MDN: Week... Whatever

Hey, it's been 2 weeks since I posted last. It seems that I grew tired of making these posts at around the same time as I grew tired of being involved in MDN. After the Once In A Million Wine & Dine Event, I kind of lost interest... for a while. Yes, I was involved in the Transportation Challenge, to an extent, and in the Entrepreneur Challenge, to an extent. But a few things were also going on in my personal life.

For the Transportation Challenge reveal, I was absent. Well, actually I WAS there (at the Aldergrove Wreckers) at 10:00 am with my son Carter when we were supposed to start filming, but I had to leave at 11:30 and they hadn't yet begun. This was the style of MDN, and I wasn't really surprised, but a little disappointed. Except for the reason I had to leave was that my Mum was getting married that day in Langley, and I was co-officiating the ceremony! (more on that later...)

For that challenge, I tried to schedule car pooling. Stephanie was organizing car pools, but work (I work as a term at Canada Post) had me in Chilliwack, and nobody else was going that far into the Valley. Carpooling didn't work. Neither could I have biked to work, though that could have been fun! Around this time, though, many of us were wondering if filming would ever end. The days were getting shorter and colder, and instead of complaining about the heat at the MDN Bank, there were complaints about the cold at the MDN Bank. I also didn't participate in the car sale - I had no car to sell, and I was driving a school bus for a local church's bus ministry that day. I do wish I had been able to be there, but we all have priorities, and we need to say "no" to many good things in order to say "yes" to the ones we value more. For me, that day, it was hanging out with my two oldest boys and taking them on a bus trip and to Kids Klub.

The following week, I was on hand for the challenge. I actually made it on camera in a number of spots, which really surprised me because I was definitely more heavily involved in previous challenges (heading up entertainment at the Garage Sale, serving and helping with entertainment at the Wine & Dine, etc) and didn't show up on those episodes. It was a good challenge. Carissa with SLAP (www.slapcenter.com) was phenominal with showing how businesses can become viable. She answered some of the questions I had for her pertaining to starting a church, which is completely different (though very much the same) from starting a business. For a church, for instance, you're not concerned with making a profit (maybe a prophet... har har). But there are business principles for a church planter to follow if he wants to keep his head above sinking. Carissa talked about building a vision and mission in a way I hadn't heard before, and it was really inspiring! In addition, I let the cat out of the bag a little bit more in the context of the community which I had been growing increasingly socially comfortable with, that I am here to share the Gospel with Aldergrove. It's always a bit tenuous, sharing something like that, because immediately people go into self-protective mode like I'm the Amway guy. Like I all of the sudden have an agenda - as if nobody else does. But once I got to know the people and they knew I wasn't a crazy religious nut (much to the chagrin of the producers of the show, I'm sure), I was able to reveal my intention more and more. I got to drive Gary back home after that event and we had a great talk about his dream start-up business and mine, and agreed to help each other in any way that we can.

I was involved in the marketing group for that challenge, as I had started helping people with building a twitter following. I figured I could get the word out for the night market that way. But I obviously wasn't it in 100%. There were other things going on in my life, and again they took priority. I had already agreed to speak at a pre-teen youth event in Surrey (here) the night of the Night Market, so I couldn't attend that event either, which was also disappointing but I know I made the right choice. Of course, knowing that I wouldn't be at the actual event, it was hard to be motivated to give all I could FOR the event.

I can't remember if I've mentioned this or not, but it keeps on coming back to my mind and rumbling around my soul. At the very beginning of the Million Dollar Neighbourhood, we had a town hall meeting when Bruce Sellery gave some excellent financial tips. It started with determining what money means to you. Some of this was shown in the first episode. People came up and said "money means freedom, and I don't have any of it". Others said "Money is a prison". Some people said that money is what gives them the life they always wanted. One person, Darren Patrick, said that money is for other people - namely those on First Nations reserves without proper drinking water. I was surprised that only one person in that crowd talked about money in any way other than "it's for me, me, me...". I'm not slagging those who said that money's for their happiness or success - that's the way the world is. But I was refreshed to hear Darren say that he sees his money for other people.

Secondly, Bruce said something I'll refer to for many years to come. He told us that most people work, work, work, work, work, work, play, play, and die. He wants instead to work, play, work, play, work, play, work, play, play and die. I totally dig where he's going with this. Money to him is the opportunity to play, to travel, to enjoy life. I appreciate that. He said that he works really hard, drives a less-than-impressive automobile, and makes other sacrifices, so that he can "play" throughout his life. I totally get that, and I'm inspired by it.

