Kulchar Kruiser God's Gift

Back on March 14th I was in a car accident in which our old van (1999 with over 160,000 miles) was totalled.  After a long search we were able to purchase a new used car last week.  I will use this car mostly for ministry as I travel to meet people and visit our house churches.  We had liability insurance only on the old van so there would be no insurance help as we considered finding a replacement.   We have tried to stay as debt free as much as possible and did not feel purchasing anything on credit was a wise choice at this time.  This meant our budget had to be between five and six thousand dollars from our savings.  But God had another plan!

Immediately after the crash, matter of fact the very first day, the Lord moved on a friend who heard the news to send us $300!  Soon after a couple of gifts were given through the church from New Wine members. We were so blessed that God had moved people to give. Then several weeks later a very large check was given via clergy and churches of our Anglican Lighthouse Network.  We were so humbled by such generosity and how this would ease the burden on our finances.  By this time I had been looking at cars online and at several used car dealers in the area.  I was very discouraged.  Everything in our price range, though in very good shape outwardly, had 100,000 miles or more!

Then some friends of ours introduced us to Daniel Liversedge, a member of the local Baptist church.  Daniel a retired car dealer, still sold on his own 20 to 30 cars a year he found at auction.  He sells them to family and friends as a ministry.  He finds cars with low mileage, sometimes with damage, but fixes them up so that the are a good deal.  When I called Dan, he said he had just got a 2004 PT Cruiser with only 41,000 miles on it!   It was at the repair shop so I needed to wait to see it.   Normally a car this old would have well over 100,000 miles on it.  Dan said he could sell it to us for $5500 which was in our price range. 

The repairs took longer than expected, but Dan wanted to get everything in good working order.  Finally on May 18th he called and wanted me to come look at the car and give it a test drive.  This was great but the real blessing came when we went to the mail box and another check for the Lighthouse Network had arrived for over $1800!  This was so unexpected.  When I met with Dan after the test drive and said I was still interested, I asked him about the price since more repairs were needed than he originally thought.  He assured me the his first figure of $5500 was still good, but that  6% state sales tax ($330) would be added so the car would cost $5830.

When I came home I asked Deb to total up the checks that had come in from all our different sources.   The Lord had sent us $5836!   The Lord had provided for us once again in an extraordinary way.  This is not the first time He has met our needs so precisely.  We are convince that this was the Spirit at work and that the "Kulchar Kruiser" is literally a "Gift of God."

 

Listening Day - Spring 2012

We began our gathering with a time of prayer and worship. This was before we retreated for 2 hours of silence. During this time we looked at texts from the New Testament that spoke of "being" and "doing". What is God calling us to be? What is God calling us to do? These two questions are often the focus of listening prayer.

After our time of retreat we returned to report on how the Spirit was speaking to us. Jim Smith started us off recalling Scriptures he had studied earlier in the week from Proverbs 15 & 16 which reminded him of what we are called to "be" and "do". Struck again by how the ways of the world are so different from the ways of the Lord in Proverbs, Jim was reminded we must be not just listeners of the Word, but doers (James 1:22). The world needs us to be a blessing that they might be drawn to the Lord. Cindy saw a picture of us intentionally working for the Lord together like a knitted garment in which each part was inter-woven and important. Each of us has unique and important gifts. She was reminded that our faith in Christ holds us all together which is at the core of who we are (Eph. 4:16).

This idea of going God's way and living God's way was further captured for us in what became the central image of the day - "The Path". Not two or three verses into Jim's sharing from Proverbs (15:10), that the text spoke of God's correction for those who stray from "the path". It seems in various ways the Spirit was saying again and again, "stay on the path". Pastor Dave shared an image given him in his listening time. The vision was of an open field with a earthen levy holding back flood waters. Near the levy ran a path. Not level but concave which forced the traveler to stay in the middle. He could not see where it came from or where it led, but felt compelled to follow the path and was forced by its shape to walk in the middle. He sensed it would be safe to walk there even though the flood waters threatened. There was comfort that came from knowing that the path had been prepared for him to walk in and if the waters overflowed the path maker would make the way safe.

