Giving Up

I was looking through my journal tonight and found this from last year at this time. A poem of sorts.


Giving Up

Teach me to lose myself in you
Teach me to lose myself
my desires
my plans
And be consumed by you
your desires
your plans
I'm giving up my fear
I've been hanging on too long
It drives me from your doorstep
And parks me in the alley of indecision
I'm giving up

www.pathwaysblog.com

A new blog is up and running that will keep you up to date with Pathways church in Bellevue, WA. Click here to get there.

I will continue to post here regarding our family stuff, but will now be posting things about the church there. Add it to your favorites!

And God Said, "It is Good."

Today are the tryouts for Little League Baseball for my 10 and 12 year olds. All is right in the world.

Take the Quiz and Comment

Okay, this will only be interesting if you actually take the quiz and comment on it. Here is the deal. Below you will find a list of 14 belief systems. Rank them from 1 to 14 with 1 being the strongest belief system to which you hold yourself. I did this in a class and it really made me think about what I really feel strongly about what is only theory in my life. In the comment, list how you ranked them.

Law and Order: elimination of crime and unrest

A Comfortable Life: a pleasurable and successful life

A World at Peace: a world free of war and conflict

Your Life: protection of your life

Equality: brotherhood, equal opportunity for all

Lives Of Our Loved Ones: survival of your loved ones

National Defense: protection from attack

Personal & Family Security: safe and free from worry

Respect From Others: looked up to, admired by others

Salvation: saved, eternal life

Self-Fulfillment: developing myself, my life fully

Wisdom: a mature, satisfying understanding of life

Democracy: a truly democratic representative government

All Human Life: the survival of all human life

Back

The rain followed me to San Diego then it followed me to AZ - cleared up and the clear followed me to Seattle. Weather does not get any nicer than it is here right now.

San Diego was awesome in that Leslie and I got to spend time talking, praying and laughing with John and Sherri Chandler. We are so excited they are coming to Seattle.

I also got to spend time with a guy named John Hickman - one of my new heroes. He has been a pastor in Spokane, WA for 26 years. Recently, he has become more and more convinced that God was calling him to start a new church - one that would reach out to a younger generation. He left his church, which did not understand, and has stepped into the unknown to follow a call that God has laid on his heart. Awesome! But that is still not nearly as awesome as the heart of this big guy. Praying with him in tears as he lifted John and I up before our Father was a holy moment.

Off

San Diego tomorrow morning (this morning technically). Pray for us. We are looking forward to seeing and being able to think, pray and talk with John and Sherri as we seek God's heart for the future!

Party at the Cabin

Kyle, my oldest, turned twelve yesterday. So for his birthday, I took him along with Joshua (younger brother) and Kyle's two best friends up here to Grandpa and Grandma's cabin for an evening of twelve year old heaven. That's right - GameCube, all the Mt. Dew and Dr. Pepper you can drink, Pizza, Chips, and Ice Cream with no curfew. It was like a twelve year old bachelor party.

The following morning (they eventually crashed around 3:30 with some encouragement from myself) we hiked to the top of Huckleberry Mountain which is just behind the cabin.

Great times were had by all, but I was ready for a nap after the hike - they were still going strong.

From Religion to Incarnation

I got to take in a church planters get together at Mars Hill in Seattle this week. It was probably the most thought provoking exercise I have taken in since coming to Seattle. They dished up hot breakfast and lunch (free) so that guys could interact and then Mike Gunn of Harambee Church laid out some stuff that he has been processing. I'll share thoughts (that's what a blog is for - right?).

The church is far too known for what it stands against rather than what it stands for. Take a poll on the street and you will find people are very clear how the church feels about homosexuality and totally fuzzy about what it means to be "saved". Why? Because the church is much better at pointing fingers at people and their behaviour than it is at pointing to Jesus through demonstration of His love and grace. This is why the church has lost it's influence. Leslie Newbiggen says correctly, "The church is the hermeneutic of the gospel." In other words, the world interprets the gospel through the observation of the church. We have been an embarassment (on the whole) in this department. If we want to penetrate our communities with the gospel, it must be demonstrated in the mission of the church.

What is the function of the church? Mission - Bearing witness to bring glory to God

"The church in our culture; however, is more structured for maintenance than mission."

The Glory of God is the mission of the church, not evangelism, conversion or growth!

"Mission can no longer be thought of as simply soul saving, but must also include the creation of Christian communities, the struggle for justice, and the stewardship of creation."

Pendulum Warning: Evangelism brings glory to God and is part of mission. Don't throw the baby out with the bath water. However, what we have done in the past is focus solely on Evangelism and World Missions (with an emphasis on evangelism) to the exclusion of justice and liberation from oppression. If we would lead in these areas, I believe the world would be much more willing to hear our voice and we would be much more effective as evangelists.

