Church planting is….

What a strange journey we've been on.  We left the comfort of a stable salary and now live every month by faith, just like Jesus' own disciples were called to do (Luke 10).  We live trusting that God will call our friends and family to provide enough money for us to do the work that God called us to do.  He called us to start a church in the Jackson Neighborhood.  A church for people who don't like church, a church of neighbors who would focus on three things:  Jesus, people, and place.  A church that started a small business to employ people in our neighborhood with barriers to employment, and started a non-profit that would meet our neighbourhood's specific needs, and a gathering that would meet weekly at Jackson Elementary to hear Jesus' incredible message as it relates to all of our lives in the Jackson Neighborhood. .    

We think the church needs to get entangled with the neighborhood. We think the church needs to love it local and invite imagination for how to announce Jesus' incredible message. We think church is about family and local community -- our church isn't above our neighborhood, we are a church of our neighborhood. We think the the church is the incarnate faithful presence of Jesus and called to demonstrate the gospel by serving the 923 homes of Jackson. And we think the church is called to dwell beside our neighbors because that's what Jesus did for us.

As a church we are going to focus on three things:  Jesus, people, and place.   And even before our launch (January 2016 @ Jackson Elementary) incredible things are happening in each of those areas.  We are hosting 3 parties in the neighborhood….because we love our neighborhood and enjoy spending time with neighbors.  We are currently renovating a dilapidated workshop in our neighborhood and turning it into a place where neighborhood teenagers could be paired with Christian mentors who are skilled woodworkers, welders, and artisans. Could those teens hear about Jesus and acquire skills that could be immediately transferable when they reach the age of employment?  Also, along with some neighbors we are in the process of buying an abandoned house and turning it into a house of hope for the neighbourhood - a place of Kingdom work and a statement that Jesus makes all things new….even ugly and abandoned things.  And our launch team is growing….in fact….6 of the team members have left their full-time jobs to become donor supported missionaries, like us.  They've been called to an unstable adventure, filled with certain struggle, persecution, temptation, and trial (Acts 14:22; John 16:33)….but they have been CALLED.  We understand that….we were called too.  But for them is a special provision:  Jeremiah 29:11.

We have an incredible life, an incredible job, an incredibly hard calling…but it's our JOY.  

And amidst all of this…we are still having fun!  Look below:   

Thanks for being a part of our lives!

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A Short Story - Our first day in the neighborhood

It was only our first day spending time in the neighborhood.

…and we met a new friend named, M.  Barely into her 20's, M is a single mom trying hard to love and care for her kids.  The father of her child is in jail for planning a murder that a gang in the neighborhood carried out.  As we listened to her story, we were amazed that God was giving us an opportunity to peer into the neighborhood through her eyes.  She told us of many kids and families she knows who are hungry, families who don't have running water because their parents can't pay the bills, and neighbors of hers who don't have winter coats.  "There are lots of needs in this neighborhood" she said.

She told us that the challenging parts of the neighborhood are drugs, alcohol, child neglect & abuse, prostitution, and teen pregnancy.  But she didn't say, "hopelessness."  Contrary, she said that there were many people…good people…who love this neighborhood and are seeing it's renewal.  M is one of them.

As M spoke….we felt our hearts enlarging.

Our hearts are actually small…but when you let people in, they make your heart bigger.

She said, "We've tried going to church before...but the churches we visited are far away and it's a lot of gas to get there."  We are wondering if it was for people like M and her friends that Jesus sent us here.    

Our hearts are growing for this place.

If you'd like to consider joining our financial support team or receive our newsletter, please visit www.supportthewhites.com .  Your financial and prayer support are what allow our family to dedicate our lives to making life-long followers of Jesus by planting a neighbourhood focused church in the Jackson neighborhood.
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9 Days Left - Looking for Joy

Works of pride, by self-called creators, with their premium on originality, reduce the Creation to novelty — the faint surprises of minds incapable of wonder.

Pursuing originality, the would-be creator works alone. In loneliness one assumes a responsibility for oneself that one cannot fulfill.

Novelty is a new kind of loneliness. (Wendell Berry, What are People For)

What does this quote mean to us?…wait a second.

We all know that joy comes from gratitude.  When you can bring to mind the things you are grateful for, you begin to notice a joy that isn't dependant on circumstance arising in your heart.  As we begin 2015 coming out of the most unsettling year of our lives (in a really good way), we are beginning to talk about all the things we are grateful for.  We want….need….to experience God's joy.

OK…now back to the quote….

Here is what we are grateful for at the start of 2015:  Jesus isn't asking us to be original or to create something that hasn't been done before.  That type of novelty is a kind of loneliness that Jesus isn't requiring of us.  He's asking us to join his missionary movement in Fresno, to stand with His Church and His people and plant neighbourhood focused churches that impact their neighbourhood and make life-long followers of Jesus.  (God has been doing it since here:  Matthew 28:18­‐20; Acts 2:41‐47; Acts 16:9,12; Titus 1:5ff; Romans 15:19, 23…..and he hasn't stopped since). 

We are wearing joy by trying on gratitude.  We like how it fits.  

p.s. that's Joe running into VERY cold water this morning to celebrate the start of a new year.  He was wearing a Canada hockey jersey.  We are so grateful for nearly 10 years in Canada.  This years' gratitude started COLD.  

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