conclusion of our work here with Mosaic to plant a new church! As some of you know, this dream has been a number of years in the making.

I remember the first time I vocalized this dream to a dear friend back in 2005. We had just moved back to Lincoln from Minneapolis to serve with Rivertree, a church that we had helped start in downtown Lincoln less than two years before. Coming from the twin cities where really good churches seem to be a dime a dozen, I just could not understand how a city like Lincoln - one that has (at the very least) regional influence with the University of Nebraska, one that has nearly 100,000 young adults between the ages of 20 and 40 - had little to nothing that was effectively reaching the city's young adults. I simply couldn't fathom how it was possible that the ten largest churches in Lincoln had come to look so hauntingly similar in form and expression, all the while an entire generation of twenty and thirtysomethings had walked out never to return. Had no one noticed?! Didn't anyone care?! Where was my generation and why was no one reaching them?!

Chase the Lion

I came across this quote today by Mark Batterson that I absolutely love! He calls it the "Lion Chasers Manifesto." I am guessing it is found somewhere in his book that I am reading right now. It goes like this:

"Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Grab life by the mane. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Accumulate experiences. Consider the lilies. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshiping what's right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze new trails. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don't try to be who you're not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away. Chase the lion."

Ahhh, that might as well be my life's mission statement! Hey, my apologies for the sound of silence here lately. Ironically, I have been writing a ton of stuff for school and other projects. Today it dawned on me that much of what I have been working on has to do with life, ministry and leadership. So why not post some of it that might prove helpful? So all that to say that I've got a bunch of stuff I will begin rolling out over the next few weeks. Also, this last week a good friend of mine lovingly made me aware that, to his disappointment, I don't speak nearly enough about Mosaic on here (love you Drew). So I am going to try to be intentional about posting more Mosaic material and thoughts on here that I think might be helpful.

And speaking of Mosaic, me and a good friend of mine are spearheading an effort to get as many of Mosaic's videos available online as possible. So much great stuff has been created here that I think could really help pastors out and minister to faith communities around the world. The only caveat is that due to fuzzy copyrights, we are going to have to offer them for free. So I hope that is cool with you all. Stay tuned...

Predestined to be a Scientologist

This past week me and the protege crew spent a morning touring a Scientology center in, of all places, Hollywood. This has been on our "to-do" list for some time now and it was great to finally get to do it. Part of our reason for going had to do with our discussion about tribes, but the main goal was to experience what it felt like to be on the other side of high pressure evangelism. Unfortunately, they knew we were a group of Christians before we got there so I think we got the non-fat version.

Aside from a hilarious South Park episode (which they cited as an obnoxious headache), I really didn't know much about Scientology prior to my experience the other day. After our rather vague tour that primarily centered around what an amazingly swell guy L. Ron Hubbard was, I still feel there is a lot I don't know. The thing we were a part of was more like a introductory 'first experience' type thing. Although we asked a lot of questions, the answers we got were pretty vague and some actually contradicted things we had heard from those with friends deep into Scientology. It felt more like a PR session catered just for us, but I still learned some interesting things I thought I'd share.

Though you'd never guess it with their horrendous sci fi looking book covers, they are really good at marketing. They know how to draw people in, connect with them, and get 'em 'hooked' without ever having to address the truth behind the truth. And at least on the front end, I can totally see why Scientology has the kind of following it does. They boast about it being the one major world religion started in the 20th century (a rather odd thing to boast about, if you ask me), and frankly, it is exactly the type of religion you would expect to be birthed out of the 20th century. The things they champion are generally good: keeping street drugs out of the hands of kids; helping people become better leaders, better communicators, better human beings; encouraging personal health and success; making families stronger and homes healthier environments for kids to be raised in. These are all good things that most of us can agree on.

