the landing list

A quick list to catch you up on life since landing in NC a week ago.

1. Last Friday I finished up a week at Indiana South District camp. To all my new friends there: remember who you are in the eyes of the Father, be baptized into the new pattern of life pioneered by Jesus, and stay filled with the Holy Spirit. Peace up, A-town down.
2. I came home from camp on Friday. We loaded up the u-haul that night. We moved to NC on Saturday morning.
3. Sarah’s parents, David and Mary Ann Presher, helped us move out of Wilmore, and move in on this end. They are awesome. Thanks so much for all of your help and support.
4. Sarah’s dad led the way in assembling in our new furniture, from a store that shall remain unnamed. Let’s just say that if Dave hadn’t been there, I probably would have searched out the nearest Swede and punched him in the face.
5. We now have new phone numbers. If you need it, email me at matt@lovechapelhill.com. (While in the store, we saw Carolina basketball player Danny Green. Pretty cool).
6. We had NC East District Conference this week. Still feeling incredibly encouraged by the moving support and love shown to the four church plant / mission projects.
7. We have pretty much settled into our new place. Here’s a brief video tour. The film is not exactly Sundance material, but she'll do. Come and visit us soon. Much love.

goodbye wilmore

We are packing things up and preparing to say goodbye to good ol' Wilmore in the next week and a half. It's funny how attached you can become to streets, buildings, wood trails, short little statues of John Wesley, and even gas stations (much love to clucker's). I am very grateful for this place, this time, and especially the people who have made this a rich experience for us. To all of our Wilmore friends: thanks and we love you. Peace.

"Goodbyes are hard. And you can't hug a city."
-Aram Mitchell

love chapel hill

Swing by the new lovechapelhill.com. This is the home of the city on a hill project, a new church plant in Chapel Hill, NC. Our mission is to love God with everything we have, and everything we are. And to 'Love Chapel Hill' in His name with His heart.

Massive thanks to partner and seasoned globe trotter (not the trickster basketball kind, although that would be awesome to see) Justin Simmons for pouring extensive time and talent into making this happen.

And here's a little 'love chapel hill' old school mixtape to listen to while you check it out. (Featuring the hill's native son James Taylor, of course.) Reminds me of the good ol' days when you waited through all of G105's 'top ten at ten' so you could record your favorite jam, only to have the dj yap over the entire first half of the song. Props to friend and celebrity blogger Chad Brooks for the mixtape discovery.

i heart wesleyans

Last week I hitched a ride (13 hours through the night) to attend the General Conference of The Wesleyan Church in Orlando. (Nerd Alert!) The trip reminded me of why I love Wesleyans, and why I'm proud to call this my Church.

Most significant for me was the historic election of our first woman General Superintendent, Dr. JoAnne Lyon. Dr. Lyon is the founder of World Hope, which for the past 12 years has thrust itself into the fight against human trafficking, HIV/AIDS, and other worldwide issues of social and spiritual injustice. I have a pretty good feeling we're about to be pulled in right behind her.

I was also moved by the passing of a bold statement on immigration. The strength of this statement (and the strength of the vote to pass it) were especially surprising for a few reasons: 1) We are in the throes of a heated Presidential election. 2) We are a Church that trends heavily toward conservatism. 3) The loudest voices of conservative thought would not be very happy with our stance on this. But these are not our theologians. As a Church, we now publicly declare that we are 'for' the outcast and oppressed, that we are 'for' the stranger, that we are 'for' those seeking refuge and hope, regardless of the political climate. Guided by the Biblical mandate of self-emptying love, we take a stand. Read the statement here on Keith Drury's blog (aka, the man who invented blogging).

I am proud of our history. The roots of the Wesleyan Church reach back to a small collection of courageous activists and abolitionists. They were 'for' freedom from slavery. They were 'for' equal rights for women (rights that stretch from the voting booth to the pulpit). They were 'for' the kind of heart holiness that wells up and runs over into the most mundane and magnificent expressions of mercy and grace. A movement born out of a great moment.

But here is the question. What is the next fight? What is our next great moment?

Maybe we are living in it now.

"May we see God's future Kingdom invading the present." -JoAnne Lyon

5 years!

Today we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary! It was a great day of reflecting back on the moments that have made up our journey so far. God is true, beautiful, and good. And He has used these five years to continually reveal that to us.

Thank you to our friends and family who have added rich layers to our lives together. We are blessed by your wisdom, encouragement and grace.

Photos by the talented Carissa Martin.

the lion and lucy

Sarah and I recently returned to Narnia, going to see Prince Caspian (on the opening day, of course, due to me being a dork). My favorite scene is between Aslan and Lucy, when she dreams of meeting him in the forest. The trees magically move to form a path, revealing him to us for the first time in the film. In the book, it goes down like this…

“Welcome, child,” he said.
“Aslan,” said Lucy, “you’re bigger.”
“That is because you are older, little one,” answered he.
“Not because you are?”
“I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”

Lewis writes theology into every word and roar from Aslan’s mouth. I love this thought…that as we grow older and wiser, as we further feel out the edges of our intellect, God grows larger (though never older) in our eyes. At least when we see and think rightly. Even as we receive degrees declaring us ‘masters of divinity,’ we still fail to corner the mystery. This should not be frustrating, but deeply encouraging and inspiring. It is an invitation to move further up, and further in, finding a snowy wood on the other side of the wardrobe, and an entire world stretching out beyond that.

As we outgrow our bedtime stories, there is still one Story that will continue to outgrow us.

obi-wan wisdom

Today in Chapel at Asbury, Dr. Robert Mulholland (spiritual formation guru and Asbury's version of Obi-Wan Kenobi) talked about the interesting distinction between the following two ideas:

Be in the WORLD for GOD.

Be in GOD for the WORLD.

Any thoughts on the differences between the two?