Rebecca Loach, who joined us from Ohio for our Listening Day, then shared what she felt was a prophetic word (see NewWineMission.blogspot.com for full text). Likening our ministry at New Wine to traveling on a foggy road she felt the Spirit saying:

"Hang on. Stay true to the path you have chosen, those things you believe to be true, honorable and right....There were many times when you did not realize that it was My heart and My purpose at work in your life, for there were times when the path ahead seemed very dark, times when the answer did not seem clear. But I tell you the truth, My children, you have taken the right road and I am still leading you. For dear ones , do not forget that I am the One that apprehended you for this course. I am the One who called you to this task."

Her prophetic word ended with words of comfort and assurance that the fog will lift and that the Lord was calling us to "a season of restoration."

Being

Others, too, received a word of comfort calling us to rest in God. Anne felt an overwhelming sense of peace after a recent period of anxiousness as she quieted herself before the Lord. Kate also heard the Lord saying not to fear or fret but rest in Him. She was directed to Psalm 37 which says in part: "Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him and He will do it...rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him, fret not yourself..." Rob who spent time walking a path over in the Flushing Nature Park was reminded of the creative wonders of Our Creator who knows every detail of all that He has wonderfully made. That includes each of us and the gifts He has placed in us. He also has created our unique Christian community which we call New Wine Anglican Mission. He has made us and will sustain us on our journey. (Rob had a very poetic word which is posted separately on our blog also.) Deb found herself reflecting on the image of being under the "Shadow of the Almighty". This was comforting, while she was reminded the the "shadow of fear" often casts a larger image than the actual object or source of the fear. This would suggest that we need not focus too much on the uncertainties ahead but know that the Lord is with us every step of the way. He is bigger than the things that frighten us. He is the light and will light our path (Psalm 119:105)

Doing

Beth spoke of our special calling in the heart of the city, a place of harvest and a need for restoration. She found humor in the fact that where she was sitting was in plain view of the church's "lost and found". New Wine is a place where the lost can be found. This is one of the things we do. June found herself reflecting on Galatians 6:9 "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith." And again in Hebrews 13 "Through Him then , let us continually, offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that gives thanks to His name, and do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased." The idea of doing good includes strengthening "the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed." (Hebrews 12:12-13). Pat reminded us that that the Shepherd's Psalm (23) speaks of the comfort of the Lord for those on the path:

The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want,

He makes me lie down in green pastures
He leads me beside quiet waters
He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths
of righteousness for His name's sake!

Though a small church, we are mission-minded. Judy reminded us that there is much for us to do for "the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few". Anne pointed out that we have been sending many out as of late: Joy to China, Tim Goodrich to Philly, Mike and Amy Cupp to Grand Rapids, even Nick to Columbia and this summer Kate to Africa. As we continue on this path one might anticipate more will be sent.

This reflection does not capture all that was heard or all that was communicated, but has been an attempt to summarize some of what was heard as we waited on the Lord. As we attempt to listen for what the Lord wants us to "Be" and "Do" we need to make time more regularly to seek the voice of the Lord and listen. Near the end of our sharing time Jim Smith shared an object lesson that spoke to him that morning. As he was walking outside during our time of retreat he heard a bullfrog loudly croaking. It was so loud and pronounced that he thought he would have no problem finding it, but as soon as he got close the old guy went silent. He began to think of this drama like his time of seeking God. Initially the thought; "Why would God grow quiet as I got near?" But then he realized "I had it backwards". "I am the bullfrog and when God seeks me out, I tend to want to hide out of fear!" The message seems clear, let us not be hard to find when God wants to draw near and speak to us. Fear not and let us seek His voice as we serve Him on the path He has set before us.