San Diego, CA

So the church planting organization tells me a few months ago that we need to go through "Boot Camp" soon, but they can not find one in an appropriate time frame up here in the Northwest. So they say to me, we have to send you to San Diego in January. Now I can think of a lot of places that I would NOT want to be in January, but San Diego is definitely not one of them. Someone has to do it.

On a serious note, we will be studying the "Nuts and Bolts" of church planting this upcoming week. Please keep us in your prayers. Leslie and I are really excited about this. We were even more excited when we learned that John and Sherri Chandler felt called to come work with us and the CEA offered to pay for them to come to Boot Camp with us. It will be a great time of formulating the heart of what we pray God will do through us in Seattle.

Following San Diego I get to make a four day trek back to good old Mesa, AZ. Good times.

For those of you keeping track (which might only be my children):

January 24-28 - Boot Camp in San Diego
January 28-Feb 1 - Mesa, AZ

Moved by an "Evangelical turned Agnostic"

I love to backpack. I love taking my wife and boys out into the wild and living in it. I don't do it enough, but we have spent many a night along the Wonderland Trail of Mount Rainier as well as nights in the mid-summer air of Mogollon Rim of Arizona. Nearly heaven.

So, I subscribe to Backpacker magazine. The December issue came and finding myself too busy to really sit down and read it, I finally picked up the magazine during a quiet moment in a small room adjacent to my bedroom (if you get my drift). My eye was caught by an article written by Michael Perry who described himself as an "Evangelical turned Agnostic". Being a pastor, I had to read his artlice, "Running the River Righteous".

I looked online for the article, but it's still on the newsstands and you can't find it online. I wish I could type it out for all of you to read, but it would take days (the man is prolific). It describes a rafting trip that he took through the Grand Canyon with 34 other people who were all fundamentalist Christians as they "toured" the canyon for proof that the earth was created in a literal 6 days.

Let me pause here for those who may not know me well. I believe in the God of the Bible. I believe that it holds the truth and that God has used Scripture as a tool to commicate His heart with His creation. At the same time, I am not sure that I believe that the world was created in six literal days. I fully believe that the Bible can be understood very clearly as saying that the earth was created in six periods of time (See Hugh Ross). I find it disconcerting that many Christians are so militantly against anything but a literal six day creation, when there are so many more important things to discuss in Scripture. That said, let me get back to the article.

Perry says throughout the article that he comes from a great home, with a great family. He speaks of enjoying the morning and evening devotionals throughout the trip and the rousing hymns that were sung around the campfire. All throughout the article he speaks of wanting to believe. Yet, his intellectual understandings of an old earth keep him from claiming their truth. That and the sermon he heard before the trip started. Let me quote.

"After hymns and prayer, a preacher from ICR got to going, and brother, could he bring it. I like some good preaching, and this was that. He paced the riser, he found his cadence, and he worked it. He took it up, and he took it down...He mentioned Carl Sagan, and did a little billions and billions impression. Then the preacher came to a full stop, stage right, and looked out at us...then said, "By the way, ol' Carl knows what's going' on now!" The congregation bubbled with chuckles...And I'll tell you he lost me right there. You want to lure me back, brother, show some compassion. Before honor is humility, if you'll allow me a little Old Testament. Dropt o your knees and pray through tears that our fellow sinner Carl might yet be redeemed. What you had here was a jig danced on a lost soul. I'd heard those chuckles before, from peple of my own congregation, as they listened to one of our preachers recount how he turned his back on a struggling member after he caught her wearing shorts. From that day I have tried to reconcile the deep goodness of my childhood church with its poisonous little seams of petty certitude. I found myself doing a similar thing the canyon, trying to reconcile the chuckles on the rim with the sincere smiles around me.
The thing is, as we float deeper into the canyon and creationism, I want to believe...

He ends the article with a statement, The jouney of faith is constant - there is grave danger in assuming you have arrived."

I have little left to say but my heart was broken because Christians have allowed an inexact science and cinicism to allow Perry to walk away from a nine day boat trip with only good memories and a further commitment to staying clear of those who think they have arrived.

Connecting

There is something that is so powerful about connecting with someone with whom you feel some sort of kinship. Today I had the privelege of connecting with three such people.

This morning I had a Starbucks meeting with a young guy that I have never met, but have interacted a bit with on John Chandler's blog. He is the son of a missionary who is in the states completing Bible College - about to hit the last semester of his senior year. I told my wife, he had a humble nature about him, yet when I asked him what he wanted to do after college, he replied, "I want to change the world." There was no air of cockiness in that response, just a heart-felt desire to make a difference. I love that. Too many college students are more worried about when the next X-Box game is going to be released than they are about pursuing the passions of God's heart (which, by the way, is to change the world). I felt that spark of connection - he has a faith to believe that God can use him to do big things. I pray that the world (or the church) never beats that out of him.

