Buying a Church

If you can go church shopping can you presumably buy a church?  Lately I've been doing a lot of shopping.  Of churches that is.  I counted in my head last night and I've been to 7 churches in the 7 Sundays that I've lived in San Diego.  I'm guessing there were 3 weeks when I didn't go to church at all.  Last Sunday I went to 3 different congregations.  The first one was Crosspointe church.  The name was misleading though.  It should have been called Prophecy Prosperity Powerhouse.  For an hour the band and pastor would exchange the spotlight and make random disparaging comments about other denominations and movements within Christianity.  The most stereotypical Pentecostal church I've ever been to.  After said hour Chris and I left to go home.  At least the church was within walking distance.  On the way home we checked out a rec center by our house.  Who knows, maybe there is basketball court in there...

We were met by Russell, in his late twenties or early thirties wearing an oversized shirt and accessorized with a contemporary manbag.  He was quite friendly and eventually we got into talking about IC and a possible screening.  He was telling us about all the events this church has during the week and some great ways for us to get involved.  He also went on this spiel about how the church needs to forget about denominations and division and return to its roots. We politely asked what denomination his church was apart of.  International Church of Christ . Ok sounds legit enough to me.  When we leave Chris explains to me that he thinks that denomination was the same one his sister got involved with at college, which turned out to be extremely legalistic and considered a cult.  After Wikipedia enlightened us, we realized his spiel was a classic Restorationist argument.  Ok quick review here: First church, freaks.  Second church, cult.  And this is all happening during a very tumultuous time in my faith.  I am tempted to write the whole church thing off.

After lunch my roommate Ad suggested going to another local church called Journey Community Church.  Given that my faith began at a community church, this sounded pretty safe.  So I went.  As we walk up to the church a bunch of young people are walking towards their cars.  Instead of a formal service they were heading downtown to feed the homeless.  Ok this I can deal with.  So we went and had some good conversations and got to meet some pretty resilient people.  I was thinking that that experience redeemed the previous ones.  A couple days later I called Jay and we were talking about our general attitudes at churches now.  I feel like I've moved past criticizing everything a church does.  My thoughts would range from the bulletins to the band.  That really isn't important to me now.  And I almost appreciate that people have found God in all of that- however much I could care about it.  Then I started thinking about my former job at Christ Community and how focused I was on the little things, like the fonts we used for the slides or how we decided to arrange Christmas carols.  And I know those things are important but they're all secondary to what a church is all about.  I've been to so many hip churches who use incredible media and have professional musicians lead their worship time.  But I could care less about that.  Isn't it really about loving people and seeking justice in the world?  And if people at a church aren't concerned about those things then why would I want to become a part of that?  I realized that I really look for people who genuinely care about others.  I can set aside the theological, cultural, and social differences for now.

I then thought of an excerpt from Blue Like Jazz that Kelly read to me and Jay before I finished the book.  It all centered on what was really important about a church and her mission.  Don Miller brought up all these people who are so focused on aesthetics but neglect the heart of what it means to be a good person.  A good person.  How have we lost that?  And I realized that I understood this idea on an emotional level not just an intellectual one.  And a light went on.  And I started thinking about how the church can do this.  That there has to be another way out.  That there has to be something better than this.  Something that's worth shopping for.  And I just might buy it.

This Will Break Your Heart

So we have these staff meetings every other week and for the first 15-20 minutes we share inspiring stories that have happened recently. It's just a great reminder of why we do what we do. Lacey(our tour logistics coordinator) shared a story of a boy who found out about the movie earlier this year and starting hosting screenings. This is all from memory so I'm sure some of it is inaccurate but you get the point. The empowerment aspect to IC is essential to who we are as a company so it was expected. What wasn't so expected was that this guy would call everyday checking in with the office. Everyone is really busy at the office so it becomes a nuisance if someone is calling constantly. Anyway it became this ongoing joke about this guy in the office where people would guess when he would call. This past summer he had a screening and the sent the donations and merch money in as usual. But for some reason he was calling more than usual to check and see if we had posted the money. The office at the time was backed up and busy so the there was a delay. A few days later the boy's mother called Lacey's cell phone. Lacey expected the mom to be really angry with her and was nervous about answering the phone. She picked up and immediately the mom said she wasn't angry just that she needed to tell her the backstory as to why her son had been calling so much. A year ago this boy killed a father and his two daughters in a fluke car accident. It was just a freak accident, there was no alcohol or anything involved. The family had heard about this boy was doing for IC and this last screening was first time they met him. The boy said it was the first time since the accident where he felt like he could give something back. Where he had something to live for. Then Lacey said if this was the only thing that happened in the history of IC and all the work we had been doing from the start, that it would be worth it. It would be worth it because it changed this boy's life. For good.

Quick Update...

