UCity :: Transforming cities, neighborhoods and families... one person at a time!

What does it take to transform a city in a way that those who are being transformed AND those who don't want to be transformed (or feel that they don't need transformation) all agree that the transformation is a good thing? Many churches aren't attempting city transformation at all. In fact, their transformation strategy is simply "for everyone to come to our church and agree with our leader, then we will all be changed." Others churches seem to think that transforming cities is all about changing laws and forming political action committees. And while those who are being changed by this see it as a good thing, those who aren't being changed are repulsed by the arrogance and the judgment that comes from these churches. These churches tend to focus their money and leadership energy on the programs of their church, building buildings for people to come to, and sheltering their kids from the "evils" of the world around them.

In the book of Acts 2:47 it is said of the first believers that they "enjoyed the favor of all the people." The first followers of Jesus, lived their lives in such a way that everyone around them (whether they agreed with them or not) thought that what they were doing was a good thing. At UCity - we are focused on transforming cities, neighborhoods and families... one person at a time. It is a community of transformation. We are a "fellowship" (a united group of people) seeking to serve the world around us in a manner that everyone can see our love.

I have read the book The Tangible Kingdom. In it the author talks about how he helps people who are used to going to other churches around get familiar with his church that is pursuing city transformation. I have quoted him and added to it. I like it.... a lot.

"I just want you to know that we're not a church, we're a mission to Harrisburg/Concord/University City. I don't feel any compulsion to feed you spiritually, but I will look after your spiritual formation. I believe you won't grow unless you live like Jesus lived and try to do what he did with people. This mission probably has nothing to offer you. However, I am interested in finding out if God brought you to us, and what your part in serving this city might be. And I am fully confident that if you open yourself up to imitating Jesus, you will begin opening your lives and your homes to those in need around you. As you do participate in this missional community, you will find friends surrounding you and a life that is true life."

Get ready for a focused city transformation... UCity.

BEING the church... UCFellowship.

A note to the movement known as UC Fellowship... a missional community that some call "church."

Thanks for BEING UCFellowship. Notice I didn't say "being a part of" UCFellowship but truly BEING UCFellowship. You are the church. What you do defines who we are and so when you serve, we are a serving church; when you give we are a generous church. When you love we are a loving church. I want to thank you for being several things:

1) Servants - I get complements all the time about how this church serves. You serve all the time...Sundays, Saturdays, early morning, late night, all week long, public, private, local, global, poor, rich... it is amazing to see. So thanks for BEING servants. Several church around recently did a "campaign" to serve the city around them for a day. They asked me if I wanted our church to be a part of it. I politely (or maybe not so politely) told them that I didn't want anyone in our church finding out that at other churches you only have to serve when there is a campaign to do it at one point in the year. I was afraid for you to find out that some people define serving by something you do during a special emphasis, rather than something that God calls us to BE. Simply put, most of the things they were DOING once a year is what we are BEING day in, day out! You make me and other marvel at who we ARE.

2) Authentic - I have NEVER been a part of a more authentic, genuine, real gathering of people. I know that me being authentic helps you to be authentic, but you being authentic helps me to be authentic as well. This past Sunday was amazing. It is great to know that I can come and share my life with a large community that cares about what our family is facing right now in our adoption process. I love sharing the struggles, knowing that I will find compassion, love and care. If you missed the service, please listen to the message from our website. A lot of spiritual leaders just don't feel like they can be authentic AND lead. Unfortunately, their model of leadership is built around the appearance of strength and success with little room for struggle and weakness. Thanks for BEING authentic and allowing me to authentically lead out of my struggles and weakness.

