Newsletter

I’m thrilled and deeply honored to be the new Green Bean manager.  Being a part of this ministry truly is a gift.  Many of my days are spent at the Green Bean serving our neighbors as a barista or simply sitting with friends, reading a good book, thinking, and reflecting.  Read more…

Did it ever occur to you that your work matters to God? We know that God wants us to love our family, love our neighbor and be committed to a local church body.  Yes!  These are key areas in which we can demonstrate God’s love in and us through us. Read more…

Welcome to the verge of 2015!  I cannot believe this year has gone by so rapidly. My head is spinning. You too? Well, as we brace for another trip around the sun, I would like to thank you for being part of this very vital ministry in Seattle we call Read more…

I am halfway through the three year Master of Divinity program at Fuller Theological Seminary’s Northwest campus in Seattle. At first glance, my time in seminary could be summed up as reading books, reflecting, and writing papers. Anyone who has had the privilege of experiencing this journey can relate to Read more…

To sing is to pray twice. This quote is attributed to Augustine, and I love it.  I love it because it gives value and weight to the act of singing – that singing is not just some unnecessary ornamental thing.  I love it because it reminds me that our songs Read more…

I began my college career believing that I was going to be a doctor. I entered my first semester as a declared pre-med student, and I was excited about my future career as an MD. It wasn’t until my Microbiology class that I changed my mind. It turned out that Read more…

As THANKSGIVING approaches…. I am thankful for the providence of God.  There is no greater truth to know and cling to than the fact that this world belongs to God and our lives are in God’s hands.  While nothing is ever perfect, especially our lives, our souls and our world, Read more…

Each year I love falling in love with Fall. The autumn season in the Pacific Northwest is just my absolute favorite time of year.  The air is crisp, clean and a little cooler.  Indian Summer chases us deep into October and the sunsets and cloud formations are absolutely breathtaking.  In Read more…

Model Ministry Often when we talk about how we do ministry, we focus on doing it “the right way”. It is important to be excellent in ministry–God deserves our best! But, at the same time, sometimes I think we focus more on the organizational model and having the right programs, Read more…

Dear Family of God, I am really excited about our Fall retreat at Seabeck and our 10 Year Anniversary that is nearing on the first Sunday of October. The retreat this year will feature an old friend of Summer’s and mine, Rita Nussli, who heads a ministry called Soul Formation.  Read more…

You may have heard some buzz around Sanctuary about the Cascade Fellows. So what is it all about? This partnership with Fuller Seminary is aimed at young professionals and will be kicking off in September. A small cohort of us will be meeting weekly to learn and discuss how our Read more…

Wow, isn’t Summer 2014 nice, so far?  Loving it.  We have had or will have a family reunion and two family weddings outdoors this summer, plus a short trip to Seaside to spend time on the Oregon Coast with Sanctuary-in-exile members, Steve and Sunny Cairns.  Keep the good times rolling Read more…

Not many kids can say they made it into the world thanks to a faith community, but our Benjamin can. Just about 28 weeks into my pregnancy, I found myself admitted to the hospital with a partial placental abruption.  A risk to the baby’s health and mine, I stayed at Read more…

I have been back in Seattle for a month now and back at church for a couple of weeks. It’s nice to be home. The Summer of 2014 can be a special time for us as we catch some sun, relax a little and also anticipate our 10 Year Anniversary Read more…

While on Sabbatical I saw a fair bit of church planting. Some of those churches meet in homes, some in reclaimed garbage dumps and some huge churches in multiple locations. Pastor Mario Vega planted a church in San Salvador that is now 60,000 people. Another group meets in a remote Read more…

Hello. I am glad to be writing this month’s newsletter to you from inside my own office back home in the USA. Thank you so much for the 4 month sabbatical. As I return, I realize that I was so tired I was on the verge of being soul-sick.  I Read more…

Astronaut. Fighter pilot. Brain surgeon. Pro Beach volleyball player. Chef. Cicerone. Just a short list of the things I thought I wanted to be when I “grew up”. Twenty years ago if you had told me Pastor would be on that list I would have laughed in your face. Even Read more…

Seeking Social Justice Most of us struggle with how to make our world a better place. Often we get stuck in a revolving door of hopelessness. Does helping really hurt, are people just stuck, is our extra dollar just a handout, and can we make a difference? I had the Read more…

