the quest: a spiritual community in urban columbus: May 2007

05.30.07 thequest UPdate

thequest family,

In reflection on the 4 part summer challenge which we articulated last week, I thought I'd highlight the final one this week.

As I prayed through the John 15 passage which has been our theme section for the year, I was surprised to find no reference by Jesus to "family." The family metaphor is used elsewhere and is a GREAT picture of what the Body is like. That picture is for another time and another place.

Jesus does build a powerful picture throughout this passage. From the vine and branches to obedience to love. Love from the Father and then through Jesus. Jesus shares a command:

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn't confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn't choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other. John 15:13-17 NLT

Coming out of that passage we see that Jesus talks about making friends. God has moved those who follow Him into an intimate and close relationship. Not slaves, but friends. Those who don't just receive orders, but step into a conversational relationship. Amazing.

Friends of Jesus and friends to other followers. Friends encourage friends to follow Him. Friends actually lay down their lives for another. I gotta admit the dream of an authentic community living by laying it down is one reason I wanted to be a part of planting new churches. Churches who would live in community like that. Authentic & loving. It's in our mission and something we can continue to grow in.

I see signs of a "devotion to the fellowship" as Acts 2:42 puts it. The call I put out there was to commit to connect with thequest as friends. To connect with one another and with our network is vital. Let's be friends together. Support our assemblies, our house churches, our ministries, our finances, our mission and vision together.

I'm glad to be a friend of Jesus and a friend of you all in thequest.

Press on,
Mike

to read this week's UPdate click HERE

introducing our summer intern

My name is Daniel Hendon. I just finished my junior year at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, IL. I was raised in a divorced Christian home. Ever since I was little I can remember loving going to downtown Indianapolis and Chicago. I’ve always loved the city. As I’ve grown up and fallen in love with the city a passion in my heart has begun to burn for the city and those who don’t know Jesus and live in the city.

When I first started attending Moody, I thought that I would just be working with the urban poor. As I have lived in downtown Chicago I’ve realized that Jesus loves the whole city from the urban poor to the affluent businessman, to the college student and the artsy entrepreneur and has called me to love the entire city along with Him. I truly feel called to a city in the US. When I first started listening to God’s call I fought. I wanted to make a lot of money as an engineer, so after much prayer and fighting with God, I gave in. Now I don’t think that I could be happy doing anything else. Each year I fall more and more in love with the Gospel, Jesus, and the city that He loves.

Dan is interning with thequest this summer. You can contact him HERE

05.23.07 thequest UPdate

thequest family,

It was a very sweet time on Sunday. We got to see how God is branching us out. Several shared about the ways God is leading them. It is exciting stuff! see more pics on our blog HERE

We got to meet our intern for the summer. We got to sing to Jesus. We got to get challenged again around our vision--to see a strawberry patch of churches in urban Columbus.

I clicked some pictures today of what's happening in my garden. A couple of years ago we planted some strawberry plants. They have reproduced new plants and now are producing berries.

It's amazing to see how "natural" it is. Just as "super-natural" as what God is doing in the lives of those in thequest. These plants are bearing fruit...and so are people on thequest!

I did want to revisit the 3 month challenge that I gave to get us back to the basics of who we are and what we are about. I want to ask that all of us will commit to connect with Jesus, the World, Community and Friends. Check out those areas and some verses below...and let me know where you are Committing to Connect.

Commit to Connect to >>

>>Jesus >> Life Transformation Group
I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

>>World >> Prayer & Share with 3 people
But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! John 15:8

>>Community >> House Church
This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you
. John 15:12

>>Friends >> thequest
There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn't confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn't choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other. John 15:13-17

Let's ramp it up for the summer and see what God does.

Press on,
Mike

read the rest of thequest weekly UPdate HERE

thequest reunion sunday may 20

we has a sweet time together --a reunion

a time to get together, get caught up and get re-united to our vision

check out the pics below:

john leading

singing our worship to Jesus

Sharing from John 15--Remain in Jesus and He'll remain in you.

hoekzema in the house

and good food makes a reunion GREAT!

summer teaching series

Jun 3 How do you know the unknowable?

Jun 17 God as Father? Who is His Family?

Jul 1 God as King? What would His Kingdom look like?

Jul 15 Why is Jesus such a mystery?

Jul 29 How am I supposed to live like God?

Aug 5 Sex? Marriage? Mysterious…

Aug 12 If God is in heaven, how does Jesus live in me?

Aug 19 If God is in heaven, is He coming back here?

05.16.07 thequest UPdate

thequest family,

We all get that feeling when it has "been awhile." A restlessness, an itch to get to something important. It has "been awhile" since we have gathered as a family and had fun together, shared a meal, reminisced, and talked about the future. Reunions are for that kind of thing--to see how much people have grown, to tell stories, see what's going on in each other's lives, meet new people, re-connect with old faces, and more

So we are gonna fix it THIS SUNDAY night. I am energized by what God is doing in people's lives and by the steps many are taking. I'm excited about where thequest is going in the next chapter. We are going to be interacting together. We'll have some out of town guests, an original team member of thequest, our intern for the summer and lots of our family.