New Wine Report - May 2012

New Wine Report - May 2012
A week into May 2012 and I feel like I am "chasing my tail". The busyness is good but I lament not keeping people connected in a more timely fashion. April was filled with special events at New Wine. We began with Holy Week where this year I tried to take communion to each of our small groups that met that week. Communion in a "house church" always seems to emphasize the communal nature of the sacrament. This sacred meal is always a community act of worship and is not meant to be primarily a private experience. When we share it in our homes with our friends it has a special significance. Much like when we have friends over for dinner it really helps build our relationships and bonds us in a different way. I am particularly moved when the group is small enough that we pass the elements around helping our neighbor receive. This simple gesture is powerful as we hand each other the bread and the wine, proclaiming "the body of Christ" - "the cup of salvation".

Easter was another joyful gathering as we broke out the "Alleluia's" in song and shouts of praise. We used the Anglican Kenyon Order of Service which requires a great deal of "call and response". No sleeping during this liturgy! I always feel a deeper connection with other believers from other parts of the world when we use this order of service. The music was excellent and helped us kick off this joyous season.

The following Sunday we had the Covenant Players proclaim the Word to us through drama. Their main presentation was a contemporary skit similar to Pilgrim's Progress called "The Upward Path". The picture is of being a radical servant because you have been served. The skit portrayed a picture of how compelling "unconditional service" can be. The next Saturday a few of us practiced what they portrayed by joining Central Park Neighborhood Association (where our Sunday gathering space is located) for their Spring Clean-up day. I was also able to invite the AFS International Student Exchange Group I have helped with to join us for their annual day of service. That meant we had over a dozen international students from around the world raking, picking up trash and serving our neighbors. I can safely say all were blessed at many levels including those of us from New Wine.

The next day Mike and Amy Cupp, one of our newest Church Planters in Michigan, visited us. We officially sponsored Mike during his discernment process and Mike will soon be ordained in the Mission. But because "performance often proceeds position" in the AMIA, they have already begun meeting with people in Grand Rapids and hope to move there in the near future as the Lord opens up doors. We officially laid hands on them and sent them out with a blessing April 22. But just as we sent them off, our daughter Katie returned from her 6 month YWAM mission. It has been a joy to hear how she has grown and found further direction as she hopes to serve full time overseas someday.

Finally, the last Sunday of the month we had Brian and Amy Wolthius from Holland, Michigan share with us their vision of being missionaries to their neighborhood. They intentionally located their family in the heart of the city to help revitalize their neighborhood. They have organized community gardening, rehab projects similar to Habitat for Humanity, and are now offering a community gathering space above their garage as a start up for a house church type fellowship. I love their heart that has led them to build relationships first and now as a natural out growth a church seems to be forming. Not your typical strategy and I love it!

This month has already started off strong with our Spring Listening Day. You can check out our blog to hear more about that at: www.NewWineMission.blogspot.com

Sending, Gathering and Welcoming

Sunday April 22nd we marked a turning point in our relationship with Mike & Amy Cupp. They live in Homer, Michigan and for over a year now they have worshiped with us on several occasions. Mike preached for us and we entered into a discernment process with them as they feel called to be church planters. I have been in regular contact with him and prayed for them and now he will soon be ordained.

They have begun to meet with people in Grand Rapids. If the Lord opens the doors they will move there in the next year or so. Check out their new website:   

http://grandrapidsanglican.org/2.html

We are so grateful the Lord has allowed us to come along side Mike and his family and to be a sending church even though we are not that big of a church ourselves. This feels so much like God who often uses the small and foolish things to confound the big and powerful things of this world.

Next Deb and I, and Pat and Judy Self gathered with other Lighthouse Network church planters for dinner and a chance to catch up last Sunday night in Lansing. Joe and Sue Mlaker, priest at Christ the King Anglican, hosted a social night out with Bishop Doc. After a great evening of just catching up we heard first hand from Bishop Loomis and Allen Kanappell, our Network leader, about transitions in the AMIA organization. It was an important time and gave the 20 or so of us gathered a chance to pray for Doc. Though personally I had hoped the transitional process of coming together with other orthodox Anglicans could be smoother than it has been, I am very hopeful that the Spirit of God is at work. I am convinced that we are in the process of joining forces with more like-minded Christians as we reach pre-Christians with the life transforming message of the Gospel. Please keep our leadership, particularly Bishop Doc, in your prayers. (Even though he wears Purple Converse! At least this Bishop thing has not gone to his head, just to his feet!)