I have visited churches in Central America with a range of 12 to 100,000 members,  Almost all are plants, established within the last 20 years. Mainline mission churches from the CRC and others just don’t do well down here.  They struggle along, capture ex-pats and cater to the intellectually elite. Read more…

Easter season greetings from Havana, Cuba! I am writing this newsletter to you from the condominium on the 18th floor of a building facing straight toward Key West.  My hosts Angel and Yvone are very nice and it’s been a good stay. I have been learning a good bit here Read more…

WHY AM I HERE AT SANCTUARY CHURCH? My sense of the world – of the nature of all: nature, man and the spirit – does not flow from faith, at least not in the Christian sense of the word. If that’s the case, then why do I keep coming to Read more…

Guess what the problem is with the church in Central America.  Young people are not well represented. Like in the USA, new churches and faith communities are arising here to meet the needs of younger leaders full of passions and dreams and a desire to do church differently.  The old Read more…

I cannot believe as I sit here this morning writing this entry for our newsletter that I have been away for an entire month already.  I am just settling in, though. I think I share the experience of being deeply tired with many of you. Right now, I am the Read more…

Have you heard of this whole movement coined “Business as Ministry?”  It can sound superficial, naive, or downright impossible depending on who you talk to, although we at Sanctuary know just how real and impactful this model can be – just look at the Green Bean! There’s another business doing Read more…

Please pray about the possibility of a new CRC church being planted in West Seattle sometime later this year. Chris Fulkerson and his wife Christina are feeling a call to plant there with another couple who are graduates of the Seattle School.  Chris is a gifted pastor and preacher. He learned Read more…

A little over 5 years ago, Amy and I found ourselves drawn to Sanctuary and the Greenwood neighborhood.  An opportunity arose to do Americorps through the Green Bean, and I saw it as a great way to serve in the place I was beginning to love.  After a year of Read more…

I think I am nearly 4,000 miles away in Panama City as I write this month’s newsletter.  I had a beautiful, comfortable and upgraded flight down here to begin sabbatical.  This area is beautiful, surrounded by jungle, the Pacific Ocean, the Bay of Panama and of course, the canal, which Read more…

I want to share briefly with you about some missional activities we are supporting that don’t fit in the category of standard church planting. In cooperation with Classis Pacific Northwest and Home Missions, our Seattle Cluster (and Sanctuary) are releasing Ben Katt and Clarence Presley to recruit, train and deploy Read more…

Sabbaticals are something that have long been reserved for academics and clergy. In the last two decades, business and other fields of work have begun using this tested, tried and true practice of rest, renewal and research for workers. I am the luckiest guy in the world!  Last year, with Read more…

Looking back on 2013, I feel proud of the ways Sanctuary supported our neighbors through monthly Saturday morning service projects.  Sanctuary volunteers helped the Greenwood Senior center get their garden ready for spring planting. Alongside Earth Corp., we got the workout of a lifetime ripping invasive English Ivy from Carkeek Read more…

As the new Green Bean was set to open, and a call went out for people to serve in a new capacity there, I felt that it was something I should do. It would be called the Ministry of Presence, and the purpose was… to be determined. Our instructions were Read more…

January Jenerosity  (SP??) During the month of January, we will be doing everything we can to link the new year to the idea of generosity, even if we have to spell it with a J!  A generous spirit does a number of things which we explore in some great depth.  First Read more…

Good news and bad news, perhaps.  Let’s start with the good news:  Harbor Church and Awake Church are both meeting in actual church buildings and building momentum internally.  Harbor Church is now the home of a second CRC pastor, Jana Koh, associate to Dr. John Westfall.  The Harbor’s preschool, PATH, Read more…

Every year, during the Christmas season, my mother reads aloud Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Every year, we never get to the end. We have a glorious large illustrated book of this story, and every year I pour over the illustrations. Every year my father does puzzles while listening and informs Read more…

It’s About Time by Darrell Waddell “Another year has come and gone”, I thought to myself. “How is that possible … where did the time go?” There never seems to be enough time. We rush around in frantic hopes of getting things done, squeezing more and more into less and Read more…

Sanctuary’s Church Planting Task Force is moving ahead into its third year.  We feel like we are getting a bit of a handle on things as we do.  Big issues for being a church planting parent church are how do we support, but not over-control? How do we ask for Read more…