Their focus is intellectual and rational, they celebrate knowledge as progression (think "modern"), and interact a lot with popular psychology. They also acknowledge that God exists (something the vast majority of people are willing to agree with) and they will even go as far as to say that "if we miss God, we miss everything." Interestingly, their worship services look just like a church. They have a pulpit, the attenders sit in rows, they baptize babies, do weddings, worship together, even have a leather bound bible (though not called that) written by L. Ron Hubbard himself, filled with sermons for all different kinds of occasions.

They proudly admit to sampling from every major religion and then, perhaps most importantly, they affirm people's personal beliefs while giving themselves and everyone else permission to agree to disagree on most everything spiritual. We hung out with a woman who is an ordained minister and she outright said, "God is the most important thing there is. And there is only one God. There is not a god of the Jews, and a god of the Muslims, a god of the Mormons, etc. There is only one God..." (alright, sounds good, I am tracking with this lady so far...then she says,) "But what God is for me is probably very different than what God is for you."

Bam. There it is. They have essentially taken the things we can all affirm as 'good', championed those things and invested their resources in helping people with them, and then subtracted the one thing that every disillusioned Christian, atheist, apostate, and postmodern thinker has a problem with: the idea that one belief is 'right' and other beliefs are wrong. They have essentially created a community that both empowers personal development and acknowledges spirituality, without ever having to articulate what that spirituality is, allowing each person to define it for him or herself. From our brief introduction to Scientology last week, it almost seems to be the perfect man-made religion.

Year of the Disney

So far, 2009 has been the year of Disney for the Loy household. In January, we used some Christmas money to purchase annual passes to Disneyland (go twice and they're paid for). We've gone a couple times so far. Last month we got to join my parents in Orlando for a few days at Disney World. And today we are heading back to Disneyland with Megan's parents. That is a lot of Disney! Here are a few of my favorite shots, but for friends and family who are interested, here is a link to the rest of our pics. Now, off to enjoy another day at Disney!

 

Stuff to Check Out

Mars Hill Seattle is "going global." Interesting stuff. I love, Love, LOVE their proactivity in seeking to use their influence to plant churches and spread the word. (Sure wish Mosaic would do the same.) And in my opinion, Acts 29 is the best church planting organization in the world (even if they take their reformed theology a little too seriously). However I REALLY don't like the move to video venues. Not at all. Great thoughts on this at Bob Hyatt's blog.

Speaking of Mars Hill, Logos Bible Software is transcribing every sermon Mark Driscoll has ever preached (at M.H. and conferences) and making them searchable by topic or passage via their software. Just as long as Mark doesn't put his name on the bible next, should be good.

Love a good story? Appreciate powerful imagery or quality photography? Have a passion for engaging poverty? You have got to see this.

My good friend and mentor, Tim Bohlke, has offically launched Harbor Ministries - a God-given dream that has been several years in the making! And having had the privelege of seeing this dream grow and develop over the past couple years, I am very excited for what they are setting out to do - namely, coming alongside leaders to help them develop, find their rhythm, lead their families, make transitions, and get their feet underneath them again.

This spring I am taking part in their RHYTHMinTWENTY experience. Rhythm is a 2 year journey alongside twenty other twentysomething leaders. If it sounds like something you or someone you know might be interested in, definitely check it out.

For anyone in southern California this weekend, there is "a FREE hybrid conference for idea makers" this Friday and Saturday called The Idea Camp. Going to be some big names, a cool spirit of ideation and collaboration, and some really neat workshops. And did I mention that its free?

"Barbie Dream Church? OMG!"

Thanks, Todd Rhodes, for this gem! To all my friends at Fuller, you know I got nothin but love for you.