3) Relentless Pursuit of the Mission - Our mission is to "challenge people to trust and imitate Jesus in missional communities for the good of the world." I love the ideas that I get from you daily about how this could play out in your work, home, schools etc. I love how we have created a place that DARES TO DREAM about the way things could be and the way things should be. I love that many of you think about going into the darkest places and bringing the light and hope of God there. I love that we are a place that forms unique connections with the community around us in ways that show unconditional love. I am grateful that many of you are beginning to dream about continuing to expand the mission. It is mission critical for us to never be stagnant, to never slow down and to never give up. Hope will always produce action rooted in faith and prayer.

So thanks for BEING the church!

Definitely need to read this article in preparation for this Sunday's Neighborhood Gathering. Kind of neat that God has us already doing something about this.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091022/ap_on_bi_ge/af_ethiopia_drought


Love loud... risk often... hope always,
David

Movies in the Park... Amazing!

Amazing!!! What an incredible night tonight was. Our first Movies in the Park event could not have been better. After 1900 hits on our MoviesInTheParkHarrisburg.com website yesterday, I was a little concerned that we would be completely overwhelmed with 12,000 people. However, this time we were ready. At 8:15 the Cabarrus County Sheriffs Dept. called the park “full” and a few thousand people enjoyed a great night featuring “The Bee Movie” and tons of smiles. Every detail seemed to be covered right down to having bug spray for people! Unfortunately, we had to turn some people away due to space but that was the plan to eliminate overcrowding and make the experience enjoyable for the 2000-3000 people that were there.

I love being able to express the love that I have for people and even more I love seeing you guys at UCF express that love to your friends and neighbors. Tonight our love was LOUD! It speaks loudly to serve people with something that they obviously want and enjoy. It gives us the opportunity to show love in ways that they easily receive and gives God the opportunity to change some people’s minds about what people who follow Christ look and act like. I have so much confidence in the people who serve at UCF. I can only imagine that we are going to be needing more on Sunday mornings because of the new people that will be giving church another try because of tonight’s event. But even if people don’t show up at UCF because of this movie, tonight they know we care.

I have to get some sleep… AIDS walk is tomorrow and I am expecting to see another 100 UCF servants bight and early in uptown Charlotte at 9:00. Meet at the stage to get your newly designed UCF t-shirts to walk in. And thanks for caring for the forgotten and the suffering. See you in 7 hours!!!

Thanks for loving loud!

This week at the UC!

This weekend is UCF all out!
-Friday - Movies in the Park @ Harrisburg Park @ 8
-Saturday - AIDS Walk @ Uptown Charlotte @ 9
-Sunday - Baptism Celebration right after the Neighborhood Gathering.

This Sunday is going to be incredible. I am anticipating an amazing day as we celebrate those who have trusted Christ over the last few months and are following him in baptism. I love the journeys that lead us to this point and I love being a part of the life-change that God brings when people trust him. I received this email this week from someone who will be baptized this Sunday and I wanted to share with you a glimpse of what God is doing in the lives of those around us at UCF.

The part about how those two guys were re-baptized by Paul is so personal to me because when I was first baptized I knew it was a public declaration of my faith in God, but that was its only significance to me- "Yes, I believe in God"- But, like I told you on the phone, Christ has become so personal to me over the past few years that I feel like I need to be baptized again. Its because though I always believed in God, Jesus was never my personal savior, I didn't relate Him to my life and he wasn't the center of my focus. Let me tell you, the reason why I wept and gave my heart and everything that I am to God on Decmber 24, 2004 was because two things kept running through my mind. One: "He went through that for me" (meaning crucifixion & even more painful; seperation from God) and two: "I don't deserve this" (meaning that kind of mercy). I don't remember who it was but someone told me once when I was growing up that even if I had been the only person on Earth, Jesus still would've come and given up His life for me, I didn't realize the magnitude of that statement until I was able to see what He went through.

But even more than the fact that I want to "publicly declare" my belief and faith in God, the bigger reason for why I want to be baptized is that I want to affirm to myself and to God "Hey, I'm with You, I believe in You and love You." I want to discard my old self and way of life and be re-born, this time with a Greater purpose. I am not the way I used to be and I know that that truth remains the same whether I get baptized or not, but I still have this desire to physically do something that says I AM NOT THE SAME.

