General

Don Bosch, in his blog The Evangelical Ecologist, described LifePoint as "coffee shop Christianity." It's hard for me to be offended since I'm writing this blog from a coffee shop. In fact, I may adopt the phrase myself -- with proper references, of course.An entire marketing/sociological concept has arisen over the past few years known as "third place" thinking. The idea is that after home and work, people need a "third place" to feel connected.Starbucks has sought to master the idea of creating an environment that invites lingering. The most popular independent shops have the same mojo -- people go there as much for the environment and connections as they do the coffee. You begin to see the same faces, you know which chairs will be comfortable, and there's a barista behind the counter who remembers your drink.Robert Putnam wrote an interesting book a few years ago entitled "Bowling Alone."…

After a few hours at Twiggs, I'm feeling a bit reflective. Besides being rich in antioxidants, coffee can also move a person to moments of inspiration. Indulge me as I share a few thoughts regarding LifePoint's grand opening.Diversity. One of the things I've been praying for in regards to our new church community is for it to reflect the diversity that exists in San Diego. I believe an apostolic church will be a diverse church. Perhaps the most diverse church that ever existed was the first one in Acts 2. In that text we're told that the Holy Spirit enabled the earliest Christ-followers to speak in multiple languages. Why? Because they were speaking to a diverse crowd.Among our 112 people yesterday we had black and white, Hispanic, Asian, Filipino, and more! We had a healthy mix of ages and generations. We were geographically diverse as well. We had folks from…

Here are a few pix from LifePoint: Day One! This is Ken interviewing Will Edwards, our first featured local artist.The crowd at our 9 AM gathering.The crowd at our 10:45 gathering.Another shot of the 10:45 gathering.Jay and Ben trading acoustic licks.Our way of doing communion.The couch lounge.Holy Joe's, the LifePoint Cafe.That's Kirby behind the shield.Jay with Will Edwards.The Kids at KidPoint.Getting ready for KidPoint.What a surly group of kids!Matt helping a little buddy shoot pool.The tech guys are under a lot of pressure.Yes, this really is our band.Will Edwards performing live at LifePoint.Will Edwards still live at LifePoint.

LifePoint held her first public worship gathering yesterday and what a great day it was! 112 people braved the nice weather to join us as we celebrated the beginning of a new way of experiencing church. Our band was fantastic, the multimedia flowed well, and Will Edwards did a great job as our first featured local artist. All the kids seemed to enjoy KidPoint -- and the adults serving out there did, too.It's hard to describe with words seeing a dream come to life. LifePoint has been over a year in the works and God has proved himself faithful throughout the whole process. There were times during the music when I just closed my eyes and tried to grasp what was happening ... a new church community was being born!Here's the most inspiring thought of all -- this is just the beginning. LifePoint is about engaging people in an ongoing…

LifePoint's first postcards landed in mail boxes today. By 1 PM I had already fielded four phone calls from people who had received one of our postcards. Four out of 15,139! I'll take it. I asked one guy what he thought of our card -- he said it was "outstanding." On a related note, I'm being interviewed later this afternoon by a reporter from the San Diego CityBeat magazine. She has seen one of our Craigslist posts and wanted to learn more about us. They publish weekly so there's a good chance we'll be featured before the end of September.The ball keeps rolling closer to 9.11.05!