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Today is a day of dreams. We’ve organized this worship service around the theme of

celebration. My part is to share a dream about our future.

It’s a privilege and a honor for me to be behind this pulpit talking about the dreams of

this new church. This is my dream job. I’ve felt the call to be a New Church Development

pastor for at least seven years. I remember talking to another pastor from this Presbytery in

September 2002 about how I would like to start a new church. It took a while. Here I am over

seven years later preaching at this Grand Opening service. How many people have the

opportunity to say in their lifetime that they have their dream job? I am very fortunate that my

wife, Amy, and daughter, Hannah, were willing to be uprooted from their comfortable lives to

follow this dream.

I believe in long pastorates—I just served the Presbyterian Church in Plainview for 16

years. I feel no need to have another job until I retire. I’m 45, say I retire at 70. I’d like to be

the pastor of this church for the next 25 years That’s my dream..

I want to do four things in this sermon today. First I want to share what all of you who

we are at Chain of Lakes Church—our identity. Second, I want to share a few stories about how

I came to believe that what we’re doing here represents the hope for the main-line church; Third,

I want to look at how this identity comes right out of this chapter of Acts; and then close with

some thoughts on starting new churches.

Who are we at Chain of Lakes? What is our identity? We have one. It’s our Purpose

Statement. You can find our Purpose Statement on the back of the bulletin. Let’s read it

together.

“We are called to be an authentic, Christian community where:

Strangers become friends
Friends become disciples
Disciples impact the world
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This is our identity at Chain of Lakes Church.

You might wonder, “What is a Purpose Statement?” A Purpose Statement answers the

question, “why do you exist?” All churches need to be clear about why they exist. How does a

Purpose Statement function? Everything we do at Chain of Lakes will revolve around our

Purpose Statement. We will evaluate every ministry and ourselves at the end of the year by our

Purpose Statement. We will only start a ministry if it deepens our Purpose Statement. If a

ministry isn’t helping us with our Purpose Statement, we’ll stop it. Every time we make a hard

decision the criteria for our decision will be our Purpose Statement.

You might wonder, “How did you come up with that Purpose Statement?” I started here

last February. On my first day I met with seven families. At that meeting I shared that one of

the most important tasks of the year was to come up with a Purpose Statement. We went to

work. The most significant event in developing our Purpose Statement took place at a Retreat

last May at Presbyterian Homes in North Oaks. I think everyone who was at that Retreat is in

worship today. Who was at that Retreat last May?

An invigorating conversation we had at the Retreat was whether to use the word,

“disciple” in our Purpose Statement. The concerns about using the word are very valid. They

had to do with perception by people outside our congregation. Some people thought that people

in their 20’s and 30’s would be confused by our use of the word—that they would think we were

some sort of Jim Jones cult. Some thought that we can’t be disciples because only the 12

apostles’ were disciples. Some thought that it was too hard to be a disciple—that a person had to

be a professional Christian to be a disciple. .

I respect these concerns. When I think of disciple I think of the relationship between a

student and a teacher. As disciples we are students of Jesus Christ. The Greek word that is
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translated in the Scriptures as disciple describes an attachment to a person. As students of Jesus

we want to be attached to him—we want to learn about him, to be like him, to live the life that he

desires for us.

Through some very healthy conversation at our Retreat and some other meetings, we

decided to keep the word, “disciple” in our Purpose Statement.

I believe that the future of the Presbyterian and main-line church largely depends on the

ability of local congregations to help form people to be complete disciples. When I think of a

disciple I think of a person who knows God with her head, loves god with his heart, and serves

God with her feet. I completely believe that the world is waiting for this type of disciple—

someone who knows God with his head, loves God with her heart, and serves God with his feet.

The main reason I felt a call to be a New Church Development pastor is I believe new

churches have the best opportunity to develop this type of complete disciples.

It took me a long time on my own journey to come to this understanding of the

importance of forming complete disciples. Let me introduce myself to you by sharing a few of

my own stories that illustrate how I came to this belief.

The first story took place when I was a boy. I grew up in Worthington, Minnesota. My

parents were public school teachers—my Dad taught at a community college and my mom at an

elementary school. Because of the influence of a Presbyterian pastor my parents and my sister

and I went for a summer to help Cross Lines, a social service agency in inner city Kansas City,

Kansas. My parents liked the work so much that my Dad took a sabbatical from teaching. Our

family lived in Kansas City the summer of my 3rd grade year, all of fourth grade, and the summer

after fourth grade.

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Inner-city, Kansas City, Kansas was a whole new world for me. Up until that time all I

really cared about was Harmon Killebrew and Fran Tarkenton and how I could get out of going

to church on Sundays. I never liked church until I went to Kansas City. Suddenly in Kansas

City I was living with people who didn’t shave my skin color—the area was about 1/3 white, 1/3

Hispanic and 1/3 African-American. We had to lock our doors at night. There was trash in the

alleys in our neighborhood. We had to be concerned about gangs. We had two housing projects

within a half mile of where we lived. I loved it. It was so different and so interesting.

