December

With many of our emerging leaders relocating around the state, nation, and world the Christmas holiday has allowed for an opportunity to analyze and regroup. I have been able to speak with some of our key people in Bellingham the past few weeks and really hash out a vision of what is necessary to see a Community Core (our version of a board) formed in Bellingham! There is still a drive to find more hosts and mentors that would directly engage the student population consistently over time. Basically there is a lot of work to be done, and I need to create a business plan!
So for the next two weeks that is my task, discerning where God is moving and how to see how I can align our mission and vision to that movement!

Some of the meetings that I have had include:

• Meeting with Johnny our resident Bible scholar who is passionate about surrounding and guiding the men at the Fort and around the area in discipleship! This guy is solid, knows Jesus, and sticks to what Jesus taught! One interesting thought that he shared last week was based on the idea that the writings of Paul are the best commentary to the gospel anyone can find. He doesn't devalue Paul's writing (still believing that they are inspired by the Spirit) but emphasizes the importance of knowing and understanding the words and actions of Jesus!
• Shared what we are doing with the Bellingham Integrity Group (BIG) and am hoping to get more face time with them over the next few months, creating a sustainable relationship that will enable emerging leaders to connect with incumbent leaders in the workplace.
• I met with three awesome men that are passionate about making an impact around the campus of Western and will hopefully make the time to interact with the emerging leaders around the area!
  

Overall, the past month has been encouraging and a lot of growth has happened!! I am excited for the next quarter and to see how Jesus impacts Bellingham and the entire state!

Hope y'all have a Merry Christmas!

A month come and gone

I can hardly believe that November is already behind us, and that December is rapidly progressing. Time has flown by, and I as in the past have a hard time keeping up like small tasks of writing a blog!! But alas I will continue to write as often as I can to include you in the picture of how my work is progressing.

The past three weeks have seen the turning of a corner. At the beginning of November I had a meeting with a woman by the name of Amy and she is the first person to commit to any sort of position! From there appointments and people that are willing to be involved with what I am doing in Bellingham has drastically increased. Since that meeting we have seen person after person commit to engaging the emerging generation in relationship and thought! Now the difficult part is continuing to push into God and trust HIM to do the work and not get prideful thinking that I could do anything without him!!

It looks like we will have a functional and pretty website by the beginning of the year which is SOOOO exciting. One thing that I have found over time is that people check out your website and if it is not functional and easy to navigate they don't like it. We are starting to work towards integrating all sorts of videos, social media, and other interesting features! One big opportunity with the site is for people like Johnny to develop studies for the Fort that would have video intros and more in-depth looks into the study to help guide a discussion in a small group. We will be able to post speeches from the forum and governor's prayer breakfast on the site, the hope is that it will eventually be a huge tool for people to learn, discover, and vision for their lives and communities.

On Thursday I had a busy day full of meetings and food! I received updates from Loran and Jim two of the campus ministry directors and learned of what they have seen and heard over the past quarter, and I learned how to better encourage and support them over the next 6 months. Spoke with some emerging leaders that are thinking and questioning how to live intentionally with other people. Meet a new friend who is a creative leader passionate about evangelism and discipleship. Encouraged friends to mediate on the word and join me in an in-depth study and memorization course in the winter! Finally I enjoyed dinner with a professor named Bruce and some of the guys at The Fort. Dinner was definitely worth highlighting; not only was it a great meal, but the conversation was delightful! I learned more about the men that now live at the place I once called home, heard from the wisdom of a incumbent leader, and helped walk the guys through a conflict! Overall a great day!!

As I begin to prepare for the coming weeks and months, pray that Jesus would guide my path as we continue to work at discipling and equipping the next generation of leaders. Pray that they would continue to have the opportunity to hear from incumbent leaders. I hope to keep you updated with my progress over the next few weeks. Until next time, Merry Christmas!

A new season

So I realize that I haven't been as consistent as I had hoped with keeping this blog up. BIG SURPRISE!!! As life gets busier and busier, the small tasks like writing a blog get pushed to the side. But never-the-less I will continue to write as often as I can and remember!

