I had to make a late-night run to Bloomington last week – my old stomping grounds. Seventeen years of my life were spent living there (26 if you count commuting for employment), and they were really good years. They included: college life, meeting my wife-to-be, baptism, major spiritual formation, a strong church home & family, a great company to work for, a solid local economy, and a bright future. Everywhere I went that night I was looking for someone I once knew. And for a fleeting moment…I started to miss it.

But, it didn’t take long for me to get over those feelings. First of all, I didn’t see anyone I knew! Wait a minute, this was MY town (back in the day)!! Guess what, Bloomington-Normal has changed, just like everything else. Then I made a conscious shift in my focus to the blessings of today and the hope I have in God’s future for me, my family, and our church. God specifically led us OUT of Bloomington and eventually IN to the East Peoria area. And I am eternally grateful for it.

It’s interesting. Back in those “glory days” (when they were the present as opposed to the past), I can recall looking back fondly to the days before them, what would have been that present’s past. Aren’t we funny that way? It seems to be in our nature to glamorize the past. It takes a conscious effort to see the incredible value of TODAY and to actively seek the FUTURE God has in store for us.

Most of my readers know the journey my family and church have been traveling. We are a year out now from our very first Richwoods Christian Church East Campus pre-launch service in East Peoria’s Central Junior High School (December 5, 2010). It’s hard to believe it! None of this would have happened but for the grace of God, the vision of Richwoods’ leadership, and the embracing of that vision by people with a heart for helping people find and follow Christ on this side of the Illinois river. Reflecting on this over the past week has been a true blessing.

Take an intentional moment or two in the coming weeks. Reflect a bit on what God has done in your life. But then, spend some really good energy looking around at what he is doing RIGHT NOW. The day will come when you will look back on your present days with great fondness, maybe even wishing you were back at this point. I would encourage you to enjoy it now, while you’re here. Don’t look around for people you used to know. Look around for people you DO know, and those that you want to get to know better – the people God has put in your path today.

Doing so will both make today better and provide a wonderful foundation for your future. I can’t promise you what that future will look like, but I can promise you this: It will be different. And it will be GREAT!

Let’s do this thing called Life – together. Thank you, Lord, for the privilege.

As I write these words, Pandora is tuned to my “Henry Mancini” channel, and I’m listening to The Cowboy Medley from “Highlights From a Portrait of America”. I am now in the mood to go outside, gaze at the landscape, and ride a horse into the sunset… (Oooh, there’s the theme from “The Lone Ranger”!)

A coworker of mine was recently on a high trying hard to get back in the swing of things. He and his family just returned from their first trip to Disney World, and he was completely taken by it all. Skeptical as he was going in, he admitted that he felt like they had been transported into a magical world.

Our mind is an amazing gift from God – it truly can put us in a different place. No matter what our circumstances, no matter what our surroundings, no matter what the weather, no matter what our mood… No. Matter. What.

The question is: Do we choose to cause our minds to dwell in a good place – or a bad place?

Can I just tell you, there is so much GOOD going on right now in my church community!! I am so encouraged by it all. Details would take too much real estate here, but let me mention just a couple: heart-warming comments, leadership development across multiple ministries, intense prayer requests, great conversations, new volunteers, “aha” light-bulb moments, people taking care of people, and more.

It has also been one of the toughest seasons I’ve had as a leader. I couldn’t get to sleep one night my heart was so heavy. Trust me, that was not normal for me. I can almost always set an issue aside and pick it up the next day. This one I could not. Yes, the bad stuff is out there, too.

If I allow my mind to dwell in the good place, I can be a productive blessing to those around me. I can even more effectively deal with the tough stuff when I approach from this mindset. But if I allow my mind to dwell in the bad place, I am crippled. Nothing gets done well, if at all, and people around me get irritated. Worse, God’s sovereignty is challenged because I’m not trusting that he is ultimately in control.

These words from Philippians 4 get to the heart of the matter:

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

As we continue to press on toward fulfilling God’s will in our own lives, we should work hard to put these words into practice; cause our heart & mind to dwell on the GOOD God has placed all around us. We’ll deal with the other in time.

