Mission Trip Day 3

Yesterday was a great day for the mission team from Humble Area's First Baptist Church.  We started the day by going on a community tour of north Everett through some of the neighborhoods.  I had an opportunity to share the story of how our family got here, which you can read in the November-December 2013 posts on this blog.  If you know that story you know that God's hands are all over it, which is why I love to tell it to people.

The city is encouraging artists to move to Everett, and this engraving can be found on one of the streets in downtown.  When I saw it I was startled, as it seems to communicate the fear that many here have inside of them but don't talk about.
After that we came back to our house and once again went to the streets to tell people about Jesus and pray around the city.  Each team had several encounters to tell of, and the pattern was very similar to the previous day.  We had some who gave us at least a thumbs-up to the "Who is Jesus to You?" question, others who wouldn't make eye contact, and still others who became visibly and verbally agitated simply at the mention of that name.  There is something about that name...

I prayer walked with Steve who is another one of the community pastors at Everett Family Church.  We prayed as we walked and eventually stopped at the Library, which is a big hangout for homeless during the day.  Within minutes of arrival, a young guy showed up who had a black shirt on with an upside down cross and a tatoo of a punk rocker on his calf.  We initiated conversation with him but he was quite agitated by our presence and by that "Jesus" name and he eventually left.  I was quite struck by the contrast of his shirt to ours.

We also encountered some other people who are "spiritual" and who believe there are many paths to God, and another who told us that Jesus is a myth.  This stimulated some conversation among Steve and I as we walked home.  What if our church were to make this sort of thing a regular practice?  What if we became so visible on the street that we began to recognize, know, and regularly have conversation with the guys on the street?  If this happens, we are no longer just a random face out there who is engaging them in conversation.  It is possible that over time we might be a...friend.  We will be praying about this.

A separate team came back with the great report that they had talked to a man only blocks from our house who said that, had they even talked to him 2 weeks ago, he would have shunned them.  However he told them that he was ready to receive Jesus as his Lord and Savior right then and there, and they prayed with him as he received salvation.

So that goes back to the earlier question:  what if we are more visible here?  What if this is done regularly?  There are plenty of people just like that who, if they hear the message a few times and see love in action by God's people will likely respond the right way.  What might the Lord do in this city through a ministry like that?

 Part of the mission team from HAFBC with some of our own, serving hot dogs to families.

The Family Tree barbecue at 1:00 went on as planned.  We have found that we don't need to shout from the rooftops that we are there.  The smoke from the grill does the talking!  We saw many people that we hadn't seen the previous day and had the opportunity to invite them to participate in what we are doing.

 

 The kids reenacted the story of Zachaeus the tax collector and his encounter with Jesus.  Of course my very own Zachary got to be Zachaeus.

Kid's Club in the evening went extremely well.  This time we had 2 vanloads of kids from Family Tree and our numbers swelled to 24 in spite of having 4 regular attenders who couldn't come last night.  God is so good.

We are so thankful that God sent this mission team from Texas to be with us.  I told them sincerely last night that their work has already rocketed us forward by probably an entire year.  With the people we have currently who will contribute to the ministry, it would take at least a year to accomplish all of the community connections and evangelism that have been done in 2.5 days.  That is simply amazing. 

I don't want to take away from the fact that the Lord is moving in Everett, Washington.  While we are all human beings who are participating in activities, I think anyone on the team would agree that what is happening is the Lord is moving and we are simply joining Him.  Our prayer each day is that we'd just stay out of His way!  What a God we serve, that He would go out on different streets, different blocks, and different parts of the city all at the same time, working through ordinary people.  What a privilege it is to serve the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ!

Mission Trip Day 2

What a great day the team had here in Everett!  We hit the streets at 9am with everybody departing from our house. Many walked and I dropped a few off at locations around downtown so that they could pray and do some street evangelism.

Each person wore their "Who is Jesus to You?" shirt and it really got a reaction here. Some saw it and smiled. Others saw it and pointed to the sky. Others saw it and scowled, walking away from us. Still others verbally told us that they didn't want anything to do with Jesus. It simply amazes me that that name seems to be the great dividing line in this world. You can throw around God, "spiritualism", or any other name. But the name of Jesus always evokes a reaction. 

Matthew 10
³² “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. ³³ But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.
³⁴ “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.