You are not going to want to miss this baptism!

ALSO, I have had a huge thought over the last few weeks as I have anticipated receiving my tax rebate in the mail. I would really like for everyone to consider giving $210 of your tax rebate to support Mike and Amy Rodgers. For those of you who don't know, Mike and Amy are UCF's first missionaries in Ethiopia. They have been there for 9 months and UCF supplies about 25% of their daily support. $210 is what it takes to provide for the Rodgers family for one day. So whether you are already a regular supporter, or this is the first time you have heard about it, please consider making it happen. If everyone kicks in, we will be able to fully fund and go above and beyond. I know they will have several extra costs coming up as the transition from Addis Ababa down to Lake Langano. This would make a huge impact and be an incredible encouragement to them as they serve. The second thought I had was to give that amount to Starfish Ministries which is led by Dave and Robin Laney. You can give this to UCF and put the place in the memo line! Just think of it as the US Government's way of getting the gospel to Ethiopia... kind of cool!

Love Loud... Risk Often,
David

Throwing a Party for Harrisburg: The Great Harrisburg Egg Drop!

We had a great idea to throw a party for Harrisburg AND 8000+ PEOPLE SHOWED UP! We approached the town of Harrisburg a few months with the idea of doing The Great Harrisburg Egg Drop. The idea came from hearing about it at a few different churches around the country. But our real motivation behind the event was the question, “what does our community really need?” We feel like the Harrisburg / University City community needs some times where families can have a great time together spending time with other families. So we began our planning. And boy were we RIGHT! Families definitely want to have a great time playing together along side other families in our community. We just didn’t know how right we were. When 8,000 – 12,000 people show up, you have definitely tapped into a need. It was great and challenging all at the same time. The crowds were awesome and also created some chaos that we are already working hard at solving for the future. Check out www.eggdropharrisburg.com for pictures of the event!

It was particularly interesting how one reporter characterized the event in a conversation with him. He started out by saying that he generally “HATES covering these things.” He doesn’t go to church and usually all of these type of events are nothing more than one long promotion for the church putting them on. As he put it, “They play this crappy music and mention their church over and over again.” All in all they masquerade as events that serve the community, but they are really more about just getting people to show up on Sunday morning. UCF is different. We want to love people around us by tapping into and meeting a heart-felt need whether they come to church or not. We certainly hope that people do come to UCF, but we don’t want people to have to endure our endless promotions so that they can enjoy a day in the park. This reporter was pleasantly surprised with our event. He knew by the materials and the volunteers that a church sponsored this event, but it wasn’t thrown in his face and shoved down his throat. He appreciated that. It made him curious as to why we would do something this way and we simply said, “for people like you.”

Doing things this way is different, because you have to put in a lot of extra steps. You begin to forge friendships with others who care about the community and have to avoid the different agendas of many. You reach into the lives of the many people who have been burned by churches just doing their church thing because you exist “for the good of the world” and not just “for the good of your church.” It is a cool thing to be a part of.

So what does our community really need? From a spiritual standpoint, I think the answer to that question is pretty easy, people need to be in a life-changing relationship with God in such a way that it impacts every aspect of how they relate to people around them.

The problem is that the very people who need this are pretty sure they don’t need it. However somewhere in the lives of those in our community, there is the need for something. A need for love, for community, for peace, for real joy, for contentment… and the list could go on. I know these things are ultimately found in God and I simply want to help people connect the dots!

The other problem is that some church people who think they have it (a life-changing relationship with God that impacts every aspect of how they relate to people around them)… don’t because it doesn’t cause them to love their neighbor as much as they love their self… their church… their agenda. The sooner church people can get over their own agenda and adopt the agenda of “love,” the sooner people in the world see a true picture of God.

love loud... risk often!