If we can do what Paul is saying here, there will be no room for the things that so often get in the way of us, as individuals or as a church, fulfilling our mission. Doing so will, by God’s grace and wisdom, free us up to reach our full redemptive potential.

I was early for a lunch appointment last week and decided to take a walk through a new development between the old ShopKo building and Caterpillar in East Peoria. They’ve finished off a few of the surface streets, and the vision is starting to take form. For those of us that enjoy stuff like this, it’s pretty exciting!

To Average Joe, though, it’s boring, if not frustrating. Average Joe wants it to “be” – like magic. Until then, they want nothing to do with it. Even as our new Bass Pro Shops was being built, the popular excitement was about opening day, not about the creation of something new on land that was previously barren and void! The same will be true for this development, I’m sure.

But, oh so much work has to be done first. Planning, plotting, surveying, designing…and that’s just to make sure utilities get to precisely the right places and waste water flows downhill. Weeks, months, even years of meticulous, professional work had to be done before the first street could be paved – before Average Joe could even begin to take much interest.

We’re talking infrastructure. It’s not flashy or popular, but without it the future cannot be sustained; even the present is in jeopardy. It’s the bones on which everything else hangs and to which everything else attaches.

This is a reality for the church, too. As we grow and mature, our infrastructure must do the same. Where possible, it needs to be at least a little bit ahead of where we are to sustain healthy forward momentum. At Richwoods Christian Church (where I work), we believe it’s so important that our Executive Staff listed it among our five priority tasks these past six months.

As leaders, we need to raise our awareness of the importance of a consistent and reliable infrastructure (e.g. language, processes, systems, design, leadership development, etc…). Boring? Can be. Seemingly unimportant in the scheme of things? May seem that way.

Leaders know better.

Most don’t see all the hard work, sacrifice, prayer, and humility that goes into being a “successful” church or organization. All the majority sees are the growing crowds; the end result of all that effort.

Leaders know better.

Most expect things to just happen. The lights turn on by themselves, the band never needs to practice, getting plugged-in to service and/or GroupLife should be simple and w/out sacrifice, the coffee magically appears, and “look at all these new faces – our programmed outreach must be working well!”

Leaders know better.

To lead well in the environment God has placed us in, we must embrace the seemingly unimportant in our midst. That includes working hard to develop and implement an infrastructure that supports our vision and our mission. In our case, that’s helping people find and follow Christ.

God gets the glory. Without him we are nothing. He is the giver and sustainer of all things. But (amazingly) he has chosen to work in us and through us. It doesn’t “just happen”.

Leaders know better.

What’s your absolute favorite food source?

It’s an odd way to phrase the question, I admit, but it was hard to come up with anything better. One way I look at it is: stuff I make vs stuff someone else makes – I usually prefer the latter. Then there’s restaurant vs home cookin’ – tough call; love them both. “Sit down” vs fast food – the former in most cases. Steakhouse vs greasy spoon – steak please!

The food source “vs” questions could go on and on and on because, in our day and age, said sources are abundant and full of variety. Do you realize this is true for our spiritual food sources as well? It is absolutely amazing how readily available top-notch spiritual food is to us. Incredible books, challenging blog posts, podcasts, videos, facebook/twitter posts, biblical commentary, articles, even entire curriculum & ministry resources – the majority of which are all FREE. And then, of course, there is the Bible itself – available in numerous versions and media types.

There are three parallels and one distinction I’d like to quickly make between the physical and spiritual in this context.

First of all, you and I have to have the fortitude and determination to go and get it! Even if someone else is preparing that steak, I have to go to the restaurant or, at the very least, get myself to the table. And then, except in extreme circumstances, I must feed myself. It is as easy as ever to get the nourishment we so need, but one pesky detail remains – we must prioritize it and make the effort to go and get it. No getting around that one.

