Episode 4: One In A Million Wine and Dine

Anthony Sedlak is a character. He honestly introduced himself in the manner you saw on the show, except more so. We were all gathered under the shelter at the Co-Op in the POURING RAIN, Bruce and Joti introduced the week's challenge to us, and Anthony ran in, ducking and weaving through the crowds, jumping over several tall grocery carts in a single bound, and... falling on his but. He came in full of energy, and stayed that way through the challenge.

Of course, he wasn't really challenged.

The participants in the Million Dollar Neighbourhood were more or less challenged by this week's challenge. Cooking at home and not buying alcohol was not a challenge for us, but for others it was huge. I mean, Mark and Kyle spending over a thousand dollars a month on wine? Wow! Other families have at least one meal out a day! Sure, we eat out probably more than we should, but this week's challenge, as far as that goes, wasn't a huge challenge for us. Still, we were chomping at the bit to get more groceries by the end of the week! What really shocked us was that 16/52 (4/13) of our food throughout the year goes to waste! We really want to cut that down.

The location for the Once In A Million Wine & Dine was gorgeous. Once again, I helped with Entertainment. This is where I got to know Jonathan and Teresa Penner (and their family) better. They had great contacts for this type of event, and the production company provided the sound equipment this week. The band that the Penners found happened to be one I'd worked with before as well. Ron Koyanagi, the pianist, was on Taralyn's worship team at a previous church, and I knew Peter Davyduck, the bassist, from another former church. The trio's smooth jazz music was fantastic, and provided an amazing sonic background to add to the amazing visual background.

The food was also amazing. I didn't interact with Anthony too much. He did a few things in town over the week, the most prominent being a singles dinner for the town's singles. They were thrilled. After that, he went to TJ and Phaedra's, which you see on the show. The MDNers got the leftovers. Not entirely equally. OK, not all the MDNers got the leftovers. But I'm sure those who got them were blessed. The alcohol was good - we had Dead Frog Brewery on site offering generous samples of their nut brown, pepper lime, and mandarin orange beers. They were very good. So was the wine. I'll try to remember what we served for those who want to know. Bob Long, one of the guests at the dinner is a township councilor and also the owner of Bob's Bar and Grill where I worked as a server when we first moved to Aldergrove, and one of my thrills was serving him wine all afternoon. He had let me go as a server a year and a half earlier.

So, the price was $250. Honestly, I didn't ever have a problem with that. I knew that the caliber of event we were looking to pull off (and we DID pull off) is not for your average middle income family. This is for people who enjoy fancy luncheons and gala dinners. The issue wasn't the ticket price. I even talked to a few couples who would have been there - in fact for some the ticket price was a compelling reason that they wanted to attend. They don't want to go to just another $20 dinner; instead, they want something more high class, bigger, more fancy. A $250 ticket already communicates those things. The issue was the short notice. Honestly, 6 days to sell all these tickets. Didn't really work out.

The emergency meeting at the barn was a gong show. Joti was set up by the production company to come down hard on the group, and emotions ran high - exactly the thing that makes good TV. I wonder if they told her to say the word "Lazy", but it made a great emotional television effect. The reason I don't appear on TV is probably that I was kind of chuckling through the meeting. Others really got their feathers ruffled. They HAD worked hard on this, and they reacted to Joti in no uncertain terms. What you see on the episode doesn't even show how emotional people got, which was a surprise to me. But Joti particularly was upset afterwards, afraid she looked like the bad guy. Many of the participants felt that way. She was just doing her job.

At the end, it was a beautiful event. Unfortunately, Taralyn couldn't make it because she had a children's ministry meeting at the church. But I was so blessed to be a part of it. I spent the first hour or so helping to set up the stage and sound, then brushed up on the art of the pour and served wine for the rest of the event. I just couldn't keep myself from looking over the view - it was gorgeous. Nickelback's Chad Kroeger's recording studio is literally a block away. The guests were all VERY happy with the event. It was incredible.

So what was the Gospel impact at this point? Again, I was just getting to know people. I'd connected with the Penners, who are also Christians. I'd shared my dream of starting a new church in town with a number of people, who I knew were checking to see if I was genuine. For people in Aldergrove, being 'genuine' doesn't mean that a Christian doesn't drink or dance or swear. It means that they care, they work hard, they laugh, they live. Aldergrove residents don't respond well to Christians who look down their noses at the way everybody else lives. They respond much better to those whose lives they can relate to, who they know care about the things they care about, and who have a different perspective to share.  Because of my witness in this commnunity, I have had opportunity to share the Gospel with some of these people who have rejected Christians all their lives.