³⁵ ‘I have come to set a man against his father,
    a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
³⁶     Your enemies will be right in your own household!’

 

After prayer walking we spent some time at our house hosting lunch for the team. We shared our experiences and it was so clear that the team had their eyes opened on this experience. This experience did to many of them what it did to Amanda and I last year:  once you see the world this way, you never look at it the same way again.  Once you become aware of the spiritual brokenness and void that is right there around us, suddenly the material things of this world don't matter as much.  Instead it becomes of paramount importance to share your knowledge of The Most Important Thing anyone could know, which is the Gospel message of Jesus.

In the early afternoon we hosted lunch for the great residents of Family Tree Apartments. The mission team served burgers and hot dogs to everyone who showed up, and the EFC team was able to connect with so many of the residents and invite them to Kid's Club.  Collectively we were able to get many verbal commitments by parents and kids to go. 

This evening we had Kid's Club Day 2, and had 19 show up in spite of the fact that we had a handful from yesterday that were unable to come.  We picked up a lot more kids from Family Tree this time which was really encouraging to all of us.  It goes to show again that relationships really matter.  If we will just stop our busy lives for a little bit and engage people in care and love, a good response results from it!

 

Probably the biggest moment during Kid's Club tonight came not from the kids themselves, but from one of the parents.  The mom of a little boy from Family Tree came with us tonight and sat and talked with a member of the mission team about Jesus.  After hearing the Gospel message and being talked through everything that it means for us, the woman accepted Christ right on the spot!  And that is what it is all about.  Bringing the most important thing, Jesus, to a person to transform their life forever.  

However, this isn't the end of the road for her. 

If we simply treat this as though she's crossed the finish line, we won't have done our job.  What we have to do now is disciple her so that she becomes a follower of Jesus.  That process will take a long time, but it is why we are here!  Nothing, and I mean nothing, even compares in importance to this work.  We are truly humbled that the King of Kings would choose to use us to spread His message.

So that begs the question:  who is Jesus to you?

Mission Trip Day 1

We picked up the Everett mission team from the airport yesterday and hit the ground running.  They unfortunately had a 3 hour flight delay, so they didn't land in Seattle until about 3PM local time.  While I went to the airport to go pick them up, we had to call in a number of people from the church to prepare Kid's Club for the evening, which was scheduled to start at 6:00PM!  It all worked out according to plan and, praise God, we were able to go on with Kid's Club in the evening.

 

We currently have 16 kids, which initially was a disappointment because all of us want so many more to come.  However, upon reflection, we had this same struggle early on with getting kids to come last year in Tacoma.  Over the week it fluctuated daily and we watched and waited each day to see who would show up.  Today is different because we will be hosting our first barbecue lunch at Family Tree Apartments!  This will help us to get the word out about Kid's Club and hopefully connect with more families at the complex.  We will be "Jesus with skin" to the people there.

The team also will be hitting the streets of downtown Everett today to prayer walk and do street evangelism.  We are anticipating many interesting stories afterward due to the bold shirts they are wearing that ask simply "who is Jesus to you."  That name can invoke happiness and occasionally anger in this area.  The shirts will give us yet another opportunity to engage with people here and share with them the Good News about the most important thing that could ever be known:  Jesus.

No matter what, the Lord is in this.  Please pray for each of the team that we would see what the Lord is doing today and follow Him.  Pray for men, women, and children to meet Jesus on this very day.  Most of all, pray that we'd submit and not believe in "activity," but instead that we'd believe in the Lord and desire most to see Him work through us.

Psalm 127

Unless the Lord builds a house,
    the work of the builders is wasted.
Unless the Lord protects a city,
    guarding it with sentries will do no good.
² It is useless for you to work so hard
    from early morning until late at night,
anxiously working for food to eat;
    for God gives rest to his loved ones.

Help is Coming

 

Psalm 121:1-2 

 I look up to the mountains—
    does my help come from there?
² My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth!

This has been a week of final preparations for the mission team's arrival from Humble Area First Baptist Church in Texas.  Our church has never experienced a team of people who have journeyed from home to come help, and our excitement has been tangible.  While it will be so great to see old friends and to make new ones, the single biggest anticipation for us is in seeing what the Lord will do through this trip.  I sense it will be a pivotal moment for this ministry and will lead to many greater things here in Everett.