But I'm afraid that Bruce only has half (at most) of the picture. If he works, plays, works, plays, plays, plays, plays, then dies... then what? If all he ever has to do is play, play, play, play, die, then what? Francis Chan made a really good point here. He says that life here on earth is such a small part of our eternal reality. He brings a long, long rope on stage, which stretches off the stage out the door and he says 'imagine this rope goes on forever, and that this rope is a timeline of your existence. This red part at the tip represents your time on earth. You have a few short years here on earth, and then all of eternity. What blows me away is that some of you, all you think about is this red part."

Now, maybe you don't buy it. Maybe you don't think that your life is eternal. In that case, what Bruce says is right. Work, play, work, play, play, play because that's all you really have to hope for. But in the end, it's frustrating isn't it? Because other things interfere with our playing plans. The weather turns, or terrorists screw up the flight schedules, or the thing that you thought would satisfy your craving just doesn't, and you need to work more to enjoy the next great thing. Solomon, one of the richest men whoever lived and certainly the wisest, had leisure at his leisure. He built anything he ever wanted, had all the sex he ever wanted, lived life exactly the way he wanted. And he said that it's all meaningless, leaving you feeling empty inside. They say that the most dissatisfied people in the world are those who have "made it", and found out that at the top of the ladder things aren't so rosy. They've spend their lives, their energy, their time, their money, their stuff, their family, on getting to the top, and it's not worth the investment.

What if there IS more? What if it's great to save and dream and plan for this life, but that there's something greater beyond this life that we don't even know anything about? What if the top of the ladder here is nothing compared to what we could ever consider in the future? What if there are things we could invest in here to make that future a brighter place? This is the hope I have to share with Aldergrove, and God willing I'll have more and more opportunity to do so.

I'm excited about seeing this week's episode, because my son Carter's picture has already shown up online at https://www.facebook.com/MillionDollarNeighbourhood. Here it is:

The episode follows the week that the kids took the lead. Again, admittedly, we weren't hugely involved. It's easier for the kids to handle finances and food and all that stuff when they're teenagers or even pre-teens... but what are we gonna do? We did get together with Stephanie and Ryan and their kids though for an evening. We had fun. We'll have to do it again soon!

But since I haven't seen the episode yet (I wait until they come online because I don't have cable) I don't have much to say about it. Stay tuned!

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?

Million Dollar Neighbourhood on OWN

So, tonight the world (or at least the nation) will be introduced to my town, Aldergrove BC through Oprah Winfrey Network Canada's "Million Dollar Neighbourhood". My family is a part of this town and this program, and I'm just as excited as anybody (and more excited than most) about tonight's premiere.

I grew up in Aldergrove. Until I was 10 years old, these were the streets I walked, the grocery stores I frequented, the barber shops I visited, and the schools and churches at which I studied and learned about relationships. My family moved not too far, to Langley and then to Brookswood, but Aldergrove always stayed with me. After living in Surrey, Abbotsford, Winnipeg, North Delta, and again in Langley, I moved my own family to Aldergrove almost three years ago.

We moved here to start a church. It didn't work out. For many reasons.

One of the biggest reasons our church didn't get started is because we found it incredibly difficult to get to know people in Aldergrove. We aren't alone in that evaluation. As I've talked with people I've finally met through the show, the biggest complaint about the town is that people are living such insular lives. They don't seem to WANT to get to know their neighbours.

Now, obviously that's not an entirely fair assessment. If people didn't WANT to, they wouldn't. And yet here we have a show featuring 100 families who DO want to get to know their neighbours. Quite deeply, actually. But I need to be careful about how much of the show I reveal before each episode.

But here we were in Aldergrove, with our dream of 'planting a church' on hold. We had to decide whether we were going to stick it out in town, or find a ministry job elsewhere. We were compelled to stay in Aldergrove. We felt that God had called us here, not just to plant a church but to BE an expression of His Church here. So I began the process of finding employment that would allow our family to remain here.

A couple of weeks after that, we heard that Force Four Entertainment, the same company that produced Village on a Diet were interested in possibly doing a show based in Aldergrove. A few other communities were being scouted, but Aldergrove ended being selected to film a test episode.

Soon after that, I got a job with Canada Post and we were also contacted by Force Four to see if we were still interested in being one of the 100 families that would make up the show. The rest will have to wait.

I can say now that the show, MDN has brought our town together in community like never before. We're talking to people at the grocery store, waving as we see each other on the streets, getting together for events, and it's great to know others no matter what their backgrounds or lifestyles. We're not presently pursuing a church plant here, but we're more determined than ever to be Good News to our new friends in our old town, and we're excited to see what God has in store for Aldergrove!

Keep following this blog, and I'll post sometime in the week following each show to offer my reflections and responses on the show that already aired (but no spoilers... so don't ask!).