Why I HAD TO Live Missionally - Forge Dallas Missionary Residency

“What I believe is not what I say I believe, what I believe is what I do!” I’ve always loved this quote by Donald Miller author of Blue Like Jazz. And for me living missional HAD TO become more than just a trendy phrase in sprucing up my church’s mission statement.

But how? Sure I’d read most of the missional books. I’d gone to my share of conferences. I’d preached on it and done 6-week series on the art of neighboring. A spike on the radar screen, but then settling back into the familiar. 

But then things changed for me. And it all began with with engaging with an organization called Forge America www.forgeamereica.com and their local hub Forge Dallas www.forgedallas.org. Their five-month missionary residency gave me the hands on tools, coaching, and a cohort of other missional practitioners who too were living as missionaries in the places where they were already doing life. My life changed!

For me missional living has now become more than a fad or a short lived sermon series. And four years later, I’ve not looked back. Along with my wife Sharon, we are now living out the calling of Jesus, “as the Father has sent me, so send I you”.

The Forge Dallas 2018 Missionary Residency kicks off on January 20, 2018. I’d like to invite you to consider becoming a missionary resident. A series of meet and greets over coffee to answer questions and talk about the residency are happening on Tuesday evening, December 19th and Sunday afternoon, January 7th. More information can be found at this link - Meet and Greets

If God is speaking to you, I’d love to talk!

Jim

Director - Forge Dallas

Are you part of the Inn crowd?

Winter and Dallas are doing a pretty good job of teaming up to signal the Christmas season.  Sunny warm days contradict the street ornaments and glorious door wreaths everywhere.  Night time feels a bit more like it with blustery winds and chilly air flowing through the streets, swaying giant puffy inflatable snowmen glowing under the warm Christmas lights.   Yes, Christmas approaches and we are all doing our part to make it feel like Christmas.

This evening, the light has changed even more, signaling the darkest and longest nights will soon arrive.  Tonight, as I was driving home in that dimming dusk light, one church bulletin board caught my eye.  “Are you in the Inn crowd?”  There were more letters after it but I stopped reading there.

Immediately, my mind went to that sweet, weary couple so long ago, who looked and looked, knocked and knocked, hoping to just find a warm place to rest and dwell, a safe place to give birth, to carry on their mission.

The Inn.  A place of warmth.  A place of nourishment, of rest, of community, if only for a day, a week, or more…  A place to refuel so that the journey may continue.  A place of hospitality. 

Am I part of the Inn crowd?  I have to say no.  No, I’ve been too distracted outside the Inn with work, and the hustle, with loud distractions and christmasing that the Inn is, indeed, quite empty these days. 

Today, all around us, there are people who are looking for that Inn on a street full of no vacancy signs.  They are looking - we are looking - for The Inn where deep friendships can grow, where hope is shared, and good news is lived.  We live in shallow, fast times.  How do we create a place to live slowly, invite many, to connect, to be human, to nourish, to refuel, to go deep and disciple long?  Forge taught me how to do this.  Today, I needed that billboard to refocus my attention.

Innkeepers, there is no better time of the year to turn your signs around and signal the arrival of the good news.  Turn on your lights and open your doors. 

Yes, the Inn is open.  Yes, there is room.

#advent #ostia #philoxenia #Emmanuel

Lue Kraltchev is a Forge residency graduate.  She lives in McKinney with her husband and a few well-behaved dogs.  

Photo Credit:  Ostia Antica by jessi https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1730258

Contextual Healing by Ryan Behring

“We shape our cities; thereafter they shape us.” – Winston Churchill
 

Have you ever uttered the phrase “I was made for this!”? Sometimes we use it casually, sometimes euphorically. Whatever the case, you felt in your gut that that particular moment in time and space was especially predestined.

We learn a lot about ourselves as the settings and seasons of life change. Our context is a mirror, a window to ourselves - our strengths, our weaknesses, and to whom God made us to be. Changes in familial role (single, married, kids), career, where we live (urban, rural, international) help us to see our role in God’s ongoing work in the world.

A few years back I made a career change. After attending architecture school I’d worked for a few architects and reached an inflection point where I’d wanted to seek a more open-ended career path. Rather than a traditional path as a licensed architect, I wondered if there was a more embedded and subversive (possibly missional) path in which God could use what he’s given me.

I moved to Oak Cliff in 2014 and developed a love for a Dallas that I never knew. Proximity and rootedness had become important spiritual values to me in “seeking the welfare” (Jeremiah 29:7) of the city. As we seek to reflect Jesus, have you ever considered why He is often called Jesus of (a place) Nazareth?

In early 2015 an opportunity opened to serve and eventually lead an Americorps program through Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings’ office focused on community development and neighborhood organizing with Southern Dallas neighborhoods. My wife Stephanie, whose support often overwhelms me, encouraged me to go for it. I learned a lot over those two years about God and myself. Being closer to home it allowed me to embed myself and my work deeply in my own neighborhood and part of town. Dallas historically is a very divided city - economically, racially and generationally. Serving with Americorps, and the change in context, allowed me to experience being a minority (in several ways) and to learn and be led by others quite different from me; things I would not have experienced in my prior office setting.

Since finishing my Americorps assignment, context has continued to evolve for me. In the past 8 months I became a foster parent in Dallas County and began practicing commercial real estate within the same neighborhoods in which I served, working with entrepreneurs and investors to grow their communities. The experience continues to alter how I see my context.

The journey is rough and our context (“to whom we’ve been sent”) can evolve and change, but sometimes it is in those changes that we begin to see our role in God’s ongoing work in the world.

The Best Donuts in Dallas...per Kevin Davis.

I was a little dubious at first. Fruity Pebbles and vanilla icing on donuts?! Fresh, diced bacon and maple icing on an eclair?! Is this actually going to be a good idea, or what seems like a good idea gone terribly wrong?

Let me back up a bit. My first experience with Momo’s Donuts was a few years ago during my time as a teacher at Howe High School. Howe is a small town north of Dallas on Highway 75 and Momo’s is just north of Howe in Sherman. It may be a stretch to say Momo’s is in Dallas, but their donuts are so delicious, we are going to have to adopt them as part of the metroplex. April, one of my co-workers at HHS, lived down the street from this little, unassuming donut shop that was nestled tightly in between a cleaners and a gas station with little fanfare or signage. April brought Momo’s to the teacher’s lounge once a week. She even texted me when Momo's was on the way so I could prepare myself to stop by her room for glazed and chocolate donuts. These were not the specialty donuts you can enjoy on the weekends at Momo’s, just their light, soft, perfectly sweetened originals. It was at this moment that my fickle donut heart shifted. Goodbye Krispy Kreme, move aside Dunkin, down the list Shipleys…I have found the best donuts in Dallas!

I could go on and on about traveling to Momo’s and eating their fantastic donuts, and that is kind of my point. I have told friends, family, church members, acquaintances, and strangers about my experiences with Momo’s. Donut stories just seem to flow out of me naturally, spontaneously, and with a great deal of passion.

As silly as it sounds, there have been many times in the past when telling stories about donuts was easier for me than telling stories about following Jesus. Following Jesus out of habit, obligation, or boring rituals did not provoke me to share my experiences with passion and spontaneity. The Forge Dallas tribe has shown me that following Jesus is about experiencing God’s reign in my life and then extending the good news of his reconciliation, beauty, justice, and wholeness to others. Now, I have experiences I am excited to share with others and a story I am passionate about telling. 

Dr. Kevin Davis, Director of Missionary Residency - Forge Dallas