Finally, last Tuesday was a welcoming day as we met our daughter Katie at the airport. After seven months, 22 flights, stops in New Zealand, Israel and Cambodia, she is now safe and sound in Flint. We only have her for a few days as she will be heading off to Chicago to start grad school in Christian Counseling. She believes the Lord is leading her back to Southeast Asia for  more long term mission work as a counselor to train nationals in areas of emotional healing. Pray she gets her body clock adjusted soon and the practical details of living and education will all get worked out. Thank you Lord for the gift of giving us Kate back home safe, even if it is for a short time. Thank you Lord for all those who supported her and allowed her journey on this discernment mission trip.

Easter At the Mission

At New Wine we are trying to do things differently.  Our emphasis is on cell church life and living our faith out in our neighborhoods.  We have not abandoned everything or "thrown the baby out with the bathwater".  Our Sunday Celebrations, however, is NOT the main thing we do.  We try to make the larger gatherings times of sharing and celebration.  There is the sacraments.  There is the proclamation of the Word.  But we also encourage the "Prayers of the People" to be more of a community experience inviting congregation participation not just a liturgical exercise.  We also make time for the sharing of how we see God moving in us and through us.  And though we are more informal than your average liturgical church we sometime pull out the stops and "dress up" in vestments for the high feast such as Easter.  (Check out Dave's new stole in a picture of Easter Sunday service from Mexico - De Colores!)

Easter 2012 was full a great music, thanks to Anne Robinson, Deb Kulchar and Mike Robinson.  We had several good testimonies of God's provision and blessing shared.  But for me, the highlight was the sending forth of one of our newer members, Tim Goodrich, as he heads out east to apprentice as a shoe maker in Philadelphia.   We stood him in our midst and laid on hands, anointed him with oil and sent him out with our blessing.  Tim recently started coming to New Wine and immediately his gift of "invitation" was apparent in that every week he was bring guest with him.  He is such a great example of one who leads and invites in a very natural way.  Tim has been a leader/pastor in a church previously and sees the Lord using him down the road again, but in the mean time he learning the dieing art of handcrafted shoe making.   We hope to continue to support and stay connected with Tim even though he is out east.  Perhaps we can help encourage him on his way to church planting in an urban setting some day down the road.

Thursday Jim Sartor and I had a chance to meet with about 20 church planters down in Troy at Kensington Church.  This mega church has on staff  a future thinking church planting coach Alex McManus.  I love going down there bimonthly for brain storming session as we think together with Alex's help about what we are doing and how we are doing it.  I was blessed yesterday to have Jim go with with me and we sat at a table with 3 other people from a new work in Flint called The Bridge.  I am always challenge and encourage after my time with others who are planting churches, and even better when they are doing it in my neck of the woods!   I am going again May 17th.  I hate going alone so if you are free come join us and be stretched!

New Wine Report - April 2012

Life in the vineyard has been good. We continue to have visitors come to the church on Sundays and we are working at getting to know those who join us for worship. Several folks have become regular and we are hoping to find ways for them to connect with us and us with them. Our hope is that all of us are looking at how the Lord would have us live out this journey of discipleship and service together. It is uncanny how many of our visitors have connections with people in our fellowship without even realizing it. One person had worked at a restaurant that one of our families had frequented for several years. Another couple from New Wine knows another person's parents from years gone by. Still another was the son of a pastor friend who I have worked with in Flushing. We are the "Network Generation" which reenforces the notion that "it is all about relationships". We are not responsible to change the world (that is Jesus' job). We are responsible for the people He places in our paths or into our "networks".

Another example of the Spirit moving in Flint is a young couple contacting me last month. They live in apartments in Flint, but work at the private Catholic primary school in Flushing. They will be married in July and are feeling called to buy a house in Flint. The hope they have is to establish some sort of faith community in a neighborhood to help change and serve the community. They were interested in New Wine, which they found via our Sunday Yard Signs and website, because of our

house church approach to discipleship and mission. The Lord is bringing people like them to Flint. They want to "do church" in a new way. Please pray with us for Nick and Rachel as we do our part to encourage them in their calling to be missionaries to Flint.

