A year-long conversation that started at the Q Place “Vital” conference I spoke at a year ago October finally came to fruition. In a rather unusual strategic plan, I was asked to come speak at the two Sunday morning services at Church of the Chimes in San Jose, CA, on November 6, and then return to deliver the Mini-Doable Evangelism Seminar on the following Saturday (November 12). The thinking was that if people in the church could meet me, hear me speak and hear a little about what I’d be presenting in the seminar, more people would come out for the seminar.
Lead Pastor Dwight Bailey knows his people pretty well, apparently. We had a very nice turnout of about 80 people from the two partnering RCA churches (Church of the Chimes and the San Jose Christian Reformed Church), plus a sprinkling of folks from a few other churches in the area. The room was full and the energy high the entire three hours. And once again I heard person after person tell me afterward that they were freed from a huge weight of guilt and shame, and excited about getting off the bench and into the game (of evangelism) using the new paradigm we offered. It was a great morning.
But the weekend really started with me being picked up from the San Jose airport by one of my earliest Young Life club guys from Willow Glen High School, Dave Okun. Dave and Joan (who were both involved in club at Willow Glen) hosted me for Friday and Saturday night at their home, and we started things off right with a wonderful dinner prepared by Joan, who is one of my favorite cooks of all time. We had a bunch of friends share the table with us as well, which is just how you eat in the Okun home. We probably stayed up too late, but it was really quite worth it.
Saturday morning was the seminar (from 9-noon), and I woke up feeling like my lungs and sinuses had been occupied by something large and sticky. I was coughing and my voice sounded a little like Barry White. I got doctored up pretty well from Joan and we headed out to the venue. Church of the Chimes has a prayer team that was actually on site praying during the entire workshop, and they asked to pray for me before we got started, so not only did I get some good meds, I got some awesome prayer. AND, I got some magic lozenges from one of the team members that actually made it possible to speak for the next three hours (I need to find out what those were). Everything went perfectly.
After the seminar, it was lunch at La Villa with Dave. This won’t mean anything to anyone who has never lived in San Jose, but if you have, you know why this was a big deal. I told Dave that I only had one item on my “to do” list for Saturday: Eat some La Villa raviolis. Best ravs EVER. Used to eat them once a week when I was on the Young Life Staff in San Jose (the YL office is still located right across the street from La Villa). They were just like I remembered them, and Dave bought some for me to take home to Sandy. Yum.
We had a few folks over to watch the Stanford/Oregon game on t.v., and more of Joan’s home cookin’ for dinner. I even got to watch the Nevada/Hawaii game, which went pretty late into the night. Another way-too-late night, but awesome still.
Sunday morning we got up and went to the Chimes for the 9am service. After the service, the Okuns headed out to San Francisco to go the the 49er’s game and left me one of their cars to tool around in. My cold kept getting worse and now I was becoming concerned about the flight home (nothing more painful than a sinus problem at 30,000 feet). More meds, nasal spray, etc. During the second service, I met with a large group of leaders from the church to talk about next steps, how DE can become part of the DNA of the church, how it fits in with Q Place and the goals of the church, etc. Spent about an hour and a half in a lively discussion with some really amazing leaders. There is a LOT of momentum for change in this group, and they have already embraced the spiritual practices of noticing, praying and listening in some pretty creative ways. For example, the Middle School pastor told me that she had taught her kids about these practices and encouraged them to write on their hands somewhere the letters “NPL” to remind them to practice them. Later that week she ran into one of the moms of a student in the group, and the mom proudly raised her hand and said, “Look!” She had NPL written on her hand. Her daughter had explained the simple spiritual practices to her and she decided she wanted to practice them, too. That’s how stuff spreads, folks. It was awesome.
My time at the Chimes finally came to a close with a fantastic deli lunch with Outreach Pastor Tim Ruiz. Tim did much of the legwork to get the event planned and organized, and we had chatted briefly in the midst of the chaos, but we hadn’t had a chance to sit down alone, outreach guy to outreach guy, and share our lives together. That was some precious time for me, and I was SO encouraged by Tim’s heart and passion and clarity of vision for the future of this church. What a stud.
After lunch I headed over to an old friend’s house. Kevin Hoch (well, the whole Hoch family, actually) has been part of my life since my earliest days as a Young Life staff member in San Jose. His dad was one of my mentors and trainers. His sister worked with me in club at Willow Glen. His mom still is on my support team after all these years. And Kevin…well, he’s got some kind of cancer that is slowly sucking the life out of him. I hadn’t seen him face-to-face in over 30 years, but had stayed in touch in recent years via his CaringBridge site. He’s feeling a little better this week, but can’t seem to put any weight on (never a problem before cancer, for either of us). So he looks pretty gaunt these days and is feeling weak and frail. But his eyes are bright and his mind is sharp and he still has his wonderful sense of humor. I got to his house in time to watch the second half of the 49er game with him, which probably made conversation easier for us both. Cancer just sucks. I was SO happy to spend a few hours with my friend. It was hard to say goodbye, knowing how final that probably was. Please pray for him and his family now and then.
I found my way back to my other host family, Greg and Pam Yoder (also both YL club kids at Willow Glen). On my way there I got to drive right by my old Jr. High (Union Tigers!) and the high school Sandy and I graduated from (Leigh Longhorns!). Drove by a lot of old neighborhoods I lived in over the 25 years or so we lived in the San Jose area. Lots of great memories. Got to the Yoders and they decided we’d go out to eat dinner, which we did after returning the Okun car and picking up my stuff from their house. Another surprise guest for dinner from the old days joined us and we ate at a Chinese joint on Lincoln Ave. Lots of reminiscing and laughter and warm affection made the meal quite special for me. I really love those kids (who are in their early 50’s now, by the way). Yoder took me to the airport a little early, which is usually a good idea given the full body scanners they now use there. Turned out the flight was delayed by an hour and a half, so I got to watch another football game in the bar right across from the gate I was departing from. Got a lot of noticing and praying and listening done there, too. Everyone in the bar was on my flight, so we bonded around our common misfortune and I listened to their stories and frustrations over a really nice (and horribly expensive) pint of Guinness. Turns out Jesus still hangs out in bars.
So the weekend was a bit of a whirlwind, but very fun and powerful and inspiring for me. There were two pastors from other churches in attendance at the seminar on Saturday who were wanting to book me at their own churches, so I might be back. And I don’t think we’ve heard the last of the Church of the Chimes. Those folks are rockin’ it right now, and there is a palpable sense of the movement of God among them. They’re on a mission. They can’t be stopped. Stay tuned.