For lunch, Leslie and I met with her old youth pastor and his wife. I had briefly introduced myself to him once, but had never really interacted with him prior to today. Leslie was really drawn to the two of them when she was young and really wanted to reconnect. I now understand why. They're hearts filled ours. They planted a church in Issaquah, WA sixteen years ago and have lived to tell about it. We were able to talk about mistakes and hurts and all of the other things that make what we do worth it. Leslie and I really see them as potential "coaches" in this church planting process and look forward to more times around a table together.

Beyond just face to face contact, we have been so encouraged by emails and letters we have recieved from so many friends who are lifting us up in prayer and believe in the ministry that we are giving ourselves to. There are no words to describe knowing that beyond our "reach" friends around the United States are going to battle with us. This is how it should be!

Would you like to be a partner?

Many of you have responded to our notes and letters asking how you can be a part of our team as we plant this church in the Seattle area. First, please pray for us on a regular basis. This area is known as the most unchurched area of the United States (along with Oregon). We have talked to many different church planters in the area who are struggling to make it. It is not an environment where churches thrive. Second, many of you have asked how you can give a one time gift or be a regular giver to our ministry. We are not yet incorporated as a church as of yet, that should come in the Spring of next year, so until that time, the Christian Evangelistic Association (the church planting organization that we are working with) is taking in our funding for us.

You can mail donations to:
Christian Evangelistic Association
Re: Dean and Leslie Kuest
P.O. Box 92
Edmonds, WA 98020

Thank you for caring about what we do here in the Northwest!

Kuest Boys Declare Christmas Best Ever!

Well, Christmas has come and gone and we at the Kuest household feel blessed. We were able to spend Christmas Eve with my parents up in Arlington and then spent Christmas Day with all of Leslie's Family. It was a bit overwhelming for us. We are used to fairly quiet Christmas' as we have never lived near our parents and immediate family. However, there is no better feeling than being surrounded by family and celebrating the birth of Christ. (I also think the new Gamecube contributed to the boys Christmas excitement.)

Faith and Sight - A Paradox

Coming out of church today, I was overwhelmed with such a strong sense of God's calling us to this place. It is not a feeling that words can describe, simply an inward confidence and certainty that we are where God wants us.

At the same time, certainty does not mean that I have things figured out. It does not mean that fear does not creep into my heart as we begin to wonder where our financial support will come from and wondering where the exact location of our church will be. As someone said to me in church today as they were asking about our church plant, "My faith is a lot more easy when I can see where I am walking." He said this tongue in cheek, but I believe that this is a problem for me and for Christians all over. We say we have faith in God, but then fail to live a life that depends upon Him. We risk very little in our country by saying that we believe in God. Even a simple tithe is risking very little in the big picture of things. What do we do to lay our lives out there and say, "Lord, take me and use me no matter the cost"?

It is becoming so clear to me through this process that my life has been lived with faith that requires sight. True faith is lived when we "walk by faith and not by sight." I am praying that God will continue to exersize my "faith muscle" as we continue this journey. It strikes fear in my heart to pray that prayer, but I am confident that it will draw me closer to the heart of God.

Small World...Big God

Every once in a while you have those moments that make you feel like the world is as small as your home town. Those times usually involve seeing someone from your home town in a rather far away place. This is what Leslie and I just experienced.

My parents live about an hour north of us in Arlington, WA, so when we want a quick get-together, we usually meet in the middle. The middle is often the area around Alderwood Mall, which is just north of Seattle. My parents were out of town when we celebrated Joshua's birthday, so we called one of our get-togethers. We met at Cold Stone Creamery - we'll use any excuse we can find to do that, in Alderwood Mall. Afterward, we decided hit the mall for a bit of shopping. The first store we ventured into was the Disney Store. Now this is a huge mall and the Disney Store itself was good sized. While wandering around after my younger boys, I heard, "Well, if it isn't Dean Kuest." Now I know very few people in Washington and even fewer who would be at Alderwood Mall. I looked up to see Pam Melton, who was heavily involved in our youth ministry back in the early to mid ninety's.

She has been in Washington for about three years. She came out when her oldest daughter graduated from Seattle Pacific University, got married and stayed in the area. The odds of running into someone from our past up here like that are so astronomical that Leslie and I are convinced that God was at the center of it.

Please say a prayer for Pam. She just finished six months of chemotherapy as she is being treated for Hodgkins Disease. This is generally a curable form of cancer, but her's reached stage four before it was discovered. She is in remission at the moment, but will not be considered "cancer free" until after five years.

