Joseph Fehlen – Velcroed Meandering – July 26th, 2009

From the multi-part series “Spirituality for the Rest of Us”

I recently had my first long time week away from her when I went to California for a week. No not my wife, I have done that before. It is never fun to be away from her. She is a great lady that rocks my world. It is my first long trip away from the Vulcan. Day one was such a weird experience. Number one, I am reduced to walking around Anaheim and the blocks were really long there. I was not able to get into my hotel right away so I was allowed ample time to walk and think.

Anyone that has not ridden on a motorcycle before might not understand the feeling of not having her by your side. Cold shakes, mind wandering, aimlessly walking the streets, that is what I was like. (and my eye was twitching)

Hi my name is Joseph and I have a problem.

I found myself sitting at Al’s Diner contemplating how I can get to a place that rents motorcycles. As my hamburger and fries were getting colder I find myself gazing at the man with his son at the counter. He had a Suzuki GSX t-shirt on and I found myself dreaming. (I don’t even like that bikes but any bike is better than none.) The double cheeseburger was really good, but I could hardly put it in my mouth because I was shaking so hard.

I can’t explain the pull that it has. But you know what it is like. It is the same pull and struggle you have. No maybe not with a motorcycle or the open road, but you know what I am talking about. We are all obsessed with and desire something that is as equally as strong.

Some are hooked on the illegal drugs or substances. Others it just might be those flickering pixels in that box. It might be those threads in the closet. You might be lost without those buds coming out of your ear or if you are unable to download the latest iphone app. It might not even be a thing..but rather a spot in your backyard early in the morning or casting your bate out onto the calm water.

We all long for something and when we put that at the center of our mind and thoughts and then our actions that is when we get ourselves in trouble. Most things in and of themselves are not bad. It is the placeholder we give them that is the problem. It is when we put them in the center of our priorities that we find ourselves doing stupid stuff.

Jesus says seek first His Kingdom and everything else will work much nicer. When life gets hard I like to ride. I like to run. I like to hide. Latter on down the list I talk to Jesus and hear what He has to say. My center is so off.

Go out of town and watch yourself to see what you first miss about home. Evaluate your yearnings and longings. Those are the things that are usually at the center of you wheel. I am not proud to say that right after missing my bike I needed to find the nearest coffee shop, then where I was going to eat. Not at one point did I think, “where can I find a quiet place to meet with my Lord and Savior”.

You see it is hard to seek Him first when the open road is calling and you are jittery because you have no saddle to sit on. But when you take Jesus out of the center your wheel and life is out of balance and will soon collapse. It leads to days like I had. Cold hamburger and fries and an unsettled spirit.

Hi my name is Joseph and I have a problem.

Joseph Fehlen – Is Average OK? – July 19th, 2009

From the multi-part series “Spirituality for the Rest of Us”

Joseph Fehlen – Cookie Cutters or Snowflakes? – July 12th, 2009

From the multi-part series “Spirituality for the Rest of Us”

Summer is in full swing and I pray that each of you get some time to relax and reflect on this last year.  For some of us we sit back and wonder how we got through it all and still others wonder if the craziness will ever stop. One thing is for certain, God continues to walk with us and He is faithful to guide and direct our steps. 

I still cannot believe that Christy and I have been at South Everett Foursquare for two years.  For those of you with long steady history in the same location I completely realize that this is not too much of a feat.  For me this is a big thing.  I have known nothing but change for the previous 15 years and this is a new rhythm of life that I am getting adjusted too.

But no matter what, change still happens.

We have added space in our building and have given some back.  A wall here and there has gotten knocked down and most walls painted. Some awesome new people have started to call our church home and others have been led on to other great places.  We have had families move, both near and far.  Great community events have taken place as well as some key partnerships established.  We have had resources and we have been lacking. 

We have experienced a lot together and we are about to experience another change that I want to let you in on.  The lease on our current location expires Sept 30^th.  We are currently in negotiations with the Children’s Village to possibly rent one of the buildings they own. The Children’s Village is just down Casino Road, west a couple hundred yards and on the left.  It currently houses the Little Red School House and the local Head Start offices.  The space we would rent is the east building D.

This is a great facility that is well maintained and set up to accommodate kids. This whole complex is set up to help and assist the family and they are excited to potential partner with a local church to further build up the family.  We would be renting 2500 square feet of kid’s space and an office.  We would then be sharing the commercial kitchen, playground, courtyard and weekend meeting space with the other tenants for free.

We currently spend about $4600 per month on our lease and utilities. This has been a great space that has afforded us some awesome opportunity for ministry.  Most of you have spent lots of time remodeling and up keeping this building and we are so grateful.  However, the cost and quality of the facility has necessitated us to look at other locations.

This new location will be just under $3000 per month. This is a huge cost savings that will come with a little less flexibility.  Since our weekend space is shared we will have weekly setup. We will also have considerable less storage and will need to go minimalistic on all non children’s related supplies. 

We have had all of our partner ministries as well as our finance and advisory councils look at this space and we have decided unanimously that this is a good direction to pursue. The pros significantly outweighed the cons. Both from a financial and a ministry standpoint we feel good about this potential move.  If all goes as planned we will make the move in September and at the latest it will be October. 

So what do we need from you in this move? 

Number one thing we need is a flexible servant hearted attitude.  This will not be an easy transition, but I look forward in seeing each of us step out in our gifting as we move forward.  Things will need to be moved, thrown and sold.  We will need to figure out how to do church being partially mobile. Church might look a little different.

We also need everyone to participate financially.  So many of you give sacrificially and my gratitude cannot be expressed.  If you have not yet experienced the joy of given a tithe to the church this is a great time to start. I want to challenge all of us to tithe faithfully for the next three months.  I know when we give faithfully we will experience God’s blessings (and those are not necessarily financial) both for you and the church.

For the last year our monthly income has not covered our monthly expenses.  We have been using our savings that we built up two years ago to cover this negative income and that savings is close to zero. Even though our finances do not look good on the spreadsheet, I am confident if we all align our giving we have more than enough resources within our body to continue to move forward.

All in all much has happened in our last two years and 14 year history as a local body of believers.  Many of you have seen this before and are not caught off guard by the moving of Holy Spirit and direction of the Father.  We look forward to experiencing much more in the coming years. 

If you have any questions please ask myself or any of our council members.  Let’s continue to be in constant communication during this transition time.