One exciting aspect of the way that we’re starting Iron City Church is that I have nearly a month between our services this summer.  Its given me a chance to do a lot of recon (visiting other churches in the area and elsewhere), but its also giving me a chance to preach in a variety of churches.  In the next month I’ll be preaching here, here, and here - not to mention our next monthly service, which is July 15.  I love getting the opportunity to preach and its fun to see how many different types of churches there are in this area.  I’m looking forward to all these other places, but I can’t wait until July 15 to be with the ICC tribe that is beginning to come together….

Over the last two weeks with the mission teams that have come to help us out, we have intentionally prayed over the homes, recreation areas, and businesses of our target area for over 8 hours, washed 75 cars free of charge in Jesus’ name, distributed thousands of door hangers, given away over 1,500 free granola bars and a few hundred cold bottles of water, and made relational connections with dozens of families in the North Hills of Pittsburgh who don’t have a church home.

We have encountered some resistance, but God is faithful and has used that resistance to make us even more focused and determined that He is doing something amazing here.  Thank you God that you are bigger than any seemingly closed doors that come our way.  Thank you that YOU are starting this iteration of YOUR church and the gates of hell will not overcome it.  Continue to give us the drive and courage to crash against those gates to rescue men, women, and young people from a Christ-less life now and for eternity.

And thank you most of all for the countless lives, families, and communities that you will transform for Your Glory and Your Kingdom just because we’re willing to be faithful to do that which you have called us to do.

My blogging has been just about non-existent these last couple of weeks.  We’ve had over 60 volunteers come through the North Hills to be a part of the Iron City experience and bless us since June 16.  This week was especially busy.

There were nearly 200 teenage students in Pittsburgh this week with a program called PowerPlant.  The idea is that all these students converge on a city (this year there are 10 different cities) and spend a week helping out various church plants in the city.  Its designed to serve as a boost of help and an encouragement to the church planters and expose all the participants to what church planting is all about.

I had two groups with me this week (about 20 in all) - one from Athens, TN and one from Easton, MD – and both were great.  I called them my “delta force”.  A lot of our original plans were shut down so they got to do a lot of the special forces work of church planting (prayer-walking and prayer-driving).  All in all, we did about 6 hours worth of praying over our target area in the last 5 days.

On Tuesday we held two simultaneous FREE car washes and were able to serve 44 families over the course of a few hours by washing their car (no charge, no donations accepted) in Jesus’ name.  Then Thursday we held a community block party.  In spite of pretty nasty, wet weather, we were able to connect with 16 new families.

All in all it was a really good week.   When added to the normal ebb and flow of a week it was pretty draining, but totally worth it.  These groups have helped ICC out more than we may ever fully realize and I believe God will use this week to spark a passion for starting new churches in the hearts of these young people and their group leaders.

For far too long we’ve measured the success of any given church by how many things they’re doing. 

Besides the fact that it looks good to type all of those activities in the bulletin each week and brag to your friends, it gives us a reason for Christians to be at the church building EVERY NIGHT OF THE WEEK – effectively keeping the foot soldiers in the Kingdom of God from having time to do what we’re called to -> be salt & light to a dark and decaying world. 

Iron City Church is (and will always be) about doing a few things with God-honoring, man-inspiring excellence, rather than a whole bunch of things with mediocrity.

Once again, Steven Furtick knocks it out of the park with the following post, about this very same topic: Pastor Steven Furtick » Be Ruth’s Chris, Not Golden Corral

In addition to a lot of the other things that have been going on – closed doors regarding some of our marketing plans and good contacts in the community – we have been getting a pile of emails lately from folks interested in checking us out.  There’s almost a tangible feeling of inertia going now that we’re moving forward.  It’s like the little tiny snowball that starts rolling down the hill….

A lot of the emails and such are coming from our “More Jesus, Less Crap” signs that go up on the weekends when we’re meeting.  Just about every contact we’ve gotten lately, be it on Sunday morning or via phone or email has been as a result of those signs.  It seems there’s a open door here for a church that focuses on introducing people to Jesus and cuts out the extra-biblical crap.

I’ve said it before, but God has been shaping the vision for this church in me long before I ever dreamed of doing this and now He’s plopped me in exactly the place that this vision was designed for.  Thank you God that you’re the orchestrating things and not me and my feeble, short-sighted brain.  What an amazing ride this is!

I can’t believe its Friday already.  The group that has been helping us out all week had a van break down, so I’ve been helping shuttle people around all week.  Besides that, it seems that we’ve been shut down on a lot of fronts this week with some of the stuff we had planned to do with them.

In spite of all that, we held a free car wash yesterday at Mr. Tire on McKnight Road (one of the main roads in our community).  We had a great time, washed a bunch of cars considering it was a weekday that was raining off an on.