Second, no one source is adequate. Have you seen “Super Size Me“? We may have a favorite, and we may even frequent that hot-spot whenever we can. But it’s just not healthy to rely on one source of nutrition. Seek additional resources. We don’t need many, but we need a good handful of options that we trust and look forward to.

And third, it’s almost always more fun to partake in the midst of community. I don’t mind eating alone, really. There are times when it’s actually preferred. But, it is certainly more fun and engaging for my entire being to be at a table full of people. Spiritually, we need each other. Even when you “consume” your spiritual nutrients in alone time, it’s good to chew and digest it with others you are growing to love and trust.

But, there is one rather significant difference. This is an old phrase I love that makes my point:

The Difference Between Hungers: Physical - Don’t eat, and your cravings will grow stronger. Eat abundantly, and your cravings will subside. Spiritual – Don’t eat, and your cravings will subside. Eat abundantly, and your cravings will grow stronger.

So, pull up a chair and feast on the bounty God has placed before us. Don’t get stuck thinking there’s only one way to be fed, one “source” of spiritual nourishment. Sample the variety, learn what “foods” you can trust, walk the buffet table, and indulge! And then…let’s talk. It is as we often say at Richwoods – the most significant life change – spiritual formation if you will – happens in the midst of community.

Eat, engage, and enjoy the incredible blessings God has given us.

“Schizophrenic” is a term we’ve been using a lot in meetings I’ve been a part of lately. In our context, it simply means we see both sides of the discussion very clearly and, depending on the day or the mood, we could “defend” either position passionately. It’s another way of saying we consciously live in the tension of middle ground – with the extremes having both good and bad, we strive for the win/win, the both/and, rather than the either/or, the win/lose. It’s the harder place to live, but it’s where we, as a church, have consistently chosen to claim our ground.

We’ve even taken this mindset into the way we work organizationally. Richwoods is a “multi-site” church.

Our East Campus is not a church plant – a group of people blessed by the originating church left to sink or swim on their own in all areas: mission/vision, leadership, finances, etc. It’s also not a satellite – a portion of the “main” church that just happens to meet in a different location on Sunday but is expected to be a part of everything the “main” church does: classes, picnics, programs, finances, leadership, etc…

Multi-site (in my humble, personal opinion – for there is no single definition) works to strike a middle ground – bringing the best of both worlds while working to minimize the negatives of the two extremes. It allows our two sites – East Campus and Knoxville Campus – to work independently to meet the needs of their particular faith communities under the umbrella of a consistent mission/vision, senior leadership, and a limited set of “constants” that define who we are as a broader church community.

Living in the extremes is easier. It makes whole categories of questions easier to answer – often with a blanket “yes” or “no”. Living in the middle brings scary words like “nuance” and “it depends” and responding to questions with more questions. It means living by guiding philosophy rather than dogma. It means interpretation. Unfortunately, it is also a breeding ground for misunderstanding, especially in light of our busy, hectic lives where we don’t take – or have – the time to understand the complexities of it all. Simple extremes are much more…well…simple.

East Campus exists to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to its surrounding communities, and we do so as Richwoods Christian Church. The Knoxville Campus does the same for the communities it serves. We are under the same umbrella – we are one church – but we are also unique. We may each do it a little bit differently based on the players available and the community context we are working within. And that’s OK. Our impact will ultimately be greater if we allow ourselves to disperse and be an active part of the communities we live in.

As a church new to multi-site this year, we have been living in this tension for more than 8 months. And as our two-campus model continues to take shape, it’s likely not exactly as any of us thought it would be when we started. Hopefully that’s not a big surprise. Hopefully that means we’re allowing God to have a hand in where we are going rather than forcing our own personal visions to take shape.

As we transition to a better understanding of what multi-site means at Richwoods, I am learning and growing in so many areas personally: as a leader, a follower, a husband, a father, a son, a brother, and a friend. I’m stubbing my toes now and then, speaking out of turn once in awhile, and dropping fragile balls on occasion. I’ve come to expect that in the growth process.

Through it all, I believe God is working in me and through me. He’s also working in us and through us as a church. It’s hard, but from my perspective, life could not be better.