Wednesday night was a pretty unique experience. My wife and I along with Kevin and Keely got a chance to go have dinner with Alan and Deb Hirsch. Alan is a missiologist from Australia who has moved to the US to see discipleship training and church planting accelerate here in the West. It was a wonderful meal shared with Katz, Ed and Dana Rouse (hosts), Brian and Carmell Field and Kirk DeWitt. After dinner we sat and shared about our journey to this point. Mike Katz shared about the birth of Emmaus and how Alan and Deb have been influential in his understanding of church and discipleship. Kristen and I got to share our heart for the reproducing church and how NewThing has influenced us (Alan has spent some time getting to know NewThing as he prepares to launch Forge America). Brian and Kirk shared about their histories and how they ended up at Calvary Community Church. Then Al and Deb shared about their time in the US and what they've seen particularly in Thousand Oaks. It was a great time for us to discuss the limitations and challenges of reaching a place like Thousand Oaks. There are extreme challenges with the average person in TO. Needs exist, but they are hidden skillfully. People will work to project wealth and live unsatisfied lives. We talked about the potential of Thousand Oaks. If we are able to cast a vision of generosity, TO could become the economic engine that drives God's work all over the world. There was an amazing anticipation in the room as we all got a vision of the future. We talked about sharing resources, meeting together for prayer and encouragement and intentionally pushing each other to be dissatisfied with mediocrity. We agreed to read ReJesus (not Alan's suggestion :) over the summer and to meet again at the end of the summer to discuss it.
In the end we left throughly challenged and encouraged about the future of what God has for Calvary, Emmaus, Anthem and the Hirsch's.
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