My parents had friends who lived in Johnson County Kansas. It was only about a half

hour from where my family lived. Johnson County was very different from the neighborhood

where we lived. At the time Johnson County was the third richest county in the United States.

There was no trash in the alleys in Johnson County; people didn’t have to worry about gangs

there. It was so much nicer compared to the neighborhood where I lived. My fourth grade mind

couldn’t wrap itself around the concept of why there was so much money in Johnson Country

and why there was so little money in the neighborhood where my family lived. I didn’t

understand how the people in Johnson County could sleep at night when there was so many

people in poverty so close to them.

So as a fourth-grader I came up with the solution to poverty. Do you want to know my

solution to poverty? Listen to this logic. All the people in Johnson County had money; the

people in my neighborhood didn’t have money. So the solution to poverty was obviously to

abolish money. That idea made so much sense to me. I started my first crusade. I wrote letters

to my congressmen telling them that I had the solution to poverty—abolish money. I wrote

Walter Mondale, and Hubert Humphrey and John Zwach our representative. They were all very

kind to me. They wrote me letters. They didn’t take my ideas too far in Congress.
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Though I didn’t end poverty I did take away something powerful. I took away the idea

that we are called to help our neighbors. That experience was the start of my call to ministry. I

still wrestle with the question why people don’t do more to prevent poverty and to help people

who are poor. Jesus spent almost all of his time with the poor of 1st century Galilee. I believe

that helping the poor is one of the most important ministries a church can do. We’re called to

make an impact by helping the poor.

Though my parents wouldn’t describe themselves as liberals, I grew up with a liberal

mindset—especially when it came to church. I came to understand the liberal church.

I did a lot of liberal things. I attended Carleton College—a very liberal place, I worked

as a community organizer for the farm workers in California. I attended one of the most liberal

seminaries in the country—Union Seminary in New York City. My first year of seminary I

spent more time organizing rallies for the farm workers in Manhattan than I did studying. I took

a year off from seminary against the advice of everyone I knew (including my Committee On

Preparation for Ministry) to go work for the farm workers again. In the fall of 1990 I came back

to Union Seminary and decided that I needed to get out of my liberal box. I needed to

experience the conservative church.

I became the Youth Director at First Presbyterian Church in Babylon, New York. They

were a conservative, evangelical, Presbyterian congregation. On Friday afternoons I would take

the Long Island Railroad from Penn Station and travel to Babylon. On Friday nights I would

lead their Junior High youth group, I would visit kids on Saturday, help lead worship on Sunday,

lead Senior High Youth Group on Sunday nights and then take the Long Island Railroad back to

Manhattan.
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Even though I had never been exposed to the conservative church, I learned to love the

people at the church and value what they valued. I learned the importance of Bible Study,

worship, and daily prayer. My own prayer life took off because of my experience there.

Because of some retreats I attended at that church I’ve had a daily prayer life for over 20 years.

These experiences of being in the liberal church and the conservative church taught me

that we need to interweave the best of the conservative tradition and the best of the liberal

tradition into our understanding of a disciple.

We need to be disciples who value embrace the best of the conservative tradition—

prayer, bible study, small groups and worship—people who have a personal relationship with

Jesus Christ; people whose character is defined by the fruits of the Spirit—love, peace, joy,

patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; people who want to bring

others to Christ.

And we need to be disciples who embrace the best of the liberal tradition. Disciples who

ask questions and aren’t afraid of questions. Disciples who will respond immediately and in the

long-term to catastrophes like the one in Haiti. Disciples who won’t accept poverty, racism, war.

Disciples who are involved in the world because we are attached to Jesus Christ.

I’ve spent my adult life studying churches. Too often I don’t see churches interweaving

these traditions together. We have churches who value worship, prayer, Bible Study, and small

groups. But they are so inwardly focused. These churches might have responded to the

earthquake in Haiti, but they spend a lot more time praying for people than getting ready to send

people to go to Haiti. On the other end I’ve seen churches who care primarily about the world.

They will sign people up to go to Haiti or build a Habitat House or march against the war in Iraq
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and Afghanistan. But they focus almost all their time on addressing the needs of the world that

the spiritual development of their people is neglected.

I’ve also learned that many people in the liberal church have strong dislike for the

conservatives and vice versa. It’s almost as if we have these separate churches—liberal,

conservative—and these churches don’t like each other.

At Chain of Lakes these labels aren’t going to define us. At Chain of Lakes we aren’t

going to be conservative or liberal—we are going to be people of the gospel; disciples who are

attached to Jesus Christ and who make an impact on the world.

If you identify yourself as a conservative person, you will be welcome here; if you

identify yourself as a liberal person, you will be welcome here. We’re not interested in divisions

instead we are interested in what brings us together.

I totally believe that forming these type of disciples is the hope of the Presbyterian and

mainline church.

This understanding of a disciple comes right out of Acts chapter 2. Lisa read a portion of

the story. It’s my favorite story in the Bible. It’s the story of people who were transformed by

the Spirit of Jesus to become a faith community that had a tremendous impact on the world.

