The SHOP

After hinting at this for months it is now time to tell you all about The SHOP.

In the fall of 2009 while I was in China, my friend Alyssa was speaking in a conference about prayer and worship and she said, "When we pray for our cities it changes the atmosphere." Right then I saw a picture in my mind of a map of Seattle covered with glowing dots, the dots were houses of prayer, and the glory of God was coming down out of heaven onto the houses of prayer. Then it spread out connecting with each other changing the city from a city of darkness to a city of light.

The next thing I heard was, "Do it." I said to the Lord, "God, if you want me to do this you need to show me how." The rest of the trip he gave me strategy for what is now called The SHOP.

What is the SHOP exactly? At the most simplistic level it is believers living in authentic community with their lives centered around loving Jesus and seeing the love for the Lord transform Seattle. But what does that actually look like?

The three forms of the SHOP are: Community houses, The coffee shop, and The corporate Prayer room.

First the community. Everything in the Kingdom of God starts with Community, from the creation of the world to the SHOP. What we are going to do is get a house and live in, turn one room into a prayer room and go after true community, not just co-habitation. It is one thing to get a bunch of people to live together, frats do that, this is about being real raw and deep with each other. Laying down our lives to see each others dreams come to pass, encouraging and sharpening each other in our faith. The big thing here is community, calling in our neighbors and letting them know about the love of God by actually loving them.

Then there is the coffee shop. The last thing Seattle needs is a mediocre coffee ministry. Our first priority beyond even lots of ministry, is being the best. As a cafe in Seattle we want to have the highest quality in everything we do, from who we get our beans from too the roast all the way to pouring a perfect latte. Every cup is prayed over and all of our baristas will be trained on how to pull a perfect shot every time and how to hear the voice of the Lord. Attached to the cafe will be a prayer room, when the cafe is open the prayer room is open, and we will have people always in the prayer room singing songs to the Lord changing the atmosphere in the area. Then when some one comes into the cafe and gets their latte some one can give them a word from the Lord, then lead them to Jesus and right there in the cafe connect them to a community of people that will disciple them.

Discipleship is really at the heart and core of the SHOP. Teaching other people the teachings of Jesus and how to teach it to others is what Christianity is about. Its the model Jesus used, He got 12 knuckle heads taught them all he could over three years, died, rose and said now go teach everyone else. Thats what we want to do, Teach everyone about Jesus. But if only one person does it on their own the task is too big. So we get it smaller by multiplying ourselves.

Lastly is the corporate prayer room. This will be a place in the city that will be open fully to the public 24/7. The goal is to get 24/7 Prayer and worship shifting the spiritual atmosphere of the city.

Thats what the SHOP is all about.

Introduction

An Update.

Well, We are on our way to Seattle now, so there is allot to tell you about on this adventure. My team is amazing, they are constantly looking for oportunities to share the gospel and bless people, we were at the laundry mat and they went to a conveniance store and prayed for the owner who

is a christian. We have prayed for close to 300 people sharing the love of God with them and telling them about The Lords heart for them. And now we are about to go to Seattle and Samammish for the finality of out trip.

But what about my adventure, well its been a crazy one. Let me tell you about my Girlfriend. What? You Haven't heard that Im in a relationship with an amazing woman of God. Kirsten and I have been friends since last february, When I first met her I knew she was cool, she has great style and fantastic taste in music and Loves Jesus in a way most people just don't. But at the time she was a friend and I looked at her like a sister. But that didn't last long. She quickly became a really close friend. Their was alot of times when something would spark in my heart and it was a little bit of love, but I refused to let my heart go to that place. As I continued to get to know her, I discovered more and more time and again how amazing she is. The thing that has always amazed me is her love for Jesus, she cares so much about him being loved by the lost that at times she is moved to tears. Who in Christianity cares about Jesus being loved more then their crap getting cleaned up? How much of my walk is about me? How much of my worship is about me feeling good? For you dear readers that Love the Lord and are single, once you find someone like that you pursue them, they are rare, however God is doing something and they are becoming more common.

It was Kirsten, that was there for me when I lived in the airport, and when my grandpa died. Thats when she became my best friend. And that is when I began to think to myself, hmm she's my best friend. But still I would not allow my heart to go to a place of love. I was in Hawaii over Christmas and so was she. She went to China and I stayed in Hawaii to staff the DTS. We stayed in touch, and when she came back she told me how she felt. Now I know this is going to sound crazy but at the time I said something to the effect of, "Hey, I'm really sorry, but I don't like you like that." I know dumb right?

The next day I got on a plane to go on outreach. I couldn't stop thinking about her, so I started to talk to the Lord about her. He told me it was my choice. One of my best friends and I were talking over the matter, and he asked if I could see myself doing life with her. That settled the matter for me. After that I had to wait till the 15th, Lord told me too. That night I got on skype and told her how I felt, day after that I asked her parents for their permission and blessing, all three of them said yes(Kirsten and her parents).

So for you dear readers, please welcome to the journey Kirsten Jean.