This was one of the few weeks where we did not meet as community pastors to talk about the plan for the week.  There really was too much going on and we already had the plan for next week in place.  Instead, Amanda and I hosted our regular monthly community group meeting here at our house, and we had 23 show up including several who don't attend church regularly.  We fed them a brisket that had been smoked for 20 hours on our smoker and everyone ate well.  It was a good taste of Texas!   The time together was truly a blessing for us as we really saw the potential for our community group to expand and further impact our surrounding neighborhood.  We now have a core group of people who are committed and are regularly inviting neighbors to church, as we are.  

For so many here who won't go to a formal worship service, meeting in someone's home has a certain appeal to it.  The real beauty of it is that we can do anything in our house that we would do in a worship service, and the Lord shows up wherever we happen to be meeting.  We plan to use this time to open the Word, discuss it, and hopefully deepen relationships with each other so that more discipleship can occur over the course of the week.  While I don't know long-term what the Lord will do with this group, I do know the potential that exists within our own neighborhood to develop and grow disciples in Christ.

With that in mind, our next major event with the Community Group will occur on the night of August 23rd, when we host our first block party as a Community Group.  We have canvassed our neighborhood and spoken to many people about it and there is a lot of excitement.  It is our hope that many will come to this and experience a good time, but we also will be planting some seeds at this event in the hope that people might want to begin coming to our Community Group and be willing to study the Word with us.

Now back to the mission team from Texas.  We have many plans for the team this week! By day we will do prayer walking and street evangelism in Everett.  In the afternoon we will host some barbecue events for the families at Family Tree Apartments, and by evening we will run a vacation Bible school for kids in the area.  Other churches do VBS events here, but they are not as prevalent as they are in Texas.  The barbecue events are an effort to reach out to families at Family Tree and connect them with us, the body of Christ.  And street evangelism is always interesting because you never quite know what to expect.  The Lord is in all of these things though, and we're going for a long-term impact in Everett.

When we are on the streets we will be wearing shirts with this simple question.  It is quite likely that these will get a response here, both positive and negative.

I personally have had internal wrestling this week.  The administrator in me wants to make sure everything is done on my checklist of preparation for this event.  What did I forget?  What hasn't been planned enough?  The pride in me wants to organize a great event and look for huge numbers to show up as a sign that things are working.  The guilt in me looks at how I have done things in the past and wonders if I have over-planned and over-thought things.  But the Lord's spirit spoke very clearly to me last Saturday.  He said "Paul, you have done everything I have asked you to do to put this trip together.  Now, step back and let Me do what I will do."

Psalm 46:10  “Be still, and know that I am God!

    I will be honored by every nation.
    I will be honored throughout the world.”

While I have head knowledge of this, the Lord has had to work on my heart knowledge.  Throughout the week I have experienced periods of emotional numbness.  You can call it the weight of responsibility, anxiety, or something else.  I just have had times where I needed to be alone to think and pray, and last night was one of those times.  We had just returned from Family Tree Apartments in an effort to canvass the community so that they are aware of everything that will be happening next week with Kid's Club.  The effort was a bit discouraging because few people answered their doors and others clearly didn't want to have anything to do with any church. 

After getting home, I went for a run but deliberately stopped at a park next to the water and prayed at a park bench.  It is funny because I felt the Lord wanted me to stop at that very spot, and I imagined Him there on the park-bench with his arm out waiting for me to sit down.  At the park I had another one of those very honest prayer moments where I just told the Lord how I feel and what I'm concerned about.  I didn't have any clear response from Him, but I know He was there and was listening to me.  I sense this is a continued piece of his plan for me to die to myself. 

1 Corinthians 15:58New Living Translation (NLT) ⁵⁸ So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

Later I ran on and went downtown to the library where so many homeless individuals hang out.  I was able to pray at that spot as well and remembered that the Lord has brought us to Everett, Washington by His own plan.  While I get frustrated sometimes at apparent lack of progress or at the level of sin and evil here, I can stand on the promise that we are here because the Lord of Creation drew us here.  When nothing else is certain, that is the anchor that holds us.  What a blessing.

 A sculpture outside of the public library in downtown Everett.

Tomorrow the mission trip begins.  Please join us in prayer for this event, that we would be seed planters in this community and that men, women, and children would come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  Pray also that I stay out of the way and comfortably release this entire event to Him.  Additionally, pray for the mission team itself that they would have strength in their bodies and quick minds that are open to what the Lord is doing in and around them.