Last weekend we went up to a friend of a friend's house in Newport Beach. The house was gorgeous and the family had gone away for the weekend so we had the whole place to ourselves. There was a basketball court and hot tub in the back yard that we got plenty of use out of. Last Saturday night we went to a beach party with an amazing Thanksgiving meal. This house was on the beach and they had gas lamps to keep us warm. There was a Brazilian acoustic duo that was really good. Some of the guys went surfing and I got a wetsuit off of Craig's list for $25. It was such a needed break because only seven of us went. On the way back we went to the church Switchfoot is from. The pastor is the lead singer's dad. After a short but inspiring work week, I went up to LA to visit my friend Prentice for Thanksgiving. I got back last night and we went shopping this morning at 5am. Finally got a camera so there will be plenty of pictures to come. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Meet The Team

We just got our pictures team as a team. It's me, Anna Azarjew, Andrew Mittelstadt, and Jenn Welsch. Anna is our Schools For Schools intern and went on the last tour(in the fall). She is only one in this picture who isn't going on the spring tour. Andrew is from Wyoming and is 19. He went to Uganda when he was 17 and loves adventure. Jenn is from the DC area and she graduated this past year from Mary Washington in Virginia. More to come for sure. Happy belated Thanksgiving!

My Heart Is Heavy...

Our schedule as roadies is pretty busy. We work the 9-5 shift Monday through Friday and have training sessions from 6-8pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This past Tuesday we watched a documentary called Wardance. The story centered around this school in northern Uganda called Patongo. More specifically the school is apart of the Acholi tribe. This tribe is the main people group affected by the civil war. This particular school is enrolled in the Ugandan primary school's music and dance competition. These kids all live in displacement camps but their passion for the arts cannot be suppressed. The movie's tagline is, "The war stole everything, except their music." You guys have to see this movie. It reminded me of the movie Murderball if you've ever seen that. I think it's only in select indie theaters but you never know where it might be playing.

This film broke my heart. Several scenes just crush you. There is a hopeful and redeeming end but the reality of their living situation and this endless war cannot be ignored. After the movie ended I just had to be alone and attempt to process this reminder of the way the world is. Just a brief look at the history books will tell you how slowly things change. We live in a culture where we long for the quick fix and the easy remedy. And I think that idea has been such a temptation to accept. And if I believe that fallacy then I immediately become angry with God. Very angry. How could he let this happen? How can the world be so drastically unfair? I often wonder how I would feel if I was born in northern Uganda, possibly without parents and living in a displacement camp while fighting to survive every day. And wondering if this war will ever end as I feel hope slipping through my fingers. It's just so easy to forget. It's so easy to focus on our own problems. You could realistically go your entire life not giving a damn about anyone else. And you would be culturally acceptable. And that depresses me.

A Weekend In the City

If you like Bloc Party you'll get the title. If not, you're out of the loop. There are some good tunes on their myspace. This past weekend was quite an adventure. On Friday I saw "Dan In Real Life", which I highly recommend. Jay told me to go see it. It's incredibly funny and simultaneously heartwarming. Saturday we ventured down to Tijuana. Oh Tijuana. Dollar Coronas and generic Viagra. Quite the experience. There were little children running up to us constantly trying to sell their chicklets. Remember chicklets? Well apparently they're all the rage south of the border. It was incredibly depressing. TJ is basically a huge slum. There is this bridge you cross to get from the touristy border marketplace into downtown. Under the bridge there seems to be a septic channel flowing steadily downhill. It smelled pleasant. Like a rotting body. You want to talk about economic discomfort and social injustice? Spend an afternoon in the drug trafficking capital of the world.

On the bright side Mexican Coke just might change your life and/or your anti-soda arrogance. It's delicious. It's made with cane sugar, which is far superior to high-fructose corn syrup. We went to this tiny little Spanish restaurant and enjoyed some tapas and sangria. We rode the trolley back home and went out to the Gaslamp district later that night. Gaslamp is amazing. Wine bars, cigar lounges, jazz clubs, coffee houses, and pretty much any nightlife you can think of is found here. Definitely the yuppie(is this an antiquated term?) hotspot. I witnessed a potential fight, which made my evening. We missed the last trolley home and were stuck downtown. So we made the best of it. We went to this swanky diner in the newly opened Hard Rock Hotel. Stuck it out until 3:30am and decided we needed to take a cab home. Keep in mind my bed time average hovers around 11 so this was tough. There were seven of us so we either had to take two cabs(roughly $70) or one van. We found a card to a ride service...but it was a really nice business card so we were worried about the compensation. The guy pulled up in a tricked out Surburban. We told him we made no money and worked for a non-profit and he cut us a deal. It was so nice to get into bed at 4:45am.

Sunday I ran some errands and we went to this hoe down at a church a half-hour north. Tried line dancing for the first time and watched the Colts embarrass themselves for the second week in a row. Pure joy. The church was called Existence. It was like Mosaic's little brother. If you want to check out their website just Google it. Pretty eventful but superficial I know. Next post we'll get into deeper topics. I had some thought-provoking conversations at Starbucks tonight. We'll get to it.