I'm looking forward to seeing what else we did last fall in the upcoming episodes!

MDN Episode 1: Hidden Money

Well, Episode 1 aired on Sunday. If you haven't seen it you can catch it here.

Finally, you get to meet some new friends of ours - Joel and Tanya, Mark and Kyle, Annette and Alyssa, Andrew and Cathi... all great Aldergrove people we met through this production and we'll remain friends with for a long, long time. Hopefully our friendship will deepen over the years!

Our new friends Kathryn and Stephanie

That's what we signed up for, with Million Dollar Neighbourhood - to get to know Aldergrove people. We'd lived here for almost two years and had found it incredibly difficult to meet people. So many others have found the same. We live such busy lives that we barely have the chance - or take the chance - to slow down and spend the time getting to know our neighbours. I know that's been true of myself even since the wrapping of MDN. Of course, I was able to blame some of that on the craziness of the Christmas season. But now that's over, and it's still tough to find the time to nurture these relationships. It was one thing when we had tasks and challenges to accomplish together every week. Actually, it was almost too much. But in normal, everyday life, things go back to, well... normal. It takes intentionality to keep up the relationships that MDN initiated among us.

Carter on the Pony

We enjoyed watching the show. It was kind of neat, actually, seeing the people and activities and what was going on, and remembering it, and now being able to match the person we now know with the experience we remember. The Hidden Money Market fair was great fun. They had bouncy castles and pony rides for the kids, and Caleb and Carter had a great time with those! The greatest financial benefit we experienced was from Kerry from Squawkfox who showed us how we can save money on everyday things. A little here, a little there, and it's amazing how it all adds up!

We're ecstatic about Joel and Tanya's winning! They've been through a tremendous amount. It's been great getting to know them through the show. What an awesome family and deserving couple! The MDN Bank was a bit of a surprise to us when we saw it in the show. It was a case of the "magic of TV" creating something that wasn't really there. A few people have commented "I haven't seen that building in Aldergrove before!"

From a Gospel perspective, this really was Day 1 of getting to know a lot of our neighbours really fast. There are a whole bunch of ways to share the Gospel, and some people might have taken the opportunity right at the get go to get on a bullhorn and start yelling that Jesus is the way. I think that maybe the production company was hoping I'd do a bit of that. I wasn't sorry to disappoint them. To be honest, there were a few people on bullhorns for different causes, and it never really went down well with the community. For us though, the idea was to take it easy - to build relationships with these people. I was more aggressive than Taralyn in letting people that we 'had been' there in Aldergrove to start a church; she believed that would already set a disposition in peoples' minds. I think we balanced each other out - we often do.

Caleb with his sweaty face painted at the Money Market

Aldergrove needs the Gospel. Yes, the challenge to raise our collective net worth by $1,000,000 is fun and also needed (Jeremiah 11), but real, lasting positive change can only come through the Gospel. A number of people we met through MDN are Christians living in Aldergrove. Many of them have no context for living intentionally as missionaries in our culture. A few of them are legalists (conforming to rules while ignoring culture), and a few are libertarians (conforming to culture while ignoring Gospel imperatives). There are a few that we could relate well with, and we thank God that they're also at work for the Gospel in this town.
Please pray for Aldergrove as you watch this show, and ask if He would send more of His harvesters into the fields of Aldergrove to join us in reaping the harvest He is preparing. Is He calling you to be one of those harvesters?

Toy Story and the Gospel

I've watched the original Toy Story a few times recently with my sons Caleb and Carter, and through the lens of the Gospel it tells a compelling story indeed!

Buzz Lightyear is a toy who thinks he's a space ranger. He flies around the room, impressing the other toys with his impressive wing span and flashing laser. He's stolen the loyalty and affection of the other toys and Andy, the boy, from Woody. Woody used to be King in Andy's room, but with Buzz Lightyear's arrival he's been knocked down a few notches and is now just a regular toy.