I will post periodically throughout the week on this blog and Facebook so you can share in what the Lord is doing in Everett.

A Huge Gift

Thursday we received the church van that has been long-awaited.  So many people in Texas donated to make this possible and of course the timing of it is...perfect.  This vehicle will be used all week to get the mission team and church members around town, in addition to being used to move countless numbers of people from Family Tree apartments to our church site for VBS, family carnival, and our worship service.  We will attempt to keep track of how many people are moved this week as a reminder that this would have been impossible for us only a week ago.  The Lord provided.

1 Corinthians 16:13-14New Living Translation (NLT)

¹³ Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous.^[a] Be strong. ¹⁴ And do everything with love.

Sermon Recordings Now Posted

I have begun to post recordings of recent sermons that I've had the opportunity to preach at Everett Family Church, and will continue to post these as they are done.  You can find them at any time by clicking on the Sermon Recordings link at the top of the blog.  Our desire in putting these out there is none other than to have another venue for God to speak directly to you.  Without the involvement of His spirit, these are nothing but words on a recording.  But with His spirit, there is no telling what will happen as a result.

During these recordings you may hear me ask a question and wait for a response from the congregation.  This is a bit out of the norm for most churches, but I like to interact while teaching and give participants a chance to think.  You will likely hear the question and a pause, and some comments I make after the person spoke.  This does not dominate the recording so I believe you will still find it fairly easy to follow.

If you have a question or comment about any content of these sermons, please feel free to either post a comment on the blog so that it will automatically email me, or you can email me directly at the address found in my profile.  If you post a comment, it will not appear unless I approve it in the blog, so anything you send will be private.  I'd be happy to attempt to assist, and I always learn more in delving into the questions or comments that others provide.

There will be a post later this week about our final preparations for the mission team from Humble Area's First Baptist Church.  You need to know what is happening in our church as we pray, prepare, and wait for the Lord to move in a mighty way here in Everett.  Please continue to join us in prayer for this event.

Building Excitement

I have found so often that the messages on the rail cars coming through Everett contain poignant messages.  This one says "Stay High" at the bottom and clearly says "HELP" at the top.  How true.

I realize that much of the writing on this blog has been about what is happening in my own life.  It may make it seem as though there isn't much happening in the realm of church planting for us.  I believe nothing could be further from the truth, but I also know that the Lord has been doing a work in my life.  As I have said before, many church planters have told me that before God works on the church plant, He works on the church planter.  That certainly has been and continues to be my experience.

Mt. Adams rises above a mountain ridge in central Washington.

I'll do a future post on how far things have come in the last year, but it is interesting to take a peek now at what we were doing a year ago.  One year ago I was in the middle of the summer at work.  We had finished a difficult year at Summer Creek and I was very tired.  I had already gone to the Caribbean with Amanda for some time away to celebrate 15 years of marriage, and we were planning on going to the mission trip to Tacoma, Washington within a couple of weeks.  I remember not really wanting to go on the trip at this point of the summer.  I saw the timing of it as poor since so many things begin happening at the end of July and the first part of August.  I was still interested in building my kingdom.

Questions for me at this time of my life consisted of the following:

• Would this school year be any easier than last school year?
• When would I be able to become a principal of my own school?
• Where would I be working in 1-2 years?
• Would we be living in the same house or would we move closer to town?  (I already was feeling unsettled about where we were living at the time).
• Would I be able to recover quickly from the Tacoma trip and get things back on track at work?

Flash forward one year.  My current questions are the following:

• Will I remain in education for the foreseeable future or will I have the ability to enter into full-time ministry?
• If I leave education, how will I provide for this family so we can stay afloat?
• When will we plant a church in north Everett?
• What can I be doing now to foster community connections in our neighborhood?
• If we start planning events with the local elementary school, will people come?
• Who would God have me talk to today about Himself?
• Am I discipling enough people?  Is there someone I am missing?
• What other neighbors can I connect with who are separated from Jesus?  What will I do about that?
• How am I discipling my own kids?
• What would the Lord have me do in Everett TODAY?

