the painted door │ chicago

Chicago, here we come

My wife and I spent all of last week in Indianapolis getting assessed for membership in the Converge network. And the results are in: It's a go!

This is a big deal for The Painted Door, as Converge will provide considerable support, coaching, and money to help us get started (stay tuned for more detailed info on the money piece). Already, the network is handling all of our donation intake and making sure we stay out of jail. Click the give button on the right of this page to learn more about that process.

With the Converge connection established, we are now set for the big move. We expect to hit the ground in Chicago Sept. 19. Eager to meet everybody and get this church rolling. Check back here often for more detailed updates on forthcoming meetings and events. And hop on our Facebook group to join the story.

Sermon audio: it's not about you

I preached for the final time at Mars Hill Church last week, filling the second week of a six-week sermon series we're calling It's All About Jesus. I was charged to preach on identity -- how we wrongly build our identities on the small stories of our lives and how the gospel invites us to build identity instead on the massive story of God's redemption.

You can find the audio here.

we got The City

A couple years back, Pastor Zack Hubert of Mars Hill Church left his stud job at amazon.com to devote all his time to building a social networking website specifically designed for the rhythms of Christian community. He built The City and deployed it at Mars Hill with great success. Rather than spurring mere virtual community, as other social networking sites are wont to do, The City reinforces actual community, structuring itself around physical groups of people as they live together on mission.

Zondervan caught wind of what Mars Hill was up to and swooped in to buy the website for $4 million, hire Zack to continue developing it, and set him up with a penthouse office suite in downtown Seattle and a team to distribute the product to congregations around the globe. In negotiations with Zondervan, Pastor Zack secured a lifetime discount for Acts 29 churches. Enter The Painted Door. I spent two days in admin training last week and presto, thepainteddoor.onthecity.org is now officially up and running. You'll need an invitation to join the site and set up a password, and I'll be sending those out soon after we land in Chicago next month.

For now, here's a screen shot of this beautiful piece of software that will help us organize as a church and be more effective in reaching our city. I'm stoked!

it's all about Jesus

Pastor Mark Driscoll kicked off a new sermon series at Mars Hill Church yesterday with biblical reflections on the humility of Jesus -- that God would become a man. This coming Sunday, I'll build on that staggering reality as we explore how God's descent into history enables our ascent into eternity. Jesus not only came to redeem but also to invite us to participate in the story of redemption, leaving behind the mundane story of self. We are now characters in his grand narrative, actors in a cosmic production that is all about Jesus. Join us Sunday.

Services: 9am, 11:15am, 5pm
Location: Mars Hill Shoreline

dessert was good

Many thanks to all who came out to eat chocolate and send us off last night. We had a great time, very encouraged with all the pledge cards we collected. What an amazingly generous community!