Woody spends the majority of the movie trying to convince Buzz that he's delusional in thinking he's a space ranger. 'You are a TOY!' he screams at one point, 'A child's play thing!' Buzz doesn't buy it, and thinks that Woody is delusional and unwilling to accept how wonderful he really is. About 2/3 into the movie, Buzz happens to see a commercial of himself, showing that he is, in fact, a toy like several hundred of others just like him. He tries once again to fly in order to gain his freedom and prove his worth, only to fall flat on the ground, breaking his toy body into pieces. Faced with his delusion, Buzz finds himself with no identity, no purpose, no hope. He no longer sees any value in himself, until Woody reminds him that his value is found in his owner's eyes. Andy is who matters, and the value that Andy places on Buzz, or on any other toy, is the value that they truly have. Woody then reveals his own deep struggle, which is facing up to the fact that because Buzz has come along, Woody feels he no longer has any value in Andy's eyes. Buzz realizes that all that matters is getting back to their purpose of enhancing Andy's life. He rescues Woody, who in turn rescues him, and they ultimately find their purpose and greatest happiness in being the toys that Andy loves.

Buzz is like a lot of us. He is self-assured, and in that he overestimates who he is and what he's capable of. He can't be told he's less than what he thinks because he has learned all his life 'you can do whatever you set your mind to' and 'you need to tap into the power you have within yourself'. He'll accomplish anything, and overcome any obstacle because he is spectacular. He's not 'just some toy', he's significant.

Likewise, many people I talk to believe this about themselves. Their only worth is self-worth. It comes from being who they decide they are, and nobody can take that away from them or tell them otherwise. Popular media, particular pop music, reinforces this destructive delusion. They won't listen to the Woody's who try to help them understand who they truly are, because they see those people as the negative nay-sayers who will only bring then down and hamper their self-achievement. They believe they are good, powerful, capable and free. But in reality, they are human like the rest of us. They're not altogether good; they're selfish. They're not all-powerful; they're limited. They're not fully capable; they're restricted. And they're not free; they're bound by sin.

Is allowing the Buzz Lightyears to continue in their delusion a loving thing to do? The other toys thought so. They were impressed by his novelty. But what happens when that novelty wears off? What happens when 'falling with style' becomes just 'falling'? Is it unloving to let people know 'you're a sinner, living by the grace of God!'? Woody's exasperation at Buzz's denial of his true identity seems rude, callous, and mean. But until Buzz realized that Woody had been right all along, he didn't live up to his highest potential or experience true joy and purpose.

But we could also do great damage by only telling half the Toy Story. Buzz wasn't all he thought he was - he was much more! The movie didn't end with Buzz sulkily sipping tea as Mrs Nesbit, but instead with Buzz and Woody saving the day for Andy, relieving his broken heart, creating joy for him and, in that, for themselves. Buzz wasn't only stripped of a false identity; he was given a new, better one! In the same way, even as in love we help people realize that they're not all that, that what's inside isn't all that great, we also need to tell them that they're much more, and that God loves them and THAT makes all the difference. 'You are a GREAT toy!' Woody says to Buzz. I think great damage has been done to the Gospel by Christians who emphasize this part without the first part. The message gets muddy, because people are left thinking that they're great on their own merit. That their greatness is innate by who they pretend to be. But it wasn't until Buzz realized that he's not great in the ways that he had though he was, that he was able to understand that he is great because Andy loves him. When we just tell people, 'Jesus loves you' they likely think, 'of course he does, why wouldn't he?' They need to come face-to-face with who they really are before they can accept the wonder of God's great love for them. But I also wonder how often I have missed this second piece of the Gospel, instead letting people believe I think they're worthless because they're human. We need to be balanced in our presentation of the whole Gospel.

By the end of Toy Story, we get the idea that Buzz has learned two things: that he is just a toy, and that Andy loves him very much. It reminds me of a quote by John Newton: "My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things; That I am a great sinner, and
that Christ is a great Saviour." It also reminds me of 1 Timothy 1:15 "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost" and Romans 5:8 "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Toy Story is a great story. It reminds me that BOTH sides of the Gospel, both human depravity and human worth, need to be preached. I can't wait to see what I'll learn from the next 3 films in the franchise!

Fishing In A Small Pond

'Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men' - Jesus.

Here's my response: let's play. Let's fish for men. Let's bring the Gospel to those who really can use it. Let's put out into deep water, let the nets down, and catch us some fish!

Jesus said these words to experienced professional fishermen who had caught nothing, nothing at all, all night long. He comes along, a carpenter, and tells them they're doing it all wrong. 'Drop your nets on the OTHER SIDE of the boat' he says. Oh, the other side! Of course! What were we thinking! Stupid us, we thought just as many fish would be on one side as the other! OK Christ, I'll do what you say... What the...
'I know how fishing works, and I know how men are. I'll show you how to fish for men.'