As you can see, the lists are very different.  To my shame, the entirety of the first list is about me and my kingdom.  The majority of the second list is about God and His kingdom, and glory be to Him for that.  What grace He has given me, a man who has spoken so often about how to live the Christian life but who many times has failed in that area!  I can't believe that He'd want to use me at all...but He does.  I believe that I am a very different person than the one who left Huffman, Texas in December of 2013.  Because I love symbolism, I have viewed our life and sending to Washington in much the same manner as Bilbo Baggins was send from the Shire in The Hobbit.  In a pivotal conversation at the start of the story before he leaves, he asks Gandalf:

Bilbo:  And you promise that I will come back?
Gandalf:  No, and if you do, you will not be the same.
Bilbo:  That's what I thought.

The Lord has shown us that He loves us and the people of Everett.  However, the time is coming when each one of us will have to deal directly with the Lord, because the Bible tells us that "every knee will bow" to Him.  What happens, then, if the majority of the people that we live around do not know God?  We carry this great light within us.  What are we doing to actively let it shine so that our community can see it?  While we know that it is only the Lord who ultimately draws people to Himself, we feel an urgency to tell people about Him.  The implications for people are absolutely enormous.  So, these thoughts are what we wake up and go to sleep to every day.  We know why He led us here and are determined to do the work He would have us do.

 

A shot of the recent 4th of July parade in downtown Everett.  So what if none of the people in this picture know the Lord?  What actions will our family take today to make His name known before it is too late?  This is the daily reality in the Pacific Northwest.

Current Events

Everett Family Church is in the final stages of planning the mission trip where Humble Area's First Baptist Church will come visit and do ministry right here in Everett.  I have personally been involved in planning this for months, but as time has gone by we now have more people involved and excitement is really building.  We now have an entire week planned out which includes a lot of prayer walking, fellowship and outreach times at Family Tree Apartments, and a vacation Bible school event each evening.  We believe this week will be a real shot in the arm for the church and that God is going to do some big things both during and after it.  What will those things be?  I have no idea, but have a great sense that there will be a great movement of God's spirit here in Everett.

We have enlisted people to help out with various stages of the mission trip week and many people continue to step up and ask how they can help out.  Yesterday at our worship gathering I extended an invitation to the congregation to come participate with us during any event that week, and several indicated that they want to come prayer walk and evangelize on the streets with us!  I can see that this might become a regular part of what we do as a church family, and frankly, it should.  Nothing we do as a congregation is as important as prayer is.  It is possible to have excellent music, teaching, and events, and to miss the Holy Spirit completely.

 

This is the future EFC van!

To top all of this off I was able to go with Mike this week to look at 12 passenger vans.  As many of you know EFC has desperately needed a van so that we can transport people from Family Tree Apartments, many of which do not have a car.  This endeavor routinely involves 3-5 families swinging by to pick people up and to take people home, and we have been at capacity for some time now.  This means that if anyone new started regularly attending, we had no room in our vehicles for them.  We were amazed about 6 weeks ago when a Sunday School at Humble Area's First Baptist Church heard about our need and began raising money for a vehicle for us.  On top of that, several individuals joined the effort and made contributions of their own.  To top even that, HAFBC itself contributed to the purchase, and I am very happy to say that we now have enough to get a van!  We should have it in time for the mission trip at the end of July!  This van will meet a big need but also fulfills the longer-term needs of EFC.  We are literally praying for at least another vanload of people to begin coming to church from Family Tree.  As Mike likes to say, God provides for the needs you have right now, and He certainly has done that.  We now have much greater potential for outreach simply by getting this vehicle.  What a tremendous blessing!

I can't put my finger on it, but we sense that there is about to be an even bigger move of God's Spirit here in Everett.  You might chalk it up to the upcoming mission trip, but I think that might be too easy.  I think this place is perhaps like a dry forest that can easily be set on fire by a little spark.  As a group the leadership team has been prompted to pray more and more.  Even this week we will be meeting at Family Tree apartments for the sole purpose of praying around the complex.  There is definitely a stronghold of evil there as so few of the residents know the Lord, but we believe that if we will just humble ourselves and pray God will do something truly amazing.  I don't know what that will be, but I know this:  He doesn't need any of us.  

2 Chronicles 7
 ¹⁴ Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. ¹⁵ My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made in this place.

If I see a church that is devoid of power or see myself as being drained or without any effectiveness, it is because there has not been enough prayer.  That is what's wrong with the global church these days.  We give voice to God and His power and his Spirit, but we completely deny those things by our lack of prayer!