Down to the Wire

We are coming down to the time where the decision will be made regarding our location. At this time, both Leslie and I feel that the Bellevue/Redmond area is where we need to be. Several reasons. One, all of the resources and people that we know who would love to be a part of a new church live in this area. Two, there are few churches doing a good job reaching the younger generation in this area. Three, Bellevue is a dichotomy. While it contains some of the richest areas in the eastside, it is also filled with poverty. There are $500,000 to $1,000,000 homes within the same square mile as apartments filled with people living in poverty. We have found very little being done for those families. In other words, there are great needs in this community.

Our other option is Mill Creek/Silver Firs. It is a white suburban area where there are many young families living. We would fit right in. Our selfish nature tells us we would love to live there, but we're not sure it is right to follow those feelings. Our church planting organization tells us that Mill Creek is what they "know." In other words, they know how to plant in a new and emerging community, so they are comfortable with us going there. They have never planted in an established area like Bellevue before, so they are nervous about that possibility, but not against it. They are hiring a company to conduct an intense demographic study of Bellevue before they commit to a decision.

Keep praying for us, we are anxious to land.

Maple Valley Christmas

This morning Leslie and I took the boys to a Maple Valley Christmas. Some friends of ours have planted a church in that area this year and this was an outreach event that their church put together. It was really well done.

It began with a waffle breakfast for anyone who came - including the opportunity to make a waffle house that you can subsequently eat. There was live music, games for the kids, a train ride outside, ornament crafts and of course the picture with Santa. Over 400 people showed up, which is awesome for a church of 170. Shane and Cathy (the pastor and his wife) are sharp thinkers. It has been fun to get together and challenge each others thinking.

This will be an important relationship for us as we go on toward our launch.

Thanksgiving Day

We have much to be thankful for here at the Kuest household. We were able to celebrate this day of thanks with both Dean's parents and Leslie's parents under one roof. (And everyone gets along well!)

We are so thankful for our friends and family all over the United States who are praying with us as we start this new church in Seattle. You have no idea how much we cherish your support.

We are also thankful that we our trip to the Emergency Room was short today. What is Thanksgiving Day without a morning Turkey Bowl football game. I took my older boys with me to the local park where a group of guys were getting together a game. About an hour into the game, on a potential touchdown drive, Joshua stepped in and blocked a pass that would have been a touchdown. Unfortunately, in the process, he broke his wrist. He was incredibly brave and never cried through the whole ordeal, even as the doctor set the bones. He brought home his X-Rays to show off to the brothers and is wearing his cast as a badge of honor. He is looking forward to having all of his friends sign it. Can you believe it? Five boys and this is our first broken bone. (Where is the wood? I need to knock!)

Snoqualmie, WA

I went on a trip with George Johnson this past week. He had a meeting with a struggling church in Snoqualmie, WA and he wanted me to see the area - not to mention that it gave us a good chance to talk.

It is a beautiful area, a bedroom community of Seattle on I-90, about 12 miles past Issaquah. Actually, it is a gorgeous area. If you were a Twin Peaks fan in the 80's then you probably already know that this little town is where the show was filmed. In the past it has been just that, a little, quaint town. But thousands of homes later, it is an amazing little planned community.

The next day, Leslie and I drove around out there. It was easy to picture our family living there, but we are not convinced that the town is quite big enough to sustain a church like we are hoping to plant. It is not likely that we will end up there, but it was fun to dream and help shape our ideas together of where we will likely end up.

I am attempting to meet up with two local pastors in the next couple of weeks to talk about working together in a partnership. We are praying that they could get excited about helping us to launch.

Lost in America

Was able to attend a seminar at Rainier View Christian Church last week entitled, "Lost in America", which is a book written by Tom Clegg. The book's focus is to help the church regain it's passion for evangelism, but in a relational way rather than in a programatic way. Clegg's argument is that the church has become irrelvant to our culture because it has programmed itself for the people who are already inside. Our programs keep our church members happy and busy and they eventually lose all contact with those outside of the church walls.

Clegg spent over ten years in Africa as a missionary and he brings that mindset with him to his new passion of planting churches in the United States. He contends that if the church is to be effective, then it must become missionary minded. The United States is no longer a Christian Nation. A quick quiz below will help illustrate this fact.

1. What country has the Christian church with the largest attendance in the world?

2. What is the dominant religion in that country?

3. What is the location of the world's second-largest Christian church?

4. What is the dominant religion in that country?

5. In what country do you think the world's largest Buddhist temple is located?

6. Where is the world's largest Muslim training center?

7. What country has the world's largest Jewish population?

8. Which country has the 8th largest Hindu population?

9. Where is the world's largest training center for Transcendental Meditation?

(Answers Below)

1. Korea
2. Buddhist
3. Nigeria
4. Islam
5. USA - Boulder, CO
6. USA - New York, NY
7. USA
8. USA
9. USA - Fairfield, IA

In the Great Commission, Christ told His disciples to "Go into all the world"... today the world is coming to us and we need to be ready with the gospel of Christ.