Good night for now. Love you guys.

Friends, Poverty, and Agnostics

I guess it would be nice to introduce you to the cast of characters that will most likely be mentioned in future posts. I've been able to really connect with some of the roadies and it's been a blast. We don't have cable at the house, which is awful. I haven't watched Sportscenter since October 8th exactly. Since almost everyone here is an Office addict, four of us guys find a place to watch it(most likely a staff member's apt. or house) and drive out for the 30 minutes of bliss. Lately we cap off the night with Scrubs too, which is pretty funny. It's Chris, Jared, Josh and I that have been going religiously since we got here. It's my church I guess. Chris is 24 and he's from Ohio. He's a big outdoorsy guy who competitively water skies and lived in Aspen as a lift operator for the snow season. We've been able to really connect with some great conversations and his faith is a huge part of why he's here. Jared is 19, from Nebraska, and his nickname was "baby J" last year because he was the youngest roadie. So he's back for his second season. He's really fun to hang out with and is always ready to go to the beach. He has also introduced me to the world of Guitar Hero. Him and JP would definitely get along. Josh is from rural Washington state and is one of my favorites for sure. He's 20 and loves being around people. He reminds me of Tom a lot. Josh is incredibly caring and also really into sports. One of the few here. We've been going to this sports bar/restaurant called BJ's for the games on Sunday. It's been nice but pricey to watch football. We spent three hours there watching the Pats embarrass the Colts last week. That was great time. So those are just a sampling of some of the people out here. They have incredible stories. I'll leave them for future posts.

I'd like to get into Invisible Children's philosophy of development but will save that for later. It's really incredible. The way we are partnering with the citizens of Uganda is not the status quo for the typical non-profit. We are doing things differently and it's working. Kelly told me about this book a while ago called, "The White Man's Burden". It's almost a manifesto here. I read "The End of Poverty" on the road trip out here and apparently White Man's is the counter argument to Sach's proposals. I just checked out it from the library and hope to get into it soon.

I know some of you are concerned about my faith journey. Well it's certainly been interesting. One of the incentives of coming to IC was that it wasn't a religiously affiliated organization. That appealed to me from the start. That being said, there are about two non-Christians working in the entire organization. So there is that. But everyone here is pretty open minded and willing to discuss their faith. That's been really healthy for me. I'm still very much up in the air when it comes my faith or lack thereof. Last night I had some pretty constructive conversations with an agnostic colleague. I really resonated with his own questions, doubts, and concerns. He feels that it's arrogant to say there is or isn't a God and he's quite open to whether or not that's true. He also has some serious reservations about the Bible, which I also wrestle with. All in all I don't feel a lot has changed but you always feel that way in the midst of it.

Good night.

The First Month

This Saturday will mark the one month anniversary of being a roadie. There's so much to say and so little time to say it. It's so strange to think that we've been out here in San Diego for a month. Life is accelerated out here. There is just no other way to say it. Everything moves so quickly, from relationships to the daily grind. The first week we were here felt like a month. And then the second week flew by. The rest has been the same. So maybe you guys want details? Kind of like Kelly's incredibly descriptive blog? Well I'll try...

There are going to be a total of 47 roadies touring the United States representing Invisible Children and our story. Right now there are 37 people all living together under one roof. When Jay and I pulled into downtown San Diego there were six other roadies here. We spent 10 days or so like that. The seven of us lived in a house in Spring Valley, about a five minute drive to the Invisible Children office. On October 26th the rest of the roadies(who were getting back from a tour) came back and moved into our house. It was a nice house but not made for 37 people. In retrospect(a little foreshadowing here) it wasn't too crammed at all. But last week we moved. We moved to a nicer area with plenty of commerce within walking distance(nice because a lot of roadies don't have cars here). Once I get a hold of a camera I can post some pictures. It's a mansion. Seven bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms, and two kitchens. We have two balconies with a great view. We're pretty much spoiled.

I'm sure you don't care that much about the house but it's been so incredible. Ok now the people here. The other roadies are some of the best people I've ever met. It's actually cliche here to say that someone is "amazing". Cliche! It's almost annoying to hear how great these people are that you've never met. And then you meet them and you realize that they are amazing and that they have huge hearts for people and operate from a source of love. It's ridiculous. It's the opposite of reality. You're surrounded with people who sacrifice. Who choose to sacrifice. Crazy.

More to come.

Disclaimer

So I've felt guilty these past few weeks because I know some of you back home would like to know what's going on here. And I don't want to be "that guy" who thinks the whole world cares about his life. But I do appreciate my friends who keep up with their blogs...it's nice to check in every now and then to see what's new in their lives. All that to say...I'm finally giving in.