The best part was that I got to connect with about 30 people from all walks of life (Jewish, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Catholics, Protestants, etc.) and explain to them why we would give away something most folks charge money for.  Jesus gave His life for us, so its the least we can do to give you a free car wash.  The reactions were priceless.  What a thought-provoking idea…  Good stuff!

At times on the journey of starting ICC thus far I have been extremely disappointed and disillusioned with the church in America.  The apathy, indifference, and lack of missional motivation that I have seen breaks my heart and – frankly – pisses me off.

On the other hand, God has also blessed me by bringing me into contact with a bunch of different churches (of all types, from all over) who are sold out for the cause of Christ and expanding the Kingdom of God.  On Friday night and Saturday we had a group of young people from the central part of Pennsylvania out helping us.  Just being able to spend some time with them and worship with their group on Friday night was so refreshing.  A group whose sole focus is to fulfill the greatest commandments – Love God and Love People!

Then last night the group from Clearwater Baptist Church in Athens, TN, showed up to help us out this week.  They arrived after midnight last night and crashed and got up and at it this morning by passing out door hangers.  I got them started and came into the office.  They called a little while ago and shared that they’re planning to take a short break to eat and then get back on it this evening.  They’re pretty sure they can finish up by tonight.

I love the fact that all these folks are willing to give of themselves to help out with this beautiful dream called Iron City Church.  I love the fact that they’re getting the chance to experience our city and community and they’ll have a lasting impression from here on out as they pray for us.  Especially I love the fact that this is a tiny glimpse of what the church could and should look like when we work together.  Thank you God for these groups and their heart to make your name famous in the Pittsburgh metro area!

Yesterday was amazing.  We had 57 people at Iron City Church’s first annual MAN DAY celebration.  Included in that were a bunch of families who are brand new and interested in learning more about ICC.  In honor of man day, the cafe was serving nachos and cocktail weinies.  The place was all decked out with Steelers stuff and Sports Illustrated and I rode the motorcycle out for the welcome time.

As part of our More summer series, the message yesterday was “More Than Stale Religion”.  We read and talked about Philippians 3:1-11 where Paul lays out his “religious” pedigree and then explains how all that stuff is just “skubalon” – crap – compared to the relationship that he now has with Jesus Christ.  Hence our slogan at ICC, “More Jesus, Less Crap!”  In May we looked at how a life of significance in Christ is “more than success.”  Yesterday I shared the life-changing power of a relationship with Christ and how it is “more than stale religion.” 

It was an awesome day and God did His thing in bringing out the folks He wanted there.  Thanks to everyone who was praying for the day and especially thanks to THE ONE who is orchestrating this whole dream called Iron City Church!

I am experiencing an entirely different range of feelings tonight than I was for last month’s service.  I wanted to try to document this for future reference.

We had a group in town passing out door hangers for us this morning.  They’re a group of high schoolers (and some rocking leaders) from the central part of Pennsylvania, and they’re sold out for Christ.  It was definitely encouraging to spend a little bit of time with them and they did a great job getting some door hangers out and embracing the divine opportunities along the way.  My best estimate is that they got out about another 2,500 pieces today. 

I think the blender in my belly is a result of a number of factors: 1) we got some unhappy customers from the door hangers who felt it was their responsibility to “thank” us on the office answering machine – always fun, 2) we got a bunch of hits on the website today and a number of them filled out surveys and/or comment forms, 3) tomorrow is another chance to see how God has been at work over the last month in us and through us in this community, and 4) I get to share a message in the morning that God’s been shaping in me for over 10 years (long before being a pastor/church planter was even on my radar screen)!

Tomorrow is yet another step on our way to seeing the Pittsburgh metro area turned on its head for the cause of Jesus Christ.  I love this ride and I can’t wait to see what God does in the morning! 

My sister came into town last night with two more of her kids (to bring you up to speed, now the only members of her family not present are Jonathan, the oldest boy, and Eric, my bro-in-law).  Eric works a job that makes summers a bad time to try and do anything and Jonathan has some baseball games.  I’m taking half of today to join the rest of the family in another trip to the zoo.  Looking forward to it.  Then I can come back and finish making preps for everything going on this weekend.

We’ve got Man Day this Sunday (our second monthly service – I can’t wait), a mission team from Central PA coming in tomorrow night (Friday) and putting out door hangers on Saturday AM, then another mission team from Tennessee coming in Sunday evening to stay for about a week.  On top of that, our friends Jeff and Leslie Mousa will be in town.  Jeff went through the church planting school at West Ridge Church with me and I’m looking forward to hanging out with both of them some this weekend.  Awesome days.  I love this life God has given me.