The story starts out by saying the people were cut to the heart. They were pierced and

touched by what they had seen and what they had learned. After the unbelievable movement of

the Spirit, Peter had stood up with the other eleven disciples to preach. His sermon was so

powerful that at the end the group gathered asked, “what can we do?” Peter told them to repent,

that is turn to God and be baptized. They were—three thousand. Suddenly this group formed a

powerful community. They devoted themselves to teaching and fellowship to the breaking of

bread and the prayers.

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Awe came upon them. It’s a three-letter word. A three-letter synonym for awe is wow.

Think for a minute the last time you said the word, “wow.” I believe that the word

“wow” is an expression of the working of the Spirit. When I was in Plainview I encouraged

people to share with others the moments they said the word, “wow.” We created a bulletin board

called “wow moments.”

This group of people in Acts was continually saying wow. They couldn’t believe what

they saw. Their level of care for each other was astounding. People would sell their belongings

to help each other. This wasn’t an endorsement of Communism, as some people had argued.

These people loved each other so much that they would do anything to help each other.

This is church on a grand level. It’s God’s vision for the church, so it is our vision. I

want us to be an Acts 2 church. A place where we are frequently touched by God; a place where

we frequently say wow; a place of deep community and caring for each other. A place where

church is not something to do once a week in order to fulfill an obligation. Instead it’s a place of

tremendous pulse and energy and excitement. Wow.

Is there any doubt that this type of community will draw people from all over the north

Metro. At its core church growth is not about demographics or marketing. It’s about releasing

and experiencing this spiritual power.

That’s the vision. Unfortunately the reality of the church doesn’t match this vision.

There’s a lot of cynicism about the church and ultimately about God. I understand that

cynicism. I’ve had times in my life when I’ve been very cynical about the church and God. If

you are cynical about the church I encourage you to come to our Mythbuster sermon series

starting next week.

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Sadly the cynicism about the church is well-deserved. We in the church have fallen short

of this vision in Acts. Clergy sex scandals, churches criticizing each other, religious leaders

more worried about politics and advancement than being faithful to God, churches being places

where one or two people control everything; churches being places where people in the 60’s and

70’s expect youth and young adults to conform instead of being equipping them on their journey.

Let’s create a community that breaks the cynicism that the world has about the church.

I started in this job last February and every now and then I get asked, “are you looking

for Presbyterians as you start your church.” I respond by saying there aren’t enough

Presbyterians up here to start a church. We’re looking for anyone (Presbyterian or not) who

wants to help us live out our Purpose Statement.

As a Presbyterian Church we want to be a partner with other churches in the area. I’m

married to a Catholic—so I have a special respect and appreciation for other churches. My wife,

Amy, is the administrator of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Lino Lakes. I often go to Mass on

Saturday afternoons; I sing in the choir there. My wife, Amy, often comes to worship on Sunday

mornings at the Presbyterian Church.

People have asked me—do we need another Presbyterian Church. When I get asked this

question I inwardly roll my eyes and say, “of course, we need another Presbyterian Church.”

There is no Presbyterian Church in the communities of Blaine, Lino lakes, Forest Lake, Ham

Lake. There is this geography of 100,000 people with no Presbyterian presence. We could

easily have four Presbyterian churches in this geography, and someday I would like our

congregation to start many other Presbyterian churches. If you become part of our community

know that someday we will send you off to start a new church. If you are with an existing
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Presbyterian Church I challenge you to encourage people in your own church to start a new

church.

Why do we need another Presbyterian Church. How many churches support women

pastors? My sister—who is here—has the gifts of ordained leadership. We Presbyterians have

confirmed her gifts by ordaining her as a pastor. How many churches have pastors and elders

collaborating together to lead the congregation? How many churches have such a rich

theological tradition? How many churches have a track record of starting schools and hospitals

and being part of the movement to overcome racial discrimination? How many churches have a

history of overseas mission? We had a family from the Cameroon who now live in Forest Lake

call us last spring to say they wanted to join our Presbyterian Church. When I visited them I

asked how they became Presbyterian. They shared that Presbyterian missionaries came to their

village in the Cameroon. How many churches have such a fluid form of government where

power moves both up and down? How many churches believe that only God is Lord of the

conscience—we don’t tell people that you have to think a certain way to join our church. We

have something special to share.

How many churches start from the place that God loves us. Remember the tornado that

hit Minneapolis last August. The Lutherans were having their national convention at the time.

They were discussing the issue of ordaining homosexuality. A prominent, non-Presbyterian

pastor wrote on his blog that God sent the tornado as a sign to the Lutherans so that they would

not ordain gays and lesbians. Are you kidding me!! I appreciate that the issue of gay and lesbian

ordination is a difficult one. I expect good people to disagree about this issue. But to

communicate with people that God specifically and intentionally punishes church people for a
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decision? The Lutherans? I have no problems in cultivating a proper fear of the Lord, but to be

afraid—of the one who made us, who loves us, who has fabulous desires for our lives.

There is a deep need for a strong main-line presence in the world.

Today is a day of dreams. Thanks to God for giving us the dream; thanks to many people

who kept the dream alive, thanks to God for the call to ministry we have been given, thanks to

God for the excitement we feel as we celebrate the future.