I ask that you join us in prayer for Everett, Washington and the people here.  Pray that we as a family would love them unconditionally and that the Lord's Spirit would be unleashed in such power here that we all stand amazed at what He has done.  Pray that He would draw many people to Him through this mission trip event.

Cultural Learnings

I thought it might be time to post some more reflections regarding the culture here in western Washington.  I have said many times that the difference between this place and Texas is so significant that we might as well be living in a foreign country.  Culture shock for us has been significant.  It is true that we have never lived in a city environment before and city life alone is a major change from the suburbs.  But there are larger factors at work in our experience that I hope to show you here.

As a general rule, what we see here is that western Washington is littered with examples of the result of man's attempt to live without God.  A simple walk down the street gives one numerous examples of how man has attempted to fill the hole in his soul with poor substitutes.  While many people here would proclaim to have "happy" lives, the fruit of their existance tells a different story.  

To start in a general sense, here are some pieces of information about the state of Washington itself.  On the political scale, western Washington (the state west of the Cascade mountains) is decidedly liberal, with parts east of the mountains or south of Puget Sound being pretty conservative.  It is notable that the political line of distinction is also marked by urban and rural environments.  Washington is the only state in the union where gay marriage, assisted suicide, and marijuana are all legal.

Marijuana is a continuing hot button topic here.  Since the law passed last year which legalized it, there have been numerous shops that have opened up around the Seattle area which sell it for "medical" use.  They are marked with a green cross that resembles the insignia for the red cross, and they are popular.  More recently there is a food truck that has opened up which drives around the Seattle area selling variants of food with marijuana cooked into it.  This coming Tuesday, retail marijuana shops will open across the state, all of which had to become officially licensed by the state prior to opening.  It is estimated that 500lbs of marijuana will be sold statewide on this date.

An empty box of wine discarded at the side of the road in downtown Everett.  This seems to be popular among some homeless.
 
We were surprised when we arrived here to see the amount of hard liquor which is sold in the average grocery store.  In Houston one could usually get wine or beer, but here those things are accompanied by many brands of whiskey, vodka, and other harder drinks.  These sections in the store also take up a lot of room.  Clearly alcohol in all forms is a big seller in the stores.

The jail in downtown Everett is surrounded by bail bondsmen.

 

The state of Washington has one of the highest rates of drug addiction in the entire U.S.  This is very visible when you walk the streets of Everett, Tacoma, or Seattle.  Frequently one will encounter people who are high on something.  Drugs of choice seem to be heroin and meth.  Heroin addiction in particular is especially prevalent here and has damaged or destroyed many lives.  Stories of this are rampant in both the homeless population and among young adults.  Perhaps the most visible story of the destructiveness of heroin lies in the story of Curt Cobain, the famous frontman from Nirvana, which started as a garage band here in Seattle.

Electronic cigarette and "vapor" retailers are sprinkled throughout Everett.

 

The greater Seattle area is a particularly affluent place.  The median household income is $64,000, while Houston in comparison has a median income of about $42,000.  The biggest industry is the tech industry, and many people here work in high-paying jobs with Microsoft and its associated vendors.  Everett is of course known for the enormous Boeing factory which employs over 40,000 people in the area.  If people in Everett don't work for Boeing they work for one of its vendors, and if they don't work for a vendor they work for the school district like I do.

Unions are extremely prevalent here.  The Boeing machinist's union is particularly powerful and constantly is in the news.  Teacher's unions are also big here and very powerful, and have influence over most decision making with education policy in the state.

Seattle loves sport.  The Seahawks are king for obvious reasons.  The 12th man flags are everywhere around town and to hang one of the flags is to be part of the team.  In addition to the Seahawks, the second biggest draw here is the Seattle Sounders, the MLS soccer team that plays at the same stadium as the Seahawks.  Soccer is huge and draws more people than the Seattle Mariners baseball team!  There are numerous sports talk stations on the radio, outnumbering the stations in the Houston market.  Baseball and football leagues are big here from May through September (when the weather is good) and games are regularly played through each weekend.  Many families center their lives on sporting events that their kids participate in.

