vision and job hunting

God's vision is that "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the water covers the sea" (Hab 2:14). The association of churches that I am a part of has taken this vision seriously and has taken responsibility for the geography known as "the Greater Austin area." This area comprises about 1.6 million people. In an attempt to reach this area with the life changing reality of Jesus Christ, we've embraced a three-fold strategy: 1) Multiply Disciples, 2) Multiply churches 3) Partner with like minded ministries, churches and individuals.

When it comes to the second of those three, (church planting) we have embraced a model known as the "missional" model. This is different from the traditional hive off in that it involves fewer people (usually about 10 families) but an increased level of outward focus on missional living. Weeknight small groups are morphed into "missional communities" and there is usually a gathering on Sunday morning. This model seems to work somewhat well in the suburbs of Austin. The jury is out on how well it works towards the core of Austin. (As a side note for those of you who don't know, Austin is a very eclectic city that is very different from the suburban areas that surround it in terms of political persuasion, lifestyle and values.)

In my journey on mission, I have become increasingly aware of the number of people who are anit-Christian but pro-God. Books such as UnChristian by Kinneman and almost anything coming from George Barna's research document and confirm on a professional level that such people exist. The soon to be released movie “God Save Us From Your Followers” is another example of what I’m talking about. These people tend to be creative, eclectic and tribal. An attempt to reach them with traditional/institutional church-ianity will fail because of their ingrained distrust for "the man." Thankfully, there is a solution to the problem of reaching these people.

Some call it simple church, others call it missional, some call it house church. I'm not all that interested in descriptive handles or labels, so I don't care what we call it as long as we are willing to do it. Shayla and I are actually attempting to birth a network of these kinds of churches in the Austin area. Part of what that means is that I will no longer be a paid pastor at a church. Of course that means that I need a job that will be able to support our family and hopefully offset the increase in housing needed to move to central Austin.

All that said, we're confident that God will show Himself faithful to provide direction, wisdom and resources for this endeavor. Please pray for us to be obedient and wise. I am currently looking for a job in sales or project management/operations. My resume is posted here for sales and here for PM/Operations. We would greatly appreciate any leads you can give. Feel free to contact me with potential careers in these areas or persons interested in reaching people using this new model.