In high school, my plan was to be a Civil Engineer. That’s how I think, and how I learn. My Dad is an engineer, and he taught me a pragmatic approach to life. Things have causes and effects. I want to look for effective methods of accomplishing what I’m after. I bring that same attitude to my relationship with God, and being an active part of growing the kingdom of Heaven. After all, a kingdom is grown bases on principles and design, right? I believe that God has a plan that’s based on cause and effect, and I want to work within that plan.
My career as an engineer was cut short just as I was leaving High School. Not through lack of perseverance, or not being qualified, but by an interruption by God. Instead, I started studying to be a pastor. I figured that training to be a pastor would serve me well whatever I became, whether youth leader, counsellor, associate pastor, missionary, etc. However, there was one area I didn’t consider, and that is, of course, exactly where God put me. After attending a couple of Bible colleges (Pacific Bible College in Medford, and Calvary Chapel Bible College in Murietta, CA), and serving as an intern for a local church (Bear Creek Church under Pastor Dale Meador), God moved me into evangelism.
Of all the things I considered, evangelism was not one of them. I thought I simply didn’t have the right personality for that. I thought of evangelists as charisma-filled, exuberant people, and that is not me. I’m mellow, and somewhat boring in person. (Maybe I’m boring on blogs, too, but we’ll hope for the best, right?)
I ended up spending 10 years working as the director for “Pass the Word.” It doesn’t exist at the moment, but is in the process of being rebooted through Creekside. More on that later.
The idea behind Pass the Word was to distribute New Testament Bibles in ways and in areas that the Gideons were unable to. Sort of a “Next Generation Gideons,” to fill the gaps that they couldn’t. Nothing against the Gideons, they do amazing work. But any organization has to set boundaries, and we worked in an area that they didn’t.
I learned more in the first 6 months of witnessing than I had learned in Bible College, interning, and church my whole life. It gave me a whole different perspective of what the Kingdom of God is about. I spent the next 10 years equipping people to witness to others, whether through providing Bibles, training, prayer, support, and encouragement.
When it was time, God catapulted me into being a pastor, 3 years ago. I’ll talk about the details some other time, I’m sure. But now, as I’m leading the church, my time as a street evangelist has influenced me to do things completely different than what I was taught at Bible college, and even as an intern. Some of the ideas are the same, but the way I am applying them are completely new.
So, what I am essentially doing is to “experiment” with a different paradigm for church for the next generation. It may work, it may not. We’ve had some successes, and made some mistakes. This blog is essentially a record of that experiment, so that others can see, learn from, and contribute to the attempt.
If you are interested in a new design for church, this is a blog for you!
If you think that this whole idea is going to explode in my face, and you’re the sort who loves watching a train wreck, this is for you, too! Few things motivate me more that people telling me “it can’t be done!”
-Travis
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