So I have followed Jesus, followed His leading to Aldergrove. I've said before that if I'd gone to plant a church in Vancouver, I might have a number of families with me from the start. But Aldergrove? Such a small town! Such a small pond! I've said before that Aldergrove has people who need the Gospel too. But how many are open to receiving it? We've said we're not necessarily here for everybody in Aldergrove, but for those who 'could really use' the Gospel, ie. those who are open to it. Is it feasible to start a church in Aldergrove, or should I be content with starting a Bible Study?
In Aldergrove, we currently have 3 families (and some) involved with Access Church. 7 adults, 5 kids. 12 people in a town of 12,000. Translate that to the city of Vancouver, and Access Church is a bustling 578 souls in a city of 578,041. But is that bad math? Does that even really matter? Sadly, not when the bills come due. NO, I am NOT in this for the money. But I am increasingly aware as my family grows (along with my responsibility to them) that I can't continue to fish in small ponds and keep food on the table.

So what? Do we throw our nets over to the other side of the boat? What does that even mean? Do we abandon our nets and our boat to follow Jesus somewhere else? Do we continue to lean on Him and learn from Him how to fish for men? Am I a bad leader for not being able to inspire more people to follow, or am I in the wrong place, or will it just take more time?

The conflicted thoughts of a church planter. Please post if you have any wisdom or thoughts on this.

Mountain-Top

All roads lead to the top of the mountain, and it's arrogant to believe that one does and another doesn't.

That's what some authors and celebs endorsing 'New Spirituality' want us to think. Oprah, Deepak, Ekhart and others look down on me and other 'one way' Christians with distain because we believe in the words of Jesus, "I am the way" (John 14:6). To them, Jesus is a way up the mountain to get to God, heaven, nirvana, happiness, fulfillment, what have you. My belief is narrow and antiquated in our day of tolerance and agreement between religions. Their view is accepting and accommodating toward everyone, treating all people and religions with equal dignity.
But that's not true.

In attempt to become accommodating, what they're doing is throwing daggers at everybody. Christians, Jews and Muslims each have, wrapped up fundamentally in their beliefs, the doctrine that they're right and the others are wrong. For these 'new spiritualists' to say that everybody's right is to knock the legs right out from under these faiths. Since they can't say that Jews, Muslims and Christians are equally right, what they're saying is that we're equally wrong and that THEY'RE right. They're buying in to the same arrogance they accuse us of. At least, as a Christian, I am honest about my ideological exclusivity. These people promote 'unity' by condemning anyone who doesn't agree with them. They don't offer unity, but rather another method of separation.

'All roads lead to the top of the mountain'. Says who? How can we trust that what Oprah says is true? Has she had a message from an Objective Source? Is she claiming to be that Objective Source? What I'm asking is, has Oprah seen the mountain and the mountain top, or is she simply assuming that she knows better than other promoters of exclusive ideologies, her fellow sojourners? Admittedly, Oprah, Deepak and Ekhart are fellow sojourners, not gods but 'blind guides'.

Knowing the mountain, the mountain top, and where the various roads dead-end (or don't) requires an objective point of view - one that we humbly lack as humans. We are at the mercy of One Who can tell us and lead us to the mountain top, Who can help us avoid the pitfalls and traps, Who can give us direction to the top. As a Christian, I believe that One is Jesus Christ Who, as God, has the whole mountain view. He invites us, 'Do you want to be reconciled with the Father? Then come through me. No other path will bring you all the way in - I am the way'.
Now the Muslim and the Jew - they have their paths. Will those paths lead to God? No. They'll lead them to other gods, doomed to destruction. But the invitation is to the Muslim and Jew as well, to Oprah, Ekhart, Deepak and you - come to God and be reconciled to Him through Jesus. There's no other way to the mountain top, but thank God that there IS a way!

Missionary Cards! Now Available

Delightfully Cheesy, missionary cards are one way to raise prayer support!

The Eddy FamilyChad | Taralyn | Caleb | Carter

Church Planting Missionaries
with the
Evangelical Free Church, Lower Pacific District

Called to plant Access Church in Aldergrove, BC,
a community of 12,000 between the cities of Langley and Abbotsford.

The Plan:
• Begin to lay the foundation to plant in August, 2009.
• Move to Aldergrove in the fall of 2009.
• Hold monthly pre-launch services starting in October.
• Launch date April 4, 2010, which is Easter Sunday!

Please pray for us as we look for the right place to live, get connected in the community, build both core and launch teams, raise support for ourselves and for the church plant, and find ways to share the Gospel with people in Aldergrove!

Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:18-20)