thrive community

Following Jesus means that you’ve signed up for a life-long journey of change. It’s a relationship that will directly confront your character, conduct and calling for the rest of your life.

We all go through different seasons of our lives where change comes easy and the outcomes are seamless and painless. It runs in parallel with who we are, what we desire to do and we are able to live happily with it. But other seasons of change are hard to endure under the weight and pressure it places on our life. The confrontation of change can be harsh, debilitating and deadly, especially when it comes to the issues that lie deep in our soul.

I’ve been dealing with a season of change as of late, not because I’ve been confronted by it, but because I sought it out first. My wife and I have been going to counseling for a few months. We’re going, not because we have a bad marriage, but because we want our good marriage to be even better. The longing of our hearts is to have uninhibited intimacy and are willing to fight for the heart of each other and fight for our own heart to be free and full so that we can love each other the way God intended with full acceptance, full emotion for each other and with full trust. But the freedom we desire comes at a price we must be willing to pay.

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I’m a nostalgic person at heart. I hold on to things and enjoy recalling the stories that go with them, especially things that center around experiences I’ve had with people. They represent a connection that has seemed to bind us together on a deeper level. It’s the creation of stories and having people who know your stories. 

Everybody wants to be known, to feel included and to be connected. Take FaceBook and Twitter for example. These social networks were created out of an incredible need that people have to know people and be known by others, even on the most trivial of levels. People share who they are, give updates on what they are currently doing, share photos, join affinity groups and discover new people to be connected with. FaceBook has an estimated two hundred million users while the newly established Twitter has attracted over fourteen million users in the U.S. alone and is rapidly growing.

Knowing someone goes beyond the cognitive and the informative to the intimate and the spiritual. It’s a divine experience that comes from engaging our heart with another human being. But offering insights ABOUT you is different than offering experiences WITH you. It’s how we move from the fictional person we want others to think we are to the person we are in reality. It’s where “knowing” genuinely happens.

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So many Christ followers are looking for a spiritual family to help them. There is a desperate need for spiritually mature men and women to mentor young Christians, helping them to clarify what really matters in life.

I am amazed at how many new Christians don’t have anyone to turn to for encouragement, support, counsel and teaching. God intended for his people to be like a family. It’s very clear from Scripture that family relationships are the primary catalyst to life learning and transformation (Deut. 6:4-8)(Eph. 6:4). But instead of helping new believers become rooted and established in healthy relationships, most churches place the major emphasis on programs, attending services, Bible studies, church events, or other ministries.

Don’t get me wrong. These environments are necessary and important for Christ followers to receive needed Biblical education and be exposed to the many essential concepts concerning their faith in Jesus, but God’s primary “delivery system” for life transformation and discipleship is best initiated and sustained through personal relationships. Nothing can take the place and fill the void that every human being has for authentic relationships. We assume they will happen naturally, but they don’t.

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My friends Brian & Tiffany Kellogg have been helping me set up my new place here. Their story is the backdrop of what I hope becomes the norm of those who join our community.

I asked them to look over the site and their story to make sure they’re ok with how and where I’m using it. Tiffany checked out the story but continued to read what I’ve written here. Her response to my initial blog conveys the heartbeat of who I hope joins us here and where I hope we can go together…

“I thought it was interesting that you picked the song ‘Iris’ to spotlight. The chorus keeps repeating ‘I just want you to know who I am’ and I think that is true of most people. I think people want to be known and you are doing just that in building community.

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