The past few weeks have been busy busy busy! I attended a conference last week and was blown away by many of the talks that were given. Speakers such as Richard Stearns, Judah Smith, Mark Driscoll, and Francis Chan. They gathered to speak to church pastors and leaders, at a conference called Calibrate. The purpose was to discuss and gather around what is the true meaning behind the church and how can we better become the bride that Christ calls us to be! I am currently in the middle of the video by Richard Stearns, President of World Vision, and am blown away at the view presented. There is nothing extremely new to me in this message, but the idea and tone to the message is revolutionary. I am realizing more and more from the conversations I have, talks I hear, and books I read that my life falls completely short of how Jesus asked us to live. In the day to day busyness I can forget to broaden my perspective and remember the hurts and pains of people around the world, to think globally while I act locally. My job and vision right now is focused on creating a sustainable community core in Bellingham, and I know that this is important to God, it is necessary for His Kingdom work. I think it is necessary for me to remember that part of this purpose needs to encourage those around me to think globally, to take chances like Jarrett and Jory and go to India. If we as a community in the NW can begin to think not only about our individual selves, communities, schools, cities, counties, states, regions, nations but rather think about ourselves within the global community there is a chance that Jesus could drastically transform the world.

If we as a generation start to care and transform the way we live as individuals right now, the possibilities are endless. Well that's my soapbox for the day, I'll have to update y'all on my week on Friday!

Much Love,

Brian

Preparing for the future

My apologies for the delay in posting this blog!! I must admit that it had been quite a busy week of writing and editing, so the task of writing another document in the afternoon on Friday just wasn't going to happen. Anyways here is an interesting thought I heard last night about education:

"Education is not about obscure facts and little test scores, education is about the overall effect of years of slow absorption of concepts, philosophies approaches to problem solving the whole process so grand and so encompassing."

The idea that the seemingly monumental amount of time that we spend in school (for many university students over 17 years of schooling before beginning a career) has a deep and grand purpose encourages and inspires me!

This last week was encouraging and fun, I spent a lot of my time up in Bellingham interacting with students and building the community. I prepared numerous documents that will enable me to succeed in future meetings with incumbent leaders around the city and state. These documents included the expectations of community core team members and community hosts, the 2009-2010 annual report, and a brochure explaining more of who we are and what we are striving to accomplish. My hope is that these documents will enable me in the coming months to effectively encourage incumbent leaders, that are nearing their sunset years, that their input and engagement with younger generations is vital to the success of future generations.

As I continue forward, pray that the Holy Spirit would move in the community that I live and work in, that leaders would rise to the calling that God puts on their hearts, and that a community would be transformed. There is a great work happening in the Bellingham community and a great shift is occurring. Thank you for your love and encouragement along this arduous journey!

Fall

As fall begins to sink its teeth farther into our daily routine I have begun to realize how change affects everyone. The change in season causes our surroundings to change, the trees change color, the temperature drops, rain becomes a part of our daily routine, and coffeehouses are seemingly more attractive.

Over the past few weeks I have traveled great distances and discussed with people the idea and thoughts behind community. What does it mean to be the Church that Jesus calls us to be? I have found many different answers but one is constant, that Jesus must be at the core of everything.

This past week Bellingham faced the difficulty of starting the process of grieving the loss of a Western student, and a young daughter both of whom will be missed. With these losses the faith that we hold so dear and close to our hearts shows itself fiercely in the hearts and eyes of the community.

In my work and personal life I had the wonderful opportunity to see and experience the love of Christ through the Church as many close friends wade through the difficulty of grief. These losses only spur me onward with more passion and fire, this is why we need to empower leaders and prepare the emerging leaders! These men and women, through Jesus, can make a lasting impact on the world, they can help the hurting, search for the lost, and point us toward a bright and hopeful future.

This week:

• I met with a couple of house leaders and talked about what it means to have a constant discussion around who Jesus is and what it means to follow him.
• I talked with a good friend in India and was deeply encouraged with how big of an impact he and his brother are having across the world.
• I met with two key leaders in the community that are thinking strategically about how they can connect emerging and incumbent leaders.
• Had coffee with a dear friend who was instrumental in starting the fort and learned more than I ever have about the thought and inspiration of writers.
• Brainstormed new names for WSL
• Picked up a new mac
• Met with the Western Christian Faculty Forum to see where potential synergies could emerge.

Be sure to stay posted! I'll be sure to keep you updated at the end of the week.

A new adventure

On Sunday I completed my first marathon! In 3 months I went from not being able to run a mile without having painful shin splints to finishing 26.2 miles in 5 hours and 21 minutes! The training and discipline required to finish was much more than expected but very worth while!

