Houston

Hello all my people…I hope that y’all have been doing well during the past few weeks. My time in Houston, TX was excellent…during the 2 weeks that I was there, I got to spend a lot of time with some incredible people while I was there. Houston is the 4th largest city in the United States with over 2.4 million people living in the city (only New York, LA, & Chicago are more populated). The city has become quite a hubbub for activity with its multiple Fortune 500 headquarters (only NYC has more), the Texas Medical Center (the world’s largest concentration of healthcare & research institutions), NASA’s Johnson Space Center, & one of the most active Theater District’s in the United States. Not bad for a Texas city, eh…

I stayed with my dad & the lovely Marianne while I was in Houston. They live in Spring, TX which is about 25 miles north of downtown Houston. It was very cool for me to get to hang with both of them while I was in the area & catch up on life.

All of my time was spent with a church called Ecclesia (www.ecclesiahouston.org).

Ecclesia is nearly 9 years old and was planted by Chris Seay. Some of y’all might have heard of Chris because he planted UBC Waco about 13 years ago with David Crowder. Chris’ younger brother Robbie Seay is the worship pastor at Ecclesia & has become a pretty popular artist in the past 5-6 years. You can find Chris’ books & Robbie’s music on-line…there are also podcasts of Ecclesia’s sermons on their web site. Ecclesia is situated around downtown Houston, in an area called the Montrose District. Montrose is one of the most culturally diverse areas around Houston…it has a large homosexual population, lots of musicians, a few hippies, homeless people, and lots of middle-class people. I loved the culture that surrounds this area…it is very eclectic. Ecclesia has been in this location for the past 6 years and is passionately seeking to serve the community. One of the ways that they’ve done this is to open a coffee shop, book store, & art gallery in the community. It’s a pretty cool lil’ spot, and the vast majority of the people who go there don’t go to the church.One of the things that I was constantly thinking about & encouraged by with Ecclesia was their vision for incarnation. The vision that we receive from the New Testament is that Jesus comes & incarnates himself amongst humanity…that he puts himself right in the middle of all the beauty, pain, hurt, & joy. Jesus does not distance himself from those whom he is trying to impact except for a few hours on Sunday…he’s in their lives, walking with them & being in deep relationships right where he is. Ecclesia is attempting to be incarnational in their approach to ministry. They’ve put themselves, their building, & their hearts into the middle of Montrose & are seeking to follow Jesus there…it’s a beautiful thing.I got to spend time with a lot of incredible people at Ecclesia…Jeremy McCasland (community pastor), Ian Uriarte (former executive pastor), Chad Karger (former executive pastor), Scott Snodgrass (coffee shop manager), Robbie Seay (worship pastor), Paul Randall (elder), and Jack & Diana Wisdom (elder). This list doesn’t include all of the other people that I got to meet…just those that I sat down and got to chat with. Please check out Ecclesia’s web site and learn more about this community.

I also got to spend a tremendous amount of time with Ecclesia’s church plant in The Woodlands (www.ecclesiathewoodlands.org). The Woodlands is about 35 miles north of downtown Houston is a very affluent community. A few people at Ecclesia had vision to plant this church almost a year ago, so this church plant is still very young! My main contact with Ecclesia is Katie Renfro…Katie and I knew each other through the First Baptist Church of Richardson youth group…woooooo…Randy Johnson is the man! It was very cool hanging with Katie, because she’s super-cool and because she is a big part of Ecclesia The Woodlands. This church plant started off with a few small groups, then began to meet for monthly services, and are now meeting for weekly services in a movie theater in The Woodlands. These guys are doing an incredible job of loving and serving people in this area of Houston. One of the big things that Ecclesia The Woodlands is yearning for is a pastor who can really invest in this area & lead them. Please join with me in praying for this team as they continue to seek Jesus in The Woodlands.

I really enjoyed spending time with Ecclesia The Woodlands because what they are doing is very fresh, raw, & organic. It isn’t very big at this point and most of them have not had much experience in ministry or church-planting, so they are really seeking God & uniting together towards this common vision. It was a beautiful thing for me to be a part of and to observe. There is a neat unity in their small community & I was very thankful to be a part of it for awhile!

I had the opportunity to meet with some incredible people who are leading the way at Ecclesia The Woodlands…Katie Renfro (small group leader & administrative guru), Emily Maddock (small group leader), Jeffery Armstreet (small group host & jack-of-all-trades), Paul Abrahams (small group host), Kevin & Lisa Rutledge (small group leaders), & Shawn Maddock (community member). Again, this only lists the people that I was able to spend intentional time with…there were several others that I met along the way. Check out the web site for these guys.

A few key things that I learned & sensed during my time in Houston & with Ecclesia…

• The importance of having unity, vulnerability, & humility in leadership. This is happening with Ecclesia The Woodlands and it’s a pretty incredible thing. There is not a pastor who’s in The Woodlands consistently, so the core group of leadership has really come together.

• The “beautiful messiness” of being incarnational. I already mentioned this earlier, but what I did not say was how difficult it is to be incarnational. It’s easier to be isolated, self-sufficient, & independent. But deep change happens when we engage with other people in authentic community & give our lives away together.
• Mentoring relationships & empowering others is crucial. This is something that Ecclesia has struggled with. Relational discipleship is absolutely essential if we are going to attempt to follow Jesus. I need to be pouring into others & I need others to pour into me.

• Structure that allows vision to actually fulfill it’s purposes. Ecclesia is a place filled with vision but it has struggled to find some sort of organization that allows that vision to be sustained & to flourish. It’s important to have some flexible methods that allow room to change, but that also give vision a chance to happen.

• Engaging in relationships & dialogue with people who are different than I am. This is a big thing that I need to do more of and be more intentional with. My scope and perspective is so limited and I want to walk with people who are different than me, disagree with me, and are seeking different things than me.

Thanks so much for all the love & prayers…

Check out the pics from houston

Houston pics