Roasted Seeds

I love roasted pumpkin seeds. Today Andi and Jodie helped scoop out the contents of two pumpkins. Then I cleaned out the seeds, rinsed them, boiled them in salt water, and toasted them in the oven for about half an hour. Crunchy salty goodness.

Pool Tournament

We haven't had the Hub the past few weeks. We've been having some building work done in the back of our center. We still see the Hub guys all the time, though, and tonight we took a few of the younger guys to a pool tournament at another LCM center.
I have to say, we got a sound thrashing from the other center. When we walked in, I was feeling a bit bad for them, because all our guys looked older and bigger than the other guys. But as it turns out, they beat us soundly - winning 19 of 28 matches.

My Theologian/Feminist Daughter

So, my daughter turned three last month, and I think I have a budding theolgian and feminist on my hands. A couple conversations with her recently:
J: Daddy, God isn't real, is he? He's just pretend.
Me: No, God is real. We can't see him, but he is real.
A couple days later she's praying...
J: God, thanks for making me, even though I can't see you. You really are real.

And this one in the car...
J: Mommy, who made me - God or Jesus?

Earlier today, her feminist side came out...
J: Daddy, did God make people and houses?
Me: No, God made people, and he gave people the skills to build houses.
J: Oh, so God just made people, he didn't make houses. But the people make houses.
Me: Right. And when you are older, I can teach you some of the skills to build a house. I can show you how to use a hammer and a saw.
J: Yeah, because I might be a girl, but I can still do those things.

It begins

Our week with the WHM emerging generations team has come to an end. Pat and Jen are staying with us until Saturday, but I returned to work at Bethel this morning. John and Kathy leave tomorrow morning with two of their daughters.
And now the big news...It looks like God is calling us to focus on an area just north of the center of London. Camden Town is a busy market center and hub of life for many people on the fringes of mainstream culture. Islington is two miles east, with lots of young professionals and creatives; and in between is Kings Cross, an area undergoing massive redevelopment. While this is still a sizeable area, knowing that we will focus on Camden/Islington feels a lot more concrete than London as an entire city.
We ended our time together yesterday at Tinderbox on Upper Street in Islington. Team leader John gave all of us rings from Camden market to mark this significant decision in our lives, and then read a passage from The Return of the King to spark our imaginations. And so it begins...

Open Source Theology

We had lunch on Wednesday with Andrew Perriman. Andrew is the originator of the Open Source Theology project, which seeks to develop a collaborative theology for the emerging church. It's a great site with lots of potential value for us as we seek to plant missional churches within the emerging culture of London. I'm hoping to find some time to reflect and get involved in the conversation there...probably after our team leaves next week.

More on the week

Today we met with some with some people from our mission, one of whom has been living here for ten years. Good perspective, and a good time with friends and food. My friend and fellow WTS grad Jeremy was there...I had hoped we'd see him but didn't know what his schedule was.
Pat blogs his perspective on our week together over at teamgimli. See especially this story about how I made him eat Stinking Bishop cheese.

Emerging Games

Yeah, I use emerging just for the heck of it sometimes. Just wanted to give you a little update on our week of seeking God's direction for our WHM team. This morning we met with a couple people from London City Mission. We had a great time, and it reminded me again of how small I am in the face of what God is doing and has been doing in London for centuries. I was also convicted of much of my distaste for the ways of the traditional church...probably needs to be some on-going repentance before the Lord on that one.
We had some very fruitful discussion about different parts of the city and the shape of church-planting. I don't want to give too many details because we're all still trying to process what we've seen and heard and smelled.
Tonight I gave Pat and John a little wine lesson - Castillo San Lorenzo Rioja Reserva 1999 paired with Somer's lamb kebabs. A beautiful wine, classic Rioja - the best part about it in my opinion is the long vanilla finish (oh, and that I got it at half-price at Tesco).
We finished the night with a couple games of Settler's of Catan. John the team-leader hates games, but graciously agreed to play anyway. That didn't stop me from beating him twice.

World Harvest Team

This week we have a couple guys from World Harvest visiting. Pat and John are here with us checking out possible spots for a church plant. We're asking God to show us where the next phase of life/ministry needs to be for us.