As for the work that was accomplished this week I felt like I was running at a break neck pace! On Monday my work partner and I left for an adventure on the eastside of the state. We spent Tuesday meeting with students at Whitworth and WSU. It was very encouraging to be able to touch base with these friends and catch up and see where they live, learn, and lead! I shared a meal with a couple of friends and asked them about their lives and the meals that they shared. To me sharing a meal together everyday of the week seemed like an uncommon endeavor for a college students, but them it was common place a daily occurrence that was necessary for relationship. I was reminded of the time that my friends and I spent at the fort sharing life and intentional relationship. Overall, this short trip was so encouraging both for me and our friends on the east side of the state! I'm excited to go back soon.

Thursday was a busy day, we had breakfast with students and heard about their heroes and hopes for the coming week with their houses. We had lunch with Mark Warren and a pastor friend. Talked with friends about setting up a luncheon for Bellingham in October, and finished the day talking with the leads for CCF and The INN (two college ministries). It was a great day of learning and building relationships!

Catching up

I have come to the conclusion that taking going away for a weekend with work and then soon after taking an extended weekend vacation can seriously put a person behind at work! The past few weeks have been crazy and I feel like I am only now catching up because I had a day to hunker down and work yesterday!

As we begin to enter into fall the time of planning, thinking strategically, meeting, and overall prayer will now begin to show themselves. Students have arrived and started class at Western and will be starting at UW this next week. While the rest of the state has been in class for a few weeks the school that I am thinking about is now getting into the swing of things! This week I have done the following:

• Hosted a student breakfast with the leaders of the intentional living communities at WWU
• Went on an epic vacation in Montana zip lining with Caroline's family (check out the pics)
• Spoke with a beloved friend in India who is doing work to change the hearts of students and teachers in Hyderabad
• Studied and discussed the Gospel(check out Colossians 1:27, John 14:6, and John 5:39 &40)
• Continued to discuss what my outcomes are
• Worked on connecting with my friends and family (sharing with them what I am doing and will continue to do in the coming weeks and months)
• Had a planning meeting for the Seattle King County Leadership Prayer Breakfast
• Created a marketing plan for inviting 30 students Washington Weekend in Leavenworth (its an intergenerational weekend with speaker William P. Young)
• Developed a better strategic focus for the year with my partner in crime (Amy McNair)
• Saved a stranded friend from a park and ride
• Invited people to Young Life College (meeting at 9:02 pm at Fraiser Hall #4 on Thursdays)
• Helped a friend get his car out of a ditch
• Discussed how to re-brand WSL's name to reflect its mission, vision, and values

Next week is sure to busy since I have a trip to WSU, Gonzaga, and Whitworth followed by another community gathering in Bellingham, and a meeting with some key people that are helping develop our community core in the city! And oooo I run my marathon on Sunday!!!

I hope all is well with you and that your path has been full of adventure! Until next week!

Brian

The First 3 weeks

Well hello there! Come on in. My name is Brian and I'll be your storyteller for the next few years. This is a blog for friends, family, and anyone else interested in reading about my experiences as an associate for WSL. This might include thoughts that I have heard while on the job, interesting meetings, opportunities had, or relationships built. I will be updating this periodically (hopefully at least weekly) so y'all can hear what is going on and how I'm spending my time! To catch everyone up, I have included a brief synopsis of the past few weeks.

In my three weeks on the job a lot has happened!! I have:

• Traveled and spent time in Seattle each week visioning for what I will be doing the next year, meeting with adults and students, built relationships with the team that I will be spending time with over the next two years, and spent considerable time praying and studying the scriptures (gotta love a "job" that pays ya to pray).
• Begun to build relationships with key adults in the Bellingham area; dreaming with them for a sustainable community core team to surround WWU.
• Gathered student leaders and spent time praying and discussing how to live intentionally as a larger community.
• Met with leaders of various intentional living communities
• Worked out a game plan for how I will be spending my time in Bellingham and Seattle
• Went to Malibu for our Leadership Camp that was focused on building friendships between seasoned leaders and the up and coming generations.

Overall, it has been a whirlwind of a couple of weeks! I am excited to see what happens in the next month. We have a meeting tomorrow with the PLU Campus Core Team, an interest/visioning meeting on the 23rd for Bellingham, and a number of meetings in between! By the end of the month I hope to have built relationship with a number of adults around Bellingham, Seattle, Parkland, and Spokane areas, met and connected with new students at many of the campuses, and connected people around the state.

Well, that's at least a brief look at what I have been doing so far! Keep updated for more info and a solid job description!