Mark out your calendar and look forward to this time. We will have a great time together around our Jesus and with each other! It's time for a reunion.

See you there!

Press on,
Mike

to read the rest of this week's email UPdate click HERE

Grapevine 1

watching the Totzke's grapevine after pruning 05/09/2007

Grapevine 2

Grapevine...getting growing 3

Plasters Sharing Time

It was great to be with our friends the Plasters who are home for a few months. We had a great time being with them and hearing the stories of their love for Jeus and how they are sharing Him with others.

Check out their blog at http://plastersofparis.blogspot.com/

05.09.07 thequest UPdate

thequest family,

I can say it finally...spring is here. Today, I got the air conditioning tuned up because here in crazy weather Ohio, we could hit 100's soon. We are out of the snow for a few months (I hope)

Spring pops forth amazing colors from the plants of creation. As I was looking outside today, I saw a dandelion. That clicked me back to a ditty I wrote a couple years back. An organic picture of seeds and their impact on our world. I thought I would repost it here again:

I've been thinking about a Midwestern spring phenomenon...

Dandelions
"We have all seen the simplest of weeds, the venerable dandelion, masquerading as a flower in the fullness of its yellow bloom, and then quickly fading to gray... Who knows how it came to this little garden, drifting in on the wind, no doubt, and settling unseen into the fertile soil to germinate. Soon it sprouts tiny green leaflets that grow and extend themselves upward...

Who would want to pluck such a brightly colored thing from the ground? In its full flush it seems to exude the energy of spring and summer, tempting the pollinating bees as ably as any rose I have ever seen. Its slender stalks, so frail and milky when snapped away by the casual gardener, are in fact designed to give way easily, so as to leave the vital root of the plant intact. And its hour and day in the sun is fleeting and brief, a mere wink and a nod before the plant gets about its real business-the making of more dandelions.

In a matter of days the golden crown can wither and whiten to an afro of puffy white and gray seedlings. If your hand was in the slightest stayed, and you have not troweled up the deepest tendrils of its roots by then, you have lost your battle with this hardy weed. Try to pluck it away when it has gone to gray, and you ensure the next generation will colonize your world. The slightest touch sets the feather light seedlings to flight, and they drift and scatter on the barest whisper of a breeze. One dandelion can become a hundred in the space of a few short weeks, and any gardener arriving too late on the scene will have a great challenge before him. Just when you think you have plucked out the last of the feisty little demons, you find ten more have rooted somewhere else." *

This week during the INSTITUTE we were spending the hour in Solitude, during that time I started thinking about the seed metaphors that Jesus talked about. My mind ran onto dandelions. In the middle of my musing...one of those delicate dandelion seeds came floating right at me. It missed me yet landed right on the picnic table in front of me. (That cinched that I would be writing about it here in this email! )

The seed didn't find suitable soil there on the picnic table, but a gentle breeze whisked it away more than 20 yards in the air before I couldn't track it. In that little seed lies resident the whole potential to germinate, to grow, to produce a flower, then to produce seeds that starts the cycle all over again. Amazing.

It's amazing that the Good News Seed has resident in it the potential to germinate people into followers of Jesus, to grow, to produce fruit and seeds to start the cycle all over again. It's simple, light, and UNSTOPPABLE! Just like dandelions in the Midwest in springtime...

Press On,
Mike

*the dandelion article above was excerpted from an online article by John Schettler in his article found here posted originally in thequest email UPdate from May 25, 2005

To read the rest of this week's UPdate click HERE

05.02.07 thequest UPdate

thequest family,

Today I got the chance to hang out with a bunch of kids who were so excited about Jesus--students at Grace Christian School. I got to share with them in chapel today. Since May is a month of prayer (with the National and Global days of prayer), I was asked to present about prayer.

I ended up sharing the following verses and having "exercises"--opportunities to stretch the spiritual muscles and activate the Scripture. I'll list the passage in italics below and some exercises for you next to the arrows (>).

I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.

>So first of all...pray for everyone. Pray for someone near you right now.
>Pray these three things:
1) Ask God to Help Them
2) Ask God for His Best for this person as someone standing alongside them (interceding...praying on their behalf)
3) Give thanks for them

Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.

>Pray for those in Governmental authority
(A link to the Ohio governmental leaders HERE)

>Also Pray for others in your life who have a role of leadership in your life (parents, bosses, spiritual leaders, etc.)

This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.

>This kind of praying makes God smile!

>Pray for someone who isn't yet saved, that they would be and would understand the Truth.

For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity -- the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.

>Pray now thanking God for Jesus--His life and His work.

1 Timothy 2:1-6 NLT

Pray on,
Mike

For the rest of the weekly UPdate click HERE