The people in the Seattle area are decidedly friendly.  We have been welcomed by many people here.  The big difference is that, while in Texas you will be welcomed as well, here there are limits to that.  Showing too much interest in a person seems to make them hesitant and even suspicious.  It takes a long time to form bonds with people here, and that usually comes over a large number of short encounters with them.  Whereas in Texas it is a normal thing to strike up conversations in a hallway with someone you don't know, that sort of thing isn't always very successful here beyond the usual shallow pleasantries of "hello" and "have a good day."

Residents here have a real love for the state and the land.  If you have followed this blog at all you have seen many pictures of the rugged natural beauty that is here.   People here speak of the land with a deep reverence.  Many people I talk to know weird facts about western Washington and could probably name 5 places that a newcomer has to see or go experience.  There is huge interest in the fruit that is grown on the other side of the mountains and that is a frequent source of conversation at my workplace.  People gaze at the mountains in awe when they are visible and make plans to go visit them with a hike.  It is encouraged and expected that people will take off work or even school to enjoy a beautiful day on the water or on a mountain.  During the summer months the sun comes up at about 4:30 in the morning and sets around 10:00PM, so there is plenty of time to enjoy the outdoors.

The pace of life here is significantly slower than what we experienced in Texas.  Daily life is marked with people deliberately taking breaks to go take a walk outside, or going to a room by themselves to "reflect" or read a book.  People take days off from work to enjoy the outdoors and pull their kids from school to do the same.  In fact, we have been surprised as to how easy it is to get kids excused from an absence at school!  Yoga in all forms is very popular here.  Any new research study that touts the benefits of getting up from your desk every 20 minutes, taking walks, reflection, or meditation quickly gets circulated and talked about in any and every circle.

A park bench in Mill Creek.  The label says it all.

Religious beliefs here are as diverse as the people.  We have met countless people who call themselves "spiritual."  They always remind me of what the Apostle Paul encountered in Greece when he saw a statue that was dedicated to "an unknown god."  Many people we have met love to talk spiritual matters and are genuinely interested in what anyone has to say about them, but they live in darkness.  Buddism is also popular and there are various temples around town that allow for meditation and reflection.  Catholicism is another popular claim to religion, but I have met few of these who have actually attended mass in recent times.  On top of this, there are many, many people with no belief at all.  They come from generations of having no church background and no belief in Jesus or in any other god.  

Each and every one of the things mentioned is a factor contributing to the Pacific Northwest being one of the least churched regions of the country, with 90% or fewer people who attend a church.

Why go to church if it is pretty outside?  The weather will soon turn bad and we won't be able to enjoy it.

Why go to church to experience happiness?  My drugs and alcohol will do that for me.

Why go to church to seek fulfillment?  My job does that, and my bank account provides me with anything I could want.

Why go to church to fellowship with others?  I have friends at work, through little league, and on the hiking trail.

Why go to church on Sunday?  That's when the Seahawks play...or there's that Mariner's game coming up that is big.  I'll just connect with Jesus later.

I can't come to your Bible study.  My son has baseball tonight, and tomorrow, and Saturday, and a tournament on Sunday.

As I have stated before, all of the factors above leave the church with some major challenges in this area.  First and foremost, what do we provide that a person can't get elsewhere?  Everything I named above, while a poor substitute for Jesus, is actively used as a substitute here.  What does the church provide that I don't already have or can easily get?

For an excellent perspective on the challenges facing churches in this region, I would encourage you to read the blog by a church planter friend of ours in Tacoma, Bobby Higginbotham.  In one particular post he describes his experience with some of the cultural norms here and how they have impacted his church.  You might be surprised at some of the things he has to say.  Read the post here.

Finally, I found the gem below recently and discovered that it does a nice job of describing the mindset we see that is growing in our country, and in western Washington.  This is the mindset of those who have rejected God. 

Creed by Steve Turner
 
We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin.
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don't hurt anyone,
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your knowledge.

We believe in sex before during
and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy's OK
We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything's getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated.
You can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there's something in horoscopes,
UFO's and bent spoons;
Jesus was a good man just like Buddha
Mohammed and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher although we think
his good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same,
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of
creation sin heaven hell God and salvation.

We believe that after death comes The Nothing
because when you ask the dead what happens
they say Nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied,
then it's compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin and Genghis Khan.

We believe in Masters and Johnson.
What's selected is average.
What's average is normal.
What's normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between
warfare and bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors
and the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good.
It's only his behaviour that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth
that is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust. History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds,
and the flowering of individual thought.