Tall Monastic Guy

Magnificent

Just another Saturday morning for our good friend's Vic, Sarah, Sam, & Em Merchant... This is like poetry and makes me smile every time I watch, so hopefully it does the same for you. Our friend, Caleb Seeling, was inspired by the video to write this article on parenting.

Jaguar Basketball

These are my 6th grade ladies that I had the privilege of coaching this spring. We finished up the season yesterday with our lone loss of the season which put us at 5-1. I was excited to learn last week that I'll be coaching them again next year at the 7th/8th grade level. 

Neighborhood opportunity

Last night Angie and I attended the local elementary and middle school board meeting with teachers, administration, and some local city leaders. The middle school located just down the street from us is an amazing convergence of nationalities and worldviews. It is a magnet school for kids that have moved to Denver from all over the world. While many middle schools are trying to teach their kids pre-algebra, Merrill is faced with helping kids cope with languange, worldview, religious, and economic barriers. When I first visited Merrill last year, Stacey, the principal, showed me students from Burma, Tibet, Russia, Somalia… you name it. And this beautiful melting pot is located about 100 yds from our front door.

The meeting last night dealt with the school’s ongoing low enrollment as well as low standardized test score issues. Our involvement with Merrill was as simple as setting up a meeting with the principal last year. We sat down with Stacey and discussed the issues and dreamt of how we could help organize the community to support the school creatively and actively.

Last night, was a learning experience as we recognized how blessed they were that we would care about the school’s issues despite not having a child attending there. The looks on their faces last night told us that we were doing something right, something meaningful. As a result of our inquiry of how to assist, I’ll be helping coach the basketball teams as well as partnering with the school’s social worker to brainstorm ways we could get the community to care for the most critical needs of the students. In addition, Angie is joining the board as the community representative.

What does missional mean? Last night was the definition of missional. I actually had to explain the difference between missional and attractional ways of church to a couple different people at the meeting last night. It’s fascinating to watch people’s heads tilt when you describe church as a people called to be a blessing to their neighborhoods. The typical response is, huh, I’d actually like to be a part of that.
If you need to get your mind off of America's unfolding disaster of an economy, find a way to tangibly bless your neighborhood.
And say a prayer for Merrill and their principal, Stacey. And pray that Angie and I can be a significant resource to them.