provision comes in all shapes and sizes...

So a couple of days ago I blogged about some of the things we need for launching THE WELL and their attendant price tags.

I told you I had no idea how we were going to 'pay' for any of them but that I'd keep you posted on how things developed.

Well, here's your first report:

That there trunk is full.  Packed to the gills (but note that it ALL fits) with a sound system.

Yes.

A.  SOUND.  SYSTEM.

Picked it up today.

Cross one $5,000 line item off the 'in faith' list kids.

How'd it happen?  Well, I sent an email out to the VP's of THE WELL and to one of my friends who was an elder at my last church and who (with his wife and kids) will be joining us this time 'round, updating them on the costs and asking them to prayerfully consider how they might help.

I also have standing offers out to five big churches in our area asking them for help.  I've heard back from three and things aren't looking peachy in the short-term but we'll see in the end. While the lead guys at each church have been very kind (sincerely so) it's a lesson worth mentioning to any potential church planters out there reading this blog that the gap between goodwill and follow-through is a wide one.

This doesn't mean the guys you deal with are any less nice or gracious or less deserving of your respect, thanks, and admiration, but it simply reinforces the realization that most churches (and certainly almost ALL business in general) are typically focused on their own issues, ideas and bottom lines and the chances of you breaking through and getting them to act for your benefit are slim to none.

(note to self: don't be like this if you ever 'make it' with this one...)

Again (and some of them may be reading this) I'm not saying you do anything other than be gracious, humble and grateful for their time and consideration, I just want you to be prepared to not get what you need most of the time.

It's kinda' just the way it is.

That said--and this is why you can extend love and peace--God is your provider not anyone or anything else.  God knows what you need (not 'want' but need...) and He will provide for you exactly what you need--even if it seems to you at the time that it's not enough.

So...

I email the sound people yesterday and ask if they might consider allowing us to pay in installments.  Didn't think they would but the Bible teaches that we 'have not because we ask not...' (and when we ask and still don't get it's 'cause we're asking 'amiss'--again--reminding us that we're not God, we don't know 'best') so I figured I'd put it out there.

They don't get back to me.

But, because love 'hopes all things...' I call today, track the guy down, and sure enough he'd just missed the email.  He pulls it up while we're on the phone and, while we're discussing it, he says, "Oh, by the way we can finance this for you in-house..."

No credit cheque required.  Just and application and basically a handshake.

They do it all the time for 16 years olds trying to outfit their garage as a rehearsal space for their band.  Real old-school, like they look you in the eye, judge your sincerity, take a deposit and out you go.

With a trunk full of gear.

Can you believe it?

( at 35 with four kids as a second-time church planter I'm a bit less of a risk.  I actually laughed at the line in the application asking for my 'parents' name...)

And the first payment isn't due 'till October 9th which will be after we've had four (4) Sunday offerings at THE WELL and--I tend to believe--we might be able to pay it off right then and there.

Crazy.

And I must also comment that technology has come a LONG way in eight years.  When I planted my first church our first sound system nearly bankrupted us.  It was huge, impossible to handle, took ten people working for two hours to set up and basically was a huge pain in the backside.  The rig I bought today didn't exist then.  But...

Lemme' say re: that big rig, 1) It was my fault.  I was way too 'show' oriented in those days and wanted to try and beat Dave Matthews at his own game.  I need to repent of eyes bigger than my brain and hereby do so. 2) The company that sold it to us fleeced us.  We paid 6 times what today's system cost me and easily twice what it was worth at the time.  Dudes saw a couple starry-eye church planters and figured they'd take 'em to the cleaners.

SIX. TIMES.

And my sense, looking back, is that we got suckered.  The lesson from that is that if you're planting a church or starting any kind of capital-intensive business when you're still relatively young and foolish (I was 26 at the time) make sure you seek out and take advice from older folk who've been around the block a few times.  I know you think you know it all (I certainly did) but you don't and I didn't and I'd rather you avoid the beats and hard knocks I had to take to get me to this point.  3) Simpler is better.  Church is all about the content.  Preaching that lifts people's hearts to Heaven and calls them to Jesus.  Worship that lifts people's hearts to Heaven and makes them yearn for home.  Space for them and their kids to be together in God's presence and space for them (if they're single) to find a husband or wife so they can make some babies and live life together loving Jesus, each other and their friends, family, neighbors and city.

That's it.

Just get the tools you need to make (and keep making) that space.

So (and this is for me--and maybe for you depending on where you're at and what you're doing with your life...) keep it simple stupid.

And enjoy that snazzy new sound system that Jesus gave you that looks so good in your trunk.

Gonna' look even better 'on stage' in eleven days!

T