Flakey Bloggers Unite

**Has it really been 9 weeks since my last post?! Something tells me that isn't too good for one's readership (my statcounter, for one). My apologies. These last couple months of silence have been busy and have involved a lot of inner turmoil. I have been wrestling with expectations, confronting some of my own shortcomings, questioning whether or not I desire to be in vocational ministry again someday, (and just in case the answer to that question turns out to be "no") playing with some other possibilities, trying to figure out how to be a better husband, and engaging the age old practice of having fun. But all that to say that I think I have finally come out the other end - in a much better place than where I started - and ready to get back in the blogging saddle again.**

And just what would a triumphant re-entry into bloggerdome be without some snapshots of my last couple months? If you answered "lame", you'd be exactly right. So here goes...

In mid November we headed back to Lincoln for my brother Jake's wedding. The first order of business was the bachelor party. We rented a limo, dressed up in our finest pirate garb and headed out on the town for a night of pillaging and rock'n roll. For anyone looking for bachelor party ideas, I highly recommend this one. From the impromptu sidewalk sword fights, to the epic limo gun battles, to the autographs and stares at Yia Yia's downtown, this was one for the ages. (I am not liable for expletive gestures.)

The next night was the night of the rehearsal dinner. We didn't really have any ideas for an after party. Then we found out that the State Theater was at our disposal, if we wanted it. After a quick brainstorming session, we ran out and got a dozen assorted nerf guns and headed to the theater for an epic nerf battle. No would could have guessed this night would turn out to be even better than the previous one. Perhaps it was the drunk pub patrons pasionately cheering us on through the windows, the incredible layout of twisted hallways and bases, or the opportunity for all of us to be 12 again, but whatever the case, most of us agree it was one of the funnest nights of our lives.

The following day was the big one. It was a beautiful wedding filled with both moving and hilarious moments (the hilarious ones I can't really share on here, so you'll have to use your imagination). 

After the ceremony, the wedding party hopped on a party bus to celebrate before rejoining everyone at the Lodge at Wilderness Ridge for the dance party to end all dance parties. We figuratively and literally tore the dance floor up!

 

It was a fitting way to celebrate Jake & Allie's new marriage and it wrapped up what was easily one of the funnest three days stretches of my life.

I spent most of the last week of November at beautiful Point Loma in San Diego for Strengths Coach training with Gallup. All I gotta say is that it is a good thing I didn't visit this school while I was in high school because it just might have inspired me to become a Nazarene. It also turned out that my good buddy Derick was in town celebrating his birthday, so I got to crash with him in a suite at the Hard Rock Hotel (easily the coolest hotel I've ever stayed at) and hang with some of his fellow firefighters (great guys) in SD's gas lamp district (which absolutely shames downtown L.A.) The training? Oh yea, that was good too. Really.

Last month I had the wonderful opportunity of spending some time with Dan Kimball while he was in town. He and his lead pastor, Josh (great guy!), met with us to talk about the protege program. (For anyone interested, they will be launching their own protege program at Vintage Faith in Santa Cruz this fall!) Dan has been an instrumental and influential voice of clarity in the emerging church movement for some time now. His Emerging Worship was one of my favorite resources for ideas and discussion when I served as a worship pastor. I have to say that I was so impressed and encouraged by Dan's kind and humble spirit, his hunger for understanding, and his interest in little people (like myself). Although he is a bonafide rock star in many circles, he still comes off as someone who is genuinely accessible and endlessly loyal. Spending time with him was truly an honor.

 

Since Megan is relatively new to her job and we just took time off for the wedding in November, we spent Christmas here in L.A. with my sister-in-law's family. It was a really good time and very relaxing. (Notice picture of me toting the video camera like a good dad.) Also, just in case you were wondering, Amy Grant was right: Christmas in L.A. does make for a warm holiday.

We had roughly a dozen people staying in our apartment for New Year's. It was filled with much dancing, rocking out, cranium (guy's won), and shouting at the church group camping underneath our balcony. The next morning we got up, watched the Rose Bowl Parade from our balcony (very cool), and then cheered on our Husker's as they beat out Clemson in the Gator Bowl! It was a great way to ring in the new year!!

Alright, I think I am finally caught up! Now, lets move on to some substance...