As Promised....

....here's the story on what's been going on in our lives recently. The very limited version, as fatigue makes my typing skills clumsy and I find myself staring at the 's' key for long moments before I jolt myself back to the task at hand..

The past few months have held a lot of excitement, joy, and private struggle for us. I have been unable to discuss the source of pain we've been dealing with because it was so far from resolution and I frankly wasn't sure what to say. I have had such fun with acting and family time, and our recent trip to LA was a great adventure. However, during that time, we were also experiencing great difficulty in our church, and I have had a hard time dealing with it all.
We came to this church a little over a year ago, and through the long weeks we spent getting to know the people before Justin accepted the job, we could tell they had some issues and our time here would not be easy, but we knew we were supposed to come anyway.

For a few months after starting here, things went pretty smoothly. We really love these people and this community, so settling in wasn't hard. However, it didn't take long for a small group of people to get ruffled by Justin's presence in leadership. The complaints they made were not founded in spiritual matters, but areas of preference(they attacked everything from his character to his hairstyle). Strangely, what seemed to upset them the most was the kindness Justin showed them, no matter how poorly they treated him.
I learned a lot about Christ by watching Justin's genuine love for people that didn't care for him; he's not perfect, but his love for people is a beautiful reflection of God's heart.
I realize I'm not able to convey the entire situation clearly, but the whole atmosphere of the church became very difficult to exist in. We even began sending our girls down the street to their grandparent's place of worship so that they wouldn't be subjected to the tension we were experiencing on Sundays.
A few weeks before Mother's Day, this group within the body began holding secret meetings and called for his resignation/threatened to fire him. They did not have the numbers necessary for that since they were a small portion of the people, but their hurtful actions caused a lot of division in the body.
I cannot explain to you how much stress this situation has placed on me personally....there is nothing more frustrating to me than 1) having broken relationships that are beyond my control to bring healing to, and 2) the period of waiting for resolution to a stressful situation when there is no clear end in sight...

In Sunday's meeting just before the congregation was to vote on whether to fire him, Justin had some things to share with the people. A short exerpt:
" Here are the things I won't comprimise on. And you can't ask me to, because this is who God made me... Mission is why this church exists(we can't exist for ourselves anymore); Relevence to our culture is not optional; Structure needs to always submit to God's spirit, we will *never* be travelling back to a time in our past - God is always moving, and we will always be moving forward to follow him; Creativity is a natural result of true spirituality - so our gatherings will place high value on creativity... I love you guys, and I love serving with you, but God asks me to be a spiritual leader first and foremost-not a church/organization leader. And I don't have to be pastor of this church to serve God through loving others and telling them about Christ. I can and will do that anywhere. So, if you do not wholeheartedly stand behind the attitude nd changes I've listed here, ( and let me again make it very clear that these things are *not* negotiable if I remain on as your pastor) then you have the responsibility and right to fire me."

I loved him so much in that moment as he laid it on the line. He was basically saying: I don't hold my position here tightly. If you fire me, I'm still going to follow christ with my entire volition. But I hold the things that are important to God's heart very tightly, and I won't lose grasp of them, even if it means I lose this job.
They voted very strongly to keep him, and the few who want him gone have made it clear that they won't remain here while he is. That saddens us, because we've tried to bring healing there for so long, but on the other hand, it will be somewhat of a relief if the divisive behavior stops. After numerous times trying to meet their needs and encourage them to stay, I now feel that if they decide to leave it may be for the best.

What bothers me the most about all of this is that I've had several friends mention wanting to visit our church because they see Christ in our lives and want to know more...and I've felt like in recent months I cannot invite them because I would hate for them to come and see people who call themselves Christians acting so little like Jesus. I have learned all over again that going to church doesn't make you a follower of Christ; that being a part of modern - day American 'Christianity' doesn't make you a follower of Christ. It's a love that comes from your core, that propels you forward, causes you to serve others and live for something greater than yourself. Christ didn't come to start a religion: He came to restore all of humanity to a life connected with God, lived to the full and poured out for others.



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