I finished the Lent Preaching Series on "Breaking the Power of Shame" last month. The final part was called "The Shame Exchange".

(The sermons can be heard on lineat: http://www.newwinemission.com/Audio_Sermons/ )

What struck me as I worked through the materials from a NAVPRESS study guide by the same name, is that so much of the work of the cross and Easter was about the problem of shame in our lives. Jesus' work on the cross was a matter of taking on our shame and guilt and exchanging it for his righteousness. If we believe this and own it for ourselves, when we sin He wants us to give Him our shame by confessing it and asking Him to take it on. This means we will not have to stand before our judge with head bowed down or in fear of judgment, but free from its hold on us. As Christians we cannot avoid shame when we sin, but now we do not have to hide or run from God. Instead He wants us to bring it to Him and He will set us free. This reminder this Lent was really good news. My prayer is that those of us at New Wine can truly live into the freedom Jesus bought for us on the cross.

Finally, when things go well spiritually the enemy often steps up his mischief. Last month I struggled with the distraction of a car accident. Just as Deb is starting her new full-time job, we find ourselves needing to buy another car. To our surprise and delight, we have already been blessed by over $2,000 of gifts given to us to go towards a new vehicle. That leaves me speechless (which is odd for a preacher). That being said, I have experienced a sense of spiritual oppression in the form of distracting thoughts, which is typical when the devil wants to hassle me. I have learned this is what happens when you are trying to follow after Christ. So we ask your prayers for spiritual protection and continued provision for each of us and our family. I ask you keep Deb in your prayers as she learns her new job. Pray she might find favor and enjoyment in what she does and the new people who she meets.

A Cross About My Neck

In preparations for Holy Week, I purposed to wear a cross for the season of Lent. I am not much of a jewelry person. My wedding band is as much "bling" as I wear at any one time. So to wear the cross daily for 40 days was a way of doing something more than the usual routine of life. It proved to be more effective than I thought.

First I had do put it on each morning and take it off each night. This simple action reminded me why I was wearing it and often caused me to offer a prayer like "draw me closer to you Lord and the meaning of the cross." There were actually some days I thought about not putting it on. More often than not it was out of laziness rather than some rebellion or some fashion statement. It was at these moments I thought about how tempting it would have been for Jesus not to take on the cross and yet He did not turn away.  He prayed to the Father, "Not my will but your will be done."   So I resisted my impulse and put it on each day.

The cross was with me wherever I went. Several people asked about it since I do not commonly wear such things. It provided a witnessing opportunity because the cross has a story. It was given to me in 1999 when I was on pilgrimage to Israel. Our tour guide gave an identical cross to each tourist so he could identify us in crowded places on our trip together.  This meant it went everywhere with me during that very significant event in my life. It was around my neck when I walk where Jesus walked along the Sea of Galilee. It was with me when I stood in Jericho and next to Jacob's well. It went with us to Bethlehem and the upper room. I held it close as we walked the "way of the cross" in the Holy City and visited the church of the Holy Sepulcher which may have been built over Calvary. I remember holding it tight on several occasions as if by touching it, it could help me remember the significance of this place and the feeling that I felt.

Even these past few days of Lent it proved to be significant. I was wearing the cross the morning I was in a car accident in which I totaled the car.  The accident could have been deadly for myself and others involved. Yet, we were all spared. I later pondered how special it was that this cross, the image of a time of great suffering, was with me at such a frightening moment. The cross reminds us that Christ will go even to the worst places of our lives. He goes to places of fear, places of suffering, even places of pain. He is there and He does not shrink back.   His promise is He will be with us always and everywhere!

My cross has two fish and five loaves molded into it to remind me of God's desire to feed those who hunger after him. I think today I can say that the simple act of wearing a cross the past 40 days did feed my soul. It did cause me pause, reflect, push against the temptation to take the easy route and reminded me very much of His provision and blessing in my life. I am thankful for the cross  in more ways than mere words can capture.

One little cross about my neck. Who would have thought?